Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0011570 (depression)
 172,036 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Infections and chronic liver injury are common causes of morbidity and mortality in alcoholics, and both of these may be related to an altered immune response. This study describes a guinea pig model of chronic ethanolism designed to selectively study the cellular immune system in a setting free from the malnutrition, socioeconomic deprivation, and severe underlying hepatic dysfunction seen in human disease. Animals were given 2.5 g/kg/day of ethanol as a 15% solution in 0.9% NaCl or isocaloric-dextrose-saline control solution intraperitoneally in 2 divided doses for 5 weeks. At 2 weeks, the mean serum ethanol level 1 hr after treatment was 20.4 mM (range 8.9-30.6) while the mean serum acetaldehyde level was 55.1 microM (range 17.0-111). At 5 weeks the serum levels for ethanol and acetaldehyde were 20.1 mM (13.3-32.9) and 41.5 microM (2.4-87.6), respectively. Weight gain was persistent throughout the study and did not differ significantly between ethanol and control groups. After 5 weeks of treatment, lymphocyte response to the mitogens, phytohemagglutinin, and concanavalin A was significantly decreased in the ethanol treated group (p less than 0.05). Response to the specific antigen, picrylated human serum albumin, T & B cell per cent and number, skin test reactivity, peripheral white blood cell count, total lymphocyte count, and migration inhibitory factor production were not significantly altered by 5 weeks of ethanol treatment. Therefore, in a controlled animal model of chronic ethanolism, we observed a significant depression of lymphocyte blastogenic response which may, in part, explain the increased propensity to infection by intracellular pathogens seen in alcoholics.
 ...
PMID:Ethanol-induced alterations in lymphocyte function in the guinea pig. 637 25

The burn patient is in many ways the archetypical immunosuppressed host: the anatomic barriers have been breached and the host's defenses suppressed. Infection is the leading cause of death in hospitalized burn patients not having inhalation injury, being responsible for between 50 and 75 percent of the hospital deaths. Burn injury produces profound abnormalities in immunologic function. These changes are generally proportional to the degree of burn injury (surface area and depth). Cell-mediated immune function is suppressed. Anergy and depressed allograft rejection occur. Acute burn serum samples contain several factors that suppress cell-mediated immune functions. Antibody levels are usually mildly to moderately reduced. Complement, particularly the alternative complement pathway, may be massively activated and depleted, removing a critical defense mechanism against gram-negative rod infections for which preformed antibodies are absent. This depression is further exacerbated by malnutrition and infection. Fibronectin levels are also reduced. Phagocytic cell function is abnormal with burns. Neutrophil numbers may be depressed, and function is abnormal. Chemotactic responsiveness, cytoplasmic granule enzyme content, and oxygen radical generation are abnormal. Monocyte/macrophage dysfunction has similarly been demonstrated. Burn infections reflect abnormal host functions as well as changes in the hospital environment and microbial selection pressures. The burn patient is a model of cutaneous infection in the patient at risk.
 ...
PMID:Infections in burn patients: a paradigm for cutaneous infection in the patient at risk. 637 65

Infection following surgery is not uncommon. Human leucocytes play a vital role in the body's defense against infection. In order to decrease perioperative morbidity and mortality from infection, it is important to define the comparative effects of different anaesthetic agents on the leucocyte function. Therefore, the effect of equipotent concentrations (MAC 1) of isoflurane, enflurane, halothane, methoxyflurane and 70 per cent nitrous oxide, on the leucocyte chemotactic migration was investigated in vitro. The chemotactic migration of neutrophils and monocytes, with and without equilibration with MAC 1 concentrations of different volatile anaesthetics and 70 per cent nitrous oxide, was compared by using a modification of Boyden's method. Chemotactic migration of both cell types was unaffected by isoflurane, but a significant depression of chemotactic migration was observed with enflurane, halothane, methoxyflurane and nitrous oxide (p less than 0.05). The severity of depression of migration was maximal with nitrous oxide, followed by methoxyflurane, halothane and enflurane in order. It is concluded that equipotent concentrations of various anaesthetic agents produce different degrees of depression of leucocyte chemotactic migration in vitro.
 ...
PMID:Comparative effects of volatile anaesthetic agents and nitrous oxide on human leucocyte chemotaxis in vitro. 649 78

Two species of Simulium were used to examine the effect of experimental Onchocerca lienalis infections on their fecundity and oviposition rates. S. ornatum s.l. was chosen as a natural vector of bovine onchocerciasis in Britain, and S. lineatum was selected because of its suitability as an experimental model for oviposition studies. Infection was either by feeding with blood containing microfilariae, or by intrathoracic injection of the parasites. Using the blood feeding technique, reductions in the fecundity of S. lineatum were observed at rates of 21 to 76%, depending on the concentration of parasites. A reduction of 21% in the fecundity of S. ornatum s.l. (P less than 0.05) was achieved when flies were fed on microfilariae at 69,000 per ml. Although individual flies feeding on infected blood may take as much as those in control groups, the feeding rates were reduced in several instances. S. lineatum also showed a depression of oviposition rate when infected by O. linenalis larvae. Fecundity was also significantly reduced when the route of infection was intrathoracic. Reductions for S. lineatum depended on the inoculum, but were either 36% (10 microfilariae per fly) or 54% (50 microfilariae per fly). S. ornatum s.l. showed a 13% reduction in fecundity when given 20 microfilariae per fly. It was concluded that similar experimental studies could be usefully performed with S. damnosum s.l. infected with O. volvulus microfilariae.
 ...
PMID:The effect of experimental Onchocerca infections on the fecundity and oviposition of laboratory reared Simulium sp. (Diptera, Simuliidae). 671 Jun 3

Infection with either a pathogenic species of trypanosome (Trypanosoma brucei brucei) or a non-pathogenic trypanosome (Trypanosoma musculi) had differing effects on the response of mice to a soluble protein antigen (human serum albumin, HSA) injected in either Freund's incomplete adjuvant or in saline. T. brucei suppressed the response to HSA to a level undetectable by ammonium sulphate globulin precipitation, irrespective of the mode of immunization, whereas T. musculi did not suppress the amount of antibody produced in response to either form of antigen presentation. The affinity of the antibody produced in response to antigen in adjuvant was unaffected, but antibody affinity was significantly reduced in infected animals in which the antigen was given in saline. This depression of antibody affinity was related to the period of infection and arose as a result of a delay in the normal maturation of affinity. Furthermore, the depression was only observed when infection preceded the exposure to antigen. Possible mechanisms which may lead to a depression of affinity without a corresponding effect upon antibody levels are discussed in context of current knowledge of immunosuppression in trypanosome infections.
 ...
PMID:Trypanosome infection of mice depresses antibody affinity and delays affinity maturation. 687 26

Depression in immunological responsiveness was manifested in phase with parasitaemia in rats infected with Plasmodium berghei. The spleen was the most affected organ. The response of spleen cells to phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) and the number of plaque forming cells among spleen cells of rats injected with sheep red blood cells (SRBC), were reduced especially at peak parasitaemia. At the onset of the disease the spleen was activated and the responses were amplified. Antibody titres in the serum revealed basically the same picture. Malaria changed also the dose response to antigens so that an overdose of SRBC that normally causes 'immune paralysis' gave rise to significant numbers of plaque forming cells (PFC) in the spleen even in very sick rats. Infection with P. berghei influenced in different ways the two concurrent infections studied: Trypanosoma lewisi and Nipponstrongylus brasiliensis. The severity of trypanosomiasis was proportional to the P. berghei parasitaemia, while the number of the nematodes was not influenced by the malaria in any case. The immunity against T. lewisi depends on the activity of an intact spleen whereas the immunity against N. brasiliensis depends mainly on the mesenteric lymph nodes. The overall results suggest that in malaria the immunological functions of the spleen are severely impaired.
 ...
PMID:Aspects of immunosuppression during Plasmodium berghei infection in rats. 704 23

Medical complaints and office visits of spouses and children of depressed patients were examined and compared to a matched comparison group of spouses and children of nondepressed patients. Both spouses and children of depressed patients showed increased numbers of visits and complaints which returned to control levels one year after the depression was diagnosed and treated. Infection, pain, functional, and anxiety complaints showed significant increases in spouses over controls. Definite diagnoses, infections, pain, and anxiety complaints were significantly increased in children compared to controls. In both spouses and children these complaints returned to control levels by the third period of the study, one year after the depression had been diagnosed (and treatment for depression started). The pain, functional, and anxiety complaints of spouses and children were very similar qualitatively to those of the depressed patients. The results demonstrate the validity of the family as a unit of medical care.
 ...
PMID:Depression in family practice: some effects on spouses and children. 735 Feb 60

Infection with rickettsiae of the spotted fever group was clinically and serologically diagnosed in four dogs from two households on Long Island. In two dogs, clinical signs included high fever (to 40.5 C), abdominal pain, lethargy, depression, anorexia, and nystagmus. One of these dogs had conjunctivitis and petechial hemorrhages in the oral mucous membranes. The third dog initially had high fever, evidence of abdominal pain, anorexia, and depression. The fourth dog appeared clinically normal. Clinical signs disappeared following treatment with tetracycline given orally.
 ...
PMID:Rocky Mountain spotted fever in dogs. 738 Jul 21

The chick was used as a rapid metabolic model to determine the fate of ingested fructose vs. glucose in noninfected chicks and in those subjected to the stress of avian tuberculosis. The chicks were crop-loaded with either a 72% fructose or glucose solution 21 and 28 days post TB inoculation and killed 2 and 4 hr after loading. In noninfected chicks, both sugars were rapidly converted to glycogen, and there was an interaction with time and the amount of glycogen formed from each sugar. Infection depressed glycogen formation from both fructose and glucose. While the total amount of glycogen formed from glucose could be directly correlated to increased liver size in the TB chicks loaded with glucose, in the chicks loaded with fructose less glycogen was formed even though liver size was increased as a result of the TB infection. The depression in glycogen formation was not related to the severity of the infection since the TB involvement was not the same in the two experiments conducted; but in both cases chicks loaded with fructose showed a greater reduction in the capacity of the liver to synthesize glycogen.
 ...
PMID:Effects of glucose and fructose loading on glycogenesis in chicks infected with avian tuberculosis. 741 80

The response of hepatic and haemotopoetic functions to treatment with praziquantel was studied using healthy and schistosome-infected mice. Female CF1 mice harbouring an 18 week old infection with Schistosoma mansoni and healthy uninfected mice of the same age were orally treated with 1 x 250 mg praziquantel/kg. The respective uninfected controls received the vehicle only. Blood samples were taken one, five, 14 and 28 days after treatment. Parameters studied were: activity of GOT, GPT and AP, concentration of glucose, blood clotting time, haemoglobin content, erythrocyte and leucocyte counts, PCV and body weight. The data were analyzed to reveal the effect of the three independent variables involved: infection, treatment and time after treatment. Infection of mice with S. mansoni for 18 weeks resulted in a depression of body weight, in a decrease of plasma GOT activity and of PCV and in increases of plasma GPT and AP activities, leucocyte counts and clotting time. Plasma glucose concentrations remained unaffected. The effects of treament with praziquantel were confined to the infected group. Changes attributable to the variable time were also more pronounced or even restricted to the infected treated group. Treatment of infected mice with praziquantel resulted in a temporary elevation of plasma GOT and GPT activities on Day 1 after treatment. Values had returned to normal on Day 5. Treatment further resulted in a slight but prolonged elevation of AP activities, a high leucocyte count on Day 5 after treatment and a normalization of the underweight and anaemic state of the infected mice. The nature of the effects observed after treatment with praziquantel is discussed in the light of corresponding data on the effect of treatment with hycanthone and SQ 18.506 in schistosome infected mice and Mastomys. It is concluded that the changes observed can be regarded as secondary, reflecting host responses to damaged parasites and healing processes.
 ...
PMID:Effect of praziquantel on clinical-chemical parameters in healthy and schistosome-infected mice. 743 2


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>