In the present report we studied the formation of severe gastric erosions produced in fasted rats by intragastric administration of piroxicam (PRX), an enolic acid-derived NSAID. The time course of gastric damage and the possible role of mucus secretion, endogenous sulphydryl compounds, changes of gastric vascular permeability and neutrophil infiltration in the development of PRX-induced gastric lesions were also investigated. PRX dose-dependently (1.25-20 mg/kg) caused acute gastric haemorrhagic erosion in the rat. The lesions increased with time until 9 hr after dosing. Mucus secretion did not change significantly with respect to the control group with 5, 10 and 20 mg/kg of PRX at different times (3 and 6 hours) of treatment. There was also no increase in the concentration of its components. In addition, oral pretreatment of the animals with PRX did not significantly change the amount of dye trapped in the stomach. In contrast, non-protein SH fraction was decreased after administration of PRX and MPO activity as an index of neutrophil infiltration was significantly increased. These results suggest that independently of the PRX dose, depletion of endogenous non-protein SH and neutrophil infiltration could play an important part in the pathogenesis of gastric mucosal injury induced by PRX.

The Na/Ca exchange is a highly regulated transport mechanism in which MgATP, a powerful modulatory intracellular substrate, has important implications for its function. As occurs with some preparations, in squid axons, nucleotide regulation is lost after membrane vesicle isolation. This has been a significant obstacle in the biochemical characterization of the MgATP effect. An important clue in solving this long-standing puzzle is presented in this work by showing that prolonged intracellular dialysis of squid axons produces a complete run down of the MgATP effect. Here we report that a soluble cytoplasmic factor isolated from fresh squid axoplasm and brain reconstitutes the MgATP stimulation of the Na-gradient-dependent 45Ca uptake in squid optic nerve membrane vesicles. Partial purification of this factor uncovers the presence of a novel 13 kDa soluble cytoplasmic protein (SCPr) which, when microinjected in ATP de-regulated dialyzed squid axons, completely restores the MgATP stimulation of Na(o)-dependent Ca efflux. We propose that in the squid preparation this SCPr constitutes the link between the nucleotide and target effector: the Na/Ca exchanger itself, or other plasma membrane structures which may secondarily interact with the exchanger.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract