Distension Subject

Hypochondriac pain and distension, fullness in the chest, stomach and abdomen, irritability, depression and frustration, dream-disturbed sleep, irregular menstruation, a bitter taste in the mouth, dry mouth and throat, headache, vertigo, fatigue, reduced appetite, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, cold hands and fullness in the chest when subject to strong emotional disturbance. 

All these methods by infiltration are subject to the disadvantage arising from the unequal permeability of tbe hides at different parts, and from the weakening of their structure consequent on the prolonged distension. 

In the example of a-human atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), found at increased plasma levels in patients with heart failure, Numata et al. [70] demonstrated how IPCR sensitivity accelerated conventional assay procedures. For individual treatment of the cardiac patients, a prompt detection of atrial distension by the presence of the ANP marker would be desirable. Common ANP tests, however, take 2-3 days for the quantification of plasma by radiometric or ELISA techniques. With sandwich IPCR, the assay time could be shortened to 5 hours. A good correlation between IPCR and radiometric detection was maintained, combined with an additional improvement of the detection limit to 2 ng/L ANP. The average level of ANP in plasma for 25 patients with heart failure was found to be 117 100 ng/L, significantly higher than the typical level of 20 14 ng/L for healthy subjects. 

Several studies have shown that the water content of human, rat and dog arteries is increased in hypertension, and this increased water content may be associated with an increased wall thickness [64, 65]. Due to the limitations in studying samples from human subjects, animal models (mainly rats) have been employed. Mallov [66] found that the aorta from hypertensive rats had more smooth muscle than normal aorta. Greenwald and Berry [67] reported increased elastin and decreased collagen content in the aorta from spontaneous hypertensive rats when compared with the normal aorta. Wolinsky [25] observed an increase in the absolute amounts of both medial elastin and collagen contents in hypertensive rats. However, the relative percentage of these elements remained essentially constant. Experimental studies [67-69] showed an increase in vessel stiffness with the development of hypertension. This increase in vessel stiffness results in a smaller vessel diameter for a given distending pressure, i.e. a decrease in the distensibility [70]. 

The enormous swelling of gelatin in dilute acids and alkalis has been the subject of much study (Procter and Wilson, 1916 Loeb, 1924), and its interpretation as electrostatic interaction of a distensible structure with surrounding electrolyte, following the Donnan equilibrium, was established early. This subject will be rather arbitrarily omitted here, and only the swelling of isoelectric gelatin will be discussed. 

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