No abstract

Laser capture microdissection in conjunction with gene expression analysis provides an excellent approach for studying lacrimal gland duct cells about which relatively little is known at the molecular level. As demonstrated in a proposed model, the polarized expression of transporters and channels on lacrimal gland duct membranes is consistent with the hypothesis that duct cells secrete the relatively high K+ in lacrimal fluid.

The relevance and significance of the plasma kallikrein/ kinin system as a risk factor for the development of vascular complications in diabetic patients was explored in a cross-sectional study. We measured the circulating levels of plasma prekallikrein (PK) activity, factor XII, and high؊molecular weight kininogen in the plasma of 636 type 1 diabetic patients from the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial/Epidemiology and Diabetes Intervention and Complications Study cohort. The findings demonstrated that type 1 diabetic patients with blood pressure >140/90 mmHg have increased PK levels compared with type 1 diabetic patients with blood pressure <140/90 (1.53 ؎ 0.07 vs. 1.27 ؎ 0.02 units/ml; P < 0.0001). Regression analysis also determined that plasma PK levels positively and significantly correlated with diastolic (DBP) and systolic blood pressures (SBP) as continuous variables (r ‫؍‬ 0.17 and 0.18, respectively; P < 0.0001). In multivariate regression analysis, the semipartial r 2 value for PK was 2.93% for SBP and 2.92% for DBP (P < 0.0001). A positive correlation between plasma PK levels and the urinary albumin excretion rate (AER) was also observed (r ‫؍‬ 0.16, P < 0.0001). In categorical analysis, patients with macroalbuminuria had a significantly higher level of plasma PK than normoalbuminuric patients (1.45 ؎ 0.08 vs. 1.27 ؎ 0.02 units/ml; P < 0.01), whereas microalbuminuric patients had an intermediate PK value (1.38 ؎ 0.05 units/ml; P ‫؍‬ NS). Among patients in the microalbuminuric subgroup, we observed a positive and independent correlation between PK and AER in univariate and multivariate regression analysis (r ‫؍‬ 0.27, P < 0.03; n ‫؍‬ 63). We concluded that in type 1 diabetes, 1) PK levels are elevated in association with increased blood pressure;2) PK levels are independently correlated with AER and are categorically elevated in patients with macroalbuminuria; and 3) although the positive correlation between PK and AER within the subgroups of patients with microalbuminuria suggest that PK could be a marker for progressive nephropathy, longitudinal studies will be necessary to address this issue.