BACKGROUND The aim of the study was to assess the relationships among serum neopterin (NPT), β2-microglobulin (β2-M) levels, clinical status, and endomyocardial biopsy results of dilated cardiomyopathy patients (DCM). METHODS Serum NPT and β-2 M were determined in 172 nonischaemic DCM patients who underwent right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy and 30 healthy subjects (ELISA test). The cryo...

OBJECTIVE This study measured serum and follicular fluid (FF) levels of biopterin, neopterin, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) in patients receiving mild ovarian stimulation for oocyte retrieval. PATIENTS AND METHODS Infertile patients who underwent ovarian stimulation were divided into the following: Group 1, no oocyte retrieval (n =...

Neopterin, a compound derived from GTP, represents a precursor molecule of biopterin that is an essential cofactor in neurotransmitter synthesis. We have recently reported that in vivo as well as in vitro immune responses are accompanied by an increased release of neopterin and that this phenomenon can be used for the biochemical monitoring of diseases accompanied by hyperimmune stimulation. Th...

BACKGROUND Accurate characterization of the infection stage in parvovirus B19(B19V)-positive plasma donations would help establish the donation deferral period to contribute to a safe fractionation pool of plasma. METHODS Viral DNA load of 74 B19V DNA-positive plasma samples from whole blood donations was determined by titration using nucleic acid testing. Markers of cellular (neopterin) and ...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of anesthetic techniques used during general anesthesia (GA) and spinal anesthesia (SA) on endothelial adhesion molecules in the fetal circulation of healthy parturients undergoing elective cesarean section. METHODS Patients were randomly assigned to either the general anesthesia (n = 20) or spinal anesthesia (n = 20) group. Mate...

Nephropathia epidemica (NE) caused by Puumala hantavirus (PUUV) is the most common hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in Europe. The infection activates immunological mechanisms that contribute to the pathogenesis and characteristics of the illness. In this study we measured cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) neopterin concentration from 23 acute-phase NE patients. We collected data on kidney ...

Tetrahydrobiopterin is a cofactor in the synthesis of monoamine neurotransmitters. High neopterin levels generally signal increased immune activation. Both pterins have been investigated in several small clinical studies of depressed patients with conflicting results. Therefore, we examined the relation of plasma biopterin and neopterin with depression in a population-based study. We also studi...

The past few years have seen the identification of new biomarkers that have shown considerable promise [1] in assessing disease severity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Plasma neopterin is an emerging and promising marker to assess disease activity in patients with RA [2, 3]. For instance, early RA patients have a mean neopterin concentration of 8.92 nmol/liter in comparison to a co...

Fully oxidized D-neopterin in serum can be measured by HPLC. Serum samples were preincubated with ferric nitrate/EDTA solution to remove any dihydroneopterin, which is unstable and may give spuriously high results because of its conversion to D-neopterin. Pterins were extracted onto solid-phase propylbenzenesulfonic acid minicolumns and eluted with a 1:5 (by vol) mixture of ammonia solution (30...

Excessive interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production appears to be a primary immunological lesion in vitamin A-deficient experimental animals but comparable data from humans is lacking. We investigated IFN-gamma production in South African children by measurement of urinary excretion of neopterin, a product of IFN-gamma-activated monocytes or macrophages. Preschool children were examined during an...