Important histochemical observations on the nervous system, obtained in the last years, showed characteristic changes in folic acid and in its main enzyme--dihydrofolate reductase--in the old nerve cells. In neurons, the enzymic activity gradually decreased and folic acid accumulated in ageing. Glial cells preserved or slightly increased the same folate enzyme, but folic acid markedly increased in senescence. Opinions and suggestions bound to these observations are presented.

Aging↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Estimation of the copper-iron correlation in the liver under experimental conditions. A microscopic and microchemical study.

Liver obtained from copper-intoxicated rats was studied by electron microscopy and electron probe microanalysis. Large ultrastructural disorders in liver cells appeared at the level of lysosomes and mitochondria. Diffuse and aggregate copper granules were observed in the entire cell, but mainly in pericentrolobular and periportal zones. Probe analysis revealed an increased copper deposit, particularly during the chronic copper intoxication, and a very high concentration of iron gradually accumulated.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Histochemical and ultrastructural data in the spleen of the copper-intoxicated rat.

By histochemical methods and electron microscopy, the spleen of copper-loaded rat was investigated. Oxidoreducing enzymes (diaphorase, succinate dehydrogenase, lactate dehydrogenase, prolineoxidase, hydroxyproline epimerase) and phosphatases (acid, ATP-ases) were tested. In general, in the intoxicated rat, the oxidases and dehydrogenases were depressed in the splenic cells, except macrophages and endothelial cells. Prolineoxidase and hydroxyproline epimerase activities increased in reticular cells and phosphatases displayed a strong activity in all the splenic structures. Ultrastructural modifications appeared in connective fibers and some connective cells.

Acid Phosphatase↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Histochemical demonstration of folic acid metabolism, some lysosomal activities and NADH2-cytochrome-C-reductase in corpora mammillaria in the ageing process.

In bovine corpora mammillaria of young animals, a folic acid positive reaction was found in the neurons and in the neuroglia, in parallel with high dihydrofolate-reductase activity in the nerve cells. In old animals, folate and lysosome enzymes were different in the lateral and in medial nucleus, the highest amount being observed in the lateral nucleus; in the glial cells the lysosomal enzymes increased and in the nerve cells the concentration of folic acid increased. In the medial nucleus only relatively few enzyme modifications in the process of senescence were noticed.

Aging↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Atrial natriuretic factor in the ischemic heart.

The synthesis and the release of the atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) were studied by electron microscopy in the atrial cells from an ischemic myocardium. The ANF-containing secretory vesicles of normal atrial cells were present in great number near the Golgi apparatus, and near the sarcolemma. After 30 min. of global ischemia the number of ANF-containing secretory vesicles decreased in the atrial cells, suggesting an ANF release during heart ischemia.

Animals↗