BALNEOLOGICAL STUDIES USING RADIOACTIVE ISOTOPES (3)

By using labelled sodium sulfate or calcium sulfate (sulfate containing S(35)) the transition of sulfate ion into the body across the skin was investigated soon after taking a bath in sodium sulfate or calcium sulfate solution under varing conditions. Mice were used for experiments. The percutaneous absorption of sulfate ion proved to decrease gradually in the course of serial baths in sodium sulfate solntion and was accelerated by making a fresh burn on the skin of the bathed animals, but it showed a tendency to decrease as the wound became more and more healed. The application of basic dye to the skin (e.g. 1% methylenblue or 1% fuchsin solution) increased the transition of sulfate ion into the test animal. Little difference was proved between the bath in sodium sulfate and calcium sulfate solution with respect to the penetration of sulfate ion. Passage of sulfate ion from the bath water through the skin was a little promoted by the use of sodium sulfate solution than by the use of calcium sulfate solution

Analysis of A-Type and B-Type Highly Polymeric Proanthocyanidins and Their Biological Activities as Nutraceuticals

Proanthocyanidins have a series of heteroflavan-3-ols, (+)-catechin/(−)-epicatechin units, which are linked through a single B-type linkage and a doubly linked A-type linkage. Recently, we have performed the structural characterization of seed shells of the Japanese horse chestnut and fruits of blueberry and cranberry. The molecular sizes of them were higher in the order of blueberry > cranberry > seed shells of the Japanese horse chestnut between the respective fractions. For the analysis of terminal and extension units in those proanthocyanidins, the isolated fractions were subjected to the thiolytic cleavage of the B-type linkages using 1-dodecanethiol, and the resulting degradation products were identified by ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry. These analyses provided fast and good resolution of the degradation products and revealed higher proportions of A-type linkages compared with B-type linkages in both isolated fractions in the order of the seed shells > cranberry > blueberry. Moreover, the isolated fractions with higher molecular sizes and those more abundant in the proportions of A-type linkages were found to be more effective in the inhibition of pancreatic lipase activity. The results suggest that A-type highly polymeric proanthocyanidins are promising for the attenuation of lipid digestion as dietary supplements

Characterization of the novel protein P9TLDR (temporal lobe down-regulated) with a brain-site-specific gene expression modality in Alzheimer’s disease brain

AbstractAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is an aging-related neurodegenerative disorder characterized by irreversible loss of higher cognitive functions. The disease is characterized by the presence of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT). In the current study we isolated from an intra-cerebral brain-site-specific (AD temporal lobe vs. AD occipital lobe) polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-select cDNA suppression subtractive hybridization (PCR-cDNA-SSH) expression analysis the novel gene P9TLDR, potentially a microtubule-associated protein involved in neuronal migration, with an altered expression pattern: down-regulated in the temporal lobe cortex of early stage AD brains. In an in vitro AD-related cell model, amyloid-β peptide (Aβ)-treated neurons, reduced P9TLDR expression correlated with increased tau protein phosphorylation. In conclusion, interference with the P9TLDR signalling pathways might be a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of AD