ABSTRACT
Plasma iron, total iron-binding capacity, transferrin, serum ferritin, plasma lactoferrin and the number of circulating granulocytes were determined in 51 healthy, non-iron-deficient women. Blood was sampled at three stages of the menstrual cycle of 6 women with spontaneous menstruation and of 6 on low-estrogen hormonal contraception. Furthermore, 39 pregnant women were studied at three stages in the second half of uncomplicated pregnancy (13 women per stage). Women on oral contraceptives differed from those with spontaneous menstrual cycles in that they did not show a drop of plasma iron at menstruation, and, on the average, they had slightly higher serum ferritin concentrations, lower plasma-lactoferrin levels and a decreased number of circulating granulocytes. No significant difference was found with respect to total iron-binding capacity and transferrin concentration. In pregnancy, a progressive increase of total iron-binding capacity and transferrin, and an intermittent decline of serum-ferritin, followed by a rise shortly before delivery, were observed. Plasma lactoferrin increased in parallel with the number of circulating granulocytes. An attempt is made to separate findings that have to be attributed to a direct hormonal effect on iron metabolism from those that may depend on other factors.
Subject(s)
Contraceptives, Oral, Sequential/pharmacology , Contraceptives, Oral/pharmacology , Granulocytes , Iron/metabolism , Pregnancy/metabolism , Adult , Female , Ferritins/blood , Humans , Lactoferrin/blood , Leukocyte Count/drug effects , Menstruation , Pregnancy/bloodABSTRACT
A 42-year-old man suffered from erythema chronicum migrans on different parts of the body after repeated tick bites. A few months after the last tick bite he developed a painful neuropathy in both legs with patchy disturbance of sensibility, mild weakness of the feet and loss of the right ankle jerk. Repeated determinations of antibodies against borrelia spirochetes revealed increasing IgG titres. Biopsy of the left sural nerve, which was clinically and electrophysiologically affected, showed a vasculitis of epineurial vasa nervorum and severe angiopathic lesions of the perineurium and the neural parenchyma. Parenteral high-dose penicillin treatment resolved the clinical symptoms.
Subject(s)
Blood Vessels , Borrelia Infections/diagnosis , Peripheral Nervous System Diseases/diagnosis , Vasa Nervorum , Vasculitis/diagnosis , Adult , Antibodies, Bacterial/analysis , Bites and Stings/diagnosis , Borrelia/immunology , Humans , Immunoglobulin G/analysis , Male , Peripheral Nerves/pathology , Syndrome , TicksABSTRACT
An attempt to treat a patient with pemphigus vulgaris by large volume plasma exchange with intravenous application of high doses of immunoglobulin at the end of each exchange procedure is reported. The therapeutic results--temporary clinical improvement parallel to a significant reduction in the level of circulating antiepithelial autoantibodies--are discussed in comparison with published case reports on plasma exchange in pemphigus vulgaris and bullous pemphigoid.
