Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A Adachi.
We documented by clinical, histopathologic and immunohistochemical analysis a case of acute follicular graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), in which an erythematous-to-violaceous follicular papular eruption constituted the major clinical pattern of cutaneous involvement. Although acute follicular GVHD is rare, it is important to recognize it as an early skin manifestation of acute cutaneous GVHD allowing prompt therapy.
The effect of a new immunosuppressant, FK506, on experimental allergic neuritis (EAN) was examined in Lewis rats. EAN was induced by inoculation with bovine peripheral myelin. The EAN rats were divided into two groups. FK506-treated EAN rats were prophylactically administered FK506 by injection into the peritoneal cavity at a dosage of 5.0 mg/kg/day for 13 days beginning the day after inoculation. The control EAN rats were injected with only saline solution. FK506 prevented the development of EAN, histologically and clinically. In FK506-treated EAN rats, flow cytometric analysis of T cell subsets of the lymph nodes showed a significant decrease in W3/13 positive T cells on the 14th and 21st day and a decrease in W3/25 positive T cells on the 21st day after inoculation when compared with the control EAN rats. The percentage of OX-8 positive T cells were not significantly different between the two groups. Our results suggest that FK506 prevented the development of EAN by decreasing W3/13 and W3/25 positive T cells.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A case report of a leiomyoma of the chest wall is presented. So far as we examined, this is the first case of the leiomyoma of the chest wall in Japan. A 40-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of an abnormal shadow in the right upper lung area in a chest X-ray film. The thoracic CT and MRI demonstrated a tumor of the chest wall projecting into the thoracic cavity. The tumor was excised. Histological examination indicated that the tumor was a benign leiomyoma. This tumor seems to originate from the wall of the small vessels histologically. The patient's postoperative course is uneventful.
A patient with pancreatic pleural effusion in whom a fistulous tract was demonstrated by computed tomography (CT) is presented, and reports on 113 cases of this entity in the Japanese literature are reviewed. The most common (99%) underlying cause of this entity was chronic alcoholic pancreatitis. In most cases, the patients complained of chest symptoms (68%), and complained of abdominal symptoms less frequently (24%). It is important to maintain suspicion for this entity in patients with chronic alcoholic pancreatitis who have unexplained pleural effusion. Surgical intervention was required in 58 of 95 recorded cases. With care, the prognosis of pancreatic pleural effusion was good. Recently, as endoscopic retrograde pancreatography (ERP) and CT have been performed more frequently, the mechanisms of the pathogenesis of pancreatic pleural effusion has been determined. We stress that ERP and CT should be performed to direct surgical therapy and learn more about the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of pancreatic pleural effusions.
A series of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) mutants in vif, vpr, vpu, and nef were constructed from an infectious plasmid (pNL 432) containing the full-length HIV-1 DNA by frameshift mutations. The capacities for replication and cell killing of these mutant viruses were examined in a clonal cell line (M 10) isolated from HTLV-I-transformed MT-4 cells. In all cases, the mutant viruses replicated, expressed HIV-1 antigens, and induced drastic cytopathic effects. However, some M 10 cells survived infection with vif, vpr, and vpu mutant viruses and became persistently HIV-1-infected, whereas no cells survived infection with the nef mutant as well as the wild-type virus. The HIV-1 particles produced from the surviving cells after infection with the vif, vpr, or vpu mutant viruses were fully replicative in M 10 cells without apparent cytopathic effects.
Mutations were introduced by recombinant DNA techniques into 9 genes of an infectious molecular clone of human immunodeficiency virus type 1. The 24 mutants generated were characterized biochemically and biologically by transfection and infection experiments. None of the mutants which have mutations in gag (p17, p24, and p15 regions), pol (protease, reverse transcriptase, and endonuclease domains), env (gp120 region), tat, or rev were infectious, whereas vif, vpr, vpu, some of env (gp41) and nef mutants could grow in human CD4+ cells to various degrees. Of the non-infectious mutants, only endonuclease (pol) and gp41 mutants exhibited normal phenotypes with respect to the production of functional reverse transcriptase, the expression of gag, pol, and env proteins, and the generation of progeny virions, when examined in transient assays. All infectious mutants killed the CD4+ cells with the exception of a mutant carrying a defect in the vif gene.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
In order to investigate coding mechanisms of special taste modality (umami), responses of neurons within the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) to oral stimulation with monosodium glutamate, disodium 5'-inosinate (IMP) or their mixture were recorded in the conventional electrophysiological method. Results obtained were as follows: Neither MSG-best nor IMP-best neuron was recorded within the NTS as in the primary taste afferents. Some of the sucrose-best neurons, NaCl-best neurons and HCl-best neurons responded to oral stimulation with MSG or IMP. A remarkable synergistic effect was observed in all of the sucrose-best neurons and in some of the NaCl-best neurons but not in all of the HCl-best neurons, when the mixed solution of MSG and IMP was applied into the oral cavity. As to the sucrose-best neurons, potency of the synergism was positively correlated with the responsiveness to sucrose. No correlation was recognized between them in the case of NaCl-best neurons. These results suggest a view that the sucrose-best neurons and the NaCl-best neurons which show the synergism may participate in coding umami taste.
The compatibility of rev genes derived from various primate immunodeficiency viruses of all distinct subgroups identified was assessed in three experimental systems: complementation experiments between proviral rev and gag mutants, evaluation of the ability of the rev gene products to activate proviral reporters, and examination of the capacity of various viruses to augment marker gene expression in the infected reporter cell lines. In all systems, human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) rev was not substantially substituted or was extremely poorly substituted by the rev of the other viruses. The rev of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) from a mandrill could be exchanged by HIV-1 rev. In contrast, the rev gene products of all viruses efficiently activate HIV-2 and SIV from an African green monkey.
The promoter activity of long terminal repeats (LTRs) of four strains of the simian immunodeficiency virus isolated from African green monkeys (SIVAGM) was compared with those of various LTRs derived from the other representative primate lentiviruses: human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), type 2 (HIV-2), SIV from a rhesus monkey (SIVMAC), and SIV from a mandrill (SIVMND). The expression of the LTRs was evaluated by monitoring chloramphenicol acetyltransferase production after transfection of reporter plasmid clones. In the absence of viral tat, all SIVAGM LTRs acted as much more efficient promoters than any of the other LTRs. When tat gene products were supplied in trans, LTRs of SIVAGM and SIVMND were activated inefficiently relative to high responder LTRs of HIV-2 and SIVMAC. The LTR of HIV-1 was highly activated by HIV-1 tat, but not so much by HIV-2, SIVAGM, and SIVMND tat.
The present study is an attempt to demonstrate chemosensitive neurons within the area postrema (AP) electrophysiologically. Three types of chemosensitive neurons were identified: 1) glucose-responsive neurons that may participate in control of blood glucose and satiation, 2) sodium (osmotic pressure)-responsive neurons that may contribute to control of sodium and water balance of the body fluid and may be involved in salt appetite, 3) nausea-related neurons which respond to excess distension of stomach and LiCl as well. They may play a role in formation of conditioned taste aversion.
Plasma gastrin and cholecystokinin (CCK) responses were measured after a pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) using the Billroth-I type reconstruction combined with distal partial gastrectomy (standard PD) and combined with preservation of the pylorus and the duodenal bulb (PPPD). Six unoperated patients, 4 men and 2 women, were studied as control subjects. Basal plasma levels of gastrin were significantly higher in controls than in patients who had a standard PD (p less than 0.05) and gastrin responses to a meal were also blunted in these patients. In contrast basal and postprandial levels of gastrin after PPPD were significantly higher than these found in patients with standard PD (p less than 0.05). Postprandial gastrin response after PPPD were similar in pattern to these found in controls. Integrated gastrin release after PPPD was less than that of the control but was significantly greater than that in patients with standard PD. Basal plasma levels of CCK in the patients after the standard PD were significantly lower than in controls and significantly higher postprandial levels of CCK were found after PPPD compared to standard PD (p less than 0.05). However integrated CCK from 0 to 120 minutes were not significantly different between PPPD and standard PD groups. Based on these observations concerning hormonal release of gastrin and CCK, preservation of the stomach and the duodenal bulb appears to be a more physiologic reconstructive procedure than the standard PD. In addition the operation probably has more beneficial effect on the injured pancreas in time.
We constructed five chimeric clones between human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVMAC) and four SIVMAC mutants by recombinant DNA techniques. Three chimeric clones and all mutants with an alteration in either the vif, vpx, vpr, or nef gene were infectious to human CD4-positive cell lines. The susceptibility of macaque monkey peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) to infection by these mutants and chimeras was examined in vitro. Macaque PBMC supported the replication of wild-type and vpx, vpr, and nef mutant SIVMAC strains. A chimera carrying the long terminal repeats (LTRs), gag, pol, vif, and vpx of SIVMAC and tat, rev, vpu, and env of HIV-1 was also replication competent in PBMC. In contrast, HIV-1, the vif mutant of SIVMAC, a chimera containing rev and env of SIVMAC, and a chimera containing vpx, vpr, tat, rev, and env of SIVMAC did not grow in PBMC. Western immunoblotting analysis of the replicating chimera in PBMC confirmed the hybrid nature of the virus. These data strongly suggested that the sequence important for macaque cell tropism lies within the LTR, gag, pol, and/or vif sequences of the SIVMAC genome.
To study the possible involvement of human T lymphotrophic virus type I (HTLV-I) or a related retrovirus in Japanese cases of multiple sclerosis (MS), we first performed a Western blot analysis with purified Ag of HTLV-I. Ten out of 31 MS patients (32.2%), 19 of 66 patients (28.8%) with other neurologic diseases, and 2 of 64 healthy blood donors (3.1%) had antibodies reactive with Ag corresponding to the group-specific Ag (gag) proteins (p15, p19, p24) on their sera. There were no significant differences between MS and other neurologic diseases concerning the patterns and the frequency. Second, we tried to establish T cell lines from PBMC of 22 MS patients with crude IL-2 without accessory cells, because HTLV-I-infected T cells can be immortalized in a high ratio under those conditions. Only one T cell line (MS-14C), however, could be maintained in long term culture. MS-14C and cultured T cells for 3 to 5 wk derived from MS patients were examined by Southern blot analysis under both stringent and low stringent conditions with HTLV-I as a probe. No HTLV-I related bands could be detected. By polymerase chain reaction examination, we also could not detect HTLV-I provirus genome in the fresh PBMC from 20 MS patients, although some of them had gag-reactive antibodies. Our data do not favor the hypothesis of HTLV-I or an HTLV-I-related human retrovirus in the etiology of MS.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The entire vpr gene of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) was cloned into procaryotic and eucaryotic expression vectors. Production of authentic protein encoded by the gene in bacterial and mammalian cells was monitored by Western blotting using guinea pig antisera raised against an N-terminal 14-oligopeptide of the predicted vpr protein. A specific 12-kD protein was clearly detected with these antisera, but not with preimmune sera, in both cell systems, and this binding was blocked by the oligopeptide. These antisera also recognized a protein of the same size in several human T-cell lines infected with HIV-1. Western blotting analysis of subcellular fractions prepared from the cells producing wildtype vpr protein strongly suggested that the protein was membrane associated. A region within the vpr required for the stable expression of vpr product was also suggested by mutational analyses.