Cholangitis Caused by Hereditary Spherocytosis in Adulthood Treated by Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography

Hereditary spherocytosis is a disease caused by deficiency of erythrocyte lipid membrane protein. Hereditary spherocytosis shows hemolysis of erythrocyte, and it leads to anemia, jaundice by elevation of indirect bilirubin. Almost of patients are diagnosed in their infancy, and can be cured by splenectomy about their age 6–7. Herein, we report a rare case of 33-year-old male was suffered from gallbladder stone and cholangitis those are thought to be the late complications of hereditary spherocytosis. We performed endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography to remove common bile duct stones. After he got cholecystectomy and splenectomy, there was no recurrence of choledocholithiasis. This is the first case in Korea who didn’t undergo splenectomy until grown up, shows cholangitis as a late disease manifestation of hereditary spherocytosis.

In vitro susceptibility of duck, chicken, and pig erythrocyte lipids to peroxidation

The susceptibility of erythrocyte lipid to in vitro peroxidation as measured by TBARS (thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances) and concentration of reduced glutathione (GSH) in whole blood and erythrocyte suspension before and after incubation with hydrogen peroxide was assessed in ducks, chickens and pigs. A high susceptibility of erythrocytes to peroxidation in vitro was observed in all animals tested, but this susceptibility was of different intensity. Pig erythrocytes exhibited the lowest resistance to oxidative stress in vitro as compared with that in ducks (P < 0.01) and chickens (P < 0.02). A high level of GSH in the erythrocytes of ducks and chickens offers higher resistance to oxidative stress in comparison with that in the pig erythrocytes.

Erythrocyte lipid composition at different stages of type 1 diabetes in children

Complete profiles of phospholipid and ceramide molecular species from erythrocyte lipid extracts of children without carbohydrate metabolism disorders, and children with type 1 diabetes were compared by means of high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. For the first time a statistically significant increase (p<0.05) of lysophosphatidylcholine content in two groups of diabetic children with different duration of the disease (less than one year and more than one year) was found. Statistically significant changes in other lipid classes were not observed. The dependence of the content of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine molecular species containing arachidonic acid residue (20:4) on the duration of the disease was found. The observed shift in lipid metabolism suggests of phospholipase A2 and chronic inflammatory process at different stages of diabetes mellitus, in cells (erythrocytes), which aer not involved in the immune response.

Thymoquinone, theNigella sativaBioactive Compound, Prevents Circulatory Oxidative Stress Caused by 1,2-Dimethylhydrazine in Erythrocyte during Colon Postinitiation Carcinogenesis

We have performed this study to investigate the modulatory effect of thymoquinone (TQ), theNigella sativaactive compound, on erythrocyte lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status during 1,2-dimethylhydrazine- (DMH-) induced colon carcinogenesis after initiation in male Wistar rats. Rats exposed to DMH showed an increase of malondialdehyde and conjugated diene levels, and an augmentation of enzyme activities like catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase activities was also noted. The TQ pretreatment restored the parameters cited above to near-normal values. However, the posttreatment shows an activity similar as that presented by DMH. Therefore, our investigation revealed that TQ was a useful compound preventing DMH-induced erythrocyte damages.