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Biomedical subjects

C Morera

Publications and source records attributed to C Morera.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Circulating auto-antibodies in Ménière's disease.

In the last years, it has been claimed that patients suffering from Menière's disease exhibit Circulating Immune Complexes, as well as free antibodies specifically directed against type II collagen, a component of the mammal inner ear. Furthermore, by means of repeated injections of type II collagen to the guinea-pig. Menière's disease has been reproduced. Taken together, all these features strongly suggest that Menière's disease fulfills most of the postulates that Witebsky established for the classification of auto-immune diseases. However, in spite of being a very well known marker of auto-immune conditions, non organ nor species specific Circulating Auto-Antibodies (CAA) have not been reported, to our knowledge, in Meniere's disease. Based upon this fact, Anti-Nuclear, Anti-Mitochondrial, Anti-Smooth Muscle, Anti-LKM and Anti-Parietal Gastric Cells Auto-Antibodies have been investigated in 49 patients diagnosed as having Meniere's disease according to the criteria of the AAOO. All of them were asymptomatic at the time of the study. Seventy eight serum samples from Normal Healthy Subjects (NHS) constituted the control group. CAA were tested by indirect immunofluorescence on rat organs according to the method described by Coons. Additionally, the seric levels of C3, and C4 as well as the haemolytic capacity (CH-50) of the serum samples were tested. Furthermore, Circulating Immune Complexes (CIC) as well as the Complement-Mediated Mechanisms involved in the clearance of CIC (Complement-Mediated Solubilization and Inhibition of the Immune Precipitation) were investigated in parallel.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult

[Oculographic findings in the Arnold-Chiari malformation type I].

The paper deals with 5 adults carriers of this syndrome diagnosed by means of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Neither the conventional radiography nor the plain computerized tomography showed indicative clues of the deformity. However electronystagmography prove in all cases a vertical down beating nystagmus. In one instance the nystagmus become rotatory at lateral glance. In all cases appeared an altered smooth pursuit and a lack of suppression fixation of the vestibular nystagmus. The AA. emphasize the diagnostic value of the electronystagmography (which tracings could spare several other, sometimes expensive, examinations) and suggest a prompt MRI.

Adult

The commissural neurons of the inferior colliculus of the rat.

During systematic observation of the cellular subnuclei of the inferior colliculus of adult rats, it was noted that in the zone of the intercollicular commissure, numerous neuronal perikaria appear intermingled between the commissural fibers. The neurons were studied using Golgi and TEM methods and classified according to their dendritic pattern in the isodendritic (15%), allodendritic (19%) and intermediate forms (66%) of neurons. A fourth neuronal group, situated between the commissure and the upper periventricular zone, is also in relation with the commissural fibers. The constancy of these neurons and their frequently axodendritic and axosomatic synapses suggest that they play an important role in the whole function of the commissure which, at present, is not well understood in spite of the number and distinct origin of their afferents.

Animals

Experimental contribution to the origin of brain-stem potentials.

The origin of the different BSP waves is open to discussion. In this work we analyze the response curves with surface and intranuclear electrodes in cats, both before and after inducing electrolytic lesions in acute and chronic phase, in order to study the subsequent alterations. We found that waves whose origins are attributed to specific regions of the acoustic pathway when carried out with surface electrodes, fail to correspond with the results obtained by intranuclear electrodes. On the other hand, although the lesions to the lowest part of the acoustic pathway (cochlear nuclei) cause important alterations in the recordings, these alterations become smaller as the lesions are induced higher up the pathway. Thus, we believe that the origin of the different BSP waves is due to the sum of potentials of different zones of neuron activation, and not to specific locations of the acoustic pathway; this is more evident in the delayed waves.

Animals