Further characterization of memory T cells existing in a case of CD8 deficiency

CD8 deficiency is a rare primary immunodeficiency caused by a defect of ZAP-70, which plays a pivotal role in T cell activation. We previously reported the existence of memory phenotype-CD4+ T cells in a case of CD8 deficiency, which demonstrates that activation signals through ZAP-70 are not essential to the phenotypic conversion of T cells from "naive" to "memory." In this study, we further characterized CD45RO+ T cells in a CD8 deficient patient. We showed that the patient's CD45RO+ T cell population had a wide variety of T cell receptor Vbeta-chain gene usage, and contained few clonally expanded T cells, while many clonally expanded T cells were present in the memory T cell population of age-matched healthy children. These results suggest that various kinds of antigens were involved in the differentiation of the patient's T cells, and that the differentiation into memory T cells was not accompanied by profound T cell proliferation. Moreover, our findings confirmed that the patient's CD45RO+CD4+ T cells had acquired effector-cytokine producing ability, indicating that there exists an alternative activation pathway which is independent of ZAP-70 for the acquisition of effector-cytokine producing ability.     

J chain-positive cells in bursectomized chicks

Using embryonic chickens treated with testosterone propionate, the effects of congenital absence of the bursa of Fabricius determined by the frequency of J chain-positive cells was examined in the spleen, thymus and bone marrow at the embryonic and newly hatched stages. J chain-positive cells in the chicks without bursa were reduced in the spleen. No differences in the numbers of the cells were detected in the thymus and bone marrow. These results imply that removal of the bursa of Fabricius cannot entirely prevent the generation of J chain-positive B cells. Furthermore, these results partly suggest the important role of the bone marrow in the proliferation of some J chain-positive cells in chicks without bursa.     

Continuous estimation of systolic blood pressure using the pulse arrival time and intermittent calibration

A continuous noninvasive method of systolic blood pressure estimation is described. Systolic blood pressure is estimated by combining two separately obtained components: a higher frequency component obtained by extracting a specific frequency band of pulse arrival time and a lower frequency component obtained from the intermittently acquired systolic blood pressure measurements with an auscultatory or oscillometric system. The pulse arrival time was determined by the time interval from QRS apex in electrocardiogram to the onset of photoplethysmogram in a fingertip beat-by-beat via an oximetric sensor. The method was examined in 20 patients during cardiovascular surgery. The estimated values of systolic blood pressure were compared with those measured invasively using a radial arterial catheter. The results showed that the correlation coefficients between estimated values and invasively obtained systolic blood pressure reached 0.97±0.02 (mean±SD), and the error remained within ±10% in 97.8% of the monitoring period. By using a system with automatic cuff inflation and deflation to acquire intermittent systolic blood pressure values, this method can be applicable for the continuous noninvasive monitoring of systolic blood pressure.     

Blood coagulation and fibrinolysis in patients with Beh?et's disease

In patients with Beh?et's disease, venous thrombosis has often been described as a complication. The pathogenesis of this complication, however, has not been fully understood. In this work, various parameters of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis were studied in 20 patients with Beh?et's disease and 13 sex-matched healthy volunteers. Patients were classified into three subgroups according to the number of clinical signs involved; group I (no sign): 4 patients; group II (one or two signs): 11 patients; group III (more than three signs): 5 patients. Patients with Beh?et's disease, showed an activation of blood coagulation, such as the shortening of prothrombin time (p less than 0.001), decreases in concentrations and activities of plasma antithrombin III (AT-III) (p less than 0.01) and elevated levels of plasma thrombin-antithrombin-III complex (TAT) (p less than 0.01), compared to the control group. Plasma levels (p less than 0.01) and activities (p less than 0.01) of protein C (PC) and total protein S (PS) levels (p less than 0.05) were increased in the patients. Decreased levels of alpha 2-plasmin inhibitor (p less than 0.001) also indicated an activation of fibrinolysis in the patients. When analyzed among the subgroups, patients belong to group II and III showed higher levels of plasma FDP D-dimer (p less than 0.05) and lower levels of plasminogen (p less than 0.05), as compared with patients in group I or control group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Continuous measurements of Na, Li, and Cl in the perfused salivary gland by use of NMR

The present study was undertaken to measure tissue contents of Na, Li, and Cl non-invasively in the isolated perfused organ by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) using a broadband tunable probe. The NMR signals of 23Na, 7Li, and 35Cl from the isolated perfused rat mandibular gland were collected continuously and each spectrum was obtained for every 15 or 20 s. The Na concentration in the perfusate was varied by replacement with Li, and the resulting changes were monitored by measuring the signal intensities of the electrolytes. The time constant for Na exchange was slower following complete removal of extracellular Na than following its half replacement, suggesting that the Na extrusion by Na+/K+ ATPase was reduced by lowering the extracellular Na level. The time constant for Li exchange was slower than that for Na exchange. The level of Cl was nearly constant during experiment, except for a very slow increase in Cl, possibly resulting from increasing edema and/or intracellular Li storage.     

Epithelioid leiomyosarcoma of the external deep soft tissue

Epithelioid leiomyosarcoma in the external deep soft tissue is extremely rare. Most epithelioid leiomyosarcomas occur in the uterus. We present a case of epithelioid leiomyosarcoma occurring in the muscle of the thigh of a 78-year-old man. Histologically, the tumor predominantly consisted of round or polygonal cells arranged in sheets with a focal spindle cell component. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the tumor cells expressed vimentin, alpha-smooth muscle actin, and alpha-sarcomeric actin. The tumor was negative for desmin, S100 protein, glial fibrillary acidic protein, pan-keratin, epithelial membrane antigen, CAM 5.2, HMB-45, leukocyte common antigen, factor VIII-associated antigen, and CD34. Electron microscopically, some tumor cells contained abundant actin-type filaments in their cytoplasm.     

Three-dimensional observations of spatial arrangement of hepatic zonation and vein system in mice and house musk shrews

The three-dimensional (3D) relationship among the hepatic domains and the efferent central and afferent portal veins was investigated by macroscopy, microscopy, and computer-aided 3D reconstruction methods. To clearly distinguish the pericentral domain from the periportal, we used CCl(4)-treated mice and diabetic house musk shrews, which show typical pericentral necrosis and deposition of fat, respectively. The 3D findings obtained were verified against normal control animals using advantages of our unique observations by light and fluorescent microscopy, which made it possible to differentiate the two domains well. The pericentral domains in the mice and shrews appeared three-dimensionally as continuous branched columns, and the periportal domains exist in a sponge-like network that fills the parenchymal space among the columnar pericentral domains. The efferent central veins were concentrically surrounded by the pericentral domain, and segments of the central veins flowed into large sublobular and lobar veins. The walls of these large veins faced the pericentral domain at the confluence with the central veins; the remaining portions of the walls faced the periportal domain. The afferent portal veins were placed at the two-dimensional center of the network of the periportal domain and gave off smaller portal branches radially at the intersections of the network. Three types of liver lobules-classic, portal, and acinar-have been discussed repeatedly at the (2D) level. At the 3D level, it is reasonable to consider that the liver parenchyma consists of the two continuous domains corresponding to the distribution of the vessels that we found.     

Anin vitro invasion model for human renal cell carcinoma cell lines mimicking their metastatic abilities

We developed a modifiedin vitro invasion assay system using monolayers of vascular endothelial cells. A type I collagen gel was formed in plastic dishes, and overlaid with type IV collagen. Calf pulmonary arterial endothelial (CPAE) cells were seeded onto these plates, and incubated until they reached confluence. Five human renal cell carcinoma cell lines with various metastatic potentialsin vivo were then seeded on the monolayer CPAE cells, and their colony formation and invasion activities were examined for 9 days. At day 4, the highly metastatic cell lines increased the number of colony foci on monolayer CPAE cells several fold higher than their poorly metastatic counterpart. The horizontal spreading patterns were also different between poorly and highly metastatic cell lines. On day 9, the number of carcinoma foci that penetrated the monolayer of CPAE cells and type IV collagen sheets into type I collagen gels in highly metastatic cell lines greatly increased as compared with that of poorly metastatic cell lines. Ourin vitro invasion assay using monolayer CPAE cells would be useful to evaluate protease activities and colony formation during invasion.