The effects of phenobarbital treatment for 12 days on the regional distribution of blood flow and on the disposition of two model drugs, antipyrine and d-propranolol, have been determined in six unanesthetized rhesus monkeys. Phenobarbital significantly increased total hepatic blood flow from 179+/-15 to 239+/-27 ml/min. Liver weight was increased to a similar degree (34%) in phenobarbital-trea...

The enzyme-membrane relationship in phenobarbital induction of synthesis of drug-metabolizing enzyme system and proliferation of endoplasmic membranes has been further studied. Ultrastructural observations suggest that newly formed endoplasmic membranes in rat liver parenchymal cells arise through continuous outgrowth and budding off from pre-existing cisternae and tubules of rough-surfaced end...

To investigate molecular events regulating the transcription of genes inducible by phenobarbital, transgenic mouse strains were developed incorporating rat cytochrome P450 2B2 (CYP2B2) genes. Expression in mouse tissues was analyzed for two series of rat CYP2B2 gene constructs, of 19 and 39 kilobase pairs total length, each containing the entire coding region, introns, and 3'-flanking sequences...

Highly potent and selective CYP2C19 inhibitors are not currently available. In the present study, N-3-benzyl derivatives of nirvanol and phenobarbital were synthesized, their respective (+)- and (-)-enantiomers resolved chromatographically, and inhibitor potencies determined for these compounds toward CYP2C19 and other human liver cytochromes P450 (P450s). (-)-N-3-Benzyl-phenobarbital and (+)-N...

Male rats were exposed to 10 consecutive days, 6 hr/day, to vinyl chloride vapors at an average concentration of 13,500 ppm. The exposed rats were divided into three groups of eight rats each: one group was pretreated with 3-methylcholanthrene, one group was pretreated with phenobarbital, and the third group received no treatment. Half the animals in each group were sacrificed 18 hr after the l...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs of about 20 nucleotides in length and participate in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Accumulating evidence indicates that miRNA binds to 3'-UTR of its target mRNAs and thereby destabilizes the transcripts or suppresses the translation. It is expected that miRNAs could have diverse functions and therefore play a role in the gene...

High plasma levels of phenobarbital are known to produce profound effects on the EEG background activity. Phenobarbital therapy frequently is administered to the neonate with seizures prior to the first EEG recording. Therefore, it is questionable whether in these neonates alterations of the EEG background activity are related to anticonvulsive therapy. A total of 26 neonates with seizures had ...

Tamoxifen administered in the diet (420 ppm) to Wistar rats (TOX:P) for only 3 months caused cumulative hepatic DNA damage as assessed by 32P-postlabeling, consistent with the proposal that tamoxifen is a genotoxic carcinogen in this species. Promotion of tumor development with phenobarbital after discontinuation of dietary tamoxifen resulted in the formation of liver carcinomas after 9 months....