Muhammad Mazhar Hussain

Adrenocortical Response to 17-Beta Estradiol Replacement in Oophorectomized Female Sprague Dawley Rats

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of estradiol treatment on serum corticosterone levels in Oophorectomized (OVX) female Sprague Dawley rats exposed to chronic restraint stress. STUDY DESIGN Experimental study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Department of Physiology, Army Medical College, Rawalpindi and National Institute of Health, Islamabad, from January to December 2008. METHODOLOGY A total of 90 female Sprague Dawley rats (age: 90 ± 10 days), were divided into three groups, each having 30 rats. Group-I comprised of healthy control female rats whereas group-II and III were experimental female rats exposed to chronic restraint stress after bilateral Oophorectomy and called estradiol treated and vehicle treated groups. Estradiol treatment of Oophorectomized rats was done once daily for 2 weeks. At the end of experiment, the rats were sacrificed and intracardiac blood sampling was done to measure serum corticosterone levels by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. RESULTS The restraint stress to estradiol treated rats for 2 weeks revealed that serum corticosterone levels were significantly increased (31.32 ± 5.46 ng/ml, p < 0.05) as compared to the healthy controls (17.48 ± 4.14 ng/ml). CONCLUSION Chronic restraint stress results increases the serum corticosterone levels in Oophorectomized Sprague Dawley rats. Estradiol treatment increases the responsiveness of adrenal cortex of Oophorectomized female rats.

Correlation of serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase levels to liver histology in chronic hepatitis C.

OBJECTIVE To assess the correlation of serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase levels to severity of disease on liver biopsy in patients of chronic hepatitis C. STUDY DESIGN Descriptive study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Department of Gastroenterology at Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, from January 2006 to February 2007. METHODOLOGY One hundred and seven diagnosed non-cirrhotic chronic hepatitis C adult patients were included. Serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase levels were determined. Knodell histopathological Index was determined on liver biopsy. The correlation and regression value between serum alanine aminotransferase levels and liver histology and serum aspartate aminotransferase and liver histology in chronic hepatitis C patients was determined using Pearson correlation analysis. RESULTS Patients of chronic hepatitis C had raised serum alanine aminotransferase and levels with the mean baseline level of 93 International units per litre (IU/L) with a range of 13-383 IU/L. Serum aspartate aminotransferase levels were also elevated with mean baseline level of 59.65 IU/L ranging from 18-370 IU/L. On liver biopsy based on Knodell histopathological Index, 47.7% of patients had mild, 39.9% had moderate and 13.1% had severe disease. There was significant association between serum alanine aminotransferase levels severity of the disease on liver biopsy (p < 0.03) with weak positive correlation between the two (r = 0.217). There was also significant association between serum aspartate aminotransferase levels and severity of the disease on liver biopsy (p < 0.001) with weak positive correlation between the two (r = 0.32). CONCLUSION The serum alanine aminotransferase and serum aspartate aminotransferase levels do not indicate the severity of the disease on liver biopsy in chronic hepatitis C patients.