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SummaryThis study was designed to show the effect of boiling on the antihypertensive and antioxidant activities of onion in NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) induced hypertensive rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Male 6-wk-old Sprague-Daw ley rats were made hypertensive by being given distilled water containing L-NAME at a dose of 50mg/kg BW/d. These rats were fed diets containing raw or boiled onion at a concentra tion of 5%. Raw onion significantly reduced the increase in systolic blood pressure in both L NAME induced-hypertensive rats and SHR, and inhibited the increase in thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and conjugated dienes in the plasma and tissues of SHR. The antihypertensive effect of boiled onion was not found, and the antioxidant activity of it was much weaker than that of raw onion. The excretion of nitric oxide metabolites (NOx) in urine was enhanced by raw onion in both L-NAME induced-hypertensive rats and SHR, and was enhanced by boiled onion only in SHR. In conclusion, our results suggested that the anti hypertensive activity of onion disappeared during boiling, and the disappear of the antihy pertensive activity of raw onion after boiling might come, in part, from a decrease of the antioxidative activity of onion, with a consequent reduction in the saving of nitric oxide (NO).

3-[1-(6,7-Diethoxy-2-morpholinoquinazolin-4-yl)piperidin-4-yl]-1,6-dimethyl-2,4(1H,3H)-quinazolinedione hydrochloride (KF24345) is a novel potent adenosine uptake inhibitor. KF24345 inhibited [3 H]adenosine uptake into erythrocytes from human, mouse, rabbit, and hamster with IC 50 values of 59.5, 130.1, 104.2, and 30.9 nM, respectively. In mice, oral administration of KF24345 at 10 mg/kg almost completely inhibited the [ 3 H]adenosine uptake into sampled blood cells at least up to 10 h of the administration. In this study, to examine whether the adenosine uptake inhibition exhibits anti-inflammatory effects, we determined the effects of KF24345 on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced tumor necrosis factor-␣ (TNF-␣) production and leukopenia in mice. ) also inhibited the decrease of leukocytes after the LPS injection, and 8-(p-sulfophenyl)theophylline, a nonselective adenosine receptor antagonist, completely reversed the inhibitory effect of KF24345. These results demonstrate that KF24345 inhibits LPS-induced TNF-␣ production and leukopenia via enhancing the effect of endogenous adenosine. It is thus suggested that the adenosine uptake inhibitor has anti-inflammatory effects in vivo and represents a novel therapeutic approach to the treatment of various inflammatory diseases.

Galactosialidosis is a recently established heredodegenerative disease occurring in adults, characterized by cerebellar ataxia, myoclonus, cherry‐red spots, angiokeratoma and deficiencies of two lysosomal enzymes, β‐galactosidase and neuraminidase. Results of recent investigations are briefly reviewed and the molecular basis of this new disease is discussed.