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Biomedical subjects

F Hoppe

Publications and source records attributed to F Hoppe.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Microenvironment of thymic myoid cells in myasthenia gravis.

The microenvironment of myoid cells (MyCs) was studied in myasthenia gravis (MG) thymitis with lymphoid follicular hyperplasia (LFH) (nine cases) and with diffuse B cell infiltration (one case), and compared with findings in the thymuses of non-myasthenic control subjects (ten cases). Double immunostaining was used to demonstrate MyCs labelled by anti-desmin together with other thymic components such as keratin-positive epithelial cells, Ki-M 1-positive interdigitating reticulum cells (IDCs), Ki-M 4-positive follicular dendritic reticulum cells, Ki-M 6-positive macrophages, CD22-positive B-cells, CD1-positive cells, CD3-positive T-cells or HLA-DR-positive cells. Round or elongated MyCs were confined to the thymic medulla and were surrounded by CD3-positive T-cells and CD22-positive B-cells. In MG thymitis MyCs were localized in the vicinity of, but not inside germinal centres (GCs). MyCs were always HLA-DR-negative, but were invariably embedded in a cellular micromilieu with strong HLA-DR expression. A remarkable feature of MG thymitis was that the great majority of MyCs were in intimate contact with intramedullary IDCs. Morphometric studies confirmed that such contacts were significantly less frequent in thymuses from non-myasthenic subjects. This indicates that an IDC-dependent antigen-presenting process for T-cells may actively involve MyCs in MG thymitis.

Adolescent↗

Pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis. Acetylcholine receptor-related antigenic determinants in tumor-free thymuses and thymic epithelial tumors.

The authors describe an immunohistologic study of acetylcholine receptor (AChR)-related antigenic determinants in tumor-free thymuses of myasthenia gravis (MG) patients (13 cases) and nonmyasthenic controls (10 cases) and in thymic epithelial tumors of patients with MG (8 cases) and without MG (6 cases). Monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to the cytoplasmic part and to the extracellular main immunogenic region (MIR) of the alpha subunit of AChRs were used. Their intrathymic binding sites were defined by double-immunostaining, and compared with alpha-bungarotoxin (alpha-Bgt) labeling demonstrated by fluorescence microscopy. Tumor-free thymuses of MG patients and control patients contained cytoplasmic AChR epitopes and alpha-Bgt binding sites on myoid cells and some epithelial cells. Only myoid cells also expressed extracellular MIR epitopes, suggesting that they bear complete AChRs, and are important targets for the autoimmune attack in tumor-free MG thymus. Evidence that AChR-related antigenic determinants of epithelial cells are also significant for MG is provided by our findings in thymic epithelial tumors. All eight tumors with MG but only two out of six tumors without MG showed cytoplasmic AChR epitopes and alpha-Bgt binding sites on neoplastic epithelial cells. Myoid cells and MIR epitopes did not occur in the neoplasms, but in some tumor-free thymic remnants beside thymomas. It is assumed that nonneoplastic and neoplastic thymic epithelial cells contain only incomplete AChRs or AChR-like molecules. The different expression of AChR epitopes in thymic epithelial tumors and tumor-free thymuses might explain some of the heterogeneous region specificities of anti-AChR antibodies in sera of MG patients with and without thymoma.

Adolescent↗

Radiological investigations of osteochondrosis dissecans in Standardbred Trotters and Swedish Warmblood horses.

A total of 106 Standardbred Trotters and 27 Swedish Warmblood horses, with a radiological diagnosis of osteochondrosis dissecans, were studied over a six year period. The majority were young horses. No statistical difference in frequency between the sexes was demonstrated. In both breeds osteochondrosis was most common in the hock joints, the site of predilection being the distal dorsal tip of the intermediate tibial ridge. On radiographs the lesions of the hock joints were graded on a scale from 0 to 5 according to size, number and localisation of defects and visible loose bodies. The sizes of the loose bodies estimated radiologically were fairly closely correlated with those found at surgery or autopsy.

Age Factors↗

[Influence of parenteral fructose or glucose administration on uric acid formation and phosphate uptake of the human liver].

15 min. after intravenous administration of fructose (10 g/5 min, 0,5 g/kg/h) the hepatic uric acid production in healthy volunteers increased from 0,07 mg/100 g X min to 0,52 mg/100 g X min. After one hour the enhanced uric acid production was 0,3 mg 100 g X min. The enhanced uric acid production was accompanied by an increased hepatic phosphate uptake. The highest value was 13 mumol/100 g X min. During the control period the liver released small amounts of phosphate into the hepatic vein. The increased hepatic uric acid output correlated with an enhanced renal clearance, therefore the peripheral venous uric acid concentrations remained unchanged.

Fructose↗