Although there is evidence that suggests that dopamine (DA) has stimulatory effects on somatostatinergic transmission, it is unknown to date if DA increases the activity of the somatostatin (SS) receptor-effector system in the rat brain. In this study, we evaluated the effects of the administration of DA and the DA D1-like (D1, D5) receptor antagonist SCH 23390 and the D2-like (D2, D3, D4) receptor antagonist spiperone on the SS receptor-adenylate cyclase (AC) system in the Sprague-Dawley rat striatum and hippocampus. An intracerebroventricular injection of DA (0.5 microgram/rat) increased the number of SS receptors and decreased their apparent affinity in the striatum and hippocampus 15 hr after its administration. The simultaneous administration of the DA receptor antagonists SCH 23390 (0.25 mg/kg, ip) and spiperone (0.1 mg/kg, ip) before DA injection partially prevented the DA-induced increase in SS binding. The administration of SCH 23390 plus spiperone alone produced a significant decrease in the number of SS receptors in both brain areas studied at 15 hr after injection, an effect that disappeared at 24 hr. The increased number of SS receptors in the DA-treated rats was associated with an increased capacity of SS to inhibit basal and forskolin (FK)-stimulated (AC) activity in the striatum and hippocampus at 15 hr after injection. This effect had disappeared at 24 hr. By contrast, basal and FK-stimulated enzyme activities were unaltered after DA injection. No significant changes in the levels of the alpha i (alpha i1 + alpha i2) subunits were found in DA-treated rats as compared with control rats. In addition, the immunodetection of the alpha i1 or alpha i2 subunits showed no significant changes in their levels in DA-treated rats when compared with controls. DA injection also induced an increase in SS-like immunoreactive content in the rat striatum but not hippocampus at 15 hr after administration and returned to control values at 24 hr. These results provide direct evidence of a functional linkage between the dopaminergic and somatostatinergic systems at the molecular level.

Antibodies to phospholipids (aPL) and associated proteins are a hallmark in the diagnosis of anti-phospholipid syndrome (APS). Those included in the classification criteria are the lupus anticoagulant (LA) and the IgG and IgM isotypes of anticardiolipin (aCL) and anti-beta-2 glycoprotein I (β2GPI) antibodies. Non-classification criteria markers such as autoantibodies that recognize the phosphatidylserine/prothrombin (aPS/PT) complex have been proposed as biomarkers for APS. Studies of aPS/PT antibodies have shown a strong correlation to clinical manifestations and LA. We aimed to study the value and the persistence of aPS/PT IgG and IgM antibodies in a cohort of consecutive patients with clinical suspicion of APS and their utility as thrombotic risk markers. Our study, with 103 patients, demonstrates that persistently positive results for aPS/PT IgG antibodies were significantly associated with APS classification, thrombosis, triple aPL positivity, LA positive result, and the Global APS Score (GAPSS) > than 9 points (p < 0.01, for each condition). On the other hand, no association was seen with pregnancy morbidity (p = 0.56) and SLE (p = 0.07). Persistence of aPS/PT antibodies, defined according to the current laboratory classification criteria, likely improves the diagnosis and clinical assessment of patients with APS.

SummaryIn order to investigate the possibility that, in the rat, some cerebral cortex somatostatin (SS) receptors may be localized presynaptically on the terminals of serotonergic neurons, serotonin [5-hydroxytryptamine, (5-HT)] neurons in the central nervous system were damaged with a local intracerebral injection of the serotonergic neurotoxin, 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT). The injection of 5,7-DHT (11 /~g free base dissolved in 10 t~l of isotonic saline containing 0.01% ascorbic acid) in rats produced an reduction by about 74 % in frontoparietal cortical 5-HT content at 1 and 3 weeks after injection. These changes were associated with a significant decrease by about 30 % in the total number of specific SS receptors in the frontoparietal cortex at both times studied without influencing the apparent affinity of the receptors. Together, these results suggest that a portion of the frontoparietal cortex SS receptors may be localized presynaptically on the serotonergic nerve terminals. The 5,7-DHT did not affect SS-like immunoreactivity (SSLI) levels suggesting that SS and 5-HT are not colocalized within the same neuronal elements in the rat frontoparietal cortex.

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