Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S Fujimoto.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Three cases of intracranial wooden foreign body are reported discussing the diagnostic and therapeutic problems. First case is a 50-year-old man. After drinking, he drove a bike and fell to the ground. On admission the wooden foreign body could not been detected in appearance. CT scan showed low density area similar to air in bilateral anterior horn of lateral ventricle. The patient was treated for traumatic pneumocephalus at first. Later, it proved that he was stabbed with a foreign body penetrating into the contralateral frontal lobe through the left nasal cavity. It was extracted by endonasal approach by otolaryngologist, fortunately without trouble. The foreign body was a branch of tree. The second case is an 18-year-old man. He was driving a car, and suffered injury. He was stabbed with a wooden stake penetrating into his left eye. Immediately, bifrontal craniotomy was performed and the stake was withdrawn carefully. Moreover bone fragments were removed. The third case is a 61-year-old man. When he cut the timber by chain saw, a piece of wood hit and stabbed his right eye directly. Immediately right front temporal craniotomy was performed. The piece of wood was withdrawn from the right eye, and pieces of glass, wood and bone fragments were evacuated. It is difficult to confirm intracranial foreign body accurately by means of only plain skull film and usual CT scans. It is necessary to utilize various function of CT scanner. For example, it is useful to know CT values or select measure mode with window width and level or make reconstruction image to sagittal or coronal section, and so on.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The safety of pre-operative transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE), especially on the relation to hepatic regeneration following partial hepatectomy, was evaluated in rats. TAE was done through a catheter cannulated into hepatic artery under laparotomy. The remarkable elevation of S-GOT and S-GPT levels were demonstrated a day after TAE, which returned to normal on third post operative day. No influence of the difference of embolized materials was seen on the changes of transaminase levels. TAE severely decreased hepatic microsomal functional mass measured by [14C]-aminopyrine breath test (ABT) and the recovery of microsomal functional mass was shown on the 14th day after TAE. Histologically, recanalization could not be revealed in embolized arterioles even on the 21st day after TAE. But trabecular pattern of hepatic lobules was preserved after TAE. The serious inhibition of DNA synthesis of regenerating liver was demonstrated when TAE was performed within 14 days prior to partial hepatectomy (p less than 0.001-0.05). The period from TAE to partial hepatectomy had a influence on the survival rate after partial hepatectomy, and when appropriate interval was taken after TAE, the survival rate increased significantly (33%-50% in 24 hours interval and 88% in 14 days interval). In conclusion, preoperative TAE remarkably suppressed hepatic regeneration after partial hepatectomy, and appropriate time when suppressed hepatic functional mass, such as microsomal functional mass measured by ABT, returned to pre TAE value was required to perform hepatectomy in safety.
During the investigation of inhibitory activity of kininogens toward calpains [EC 3.4.22.17], we found that lysyl-bradykinin was liberated from both high molecular weight (HMW) and low molecular weight (LMW) kininogens by the action of the calpains. The kinin liberation occurred in a limited range of calpain to kininogen molar ratios of 0.5:1 to 8:1, and in that condition calpains were simultaneously inhibited 20 to 80% by kininogens. The maximum level of kinin release from HMW and LMW kininogens by calpain I was about 25% and that by calpain II was 20%. These results suggest that in case of inflammation the kininogens play two physiologically distinct roles by interaction with calpains: to release lysyl-bradykinin and to inhibit proteinase activity of calpains derived from the damaged tissues.
beta-Alanine aminotransferase from rat liver was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity. The immunological and kinetic properties of this enzyme were similar to those of the enzyme from rat brain. However, the liver enzyme transaminates from beta-alanine to 2-oxoglutaric acid, while the brain enzyme transaminates from gamma-aminobutyric acid. beta-Alanine aminotransferase activity in regenerating rat liver was lower than that in control rat liver. Activity of this enzyme, as well as of other uracil-catabolizing enzymes (Weber, G., Queener, S.F. and Ferdinandus, A. (1970) in Advances in Enzyme Regulation (Weber, G., ed.), Vol. 9, pp. 63-95, Pergamon Press, Oxford), was low in newborn rat liver and increased about 5-fold, reaching the level observed in adult rat liver. beta-Alanine and prednisolone induced beta-alanine aminotransferase in rat liver.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Bepridil and diltiazem were studied for their effects on blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and on vascular tone of femoral and mesenteric arterial strips from SHR. The drugs (i.v.) reduced BP and HR more markedly in SHR than in normotensive Wistar Kyoto rats (WKY). The effects of bepridil were less pronounced and less prolonged than those of diltiazem. Bepridil relaxed arterial strips precontracted by KCl or prostaglandin F2 alpha to almost the same extent as diltiazem in both SHR and WKY. Bepridil was almost as potent as diltiazem in inhibiting non-competitively the Ca2+-evoked contractions of arteries depolarized in a Ca2+-free, high K+ buffer. alpha-Adrenoceptor agonist-induced contractions accompanied and not accompanied by Ca2+ influx were inhibited more markedly by bepridil than diltiazem under certain conditions. The inhibitions were more marked in SHR than in WKY. Thus, it was suggested that both drugs acted as Ca2+ influx inhibitor to reduce vascular tone. Bepridil inhibited intracellular vasoconstriction mechanisms linked with alpha-adrenoceptors more potently than did diltiazem in SHR. Taken together, these actions can explain the antihypertensive properties of both drugs in SHR.
A distinct difference in ganglioside composition among various rat ascites hepatomas and Yoshida sarcoma was observed on TLC-immunostaining with anti-fucosyl GM1 antibody, and chemical and enzymatic analyses. Yoshida sarcoma and ascites hepatomas, AH13, AH66F and AH66, but not the other 9 tumor cell lines investigated, specifically contained a disialoganglioside, NeuAc alpha 2-3Gal beta 1-3(NeuAc alpha 2-6)GalNAc beta 1-4Gal beta 1-4Glc beta 1-1ceramide (GD1e), whereas the 9 ascites hepatoma cells without GD1e contained fucosyl GM1. The differential expression of fucosyl GM1 and GD1e in various tumor cell lines indicates that different cell lineages express distinct metabolic pathways for gangliosides, and that the gangliosides are useful markers for distinguishing tumor cell lines.
Immunoelectron microscope localization of human placental lactogen (hPL) was investigated in the chorionic villi from week 7 to full-term gestation with the protein A-gold technique. With specific antiserum against hPL, immuno-reactive gold particles were found to be preferentially located in Golgi-derived, electron-dense small granules of 80-180 nm in the syncytiotrophoblast. Our electron micrographs indicate that these small granules increase in number in the course of gestation and are released by exocytosis from the apical cell surface. The present study reveals that hPL is segregated from the Golgi apparatus, stored in the syncytiotrophoblast as secretory granules, and released into the maternal blood.
Antitumor therapies using polyamine antimetabolites combined with 1-(4-amino-2-methyl-5-pyrimidyl)methyl-3(2-chloroethyl)-3-nitrosourea (ACNU) or fluorinated pyrimidines for human gastric cancer xenotransplanted into nude mice were studied to determine inhibiting post-therapeutic regrowth of the tumor after cessation of antitumor treatments with polyamine antimetabolites alone. ACNU 20 mg/kg, fluorinated pyrimidine, 5-FU 52.8 mg/kg and 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine (5'-DFUR) 100 mg/kg as well as polyamine antimetabolites, alpha-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) 1000 mg/kg and methylglyoxal-bis-guanylhydrazone (MGBG) 50 mg/kg were given intraperitoneally for 5 successive days. When DFMO and MGBG were combined with ACNU, the post-therapeutic regrowth was definitely inhibited, while combined treatments with 5-FU or 5'-DFUR did not inhibit the regrowth. Post-therapeutic DNA biosynthesis was suppressed in mice given DFMO, MGBG plus ACNU. On the contrary, in mice treated with DFMO, MGBG plus 5-FU or 5'-DFUR, suppression of DNA biosynthesis was not observed. Tumor tissue spermine levels in the DFMO, MGBG plus 5-FU or 5'-DFUR group remained unchanged, compared to those in the DFMO + MGBG group. In mice given DFMO, MGBG plus ACNU, however, spermine levels were markedly depressed; and the ACNU alone depressed also the tissue spermine levels. These different results between nitrosourea and fluorinated pyrimidines may relate to mechanisms of action of these antitumor drugs.
Seven healthy pregnant volunteers undergoing elective cesarean section at 39-40 weeks of gestation were studied for transplacental passage of ritodrine hydrochloride, which was administered by intravenous infusion at the rate of 72-149 micrograms/min for 161-335 min. The concentrations of ritodrine in the collected maternal and fetal blood and the amniotic fluid were radioimmunoassayed. The levels of ritodrine in maternal serum were between 22.5 and 51.0 ng/ml one hour after the initiation of infusion, 33.7-66.4 ng/ml after 2 h, 18.2-73.6 ng/ml after 4 h and 45.7-189.6 ng/ml at delivery, respectively. The umbilical blood and amniotic fluid concentrations of ritodrine at delivery were between 15.6 and 35.1 ng/ml in arterial blood, 12.5-29.6 ng/ml in venous blood and 10.0-49.1 ng/ml in amniotic fluid. The ratio of umbilical venous blood concentrations to maternal venous concentrations (CV/MV) ranged from 0.066 to 0.544 with the mean of 0.263 +/- 0.063 (M +/- S.E.). The results obtained substantiate the rapid and appreciable transfer of ritodrine to the fetus and amniotic fluid.
This is a clinico-pathological study of one case of acute hemorrhagic leukoencephalitis occurring in a patient with lung cancer. The main changes observed by light microscopy were in the white matter. All of these changes were the result of hemorrhage and demyelination around the venous vessels. Glial mesenchymal reactions were minimal. In view of these findings, this case supports the hypothesis that immune mechanisms play a role in the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric symptoms during malignant illnesses. Here we will discuss the problem of differential diagnoses of acute hemorrhagic leukoencephalitis and its close morphologic similarities to perivenous encephalitis. Acute hemorrhagic leukoencephalitis and perivenous encephalitis may be a single entity of a demyelinating disease.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Hyperthermic treatment using ACNU combined with a thermosensitizing drug, methylglyoxal-bis-guanylhydrazone (MGBG), was studied in human gastric cancer xenotransplanted into nude mice. In order to increase the intra-cellular MGBG content, intraperitoneal injection of alpha-difluoromethylornithine(DFMO) 1000 mg/kg was performed twice with an interval of 6 hours and 50 mg/kg of MGBG was given at the time of the second administration of DFMO. After 6 hours of MGBG administration, ACNU 20 mg/kg was given intraperitoneally and, subsequently a 23-minute hyperthermia was carried out in a water bath at 43.5 degrees C. After 48 hours a second hyperthermia was performed by the same method. Tumor weight was estimated using Battelle's Columbus Institute protocol and the inoculated tumors, which were extirpated 60 minutes after 3H-thymidine injection at a prescribed interval after cessation of hyperthermia, were assayed biochemically for the determination of DNA biosynthesis. In mice given ACNU, DFMO, MGBG plus heat, considerably superior results were obtained. Although the DFMO plus MGBG group was inferior in antitumor activity to the ACNU only or heat only group, the DFMO, MGBG plus heat group showed much the same antitumor effects, compared to the ACNU plus heat group. These data suggest that the thermosensitizing efficacy of MGBG may be applicable for clinical use.
To ascertain the clinical predictability and, in the long run, the usefulness of the human tumor/nude mouse model as a screening tool for antitumor agents, it seems particularly important to use as many tumor lines as possible and to evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of antitumor agents in terms of the overall response rate of a range of tumors. In this study, using 11 strains of established human gastric tumor xenografts with various histological characteristics and proliferation behavior, the experimental response rates to 8 typical antitumor drugs (mitomycin C, cyclophosphamide, ACNU, cisplatin, adriamycin, vincristine, vinblastine and 5-fluorouracil) were determined and compared with the clinical values. The experimental response rates to adriamycin, vincristine and 5-fluorouracil were in good accordance with the clinical results. However, with the other drugs, significantly higher response rates were observed with the nude mouse model as compared to clinical therapy, indicating that this model tends to overestimate the responsiveness of human tumor to a number of antitumor agents. These results strongly suggest the importance of using appropriate dose levels in the nude mouse to reproduce clinically equivalent effects in this model.