Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0008370 (cholestasis)
 9,378 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Arterial vasodilation with concomitant hyperdynamic circulation is a common finding in cirrhotic subjects. Elevated levels of plasma endogenous opioid peptides have been reported in cholestasis and cirrhosis. Increased opioid peptides contribute to different manifestations of chronic liver disease such as pruritus, ascitis, and hepatic encephalopathy. In this study the potential role of opioid system in cirrhosis-induced vascular hyporesponsiveness was investigated. Bile duct ligated and sham operated animals received daily subcutaneous administration of naltrexone, an opioid receptor antagonist (20 mg/kg/day), or saline for 28 days. After 4 weeks the superior mesenteric artery was cannulated and was perfused according to McGregor method and then phenylephrine vasoconstrictor response of mesenteric vessels (10(-10) to 10(-6 )mol) was examined. In order to evaluate the effects of acute opioid receptor blockade, additional groups of animals were treated by acute single intraperitoneal naltrexone injection (20 mg/kg). Plasma level of nitrite/nitrate as an indicator for nitric oxide production was measured. Biliary cirrhosis was accompanied with a decrease in baseline perfusion pressure in mesenteric vascular bed (P < 0.01). Chronic opioid receptor blockade significantly increased this parameter (P < 0.01). The maximum pressure response to phenylephrine was decreased significantly in cirrhosis while chronic naltrexone treatment completely improved it (P < 0.01). Acute single injection of naltrexone could not influence the understudied homodynamic parameters. Chronic opioid receptor blockade did not modulate the increased nitrite/nitrate levels following cholestasis. This study provided evidence on the contribution of endogenous opioid system to vascular hyporesponsiveness in cirrhosis which is not directly correlated to high plasma NO levels.
 ...
PMID:Opioid receptor blockade improves mesenteric responsiveness in biliary cirrhosis. 1846 46

Neonatal intrahepatic cholestasis caused by citrin deficiency (NICCD) shows diverse metabolic abnormalities such as urea cycle dysfunction together with citrullinemia, galactosemia, and suppressed gluconeogenesis. Such abnormalities apparently resolve during the first year of life. However, metabolic profiles of the silent period remain unknown. We analyzed oxidative stress markers and profiles of amino acids, carbohydrates, and lipids in 20 asymptomatic children with aspartate/glutamate carrier isoform 2-citrin-deficiency aged 1-10 years, for whom tests showed normal liver function. Despite normal plasma ammonia levels, the affected children showed higher blood levels of ornithine (p<0.001) and citrulline (p<0.01)--amino acids involved in the urea cycle--than healthy children. Blood levels of nitrite/nitrate, metabolites of nitric oxide (NO), and asymmetric dimethylarginine inhibiting NO production from arginine were not different between these two groups. Blood glucose, galactose, pyruvate, and lactate levels after 4-5h fasting were not different between these groups, but the affected group showed a significantly higher lactate to pyruvate ratio. Low-density and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in the affected group were 1.5 times higher than those in the controls. Plasma oxidized low-density lipoprotein apparently increased in the affected children; their levels of urinary oxidative stress markers such as 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine and acrolein-lysine were significantly higher than those in the controls. Results of this study showed, even during the silent period, sustained hypercitrullinemia, hypercholesterolemia, and augmented oxidative stress in children with citrin deficiency.
 ...
PMID:Sustaining hypercitrullinemia, hypercholesterolemia and augmented oxidative stress in Japanese children with aspartate/glutamate carrier isoform 2-citrin-deficiency even during the silent period. 1923 6

Our aim was to investigate whether the antioxidant quercetin protects against liver injury and ameliorates the systemic oxidative stress in rats with common bile duct ligation. Secondary biliary cirrhosis was induced through 28 days of bile duct obstruction. Animals received quercetin (Q) after 14 days of obstruction. Groups of control (CO) and cirrhotic (CBDL) animals received a daily 50 mg/kg body weight i.p. injection of quercetin (CO + Q; CBDL + Q) or vehicle (CO; CBDL). Quercetin corrected the reduction in superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase CAT, and glutathione peroxidase GPx activities and prevented the increase of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), aminotransferases, and alkaline phosphatase in cirrhotic animals. Quercetin administration also corrected the reduced total nitrate concentration in the liver and prevented liver fibrosis and necrosis. These effects suggest that quercetin might be a useful agent to preserve liver function and prevent systemic oxidative stress.
 ...
PMID:Quercetin treatment ameliorates systemic oxidative stress in cirrhotic rats. 2199 20


<< Previous 1 2