Métodos de análise quantitativa aplicados a modelos de corrosão vascular: revisão de literatura / Methods of quantitative analysis applied to vascular corrosion casts: a literature review

Os modelos de corrosão vascular propiciam um poderoso entendimento morfológico da microarquitetura dos vasos sangüíneos quando associados à microscopia eletrônica de varredura. Diversos sistemas de morfometria bidimensionais (2D) e tridimensionais (3D) têm sido propostos para a sua quantificação, bem como modelos matemáticos com o objetivo de entender os princípios ideais hemodinâmicos que governam estes sistemas circulatórios. Este artigo se propõe a realizar uma revisão de literatura desta evolução, desde as primeiras teses sobre os princípios ideais, fundamentais para o entendimento da hemodinâmica vascular, até o estado da arte dos sistemas de morfometria 3D.

Vascular corrosion casts combined with scanning electron microscopy provide apowerful morphologic understanding of the vascular microarchitecture. Several bidimensional(2D) and threedimensional (3D) systems, as well as mathematical models have been proposed aiming at the quantification of vascular models, in order to study the hemodynamic optimality principles ruling those circulatory systems. This paper aims to accomplish a literature review of this evolution from the foremost thesis about optimality principles, vital to the knowledge of vascular hemodynamics, up to the state-of-the-art 3D morphometry systems.

Comparative effect of ion calcium and magnesium in the activation and infection of the murine macrophage by Leishmania major

Amastigotes of Leishmania major have a great ability to evade destruction in host cells. This study investigated the activation in resident, inflammatory macrophages and J774 cells in vitro treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), soluble Leishmania antigen (SLA), calcium ionophore (CaI) and magnesium (Mg2+) alone or combined. An increase in nitric oxide (NO) production was observed in J774 or inflammatory macrophages treated with LPS alone or in combination with SLA and CaI. The same treatments did not affect the NO release by resident macrophages. There was no interference in uptake of L. major but CaI decreased intracellular proliferation of the parasite. This study demonstrated the importance of CaI in decreasing L. major proliferation inside murine macrophages while Mg2+ seemed to increase parasite proliferation. These finding may help to understand the events involved in host cells' clearance of this pathogen..

Detection of Toxoplasma gondii soluble antigen, SAG-1(p30), antibody and immune complex in the cerebrospinal fluid of HIV positive or negative individuals

Active infection by T. gondii was evaluated by immunoassay for soluble SAG-1 (p30), the major surface antigen from T. gondii, specific antibodies and immune complexes in human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples. A total of 263 samples of CSF were collected from hospitalized patients presenting neurological disorders and analyzed for antibodies to HIV. Patients were divided into two groups: HIV positive (n = 96) or HIV negative (n =167). The results of the assays showed that 45 of all samples were positive for soluble SAG-1. Toxoplasma Ag/Ab immune complexes were detected in 19 of the CSF samples and 62 were positive for T. gondii- specific IgG. A combination of these assays in the presence of clinical findings consistent with active Toxoplasma infection may predict the presence of toxoplasmic encephalitis. Moreover, detection of soluble SAG-1 in the CSF of these individuals appears consistent with active infection.

Detection of Toxoplasma gondii specific antibodies in dogs: a comparative study of immunoenzymatic, immunofluorescent and haemagglutination titers

We evaluated the titers os anti-T. gondii antibodies by various serological testes in 40 serum samples from dogs exhibiting clinical signs of infectios diseases. Indirect immunoflurescence (IgG-IFI), indirect haemagglutination (IHA and M-Toxo) and immunoenzymatic (ELISA and PA-ELISA) tests were carried out. Titers > 64 were considered as positive. Anti-Toxoplasma antibodies were found in 9 (22.5 per cent), 14 (35 per cent) and 12 (30 per cent) samples, respectively for IHA, IgG-IFI, ELISA and PA-ELISA. The results showed that 57 per cent were negative in all tests and 43 per cent of the dogs presented antibodies to T. gondii; from these, 20 per cent were positive in all three tests with high titers of antibodies and 23 per cent were positive in only one or two tests with low titers of antibodies and mainly related to the IFI and ELISA tests. We observed 5 (12.5 per cent) and 1 (2.5 per cent) reactive samples, respectively, by M-Toxo and IHA with or wihout 2-mercapthoethanol, in the attempt to detect specific IgM. We can conclude that serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis in dog have to be based on the combination of serological tests (IFI and ELISA) and with emphasis at the determination of the titers and the classes of specific antibodies.

Células gigantes multinucleadas em citologia aspirativa de tumor filóide de mama / Multinucleated giant cells in aspiration cytology of phyllodes tumor

O diagnóstico citológico de tumor filóide é baseado em um padräo dimórfico caracterizado pela presença de elementos estromais (fragmentos de tecido conjuntivo ou células fusiformes isoladas) e epiteliais. Entretanto, outras neoplasias primárias da mama, nomeadamente o fibroadenoma, adenomiopitelioma e tumor misto, podem igualmente exibir um quadro citológico semelhante. Neste trabalho descrevemos três casos de tumorfilóide onde a presença de células gigantes multinucleadas foi o achado citológico dominante e auxiliou no diagnóstico diferencial com fibroadenoma. Destacamos a importância deste achado e caracterizamos estas células do ponto de vista imunofenotípico como de linhagem histiocítica