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Gadolinium (Gd3+) is known to be the most paramagnetic ion but is also a very toxic cation often used in pharmacology as a putative stretch-activated channel inhibitor. Gadodiamide, a nonionic Gd3+ chelate, is frequently injected i.v. into magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to enhance contrast. To determine whether this complex is innocuous in humans, a cytotoxicity study was performed on artificially stimulated human neutrophils (HN). HN were incubated with gadodiamide and with free Gd3+ (GdCl3). The purpose of the study was to estimate possible cell damage after incubation, and to validate further trials based on stimulated cellular models. Measurement of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release and the Trypan blue exclusion test were used to assess viability. HN were separated from the blood of healthy volunteers and stimulated by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, a pharmacological reactive which induces protein kinase C activation, superoxide generation, and degranulation by leukotcytes. This study demonstrated that an acellular model is necessary to interpret LDH results. In addition, the experimental conditions of the study demonstrated GdCl3 toxicity on HN viability, while gadodiamide was not harmful.

Among reactive oxygen species generated by human neutrophils during inflammatory disorders, hypochlorous acid and hydroxyl radical are especially involved in many diseases such as arteriosclerosis or emphysema. It was shown in vitro that two thiol-containing drugs, mesna and N-acetylcysteine, have antioxidant properties towards these oxidants. The 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) of mesna and N-acetylcysteine for hypochlorous acid production by stimulated neutrophils were 29 and 30 mcM, respectively, and for hydroxyl radical production, IC50s were 520 and 480 mcM, respectively. With this in vitro demonstrated effectiveness, both mesna and N-acetylcysteine have been considered as therapeutic antioxidants to decrease tissue damage inflicted by an excess of activated neutrophils by scavenging hypochlorous acid and hydroxyl radical.

During inflammatory disorders, potentially destructive reactive oxygen species, especially hydrogen peroxide, are produced by activated phagocytic cells. It was demonstrated in vitro that mesna and N-acetylcysteine (NAC), mucolytic thiols, have antioxidant properties. An estimation was made of the 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of mesna and NAC for PMA-induced H2O2 production by human neutrophils, the results being 70 mcM and 77 mcM, respectively. The mechanism which governs mesna and NAC reactions results from a scavenging effect of H2O2: the calculated IC50s of this effect were 30 mcM and 42 mcM, respectively, in free cellular experimentation. The results suggest that mesna and NAC might be used as antioxidants in aerosols to prevent tissue damage inflicted by this reactive oxygen species, especially in the lungs.

A radioreceptor assay (RRA) was developed to determine plasma levels of amisulpride. In in vitro binding conditions, the RRA technique was sensitive (11.6 nmol/l) and reliable, with a high degree of precision. The reproducibility of the method through statistical coefficients was < 7%. This method was applied to a pilot pharmacokinetic study in rabbits following single i.v. administration of amisulpride at 10 mg/kg. The results obtained were compared with those obtained by high performance liquid chromatography method (HPLC) in order to assess the validity of this new RRA technique.

A method is described for the extraction and determination of epirubicin and its main metabolites epirubicinol and glucuronides in plasma, using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. The extraction was performed with column Sep-Pak C18, which allowed a quantitative recovery of compounds. This method was used first in studies performed in five rabbits after intravenous administration of 3 mg/kg epirubicin, and later in a cancer patient, who received 50 mg/m2 epirubicin in rapid intravenous infusion. Although not statistically significant, kinetics of epirubicin were fitted in both cases to a tri-exponential model. Common metabolites were detected in rabbits and human, particularly the glucuronides. However, kinetics of epirubicin glucuronides and epirubicinol glucuronides were very different. Production and elimination were very fast in rabbit at very low levels and were undetectable two hours after administration, while in human, elimination was slower and greater amounts were detected 1-2 h after administration. The rabbit seemed to be an interesting animal species for pharmacokinetic studies because of easy blood sampling, detection of small amounts of glucuronides and because of a good fit to tri-exponential kinetics model.

Alveolar macrophages are able to adapt their energy metabolism to very difficult survival conditions. Gaseous phase culture is adaptable to alveolar macrophages because it reproduces in vitro conditions very similar to in vivo conditions. It is easy to modify the incubation gas composition for hypoxia and anaerobiosis. Metabolic changes and cell injury were evaluated in three studies carried out after 24 hr of gaseous phase culture in normoxia and in anaerobiosis with a possible treatment with 0.01 microgram/ml vincamine: 1) ATP content assay by bioluminescence, the witness of cell vitality which decreases significantly in anaerobiosis; 2) Lactate assay which shows the metabolism derivation towards the anaerobic pathways; and 3) Tritiated deoxyglucose (DOG) incorporation, which shows glucose requirements after hypoxic incubation, maintaining or recovering a certain level of energetic activity. This incorporation greatly increases after anaerobic culture. Vincamine has no activity in normoxia. The three parameters are not significantly different from control, but in anaerobiosis, vincamine reveals an interesting protective effect. ATP content decreases under treatment and DOG incorporation increases. This demonstrates that vincamine is able to maintain cell metabolic activity for a longer period of time after the beginning of hypoxic trial. Cells can better use their energy storage and the metabolic pathways which enable them to restore themselves, thanks to vincamine treatment. It has been shown that cell membrane integrity was preserved by tests using cytochalasin B. DOG was not incorporated by cells treated with cytochalasin B after 24 hr of anaerobic culture and normally incorporated by control cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)