Dry drop of blood plasma--a new approach in the diagnosis of neoplastic diseases

The dried drop of blood plasma and serum was first described by Bia?owas in 1967. The dry drop as a method for diagnosis of neoplasms was introduced in 1984 by Hungarian authors from Cancer Research Group. The aim of our investigations was to estimate the usefulness of this method in diagnostic of central nervous system's tumours and lung cancers. We worked out our own modification of dry drop test, i.e., we used the blood plasma instead the blood serum. In 93% of neoplasms the result of test was positive (in 92% of neoplasms of central nervous system and in 83% of lung cancers). In the control group occurred the large number of falsely positive results, as well as in group of patients with lung tuberculosis (70%), multiple sclerosis (63%) and myasthenia (45%). The results of our investigations showed the usefulness of this method in the screening diagnostic of neoplasia. The further investigations are necessary, especially correlation of dry drop test results with erythrocyte sedimentation test and antibodies and fibrinogen's level in the blood.     

Effect of mupirocin on nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus

Mupirocin eliminates nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus among medical and surgical personnel for periods varying from several weeks up to one year. In persons recolonized after therapy densities of S. aureus populations in nares were much lower than in the same persons before therapy.     

Long-term stiripentol administration,an anticonvulsant drug,does not impair sperm parameters in rats

In this study, we investigated the influence of long-term administration of stiripentol on sex hormones and semen quality in young Wistar rats. Investigated animals received for 6 months either stiripentol or saline solution. After one month, stiripentol increased temporarily serum level of testosterone (p < 0.05) and FSH (p < 0.01). However, after 6 months levels of testosterone, FSH, LH, prolactin and SHBG were comparable in both groups. After 6 months, semen analysis did not reveal differences in sperm concentration, total sperm count and sperm motility between groups. However, stiripentol increased the rate of head defect (p < 0.001) and midpiece abnormalities (p < 0.05). Flow cytometry revealed higher percentage of live cells without lipid peroxidation (p < 0.00001) and higher percentage of live spermatozoa with intact acrosomes (p < 0.000001) in rats receiving stiripentol. There was no significant difference between groups in sperm mitochondrial activity and DNA fragmentation index. However, percentage of high DNA stainability cells was increased in stiripentol group (p < 0.001). The data showed that stiripentol does not cause obvious disturbances in young rat's semen. Detected changes in semen morphology and chromatin structure need further explanation, and their influence on rat's fertility should be evaluated.     

Lack of association between an exon 1 CTLA-4 gene polymorphism A(49)G and multiple sclerosis in a Polish population of the Lower Silesia region

Multiple sclerosis (MS) a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system is believed to have a T cell-mediated autoimmune etiology. The cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) gene is a strong candidate for the involvement in autoimmune diseases because CTLA-4 plays an important role in the downregulation of the early and late stages of T cell activation and the maintenance of peripheral T cell tolerance. To examine the genetic association of the CTLA-4 gene locus with MS, we analyzed an exon 1 CTLA-4 gene polymorphism A(49)G in 102 unrelated Polish MS patients in the Lower Silesia region and 101 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects. The distribution of CTLA-4 exon 1 A(49)G genotype, phenotype and allele frequencies did not differ between patients with MS and healthy subjects.     

Inhibition of cell proliferation and glutathione S-transferase by ascorbyl esters and interferon in mouse glioma

Summary Mouse glioma-26 (G-26) cell line established in this laboratory was used in the study. Thein vitro effect of ascorbyl esters, viz., ascorbyl-palmitate (As-P), -stearate (As-S) and mouse interferon-/ (MulFN-/) on the glioma cell viability, proliferation and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity was investigated. Cell viability and proliferation were examined by colorimetric MTT assay and [³H]-thymidine incorporation, respectively. Incubation (24 h) of G-26 cells with As-S, As-P or MulFN-/, resulted in a dose dependent decrease in cell viability (IC₅₀=125M As-S; 175M As-P and 3.6×10⁴ U/ml MulFN-/) and proliferation (IC₅₀=157M As-S; 185M As-P and 3.6×10⁴ U/ml MulFN-/). A combined exposure to 175 M As-S and 800 U/ml of MulFN-/ resulted in a greater than an additive effect on cell viability and proliferation. The inhibition of cell proliferation/viability by interferon was species specific and was observed only with homologous MulFN-/, but not with human interferon- lymphoblastoid or human interferon-. Ascorbyl esters inhibited cytosolic GST activity (1–50=15.0 M As-S and 28.5 M As-P) towards 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene in a dose dependent manner. The apparent Ki values for affinity purified GST, deduced from Dixon plots were 0.95 M and 2.0 M for As-S and As-P, respectively. Significant inhibition of GST was also observed in the cytosol isolated from G-26 cells exposed to 300 M As-S or 800 U/ml MulFN-/.