ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Pterygium is one of the most common conjunctival diseases among ophthalmic pathologies. The frequency of recurrences is high, either after surgical treatment or after treatment combined with mitomycin C or beta-radiation therapy. AIMS: The purpose of this study was to determine whether concanavalin A (ConA) lectin bound to the pterygial surface can be used to detect recurrence or remnants of pterygium after surgical excision. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a prospective study on 20 patients with pterygium, divided in five stages, pre-surgery, early post-surgery (24h), late post-surgery (seven days), very late post-surgery (four weeks) and two months after the procedure. A drop of fluorescein-marked Con A (35 microg/mL) was instilled in the lower conjunctival eyelid sac and the eye was exposed to the light of a Wood's lamp for an average of five seconds. RESULTS: Out of the 20 patients, eight patients were found to have fluorescent stretch marks over the scar corresponding to residual pterygial tissue at four weeks; two months after the procedure of re-surgery we observed no fluorescent remnants. All residual pterygia were confirmed through histochemistry studies. CONCLUSION: It was possible to detect remnants of pterygium in postoperative patients and recurrences in early pre-clinical stages through the visualization of fluorescent ConA bound to the pterygial surface.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Animals , Concanavalin A/diagnosis , Conjunctiva/pathology , Diagnosis, Differential , Disease Models, Animal , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Middle Aged , Mitogens/diagnosis , Photomicrography , Postoperative Care/methods , Prospective Studies , Pterygium/diagnosis , Rats , Recurrence , Reproducibility of ResultsABSTRACT
Normal human peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes (PBML) were activated by concanavalin A (Con A). Con A-activated and non-activated T cells were separated by E (AET) rosettes (2-aminoethylisothiouronium hydrobromide treated sheep erythrocyte rosettes). Purified T cells were rosetted with Con A-coated sheep red blood cells (Con A-SRBC) at 37 degrees C resulting in Con A-SRBC rosetted and non-rosetted T cells. The Con A-SRBC rosetted T lymphocytes in the T lymphocytes from Con A-activated and non-activated PBML were 44.4 +/- 5.4 percent and 16.0 +/- 7.5 percent (Mean +/- S.D.) while the Con A-SRBC non-rosetted T lymphocytes were 55.6 +/- 5.4 percent and 84.0 +/- 7.5 percent respectively. The Con A-SRBC rosetted and non-rosetted T cells were separated by Ficoll-Hypaque gradient centrifugation. Functional studies of Con A-SRBC rosetted and non-rosetted T cells were performed by in vitro tests using pre-amplified reverse hemolytic plaque assay for measuring numbers of immunoglobulin G (IgG) secreting cells and ELISA quantitation of IgG concentration. Both techniques were used to assess the suppressor and helper functions of the Con A-SRBC rosetted and non-rosetted T cells. The Con A-SRBC rosetted cells obtained from T cells of Con A-activated PBML showed strong suppressor activities to normal PBML in both pre-amplified reverse hemolytic plaque assay and sandwidh ELISA of IgG concentration, while the Con A-SRBC non-rosetted T cells demonstrated strong helper activities to normal PBML in both assay systems.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Subject(s)
Animals , Cell Separation/methods , Concanavalin A/diagnosis , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Erythrocytes/immunology , Humans , Immunoglobulin G/analysis , Rosette Formation , Sheep , T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer/cytology , T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory/cytologyABSTRACT
Levels of antibody in sera of 78 patients with opisthorchiasis, 30 patients with other liver diseases, 10 patients with schistosomiasis and 30 healthy individuals were compared using three serodiagnostic tests, namely indirect haemagglutination (IHA), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and lectin immuno test (LIT). The geometric mean reciprocal titer in sera of opisthorchiasis patients was significantly higher than patients with other diseases, patients with schistosomiasis and healthy individuals (p less than 0.00001). After treatment with praziquantel, the antibody titers were decreased and became lowest 120 days after treatment. A statistically significant decrease from the pre-treatment sample was observed only at 120 days after infection and not earlier and only with ELISA (p = 0.03) and not with IHA and LIT (p greater than 0.05). Even with ELISA, significant decrease in antibody titer was apparent only when the pre-treatment sera had high enough antibody titer. ELISA was therefore better than the other two tests for the assessment of cure provided that the titer of pre-treatment sera was high.