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Biomedical subjects

F Miller

Publications and source records attributed to F Miller.

At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources

Primary biliary cirrhosis and scleroderma. The possibility of a common pathogenetic mechanism.

A woman with clinical manifestations of progressive systemic sclerosis had liver disease with histologic and immunologic features of primary biliary cirrhosis. Biopsy specimens of salivary gland showed necrosis and lymphocytic infiltrates in and around ducts similar to those observed in hepatic ducts, whereas neither of these tissues exhibited immunoglobulin or complement deposition. The ultrastructural and immunohistochemical studies suggest a common cell-mediated immunologic mechanism for the two disorders.

Female↗

Characterization of restriction nuclease prepared chromatin by electron microscopy.

Chromatin was solubilized from rat liver nuclei by digestion with the restriction nuclease EcoRI or HaeIII in the presence or absence of EDTA and sodium chloride. The samples were investigated by electron microscopy after positive and negative staining with uranyl acetate under a number of conditions. Depending on the salt concentration during solubilization the chromatin appeared as beads on the string or in more compact form. Solenoid- and superbead-like structures were seen as had been reported for chromatin solubilized with micrococcal nuclease.

Animals↗

Evaluation of continuous fetal scalp pH during labor.

Continuous monitoring of fetal scalp tissue pH was technically acceptable in 79.4% of 35 patients sequentially studied. Overall, the correlation coefficient (r) between the continuous pH readings and the intermittent pH values was 0.75. The accuracy improved greatly in the latter 23 patients. This was probably due to improved skills of the operators but also to a revision of the calibration technique. The correlation coefficient in these 23 patients was 0.82, and 87% of the records were accurate. The mean monitoring time was 2.39 h and eight infants were monitored throughout delivery and post natal. Although good results were obtained in this study, the method still demands technical skill in order to achieve clinically useful results.

Adolescent↗

IgM inhibitors of the contact activation phase of coagulation in chlorpromazine-treated patients.

In this report we have described three patients with chronic schizophrenia on long-term chlorpromazine therapy who developed asymptomatic IgM inhibitors of the intrinsic phase of blood coagulation. The anticoagulant resulted in decreased measurements of all of the plasma clotting factors in the intrinsic pathway (factors VIII, IX, XI, XII, Fletcher factor and Fitzgerald factor). Using crude coagulation reagents, the serum of these patients interfered with the clot promoting activity of contact product. To determine the relationship between drug therapy and these IgM inhibitors, we have studied nine additional schizophrenic patients on long-term chlorpromazine therapy. All nine chlorpromazine-treated patients had significantly increased levels of serum IgM and asymptomatic inhibitors of coagulation. We conclude that long-term high-dose chlorpromazine treatment of schizophrenic patients results in an increased concentration of IgM which has inhibitory activity in the contact phase of blood coagulation.

Blood Coagulation Disorders↗

A mucoprotein with colon-specific determinants.

The tissue specificity of colonic mucoprotein antigen (CMA) was examined to determine whether the antigen might have a role as a tissue marker. The immunofluorescent technique, using a rabbit anti-CMA antiserum, was employed to examine a wide range of tissues. Gastrointestinal mucosae as well as non-gastrointestinal mucin producing tissues were positive; however, non-gastrointestinal reactivity could be eliminated by the appropriate absorptions. Mucoproteins were purified separately from each gastrointestinal anatomic region and used to absorb the antiserum. This analysis demonstrated the existence of a family of mucoproteins with a common gastrointestinal specific determinant(s). Mucoproteins from neighboring regions, as seen by this antiserum, showed a greater structural similarity than did mucoproteins from distant regions. Absorption of the antiserum with ileal or cecal mucoprotein allowed the detection of a colon specific determinant present on CMA.

Colon↗

Electron microscope demonstration of tubulin in cilia and basal bodies of rat tracheal epithelium by the use of an antitubulin antibody.

It has been previously demonstrated that both cytoplasmic microtubules and the microtubules of cilia, flagella, and sperm tail contain tubulin. Although the morphology of cytoplasmic microtubules and that of axonemes differs in cells from which they have been isolated, the tubulin of the two structures shares physical and chemical properties. In some mammalian tissues, such as tracheal epithelium, cilia and basal bodies are difficult to isolate and characterize. The use of an enzyme-labeled immunoglobulin probe would facilitate identification and in situ localization of such proteins. Tubulin prepared from porcine brain by ion-exchange chromatography and from rat brain by the method of cyclic polymerization and depolymerization with subsequent disk gel electrophoresis with SDS were injected intravenously into rabbits. The animals were intermittently bled and the antisera extracted. The specificity of the antisera was proved by indirect immunofluorescence staining of the mitotic spindle, specific blocking of spindle staining by purified tubulin and not by other proteins, staining of 3T3 cytoplasmic microtubules, single line on immunoelectrophoresis, failure of control antisera to show any of these, and precipitation of antibody with all tubulin preparations and not with actin. We have shown by electron microscopy of ciliated cells of the tracheal epithelium stained with antitubulin by the indirect enzyme-labeled antibody method that the basal bodies, outer doublets, and central pair of the cilia contain tubulin. This indicates that tubulin in microtubules of cilia and basal bodies of rat tracheal epithelium is antigenically similar to tubulin extracted from cytoplasmic neurotubules of brains from the same species and from a different mammalian species. No other axonemal structures stained with the antitubulin. Three different preparations of tubulin from pigs and rats were used to immunize rabbits. All elicited similar antisera which gave identical staining patterns. The specificity of the staining was demonstrated by the absence of staining with immune serum absorbed with purified tubulin, the absence of staining with preimmune serum, and the absence of staining if any of the reagents were omitted during the staining reaction.

Animals↗

The choroid plexus in passive serum sickness.

Immunofluorescent microscopy of the choroid plexus revealed the presence of rabbit IgG and either rat or mouse C3 in a high percentage of young male Wistar rats and CF1 mice who had received intravenous injections of preformed BSA-rabbit anti BSA complexes over a 3 day period. Electron dense deposits were observed in the basement membrane region of the choroid plexus in these animals. These findings were comparable to those noted in their renal glomeruli. This is the first description of involvement of the choroid plexus in passive immune complex disease. This experimental model is rapidly inducible and should be of value in future pathophysiological studies of this important structure.

Animals↗

The immunopathophysiological effects of chronic serum sickness on rat choroid plexus, ciliary process and renal glomeruli.

The immunopathological findings and their effects upon the vascular permeability of the ciliary process, choroid plexus and renal glomeruli to intravenously injected 125I-bovine serum albumin (BSA) have been studied in 26 rats who survived a prolonged period of bovine serum albuminemia following the experimental chronic serum sickness model of Fennell and Pardo (8). Rat IgG and C3 and BSA were demonstrated in the experimental rats by direct immunofluorescence in glomeruli, ciliary process and choroid plexus of 85, 38 and 39 percent of animals respectively. Age and sex matched control tissues were negative. Statistically significant differences in the 125I-BSA content of urine, eye and brain were observed between the experimental and control groups. This experimental model offers an approach to the understanding of ocular and central nervous system involvement in clinical situations characterized by circulating immune complexes as well as an experimental tool with which to explore further the physiological consequences of immune deposits within the choroid plexus and ciliary body.

Animals↗