[Clinical evaluation of cefmetazole in the dermatologic field].

The therapeutic efficacy and safety of cefmetazole, a cephamycin-derived antibiotic in an injectable form were evaluated in patients with pyogenic infection in the dermatological field. Especially, it was found to be extremely effective for the skin diseases due to staphylococci or streptococci. The results obtained were the following; marked improvement in 18 cases and moderate improvement in 34 cases out of 61 cases, attaining efficacy of 86.7%. Side effects were noted as the rise of GOT and GPT in 3 cases, which were normalized by ceasing its further administration. The MIC of cefmetazole against Staphylococcus aureus isolated out of foci was 0.39-6.25 microgram/ml, while those of CEZ, CXM and ABPC used as the controls exceeded 50 microgram/ml in some cases. It is considered thus, that cefmetazole, is superior to these other antibiotics also in terms of MIC.

Organ culture of adult human skin.

Proliferation and differentiation of the epidermis in organ culture of adult human skin by the sponge matrix method were studied histologically and autoradiographically, and the following results were obtained: 1) On the first day of culture, mitotic figures were already observable in the epidermis. The outgrowth of epidermal cells at the margins of the explants started. On the second day, there was transformation to a zone that will be referred to as the newly formed stratum corneum in the upper epidermis. 2) On the third and fourth days, the increased growth of epidermal cells caused thickening of the epidermis. Simultaneously, Malpighian cells progressively differentiated into a cornified layer. 3) On and after the fifth day, the basospinous cell layer was reduced in thickness in most of explants. On the ninth and tenth days, DNA synthesis in the basal layer was still obvious, although the epidermis showed a thickness of only one or two cells overlaid with a large number of horny layers. 4) In the culture medium supplemented with corticosteroid, the epidermal growth was slightly depressed with lessened formation of stratum corneum in the early stages of culture as compared with the explants cultured in the basic medium. The reduction of the basospinous layer was scarcely notable after the fifth day. Even after 10-11 days, epidermal cells were well preserved and their stratified squamous architecture was less disorganized. It seemed that corticosteroid could prolong the survival of adult human skin in vitro. These findings indicate that this culture technique could be used as a model for organ culture of adult human skin.

Electron microscopic observations on the lesions of herpes zoster with topical application of interferon.

The lesions of herpes zoster in three patients were investigated electron microscopically before and after topical application of interferon. In the blister, on the 5th to 7th day after its formation, the following were seen: acantholytic cells with virus particles in the nucleus and cytoplasm, multinucleated cells derived from keratinocytes, edematous and degenerated keratinocytes containing virus particles and tonofibrillar materials, macrophages with many large vacuoles, neutrophils, lymphocytes and Langerhans's cells. After the first application of interferon, the findings for keratinocytes were the same as those of before application and keratinocytes were frequently found adjacent to macrophages. The macrophages were large and had numerons large vacuoles in the cytoplasm. After the second application of interferon, virus particles were often seen in the vacuoles of the macrophages in comparison with that before application. In the cytoplasm of macrophages, acantholytic keratinocytes and tonofibrillar materials were phagocytized. Many virus particles were seen in the vacuoles of some acantholytic keratinocytes. It was concluded from these findings that the macrophages accelerated the phagocytotic activity of the virus particles.