A morphological study of age changes in adult human auricular cartilage with special emphasis on elastic fibers.

OBJECTIVE: It is well known that the size of the human auricle increases after it has finished development. The reason why the size of the human auricle continues to enlarge until advanced age after reaching adulthood was investigated by observation of the ultrastructure of elastic fibers in human auricular cartilage. METHODS: A total of 1958 subjects (966 males and 992 females) were classified into 18 age groups from 0 to 5 years up to 85 years and above by 5-year intervals. Ear length, ear width, and length of ear attachment were measured with calipers. Human auricular cartilage was obtained from 26 subjects (16 males and 10 females) aged 14 to 79 years, stained by orcein, and examined by light and electron microscopy. RESULTS: Each item of measurement of human auricular size increased significantly with age in both males and females. On morphological examination by light and electron microscopy after orcein staining, elastic fibers in the cartilage were almost homogeneous in diameter and surrounded the cartilage lacuna in bundle-like fashion in young persons, whereas those in elderly persons were heterogeneous in thickness and had many fragments surrounding the territorial matrix. In elderly persons, collagen-like fibers and small vesicles with heterogeneous electron density were frequently observed near elastic bundles around the territorial matrix. CONCLUSION: Structural changes of auricular cartilage associated with morphological age changes of elastic fibers may be one of the causes of expansion of the auricle after reaching adulthood.

[Anthropometric study on normal human auricle in Japan].

OBJECTIVE: Japanese people are physically larger and live longer than in the past. In light of these changes, we studied anthropometric auricular morphology in Japanese people in all age groups. METHODS: Subjects were 1,958 healthy Japanese people with no ear disease, 966 males aged 0-94 years and 992 females aged 0-99 years. They were classified at 5-year intervals into 18 age groups, and each group consisted of 50-72 persons. Bilateral size of auricles (ear length, ear width, length of ear attachment, auricular cartilage length, and auricular lobe length) were measured in the usual manner. All measurements were made with calipers by a single observer. RESULTS: Larger values were obtained in males than in females in almost all age groups. Rapid growth was observed until late teenage, and significant growth continued thereafter until advanced age. Auricular size was found to be greater than that in Japanese people in the past. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to changes in auricular size believed attributable to growth until late teenage, age-associated changes appear to continue during adulthood.

[A case of sarcoidosis presenting with Heerfordt's syndrome, associated with hepatosplenomegaly, pleural effusion, and ascites].

A 30-year-old female developed symptoms consistent with Heerfordt's syndrome (complete type) and was effectively treated with steroid. However, she developed hepatosplenomegaly, bloody pleural effusion, and ascites one year after discontinuation of steroid therapy. The symptoms were considered to be due to sarcoidosis since serum ACE level, and ACE level and OKT4/8 ratio in pleural and peritoneal effusions were significantly elevated, and readministration of steroid normalized these changes. Bloody pleural and peritoneal effusions are very rare complications of sarcoidosis.

Total protein concentration in selectively collected secretions from the middle and inferior meatus of the nose.

To clarify the characteristics of nasal secretions, a method for collecting human nasal secretion was devised. Total protein concentration in selectively collected secretions from the nasal cavity was determined using biochemical techniques. Dry absorbent cotton was inserted in each middle and inferior meatus of the nasal cavity for 30 min, and put in a test tube with a plastic sieve for centrifugation. After centrifugation at 5,000 rpm for 20 min, 10 microliters were obtained to measure the protein concentration the nasal secretions was made using spectrophotometry. The amount of nasal secretion samples collected was 50 to 400 microliters per site. Nasal secretions collected from the right middle and inferior meatus contained 80 to 2,450 mg/dl and 260 to 3,270 mg/dl of protein, respectively, while those from the left middle and inferior meatus contained 80 to 2,200 mg/dl and 175 to 3,050 mg/dl, respectively. It was concluded that this new method was clinically useful for collecting nasal secretions, and it permitted selective collection from predetermined sites in the nasal cavity. The total protein concentration level of nasal secretions collected by this method was higher in the inferior meatus than in the middle meatus of the nose, with statistical significance.

The role of fibrinolytic enzymes in inflammation and paranasal mucous membrane.

The distribution and role of tissue plasminogen activator (TA) and proactivator (PA) in various diseases of the nasal and paranasal cavity were investigated. The stronger the inflammatory and proliferative response of the paranasal mucous membrane, the weaker was the fibrinolytic activity of TA. The fibrinolytic activity of PA tended to be stronger than TA activity. It is considered that PA may play an important role in inflammatory enlargement and proliferation of the paranasal mucous membrane, but does not play an important role in carcinogenic enlargement and proliferation of the nasal and paranasal mucous membrane.

[Thrombocyte function and problems of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis in head and neck cancer]. / Thrombocytenfunktion und Fragen der Blutgerinnung und Fibrinolyse bei Kopf- und Halscarinomen.

Platelet aggregation induced by ADP and collagen and five parameters of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis, (levels of fibrinogen, fibrinolytic activity of euglobulin, fibrinogen and/or fibrin degradation products, antiplasmin activity and antithrombin activity) were measured in patients with cancer of the head and neck. The results were compared with those from healthy controls. Enhancement of platelet aggregation, hyperfibrinolysis and hypercoagulable state were found in the circulatory blood of patients with cancer of the head and neck.

Interaction of fibrinolytic activity between the tracheobronchial secretion and circulating blood of rats.

In order to clarify the origin and release mechanism of plasminogen activator in the tracheobronchial secretion of rats, electrophoretic analysis of the secretion and studies on the effects of certain vasoactive drugs on the activator activity in the secretion were carried out. From the results of electrophoretic analysis of the tracheobronchial secretion in non-treated rats, protease inhibitor composed of glycoprotein was not contained in the secretion in contrast to the circulating blood, but a protein of low molecular weight like albumin in the circulating blood was contained in the secretion. Furthermore, after injection of noradrenalin, the blood pressure was temporarily elevated and the fibrinolytic activity of the euglobulin fraction in the circulatory blood was also increased. Subsequent to this elevation of fibrinolytic activity in the circulating blood, the fibrinolytic activity in the tracheobronchial secretion increased. Based on these results, it is suggested that the increase of fibrinolytic activity in the circulating blood was due to increased release of plasminogen activator from the vascular wall, and the increased fibrinolytic activity of the tracheobronchial secretion was caused by a consequent increased transudation of plasminogen activator from the circulating blood into the tracheobronchial lumen.

Studies on proactivator from the paranasal mucous membrane in chronic sinusitis.

We succeeded in differentiating the proactivator (PA) in tissue extract of paranasal mucous membrane with chronic sinusitis by the gel filtration technique. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that PA in the tissue extracts of the paranasal mucous membrane with chronic sinusitis and antrochoanal polyp was unrelated to the antigenicity of plasminogen. In particular, it was clarified that the tissue extract of antrochoanal polyp as a source of PA was not related to the antigenicity of plasminogen.

Characteristics of Hodgkin's disease-derived cell lines.

In the last 3 years we were able to establish five long-term in vitro cell cultures from biopsy specimens taken preterminally from four patients with histologically proven Hodgkin's disease (nodular sclerosing type, clinical stage IVB). Four of the lines are continuously proliferating in vitro; one culture stopped growth for unknown reasons after 7 months. When culture conditions were modulated, the first culture, L 428, gave rise to two sublines: L 428 KS, after adaptation to calf serum, and L 428 KSA, permanently growing as an adherent monolayer line after treatment with a phorbol ester (12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate) for 3 weeks. Cell-marker analysis by conventional means (SIg, cIg, rosette formation, Epstein-barr virus reactivity, cytochemistry, phagocytosis, and lysozyme production) and with monoclonal antibodies directed against various human lymphoid, myeloid, and monocytoid antigens showed that the tested cell lines are clearly different from all hitherto described hematopoietic lines; they most likely represent a cell type resembling an early myeloid-monocytoid progenitor cell. Conditioned medium of the L 428 cells and its two sublines showed colony-stimulating factor activity and suppression of spontaneous cell-mediated cytolysis of L 428 KS and K 562 cells.