Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0042963 (vomiting)
 31,883 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The authors report a case of toxic hepatitis in a woman of 22 years of age in the third trimester of her first pregnancy treated by methyldopa for hypertension of pregnancy which was diagnosed at 33 weeks of amenorrhoea. The prodromal symptoms were mild and consisted of nausea, vomiting and rise in temperature and this phase was associated with febrile jaundice without pruritus and it was only associated with coagulation disorders in the third stage of labour. This was a case of mixed cytolytic hepatitis (ASAT x 3N) and cholestasis (x 1.5N). The outcome was fatal. The patient died three days after delivery following haematemesis and renal failure as well as hepatic encephalopathy. The main diagnostic feature was acute hepatic stasis in spite of the absence of pruritus and the presence of a raised temperature after hematolytic, viral and obstructive causes had been eliminated. Histology confirmed that there was toxic hepatitis. This aetiology was suggested by the timing of the symptoms after MD (methyldopa) had been taken. Elkington described methyldopa hepato-toxicity in 1969. Fatal cases in the literature were in patients who were over 40 years of age. Methyldopa is used in pregnant women because of its safety as far as the fetus is concerned. Mechanism by which it causes toxic hepatitis is a combination of abnormal metabolism (the cytochrome P450 chain produces an antigen) and an immune reaction in response to this antigen and these explain why such severe and potentially fatal forms of the condition exist.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[Fatal toxic hepatitis in pregnancy. A discussion of the role of methyldopa]. 232 42

Methyldopa potentiated hypnosis due to hexobarbitone in mice, as did reserpine, chlorpromazine and 5-hydroxytryptamine. Methyldopa antagonized the increase by reserpine of sleep due to hexobarbitone, but enhanced the potentiation by chlorpromazine and 5-hydroxytryptamine of hypnosis due to hexobarbitone. The sedative effect of reserpine in mice and the emetic effect in pigeons were also antagonized by methyldopa. However, the effects of reserpine on convulsions due to leptazol and in causing ptosis were not antagonized by methyldopa. It is suggested that some effects of reserpine (potentiation of hexobarbitone-sleeping time, sedation and emesis) are unrelated to changes in brain amine levels and that methyldopa, with its weak reserpine-like actions, is an antagonist to reserpine.
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PMID:INFLUENCE OF METHYLDOPA ON CENTRAL EFFECTS OF RESERPINE. 1419 Apr 71