Browsing by Author "WIELANDT, AM"

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    EFFECT OF COLCHICINE AND HEAT-SHOCK ON MULTIDRUG-RESISTANCE GENE AND P-GLYCOPROTEIN EXPRESSION IN RAT-LIVER
    (ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV, 1994) VOLLRATH, V; WIELANDT, AM; ACUNA, C; DUARTE, I; ANDRADE, L; CHIANALE, J
    The multidrug resistance genes encode plasma membrane glycoproteins named P-glycoproteins, that act as an ATP-dependent drug efflux pump and decrease the cytosolic concentration of chemotherapeutic agents. It has been hypothesized that in rat liver, this protein may have a physiological role as a biliary transporter of xenobiotics and endobiotics. Some human tumor cell lines turn on the human multidrug resistance gene in response to high temperature and after exposure to toxic chemicals. Accordingly, it has been proposed that the human multidrug resistance gene is a heat shock gene. We have assessed whether two environmental stresses, heat shock or acute exposure to cytotoxic drugs (colchicine, vincristine, vinblastine and daunomycin), induce changes in the expression of multidrug resistance genes in the rat. Total cellular RNA extracted from rat liver was hybridized to a labeled human multidrug resistance gene cDNA probe. Temperature upshift did not increase the steady-state of mdf mRNA levels in the tissues studied, suggesting that the mdr genes are not activated as part of a heat shock response. The mdi mRNA levels increased in rat liver as early as 3 h after a single injection of colchicine, reached a peak (500%; p<0.05) after around 24 h and returned to constitutive levels after 48 h. Changes in the relative content of mdr mRNA were not detected in kidney, adrenal gland and small bowel, suggesting that the in vivo induction of the mdr gene in the liver is a tissue-specific response. The other cytotoxic drugs that were tested did not increase the steady-state of mdr mRNA levels. Using specific PCR-generated mouse mdr cDNA probes, we found that only the mdr 2 gene is overexpressed in the liver of colchicine-treated mouse. The mdr gene induction was followed at 48-72 h by a stronger immunostaining in rat liver of its encoded product, suggesting that the newly synthesized protein was incorporated into the canalicular domain of hepatocytes. This is the first evidence of modulation of mdr expression gene in rodent liver in response to colchicine, a substrate of P-glycoprotein in multidrug resistant cells. (C) Journal of Hepatology.
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    POSTCHOLESTATIC ALKALINE-PHOSPHATASE ACTIVITY AFTER RELIEF OF BILE-DUCT OBSTRUCTION IN THE RAT
    (W B SAUNDERS CO, 1993) WIELANDT, AM; PIZARRO, M; SOLIS, N; ARRESE, M; ACCATINO, L
    The effects of obstructive cholestasis on the activity of alkaline phosphatase have been extensively studied in serum and liver tissue. However, very little is known about the activity of this enzyme in the postcholestatic condition after relief of the biliary obstruction. The purpose of this study has been to characterize alkaline phosphatase activity in serum, liver and bile in the postcholestatic period and to relate it to changes in bile acid secretory rate. Serum activity and biliary secretory rates of alkaline phosphatase were markedly increased in rats subjected to a reversible obstructive cholestasis for 24 hr or 48 hr and progressively declined along the postcholestatic period to values not significantly different from those of control rats within 48 hr. A significant direct linear relationship between the biliary secretory rates of enzyme activity and bile salts was apparent both in cholestatic groups and in the control groups. The slope of the regression line (units of alkaline phosphatase secreted per micromole of bile salts) was 1.5-fold to 3-fold higher in cholestatic animals. Remarkably, a positive y-intercept of regression lines suggested that a significant fraction of the enzyme was secreted independently of bile salts; this fraction was 18-fold and 34-fold greater in 24-hr and 48-hr cholestatic rats, respectively, compared with that in controls. Sodium taurocholate administered intravenously, either as a bolus or as an infusion at increasing submaximal rates, resulted in parallel increases of bile salt and alkaline phosphatase secretory rates into bile. The enzyme activity secreted per micromole of taurocholate was significantly greater in cholestatic than in control rats. In the liver tissue, increased homogenate and canalicular membrane alkaline phosphatase activity in 24-hr cholestatic rats progressively decreased to reach control values 48 hr after relief of biliary obstruction. This study demonstrates that a marked increase of alkaline phosphatase secretion into bile occurs in the postcholestatic condition. It presents further evidence for bile acid dependency of this process and demonstrates that more enzyme is secreted per micromole of bile salt in the postobstructive condition, probably related to the increased enzyme content in the liver and to an increased lability of the canalicular membrane enzyme to the solubilizing effect of secreted bile acids in cholestatic rats. In addition, this study suggests that alkaline phosphatase might be normally secreted into bile by another process independent of bile salts, which appears to be quantitatively more important in cholestatic than in control rats.