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Biomedical subjects

G Guillemin

Publications and source records attributed to G Guillemin.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Surgical management of chronic pancreatitis on the continent of Europe.

Surgical management of chronic pancreatitis remains a difficult problem. On the continent of Europe, the main etiology of the disease is alcoholism; thus, alcohol withdrawal is mandatory before surgical treatment. Left splanchnicectomy is no longer used. Total and left subtotal pancreatectomy are abandoned due to their high mortality rates and their severe metabolic sequelae. Distal pancreatectomy is presently reserved for the cases in which the head of the pancreas is least involved. The choice between pancreaticojejunostomy and pancreaticoduodenectomy remains debated. The former has a low postoperative mortality rate while reoperation is less frequent after the latter. Current trends in Europe are to perform more anastomoses and less resections than some years ago. Pancreaticoduodenectomy, however, retains an important role in cases with biliary or duodenal involvement. Whatever the choice of the procedure, the surgical treatment of chronic pancreatitis remains palliative and does not alter the natural course of the disease. The quality and duration of the results depend mainly on alcohol withdrawal.

Alcoholism↗

Identification of T-cell epitopes adjacent to neutralizing antigenic domains on the fusion protein of respiratory syncytial virus.

F glycoprotein has been identified as an important target structure in the immunological response following respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. Two sequential B epitopes corresponding to amino acids 200 to 225 and 255 to 278 have already been defined with anti-RSV rabbit serum. The T helper response to peptides which belong to these sequences was investigated in this study. Proliferative T-cell responses to these peptides were analysed in BALB/c mice (H-2d) and others strains: SJL (H-2s), C3H/He (H-2k), B10.BR (H-2k) and C57BL/6 (H-2b). By using various strategies, two T-cell epitopes were identified in the amino acid 200 to 225 and 255 to 278 regions, close to a neutralizing epitope. The T-cell responses to these peptides were H-2- restricted. In addition, the peptide 255-278 was able to stimulate T cells that responded to a subsequent immunization with F glycoprotein in vitro.

Animals↗

De novo reconstruction of functional bone by tissue engineering in the metatarsal sheep model.

Large bone defects are still a challenge to orthopedic surgeons. In this study, a massive bone defect with a clinically relevant volume was efficiently reconstructed by transplanting an engineered bone in which mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) expanded in autologous serum (AS) were combined with a porous scaffold. In the first step, we established that the way in which the MSCs are distributed over the scaffold affects the ultimate bone-forming ability of the transplant: constructs consisting of a natural coral scaffold and a pseudo-periosteal layer of MSCs surrounding the implant (coral-MSC3D) formed significantly more bone than constructs in which the MSCs were distributed throughout the implant (p = 0.01). However, bone healing occurred in only one sheep, owing to the high resorption rate of natural coral scaffold. To overcome this problem, constructs in which MSCs were combined with a porous coralline-based hydroxyapatite (CHA) scaffold having the same architecture as natural coral but a lower resorption rate were prepared. After their implantation, these constructs were found to have the same osteogenic potential as autologous bone grafts in terms of the amount of newly formed bone present at 4 months (p = 0.89) and to have been completely replaced by newly formed, structurally competent bone within 14 months. Nevertheless, although the rate of bone healing was strikingly improved when CHA-MSC3D constructs were used (five of seven animals healed) as compared with the coral-MSC3D construct (one of seven healed), it was still less satisfactory than that obtained with autografts (five of five healed).

Animals↗