Luteinizing-hormone (LH)-stimulated cyclic AMP production in rat testis Leydig cells was desensitized by both LH and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA). However, TPA, but not LH, enhanced the subsequent response to cholera toxin. Treatment of the cells with pertussis toxin potentiated cyclic AMP production in both control and LH-desensitized cells, but did not potentiate further the res...

A previous study showed that opsonization with human immune serum could either promote or antagonize phagocytosis of Bordetella pertussis by human neutrophils depending on whether the bacteria expressed adenylate cyclase toxin. Opsonization of the wild-type strain inhibited phagocytosis relative to unopsonized controls. In contrast, mutants lacking adenylate cyclase toxin were efficiently phago...

Pertussis remains a dangerous disease for children around the world, especially for infants less than 6 months old. In this age group, high mortality and morbidity have been linked to the effects of the pertussis toxin, including lymphocytosis, pulmonary hyperviscosity and pulmonary hypertension. This paper reports on an infant with pertussis who received therapeutic caffeine. Caffeine might im...

The subcellular distribution of the alpha 2-adrenergic receptor, pertussis-toxin substrates (Gi, the inhibitory G-protein) and adenylate cyclase was determined in human platelets. The alpha 2-adrenergic receptor and pertussis-toxin substrate activity codistribute with surface membranes identified by a novel fluorescent-lectin method. The platelet granule fractions did not contain detectable Gi....

We undertook the present studies to explore the mechanisms by which carbachol inhibits the release of somatostatin-like immunoreactivity (SLI) from D cells. D cells were isolated from canine fundic mucosa by collagenase/EDTA dispersion followed by counterflow elutriation. Carbachol inhibited the release of SLI induced by forskolin, dibutyryl 3':5' cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), pentagas...

Muscarinic cholinergic receptor stimulation evokes catecholamine secretion from some cell types, but the mechanism has not been well characterized. Using pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells, we show that the muscarinic agonist methacholine stimulates 45Ca2+ influx and [3H]norepinephrine release in a dose-dependent manner. Experiments performed in Na+-free medium or with inhibitors of voltage-dependen...

Pertussis is a highly contagious, acute respiratory disease in humans caused by the Gram-negative pathogen Bordetella pertussis. Pertussis has resurged in the face of intensive vaccination and this has coincided with the emergence of strains carrying a particular allele for the pertussis toxin promoter, ptxP3, which is associated with higher levels of pertussis toxin (Ptx) production. Within 10...

Clinical studies of component (“acellular”) pertussis vaccines have been undertaken in recent years, and several acellular vaccines have been used in Japan for 10 years. The Committee has reviewed these trials and related data and herein provides its assessment regarding the current status of the acellular vaccines and their possible use in the United States. The pertussis vaccines in current u...

Acellular pertussis vaccines, comprising mainly pertussis toxin and filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) and used successfully in Japan since 1981, were evaluated. Anti-pertussis toxin antibody responses in children immunized with acellular pertussis vaccines were comparable or higher than in convalescent-stage patients with pertussis, while those for anti-FHA were far higher. Reactogenicity was muc...