AGE LIVING
 R.A.S HEMAT, MB;BCh, FRCSI, Dip.Urol.UCL.
Andropathy is defined as any disease or condition that affects only males. 5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT; serotonin) neurons participate in the control of sexual behaviour. Serotonin is implicated in the supraspinal as well as the spinal pharmacology of erectile function and involves both sympathetic, parasympathetic, and somatic outflow mechanisms. Central dopaminergic neurons comprise an incertohypothalamic system with projections to the medial preoptic area (MPOA) and paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Dopaminergic neurons travel from the caudal hypothalamus within the diencephalospinal dopamine pathway to innervate the lumbosacral spinal cord. Diet and exercise alone may fail to normalise a disease in the majority of patients, and pharmacotherapy is necessary.
- A common mechanism for counteracting an increase in the external salinity is the intracellular accumulation of compatible solutes, so called because they do not interfere with cellular functions despite their high concentrations. Among the intracellular mechanisms is the increase in the stress or heat-shock proteins (Hsp), including molecular chaperones whose central role is to assist in the folding and re-folding of polypeptides, as they are produced in the ribosome and as they are unfolded because of the stress, respectively. Proteins in a cell may be normal or abnormal, and both must be degraded at one time or another.
- During the course of aerobic respiration, molecular oxygen is generally reduced by 4 electron to give water. Some of the oxygen consumed during respiration is not completely reduced to water but is only partially reduced to the highly reactive intermediates, superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl. Enzymatic adaptation to hyperoxia depends on the upregulation of appropriate genes that detoxify ROS. Most ligands, including polypeptide hormones and growth factors (erythropoietin), and variety of smaller molecules (catecholamines, steroids, thyroid hormones), act solely as messengers, having no function independent of their interaction with receptor. Oxygen is known to bind to and react with heme proteins. Mitochondrial production of superoxide is dependent on vicissitudes in the cell’s metabolic activity. The presence of abundant mitochondrial specific superoxide dismutase is likely limit egress of superoxide to the cytosol. There is a chemical link between alterations in intracellular oxygen concentration and responsive changes in the structure and function of appropriate transcription factors. The mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) is characterised by a sudden increase in the permeability of the mitochondrial inner membrane to small ions and molecules, leading to complete collapse of the membrane potential and colloid-osmotic swelling of mitochondrial matrix. Under pathological conditions MPT can be a source of irreversible injury.
Mitochondria produce ATP through oxidative metabolism to provide cells with energy under physiological conditions. Mitochondria are also the major cellular source for generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), while they are one of the main targets of ROS-induced oxidative damage. Oxidants damage DNA, breaks polyguanosine sequences in telomere repeats, and causes telomere shortening, cell cycle arrest and replicative senescence. ROS can also oxidize proteins, especially during chronological process of ageing. A dysregulation in the storage/release of dopamine (DA), and its auto-oxidation at physiological pH, could play a decisive role in the neurotoxicant-mediated mitochondrial failure and neurodegenerative mechanisms associated with MPTP-toxicity (1-methyl 4-phenyl 1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine). Dopamine itself, or via its autooxidation products, is implicated in radical production, neurotoxic processes, and apoptotic neurodegeneration, and thus in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease. The oxidation of DA leads to the formation of insoluble melanin-like polymers in a nonenzymatic autocatalysed mechanism. Many injuries to the brain result in the uncontrolled release of neurotransmitters, including DA. All mitochondrial alterations are associated with a depletion of tissue glutathione stores. The loss of the antioxidant glutathione could be due to excessive oxidant production. The oxidative stress would also be responsible for the lipid peroxidation. Mitochondrial dysfunction or failure is an important factor in cytotoxicity, in part, by causing the cell to undergo apoptosis. Mitochondrial dysfunction leads to a release of proapoptotic factors such as cytochrome C and apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) from the mitochondria.
The solubility product is the equilibrium constant for the dissociation reaction of the compound into ions in aqueous solution. A vitamin's solubility in water or in lipids determines where it can be used, and whether it will be stored in fat cells or excreted from the body if it is not needed for immediate use. Most minerals in the diet are in the form of water-soluble salts. The free calcium cation is the most important for the physiological functions, and its concentration must be carefully maintained. Muscle contraction is initiated by a sudden increase in calcium concentration in the muscle cells. The cells have channels and pumps that regulate the flow of calcium ions between the cells and the extracellular fluids via the cell membrane. The calcium ions can be removed from or bound to the calcium-binding proteins in order to increase or decrease, respectively, the free-ion concentration. When atoms interact together, their valence orbitals overlap to form bonds between the atoms.
Dysautonomia refers to a condition in which altered autonomic function adversely affects health, ranging from transient episodes in otherwise healthy people to progressive neurodegenerative diseases.Primary chronic autonomic failure in adults includes pure autonomic failure, multiple system atrophy, and autonomic failure associated with Parkinson disease. Multiple system atrophy can include Parkinsonian features, making it difficult to distinguish the 2 conditions. Distress, by increasing sympathetic and adrenomedullary outflows, can trigger morbid or even mortal cardiovascular events. The brain affects the heart. Emotions-related alterations in cardiovascular function might cause or contribute to disease. 40% of patients with untreated essential hypertension have chronically increased cardiac and renal spillover of norepinephrine and increased rates of efferent sympathetic nerve firing in the outflow to the skeletal muscle vasculature. Age living.
JAN, 2007
The information in this article has been excerpted from the following books: ANDROPATHY, by R.A.S. HEMAT.
Note: Permission is granted to copy and redistribute this document electronically as long as it is unmodified. This article may not be sold in any medium, including electronic, CD-ROM, or database, or published in print, without the explicit, written permission of Dr. R. A. S. Hemat.
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Dr. R.A.S HEMAT declares no conflicts of interest or financial interests in any product or service mentioned in this article, including grants, employment, stock holdings, gifts, or honoraria.
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