A case of renal schwannoma

A case of renal schwannoma is presented. A 51-year-old female was admitted to our hospital because of a left renal mass on April, 16, 1987. A drip infusion pyelogram showed encasement of the lower and medial calyx. An abdominal CT-scan showed a 2.5 cm mass with irregular density. Selective left renal arteriography showed the hypovascular tumor of the left kidney. Transperitoneal radical nephrectomy was performed on May, 1, 1987. Histological diagnosis was renal schwannoma arising from renal pelvis. The patient was well without recurrence 20 months after operation. Our present case is the 12th case of renal schwannoma reported in the English and Japanese literature.     

Antinociceptive Effects of Morphine Were Different Between Experimental and Genetic Diabetes

This study was designed to investigate the effect of morphine on formalin-induced nociceptive responses in streptozotocin (STZ) induced-diabetic mice, noninsulin-dependent genetically diabetic db/db mice and their respective controls (ddY and +/+). In nondiabetic (ddY and +/+) mice, morphine (1–10 mg/kg, PO) dose dependently attenuated the biphasic nociceptive responses induced by SC injection of formalin to the hindpaw, demonstrating equipotency on both the first and second phases. Para-chlorophenylalanine (800 mg/kg × 2, PO) and pindolol (1 mg/kg, IP) reduced the effect of morphine on the first phase, sulpiride (10 mg/kg, IP) abolished the effect on both phases, while ketanserin (1 mg/kg, IP) had no effect. In STZ (200 mg/kg, IP)-diabetic mice, morphine weakly attenuated the nociception in comparison to control ddY mice, whereas it had comparable effects in both the first and second phases of control +/+ mice and db/db mice. The serotonergic agonist, meta-chlorophenylpiperazine (0.32–3.2 mg/kg, PO), dose dependently attenuated the biphasic nociceptive responses to formalin in both phases of diabetic mice; however, FR64822, a dopaminergic compound (0.1–10 mg/kg, PO), had little effect. We speculate that activation of both dopaminergic (DA)- and serotonergic-mediated mechanisms are potentially responsible for the effect of morphine on the first phase, while the DA-mediated effect is involved in the second phase. The DA-mediated mechanism, but not the serotonin-mediated one, appears to be altered in both STZ-diabetic and db/db mice. These results suggest that the attenuated effects of morphine might be due to a dopaminergic dysfunction in STZ mice, and that there might be other mechanisms compensating for this attenuation of dopaminergic function in db/db mice.     

Acute kindling: interstimulation interval effects and spontaneous interictal or ictal epileptiform discharges

With regard to "acute kindling" that signifies progressive changes in various epileptiform discharges produced with repeated electrical stimulations in a brief time span in acute experiments, the interstimulation interval effect was examined. Kindling developments produced respectively with 3 and 30-minute interval stimulations to the visual cortex of rabbits were compared with each other. Eventually, in kindling with a longer interstimulation interval, after-discharges induced in every trial of stimulation were often lengthened in duration more prominently than those with the shorter interstimulation interval and, furthermore, occasional slight relapses in the afterdischarge duration occurred more infrequently in the former than in the latter. These results suggest that the interstimulation interval plays an important role in the development of acute kindling, presumably in relation to postictal inhibition. In addition, spontaneous interictal or ictal epileptiform discharges occasionally arising during the 3-minute interstimulation intervals were reported. These spontaneous discharges may suggest a high epileptogenicity in acute kindling.     

Development of new immunoradiometric assay for CA 125 antigen using two monoclonal antibodies produced by immunizing lung cancer cells

CA 125 is an antigen associated with non-mucinous epithelial ovarian cancer, which is defined by OC 125 antibody developed by immunizing ovarian cancer cells. We have produced two monoclonal antibodies, 130-22 and 145-9, by using the human lung adenocarcinoma cell line PC-9. Both 130-22 and 145-9 antibodies recognized CA 125 antigen. However, the binding sites seemed to be separate from those of OC 125. Testing by 9 immunoradiometric assays (IRMA), using different combinations of the 3 monoclonal antibodies 130-22, 145-9 and OC 125 demonstrated that the best standard curve for detecting CA 125 could be obtained by a "simultaneous sandwich" assay based on a mixture of 125I-labeled OC 125 and 130-22 or 145-9 coated beads. One-step IRMA, using 130-22 as a tracer and 145-9 as an immunoadsorbent, also showed good reproducibility and sensitivity for measuring CA 125. Antigens were detectable in the culture supernatants of PC-9 cells and 5 of 6 ovarian cancer and endometrial adenocarcinoma cells. These results indicate that one-step IRMA using 130-22 and 145-9 is useful for detecting CA 125 antigen.     

Deposition velocity of gaseous I to rice grains

Among the routes of gaseous I transfer to rice grains, direct deposition to the hull of rice plants and the subsequent transfer to brown rice and polished rice should be more critical than leaf absorption-translocation. A grain number normalized deposition velocity (Vs) is recommended as a key parameter to assess the amount of gaseous I deposited on the rough rice. This parameter is given as "iodine content per unit number of grain per unit time" divided by "iodine concentration per unit volume of the air." After the heading period the surface area of rough rice is almost constant but weight increases with time. Therefore, mass normalized deposition velocity (VD) varies with time. By introducing Vs instead of VD, the variations could be converged into narrow ranges. The contribution of gaseous I from the atmosphere to rough rice, brown rice and polished rice were estimated using Vs values obtained experimentally and gaseous I concentration in the air.     

Diffuse type of senile plaques in the cerebellum of Alzheimer-type dementia demonstrated byβ protein immunostain

Summary We studied senile plaques (SP) in the cerebella of six autopsied subjects with Alzheimer-type dementia (ATD) and ten non-ATD autopsied subjects between the ages of 78 and 90. Neither SP nor amyloid angiopathy (AA) was observed in any of the non-ATD subjects. In the four of the six ATD subjects, diffuse plaques in the molecular layer were seen as ill-defined areas of fine fibrillar materials by protein immunostaining with formic acid pretreatment, the modified Bielschowsky stain, and periodic acid-methenamine silver (PAM) stain. The plaques were not visible with Bodian, Congo red, or periodic acid-Schiff stains. Compact plaques in the Purkinje cell or in the granular cell layers were found in three of the six subjects. Their amyloid core was often surrounded by areolar amyloid deposits. AA was observed in three of the six subjects. The argyrophilia of the diffuse and compact plaques, demonstrated by the modified Bielschowsky and PAM stains, became undetectable when the sections were first treated with formic acid. Such treatment made the plaques immunoreactive with protein antiserum. The findings suggested that cerebellar diffuse plaques and compact plaques consist mainly of an amyloid component, and are characteristic of ATD.