Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M Kasper.
Circulating immune complexes have been studied in 152 sera with PEG-precipitation nd with measurement of the complement activating capacity in a complement binding reaction with 51Cr-labelled indicator cells. A correlation was found between the results of both methods.
Using 6 volunteers with obesity a carbohydrate accentuated balanced reduction diet (minimal diet) was investigated. The diet was composed per day of 50 g protein, 100 g carbohydrates, 11 g fat, distributed in five meals. Additionally, vitamins, electrolytes and trace elements are included in sufficient amounts. The ambulant volunteers were fully active during the dietary period which was without subjective side effects. During the dietary period a decrease in serum cholesterol and in triglycerides was found. The concentration of fatty acids and of kerone bodies was slightly elevated. Due to tubular acidosis, an increase in serum uric acid concentration was found, despite decreased renal loss of urate. Hyperinsulinemia due to obesity was normalized whereas glucose tolerance was not influenced to a greater extent during weight reduction diet. Whereas there are some quantitative metabolic alterations during carbohydrate accentuated minimal diet, these alterations are not alarming. The carbohydrate accentuated minimal diet is estimated to be optimum from the standpoint of a nutrionist. Reduction diets of alternative composition are judged to be inferior because of greater metabolic alterations.
A new radioimmunoassay for the detection of complement-binding immune complexes is described. The method is based on the ability of the complexes to bind added guinea pig complement (Clq-Component) so that is not available for lysis of 51Cr-labeled chicken red blood cells in a haemolytic system. Sera from 45 patients with malignant tumours, 20 patients with nonmalignant diseases were studied for the presence of circulating immune complexes. The complement-binding capacity of the sera of patients with significantly greater than that of control sera.
Leucocyte adherence inhibition was measured by a new modified radioisotopic technique. Peripheral blood leucocytes were isolated and labelled with Chrom51 (51Cr). These leucocytes were incubated with medium of buffer alone and with medium or buffer containing tumor antigen or gluten. The glass surface for the adherence was prepared carefully. At all samples the adherence of leucocytes occurred under the same conditions. The authors gave a report on the results of their leucocyte adherence inhibition (LAI) assay with gluten and stomach cancer antigen.
An immunocytochemical analysis of 94 pancreatic endocrine tumors revealed that 73 tumors were multicellular. Significant amounts of somatostatin and human pancreatic polypeptide were found by radioimmunoassay in extracts of 19 and 17 tumors resp., in addition to the hormone causing the clinical syndrome. Numerous tumors contained ductular structures. In the surrounding pancreatic parenchyma a proliferation of small ducts and budding-off from the ductular epithelium of endocrine cells was often observed. These features are hallmarks of nesidioblastosis of the endocrine pancreas which is a hyperplasia. In multiple endocrine neoplasia I hyperplasia of the endocrine pancreas is combined with larger nodules, currently labeled tumors. On the basis of these findings it is conceivable that pancreatic endocrine tumors are not primarily neoplastic and autonomous but that they are rather of hyperplastic origin.
Serum samples of humans and animals with Trichinella infection of different duration and severity were analysed for Trichinella antibodies by four different serological methods. The indirect immunofluorescence test and the indirect haemagglutination test proved to be the most sensitive ones. Complement-fixation reaction gave the poorest results. In fresh Trichinella infections the heterologous antibody against cercaria of S. mansoni was more strongly developed than the homologous antibody which is effective in the microprecision test on Trichinella larvae. Although the animals deliberately infected also had, at the beginning of infection, a marked reaction to cercaria, this test became negative earlier than the microprecipitation test. Differentiation of Trichinella from Schistosoma infections is serologically possible without difficulty by means of adult schistosomes. The cross-reaction observed between T. spiralis and various Filaria types can be differentiated with adult O. volvulus as antigen.
Urogastrone has been localised by immunostaining to granules of the cells of human duodenal (Brunner's) glands and their ducts and of acinar cells in the human submandibular gland. The immunoreactive peptide is present in large quantities in duodenal glands and their secretory ducts. Urogastrone or human epidermal growth factor promotes cellular proliferation in vivo as well as in vitro and inhibits gastric acid secretion and may, therefore, be one of the duodenal factors inhibiting gastric activity. Thus it may have an important regulatory and protective function for the intestinal mucosa and may possibly become a useful therapeutic agent.
Two types of enterochromaffin cells can be demonstrated in the human duodenal mucosa by means of the Masson-Fontana reaction for argentaffinity applied to ultrathin sections. The 22-amino acid peptide motilin has now been localized exclusively to the duodenal type of enterochromaffin cell by immunoelectron microscopy. This cell occurs predominantly in the duodenum and upper jejunum. It is concluded that at least two types of enterochromaffin cells exist in the human gut mucosa and that they produce at least one biogenic amine as well as two peptides. Therefore they could provide a useful model for studies of the interrelationship of storage and release of amines and peptides.
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Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) has been localised by immuno-staining to granules of the convoluted duct cells of the submaxillary glands of mice. Improved techniques of freeze drying and formaldehyde vapour fixation have resulted in a light microscopical localisation sharper than was achieved by previous methods. EGF has also been identified by electron immunocytochemistry using the unlabelled antibody enzyme method. EGF is present in greater quantities in male mice than in female mice but in pregnant females the level of EGF in the submaxillary gland is equal to that of the male. It declines gradually during the three weeks of lactation. In view of the chemical similarity between mouse EGF and human Urogastrone these improved methods of identification may be useful in the localisation of the human substance.
Using an immunoreactive technique the two peptides, motilin and Substance P, have been localized at the ultrastructural level in enterochromaffin (EC) cells. Motilin occurs in cells containing a mixed population of biconcave and round secretory granules whereas Substance P is found in cells with exclusively round granules. These observations confirm the existence of at least two functionally and morphologically different types of EC cell in rabbit bile duct, both of which contain 5-hydroxytryptamine. Classification of the endocrine cells of the gut on a purely morphological basis is clearly impossible, however.
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The records of a total of 102 patients who underwent primary total hip replacement during 1987-88 were evaluated retrospectively. 36 patients had donated 1-3 units of whole blood preoperatively. Surgery was performed with the use of a device for intraoperative autotransfusion (IAT). Another 25 patients without preoperative autologous blood donation were operated with the use of IAT. None of these techniques was available for the remaining 41 patients. The mean perioperative blood loss and the mean volume of transfused blood were 1400 ml and 1000 ml respectively. Equal quantities of blood were lost intra- and postoperatively, whereas only one fifth of transfused blood was given intraoperatively. Homologous blood transfusion was not required in 32% of the patients for whom autologous blood was not available. However after preoperative autologous blood donation, 95% of the 2-unit donors and 100% of the 3-unit donors could be operated without homologous blood transfusion. Autologous blood donation did not increase the need for homologous blood transfusions. With the use of IAT it was only 20% of the patients that at least 500 ml of blood were salvaged for retransfusion. On the basis of these findings, elective primary total hip replacement would seem to be the ideal operation to be performed after preoperative autologous blood donation and, whenever possible with the use of IAT. The desirable ratio of 1,5:1 for the units of blood to be crossmatched preoperatively vs. units transfused perioperatively can be achieved solely by preoperative donation of 3 units of autologous blood.
This report describes the development of a new panel of monoclonal antibodies established after immunization of mice with purified surfactant protein D of the rat. To enhance the detection of SP-D in formalin- or Schaffer-fixed samples, immunohistochemistry was performed by using microwave pretreatment of paraffin sections. Using these new antibodies that bind to type II epithelial cells, Clara cells, and alveolar macrophages, the responses of lung parenchymal cells were examined in a radiation-induced fibrosis model. Increased accumulation of extracellular SP-D in the alveolar space was found. Double staining with anti-surfactant protein A antibodies revealed different Clara cell populations containing one or both types of surfactant proteins.
The wall structure of arterio-venous anastomoses in human glomus organs was studied by immunohistochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy. Smooth muscle cells of the epithelioid type I and of the dense type II could be found in the media. The immunohistochemical study confirmed the immunopositivity of both smooth muscle cell types for alpha-smooth muscle actin, vimentin, and smooth muscle myosin. All smooth muscle cells also stained positively for caveolin, a recently described structural protein of microvesicles present in selected epithelial and nonepithelial cells. The immunoreactivity for cathepsin D, however, was much higher in the type I cells than in the type II cells. Immunoelectron microscopy revealed that type I cells contain loose arrays of alpha smooth muscle actin positive microfilaments, sometimes arranged in small bundles, whereas the dense medial smooth muscle cells of the type II have tightly packed actin filaments. Only type I cells contained cathepsin D positive lysosomes. The data suggest that two types of phenotypic variants of vascular smooth muscle cells in the human arterio-venous anastomosis exist: a more "synthetic" type I cell and a more contractile type II cell.
Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), or erythema multiforme, is a severe, acute, adverse, cutaneous reaction to certain medications, such as phenytoin and topical nitrogen mustard. The risk of developing SJS is high when phenytoin and steroids are administered during cranial irradiation. SJS produces headache, malaise, sore throat, fever, and sloughing of the skin and mucous membranes. Prompt recognition of SJS and withdrawal of the offending medication is key to treating this disorder. Nurses play an important role in assessing patients and educating them about signs and symptoms of SJS.