Endotoxin and interleukin-1 beta induces fever and increased plasma oxytocin in rabbits.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E W Hansen.
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Isolated human mononuclear cells exposed to either lipopolysaccharide or Staphylococcus aureus secreted interleukin-1 like material. The secretion was concentration dependent. The minimal detectable level in the test solution of lipopolysaccharide and Staphylococcus aureus was 200 pg/ml and 10(5) cells/ml respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate test, the rabbit pyrogen test and the monocyte test are compared. The monocyte test is proposed as an alternative in-vitro test to the rabbit pyrogen test.
The effect of the cytokine interleukin-1 beta on the secretion of oxytocin and vasopressin from electrically stimulated rat neurohypophysis was examined in vitro. The release of oxytocin and vasopressin was concentration-dependently increased by interleukin-1 beta in the concentration range from 4.4 pM to 440 pM. The effect of interleukin-1 beta on oxytocin secretion was less intense as compared to vasopressin. After 440 pM interleukin-1 beta the electrically evoked release of oxytocin was increased about 22% and had not reached its maximum. The vasopressin response was maximal after 44 pM interleukin-1 beta, the response being increased 43% compared to control. No trace of interleukin-1 beta was found in the posterior pituitary (less than 350 pmol/lobe, radioimmunoassay). The results indicate that interleukin-1 beta might be involved the regulation of oxytocin and vasopressin at the pituitary level.
The release of vasopressin from the isolated superfused rat neurohypophysis was measured. The electrically evoked release of vasopressin after phasic submaximal stimulation was increased on exposure to the cytokine, interleukin-1 beta (44 pM). The release returned to its control level when the peptide was withdrawn. The results indicates a permissive role of interleukin-1 beta in the release of vasopressin.
Exposure of Bacillus subtilis spores to ethylene oxide (EO) showed correlation between the killing rate and the EO concentration, when the temperature was kept at 55 degrees C and the relative humidity at 100%. The co-efficient of dilution was calculated to be 0.9. The effect of EO on Escherichia coli endotoxin was investigated by the chromogenic Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) test. A solution of endotoxin was dried on glass tubes and exposed to 450 or 900 mg EO/l during 1-46 h under the same conditions as the spore inactivation. The LAL activity of the endotoxin was reduced to about 30%. The EO-treated endotoxin was tested in the rabbit pyrogen test. The summed temperature increase for three rabbits was 0.9 degrees C, while the same assay using untreated test pieces showed an increment of 3.7 degrees C. Administration of the same quantity of EO-treated and untreated endotoxin to the rabbits, as adjusted by the LAL-test, produced the same temperature increment. The addition of polymyxin B (PB) to an endotoxin solution reduced the LAL activity by 75%. Had the endotoxin been exposed to EO, thereby reducing the LAL activity by 70%, addition of PB further reduced the activity by 99%. The reaction of EO on the endotoxin reduced the LAL activity as well as the pyrogenic response and increased the affinity to PB.
Microbial contamination of total parenteral nutrition including fat emulsions in 1-3 litres plastic infusion bags (the i.v. bag) was studied during production in the pharmacy and administration both at home and in the hospital. Production contamination was investigated by dispensing test bags containing growth medium mixed with dextrose-salt solution. In this highly sensitive system, contamination was detected in less than 4% of cases. In-use contamination was estimated at the end of the infusion. The average contamination rate (+/- growth) in the five patients studied was 6.7% accompanied by considerable variation. Identification of the contaminants revealed that 85% of the contaminated bags contained staphylococci, indicating skin contamination. An investigation on the effect of the procedure used for attaching the infusion set on the contamination rate, was carried out with bags that contained sterile growth medium. This showed no contamination in 14 cases indicating the catheter as the most plausible source of contamination. It is concluded that both production in the community pharmacy and administration in the home are not associated with a higher microbial contamination than in central hospitals. It is, however, recommended that the microbial quality of the production process and the administration procedure are regularly monitored.
We describe the concept and first implementation of an innovative new instrument for quantitative light microscopy. Currently, it provides selective imaging of optical path differences due to birefringence; with further development, it is also possible to selectively image several optical properties, including refractive path differences, optical rotation, and linear and circular dichroism, all with diffraction-limited resolution. An image consists of a 512 X 512 element array, with each pixel displaying one of 256 grey levels, linearly proportional to the specific optical property being observed. Additionally, conventional brightfield and polarized light microscopy are available, with the accompanying advantages of laser scanning and digital image processing. The microscope consists of three subsystems, representing three distinct technologies. The laser scanning subsystem moves a focused microspot across the specimen; the output of a photodetector is an electric signal corresponding to a scanned image. The image display subsystem digitizes this signal and displays it as an image on a video monitor. When used in conjunction with a phase modulation feedback loop, the image formed is of the specimen's birefringent retardation or other selected optical property. The digitized images are also available for computer enhancement.
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Four juvenile rhesus monkeys responded to the coo-type vocalization of their respective mothers by increasing dramatically their own vocalization rate and their locomotor activities. The juveniles appeared quite disturbed when they heard their mothers voices and this disturbance was, with one exception, apparently specific to their own mothers.
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