Acta Medica Okayama volume18 issue3

An experimental study was attempted to make an analysis of the subcortical and brain stem lesion effect on the Metrazol-induced corticogenic epileptic convulsion based on EEG-discharge and EMG-convulsion as indicators. utilizing 42 adult cats. 1. A definite threshold increment of eliciting the seizure was found in the case of bilateral lesion of the Forel H-field. In contrast to it, no variation in the threshold was found in the case of the lesions at the other parts of brain stem, thalamus, red nucleus and its neighborhood, and lenticular nucleus. 2. There was a parallel relation between EEG discharge and convulsion. Dissociation could be obtained in none of the cases. 3. It is, therefore, to be concluded that the Forel H-field is composed of the main axis of cortico-subcortical reverberating circuit and that the lesion causes a decrement of the excitability at cortex and an inhibition of the corticogenic epileptic convulsion.

1. An apparatus for the simultaneous measurements of volume change, fluorescence intensity of pyridine nucleotides and oxygen consumption of mitochondria has been constructed. 2. Oxygen consumption is measured by the rotating platinum electrode with a modification of Hagihara's system, attached in a cuvette of the apparatus. 3. Volume changes of mitochondria (swelling-shrinkage) are measured by the 90° light-scattering at 650 mμ. 4. Relative fluorescence intensity of pyridine nucleotides is measured by the fluorometer: for the excitation, a bright light at 365 mμ. line of mercury lamp is isolated through the filter and exposed to the mitochondria suspended in a cuvette of the apparatus, and fluorescent emission is analyzed by a grating mirror monochromator. 5. The scattered light at 650 mμ. is not affected by the excitation light and the fluorescent emission, and fluorescence intensity is not affected by the scattered light at 650 mμ. 6. The simultaneous measurements of the oxidation-reduction of pyridine nucleotides, the respiration states and the changes in the intensity of 90° lightscattering of mitochondria are given as an example of the performance of the present apparatus.

An electron microscope study was performed on the ultrastructure and developmental process of the Mukai strain of Japanese B encephalitis virus propagated in vitro on porcine kidney stable cells. The virus particle of Japanese B encephalitis is hexagonal in sections and approximately 40 mμ in the maximum diameter, composed of an outer membrane, 20Å thick, viroplasm, 30 Å thick and an electron-dense nucleoid, 25 mμ in diameter. The virus particles develop by a budding process on the wall of the cytoplasmic vacuole. Thereafter, virus particles are densely packed in the vacuole usually in random arrangement and rarely in crystalline arrays. The vacuole containing virus particles gradually moves toward the cell surface and liberates the virus particles to the exterior of the cells through a narrow canaliculus. A structure suggestive of incomplete virus particles was also observed.

For the investigation of iron metabolism in the intestinal mucosa in various　blood diseases, intestinal biopsy (duodenum) was performed on 10 healthy controls　and 35 cases with various blood diseases. The following are　the results　of the studies on distribution of stainable　iron, amounts of non-hemin iron in the　biopsied materials, and iron uptake of the intestinal epithelial cells.　1) An evaluation of distribution of stainable iron by Berlin　blue reaction　showed none or very mild degree, if any,　inhealthy controls, an increase in　aplastic anemia,　pernicious anemia, some of leukemias and in iron deficiency anemia following iron therapy, and a decrease in　idiopathic hypochromic anemia, anchylostomiasis anemia,　anemia with cancer, myxedema, hemolytic anemia,　and in　some of leukemias. Some of anemia with cancer, however,　showed an　increase of a certain degree. In iron absorption tests, no changes were found other than a very mild increase in aplastic anemia. 2) Non-hemin iron was 70-112γ/g in healthy controls, increased in aplastic anemia approximately to 100-200γ/g, ranging 40-130γ/g in leukemia, and decreased in idiopathic hypochromic anemia and in anemia with cancer ranging 30-60γ/g and 30-50γ/g respectively. Amounts of non-hemin iron and serum iron or sideroblasts show a fair correlation. The fractionation of nonhemin iron in aplastic anemia didn't show any difference in relationship of each fraction from healthy controls despite the increased amount in the former. 3) A radioautographic evaluation of iron uptake by intestinal epithelium was performed by our device for evaluation of intestinal absorption capacity. The iron uptake was mild in healthy controls, almost none in aplastic anemia, and marked in iron deficiency anemia where it was decreased approximately to the level of healthy controls following iron therapy. 4) The intestinal tissue iron showed a series of changes similar to those of iron present in the serum or erythroblasts, and the non-hemin iron in the intestinal mucosa is inversely correlated with iron uptake of epithelium and is considered to regulate the absorption according to its amount.

For the purpose to look into the regulatory mechanism of erythropoiesis, changes in the cell volume and the cell size of the erythroid cells have been observed in peripheral blood and marrow from normal and phenylhydrazine induced anemic rabbits. And the following results have been obtained: 1. After the injection of phenylhydrazine hydrochloride a hemolytic anemia can be induced with a marked increase in the reticulocyte number. The cell volume increases with the advance of anemia but it is never proportional to the increase of reticulocyte number. The MCV reaches the value twice the normal but it never exceeds the threshold. 2. In bone marrow the smaller sized orthochromatic cells are reduced extremely in number or obliterated in anemic animals. As there is not any marked difference in cell size of polychromatic erythroblasts between normal and anemic animals, the large red cells of anemic animal will be formed by denuc1eation of the polychromatic erythroblasts. 3. The percentage of basophilic erythroblasts is increased in anemic animal suggesting an accelerated differentiation-division of proerythroblasts to basophilic ones. 4. The data strongly support the denuc1eation at polychromatic stage in emergency but not at the younger stages than polychromatic erythroblast. Data also suggest that in severe anemia an accelerated cell division occurs, especially in the stage from proerythroblast to basophilic erythroblast.

Ehrlich ascites tumor cells affected by oleic and linoleic acids lose their cytomembrane followed by the leak out of ribosomes. Some cells survived through this treatment when they were transplanted into mouse peritoneal cavity, but they changed their characteristics showing wider and less basophilic cytoplasm and smaller nuclei with dense nuclear chromatin and ambiguous nucleoli. In spite of many attempts, no qualitative changes have been found between normal and cancer cells. Recently, Ishikawa found the specific antigenicity of cancer cell membrane which was common to several strains of canccr cells. Grobstein and coworkers have clarified that pancreatic cells can differentiate in association with neighboring mesenchymal cells, probably getting some information. Their works suggest that the cell differentiation will be induced by mutual association of cells by which the cell will receive some substance acting as the information for differentiation. Taking the works of Ishikawa and his collabolators into consideration, it seems that cancer cells may be unable to differentiate by their defective or incomplete cell membrane through which they cannot associate with neighboring cells and fail to get the information. Almost all of the biological characteristics of cancer cells, immaturity, autonomic growth, invasive and metastatic properties independent from the neighboring cell groups, are well explained or consistent with this view. Recently, we found that the cell membrane can be loosened by some unsaturated fatty acids resulting in the leak-out of ribosomes. In this paper it is demonstrated how the Ehrlich ascites tumor cell affected by fatty acids lose their cytomembrane and the ribosomes and how the cells survived through this treatment show different characteristics from the original ones, taking the appearance more matured cells.