Analgesic and Thermic Effects,and Cerebrospinal Fluid and Plasma Pharmacokinetics,of Intracerebroventricularly Administered Morphine in Normal and Sensitized Rats

The relationship between asthma and opioids has barely been investigated. This study examines whether active sensitization of rats changes the analgesic and thermic effects of intracerebroventricular morphine or the pharmacokinetics of the drug. Morphine (5, 10 and 20 μg) was given intracerebroventricularly to sensitized (active immunization to ovalbumin and Al(OH)₃ then airway challenge with ovalbumin after 12 days) and normal (i.e. non-sensitized) male Sprague-Dawley rats. The tail-flick latencies and changes in colon temperature were determined before morphine injection and at 30 min intervals for a period of 300 min afterwards. Results were expressed as the area under the time-response curve. The analgesic and hyperthermic response to morphine for sensitized rats was less than that obtained for normal rats. Cerebrospinal fluid and blood samples were collected periodically for a period of 240 min and morphine levels were determined by a highly sensitive radioimmunoassay. The pharmacokinetic parameters half-life, terminal elimination rate constant and the mean residence time were determined in both cerebrospinal fluid and plasma by non-compartmental analysis. The area under the cerebrospinal fluid concentration-time curve from time zero to infinity was higher for sensitized rats than for normal rats for all three doses of morphine but these differences did not correspond with similar changes in pharmacological responses. In conclusion, the attenuated analgesic and thermic responses to intracerebroventricular morphine in the sensitized rats might be a result of pharmacodynamic alterations rather than to pharmacokinetic changes.     

American Burkitt's Lymphoma: Diagnosis by Ultrasonography and Arteriography

A case of American Burkitt's lymphoma in a 10-year-old white male is described. The child presented with an abdominal mass without associated symptoms. Conventional studies including intravenous urography, barium enema, an upper gastrointestinal series and small bowel follow-through were unrewarding. Synthesis of information obtained from gray-scale ultrasonography and abdominal angiography provided the correct preoperative diagnosis. The role of special procedures in the diagnosis of this entity is discussed.     

Experimental Production of Cold Agglutinins in Rabbits

The kinetics, serologic and immunochemical characteristics of cold agglutinins (CA) produced in rabbits by the intravenous injection of HKLM serotype 4b have been studied.

The cold agglutinin was a M-immunoglobulin. It agglutinated autologous, allogeneic and human erythrocytes at 4 C. In the presence of complement the CA was hemolytic in vitro and in vivo. The relevance of these observations to concepts of autoimmunity is discussed.

Submitted on November 17, 1964 Accepted on January 25, 1965     

Colony-stimulating Factor and Inhibitor Levels in Acute Granulocytic Leukemia

Assays were performed on bone marrowcolony-stimulating-factor (CSF) levels inthe serum and urine of 33 patients withacute granulocytic and myelomonocyticleukemia. Of 251 serum samples, 30%showed elevated CSF levels as did 53%of 1422 urines tested. Levels of seruminhibitors of colony formation were abnormally low or undetectable in 57%of sera from leukemic patients. Patientsin relapse were unable to respond to infections by developing high serum CSFlevels and low serum-inhibitor levelswere more common in patients with ashort survival time and in some typesof patient during relapses.

Submitted on March 1, 1971 Revised on April 5, 1971 Accepted on April 7, 1971