On developmental changes in pulmonary and hepatic monooxygenase activities of the rat

Organ-differentiated pattern in the effects of (i) chemical pretreatment of rats and (ii) in vivo perturbance of endocrine functions on monooxygenase activities of hepatic and extra-hepatic tissues are reviewed. The pattern in these effects together with our data, which demonstrate organ differences in the pattern of postnatal development of hepatic and pulmonary monooxygenase activities, would indicate that physiological regulations of these activities differ between organs.     

Anomalous drainage of the common bile duct into the fourth portion of the duodenum. Clinical sequelae

We report two cases of early-childhood anomalous drainage of the common bile duct (CBD) into the fourth portion of the duodenum, which caused recurrent abdominal pain and hyperamylasemia. In both patients, this anomaly was associated with a long common channel between the CBD and the pancreatic duct. The CBD was obstructed by compression from the first portion of the duodenum, which passed anteriorly. Both children required choledochoenteric anastomosis to achieve permanent resolution of the abdominal pain. Elevation of the first portion of the duodenum does not produce permanent relief from symptoms. We believe that these patients represent the first described to have this unusual malformation.     

Neuropeptide Y-like immunoreactivity in cultured intrinsic neurones of the heart

A novel culture preparation from the atria of newborn guinea-pig hearts was employed to study the intrinsic innervation of the heart under conditions of unequivocal extrinsic denervation. Using an indirect immunofluorescence technique, a subpopulation of intracardiac neurones grown in dissociated cell culture was demonstrated to contain neuropeptide Y (NPY)-like immunoreactivity. This shows that NPY is not confined to sympathetic nerves. Further, since no endogenous catecholamines could be demonstrated in neurone cell bodies in the culture preparation with fluorescence histochemistry, confirming previous studies in situ, the findings also suggest that NPY does not coexist with catecholamine in these intrinsic heart neurones.