PURPOSE: Although alpha-fetoprotein is one of the most commonly used tumor markers in Korea, most of the radioimmunoassay kits for alpha-fetoprotein have been imported from foreign countries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of a recently developed domestic immunoradiometric kit for alpha- fetoprotein (Riakey AFP IRMA CTR, Sin-Jin Medics, Seoul, Korea). MATERALS AND METHODS: We evaluated intra- and inter-assay precision, recovery rate, parallelism, and sensitivity of serum alpha-fetoprotein measurement using Riakey AFP IRMA CTR kit. The values of alpha-fetoprotein measured by Riakey AFP IRMA CTR kit were compared with those measured by two foreign commercial kits (alpha-fetoproteina of Radim and alpha-feto.riabead of Abbott). RESULTS: Intra-assay coefficients of variation on three different levels were 5.3% for 18.9 ng/ml, 3.4% for 133 ng/ml and 1.6% for 330 ng/ml. Inter-assay coefficients of variation were 9.7% for 20.9 ng/ml, 3.2% for 137 ng/ml and 4.1% for 330 ng/ml respectively. Recovery rate tests on all three different levels showed within 100+/-10%. Parallelism was also good and the sensitivity was 0.63 ng/ml. There was strong correlation between the measurement of alpha-fetoprotein by Riakey AFP IRMA CTR and that by two foreign commercial kits(r=0.98). CONCLUSION: The first Korean domestic immunoradiometric kit for alpha-fetoprotein, Riakey AFP IRMA CTR, performed well for clinical use.
alpha-Fetoproteins* ; Fetal Proteins ; Immunoradiometric Assay* ; Korea ; Radioimmunoassay ; Seoul ; Biomarkers, Tumor

No abstract available.
Fetal Blood* ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins* ; Stem Cell Transplantation* ; Stem Cells* ; Umbilical Cord*

No abstract available.
Amniotic Fluid* ; Female ; Fetal Proteins* ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second* ; Pregnancy*

The authors hypothesized that sporadic schziophrenic patients had more chances of receiving environmental insults during the fetal neural development compared with familial schizophrenics. We tested our hypothesis by comparing obstetric complications(OCs), minor physical anomalies(MPAs) and other clinical features, and examining the correlation between OCs and MPAs in schziophrenic patients who had one or more sibling with schizophrenia(sibling group) and sporadic schizophrenics(sporadic group) and normal controls. OCs were evaluated by the scale of Lewis, and MPAs were measured by the Waldrop scale. There were no significant differences in OCs and MPAs between schizophrenic and control groups. Sporadic group had significantly higher fetal distress, total Waldrop score and Waldrop score for mouth than sibling group. And there was a tendency that the number of subjects having the Waldrop score over 4 points was greater in the sporadic group. No significant correlation was observed between OCs and MPAs. The scores of initial psychopathology and post-treatment functioning were much higher in the sporadic group, but the other clinical features showed no differences. Although male patients had more OCs than female patients in sibling group, no sex differences were observed as a whole. Our results suggest that, if the methodological weakness were complemented, OCs and MPAs would be useful tools in the search for the cause of schizophrenia.
Complement System Proteins ; Female ; Fetal Distress ; Humans ; Male ; Mouth ; Psychopathology ; Schizophrenia ; Sex Characteristics ; Siblings*

OBJECTIVETo study the expression of insulin receptor substrate-1(IRS-1) and insulin receptor substrate-2 (IRS-2) in pancreas of rats with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR).

METHODSAn IUGR rat model was prepared by protein malnutrition during pregnancy. The pancreas samples of the IUGR pups were obtained at birth, and 3 weeks and 8 weeks of age. The expression of IRS-1 and IRS-2 mRNA were ascertained by RT-PCR. Western blot was used to measure the protein expression of IRS-1 and IRS-2. The rat pups born from the mother rats who received normal diet during pregnancy severed as the control group.

RESULTSThe expression levels of IRS-2 mRNA and protein in pancreas of the IUGR group were significantly lower than those in the control group at all three time points (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the expression levels of IRS-1 mRNA and protein in pancreas between the IUGR and the control groups.

CONCLUSIONSThe IRS-2 expression levels in pancreas in IUGR rats decrease significantly at birth, and 3 weeks and 8 weeks of age. This might be one of the molecular mechanisms for the development of metabolic syndrome in later life in IUGR individuals.

To investigate the developmental changes of human erythrocytes, adult and fetal erythrocyte membranes prepared from adult and cord blood were analyzed in regard to their proteins, glycoproteins, enzyme activities and glucose transport systems. 1. Adult and fetal erythrocyte membranes appeared to have the same major proteins and gl-ycoproteins in the electrophoretic pattern. 2. ATPase activity in adult erythrocyte membranes was lower than that of fetal erythrocyte membranes, whereas adult cholinesterase was higher. No significant change was observed in the activities of alkaline and acid phosphatases during development. 3. Glucose uptake was higher in fetal erythrocytes than in adult erythrocytes, suggesting some loss of glucose carrier system during devlopment. The results suggest that the major structural proteins in human erythrocyte membrane relatively unchanged while some functional proteins such as membrane enzymes and carrier proteins in transport systems are markedly changed during development.
Adenosine Triphosphatases ; Adult ; Carrier Proteins ; Cholinesterases ; Erythrocyte Membrane ; Erythrocytes* ; Fetal Blood ; Glucose ; Glycoproteins ; Humans* ; Membrane Proteins* ; Membranes* ; Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the differential expression of junctional proteins in the normal and preeclamptic human placenta and the effect of ginsenoside Rk1 in junctional proteins. METHODS: Placental tissues from 10 women with severe preeclampsia and 5 normal women were collected at the time of their cesarean section. Five of 10 preeclamptic women were complicated with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Immunohistochemistry and Western blotting was employed to localize junctional proteins (zo-1, occludin and plakoglobin) positive cells. The placental explant culture was performed to investigate if Rk1 can attenuate the expression of junctional proteins (zo-1, occluding and plakoglobin) induced by deferoxamine-induced hypoxia. Rk1 was treated at the day 3 and Western blot analysis was performed for protein quantification. RESULTS: There was no different expression of zo-1 and plakoglobin among all the study groups. Occludin showed negative at the endothelial cells of the terminal villi in both normal and preeclampsia groups. At the endothelial cells of the stem villi, occludin was detected in both normal and severe preeclamptic placenta with normal fetal growth. However, severe preeclampsia with IUGR were decreased expression of occludin at the endothelial cells of the stem villi. When we administered Rk1 to the placenta treated with DFO, expression of occludin was not different. CONCLUSION: The placental expression of zo-1 and plakoglobin were not different among the study groups, while that of occludin was significantly decreased at the endothelium of stem villi in severe preeclampsia with IUGR. Rk-1 showed no effect on the placental junctional proteins. These results suggest that occludin may play a role in pathophysiology of fetal growth restriction in utero.
Anoxia ; Blotting, Western ; Cesarean Section ; Endothelial Cells ; Endothelium ; Female ; Fetal Development ; Fetal Growth Retardation ; gamma Catenin ; Ginsenosides ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Occludin ; Placenta ; Pre-Eclampsia ; Pregnancy ; Proteins

The purpose of this study was to measure the level of expression of the inducible heat shock protein70 (Hsp70), the constitutive heat shock protein70 (Hsc70) in the outer nuclear layer and the photoreceptors in the human fetal retina. Fetal eyeballs were selected from fetal autopsy specimens of 12 and 17 to 40 week old fetuses, with no history of congenital anomalies. The retinas had differentiated from neuroblastic cells, into matured sensory retinas, from a gestational age (GA) from 12 to 36 weeks. The Hsp70 and Hsc70 were prominently expressed in the nuclear layers. The Hsc70 was expressed at all GAs and the Hsp70 was expressed from 20 to 33 weeks GA. This period is in accordance with the maturation of the sensory retina. The expression of heat shock protein may be regulated by the development of the fetus, and play an important role in the ocular development.
Embryo and Fetal Development ; Fetus/metabolism ; Heat-Shock Proteins 70/*metabolism ; Human ; Immunohistochemistry ; Retina/*embryology ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

PURPOSE: If primitive hematopoietic cells expanded ex vivo can be used in stem cell transplantation, duration for hematologic recovery will be shortened. In this study, CD34 cells were cultured with various hematopoietic growth factors which are known to stimulate proliferation of primitive hematopoietic cells. METHODS: CD34 cells isolated from cord blood were cultured and expanded ex vivo with IL-3, stem cell factor (SCF), flt-3 ligand (FL), thrombopoietin (TPO), granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). To find optimal combination of growth factors, CD34 cells were cultured for 9 days with various combinations of growth factors. To find optimal duration of culture, CD34 cells were cultured for 5, 7, 9, 12 days. To evaluate expansion of primitive hematopoietic cells, the number of CD34 cells, colony forming cells and long-term culture-initiating cells (LTC-IC) were counted by flow cytometry, colony forming cell assay and limiting dilution assay respectively. RESULTS: Primitive hematopoietic cells were successfully expanded from CD34 cells of cord blood. Maximal expansion of LTC-IC and CFU- GEMM were 2.58 and 2.37 fold respectively after 9 days of culture, and were obtained with the combination of IL-3 SCF FL TPO. When CD34 cells were cultured for 5, 7, 9, 12 days with the combination of IL-3 SCF FL TPO, expansion of LTC-IC was maximal (2.95 fold) after 9 days culture. After reaching maximal expansion of LTC-IC, the number of nucleated cells increased, but that of primitive hematopoietic cells decreased. CONCLUSION: Primitive hematopoietic cells can be successfully expanded ex vivo by using hematopoietic growth factors. Duration for hematologic recovery after stem cell transplantation will be shortened by using primitive hematopoietic cells expanded ex vivo.
Fetal Blood ; Flow Cytometry ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins* ; Interleukin-3 ; Stem Cell Factor ; Stem Cell Transplantation ; Thrombopoietin ; Transplantation

We experienced a case of a gallbladder carcinoma detected incidentally by elevated serum alpha- fetoprotein. The patient had a symptom of mild intermittent indigestion, and a routine medical examination revealed elevation of serum alpha-fetoprotein. A mass, 4 cm 3 cm, was located in the gallbladder and it had not infiltrated the liver. The serum level of alpha-fetoprotein decreased after a cholecystectomy. The gallbladder mass was an adenocarcinoma of hepatoid differentiation. Cytoplasms of the tumor cells had positive reactivity to immunohistochemical staining of alpha-fetoprotein. In the course of postoperative follow up, the serum alpha-fetoprotein level increased continuously, and abdominal CT scanning proved multiple intrahepatic metastases.
Adenocarcinoma ; alpha-Fetoproteins ; Cholecystectomy ; Cytoplasm ; Dyspepsia ; Fetal Proteins ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gallbladder* ; Humans ; Liver ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed