Antitumor activity of polysaccharide from a Chinese medicinal herb, Acanthopanax giraldii Harms.

The results of experiments with Acanthopanax giraldii polysaccharide (AGP) demonstrated that it inhibited the growth of solid Sarcoma 180 and prolonged the survival time significantly. In tumor-bearing mice, AGP enhanced the phagocytosis and chemiluminescence of macrophages. By the immunofluorescent method, binding of the third component of complement (C3) cleavage product to macrophages and proportion of C3 positive cells were increased. In crossed immunoelectrophoresis, human serum C3 was converted by AGP and appeared as the 3rd peak. The height of the 3rd peak was directly proportional to doses of AGP. The residual CH50 units of human serum decreased dose-dependently. These results suggest that the antitumor activity of AGP is related to the enhancement of immune responses.     

Transverse myelopathy in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus associated with positive anticardiolipin antibody--a case report]

A 52-year-old woman who developed acute transverse myelopathy following systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) was reported. At the age of 46, she was diagnosed as having atypical psychosis. Neurological examination revealed mild depressive state, paraparesis, diffuse hyperreflexia, hypesthesia below the breasts, and urinary disturbance. Gait was slightly ataxic and Romberg sign was positive. Laboratory study disclosed lymphocytopenia, positive antinuclear antigen, false positive Venereal Disease Research Laboratories flocculation test and prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time. IgG anticardiolipin antibody (aCLA) was positive, whereas IgM aCLA was negative. Cerebrospinal fluid was normal except the elevation of %IgG. Nerve conduction studies were normal and no abnormality was detected in the brain and spinal cord by MRI and CT. We treated her by two series of steroid pulse therapy, which resulted in marked improvement of symptoms and disappearance of aCLA. Before and after the pulse therapy, symptoms were fluctuated in parallel with the levels of aCLA. These findings suggest the relation of aCLA to the transverse myelopathy in SLE. This is the first case report of a good prognosis of myelopathy in a SLE patient who was treated by steroid pulse therapy with the aim of disappearance of aCLA.     

Histopathological studies on experimental marine toxin poisoning--4. Pathogenesis of experimental maitotoxin poisoning

Repeated injections of 45 ng/kg of maitotoxin into the peritoneal cavities of male ICR mice resulted in marked atrophy of lymphoid tissues, a reduction of lymphocytes in the circulating blood, reduced immunoglobulin M in serum, and an increase of calcium content in the adrenal glands. A single injection of 200 ng/kg of maitotoxin induced a marked increase in total calcium content of the adrenal glands as well as in plasma cortisol concentration (about seven times control) within 1 hr. In contrast, mice pretreated with CoCl2, a calcium channel inhibitor, and/or adrenalectomized mice, showed no discernible changes in the lymphoid tissues after repeated injections of maitotoxin. It is thus suggested that maitotoxin first stimulates calcium influx in the adrenal glands, which then causes the release of cortisol into the blood. The excess amount of cortisol in serum produces acute involution of the thymus and other lymphoid tissues.     

Relation between Estrogen Receptor and Malignancy of Thyroid Cancer

The relationship between the histological grade of dedifferentiation of thyroid cancer and estrogen receptors (ER) was examined immunohistochemically. Thyroid cancers were from postmenopausal females of almost the same mean age (69-73 years old) and within the same period of time (1974–1983). ER immunoreactivity located in the nucleus of the epithelium was found in all 6 well differentiated papillary cancers, and 5 of them (83.3%) showed ER-immunoreactive (ER-IR) cells amounting to 20 or more per visual field (x 100) under a light microscope. Of the 6 cases of poorly differentiated papillary cancer, 5 (83.3%) had 1-19 ER-IR cells per visual field. ER-IR cells were negative in 5 out of 6 cases (83.3%) of anaplastic cancers. Thus, the number of ER-IR cells tended to decrease with the degree of atypism of thyroid cancer (P < 0.001).     

Infection and growth of herpes simplex virus (HSV) in rabbit's corneal culture cells

With the view of making quantitative examination of the susceptibility of corneal epithelial cell and stromal cell to herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection, 6 HSV strains (4 of HSV type I, 2 of HSV type II) were inoculated in cultured rabbit's corneal cells (epithelial and stromal cells), and the following results were obtained: 1. When stock HSV was titrated with monolayer culture of each epithelial or stromal cells, strong CPE appeared within 24 hr in epithelial cell and the TCID50 titer of HSV was read as 10(7.5)-10(8.7)/ml at 120 hr. On the other hand, in stromal cell the TCID50 titer showed 10(6.4)-10(6.8)/ml at 72 hr and did not increase thereafter. 2. In terms of the growth curve for HSV type I, the eclipse period was about 4 hr for epithelial cell compared with about 4 hr for stromal cell. At 24 hr, postinfection of standard strain, about 10(7) TCID50/ml of virus was obtained from both epithelial and stromal cell culture. In the case of clinical isolate infection, however, about 10(7) TCID50 was obtained from epithelial cells and 1 in 10th lower titer of virus was obtained from stromal cells. The above results seemed to be of importance in the consideration of different onset mechanisms of epithelial type corneal herpes and stromal ones.