Effects of the phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor RPR 73401 in a model of immunological inflammation.

The study was performed to investigate effects of the phosphodiesterase 4 inhibitor RPR 73401 [N-(3, 5-dichloropyrid-4-yl)-3-cyclopentyl-oxy-4-methoxybenzamid] on an allergic skin reaction. To simulate an immunological inflammation, BALB/c mice were sensitized to dinitrochlorobenzene or toluenediisocyanate. At first, the abdominal skin was shaved and 50 microliter Freund's adjuvant were injected intracutaneously once. Then, the horny layer was removed by adhesive tape stripping and 100 microliter 0.5% dinitrochlorobenzene or 5% toluenediisocyanate were administered on the epidermis for 4 days. After repeated local treatment of the ear skin with 20 microliter 3% RPR 73401 or intraperitoneal administration of 1 and 5 mg/kg RPR 73401, 20 microliter 1% dinitrochlorobenzene or 0.5% toluenediisocyanate were given topically as a challenge. The vehicle controls showed a high increase in ear thickness over 48 h after challenge, whereas RPR 73401 administered on either route reduced this increase significantly. Nevertheless after topical administration, RPR 73401 had a longer lasting effect. These and other results may point to an indication for RPR 73401 in immunological dermatitis.

A hundred years of the Deutsche Tierärztliche Wochenschrift. / Hundert Jahre Deutsche Tierärztliche Wochenschrift.

Some reports of veterinary societies were issued in the second half of the 19th century in Germany. Dr. med LYDTIN in Karlsruhe (Baden) tried to unify two local reports to found a new journal with a widespread distribution. The first issue of the "Deutsche Thierärztliche Wochenschrift" was published on 7th January 1893 in Karlsruhe. To increase the area of distribution some years later a professor from the School of Veterinary Medicine Hannover was invited to work as an editor of this journal. After 1897 the DTW was issued in Hannover in close cooperation with the School of Veterinary Medicine. So the DTW is the oldest German veterinary journal which was issued continuously with an unchanged name since 100 years.

Primary structure and anticandidal activity of the major histatin from parotid secretion of the subhuman primate, Macaca fascicularis.

A major macaque histatin (M-histatin 1) from the parotid secretion of the subhuman primate, Macaca fascicularis, was isolated by gel filtration on Bio-Gel P-2 and purified to homogeneity by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography on a TSK-ODS C18 column. The complete amino acid sequence of M-histatin 1, determined by automated Edman degradation, is: (formula; see text) M-histatin 1 contains 38 amino acid residues, a phosphoserine at residue 2, has a molecular weight of 4881.8, a calculated pI of 8.5, and histidine forms 26.3% of the mass. The hydropathicity plot of M-histatin 1 predicts that the molecule is entirely hydrophilic, and Chou-Fasman secondary prediction indicates that the polypeptide is devoid of alpha-helix and beta-sheet conformation in aqueous solutions but contains a series of beta turns. M-histatin 1 includes a six-amino-acid insert (residue 10-15) not present in human histatins and, with the introduction of gaps to maximize homology, it displays 89% and 91% sequence similarity with human histatins 1 and 3, respectively. M-histatin 1 exhibited fungicidal and fungistatic effects against the dimorphic pathogen, Candida albicans, in three separate bioassays. Its anticandidal effects were comparable with or greater than those of human histatins 1, 3, and 5. M-histatins 2, 3, and 4 were not sequenced directly because insufficient materials were available, but the amino acid composition of M-histatin 3 was nearly identical to that of the N-terminal 20 amino acid residues of M-histatin 1.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)