Myocardial positron tomography with N-13 ammonia in assessment of aortocoronary bypass surgery

A total of 20 patients were examined at rest and during stress with N-13-ammonia myocardial positron emission tomography (PET) before and after aortocoronary bypass surgery in an attempt to evaluate the effect of surgery on myocardial perfusion and to predict the graft status. The PET images were divided into anterior, septal, apical, lateral and posteroinferior segments for analysis and were evaluated as "normal" (no perfusion defects during stress and at rest), "ischemia" (stress-induced defects) and "fibrosis" (persistent defects both at rest and during stress). Approximately 90% of the segments which were ischemic before surgery became normal after surgery. Thus, ischemic changes are highly reversible, and the vessels perfusing these ischemic areas are most suitable for bypass surgery. However, most of the persistent defects failed to respond to revascularization surgery and, hence, represented irreversibly damaged myocardium. In predicting graft status, graft patency could be demonstrated by normal perfusion in postoperative images (p less than 0.01) or by improved perfusion when pre- and postoperative images were compared (p less than 0.01). However, graft occlusion could not be predicted reliably. This study demonstrated that PET with N-13 ammonia was useful in the assessment of the effects of aortocoronary bypass surgery. However, this technique was not significantly superior to thallium-201 single-photon emission computed tomography for only qualitative analysis.

Blood group antigens in the intrahepatic biliary tree. I. Distribution in the normal liver

The distribution of six blood group-related antigens, A, B, H, Lea, Leb and sialylated Lea antigens, in the intrahepatic biliary tree was studied. These carbohydrate antigens in fixed normal liver tissues were immunostained with the use of highly specific monoclonal antibodies in an avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex method. Bile ducts expressed both ABH and Lewis blood group antigens. However, only Lewis blood group antigens could be detected in the bile ductules. Canaliculo-ductular junctions could be clearly delineated with the anti-Lewis blood group antibodies, especially with anti-Lea antibody. Small Lewis antigen-positive cells were scattered intralobularly. They were adjacent to parenchymal liver cells, mainly in Rappaport zone 1, and apparently in continuity with the portal biliary tree. Sialylated Lea antigen was found in some septal bile ducts. No blood group antigen could be detected in the bile canaliculi. These results indicate that (1) biliary tract of a given size has its own pattern of blood group antigen expression, and (2) biliary epithelial cells are not identical with regard to the phenotypic expression of their structural carbohydrates. In future, it will be possible to classify biliary epithelial cells by their blood group antigen expression.

Hepatocellular expression of a novel glycoprotein with sialylated difucosyl Lex activity in the active inflammatory lesions of chronic liver disease

Hepatic expression of sialylated difucosyl Lex antigen (SDLex, NeuAc alpha 2-3Gal beta 1-4(Fuc alpha 1-3)GlcNAc beta 1-3Gal beta 1-4(Fuc alpha 1-3)GlcNAc beta 1-) was studied with monoclonal antibody FH6, which defines this structure. Hepatocytes in the severe form of chronic active hepatitis and liver cirrhosis strongly expressed SDLex. The antigen was only weakly and focally detected in chronic persistent hepatitis. The mild form of chronic active hepatitis showed intermediate expression. SDLex expressed along the liver cell membranes displayed a honeycomb pattern when extensively expressed in the severe form of chronic active hepatitis or in liver cirrhosis. Cytoplasmic expression was faint and focal. Preferential tissue distribution was at the periphery of the hepatic lobules where the distruction of the limiting plate was present. The antigen was also expressed in sinusoidal lining cells and polymorphonuclear cells but not in the biliary epithelia. Hepatocytes expressing SDLex did not express related carbohydrate antigens, ie, Type 2 chain N-acetyllactosamine, Lex, and sialylated Lea. On subcellular fractionation, the microsome fraction contained the majority of the antigen activity. SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis revealed one major SDLex-active glycoprotein with an apparent molecular weight of 110 kilodaltons. This glycoprotein was different from SDLex-active glycoproteins found in the sera of cancer patients. No ganglioside showed FH6 reactivity. These results indicate that liver cells in active inflammatory lesion expressed a novel glycoprotein carrying SDLex antigen in honeycomblike membrane-associated pattern.

Effect of column temperature on the retention of peropyrene-type polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on various chemically bonded stationary phases in reversed-phase liquid chromatography

The effect of column temperature on the reversed-phase retention of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons has been investigated using various chemically bonded phases. Four solutes, coronene, tetrabenzo[a,cd,j,lm]perylene, tetrabenzo[a,cd,f,lm]perylene and benzo[lm]phenanthro[4,5,6-abcd]perylene, were used as the test probes. The temperature dependences of the retention are almost linear (the logarithm of capacity factor is proportional to the reciprocal of the column absolute temperature) with monomeric C18, monomeric C18 with endcapping and diphenyl bonded phases, while non-linear behaviour was observed with polymeric C18 phases. These differences in behaviour of the stationary phases are interpreted in terms of their structural differences.

Automated identification of toxic substances in poisoned human fluids by a retention prediction system in reversed-phase liquid chromatography

An automated identification system based on the retention prediction concept has been constructed for toxic substances. The system performance has been evaluated for the identification of toxic compounds in poisoned human fluids.

Combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma arising in a cirrhotic liver. Report of an autopsy case

A rare case of combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma arising in a 56-year-old female is reported. The autopsy disclosed the presence of two different kinds of tumors in the right lobe of the liver, which showed advanced cirrhosis; a massive rubbery, ill-defined and whitish-yellow cholangiocarcinoma and a nodular soft, encapsulated and dark green hepatocellular carcinoma. They were adjacent to each other, but showed no intermingling. Only the massive cholangiocarcinoma had invaded the portal vein and showed several intrahepatic metastatic foci and hepatic, pancreaticoduodenal and perigastric lymph node metastases. Immunohistochemically, carbohydrate antigen 19-9 was strongly positive only for the cholangiocarcinoma component, explaining the high titer of this antigen in the serum on admission. On the basis of these findings, the possible morphogenesis of the tumor observed in the cirrhotic liver is discussed.

Expression of ABH and Lewis blood group antigens in combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma. Possible evidence for the hepatocellular origin of combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma

Expression of ABH, Lewis, and sialyl Lea antigens was studied in five combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinomas. Formalin-fixed liver tissues were immunostained for those antigens using well-characterized monoclonal antibodies and an avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex (ABC) method. Results were compared with those obtained in normal liver tissues and cholangiocarcinomas, and also with the previous observations of the authors on hepatocellular carcinomas. Although not detected in normal parenchymal liver cells, A, H, Lewis, and sialyl Lea antigens were found in combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma cells. Incompatible A antigen also was detected in one blood type O patient. Distribution and intensity of the antigens were similar to those in hepatocellular carcinomas and different from those in cholangiocarcinomas. No preferential accumulation of blood-group antigens could be found in the area of cholangiocarcinoma-like differentiation of the combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma. The observations suggested that Regional morphological differentiation of the hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma might not be always associated with the change in the expression of the blood group antigens. Moreover, the expression was essentially the same between the hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma and the typical hepatocellular carcinoma. The hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma, therefore could be a variant of the hepatocellular carcinoma.

Elution behaviour of peropyrene-type polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in liquid chromatography

The elution behaviour of peropyrene-type polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on variously bonded stationary phases in non-aqueous reversed-phase liquid chromatography has been investigated. The results clearly indicate that the retention behaviour is effected by the degree of planarity of the PAHs and by the properties of the stationary phases used. Solute planarity might also be influenced by solvation. Therefore, these factors combine to determine the retention of large PAHs.

Liquid chromatographic retention behaviour in the separation of anti-epileptic drugs on phenyl-, diphenyl-, and triphenyl-bonded silicas and glasses

The retention and selectivity behaviour of some anti-epileptic drugs were studied by high-performance liquid chromatography on 21 kinds of phenyl-modified porous glasses and silicas, prepared from solutions of phenyldimethylchlorosilane, diphenylmethylchlorosilane or triphenylchlorosilane in xylene, and from various kinds of glass or silica with various mean pore diameters and/or specific surface areas. From elemental analysis data for carbon, the maximum number of bonded phenyl surface groups per gram (mean pore diameter 15 nm, specific surface area 217 m2/g, pore volume 0.85 ml/g) in phenyl-, diphenyl-, and triphenyl-bonded gels was calculated to be 0.313, 0.159, and 0.112 X 10(21), respectively. Using various acetonitrile-0.01 M potassium dihydrogen phosphate mixtures as eluents, the anti-epileptic drugs were separated on all the gels studied, but with different degrees of resolution. With increase in specific surface area on the glasses or silicas, the k' values of three anti-epileptic drugs increased. The selectivity for the separation of carbamazepine and diphenylhydantoin is discussed and explained by the pi-pi interaction between solutes and stationary phases. It has been shown that diphenyl and triphenyl phases are more suitable stationary phases for the selective separation of anti-epileptic drugs than monophenyl phases.

[An autopsied case of malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the spleen]

An auspsied case of malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) is reported. The patient, a 53-year-old male had developed splenomegaly 1 year before admission. On admission, hepatosplenomegaly and ascites were seen, with prominent leucocytosis in the peripheral blood, and the patient died of cachexia. On autopsy, the primary neoplasma was found in the spleen, with metastasis to the liver, vertebrae, lymph nodes and peritoneum. Histologically, to tumor showed a storiform arrangement of tumor cells, with foamy or hemosiderin-faden cytoplasm in places, corresponding to MFH. As far as we know, there have been no reports of primary MFH of the spleen in Japan.