Neutrophil chemotaxis and killing function in patients with recurrent furunculosis

Furuncle is an acute, usually necrotic, infection of a hair follicle with Staph. aureus. Chemotaxis in one of the initial host responses to staphylococcal invasion. Disorders of PMNs motility are rare but when present are associated with recurrent infections. In the present study, PMNs chemotaxis and killing function were assessed in 40 patients with recurrent furunculosis and 10 controls. This study revealed that, the chemotactic response of PMNs to zymosan activated serum was significantly higher in patients with active furunculosis than controls. However, there was no significant statistical difference between neutrophil killing function of patients and controls. Therefore, it was concluded that there is no basic cellular defect of the neutrophil in the studied patients

Effect of griseofulvin therapy on the central excitatory neurotransmitters in the brain of experimental animals

This study was carried out on 31 rats classified into two groups. The first group [10 animals] was kept as a control while the other group [21 rats] was given griseofulvin 30 mg/kg/day orally for 14 days. Griseofulvin induced a significant increase in the brain serotonin level, while it displayed insignificant alteration in the brain adrenaline and Noradrenalin levels. A decrease in the true cholinesterase activity was found in the brain of animals on griseofulvin therapy. The alteration in the levels of these main excitatory central neurotransmitters may be the underlying causative factor for the occurrence of the various psychic and nervous side effects sometimes observed during griseofulvin therapy in man