Serum Of Healthy Adults Research Articles

Creatine kinase isoenzyme BB in serum of healthy adults and children

The activity of the creatine kinase isoenzyme BB was determined in the serum of 26 healthy adults and 31 children. The isoenzyme BB could be proved as a normal component in the human serum. In the adults examined, an activity of 0.56 ± 0.16 I.U./l ( x ± S.D.) was determined. The activity of creatine kinase isoenzyme BB in the serum does not depend on sex but is subject, however, to a strong age dependence. Only at an age of more than 18 years, isoenzyme BB activities adjust to those of adults.

Creatine Kinase Isoenzyme BB in Serum of Patients undergoing Chronic Hemodialysis and with Kidney Transplant

The activity of creatine kinase isoenzyme BB (CK-BB) was determined in serum of healthy adults and in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis and with kidney transplant. In the healthy adults examined, an activity of 0.56 +/- 0.16 U/l (mean +/- SD) was found. The arithmetic mean of CK-BB activity in patients with renal insufficiency under hemodialysis was 1.42 +/- 0.87 U/l and differed from that of the healthy group. The CK-BB activity in patients with kidney transplant was not different from that of the control group. The occurrence of CK-BB in serum is discussed from diagnostic and methodological point of view.

Binding of diuretics to human serum albumin and to human serum from healthy adults and patients with renal failure.

It was found by in vitro equilibrium dialysis method that there is a small difference in the binding percentage of three diuretics, hydrochlorothiazide, furosemide, and ethacrynic acid, to bovine serum albumin and that to human serum albumin (between two animal species). The binding of three diuretics to human serum was examined in healthy adults and in patients with renal failure. In the healthy adults, binding of three diuretics was dependent on the degree of dilution of human serum. The same type of binding percentage curves was obtained when crystalline human serum albumin and healthy adult serum were diluted with M/15 phosphate buffer. This fact may suggest the possibility that the albumin level in human serum was closely related to the diuretics binding process. In the renal failure, the binding of hydrochlorothiazide and furosemide was correlated with the albumin concentration in human serum. However, the renal failure had reduced the binding of ethacrynic acid due to decreased serum binding capacity. Calculation of binding percentages would be required to assess the clinical importance of decreased binding of diuretics to serum of patients with renal failure.

Human histidine-rich glycoprotein. II. Serum levels in adults, pregnant women and neonates.

SummaryConcentrations of 3.8S histidine-rich glycoprotein were determined in the sera of healthy adults, pregnant women, neonates, and of persons afflicted with a variety of diseases. Quantitative differences were found between the HRG concentration in healthy adult serum (12.5 ± 3.2 mg/100 ml, mean ± SD) and in neonatal (2.3 ± 1.5 mg/100 ml) and cord serum (3.4 ± 1.1 mg/100 ml). In women the HRG concentration declines steadily during the last two trimesters of pregnancy reaching at parturition a value about 50% of that in adult serum (5.6 ± 2.3 mg/100 ml, P < 0.005), but returns to normal levels within 5-15 days postpartum. No difference was observed between the HRG levels of males and females in either adults or neonates.In general, mean HRG levels in the sera of patients with a variety of disease states were near normal but were more widely scattered than in healthy adults. However, the mean HRG concentrations in the sera of patients with a variety of heart ailments (16.6 ± 6.2 mg/100 ml, P < 0.01) and...

A SIMPLE PROCEDURE FOR DETERMINATION OF BACTERIOLYTIC ACTIVITY IN BIOLOGICAL FLUIDS

A new procedure for spectrophotometric determination of bacteriolytic activity in biological fluids is described. The method uses Micrococcus lysodeikticus cells as substrate. By inactivation of the sample through pre-incubation in ice-water, a large number of samples can be prepared and analysed simultaneously. The necessity of performing the whole analysis in the photometer for one sample at the time is thus eliminated. By measuring the increase in transmission at 570 nm after incubation of the samples at 37 degrees C a relatively long reaction time and wide concentration range is obtained. This makes the results quite precise and reproducible. The method has been used to determine the bacteriolytic activity in serum of healthy adults. Men have significantly higher levels than women.

The nature of the polymeric serum IgA in man.

The nature and the amount of polymeric IgA in sera from normal, adult humans was investigated by means of three markers that selectively differentiate polymeric IgA: the capacity to bind secretory component; the presence of the J chain; and the reactivity with an antiserum that recognizes only the polymeric form of IgA. The results demonstrated that the sera of healthy adults contain only minimal amounts (less than 1% of the total serum IgA) of the true dimeric IgA. These conditions are valid for healthy individuals only. Pathological conditions at the secretory sites may result in increased values for the dimeric as well as for the secretory IgA in serum.

FETAL SERUM LYSOSOMAL ENZYMES

The difficulties and hazards of prolonged tissue culture (3-6 wks.) needed to establish the prenatal diagnoses of the hereditary biochemical disorders of metabolism are well recognized. Direct fetal blood sampling for study of lysosomal enzymes should allow the prenatal diagnosis of many ‘storage’ disorders within 24 hours of amniocentesis. The normal range of specific activity (SA) for these enzymes in fetal serum need be established. The minimum volume of fetal serum required for, assay was 2.5-100 μl. Assays using 4-methylumbilliferyl glycosides as substrates, for hexosaminidase, glucuronidase, arylsulfatase, and mannosidase, were performed on 5 fetal sera (12-20 wks. gestation), 3 second trimester pregnancy sera, and 4 healthy adult sera. The total fetal serum protein (mean 40.7 mg/ml) was less than half the level of normal adult serum (91.0 mg/ml) and lower than mid-trimester pregnancy serum (74.7 mg/ml). The SA's of hexosaminidase in fetal serum (mean 38.4) was more than 3 times the adult control SA (11.4) and significantly more than the pregnancy sera (23.5). similar observations of increased SA for mannosidase were made in fetal serum. The SA of arylsulfatase was similar in fetal and pregnancy serum which were each almost 4 times the SA of normal adult serum. No difference was observed in the SA of glucuronidase in the 3 groups studied.

Coronative antibody tires in sera of healthy adults and experimentally infected volunteers.

Six coronaviruses isolated in the U.S.A. have been inoculated into volunteers and all produced colds. Between 10 and 20% of infected volunteers developed heterologous antibody responses after these and other experimental infections with coronaviruses. The haemagglutination-inhibition test with the OC43 virus strain was found to detect antibody rises after infection with a variety of strains.Studies on normal adult sera taken between 1965 and 1970 revealed a high frequency of neutralizing antibody to one strain (229 E) and a frequency of HI antibody to strain OC43 which fluctuated from year to year. Complement-fixing antibodies to these two viruses were also found, revealing an apparent increase in the activity of coronaviruses in the general population of the U.K., during the winter of 1968-9.

Alkaline phosphatase: diagnostic value of isoenzyme determination.

Abstract. The isoenzyme pattern of the alkaline phosphatases was determined in the sera of 51 normal subjects, 28 patients with hepatobiliary diseases and 17 patients with bone diseases. Two quick and technically simple methods of differentiation were used for a semiquantitative determination: stereospecific sensitivity to L‐phenylalanine, especially of the small intestine phosphatase, and the separation of the bone and liver/biliary tract phosphatases by a combination of heat inactivation and stereo‐specific inhibition. The basic principles of these methods are described. The results, statistically evaluated, are discussed. The alkaline phosphatase activity in the serum of healthy adults stems from isoenzymes of the small intestine (about 20%), of bone and of hepatobiliary origin. In hepatobiliary diseases the proportion of bone to liver/biliary tract phosphatases changes significantly in favour of the latter. In diseases of the skeleton, however, which are accompanied by increased activity of serum alkaline phosphatase, there is a significant increase in the absolute fraction of bone phosphatase in the total activity. In addition to the demonstration of these qualitative and quantitative changes in the isoenzyme distribution patterns, limiting values were determined for a normal group; values outside these can be considered as pathognomonic for diseases of the liver and biliary tract and the skeleton respectively. Of particular importance for early diagnosis is the fact that changes in the isoenzyme distribution pattern are demonstrable not only when the total activity is increased, but at a time when the serum activity lies still within normal limits. The methods used are suitable for a rapid and reproducible semiquantitative determination of the isoenzymes of alkaline phosphatase, and for early differential diagnosis of diseases of the skeleton (especially metastatic tumours), the liver and biliary tract.

Immunochemical Quantitation of the Third, Fourth and Fifth Components of Human Complement: Concentrations in the Serum of Healthy Adults

Summary Immunochemical quantitation of the third, fourth and fifth components of human complement is feasible with the single radial immuno-diffusion technique. Serum component concentrations (mg/ml) in 25 healthy adults were: C′3, 1.23 ± 0.26 (0.86 to 1.84); C′4, 0.436 ± 0.118 (0.240 to 0.800) and C′5, 0.076 ± 0.024 (0.042 to 0.140). The experimental error of the quantitation was 10% for C′3 and C′4 and 15% for C′5. The immunochemical quantitation is influenced by in vitro conditions which allow physicochemical alterations in complement proteins; inclusion of ethylenediaminetetraacetate in the agar and the use of fresh serum or serum stored at -70°C circumvents this problem.

Microbiologic Determination of Folic Acid Derivatives in Blood

Abstract A microbiological method for the determination of folic acid activity (F.A.A.) in blood, and serum with three organisms (L. casei, S. faecalis and P. cerevisiae), is described. The S. faecalis No. 9 strain employed shows a considerably higher sensitivity than the standard ATCC No. 8043 strain, whilst the specificity towards the various F.A. derivatives tested is similar. The sensitivity of the P. cerevisiae (L. citrovorum) assay is also increased by adding thymidine, which spares the requirement for folinic acid. Finally, the procedure of extraction of the F.A.A. from blood has been modified to assure release and stabilization of the compounds assayed. F.A.A. in blood and serum of healthy adults and infants are given.

X-Ray Spectroscopy in the Clinical Laboratory

Abstract Sulfur analysis in serum is performed with the X-ray spectrometer. The total sulfur content of normal serum in healthy adults is found to be 98 mg./100 ml. of serum ± 2.0 (2σ). This calculates to 1.44 gm. sulfur per 100 gm. of serum proteins ± 0.1 (2σ). The distribution of sulfur in the paper electrophoretic fractions was assayed by performing the electrophoresis and passing the unstained paper through the X-ray field at a constant velocity; 69.3 per cent of the total serum sulfur is found in the albumin fraction. The other fractions contain, for alpha1, alpha2, beta, and gamma globulins, 4.2, 9.5, 9.5, and 7.5 per cent, respectively, as mean values for the 16 healthy adults. From the protein content of each fraction, determined by staining, the gm. of sulfur per 100 gm. protein is calculated for each fraction as follows: Albumin, 1.74; A,, 1.61; A2, 1.37; beta, 1.09; and gamma, 0.67. The distribution of sulfur in the paper electrophoretic fractions from the two sera containing an abnormal fraction migrating with the gamma globulins was studied. The abnormal protein sulfur was low in these patients—only 0.18 and 0.16 gm. sulfur per 100 gm. of protein being found—as compared to 0.67 per cent in the normal. Both these sera came from patients with multiple myeloma. In the serum of 2 patients, which had abnormal globulins traveling with the beta globulins, one contained level of sulfur elevated to 1.42 gm./100 gm. protein, as compared with 1.09 for normal beta globulin. The diagnosis in this case was multiple myeloma. In the second case the sulfur content was low-0.43 gm. sulfur per 100 gm. protein. In this case the diagnosis in the patient was equivocal. Technics are described for determining the sulfur content of the different electrophoretic fractions with the X-ray spectrometer.

The distribution of Salmonella agglutinins in sera of healthy adults at Ibadan.

The distribution of salmonella agglutinins among 2117 normal sera from 1054 male and 1063 female adult population of Ibadan is described, and the relation of the distribution of the agglutinins with the antigens of salmonella strains isolated over 2-year period in a hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria, is discussed.We wish to thank Prof. B. G. T. Elmes and Dr J. B. Lawson for their help with the collection of specimens. Our thanks are due to Mr R. J. Leeming, F.I.M.L.T. for his technical assistance.(Part of the material upon which this paper is based is included in a thesis for submission for the Cambridge M.D. degree by one of us (D.M.).)

SERUM CHOLESTEROL VALUES FOR INFANTS AND CHILDREN

Because of the wide range of variation in the concentration of cholesterol in the blood serum of healthy adults,¹confirmed in the present study for children, sufficiently large numbers of subjects to justify statistical comparison are required to establish relatively small deviations from normal. This condition has not been met in most previous studies of serum cholesterol in children. Furthermore, the methods used for determination of cholesterol have been criticized severely, and no measurements of cholesterol fractions have been reported in most of these investigations. During the period between Jan. 1, 1934 and March 1, 1942 the accurate method of Schoenheimer and Sperry²or a modification thereof was employed in the Babies Hospital in a large series of determinations of serum cholesterol on infants and children in the first thirteen years of life. It is the purpose of this report to evaluate these data. The clinical histories of