Acta Medica Okayama volume30 issue1

A 76-year old farmer ingested 100 g of chlorphenamidine (Galectron), a plant acaricle, for the purpose of suicide. Gastric lavage was performed and the patient survived. Methemoglobinemia was noted after emergency treatment and was still present at 20 hours after ingestion of the compound. The patient was lethargic for at least 50 hours. Moderate neutrophilic leukocytosis and kidney injury were observed.

A simple method is described for determing thyroxine binding proteins in human serum by electrophoresis at pH 8.6, using cellulose acetate membrane as the supporting medium. The procedure had high reliability in sera of normal subjects, pregnant women and patients with decreased thyroxine binding capacity of thyroxine binding globulin.

Cells from methylcholanthrene-induced tumor (MC-tumor), Ehrlich ascites cancer or mouse ascites hepatoma (MH-134) were subcutaneously implanted in dorsal area of mice to examine the specific cell mediated immunity following implantation. The migration index (MI) of lymphocytes was determined at various time periods after cell transplantation. The MI-activity increased under all three implantations, reached maximum at a certain period, decreased gradually and disappeared. The maximum MI-activity coincided with the proliferation period of the implanted tumor cells. This peak occurred on the tenth postimplantation day with MC-tumors, on the fifth day with Ehrlich ascites cancer and on the sixth day with MH-134 cancer. In lymphoid tissues of animals with MC-tumor and Ehrlich ascites cancer, strong MI-activity appeared early in the regional axillary lymph nodes, while weak activity was observed consistently in the distant mesenterial lymph nodes. The MI-activity of the splenic lymphoid cells resembled the axillary lymph nodes cell activity. The MI-activity of venous blood lymphoid cells was parallel to the average value of lymphoid cells of the spleen and axillary and mesenterial lymph nodes.

The relationship between muscle activity at the terminal region of the common bile duct and the duodenal muscle was examined in rabbits. The rhythmic muscle activity in the terminal region was synchronous with duodenal muscle activity. The activity of the latter muscle preceded the former. The activity at the terminal region synchronous with the rhythmic activity of the duodenal muscle sometimes disappeared spontaneously. The muscle activity of the ampulla and the spincter at the terminal region was sometimes independently lost. The conduction of excitation from the duodenal muscle to the terminal region appeared to be performed at several sites. The existence of a "conduction-shunt path" between the terminal region and the duodenum, as well as between the ampulla and the sphincter appeared probably. Some quantitative differences were found between the spincter, ampulla and duodenum in inhibitory effects to stimulation of splanchnic nerves and reflex effects and to excitatory effects of cholecystokinin-pancreoxymin and caerulein. These results seem to indicate that the sympathetic nerves and the intramural cholinergic neurones controlling these region carry out activities quantitatively different from each other.

HB surface antigen (HBs Ag) was detected using the enzyme-labelled antibody technique on routinely processed liver biopsy material fixed in Bouin's fixative and embedded in paraffin. Of 85 examined specimens, 45 cases were HBs Ag positive by both the immunofluorescent test and the enzyme labelled antibody technique. The remaining 40 cases were negative by both techniques. The specificity of HBs Ag detected by the enzyme-labelled antibody technique was confirmed by the blocking test using guinea pig specific HBs antibody. The results indicate that the enzyme-labelled antibody technique may be useful for detecting HBs Ag on routine paraffin sections.

Hepatitis B core antigen (HBc Ag) and hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs Ag) were detected in the liver tissue of a patient with chronic aggressive hepatitis by the immunofluorescent complement technique. The presence of anti-HBc was examined by the same method in 67 human sera previously tested for HBs Ag, anti-HBs and s-GPT levels. HBc Ag was localized mainly in the nucleus and sometimes in the cytoplasm of the hepatic cells. HBs Ag was found only in the cytoplasm. The focal area of HBc Ag positive hepatic cells seemed to correspond to the HBs Ag positive cells. Double staining demonstrated the simultaneous presence of HBs Ag and HBc Ag in individual cells. Anti-HBc positive serum was found in 46 (68.7%) cases. Forty-eight (71.6%) indicated a combination of HBs Ag and anti-HBc.