The cerebrospinal fluid

Techniques and applications of extracellular space determination in mammalian tissues

This review summarizes the ways in which the extracellular space (ECS) may be estimated in mammalian tissues, and briefly describes some of the uses to which the EC confinement of certain molecules (markers or tracers) may be put in the elucidation of physiological functions. The introductory section is followed by a description of the more commonly used marker molecules and their functional characteristics, and of factors likely to lead to the spurious over- or under-estimation of the ECS. Certain alternative methods are also described, in particular those based on morphological and electrical criteria which seek to demonstrate small, functionally important, changes in the size of specialized regions of the ECS (e.g. lateral cellular interspaces) without necessarily being required to provide a quantitatively precise estimate of their size. Section III describes the results of measurements of ECS in various mammalian tissues (muscle, gastro-intestinal tract, nervous tissue, crystalline lens, placenta, lung and kidney) and some applications of EC markers to investigation of cellular function (e.g. uptake of metabolic substrates and epithelial transport) and, in outline, characterization of capillary permeability. The available literature in this field is very extensive, and in the interests of brevity the reader is, where appropriate, referred to previous reviews covering specialized aspects of ECS determination and related topics.

Mouse virulence of K(L) antigen-containing strains of Escherichia coli

The mouse virulence of two K antigen-containing (L variety) strains of Escherichia coli (serotype O2:K1) isolated from human septicemia, and of their variants which lacked K antigen, was studied. The strains containing envelope antigen (K+) were highly virulent when injected intracerebrally or when suspended in mucin and injected intraperitoneally. After intraperitoneal injection of E-107 K+ (but not K-), there was a marked initial growth in the peritoneal cavity followed by bacteremia and infection of all the organs examined. In the mucin-enhanced lethal infection, this growth continued until death of the animal; in the nonlethal infection, growth ceased and the count dropped quickly after approximately 5 hr. Host defenses were depressed greatly by intraperitoneally, but not intravenously, administered mucin. Bacteria were most virulent when injected intraperitoneally. In vitro phagocytosis of the K+ bacteria required opsonins not needed for phagocytosis of the smooth K- variants. Opsonins were found in immunized rabbit and normal mouse sera. Immune rabbit sera contained antibodies with anti-K specificity which were opsonic in vitro and highly protective in vivo when administered passively. There appears to be a lesser anti-O opsonic and protective activity involving one of the strains (E-107 K+), and colonial morphology, agglutination, and absorption tests indicated a low amount of K antigen on this organism. No anti-O opsonic or protective activity could be shown involving the other strain (E-102 K+). When standard serological typing procedures were used, these two strains appeared to be identical serologically, but they differed greatly in sensitivity to immune rabbit serum in phagocytosis experiments in vitro.

Globulina beta do líquido cefalorraqueano no prognóstico de processos inflamatórios do sistema nervoso central

Foi feita avaliação do comportamento da globulina beta do LCR em processos inflamatórios do SNC e/ou de seus envoltórios no sentido de verificar até que ponto podem ser úteis para o prognóstico as informações obtidas. Essa avaliação foi baseada no fato de a concentração dessa globulina no LCR estar relacionada ao metabolismo do parênquima nervoso, aumentando em condições que acarretem seu sofrimento. Os proteinogramas do LCR de 45 pacientes com processos inflamatórios do SNC e/ou de seus envoltórios, distribuídos em 6 grupos de casos, foram analisados segundo a possibilidade de o processo inflamatório estar acarretando, ou não, sofrimento do parênquima encefálico. A análise dos resultados mostrou que o estudo da concentração da globulina beta no LCR fornece elementos que permitem avaliar o comprometimento do parênquima encefálico nessas condições, aduzindo dados úteis para a avaliação prognóstica. A intensidade do aumento da concentração dessa globulina no LCR era maior do que a do aumento da concentração de albumina nos casos em que o processo inflamatório determinava comprometimento do parênquima encefálico.