Læknablaðið - 01.09.1979, Page 60

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LÆKNABLAÐIÐ
tvívegis ræktast frá mönnum hér á landi, en
það ár voru greind 4 alvarleg tilfelli af þess-
um sjúkdómi og þykir því rétt að vekja at-
hygli á honum. Tveir sjúklingar voru nýburar
og greindist sjúkdómurinn skömmu eftir fæð-
ingu og fengu börnin viðeigandi meðferð með
góðum árangri. I einu tilviki var um að
ræða fósturlát á 24. viku meðgöngu, en fjórði
sjúklingurinn var 43 ára gamall maður með
heilahimnubólgu, sem hugsanlega smitaðist af
kindum. Sá sjúklingur ber varanleg merki
sjúkdómsins.
Listeria monocytogenes ræktaðist frá öll-
um súklingunum og var bakteriologisk grein-
ing framkvæmd á sýkladeild Rannsóknastofu
Háskólans, en síðar staðfest af Center for
Disease Control í USA. Þar voru stofnarnir
einnig greindir serologiskt og reyndust allir
vera af typu 4b.
Tom Berganl
Pharmacokinetics of metronidazole
Metronidazole is an important drug for the
treatment of certain protozoal and anaerobic
bacterial infections. A cross over study has
been done with several doses of tablets and
suppositories. There is a linear relationship
between dose and the surface under the serum
concentration curves, both for the oral and
the rectal dosages. The suppositories give
serum levels which are some 80 per cent of
the tablet responses. The serum half life
varies betWeen 9-10 hours for unchanged
metronidazole. Part of the drug is metabolized
to partially antibacterially active derivatives.
The serum half-life for total antibacterial
activity is between 8 and 15 hours.
l Departments of Microbiology, Aker sykehus and
Institute of Pharmacy, University of Osio.
M. Kjeld, Jeff Wieland, M. Puah.
Progesterone conjugates in Human
Urine
Steroid hormones with hydroxylated func-
tional groups are known to exist in conjugated
forms in body fluids, primarily as glucuronides
and sulphates. However it is generally felt
that non-hydroxylated steroids are not con-
jugated in body fluids. Past studies have dis-
covered a so-called enol glucuronide in rat
urine of androstendione ( a Keto-steroid) and
enol glucuronides of androstenodione and pro-
gesterone hav'e been synthesized. Such a con-
jugate (enol) of progesterone has not been
found in animals or humans. This fact, plus
the observation that urinary progesterone
levels are found to increase merely by leaving
urine at room temperature led us to investi-
gate possible conjugation of progesterone in
urine.
METHODS
Urine from near term pregnant females
was collected and then fractionated (into 30
fractions) on a Sephadex A-25 anion exchange
column (30 cm x 0.5 cm). Fractions were
then subjected to various treatments, followed
by thin layer chromatography (TLC plates
from Merck, 4/1 TOLUENE: Acetone solu-
tion) and finally assayed by radio-immuno-
assay for progesterone content. The treatment
of fractions were as follows:
1) Untreated (control).
2) Acid hydrolysis for 16 hours with 3M
h2so4.
3) Incubation for 16 hours at 37°C w/B-
glucuronidase (400 phenothalein units in
.5M Acetate buffer at pH 4.7).
4) Incubation for 16 hours at 37°C.
Data: To be presented.
Discussion: DATA suggest that progesterone
is indeed conjugated in at least two forms’.
The identity of these conjugates remains un-
certain but the conjugates are both negatively
charged and one appears to be mildly heat
labile. Other studies have suggested that cer-
tain tissues in steers have the ability to con-
jugate progesterone and store progesterone in
its coniugated form. This study supports this
idea, that progesterone does exist physiologic-
ally in conjugated forms, and goes further by
showing that these conjugates of progesterone
are found in human urine. The biological
sign'ficance of these two new progesterone
coniugates remains to be elucidated. These
data further suggest that other non-
hvdroxylated steroids should be re-evaluated
for the possible existence of conjugates.
Friðþjófur Björnsson, Ásbjörn Sigfússon, Tryggvi
Ásmundsson
Lyfja og geislameðferð við smá-
frumukrabbameini í lunga
Smáfrumulungnakrabbi er sú tegund
lungnakrabbameins, sem er algengust hér á
landi. Þessi tegund vex hraðast og sáir sér
fliótt í önnur líffæri. Flestum læknum ber
nú saman um, að hér eigi skurðlækningar
ekki \'ið. Menn hafa náð umtalsverðum árangri
síðiistu 5-6 ár með fleir-lyfja meðferð.
Fiailað er um 11 siúklinga með smáfrumu-
lungnakrabba. sem lögðust inn á deild III-B,
Lsp., á 10 mán. tímabili. Meðferð var cyclo-
\