Ultrastructural changes of basal laminae and protoplasmic astrocytes in craniostenosis with epilepsy.

Human brain biopsy specimens from twenty-four patients with epilepsy associated with craniostenosis and characterized by electroencephalography, were studied with an electron microscope. Characteristic ultrastructural changes were found in the basal lamina covering capillaries in the gray matter where the basal lamina was partially thickened, split and transformed into a heterogeneous network of strand enclosing electron-lucent areas. In the gray matter associated with epileptic convulsions, numerous filaments 60-100 nm in diameter appeared in protoplasmic astrocyte endfeet, apparently inserting in the plasma membrane adjacent to the basal lamina. Although the development of such filaments seemed to depend on precursor dense material appearing on the plasma membrane, their physiological function remains unknown. In cases with repeated epileptic convulsions, numerous fibrous astrocytes were seen in the affected portion of the gray matter, suggesting that they were the results of the repeated convulsions.

In vivo production of nucleolar channel system in human endocervical secretory cells.

Human endocervical mucosa taken from the proliferative, ovulatory and secretory phases of the menstrual cycle in normal fertile women and those after administration of norethiosterone acetate for contraception was studied by electron microscopy. The fine structure of secretory cells, with special reference to the secretory granules and nucleolar differentiation, has been described and discussed. The 'nucleolar channel system' has been observed for the first time in the endocervical nucleolus in the proliferative phase of the menstrual cycle. On the basis of results of antifertilization effects of norethiosterone acetate, it has been suggested that the 'nucleolar channel system' may be a cell organelle prerequisite for the secretion of endocervical mucosa in fertility.

Effects of bleomycin on human tongue carcinoma cells as revealed by electron microscopy.

Five patients with tongue carcinoma were treated for 20 days with bleomycin, 15 mg/day, given by one-shot infusion through the superficial temporal artery. Specimens were taken 7, 14, and 20 days after the initial administration for light and electron microscope observations. The first alterations observed were the decrease of electron-dense chromatin clumps in nuclei and, simultaneously, the segregation of nucleolar components, i.e., amorphous protein component segregated from fibrillar and granular components. Subsequently, numerous nuclear bodies appeared in the nucleoplasm, which were observed for the first time in human tongue carcinoma cell nuclei in cases of bleomycin treatment. On the other hand, the cytoplasmic alterations were recognized by the decrease in number of mitochondria and by the appearance of numerous free ribosomes followed by the formation of tonofilaments. The cells enlarged because tonofilaments flocked together to make cancer cell nests, which were gradually together to make cancer cell nests, which were gradually transformed into a keratinic structure showing the so-called cancer pearl pattern. Finally, cancer cells were degenerated nearly to necrosis; there was no evidence of recurrence of cancer. Although the precise mechanism of the effect of bleomycin on nuclear activities of human tongue cancer cells remains unsettled because of the lack of cytochemical analysis, it is believed that bleomycin inhibits DNA synthesis and might also activate ribosomal RNA synthesis.