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Biomedical subjects

C Beyer

Publications and source records attributed to C Beyer.

242 records · Page 14Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Neonatal sepsis in an intensive care unit and results of treatment.

Incidence and fatality of neonatal sepsis in intensive care units have been relatively high despite progress in the management of very ill neonates and combined treatment of sepsis with antibiotics. Between 1985 and 1989 944 children (632 premature babies and 312 term babies) were treated in the intensive care unit of the University Children's Hospital of Kiel. The incidence of sepsis was 5% (congenital sepsis 4%, sepsis acquired after birth 1%). Pneumonia occurred in 4% (congenital pneumonia in 2%, postnatal pneumonia in 2%). Early diagnosis and treatment with piperacillin plus cefotaxime reduced the mortality rate of sepsis to 2%. Sepsis never developed under treatment with piperacillin plus cefotaxime. Early recognition of neonatal sepsis by a good blood culture technique and beginning of treatment on first suspicion of sepsis with cefotaxime and piperacillin can improve the results especially in intensive care patients.

Cefotaxime↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Multiplication of human immunodeficiency virus in primary cultures of human Kupffer cells--possible role of liver macrophage infection in the physiopathology of AIDS.

In primary cultures of Kupffer cells obtained from surgical biopsies of human liver by collagenase perfusion followed by centrifugal elutriation and infected with HIV, the virus multiplied abundantly, as attested by the appearance of a reverse transcriptase activity in the medium. Examined by electron microscopy, the cells were found to contain viral particles with typical features of Lentivirinae. Furthermore, the virus could be revealed by immunofluorescence using an HIV+ patient serum. HIV antibodies also neutralized the infectivity of the Kupffer cell-produced virus. Our results demonstrate that the cells constituting the largest fraction of fixed macrophages in the body may be infected by HIV, thereby suggesting that the Kupffer cells may play a role in the physiopathology of the disease, namely as a reservoir for the virus.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Morphological changes in lymph nodes and expression of VCAM1 and cytokines at the late stages of SIV-induced disease in rhesus monkeys.

Four patterns of structural alterations were found in lymph nodes (LNs) from rhesus monkeys 17 to 34 months after infection with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV-mac251). SIV p27gag antigen and viral particles were localized either between the processes of follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) or in the cytoplasm of macrophages. In hyperplastic follicles, enlarged germinal centres contained numerous Ki67+ proliferating centroblasts which were rather rare in light zones occupied by the CD23+ FDC network. Involuted follicles contained a small number of Ki67+ centroblasts and the CD23 labelling was limited to a very small apical zone. A correlation was found between the morphological characteristics of the follicles (hyperplasia-involution) and the level of expression of the vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM1) on FDCs. A gradient in VCAM1 intensity with no expression in the subcapsular-intermediary sinuses, low membrane labelling in the mantle and strong expression in the FDC network was observed. IL1 alpha+ and IL6+ (interleukin) cells (lymphocytes and macrophages) were detected in the mantle, the interfollicular area and the medulla of LNs. Expression of the tumour necrosis factor alpha and ultrastructural markers of interferon alpha production were found in a few FDC and macrophages. Our findings indicate a close relationship between the morphofunctional properties of FDC and the LN structure in SIV infection.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Steroid metabolising enzymes in the determination of brain gender.

The neurotrophic effects of oestrogen formed in the brain are important in brain sexual differentiation of the central nervous system and behaviour. Aromatase, converting testosterone to oestradiol-17beta, is a key enzyme involved in brain development. In primary cell cultures of foetal hypothalamus, we have found that male neurones consistently have higher aromatase activity than in the female. Using a specific antibody to the mouse aromatase, immunoreactivity was localized in the neural soma and neurites in hypothalamic cultures. Additionally more male foetal hypothalamus neurones express aromatase than in the female. Testosterone increases aromatase activity in parallel with a greater number of aromatase-immunoreactive neurones. Testosterone also increases soma size, neurite length, and branching of cultured hypothalamic neurones. The neuronal aromatase activity appears to be sensitive to the inductive effects of androgen only during the later stages of foetal development. Endogenous inhibitors of the aromatase are also likely to have a regulatory role. This work suggests that regulation of a network of aromatase neurones, sensitive to the hormonal environment of the hypothalamus, may determine when oestrogens are available for neurotrophic effects underlying brain differentiation.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Estrogen: a multifunctional messenger to nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons.

Gonadal steroids affect a wide variety of functions in the mammalian brain ranging from the regulation of neuroendocrine systems and the modulation of behavior to the stimulation of differentiation and plasticity of distinct neuronal populations and circuits. The last decades have also demonstrated that estrogen serves as a neuroprotective factor for distinct neurodegenerative disorders. Such neuroprotective effects of estrogen are most obvious for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. Despite this knowledge, little is known about the mechanisms and cellular targets by that estrogen might elicit its protective influence. In the past, we have intensively studied the effects of estrogen on midbrain dopaminergic neurons which represent the most affected cell population during Parkinson's disease. These studies were mainly performed on developing dopaminergic cells and revealed that estrogen is an important regulator of plasticity and function of this neuronal phenotype. Precisely, we found that dopaminergic neurons are direct targets for estrogen and that estrogen stimulates neurite extension/branching and the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase, the key enzyme in dopamine synthesis. Together with other in vivo studies, we might draw the conclusion that estrogen is required for the plasticity and activity of the developing and adult nigrostriatal system. The presence of the estrogen-synthesizing enzyme aromatase within the nigrostriatal system further supports this idea. Surprisingly, estrogen effects on nigrostriatal cell function are not only transmitted by classical nuclear estrogen receptors but also depend on nonclassical estrogen actions mediated through putative membrane receptors coupled to diverse intracellular signaling cascades. In the future, it has to be elucidated whether nonclassical mechanisms besides genomic actions also contribute to estrogen-mediated neuroprotection in the adult CNS.

Animals↗