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Article Review/Hyperlink
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Hilton PJ, White RW, Lord GA, Garner GV, et al
An inhibitor of the sodium pump obtained from human placenta
Lancet
(Aug) 348:303-305 1996

The search for the body's "natural born digoxin" or Na/K sodium pump
inhibitor may be nearing its goal. Initial findings of such
substances in the blood were greeted with the skepticism, as they may
have come from plant derived substances via ingestion of food.
However, at the ASH meetings this spring, Bagrov et al. presented
their results that humans appear to contain in their plasma and urine
a substance similar to that found in toads (marinobufagenin). They
also found that "toad-digoxin" had more potent Na/K pump inhibitory
effects than ouabain in vascular smooth muscle.
In this paper, Hilton et al, who previously had found a leucocyte
Na/K pump inhibitor in umbilical vein blood, looked to human placenta
and from there isolated a steroidal substance very similar to the
toad hormone. The Na/K pump inhibitor, which was obtained in pure
form, was a derivative of bufenolide, and was nearly identical to the
substance made by toads, with the exception of one double bond and a
hydroxyl group. As the women all denied recent ingestion of toad
(frog?) legs, and as the bufalin family of Na/K pump inhibitors is not
known to exist in plant or other foods, the long search for an
endogenous Na/K pump inhibitor may be over. The novel synthetic
pathway for this substance remains to be demonstrated in humans,
however. (John T. Daugirdas, M.D., University of Illinois at
Chicago)
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