Anethole reduces oxidative stress and improves in vitro survival and activation of primordial follicles.

Primordial follicles, the main source of oocytes in the ovary, are essential for the maintenance of fertility throughout the reproductive lifespan. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports describing the effect of anethole on this important ovarian follicle population. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of different anethole concentrations on the in vitro culture of caprine preantral follicles enclosed in ovarian tissue. Randomized ovarian fragments were fixed immediately (non-cultured treatment) or distributed into five treatments: α-MEM+ (cultured control), α-MEM+ supplemented with ascorbic acid at 50 µg/mL (AA), and anethole at 30 (AN30), 300 (AN300), or 2000 µg/mL (AN2000), for 1 or 7 days. After 7 days of culture, a significantly higher percentage of morphologically normal follicles was observed when anethole at 2000 µg/mL was used. For both culture times, a greater percentage of growing follicles was observed with the AN30 treatment compared to AA and AN2000 treatments. Anethole at 30 and 2000 µg/mL concentrations at days 1 and 7 of culture resulted in significantly larger follicular diameter than in the cultured control treatment. Anethole at 30 µg/mL concentration at day 7 showed significantly greater oocyte diameter than the other treatments, except when compared to the AN2000 treatment. At day 7 of culture, levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were significantly lower in the AN30 treatment than the other treatments. In conclusion, supplementation of culture medium with anethole improves survival and early follicle development at different concentrations in the caprine species.

Anethole reduces oxidative stress and improves in vitro survival and activation of primordial follicles

Primordial follicles, the main source of oocytes in the ovary, are essential for the maintenance of fertility throughout the reproductive lifespan. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports describing the effect of anethole on this important ovarian follicle population. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of different anethole concentrations on the in vitro culture of caprine preantral follicles enclosed in ovarian tissue. Randomized ovarian fragments were fixed immediately (non-cultured treatment) or distributed into five treatments: α-MEM+ (cultured control), α-MEM+ supplemented with ascorbic acid at 50 μg/mL (AA), and anethole at 30 (AN30), 300 (AN300), or 2000 µg/mL (AN2000), for 1 or 7 days. After 7 days of culture, a significantly higher percentage of morphologically normal follicles was observed when anethole at 2000 μg/mL was used. For both culture times, a greater percentage of growing follicles was observed with the AN30 treatment compared to AA and AN2000 treatments. Anethole at 30 and 2000 µg/mL concentrations at days 1 and 7 of culture resulted in significantly larger follicular diameter than in the cultured control treatment. Anethole at 30 µg/mL concentration at day 7 showed significantly greater oocyte diameter than the other treatments, except when compared to the AN2000 treatment. At day 7 of culture, levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were significantly lower in the AN30 treatment than the other treatments. In conclusion, supplementation of culture medium with anethole improves survival and early follicle development at different concentrations in the caprine species.

Refining insulin concentrations in culture medium containing growth factors BMP15 and GDF9: An in vitro study of the effects on follicle development of goats.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of two insulin concentrations (10ng/mL and 10µg/mL) combined or in the absence of BMP15 and/or GDF9, on the in vitro survival and development of preantral follicles of goat ovarian tissue. Ovarian slices from the same goat ovary pair were randomly assigned to a non-cultured control treatment or to be in vitro cultured for 1 or 7days in α-MEM containing 10ng/mL (Low) or 10µg/mL (High) of insulin in the absence or presence of BMP15 and/or GDF9. With the low insulin treatment, there was a greater percentage of normal follicles than with the high insulin treatment. The addition of BMP15 alone or in association with GDF9 to the medium containing low insulin resulted in a lesser percentage of normal follicles (P<0.05). The addition of BMP15 and GDF9 separately or in combination with the high insulin concentration enhanced the percentage of normal follicles. On day 7 of culture, the use of medium containing low insulin alone or high insulin supplemented with BMP15 and BMP15+GDF9 resulted in a greater percentage of secondary follicles than the non-cultured control, although follicles cultured with low insulin were smaller than those from the control group and had greater rates of oxidative stress. In conclusion, in the presence of physiological concentrations of insulin (10ng/mL), medium supplementation with GDF9 and BMP15 alone or in combination is unnecessary for normal follicle development in vitro.

Anethole improves the in vitro development of isolated caprine secondary follicles.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of three concentrations of anethole (30, 300, and 2000 µg/mL) on survival, antrum formation, follicular diameter, and oocyte maturation in the caprine species. The study also evaluated the effects of anethole on transcripts of ICAM-1, CAV-1, TIMP-2, and PAI-1 genes and levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in isolated goat preantral ovarian follicles before and after in vitro culture for 18 days. Preantral follicles were isolated from goat ovaries and individually cultured in alpha minimum essential medium modified (α-MEM+), defined as the control treatment, α-MEM+ supplemented with ascorbic acid at a concentration of 100 µg/mL (AA), or α-MEM+ supplemented with three different concentrations of anethole (30, 300, 2000 µg/mL) for a period of 18 days. Treatments were named as α-MEM+, AA, AN30, AN300, and AN2000, respectively. After culture, the follicles were opened, the cumulus oocytes complex (COCs) were removed and matured in vitro. The walls of the follicles were used for the quantitation of mRNA by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Finally, the medium collected at the end of culture was used for the measurements of ROS. After 18 days of culture, the AA treatment showed the percentage of intact follicles and follicular diameter significantly higher compared with the other treatments. However, daily growth rate, antrum formation, and also oocyte diameter were similar among the treatments. In addition, compared with AA, the rate of oocytes for in vitro maturation (diameter ≥ 110 µm) and the meiosis resumption rate were significantly higher in the treatments AN30 and AN2000, respectively. When assessing gene related to remodeling of the basement membrane, significant differences in mRNA levels for ICAM-1, CAV-1, TIMP-2, and PAI-1 were observed in comparison with Day 0, i.e., in the noncultured control. In addition, the ROS from Day 12, all treatments with the addition of anethole have significantly lower values of ROS than α-MEM+ and AA. In conclusion, the addition of anethole to the in vitro culture medium was able to improve the development of goat preantral follicles by reducing concentrations of ROS and increasing the percentage of oocytes able to resume meiosis.

Balance of insulin and FSH concentrations improves the in vitro development of isolated goat preantral follicles in medium containing GH.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different combinations of insulin and FSH concentrations in culture media containing GH on the in vitro follicle morphology, antrum formation, growth rates, estradiol (E2) production, oocyte viability and maturation as well as gene expression for FSHR, GHR, INSR, CYP19A1, CYP17, 3ßHSD. Secondary follicles were individually cultured for 18 days in a basic medium containing 50ng/mL GH supplemented with low insulin concentration (INS-LW: 10ng/mL) or high insulin concentration (INS-HG: 10µg/mL) alone or with a fixed FSH concentration (FSH100: 100ng/mL) or with increasing FSH concentrations (FSH-SEQ: 100ng/mL, days 0-6; 500ng/mL, days 6-12; 1000ng/mL days 12-18). In the INS-LW treatment was observed a higher (P<0.05) incidence of normal follicles at day 18 of culture. However, overall higher (P<0.05) follicular growth, oocyte diameter and meiotic resumption rates were obtained using INS-HG+FSH 100. The INS-HG and INS-HG+FSH100 treatments showed higher E2 production and mRNA levels for CYP19A1, CYP17, 3ßHSD when compared to INS-LW and INS-LW+FSH100. However, the addition of increasing FSH concentration, regardless of insulin concentration, did not improve the follicular growth, meotic resumption, E2 production or gene expression of steroidogenic enzymes when compared with INS-HG+FSH100. In conclusion, in presence of GH, a basic medium supplemented with 10µg/mL insulin and 100µg/mL FSH throughout the culture period, improves follicular and oocyte growth, oocyte meiotic resumption and E2 production from isolated preantral caprine follicles cultured in vitro.

Psychosis secondary to traumatic brain injury.

BACKGROUND: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can result in serious and disabling neuropsychiatric disorders. METHOD: The authors report a case of a 51-year old male, admitted to the psychiatric ward for acute psychosis and suicidal ideation, probably associated with TBI. After a temporal head trauma he initiated auditory/verbal hallucinations and subsequently developed paranoid delusions. The electroencephalography showed slow bilateral temporal activity and the neuropsychological testing showed several impairments. The patient improved with olanzapine at a dosage of 20 mg daily. RESULTS: This case shows the difficulty of differential diagnosis between schizophrenia and psychotic disorder due to traumatic brain injury. CONCLUSIONS: The authors conducted a revision of literature about the diagnosis, epidemiology, clinical aspects, laboratory and structural investigations and the treatment of this condition. Based on this revision work, the authors sketch some recommendations about the work-up that should be done when faced with this diagnostic hypothesis.

Fracturas radiculares en dientes endodonciados. Revisión bibliográfica / Endodontically treated tooth fracture: review

Los estudios sobre la restauración de dientes con tratamiento endodóncico son números en la literatura científica, debido a su complejidad y a modo de prevenir la fractura de estos, hemos realizado una revisión bibliográfica exhaustiva sobre dientes en esta situación, haciendo hincapié sobre las causas que pueden provocar fractura desde el principio del tratamiento hasta su rehabilitación final (AU)

There are several possibilities and a large amount of studies about the restoration of endodonticaly treated teeth, due to it´s complexity and to prevent the fracture of those. A review of endodontically treated teeth was performed, focused on the possible causes of radicular fracture, from the beginning of the root canal treatment to it´s final rehabilitation (AU)

Estudio in vitro de la microfiltración de tres materiales de restauración provisional utilizados en endodoncia / No disponible

Objetivo: Este estudio consiste en la evaluación in vitro de la capacidad de sellado de las cavidades de acceso de tres materiales de restauración provisional (IRM, Cavit y Clip) utilizando un método de penetración de tinta. Material y métodos: Fueron realizadas cavidades de acceso en 70 molares, siendo estos divididos en 5 grupos. Las cavidades de las muestras fueron cerradas con Cavit, Clip e IRM, siendo sometidas a centrifugación (3000 rpm/20min) y termociclado (160 termociclos). Posteriormente fueron cortadas con ayuda de un micrófono y observadas al microscopio esteoscópico de superficie. Resultados: Cavit presentó las mejoras propiedades selladoras a la penetración de tinta comparada con los otros materiales de restauración provisional Clip e IRM. Finalmente no se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre Cavit y Clip pero sí se encontraron estas diferencias entre Cavit vs IRM y Clip vs IRM. Conclusiones: Cavit es un cemento que presenta menor filtración y se considera como el material de elección para ser utilizado como material de restauración provisional (AU)

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate, in vitro, the effectiveness and sealing abilities of three temporatory filling materials in endodontics ( IRM, Cavit e Clip), using a dye leakage method. Material and Methods: Access cavities were made seventy molar and these were randomly divided into three experimental groups of 20 teeth each and two control groups of five teeth. The experimental groups had the access cavities filled with Cavit, Clip and IRM, while the positive control group the access cavity wasn´t filled and a negative control group, where there were no access cavity present and the tooth was completely covered by varnish. The samples were cutted using a micrófome and analyzed with a sterioscope. Pictures were taken and saved on a computer for analyses. Results. Cavit showed the best sealing properties against dye peneiration when compared to Clip and IRM. There were o statisticaly diferences between Cavit and Clip; and there were significant statisticaly diferences between Cavit vs IRM and Clip vs IRM. Concluisions: Cavit showed less leakage and is considered, the best material to be used a temporary restoration material (AU)

Sexually transmitted diseases and reproductive tract infections among contraceptive users.

OBJECTIVE: To establish the association between the use of contraceptives and the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and other reproductive tract infections (RTI). METHODS: 840 women who used contraception and who attended the Fundação Nossa Senhora do Bom Sucesso's Family Planning Clinic (FNSBS-FPC) over a 2-year period (1993-1994) were studied. All women answered a standard epidemiological survey and underwent a clinical laboratory assessment. The Chi-square test and a logistic regression model were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The majority of women were young (58.7%); low educational achievers (59.0%); middle or working class (85.0%); had a fixed partner (79.8%), and were of non-African origin (95.6%). Of the 627 women who responded, 4.1% stated that their sexual behavior was of high risk. The prevalence of any infection and particularly of bacterial vaginosis (BV), was highest among users of the intra-uterine device (IUD). Use of an IUD (P = 0.001) and high risk behavior (P = 0.04) were the variables associated to presence of a STD/RTI in multiple regression analysis. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that STD/RTIs basically occur due to high risk behavior and that, with the exception of an association between use of IUD and BV, the method of contraception does not affect the incidence of these infections.

Dose-related protection of exercise bronchoconstriction by montelukast, a cysteinyl leukotriene-receptor antagonist, at the end of a once-daily dosing interval.

The dose-related protective effects of montelukast, a potent and selective cysteinyl leukotriene-receptor antagonist, against exercise-induced bronchoconstriction were investigated in a five-period, randomized, incomplete-block, crossover study with montelukast (0.4, 2, 10, 50 mg) and placebo. The study subjects were 27 nonsmoking, healthy stable patients with asthma (mean forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1], 82.0% predicted) who demonstrated a > or = 20% decrease in FEV1 while beta-agonist was withheld for 6 hours before treadmill exercise. The standard exercise challenge was performed 20 to 24 hours, and again 32 to 36 hours, after the second of two once-daily doses. The effect of oral montelukast on exercise was measured by the area above the postexercise percentage decrease in FEV1 versus time curve from 0 to 60 minutes [AUC(0-60)], the maximal percentage decrease in FEV1 after exercise, and time after maximal decrease to recovery of FEV1 to within 5% of the preexercise baseline. Twenty to 24 hours after administration, montelukast caused dose-related protection, while providing similar protection against exercise-induced bronchoconstriction at the two highest doses. The AUC(0-60) values (mean +/- SD) were 637 +/- 898, 715 +/- 870, 988 +/- 1147, and 927 +/- 968 min. % for 50, 10, 2, and 0.4 mg montelukast, respectively, and 1193 +/- 1097 min. % for placebo (p = 0.003). No important clinical effect was present 36 hours after dosing. Montelukast was generally well tolerated at all dose levels. In conclusion, montelukast caused dose-related protection against exercise-induced bronchoconstriction at the end of a once-daily dosing interval. Protection against exercise-induced bronchoconstriction can be used to determine appropriate dose selection.

Increased urinary excretion of LTE4 after exercise and attenuation of exercise-induced bronchospasm by montelukast, a cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonist.

BACKGROUND: A study was undertaken to determine whether montelukast, a new potent cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonist, attenuates exercise-induced bronchoconstriction. The relationship between the urinary excretion of LTE4 and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction was also investigated. METHODS: Nineteen non-smoking asthmatic patients with a forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) of > or = 65% of the predicted value and a reproducible fall in FEV1 after exercise of at least 20% were enrolled. Subjects received placebo and montelukast 100 mg once daily in the evening or 50 mg twice daily, each for two days, in a three-period, randomised, double blind, crossover design. In the evening, approximately 20-24 hours after the once daily dose or 12 hours after the twice daily dose, a standardised exercise challenge was performed. Data from 14 patients were available for complete analysis. RESULTS: The mean (SD) maximal percentage decrease in FEV1 after exercise was 29.6 (16.0), 17.1 (8.2), and 14.0 (9.4) for placebo, once daily, and twice daily regimens, respectively. The mean (95% CI) percentage protection was 37 (15 to 59) for the group who received 50 mg twice daily and 50 (31 to 69) for those who received 100 mg once daily. Active treatments were not different from each other. The mean (SD) plasma concentrations of montelukast were higher after the twice daily regimen (1.27 (0.81) microgram/ml) than after the once daily regimen (0.12 (0.09) microgram/ml); there was no correlation between the percentage protection against exercise-induced bronchoconstriction and plasma concentrations. After exercise urinary excretion of LTE4 increased significantly during placebo treatment (from 34.3 to 73.7 pg/mg creatinine; p < 0.05) but did not correlate with the extent of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction. CONCLUSIONS: Montelukast protects similarly against exercise-induced bronchoconstriction between plasma concentrations of 0.12 and 1.27 micrograms/ml. The increase in the urinary excretion of LTE4 after exercise and the protection from exercise-induced bronchoconstriction with a cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonist provide further evidence of the role of leukotrienes in the pathogenesis of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction.

[Chlamydia trachomatis in family planning. Is screening necessary?]. / Infecção cervical a chlamydia trachomatis em planeamento familiar. E o rastreio necessário?

The authors used cellular cultures obtained from endocervix samples in order to determine the predominant factors of infection caused by Chlamydia trachomatis in a population of 391 women who attended a family planning consultation. The authors studied the relation between the infection and the following variables: age, geographical origin, social class, marital status, history of sexually transmitted diseases (STD), risk behaviours, contraceptive methods and attitudes towards both the disease and therapy. Chlamydia trachomatis was isolated in 7 women (1,8%). The highest infection rates were found in the following categories: women between the ages of 35-40 (4,9%), women who resort to hormonal contraception (3,4%), women between the ages of 20-25 (3,2%) and single women and/or women who do not have a regular partner (2,6%). No statistically relevant relation between the above variables and the infection was found, although a relatively high risk was revealed for women who resort to hormonal contraception (O.R = 7,4). The authors have concluded the following: 1. There is no need to proceed with the systematic universal screening of infection caused by Chlamydia trachomatis in the yearly family planning consultations for the low risk STD populations; 2. Hormonal contraception is a factor to be considered when selecting the women to be screened; 3. The yearly gynaecological supervision of women who attend family planning consultations is an important factor in checking the disease; 4. Information on the couple's attitude towards the disease and therapy is essential in the prevention of relapses.

Prevalence of HIV-2 infection in a family planning clinic in Lisbon.

A significant proportion (10%) of notified AIDS cases in Portugal are due to HIV-2 infection as a result of the close connections of Portugal with Western African Countries (ex-Portuguese colonies) where there is a high HIV-2 seroprevalence. We conducted a seroepidemiological study of HIV-1 and HIV-2 infection in 1400 women attending family planning and antenatal clinics in a health centre in Lisbon with the objective of analysing whether there was evidence of HIV-2 spread in this population. The seroprevalence for HIV, as determined by ELISA and confirmed by Western Blot, was 0.42% (6 cases) and 50% of these were of HIV-2 infection. Analysis of the epidemiological inquiries reveals that out of the 6 seropositive cases, only one was a drug addict (HIV-1) and another a western African black woman (HIV-2). The other 4 cases (2 HIV-2 and 2 HIV-1) were white Portuguese women with no history of travelling to Africa or previous blood transfusions, and the only risk factor was a history of multiple sexual partners (in 3 out of 4).

Growth factor activity in the lung during compensatory growth after pneumonectomy: evidence of a role for IGF-1.

Unilateral pneumonectomy in rats causes compensatory growth of the remaining lung. During this growth, there are large increases in the cell numbers and in the rates of collagen and non-collagen protein production. We examined possible mechanisms by which these changes might occur. Assessment of the effect of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid on fibroblasts in vitro demonstrated the presence of stimulatory activity for fibroblast replication in control animals. This activity was greatly increased two and six days postpneumonectomy (115 +/- 26% and 75 +/- 18% above control values, respectively), but had returned to normal by 14 days. Preliminary characterization suggests that the activity is heat labile and consists of at least two moieties with apparent molecular weights of 5-15 kD and 70-220 kD. The activity was partially blocked by antibodies to insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), and levels of IGF-1 were increased by about 100% (p less than 0.001) two days after pneumonectomy compared with control values. Examination of BAL cells demonstrated an early influx of leucocytes into the remaining lung of pneumonectomized rats. At two days, about 25% of the lavageable cells were neutrophils, but macrophages were the predominant cell type at all times. The extravascular albumin space of the lung increased by about 65% (p less than 0.01), six days after pneumonectomy. The influx of circulatory proteins and cells are potential sources of the increased mitogenic activity observed in the lung.

Pneumolysin induces the salient histologic features of pneumococcal infection in the rat lung in vivo.

Streptococcus pneumoniae infections are common, but how they cause host tissue injury and death is incompletely understood. Immunization with pneumolysin, a thiol-activated toxin produced by the pneumococcus, partially protects animals during subsequent infection. The mechanism by which pneumolysin contributes to disease is not known. The aim of the present investigation was to determine the histologic changes induced by recombinant pneumolysin in the rat lung and to compare them with the changes induced by live organisms. Injection of either toxin (200 or 800 ng) or bacteria into the apical lobe bronchus was associated with the development of a severe lobar pneumonia restricted to the apical lobe. The changes induced by the toxin were greater at the higher concentration, and changes were most severe in those animals in which there was partial ligation of the apical lobe bronchus. The pneumonitis was less severe following injection of a modified toxin with decreased hemolytic activity, generated by site-directed mutagenesis of the cloned pneumolysin gene, indicating that this property of the toxin was important in generating pulmonary inflammation. There was still considerable pneumonitis after injection of a modified toxin with decreased capacity to activate complement.

[Prevalence of HIV1 and HIV2 infection in women living in an area of Lisboa City]. / Análise da seroprevalência da infecção pelo HIV1 e HIV2 em mulheres residentes numa área da cidade de Lisboa.

A seroprevalence study of HIV1 and HIV2 infection in women attending a Family Planning and an Antenatal Clinic was done in an area of the city of Lisbon where 7% of the population is of African origin. The protocol of study was of non linked type although with the possibility of collecting a second sample of blood for confirmation of results. Epidemiological, social and clinical data were collected from 1390 women and this was followed by the collection of a blood sample for the seroepidemiological study of HIV1 and HIV2. The population that was submitted to blood tests (75%) was compared to the one that missed the test and it was found that no important differences were present between the two. The criteria for HIV1 or HIV2 positive results were the presence of a positive ELISA test confirmed by an Western Blot revealing antibodies against the three proteins env, core and gag. For a test to be considered positive results by both methods had to be found in a second sample collected later. The prevalences of infection were of 0.29% for HIV1 and 0.29% for HIV2 although the prevalence of HIV2 in the population of African origin was higher (1.45%). The six seropositive cases detected included a drug addict, one prostitute, one case of African origin and two cases with multiple sexual partners. The clinical, epidemiological and immunological features of the seropositive cases are presented and the prevalence found is discussed in the context of other portuguese data.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Changes in the composition and metabolism of arterial collagens during the development of pulmonary hypertension in rabbits.

Increased pulmonary artery pressure is known to result in enhanced collagen deposition in the pulmonary artery. Here we investigate how changes in collagen metabolism may bring about this increased deposition in the pulmonary artery of animals with pulmonary hypertension induced by bleomycin. Rabbits were injected intratracheally with bleomycin sulfate or with saline. After 14 days the animals were injected with L-[U-14C]proline plus a "flooding" dose of unlabeled proline. Uptake into arterial collagens and release of labeled hydroxyproline were then measured after 2.5 h. The relative amounts of types I and III collagens were assessed from the levels of cyanogen-bromide-derived peptides alpha 1(I)CB8 and alpha 1(III)CB5, respectively, after sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Collagen synthesis rates of about 3%/day were found in the control pulmonary artery and aorta, and about one-half of the newly synthesized collagen was degraded rapidly. Fourteen days after bleomycin, there was a fivefold increase in collagen synthesis rate (p less than 0.01) and a marked decrease in the percentage of newly synthesized collagen degraded rapidly. There was no change in collagen metabolism in the aorta of these animals. Pulmonary artery collagen from control rabbits consisted of 26.5 +/- 1.0% type III collagen. There was no change in composition in bleomycin-treated animals. This study demonstrates quite rapid turnover rates for collagen in normal blood vessels. Our results also indicate that remodeling of arterial connective tissue matrix during pulmonary hypertension involves marked but commensurate increases in type I and III collagens brought about by changes in both synthesis and degradative processes.

Immunopathology of experimental bronchiectasis.

In human bronchiectasis, the bronchial wall is the seat of abnormal mononuclear cell infiltration, which suggests the presence of a cell-mediated immune reaction. The histopathology of a recently devised animal model of experimental bronchiectasis resembles that of the human disease. We have investigated its immunohistology to validate the similarity to that of human bronchiectasis in order to provide a model for the study of cellular immune aspects of the pathogenesis of bronchiectasis. The immunohistology of the bronchial wall mononuclear cell population in experimental rat bronchiectasis was compared with that in control and normal rats. The control rats did not develop bronchiectasis, and the composition and distribution of mononuclear cells in the bronchial wall were similar to those of normal animals. In the rats developing bronchiectasis, there was infiltration of T lymphocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells (as defined by monoclonal antibodies) in all compartments of the lung, particularly in the bronchial wall and around vessels. The bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue was disrupted by heavy infiltration of T cells, and follicular aggregates of T lymphocytes were seen deeper in the lung parenchyma. Expression of Ia antigen increased in the bronchial epithelium and in large numbers of mononuclear cells throughout the lung. These findings suggest that a cell-mediated immune response appears during the development of experimental bronchiectasis in this rat model. This cellular immune response is similar to that described in human bronchiectasis and may enable this animal model to be used in defining the role of cellular immunity in the pathogenesis of bronchiectasis.

Use of an intraaortic balloon pump as a pneumatic ventricular assist device controller.

Using a circulatory analogue, we investigated sequentially the performance of a dedicated ventricular assist device driver and an intraaortic balloon pump when driving a pneumatic ventricular assist device. Each drive device was compared under identical pumping conditions at rates of 40 to 120 cycles/min against two resistances. Our preliminary study showed that a modified intraaortic balloon pump could drive a pneumatic ventricular assist device as effectively as its dedicated driver. The necessary modifications to and possible further development of the intraaortic balloon in this role are discussed.

A simple laryngoscopic technique for the endotracheal intubation of rabbits.

A safe and reliable technique for the endotracheal intubation of rabbits is described. Direct laryngoscopy is followed by intubation of the trachea with a fine catheter, and subsequent advancement of the endotracheal tube over this catheter.