[Fetal hepatosplenomegaly in the third trimester: A sign of leukemia in fetuses with Down syndrome]. / Hépatosplénomégalie fœtale au troisième trimestre : un signe d'appel de leucémie chez les fœtus porteurs de trisomie 21.

Risk for leukemic conditions increases in individuals with Down syndrome. We report a third trimester antenatal diagnosis of leukemia in a Down syndrome fetus. The third trimester ultrasound examination revealed a hepatosplenomegaly, which may suggest a myelopoiesis disorder. A review of the literature of eight cases described antenatally and 14 cases in the immediate neonatal period is presented.

Serial transfer of GVH-R splenomegaly in chicken embryos.

Using histocompatible chicken strains B14 and B19, we demonstrate that the capacity to induce a GVH-R in an embryo could be induced precociously by the reaction itself. While naive chickens display this capacity around 3 to 4 weeks posthatching, embryos engrafted with adult allogeneic cells at E13 or E8 became endowed with this capacity at E20 and E15, respectively. Furthermore, this acceleration could be obtained by serial transfer of splenic cells through a sequence of three embryos undergoing the GVH-R. The highest efficiency in transfer was realized by regularly alternating the MHC haplotype at each transfer. It is concluded that the original cells from the adult donor may be partially responsible for the transfer, but that cells from the successive embryos are also certainly involved. Thus, maturation of the embryonic immune system appears accelerated by a GVH-R.

[Splenomegaly reaction of the chick embryo following chorio-allantoid graft of chicken-spleen fragments]. / Etude des réactions splénomégaliques de l'embryon de poulet consécutives à la greffe chorio-allantoïdienne de fragments de rate de poule

The spleen enhancement reaction of the chick embryo, following the insertion (grafting or injection procedure) of homologous spleen cells is one of the results of the graft-versus-host reaction (G.V.H. reaction). Irrespective of the usual kinds of G.V.H. reaction measured, it has been proved that the relation between the number of immuno competent cells and the reaction intensity is linear. Our study shows that the relation is not the same when the chorio-allantois membrane grafting procedure is used instead of injection into the veins. However, two facts remain unchanged 1) the minimal amount of spleen cells sufficient to provoke a spleen enhancement is low, 2) there is a link between the number of homologous spleen cells and the rate of spleen enhancement, but in this case it was not shown to be linear. In the light of this, the role played by the chorio-allantois membrane is being debated.