The nature of the SHV-1 ␤-lactamase gene was analyzed in 97 epidemiologically unrelated Klebsiella pneumoniae strains isolated from clinical samples. ␤-Lactamase bands that focused at a pI of 7.6 (SHV-1-type) in 74 strains, at a pI of 7.1 (LEN-1-type) in 13 strains, and at a pI of 5.4 (TEM-1-type) in 10 strains were detected by analytical isoelectric focusing (

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The debrisoquin hydroxylation polymorphism is an autosomic recessive trait of the cytochrome P450IID6, an enzyme involved in drug metabolism, that affects 5% to 10% of white subjects. The genetic basis of this polymorphism was studied in 258 unrelated Spanish white subjects. The results revealed that about 5% of the subjects were homozygous for mutant alleles and that about 1% of the subjects carried alleles that suggested CYP2D6 gene duplication. The extensive metabolizers who were homozygous for the wild-type allele had higher metabolic ratio than the heterozygous extensive metabolizers, indicating a gene-dose effect for the wild type allele. The CYP2D6 allele frequencies indicate a reduced frequency for the CYP2D6(B) allele and a higher frequency for the wild-type allele compared with other white populations. This is also reflected in an increased frequency of the subjects who were homozygous for the wild-type allele among extensive metabolizers. We conclude that the same CYP2D6 mutations are present in Spaniards and other white subjects. Nevertheless, the frequencies of such mutations are different in our population. This implies that a high number of Spanish subjects may behave differently than other white subjects in the effect of drugs metabolized by the CYP2D6 enzyme.

We studied the oxidation capacity in liver biopsies of a series of extensive metabolizers (n = 10) and poor metabolizers (n = 2) as identified by in vivo phenotyping with dextromethorphan. Codeine and dextromethorphan were used as probe drugs in vitro. The data were compared with the contents of cytochrome P-450IID1 as quantitated by Western immunoblotting by use of a specific monoclonal antibody (MAb 114/2). The O-demethylation of codeine was highly correlated with the O-demethylation of dextromethorphan (r = 0.90). The N-demethylation of codeine was catalyzed at a considerably higher rate than the O-demethylation. The N-demethylation to O-demethylation ratio of codeine was 46 in the poor metabolizer and, on average, 6.2 (range, 2.6 to 11) in the extensive metabolizers, respectively. The band intensity in Western blots correlated with the rate of O-demethylation of codeine (r = 0.95) and of dextromethorphan (r = 0.88) in the extensive metabolizers. The comeasurement of the O-demethylation and N-demethylation of codeine may provide a tool with which to phenotype individuals in vitro with respect to the polymorphism of the cytochrome P-450IID1.

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