Scrotal angiokeratoma (Fordyce): histopathological and ultrastructural findings

Bioptic findings related to four cases of scrotal angiokeratoma-Fordyce, were studied under light and electron microscopy. A particular heterogeneity of the structural and ultrastructural patterns typical of this lesion was thus observed. Light microscopy study pointed out, in particular, different degrees of dilation of papillary vessels, whereas ultrastructural study highlighted marked alterations of endothelial cells with structural and quantitative modifications of cytoplasmic organelles.

[Deep phlebothrombosis disclosing aortoiliac aneurysms]

The purpose of the present study is to underline the importance of the systematic search for iliocaval venous compression on the part of an aortoiliac aneurysm in the face of a clinical picture of suspected deep venous thrombosis. Early diagnosis of this syndrome, although rare in everyday experience, is of decisive importance, as is every other clinical sign of aneurysmal pathology prior to rupture. Correct, systematic diagnostic exclusion procedure, which is capable of leading to certain diagnosis in all cases is therefore necessary.

Spasm of arm arteries due to ergotamine tartrate. A case report

Ergotamine tartrate and caffeine has been widely prescribed for the prevention and treatment of migraine headaches. Rarely the ergotamine can cause symptoms of peripheral vascular insufficiency, often concerning the lower extremities. A case report of bilateral severe ischemia to the upper limbs, caused by a chronic assumption of ergotamine tartrate is presented.

Transepithelial electrophysiological parameters in rabbit respiratory nasal mucosa isolated in vitro

1. Transepithelial electrical p.d. (Vms), short circuit current (Isc) and transepithelial resistance (Rep) were determined in rabbit nasal mucosa and were compared with the equivalent parameters of human nasal mucosa. 2. Vms was about 1 mV (submucosa positive) in the absence of glucose, but increased continuously in the presence of glucose. Since Isc also increased in parallel and Rep remained constant (about 40 omega cm2), glucose effect was to power pumping. 3. Diffusion potentials raised by reducing luminal Cl- or Na+ or Cl- and Na+ concentrations were also measured and compared with values obtained in trachea and gallbladder. 4. Evidence is produced, with sounder basis than in trachea, that junctional pathways in airway epithelia are lined with fixed positive charges (which make anions more permeable than cations), unlike junctional pathways of the gastrointestinal tract which are lined with fixed negative charges.

[Eosinophilic infiltration of the gastrointestinal system: description of a clinical case simulating a lymphoproliferative process]

A case of diffuse eosinophilic infiltration of the gastroenteric tract which involved a large portion of the small intestine is discussed. It arose in a patient not previously affected with allergic traits and without eosinophilia in peripheral blood. Problems of differential diagnosis and clinical-therapeutic implications are reported.

Serotype specificity of monoclonal antibodies to cucumber mosaic virus

Ten monoclonal antibodies (McAbs) against cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) have been raised from fusion experiments performed after immunizing mice with different CMV antigens. Their reactivities with members of the three CMV serotypes, CMV-DTL, CMV-ToRS, and CMV-Co were tested in a double antibody sandwich format of enzyme immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Several of the McAbs were specific for different members of the CMV-DTL and CMV-ToRS groups while two allowed the detection of CMV-Co. By using a mixture of two McAbs, any member of the three major CMV serotypes could be detected in infected plant sap. One of the antibodies made it possible to discriminate between subunits and whole virions of CMV-D when it was used in ELISA simultaneously as coating antibody and as biotin-conjugate. McAbs were shown to be useful for quantifying the amount of CMV present in plant sap.

Limitations of different ELISA procedures for localizing epitopes in viral coat protein subunits

The reactivity of monoclonal antibodies (McAbs) to the coat protein of tobacco mosaic virus (TMVP) with the isolated coat protein, disks, virions and a number of antigenic variants of TMV was tested in eight different ELISA procedures. Although certain McAbs, when used as detecting antibody in the liquid phase, did not react with some of these antigens, they were able to bind to them when used as the capturing antibody on the solid phase. This finding was attributed to the ability of the trapping McAb to induce a complementary conformation in the antigen presented in the liquid phase. In many cases, the reactivity of the McAbs was found to depend on the format of the ELISA. This finding together with the presence of oligomers in viral coat protein preparations made it impossible to map TMVP epitopes on the surface of the viral subunit by means of competitive ELISA.

Conformational specificity of monoclonal antibodies used in the diagnosis of tomato mosaic virus

Ten monoclonal antibodies (McAbs) were raised to the tobamovirus, tomato mosaic virus (ToMV). Seven of the McAbs reacted with ToMV only when tested in an ELISA format, involving antibody-coated plates, which preserved the quaternary conformation of the viral protein. Two McAbs which reacted with ToMV only in an ELISA using virus-coated plates recognized an antigenic determinant present only on the disassembled form of the viral coat protein. One McAb reacted with both the assembled and dissociated forms of ToMV protein. All McAbs reacted in an identical manner with the 15 ToMV strains and isolates tested, confirming the previously established serological homogeneity of the ToMV species. Only two of the McAbs cross-reacted with two other tobamoviruses: tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and ribgrass mosaic virus. Seven variations of ELISA were compared for their suitability to detect ToMV and TMV in tomato plants. Double antibody sandwich ELISA could be performed with a single McAb to ToMV as enough accessible epitopes are present on the virus to bind simultaneously to the coating and biotin-labelled antibody.

An assay for estradiol preceptors using a staphylococcal protein-A--estradiol antibody adsorbent

Antiestradiol antisera were raised in rabbits by immunization with a steroid-protein conjugate Whole antisera and purified antiestradiol antibodies were reacted with heat-killed and formalin-fixed bacteria from the protein-A-bearing strain of Staphilococcus aureus (Cowan I, NCTC 8530). The bacterial immunoadsorbent was used to estimate the estrogen-receptor proteins contained in several specimens from human breast carcinoma. Since the affinity constant for estradiol of antiestradiol antibodies is about 10(8) M-1 while those for breast estrogen-receptor complexes are about 10(9) to 10(10) M-1, it is possible to remove the free steroid from a reaction mixture containing tissue cytosol, radio-labelled estradiol, and the antiestradiol bacterial adsorbent by pelleting the bacteria at low-speed centrifugation. The radiolabelled estradiol molecules bound to their receptors remain in the supernatant and can be easily counted by liquid scintillation counting. The results obtained by this technique on specimens of human breast carcinomas compared more than satisfactorily with those obtained, on separated aliquots from the same specmens, by the dextran-coated charcoal method, according to the EORTC group (1973). The versatility, specificity and stability of the antiestradiol bacterial immunoadsorbent recommend its use, rather than that of charcoal-coated dextran and other non-specific steroid adsorbents, in the mass screening of patients with breast carcinoma which could be amenable to hormonal therapy.

Different colony stimulating activity by tumoral ascitic fluid and conditioned media

The effects of intraperitoneal Ehrlich ascites tumor (ET) growth on the kinetics of hemopoietic stem cells in the host bone marrow were studied using the spleen colony and the soft agar culture techniques. There is a decrease in spleen colony forming capacity of bone marrow of ET bearing mice, whereas in vitro assays of the committed macrophage granulocyte precursors, by the soft agar method, show that in the same circumstances a high yield of granulopoietic colonies can still be obtained. A shift of the CFU-c/CFU-s ratio from 15 to 36 thus occurs. Moreover, ascitic fluid from tumoral mice displays strong activity as CSF on normal mouse marrow, twice as strong as the standard mouse embryo CSF. When conditioned medium from cultures of ET cells (ET-CM) is tested, the pattern of agar colonies obtained is different from the previously obtained pattern of growth kinetics; furthermore many colonies are composed of undifferentiated cells. The hypothesis is suggested that among the variety of known CSF's, the ET-CM represents a unique factor, capable of inducing proliferation of marrow CFU-c, but only limited differentiation.

Immunoadherence and complement in cancer-bearing mice

Shortly after grafting of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells, the serum of tumour-bearing mice loses the capacity to mediate immunoadherence phenomena, because of a sharp decrease in the concentration of C3b and C3d, while the cellular receptors for such factors are unaffected by tumour growth. It is suggested that complement is consumed through the alternative pathway which is activated during the inflammatory responses accompanying tumour growth.

T-cell precursors in mice bearing the Ehrlich ascites tumors

Mice bearing Ehrlich ascites tumors and challenged with sheep erythrocytes produced fewer plaque-forming cells than did normal mice. At the same time the immunosuppression developed, the number of T lymphocytes in the thymus and spleen were reduced significantly. In the spleen, the number of B lymphocytes remained constant during carcinogenesis, whereas that of the macrophages increased significantly, as compared to the controls. In this paper, we demonstrated that the mechanism responsible for thymus and spleen depletion of theta antigen-bearing cells had to be ascribed to fewer T-lymphocyte precursors in the bone marrow of mice with cancer. The reduction of T-lymphocyte precursors was probably caused by the same "soluble factor(s)" produced by Ehrlich ascites tumor cells, which also interfered with the proliferation of myelopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow of mice with this neoplasm, as we previously reported. By performing several reconstitution experiments of lethally X-irradiated hosts, we determined that the immunodepression by Ehrlich ascites tumor cells was readily reversible, and the alteration of the T:B lymphocyte ratio in the spleen had a minor function, if any, in the pathogenesis of the immunosuppression.