[Fetal death and benign hemolytic disease of the newborn from anti-Cellano alloimmunization: 2 new case reports]

The first case is provided by a french women (KK, husband k/k) who delivered a first healthy full term infant in 1970 and received one blood unit at this time. In 1972 and 1975, his second and fourth pregnancies ended by spontaneous abortion. In 1974 and 1976, she delivered stillborn infants with hydrops fetalis during the sixth month. In serum, anti-k antibody reacted by the indirect antiglobulin test with a titer of 4 096. In the second case, french women delivered a first full term female infant who had a strongly positive direct antiglobulin test. The mother had received one blood unit ten years before during nephrectomy. Her red blood cell were KK and her husband was kk. She had a anti-Cellano in serum reactive in the indirect antiglobulin test with a titer of 16. The infant developed a mild hyperbilirubinemia and recovered without treatment these two cases confirm the variable effect of maternal anti-k antibody evidenced by few other published cases.

[Plasma concentrations of amino acids, urea nitrogen and ammonia in 1 to 2 month-old low birth weight premature infant (author's transl)]

The aim of the present study was to measure the plasma concentrations of amino acids under different diets in preterm neonates whose birthweights were less than 1,350 g and gestational ages less than 34 weeks, and to compare these results with the plasma concentrations of amino acids in full term infants who were exclusively breast fed. At the end of the second month, these concentrations in preterm breast fed infants were similar to those in full term infants except for significantly lower levels of lysine. The addition of 46% humanized formula to breast milk did not change the concentrations of amino acids. The blood levels of urea nitrogen and ammonia were not different in preterm and full term infants; they were not altered by the addition of the formula.

Late evolution of serum immunoreactive parathyroid hormones, calcitonin and plasma 25-hydroxy cholecalciferol concentrations in very low birthweight infants

The plasma concentrations of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25-OH-CC), immunoreactive parathyroid hormone (iPTH) and calcitonin (iCT) were measured at the age of 30 and 66 days in thirteen preterm neonates (birthweight: 970 to 1300 g). At the age of 30 days when all infants were fed only with breast milk (BM) serum iCT and iPTH levels were normal. During the second month 7 infants were fed with BM only (control group) and 6 infants were supplemented with formula (supplemented group). At the age of 66 days, mean +/- S.D. serum iPTH concentration was higher in the supplemented group than in the control group: 169 +/- 79 vs. 60 +/- 33 microliterEq/ml (p less than 0.01). Serum iCT levels remained undetectable (less than 150 pg/ml) in both groups. Plasma 25-OH-CC concentrations were normal and similar in both groups. Serum iPTH concentrations were positively correlated with phosphorus intake and negatively correlated with calcium intake from BM only. The results suggest that secondary hyperparathyroidism can be detected in very low birthweight infants supplemented with a formula, probably because of a phosphorus load or decreased intestinal absorption of calcium.

Serum copper and zinc concentration in premature and small-for-date infants

Serum copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) concentrations were measured in neonates with an appropriate birth weight for gestational age (AGA) and in small-for-gestational age infants. At 7 days of age, there was a positive correlation between serum Cu concentration and gestational age (GA) (r = 0.63; P < 0.001) and a negative correlation between Zn concentration and GA (r = 0.62; P < 0.01). At 7 days of age, the mean (+/- S.E.) concentrations in AGA full-term infants (Cu, 79 +/- 8 microgram/dl; Zn, 84 +/- 4) were similar to those in small-for-gestational age, full-term infants (Cu, 78 +/- 6 microgram/dl; Zn, 85 +/- 12). In preterm infants, there was also no difference between AGA and small-for-gestational age infants. In 23 AGA infants with a birth weight of less than 1500 g, serum Cu concentration increased from 51 +/- 7 microgram/dl at the age of 7 days to 86 +/- 7 microgram/dl at the age of 60 days (paired t-test: P < 0.05) whereas serum Zn concentration decreased from 149 +/- 9 to 91 +/- 5 microgram/dl (P < 0.01). A positive correlation was found between serum Zn concentration and daily intake of Zn (n = 39; r = 0.3458; P < 0.05), but no correlation was found for serum Cu concentration. The evolution of serum Cu and Zn concentration with total age (GA + postnatal age) in the infants with a low birth weight (i.e., < 1500 g) was similar to the evolution with GA.

Clinical and laboratory features of canine lupus syndromes

Determination of the specificities of antinuclear antibodies in the sera of 20 dogs presenting with symptoms of a lupus-like syndrome permitted their separation into 2 groups. The first group of 14 dogs all had antibody activity to DNA-histone antigen(s), and 4 of them also had antibodies to native DNA (nDNA). The Farr test with standard buffer was found to be unsatisfactory for the measurement of anti-nDNA antibodies in dog sera due to a high incidence of false positive reactions; these could be eliminated by the inclusion of sodium dodecyl sulfate in the buffer system. The second group of 6 dogs was characterized by the presence of antibodies to extractable nuclear antigen. In every serum tested diseased dogs had a diminished level of circulating thymic factor as compared to controls of the same age, suggesting that a diminution of suppressor T cells may be an etiologic factor.

Lupus-like syndrome in some strains of nude mice

Nude mice (strains ORL, C57BL, BALB/C), as well as neonatally thymectomized mice, develop spontaneous antinuclear antibodies (ANab) and antidouble-stranded DNA antibodies (dsDNAab). Later, these animals develop a lupus-like syndrome in which immunoglobulin (Ig) deposits appear, first in the kidney glomeruli, then at the dermoepidermal junction and in the choroid plexus. In the beginning, these Ig are IgM and IgG2; later, IgG1 and IgA deposit in the kidneys. The classes of the Ig of the deposits correspond to those of the circulating ANab-Ig, except for IgA. Acid eluates from kidneys and skin, contain anti-DNA histone ab. An increased C1q binding activity is observed in 8- to 12-wk-old ORL nude mice with ANab, but is not observed in age-matched ORL nude mice without ANab. These data indicate the participation of ANab in the constitution of immune complexes and of tissular Ig deposits in nude mice. The antinuclear autoimmunization process, in nude as well as in thymectomized mice, might be interpreted as a defect of T suppressor cells, which normally control autoimmune clones. However, in contrast with the preceding strains of nude mice, nude mice from the IFFA centre, which have a different genetic background, develop neither ANab, nor dsDNAab, nor glomerular lesions. Three hypotheses can be proposed to explain these particularities of IFFA nude mice. They either have an immune response regulating system, independent of the thymus which is defective or absent in the other strains, or they are deprived of lymphocytes able to produce ANab and dsDNAab, or there are not enough free nuclear antigens to stimulate an immune response. Preliminary results obtained in our laboratory favour the first hypothesis.