Ultrastructural study of aorta in and changes induced by schistosomiasis mansoni

The aim of the present work has been to study the ultrastructural details of the mice aorta and changes induced by a challenge infection with Schistosoma mansoni. For that, 50 male mice were infected by the tail immersion method and sacrified six weeks after-infection. The electron microscopic study of the mice Aorta revealed an intima formed of endothelial cells, a media formed of well developed parallel dense elastic laminae, containing in between smooth muscle fibre cells, and an adventitia formed mostly of collagenic fibrils. Schistosomiasis led to endothelial hypertrophy and degenerationjsubendothelial proliferation containing collagenic fibrils, cellular debris and migrating degenerated smooth muscle fibres, splitting of elastic laminae of media and their fragmentation into islands, degeneration of smooth muscle fibres of the media with enlarged mitochondria and vacuolation of their cytoplasm, and fibrosis encroaching and surrounding most of the structure of the vessels. These changes have been related to the toxic and/or antigenic activity of the parasite since only present in infected animals. Besides, experimental schistosomiasis in the present work was not associated with other infections, metabolic or dietary factors, farther consolidating the view of the deleterious effect of schistosomiasis mansoni per se on the arterial blood vessels. These ultrastructural changes in mice Aorta induced by schistosomiasis mansoni we described for the first time in such an experimental design

Enzymatic histochemical study of the effect of different storage media on the viability of the pulp in teeth of dogs

An enzymatic histochemical study was done on the pulp of 87 teeth extracted from healthy dogs. Three were used as controls. The others were divided into groups and were stored in different media; milk, saliva and dry medium; for different period of time ranging from - hour to eight hours. Milk proved to be the best storage medium as it was capable to keep the activity of the enzyme for a longer period of time in the pulp namely alkaline and acid phosphatase, succinic dehydrogenase and alpha esterase and hence. Increasing the viability period of teeth before being replanted. Saline and saliva came after, while dry gauze medium showed to be the least capable to store the viability of the teeth