Gastric metaplasia is one of the factors in duodenal ulcer appearance. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of gastric metaplasia and its connection with age, sex, cigarette smoking and H. pylori infection. In the study 216 patients were included. There were 98 patients with duodenal ulcer, 60 with duodenitis, and 58 healthy control subjects. There was no statistically significant difference in gastric metaplasia frequency according to age and sex. Gastric metaplasia was statistically more significant in patients with duodenal ulcer (p < 0.01). In all the subjects cigarette smoking did not significantly influence gastric metaplasia. In smokers with duodenal ulcer, and those who besides duodenal ulcer and smoking had H. pylori infection gastric metaplasia was more frequent (p < 0.01). However, in patients with duodenal ulcer, there was no statistically significant difference of gastric metaplasia related to H. pylori presence. It may be suggested that H. pylori infection is not of indispensable significance for gastric metaplasia appearance.

The DEAD box protein, p68, is an established RNA-dependent ATPase and RNA helicase in vitro, but neither the physiological function of this protein nor the macromolecules with which it interacts are known. Using a yeast two-hybrid screen, we identified the nucleolar protein, fibrillarin, as a protein that interacts with p68. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments confirmed that p68 and fibrillarin can form complexes in cellular extracts, and deletion analysis identified regions in each protein responsible for mediating the interaction. Immunofluorescence studies using confocal microscopy revealed that, in interphase cells, while fibrillarin is predominantly nucleolar, p68 shows a diffuse granular nuclear staining but is largely excluded from the nucleoli. Strikingly, both proteins colocalize in nascent nucleoli during late telophase. These data are consistent with a role for p68 either in postmitotic nucleolar reassembly or in the activation of ribosomal DNA transcription/preribosomal RNA processing during telophase and suggest that differential subnuclear compartmentalization may be a mechanism by which interaction of p68 with fibrillarin is regulated in the cell.

Both excitatory and inhibitory intrinsic neurons could be found within the gastric wall, both of them receiving innervation from vagal fibres and being sensitive to nicotine. The effects of three nicotine receptor agonists, nicotine, tetramethylammonium (TMA) and 1,1-dimethyl-4-phenylpiperazinium (DMPP), on contractile activity of preparations isolated from feline and human gastric corpus wall were investigated. While DMPP (3.5x10(-8) to 5.9x10(-4)m) did not affect either spontaneous contractions or basal tension of isolated preparations from both species, TMA produced concentration-dependent tonic contractions of both circular and longitudinal isolated preparations from human (3.66x10(-5) to 5.10x10(-3)m) and feline (6. 1x10(-7) to 2.1x10(-3)m) stomach. On the other hand, nicotine (4. 1x10(-8) to 7.0x10(-4)m) produced concentration-dependent relaxation of only circular isolated preparations from feline gastric corpus. The effect of nicotine was sensitive to mecamylamine, and not to pancuronium, while the effect of TMA was sensitive to both mecamylamine and pancuronium. Although in our experiments DMPP had no effect, its excitatory action on gastric intrinsic neurons through the hexamethonium-insensitive pathway had already been described. The results of our study suggest that two different types of ganglion nicotine receptor exist together within the wall of feline stomach: (1) type N(N1)which is involved in relaxation and is sensitive only to nicotine and mecamylamine, and not to DMPP, TMA and pancuronium; (2) and type N(N2)which is involved in contraction of gastric muscle and sensitive to DMPP, TMA, mecamylamine and pancuronium, and not to nicotine.

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