[Influence of active vitamine D3 on bones (author's transl)]

Influence of 1 alpha-OH-D3, an active vitamine D supplement, on bone cells was studied, histologically and electro-microscopically observing the vitamine D objective bone cell after treatment with the drug in a dose of 50 microgram/kg/day. Light-microscopic findings revealed that osteogenesis gradually became dominant after transient osteoporosis, leading to a disproportional state of the bone remodelling. In electromicroscopy, no morphological changes were observed, though the number of osteoclasts increased five days after treatment. Hypofunctional findings, however, appeared seven and ten days after treatment. On the other hand, findings of distinguishable osteogenesis, e.g. well-developed golgi complex (G), endoplasmic reticulum (ER), mitochondria (M), were observed in the osteoblast and osteocyte, defining the strong influence of vitamine D in a large dose on the osteoblast-osteocyte system. Especially, the osteoblast seemed to be influenced earlier and to a greater degree. We concluded that 1 alpha-OH-D3 in doses of 0.02 and 0.08 microgram/kg/day hardly caused any morphological changes in the bone cell in our experiment.

Prinzmetal's variant angina. Coronary arteriogram and left ventriculogram during angina attack induced by methacholine

Recently, in Prinzmetal's variant angina, many cases with normal coronary arteries have been reported. The anginal attacks frequently relapse after aortocoronary bypass grafting. It is frequently possible to induce an anginal attack by parasympathomimetic agents such as methacholine and pilocarpine. In this study, methacholine (0.13 mg per kilogram) was injected subcutaneously in three cases of this disease to induce an angina attack, and coronary arteriograms and left ventriculograms were recorded. In all cases a coronary arterial spasm corresponding to the site of the ST-segment elevation in the electrocardiogram was observed. Complete occlusion due to the spasm was observed even in the normal coronary artery. Asynergy was seen in the left ventricular wall corresponding to the site of the ST-segment elevation in the electrocardiogram.

Teratogenicities of ophthalmic drugs. I. Antiviral ophthalmic drugs

Nonradioactive idoxuridine (IDU,5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine), while not teratogenic to rats, does produce fetal maliformations in rabbits when administered topically to the eye in doses similar to those used clinically, 0.1% four times a day for 12 days. These maliformations include exophthalmos and clubbing of the forelegs. By contrast, trifluorothymidine (F3TdR), another highly effective antiherpetic agent currently under investigation but not available for general use, was found not to be teratogenic to rabbits, even when given in concentrations tenfold greater than the doses used to produce idoxuridine teratogenicity.