PLT Test Blog

Today’s post is about OAT3, highlighted by the green lines. The interventions reduce renal excretion and raise plasma concentration rather than directly improving transport across the BBB Today’s post is a collaboration. Our reader Ling pointed out research trying to boost the bioavailability of bumetanide using something clever called an OAT3 inhibitor.   This would reduce the rate at which the body excretes bumetanide and thus potentially improve its therapeutic effect. Petra, our reader from Greece, pointed out that in her son Bumetanide seemed to work better when taken with Greek coffee and that that Greek Grandpas like to take their diuretics with a steaming Greek coffee. Most people, me included, automatically think caffeine when someone mentions coffee. So I assumed that caffeine might be an OAT3 inhibitor and I did make some experiments on that basis. There is no research data to support caffeine as an OAT3 inhibitor. Recently I was again looking for other potential Bumetan...

A future baldness therapy (a JAK inhibitor) to treat some autism? Today’s rambling post has been pending for some time. It got left on one side, but is interesting and can be applied. As we know there are distinct sub-types of autism and fortunately so does Paul Ashwood at the UC Davis MIND Institute. He often splits his findings into regressive vs early onset autism.   Brief report: plasma leptin levels are elevated in autism: association with early onset phenotype? There is evidence of both immune dysregulation and autoimmune phenomena in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We examined the hormone/cytokine leptin in 70 children diagnosed with autism (including 37 with regression) compared with 99 age-matched controls including 50 typically developing (TD) controls, 26 siblings without autism, and 23 children with developmental disabilities (DD). Children with autism had significantly higher plasma leptin levels compared with TD controls (p<.006). When further sub-cl...