The use of a passive motion machine in the postoperative rehabilitation of Dupuytren's disease.

The purpose of this study was to prospectively compare the postoperative use of passive motion (PM) and standard hand therapy after surgical treatment of Dupuytren's disease for extent and rate of recovery of joint motion. Our data indicate that metacarpophalangeal joint contractures improved completely to a mean of 0 degrees, regardless of the postoperative protocol. Contractures at the proximal interphalangeal joint showed incomplete recovery in both study groups, with a mean residual contracture of 28 degrees for PM patients and 38 degrees for control patients. Contractures of the metacarpophalangeal-proximal interphalangeal joints in the same finger showed complete metacarpophalangeal joint recovery to a mean of 0 degrees but incomplete proximal interphalangeal joint recovery with a mean residual contracture of 30 degrees in PM patients and 22 degrees in control patients. We conclude that the use of a PM machine in the rehabilitation of Dupuytren's disease does not offer an advantage in the postoperative management of this condition.

Accumulation of pyrroline 5-carboxylic acid in conditioned medium of cultured fibroblast: stimulatory effects of serum, insulin, and IGF-1.

Pyrroline 5-carboxylate, an intermediate of amino acid metabolism, is released into medium by cultured normal human fibroblasts. With cells made quiescent by serum starvation, the addition of 10% fetal bovine serum augmented the release of pyrroline 5-carboxylate into medium by 2.5-fold. Although platelet-derived growth factor was without effect, both insulin and insulinlike growth factor-1 nearly reproduced the serum effect. The dose-dependence of insulin and insulinlike growth factor 1 effects suggested their mediation by their own respective receptors. Although the mechanism for the stimulatory effect remains unknown, these effects of insulin and insulinlike growth factor 1 on pyrroline 5-carboxylate suggest hormonal regulation of pyrroline 5-carboxylate release.

Plasma and brain ammonia and amino acids in rats measured after feeding 75% casein or 28% egg white.

Male rats were trained to consume their daily food intake in 3 h. When rats were fed 6% casein for 14 d and were then fed either the 6 or 75% casein diet for 1 d, the plasma and brain ammonia concentrations of rats fed 75% casein were higher (P less than 0.05) at 23 h after test meal initiation compared to those of rats fed 6% casein. When rats were fed 6% casein for 13 d and then fed the same 6% casein diet with or without an additional 15% ammonium acetate for an additional 7 d before feeding 75% casein for 1 d, the plasma ammonia concentration of each group was not different, but plasma and brain amino acid concentrations were lower in rats prefed 15% ammonium acetate before the 75% casein diet. When rats were fed 6.8% egg white for 9 d and then fed 27.9% egg white for an additional 7 d, food intake of rats fed the 27.9% egg white diet was lower (P less than 0.05, paired t-test) for 4 d compared with that during the 3-d pretest period. When rats were meal-fed the 6.8% egg white diet for 13 d and then fed either the same 6.8% egg white diet or the 27.9% egg white diet for 1 d, plasma ammonia and plasma and brain amino acid concentrations were higher at 5 h after test meal initiation (P less than 0.05) in rats fed 27.9% egg white compared to those of rats fed 6.8% egg white. At 23 h after test meal initiation, plasma ammonia, plasma amino acid and most brain amino acid concentrations were lower than they were at 5 h after test meal initiation in rats fed 27.9% egg white.

Plasma ammonia, plasma, brain and liver amino acids and urea cycle enzyme activities in rats fed ammonium acetate.

Male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to eat a 6% casein diet within a 3-h period each day. They were then fed a 6% casein diet for 10-16 d before they were fed either the same 6% casein diet or the 6% casein diet supplemented with 15% ammonium acetate for 1 or 7 d. During the absorptive period, plasma ammonia, plasma amino acids and brain amino acids were measured on d 1 and d 7 after feeding ammonium acetate. Food intake of rats fed 15% ammonium acetate was depressed on d 1 and increased to approximately 75% of the intake of the 6% casein-fed group by d 7. On d 1 plasma ammonia of the rats fed 5% ammonium acetate was 101 microM as compared to 56 microM for the rats fed 6% casein (P less than 0.05). On d 7, plasma ammonia of the rats fed 15% ammonium acetate was 240 microM (P less than 0.05) as compared to 44 microM for the rats fed 6% casein. In rats fed 15% ammonium acetate, after 7 d ornithine transcarbamylase and arginase activities were higher and argininosuccinate synthetase activity was lower (P less than 0.05) while carbamyl phosphate synthetase activity tended to be higher than that of rats fed 6% casein. The results suggest that rats adapt to ingestion of 15% ammonium acetate by some unknown neural mechanism rather than by increases in all urea cycle enzyme activities. Feeding ammonium acetate causes changes in plasma, brain and liver amino acid concentrations.

Increase in plasma ammonia and amino acids when rats are fed a 44% casein diet.

Rats were trained to eat a 6% casein basal diet during a 3-hour period per day. They were then fed either the same 6% casein diet or a 44% casein diet for 3 hours. No food intake depression was observed in the rats eating 44% casein diet during the 3-hour period. Plasma ammonia and amino acids and brain amino acids were measured at 0, 4, 12 and 24 hours after presentation of the 6% or 44% casein diets. Plasma ammonia rose to 134 (p less than 0.01) and 110 micromolar (p less than 0.05) in the 44% casein fed rats at 4 and 12 hours, respectively, as compared to 67 and 53 micromolar, respectively, for the 6% casein fed rats. All plasma amino acid concentrations except methionine and glutamate were elevated (p less than 0.05) at 4 hours. In the brain, threonine, glutamine and tyrosine concentrations were elevated (p less than 0.05) at 4 hours after diet presentation. At 24 hours, valine, isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine, and methionine concentrations were also elevated (p less than 0.05). Because intake of the 44% casein diet decreases the second day of its presentation, as noted in an earlier experiment, the increases in plasma ammonia and its possible entry into the brain as reflected by increased brain glutamine together with changes in amino acid concentrations should be considered collectively among possible metabolic signals affecting intake of high protein diets.

Effect of pre-feeding ammonium acetate on food intake of rats fed high protein diets.

The effect on intake of a 75% casein diet after prefeeding for one week a 6% casein basal diet with additional 0%, 2%, 5%, 8% or 15% ammonium acetate was examined in rats trained to eat in three hours per day. Food intake was measured from 0-15, 15-30, 30-90, and 90-180 minutes for the first two days that the ammonium acetate diets were presented. Rats eating 5% and 8% or 15% ammonium acetate diet depressed their intake significantly for one day and for four days respectively. Rats eating 2%, 5%, 8%, or 15% ammonium acetate diets depressed their intake significantly from 0-30 minutes. When presented with the 75% casein diet, rats prefed 0% to 5% and 8% and 15% ammonium acetate diets ate 55% to 58% and 72% and 94% of their respective baseline intakes. It is suggested that prefeeding 15% ammonium acetate apparently induces sufficient metabolic adaptation to ammonia intake so that the rat is able to offset the metabolic consequences of intake of the 75% casein diet, thus preventing the usual food intake depressing effect of the high protein diet.

Serotonin and feeding responses of rats to amino acid imbalance: initial phase.

The role of serotonin in the anorexic response of rats to an amino acid-imbalanced diet was investigated. After chronic depletion of serotonin with parachlorophenylalanine (PCPA, 300 mg/kg) or 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (DHT, 200 micrograms/rat, intracisternally), initial intake of a mild isoleucine-imbalanced diet was reduced by 60% vs. a 17% reduction after saline injection. After acute treatment with the agonist, quipazine (quip, 5 mg/kg ip) or the precursor, tryptophan (TRP, 1% added to the diet), imbalanced diet intake was also exacerbated. PCPA and DHT may have caused receptor supersensitivity, such that the food intake depression after serotonin depletion was similar to that seen with the quip and TRP treatments. Injection of the autoreceptor agonist, 8-hydroxy-2(di-n-propylamino)tetralin (8-OH-DPAT, 500 micrograms/kg sc), to reduce transmission in the serotonergic systems resulted in an attenuation of the usual food intake depression of the amino acid-imbalanced diet (only a 7%, nonsignificant reduction). Also measurements made in the absence of pharmacological treatment showed that the ratio 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid-to-serotonin, a putative index of serotonin turnover, was increased 155% in the raphe nuclei and 140% in the hippocampus 3.5 h after ingestion of the mild isoleucine-imbalanced diet. Therefore increased serotonergic activity in some brain areas may be associated with the initial depression of food intake in rats fed an imbalanced amino acid diet.

Effect of type of protein on food intake of rats fed high protein diets.

The effects of type of protein on intake of a high protein diet after adapting rats to a low protein diet were examined in rats trained to eat a 5.2% (N X 6.25) protein diet containing a mixture of casein, lactalbumin, egg white and soy protein, in a single 3-hour period per day. Food intake was measured from 0-15, 15-30, 30-90, and 90-180 minutes. After a 2-week adjustment period, rats were presented with a 40% (N X 6.25) protein purified diet containing only one of the 4 proteins mentioned above or a mixture of these 4 proteins. During the first 15-minute interval, rats eating diets containing protein mixture, lactalbumin, egg white or soy protein depressed their intake significantly compared with the average intake of the 3-day pre-test period, whereas rats eating casein diet increased their intake. During the last 90-minute interval of the first day, all rats depressed their intake, those rats eating casein the least and those rats eating egg white the most. On the second day, rats offered lactalbumin depressed their intake 52.5% for the 3-hour period and rats offered casein depressed their intake 34.3%. Rats eating soy protein, egg white and protein mixture increased their intake from day 1 to day 2. These experiments show that type of protein affects rats' initial intake when they are offered a high protein diet.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)