Biochemical, electrophysiological, and pharmacological evidence supporting a role for cholinergic dysfunction in age-related memory disturbances is critically reviewed. An attempt has been made to identify pseudoissues, resolve certain controversies, and clarify misconceptions that have occurred in the literature. Significant cholinergic dysfunctions occur in the aged and demented central nervous system, relationships between these changes and loss of memory exist, similar memory deficits can be artificially induced by blocking cholinergic mechanisms in young subjects, and under certain tightly controlled conditions reliable memory improvements in aged subjects can be achieved after cholinergic stimulation. Conventional attempts to reduce memory impairments in clinical trials hav not been therapeutically successful, however. Possible explanations for these disappointments are given and directions for future laboratory and clinical studies are suggested.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/217/4558/408.full.pdf

The Cholinergic Hypothesis of Geriatric Memory Dysfunction

Well-being : the foundations of hedonic psychology

admission. This proportion could already be greater in some parts of the country and may increase if referrals of cases of self-poisoning increase faster than the facilities for their assessment and management. The provision of social work and psychiatric expertise in casualty departments may be one means of preventing unnecessary medical admissions without risk to the patients. Dr Blake's and Dr Bramble's figures do not demonstrate, however, that any advantage would attach to medical teams taking over assessment from psychiatrists except that, by implication, assessments would be completed sooner by staff working on the ward full time. What the figures actually suggest is that if assessment of overdoses were left to house doctors there would be an increase in admissions to psychiatric units (by 19°U), outpatients (by 5O°'), and referrals to social services (by 140o). So for house doctors to assess overdoses would provide no economy for the psychiatric or social services. The study does not tell us what the consequences would have been for the six patients who the psychiatrists would have admitted but to whom the house doctors would have offered outpatient appointments. E J SALTER

Vitamin D deficiency.

https://cyberleninka.org/article/n/148766.pdf

Cytochrome P450 enzymes in drug metabolism: Regulation of gene expression, enzyme activities, and impact of genetic variation

Helicobacter pylori is the first formally recognized bacterial carcinogen and is one of the most successful human pathogens, as over half of the world's population is colonized with this gram-negative bacterium. Unless treated, colonization usually persists lifelong. H. pylori infection represents a key factor in the etiology of various gastrointestinal diseases, ranging from chronic active gastritis without clinical symptoms to peptic ulceration, gastric adenocarcinoma, and gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. Disease outcome is the result of the complex interplay between the host and the bacterium. Host immune gene polymorphisms and gastric acid secretion largely determine the bacterium's ability to colonize a specific gastric niche. Bacterial virulence factors such as the cytotoxin-associated gene pathogenicity island-encoded protein CagA and the vacuolating cytotoxin VacA aid in this colonization of the gastric mucosa and subsequently seem to modulate the host's immune system. This review focuses on the microbiological, clinical, immunological, and biochemical aspects of the pathogenesis of H. pylori.

Pathogenesis of Helicobacter pylori Infection

Molecular basis for rational megaprescribing in ultrarapid hydroxylators of debrisoquine.

A single oral dose of omeprazole (20 mg) was given orally to 160 healthy Caucasian Swedish subjects and tested as a probe for CYP2C19. The study was nonrandomized and included seven subjects previously classified as poor metabolizers (PM) of S-mephenytoin. The ratio between the plasma concentrations of omeprazole and hydroxyomeprazole (metabolic ratio; MR) was determined by HPLC in a blood sample drawn 3 h after drug intake. In 17 subjects the test was repeated and the MRs of omeprazole on the two occasions were correlated (rs = 0.85; p < 0.0001). There was a significant correlation between the MR of omeprazole and the S/R mephenytoin ratio among 141 subjects, in whom both ratios were determined (rs = 0.63, p < 0.001). All seven PMs of S-mephenytoin had higher MRs of omeprazole (7.1-23.8) than extensive metabolizers (EM) (0.1-4.9). All 160 subjects and another 15 Caucasian Swedish PMs previously phenotyped with mephenytoin were analysed with respect to the presence of the CYP2C19m1 allele by PCR amplification of the intron 4/exon 5 junction followed by Sma I digestion. EMs heterozygous for the CYP2C19m1 gene had MRs of omeprazole and S/R ratios of mephenytoin that were higher than those of subjects who were homozygous for the wild-type allele (p = 0.0001). Nineteen of the 22 PMs were homozygous for the CYP2C19m1 gene. Three were heterozygous for this allele. Thus, 41 of the 44 alleles (93%) of PMs were defective CYP2C19m1. One of the remaining three PM alleles was subsequently found to contain the CYP2C19m2 mutation, which has earlier been shown to be associated with the PM phenotype in Oriental populations. In conclusion, the phenotype determined by omeprazole correlated with that of mephenytoin, and was in good agreement with the genotype.

Use of omeprazole as a probe drug for CYP2C19 phenotype in Swedish Caucasians: comparison with S-mephenytoin hydroxylation phenotype and CYP2C19 genotype

Aims Clozapine (CLZ), an atypical neuroleptic with a high risk of causing agranulocytosis, is metabolized in the liver to desmethylclozapine (DCLZ) and clozapine N-oxide (CLZ-NO). This study investigated the involvement of different CYP isoforms in the formation of these two metabolites. 

Methods Human liver microsomal incubations, chemical inhibitors, specific antibodies, and different cytochrome P450 expression systems were used. 

Results Km and Vmax values determined in human liver microsomes were lower for the demethylation (61±21 μm, 159±42 pmol min−1 mg protein−1 mean±s.d.; n=4), than for the N-oxidation of CLZ (308±1.5 μm, 456±167pmol min−1 mg protein−1; n=3). Formation of DCLZ was inhibited by fluvoxamine (53±28% at 10 μm ), triacetyloleandomycin (33±15% at 10 μm ), and ketoconazole (51±28% at 2 μm ) and by antibodies against CYP1A2 and CYP3A4. CLZ-NO formation was inhibited by triacetyloleandomycin (34±16% at 10 μm ) and ketoconazole (51±13% at 2 μm ), and by antibodies against CYP3A4. There was a significant correlation between CYP3A content and DCLZ formation in microsomes from 15 human livers (r=0.67; P=0.04). A high but not significant correlation coefficient was found for CYP3A content and CLZ-NO formation (r=0.59; P=0.09). Using expression systems it was shown that CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 formed DCLZ and CLZ-NO. Km and Vmax values were lower in the CYP1A2 expression system compared to CYP3A4 for both metabolic reactions. 

Conclusions It is concluded that CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 are involved in the demethylation of CLZ and CYP3A4 in the N-oxidation of CLZ. Close monitoring of CLZ plasma levels is recommended in patients treated at the same time with other drugs affecting these two enzymes.

https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-2125.1997.t01-1-00605.x

The involvement of CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 in the metabolism of clozapine

1. Fourteen healthy Swedish Caucasian subjects were given 20 mg of omeprazole orally each morning for 8 days. The subjects included five poor metabolisers (PM) of S-mephenytoin, four heterozygous extensive metabolisers (hetEM) and five subjects with a very rapid metabolism (rapidEM). 2. After the first dose, the relative mean areas under the plasma concentration vs time curve (AUC) of omeprazole in rapidEM, hetEM and PM were 1:3.7:20 (all different, P < 0.001). A similar relation was seen in the AUC(0,10 h) of the sulphone metabolite (1:3:12). Concentrations of hydroxyomeprazole were higher in EM than in PM confirming that the hydroxy, but not the sulphone metabolite, is formed by the S-mephenytoin hydroxylase (CYP2C19). After 8 days of treatment, the differences between groups were similar. 3. After both the first and the eighth doses, the omeprazole/hydroxyomeprazole plasma concentration ratio, determined 3 h after drug intake, correlated with the mephenytoin S/R ratio (rs = 0.94; P < 0.001; n = 14) suggesting that omeprazole might be used to phenotype for CYP2C19. 4. After the first dose of omeprazole, there was no difference in the AUC(0,10 h) of plasma gastrin between the three groups. From the first to the eighth dose, the AUC(0,10) of gastrin increased significantly in both hetEM and PM, while there was no change in the rapidEM. After the eighth dose, the AUC(0,10) of gastrin correlated significantly with the AUC of omeprazole in plasma (rs = 0.79; P < 0.01; n = 13).

/pdf/interphenotype-differences-in-disposition-and-effect-on-7p8flpyeok.pdf

Interphenotype differences in disposition and effect on gastrin levels of omeprazole—suitability of omeprazole as a probe for CYP2C19.

1. The debrisoquine hydroxylase (CYP2D6) is polymorphically distributed. Not only are there differences in the proportions of extensive metabolisers to poor metabolisers in various ethnic groups, but there are also pronounced variations in the metabolic capacity among those classified as extensive metabolisers. 2. The mean debrisoquine metabolic ratio of Caucasian extensive metabolisers is lower than that for a number of African populations. In the present study, we have searched for novel CYP2D6 mutations to explain the diminished enzyme activity in African populations. 3. Three Zimbabwean Shona subjects with EM phenotypes (metabolic ratios for debrisoquine of 0.4, 1.5 and 10.5 respectively) were selected and the open reading frame of the CYP2D6 gene of each was sequenced. 4. The subject with metabolic ratio of 10.5 was found to be homozygous for an allele with a nucleotide exchange in exon 2, 1111C-->T causing a 107Thr-->Ile amino acid exchange in a conserved region of the enzyme. In addition, he was homozygous for the 2938C-->T and 4268G-->C mutations causing 296Arg-->Ser and 486Ser-->Thr amino acid substitution found in the CYP2D6*2 allele. 5. Seventy-six Zimbabwean Shona subjects were subsequently genotyped for the 1111C-->T mutation and for the intron 1 gene conversion present in the CYP2D6*2 gene. The 1111C-->T mutation was found at an allele frequency of 34% and was only present in alleles carrying the gene conversion in intron 1 indicative for the CYP2D6*2 gene. 6. This allele (CYP2D6*17), containing the 1111C-->T, 2938C-->T and 4268G-->C mutations, was found to be strongly associated with lower capacity for debrisoquine hydroxylation. We therefore postulate that the CYP2D6*17 allele might contribute to the molecular basis of the previously established diminished debrisoquine hydroxylase activity in African Bantu populations.

A novel mutant variant of the CYP2D6 gene (CYP2D617) common in a black African population: association with diminished debrisoquine hydroxylase activity

Leif Bertilsson

Papers

Molecular basis for rational megaprescribing in ultrarapid hydroxylators of debrisoquine.

Use of omeprazole as a probe drug for CYP2C19 phenotype in Swedish Caucasians: comparison with S-mephenytoin hydroxylation phenotype and CYP2C19 genotype

The involvement of CYP1A2 and CYP3A4 in the metabolism of clozapine

Interphenotype differences in disposition and effect on gastrin levels of omeprazole—suitability of omeprazole as a probe for CYP2C19.

A novel mutant variant of the CYP2D6 gene (CYP2D617) common in a black African population: association with diminished debrisoquine hydroxylase activity