Comparison of apoptotic,necrotic and clonogenic cell death and inhibition of cell growth following camptothecin and X-radiation treatment in a human melanoma and a human fibroblast cell line

PURPOSE: We evaluated apoptotic, necrotic and clonogenic cell death and inhibition of cell growth in a human melanoma cell line (Sk-Mel-3) and a normal human fibroblast cell line (AG1522) following treatment with camptothecin (CPT) or with concurrent CPT and X-radiation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Apoptotic and necrotic cell death was determined morphologically by dual-staining (propidium iodide, acridine orange). Inhibition of cell growth was determined from the number of cells remaining in the culture dish following treatment. RESULTS: In Sk-Mel-3 cells: (a) after treatment with CPT alone, both apoptotic and necrotic cell death increased significantly ( P<0.05) relative to untreated controls; (b) after concurrent CPT and radiation treatment, however, only the increase in necrotic cell death was significant ( P<0.05) relative to cells receiving radiation alone; and (c) all assays of cellular effects/cytotoxicities were consistent in showing that CPT, given alone or with radiation, led to a substantial increase in cell kill. In contrast, in AG1522 cells: (a) there were no significant increases in apoptotic or necrotic cell death following either CPT alone or concurrent CPT and radiation; and (b) the clonogenic assay measured substantially higher cytotoxicities than the other assays. CONCLUSIONS: Necrotic cell death was more important than apoptotic cell death during concurrent CPT and radiation treatment in Sk-Mel-3 cells, but not in AG1522 cells.     

Lymphatic delivery and in vitro pancreatic lipase hydrolysis of glycerol esters of conjugated linoleic acids in rats

We examined the intestinal delivery of conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) given in their triacylglycerol form in the mesenteric lymph of rats. Emulsions containing a mixture of the trilinolein/triester of CLA (9:1) and a tri-[1-(14)C]-linoleyl-sn-glycerol tracer were administered by force-feeding. Lymph was collected over two time periods (0-6 and 6-24 h), and the apparent recovery of CLA was determined relative to that of [1-(14)C]-18:2(n-6). A mixture of CLA-triester/trilinolein (1:9), trilinolein or CLA-triester was separately subjected to pancreatic lipase hydrolysis in vitro to determine whether the lymphatic recovery of CLA was correlated with the initial step of digestion. Lymphatic recovery of CLA was similar to that of 18:2(n-6) (95.6+/-9.0% of the linoleic acid recovery), and isomer repartition was similar in lymph and in the oil fed, indicating that all the CLA isomers were equally absorbed by the enterocytes. Unexpectedly, the in vitro release of CLA into the absorbable forms (free fatty acids and 2-monoacyl-sn-glycerol) was consistently lower than that of 18:2(n-6). Moreover, the 9c, 11t-isomer of CLA was also released faster into the absorbable forms than its 10t,12c homolog (P = 0.05). We cannot ascribe a distinct cellular accumulation or a difference in the biological effects of different CLA isomers on the ground of a selective intestinal absorbability. Also, the physiological conditions prevailing in vivo in the digestive tract are likely to overcome the relative resistance of CLA ester bonds to pancreatic lipase hydrolysis and allow a lymphatic recovery of CLA similar to that of linoleic acid.     

Less frequent neurologic complications of anticoagulant therapy

One of the less frequent complications of anticoagulant therapy is damage to the femoral and sciatic nerves due to bleeding. This report presents two cases and discusses the pathogenetic mechanism and treatment of this medical problem.     

Unilateral glaucoma with progressive changes to the cornea and iris

Ohne Zusammenfassung Dr.M.Grüb Universit?tsaugenklinik Tübingen, Abteilung I: Erkrankungen des vorderen und hinteren Augenabschnittes, Schleichstra?e 12, 72076 Tübingen, E-Mail: matthias.grueb@med.uni-tuebingen.de     

Early determinants of first hospital admissions for asthma and acute bronchitis among Swedish children

Aim: To assess the changing impact of prenatal and perinatal factors with increasing age on first admissions for asthma and acute bronchitis. Methods: The Swedish Medical Birth Registry was linked to the National Hospital Discharge Registry for 214276 Swedish children born in 1987 and 1988. The linkage comprised first admissions for acute bronchitis or asthma from 1987 to 1995. First admissions for gastroenteritis were included to distinguish between factors specific to asthma or bronchitis and non-specific factors related to an increased risk of hospital admission. Results: Admissions for asthma and acute bronchitis before 2 y of age had a close dose-response relationship with maternal smoking, low gestational age, low maternal age and older siblings. Very premature children exposed to more than 9 cigarettes a day in utero ran a 10 times higher risk of hospitalization than postmature children without exposure to maternal smoking. However, the proportion of admissions attributed to maternal smoking was only 4.7% after adjustments for significant covariates. The number of significant determinants declined in children with their first admission for asthma after 2 y of age but male gender and low educational level were independent determinants in all age groups. Older siblings were related to an increased risk of first asthma admission before 2 y of age but a slightly reduced risk of first admission after 2 y of age. Conclusion: This study illustrates the varied epidemiology of asthma in different age groups. Maternal smoking was an important determinant for admission before 2 y of age but mainly in combination with other factors. The decline in hospital admissions in early childhood would therefore be small, even after the elimination of maternal smoking, if other significant perinatal and socioeconomic factors were unchanged.     

Spinal stabilizations in our department (1989-2002)

With the aim to compare results to those found in the literature, authors present a retrospective overview of the spinal stabilizations carried out in the Neurosurgical Department at the St. John's Hospital, Budapest, Hungary between 1989 and 2002. This 37 bed department provides neurosurgical services to the Buda region with its one million inhabitants. Out of 156,000 injuries in total in the past 13 years, the department has dealt with 9360 neurotraumatologic cases, 560 of them suffering from spinal injuries. In parallel, non-traumatic cases were also treated for tumour, infections, degenerative diseases and for the instability of the spine. The 224 stabilised cases were classified into three groups: cervical, thoracic, lumbar. The authors enumerate the type of operation in each level and they present the number of cases belonging to each type. Septic complications occurred in 2.5% of cases. Screw breaking or slackening of the implanted devices was observed in 2% of the cases. The types of spinal operations applied provide satisfactory method for controlling the problems caused by the instability the spinal trauma, degenerative and tumourous cases. These results do not diverge from those found in the literature.