Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P01178 (oxytocin)
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This letter comments on a previously published article (August 17, p. 428) relating to the use of prostaglandins for midtrimester abortion. It is estimated that prostaglandin PGF-2-alpha given by the i ntrauterine route has been used in over 5000 patients; 13 cases of cervi cal rupture have been reported. Most ruptrues have occurred in primigravidae. All but 1 of them (who received PGE-2) were given PGF-2-alpha intraamniotically. Periods of gestation have been 15-22 weeks. Large doses of prostaglandins have been used and often supplemented by other oxytocics such as urea or oxytocin. No reported cervical ruptures have followed use of PGE-2 alone, possibly because of its relaxant effect on the cervix. Previous gradual dilatation of the cervix with laminaria tents or with some synthetic prostaglandin analogue is being studied. In first trimester pregnancies prostaglandin analogues given as a single extraamniotic dose 12 or more hours prior to termination has been shown to effect gradual dilatation of the cervix. Of 88 such cases, only 3 required mechanical dilatation of the cervix. It is felt that prostaglandins offer an attractive alternative to hysterotomy or hypertonic saline for terminating second trimester pregnancies when overstimulation of the uterus by large doses is avoided.
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PMID:Letter: Mid-trimester termination. 441 98

The use of intraamniotic injection of hypertonic solutions for termination of pregnancy during the second trimester has been generally adopted. Because of side effects in such treatment with other agents, it was decided to use intraamniotic instillation of urea solution (Urevert) to induce midtrimester therapeutic abortion in 38 patients. The method was successful in 35 patients (92%) with a mean injection/abortion interval of 26.1 hours, shorter than that with the use of hypertonic saline or hypertonic glucose solutions. The side effects of headache, nausea, and vomiting were mild, and an endometritis in 1 patient responded well to antibiotic treatment. Intravenous oxytocin drip was necessary in patients with hypotonic contractions or in those who failed to react within 36 hours after injection. In 3 cases of missed labor, the urea solution injected induced labor within 5-8 hours, with no side effects. The mean in-patient hospital time was 4.3 days.
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PMID:Termination of midtrimester pregnancy by intramniotic injection of urea. 482 62

1. When Rana cancrivora collected from fresh water had been exposed for 3 days to saline solutions having osmolalities from 280 to 690 m-osmole/kg, urea concentrations in plasma and urine appeared to come into equilibrium, and were from 70 to 200 m-mole/l.2. Plasma urea level of fresh water R. cancrivora (48 m-mole/l.) was doubled (82 m-mole/l.) after 8 hr of exposure to 270 m-osmolal saline. It continued the same after 24 hr of exposure.3. When isolated urinary bladders of R. cancrivora were exposed to Ringer on the serosal aspect and one-fifth Ringer on the mucosal aspect, then in response to this osmotic difference of 190 m-osmole/kg, the rate of fluid movement (mucosa to serosa), which was 10.3(+/-2) mul./cm(2).hr, was not significantly altered when up to 60% of the NaCl of the Ringer solution was substituted by urea.4. Under the same circumstances, when oxytocin (50 m-u./ml.) was present in the serosal solution, the rate of fluid movement (mucosa to serosa) was 133.2(+/-7.9) mul./cm(2).hr in the absence of urea; it was progressively decreased by the presence of urea until, when 80% of the NaCl had been substituted by urea, the rate of fluid movement was reduced to 14.5(+/-4.0) mul./cm(2).hr.5. The diminished rate of fluid movement under the above circumstances could not be correlated with serosal urea concentration, with serosal availability of Na(+), nor with Na(+) concentration difference across the bladder wall. It appeared to be directly related to the ;non-urea osmotic difference' across the bladder wall provided by solutes other than urea.6. When isolated bladders were exposed to an osmotic difference of 190 m-osmole/kg, but having 25 mM urea present in the mucosal solution, then fluid moved from mucosa to serosa at a rate of 10.4(+/-1.3) mul./cm(2).hr in the absence of oxytocin and 124(+/-9) mul./cm(2).hr when oxytocin (50 m-u./ml.) was present. In the former case no urea passed across the bladder wall, but in the latter case urea passed from mucosa to serosa at a rate of 3.16(+/-0.3) mumole/cm(2).hr. The fluid moving from mucosa to serosa thus contained urea 25.5 m-mole/l.7. Vasotocin (10(-9)M), which is equipotent with oxytocin (50 m-u./ml.) in affecting permeability of the isolated urinary bladder to water, was also equipotent in producing a reduced rate of water fluid movement in the presence of 40% urea (vasotocin, 63 mul./cm(2).hr; oxytocin, 59 mul./cm(2).hr).8. When groups of frogs were cystectomized, and other groups of frogs were sham-operated, then after 48 hr of exposure to fresh water or to 300 m-osmolal saline the sham-operated frogs had plasma urea level raised from 20 m-mole/l. (fresh water) to 42 m-mole/l. (saline), while the cystectomized frogs had 20 m-mole/l. (fresh water) and 26 m-mole/l. (saline).9. The hypothesis is presented that hormone-induced permeability of the urinary bladder to urea contributes to the immediate adjustment of plasma urea level by which R. cancrivora survives when exposed to high environmental salinity.
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PMID:Permeability of urinary bladder of Rana cancrivora to urea in the presence of oxytocin. 504 40

1. The rate of water uptake across the skin was investigated in live Rana cancrivora, an euryhaline frog which has been reported to tolerate sea water. When they were exposed to distilled water at 29 degrees C, the rate of water uptake was 8.4 +/- 0.4 mul./cm(2).hr; when bathed in solutions ranging from 30 to 570 m-osmole/l., irrespective of whether the solute was sucrose, urea or NaCl, the rate of fluid uptake during the first day was inversely related to the osmolarity of the solution. No appreciable fluid movement was observed when the bathing solution had an osmolar concentration of 270 m-osmole/l.2. The rate of fluid uptake was not affected by injections of vasopressin, oxytocin or of extracts of amphibian or rat pituitary glands, irrespective of whether R. cancrivora were bathed in distilled water or in solutions of NaCl or sucrose.3. In Bufo melanostictus, in contrast with R. cancrivora, injections of neurohypophysial extracts produced a marked increase of the rate of fluid uptake.4. In the laboratory, R. cancrivora could be acclimatized stepwise to tolerate NaCl solutions up to 700 m-osmole/l. for 7 days.5. After 24 hr exposure either to distilled water or to NaCl solutions from 100 to 670 m-osmole/l., the osmolar concentration of the plasma of R. cancrivora was always higher than that of the bathing fluid. In R. pipiens or R. temporaria plasma osmolar concentration was higher than that of the bathing fluid only when the latter did not exceed 300 m-osmole/l.6. Under all conditions investigated, the osmolar concentration of the urine of R. cancrivora was always lower than that of the plasma.7. The amounts of pressor and oxytocic activities of pituitary glands of R. cancrivora kept in distilled water or in NaCl solutions up to 300 m-osmole/l. were 8.9 +/- 0.8 and 1.8 +/- 0.3 m-u./gland, irrespective of sex or body weight within the range 30-50 g. After 3 days exposure to hypertonic NaCl solutions, the amounts of pressor and oxytocic activities were 14.7 +/- 1.2 and 3.1 +/- 0.3 m-u./gland. In both instances the pressor/oxytocic ratio was 4.9. Pituitary glands of R. temporaria similarly showed increased pressor and oxytocic activities after exposure to NaCl solutions of 300-360 m-osmole/l.
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PMID:Water uptake by the crab-eating frog Rana cancrivora, as affected by osmotic gradients and by neurohypophysial hormones. 550 62

1. Weanling rats fed on a synthetic diet, which was completely deficient in arginine, grew more slowly than rats fed on a similar diet which included arginine.2. No differences in the haemoglobin level or plasma protein concentration or electrophoretic pattern were found in the two groups of rats.3. The arginine-deficient rats drank less water, and excreted less urine, which was more concentrated than that of the control animals, although the solute output was reduced, and the extrarenal water losses were the same.4. The arginine-deficient animals excreted less urea, non-protein nitrogen, creatinine and total solutes. The blood urea concentration of the deficient animals was significantly higher than that of the controls, indicating that arginine deficiency had impaired the excretion of urea.5. There was no difference between the renal weights of both groups of animals when related to total body weight, nor was there a difference in the histological appearance of the kidneys.6. The amounts of arginine vasopression and oxytocin/kg body wt. stored in the neurohypophyses of both arginine-deficient and control animals were the same.
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PMID:The effects of arginine deficiency on the water and solute metabolism of weanling rats. 591 5

To determine whether propressophysin (vasopressin-neurophysin precursor) is present in human plasma, the nature of the immunoreactive neurophysin was characterized by gel filtration. When plasma samples obtained from six patients with the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion due to central nervous system disease were fractionated on a column of Sephadex G-50 in 0.2 N acetic acid, virtually all of the nicotine-stimulated neurophysin (NSN) immunoreactivity coeluted with 125I-labeled NSN. In contrast, gel filtration of plasma from six patients with oat cell carcinoma of the lung with ectopic vasopressin production consistently demonstrated, in addition, a peak of a higher molecular weight (HMW) form of neurophysin. This HMW neurophysin represented 8.7-29.4% of the total NSN immunoreactivity in plasma and its elution profile was not changed when chromatographed after incubation in 6 M urea. On sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, the HMW neurophysin ran in the 20,000-dalton area of the gel. A substantial portion of the HMW neurophysin appeared to be a glycoprotein judging from its binding to Concanavalin A. When the HMW neurophysin was incubated with trypsin, most of the immunoreactivity was converted into a smaller neurophysin which bound to a vasopressin-agarose column in a pH-dependent manner. Moreover, a definite peak of immunoreactive vasopressin appeared after the trypsin treatment. This peak coeluted with synthetic arginine vasopressin on gel filtration and had the characteristic affinity of vasopressin for neurophysin-agarose. These results indicate that propressophysin circulates in patients with oat cell carcinoma of the lung with ectopic vasopressin production and suggest that plasma propressophysin may be a marker for ectopic vasopressin production.
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PMID:Propressophysin in human blood: a possible marker of ectopic vasopressin production. 608 1

Midtrimester abortion by extraovular instillation of normal saline was performed in 50 patients. All 50 aborted following the procedure, and there were no complications except for one case of endometritis that was successfully treated by antibiotics. The mean abortion time was 33 hours, without added oxytocin, and 30 hours when pitocin was administered intravenously. The extraovular route eliminates the necessity for amniocentesis, with its associated risks. By using normal saline instead of pharmacologic agents such as urea, glucose, hypertonic saline, prostaglandins, we were able to eliminate the complications related to drug side effects.
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PMID:Extraovular instillations of normal saline for termination of midtrimester pregnancy. 611 May 81

Extracts of bovine neurohypophysis made in acid/ethanol solution containing protease inhibitors were fractionated by two successive filtrations on Sephadex G-75 columns equilibrated in the presence and then in the absence of 4 M urea. Analysis of the pattern of neurophysin-like immunoreactivity in the eluate, with two different antibodies, indicated the presence of high M(r) forms of neurophysin (apparent sizes, [unk]70,000 and 20,000-25,000, respectively) besides the M(r) 10,000 neurophysin. [8-Arginine]vasopressin-like immunoreactivity was also detected, coeluting with the neurophysin-like species, in the material recovered in the exclusion and M(r) 20,000-25,000 elution volumes of the same molecular sieve fractionation of neurohypophyseal extracts. Upon subsequent Sephadex G-150 filtration, the immunoreactive material recovered in the exclusion volume of the Sephadex G-75 filtration showed an apparent M(r) of approximately 140,000. Both neurophysin-like and vasopressin-like immunoreactivities coeluted in the same volume. The elution profile of this M(r) 140,000 material was unmodified when reanalyzed by the same molecular sieve filtration after exposure to 8 M urea. When these M(r) 140,000 immunoreactive forms of vasopressin and neurophysin were submitted to affinity chromatography on anti-neurophysin antibodies immobilized on Sepharose, both immunoreactivities were selectively coadsorbed to the immunoadsorbent. Similarly, the neurophysin and vasopressin immunoreactivities associated with M(r) approximately 25,000 were retained together on the same anti-neurophysin immunoadsorbent. The M(r) 140,000 and M(r) 25,000 species having both neurophysin and [8-arginine]vasopressin antigenic determinants generated the two neurosecretory components when exposed to proteolytic activities. This in vitro processing was inhibited in acid medium, at low temperature, and in the presence of a mixture of protease inhibitors. It is concluded that these two large forms of proteins containing both neurophysin and vasopressin may represent common biosynthetic precursors of these two neurohypophyseal components.
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PMID:Immunological identification of high molecular weight forms common to bovine neurophysin and vasopressin. 615 53

To better characterize putative neurophysin-vasopressin prohormones in human posterior pituitary tissue, we extracted human posterior pituitary glands in 0.1 M HCl and isolated the higher molecular weight neurophysin-immunoreactive proteins. Sephadex G-75 gel filtration in 0.1 M formic acid with 6 M urea showed four distinct peaks of neurophysin immunoreactivity. Analysis of isolated lyophilized fractions of these peaks by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed neurophysin-immunoreactive proteins at molecular weights of 10,000 daltons (79-87% of the total neurophysins), 19,000-20,000 daltons (10-16%), 26,000-30,000 daltons (1-2%), and a broad range of 30,000- to 100,000-dalton immunoreactivity from the void volume (V0) peak (2-3%). The 19,000- to 20,000-dalton and 26,000- to 30,000-dalton proteins were stable after both heating and treatment with reducing agents, but could be converted by chymotrypsin proteolysis to 10,000-dalton neurophysins and 3,000- to 5,000-dalton AVP-immunoreactive proteins. In contrast, the neurophysin immunoreactivity in the V0 peak was broken down to lower molecular weight neurophysin- and AVP-immunoreactive proteins by heating alone. Extraction of human posterior pituitaries in the presence of either [125I]human AVP-neurophysin or [35S] cysteine-labeled monkey neurophysin showed that no labeled neurophysin eluted in the areas of the 19,000- to 20,000- or 26,000- to 30,000-dalton proteins, but a significant fraction of the [35S]monkey neurophysin eluted in the V0. These data suggest that the 19,000- to 20,000- and 26,000- to 30,000-dalton human neurophysins represent stable proteins which are probably common precursor molecules for neurophysin and AVP, but the greater than 30,000-dalton neurophysins found in the V0 appear to be aggregates of neurophysins, neurophysin precursors, AVP, oxytocin, and probably other proteins and lipids as well, rather than very high molecular weight precursor proteins.
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PMID:Characterization of neurophysin-vasopressin prohormones in human posterior pituitary tissue. 640 29

The development of new techniques for 2nd trimester abortion procedures enables physicians to individualize care to meet specific needs and, at the same time, decrease morbidity and mortality. This paper reviews the procedures and preoperative and postoperative considerations in midtrimester abortions. Reasons for midtrimester pregnancy termination include fetal abnormalities, failed 1st trimester abortions, selected maternal medical conditions, fetal death in utero, and elective abortion requests in which the pregnancy was not recognized earlier. Careful assessment of medical and psychological conditions should be made. Ultrasonography is often useful in the preoperative evaluation of midtrimester abortion patients to prevent misjudgments of gestational age. Midtrimester abortion procedures include prostaglandins (PGs), amnioinfusion, and dilatation-evacuation. PGE2 suppositories, placed in the posterior vaginal fornix every 3-4 hours, seem to have high efficacy and few side effects. Amnioinfusion methods should be performed after 15 weeks of gestation, since it may be difficult to enter the amniotic cavity before that time. Care should be taken to avoid intravenous, intraperitoneal, or intramyometrial injection of the abortifacient. Dilatation-evacuation has become the most common method of 2nd-trimester pregnancy termination. Use of laminaria tents for adequate preoperative cervical dilatation, specialized instruments, and gradual acquisition of surgical skill starting with the early 2nd trimester contribute to the greater safety of this method. Other surgical methods include hysterotomy and hysterectomy. There are also many possible combinations of midtrimester abortion techniques. For example, laminaria tents can be used with most procedures, and oxytocin infusion may improve results when used simultaneously with amnioinfusion or hypertonic saline or urea. Hypertonic urea can be used prior to dilatation-evacuation, especially in cases of advanced gestational age. Retained tissue and Rh isoimmunization are among the postoperative considerations. The effects of 2nd trimester abortion on future fertility have not been analyzed; however, care should be taken to avoid trauma to the cervix and uterus, to maximize removal of retained products of conception, and to minimize postabortal infection.
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PMID:Midtrimester abortion: techniques and complications. 641 16


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