A Simplified Method for Measuring the Thickness of Glomerular Basement Membranes

Measurement of the thickness of glomerular basement membranes is required for the diagnosis of thin membrane nephropathy. Over the years various morphometric methods have been used but some are laborious so there is a need for establishing a simplified method for measuring thickness. In the present study 20 renal biopsies were used to carry out a comparative morphometric analysis between 2 methods. The first method was based on measuring thickness at the maximum number of available points, whereas for the second method, thickness was measured at only 5 points per loop. Since both methods gave mean values that are not statistically different in each patient, the authors recommend that the simplified method be used routinely for diagnosis.     

Morphometric and Histological Study of Breast Lesions with Special Reference to Proliferative Activity and Invasiveness

Breast carcinoma is the most common cause of carcinoma death in women. Sometimes, difficulty arises to differentiate between premalignant lesions and carcinoma by routine histopathology. Our study was done to establish the role of morphometry and immunohistochemistry to solve this problem. In this study, total 60 cases of different breast lesions were included and 10 controls were also included to compare the results with the normal findings. They were studied by hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections for morphometry and routine histological study; as well as by proliferative markers such as proliferating cell nuclear antigen and p53. Invasiveness was studied using immunohistochemical staining with 34 βE12 monoclonal antibody. Statistically significant differences were found in morphometric parameters and in expression of proliferative markers between most of them. Morphometry and immunohistochemistry help in the proper diagnosis of different breast lesions that lie in the gray zone on routine histopathology.     

An experimental animal model of spinal root compression syndrome: an analysis of morphological changes of myelinated axons during compression radiculopathy and after decompression

The treatment of radicular pain is mainly empirical because there are only few experimental studies dealing with morphological changes during compression radiculopathy. The goal of the study was to investigate changes in the morphology of myelinated axons during spinal root compression and the influence of decompression in a new rat model. The number of myelinated axons and their diameter were measured at 1, 2, 5, and 8 weeks during compression of the dorsal spinal root. The same approach was applied for 1-week compression followed by decompression for 1 or 2 weeks and compression for 5 weeks followed by 3-week decompression. A decrease in the number of myelinated axons (particularly those of large diameters) occurred after compression for 1 week. Continued compression for up to 8 weeks resulted in centripetal increase in the number of myelinated axons and the persistence of a small fraction of large myelinated axons at the site of compression. After that time, a decreased number of axons and a reduced fraction of large myelinated axons occurred again. Decompression after 1-week compression caused a rapid increase in the number of both small and large myelinated axons within the spinal root including the site of compression. A small fraction of regenerated axons was found after 5-week compression followed by 3-week decompression. Finally, we investigated the time course of the temporary increase in the number of regenerated myelinated axons during dorsal root compression for up to 8 weeks. The efficacy of decompression was superior when applied one week after compression or after regress of the acute phase of aseptic inflammation associated with fragility of spinal root. The results of the study verify the need for early surgical decompression to prevent irreversible damage of the spinal roots.     

The expression patterns and prognostic significance of pleckstrin homology-like domain family A (PHLDA) in lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma

BackgroundPleckstrin homology domain family A (PHLDA) genes play important roles in cancer cellular processes, including inhibiting Akt activation, repressing growth factor signaling, inhibiting the negative feedback of EGFR/ErbB2 signaling cells, and inducing apoptosis. However, the prognostic significance of PHLDA in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and malignant pleural mesothelioma (MM) remains unclear. The present study investigates the associations between PHLDA expression patterns and their prognostic value in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and MM.MethodsWe analyzed PHLDA family members at the genomic level in silico to explore their mRNA expression pattern and predictive significance in LUAD and MM. We then created a PHLDA–drug interaction network and a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network using different databases. Finally, we immunohistochemically assessed the protein expression of each PHLDA family member on tissue microarrays (TMAs) in both LUAD and MM cohorts with long-term follow-up.ResultsWhile PHLDA1 mRNA expression in both LUAD and MM was lower than that of normal tissue, PHLDA2 mRNA was significantly overexpressed in LUAD, and PHLDA3 mRNA was overexpressed in MM. In NSCLC, both low PHLDA1 mRNA expression and high PHLDA3 mRNA expression correlated with worse overall survival (OS) (P<0.01), whereas high PHLDA2 mRNA expression was associated with better OS (P<0.01). In MM, patients presenting high PHLDA1 and PHLDA2 mRNA expression had poor OS (P=0.01 and P<0.01, respectively). In addition, the PHLDA-drug interaction network indicated that several common drugs could potentially modulate PHLDA expression, and the PPI network suggested that PHLDA1 interacts with Notch family members, whereas PHLDA3 interacts with TP53. Our results also showed that the expression of PHLDA2 and PHLDA3 was significantly higher in LUAD and MM than that of PHLDA1 (P<0.05) and was associated with the risk of death. While patients with PHLDA2 >85.09 cells/mm² had a low risk of death (P=0.01) and a median survival time of 48 months, those with PHLDA3 <70.38 cells/mm² had a high risk of death (P=0.03) and a median survival time of 34 months.ConclusionsWe shed light on the role of the PHLDA family as promising predictive biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets in LUAD and MM.     

Isolated pancreatic islets of the rat: An immunohistochemical and morphometric study

Although there is a recent increase in the use of the isolated pancreatic islets of the rat in the transplantation and functional studies, there has been no detailed quantitative assessment on the size and cellular constituents of islets after the isolation procedure. The present work was undertaken to study the size classes of the isolated islets and the morphometry of their cellular populations. Islets of the rat pancreas were isolated by using the intraductal collagenase digestion technique, the most commonly used procedure for the isolation of pancreatic islets. Different endocrine cells of the isolated islets were stained by immunoperoxidase staining techniques. The distribution of the cellular constituents of the isolated islets was similar to that of the intact islets of the normal pancreas; A, D, and PP cells were peripherally arranged around the centrally located B cells. However, morphometric quantitative study showed that the percent volume and percent number of A, D, and PP cells of the isolated islets were lower than those of the corresponding intact ones. Further, the mean true diameter of the isolated islets was lower than that of the intact ones. These data indicate loss of islet cells during the process of isolation. Most of the lost cells were from the periphery of islets. This may provide an explanation for the incomplete metabolic control and recurrence of hyperglycemia encountered after isolated islet transplantation in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. It seems that further refinements of the isolation techniques are necessary to obtain islet tissue with total cellular integrity, before a complete success in transplantation could be achieved. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Gyrification,cortical and subcortical morphometry in neurofibromatosis type 1: an uneven profile of developmental abnormalities

Background

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a monogenic disorder associated with cognitive impairments. In order to understand how mutations in the NF1 gene impact brain structure it is essential to characterize in detail the brain structural abnormalities in patients with NF1. Previous studies have reported contradictory findings and have focused only on volumetric measurements. Here, we investigated the volumes of subcortical structures and the composite dimensions of the cortex through analysis of cortical volume, cortical thickness, cortical surface area and gyrification.

Methods

We studied 14 children with NF1 and 14 typically developing children matched for age, gender, IQ and right/left-handedness. Regional subcortical volumes and cortical gyral measurements were obtained using the FreeSurfer software. Between-group differences were evaluated while controlling for the increase in total intracranial volume observed in NF1.

Results

Subcortical analysis revealed disproportionately larger thalami, right caudate and middle corpus callosum in patients with NF1. Cortical analyses on volume, thickness and surface area were however not indicative of significant alterations in patients. Interestingly, patients with NF1 had significantly lower gyrification indices than typically developing children primarily in the frontal and temporal lobes, but also affecting the insula, cingulate cortex, parietal and occipital regions.

Conclusions

The neuroanatomic abnormalities observed were localized to specific brain regions, indicating that particular areas might constitute selective targets for NF1 gene mutations. Furthermore, the lower gyrification indices were accompanied by a disproportionate increase in brain size without the corresponding increase in folding in patients with NF1. Taken together these findings suggest that specific neurodevelopmental processes, such as gyrification, are more vulnerable to NF1 dysfunction than others. The identified changes in brain organization are consistent with the patterns of cognitive dysfunction in the NF1 phenotype.     

Anatomical and histological morphometry of the sural nerve in human fetuses

Introduction

In our study, the aim was to anatomically and histologically investigate the morphometric structures of the branches involved in the sural nerve and sural nerve formation.

Morphometric comparison of mitochondria and myofibrils of cardiomyocytes between hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies

Summary We performed an ultrastructural, morphometric comparison of mitochondria and myofibrils of cardiomyocytes using endomyocardial biopsy specimens in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Biopsies came from the right ventricular side of the interventricular septum in nine patients with HCM, nine with DCM, and nine controls with arrhythmia and/or ST depression. Morphometric analysis was carried out using electron microscopic photographs and an image analyser. Mitochondria were significantly greater in number and smaller in size in HCM than in the control group. In DCM, the size of mitochondria was also significantly smaller than in the control group, although their number was similar to that of the control group. No statistically significant difference was found regarding the size of mitochondria between HCM and DCM. The percentages of both mitochondrial and myofibrillar areas in cytoplasm were smaller in the DCM than the HCM and control groups, though no difference was seen between the latter two. The ratio of mitochondrial area to myofibrillar area was almost the same in each group. These results suggest increased mitochondrial function to match hypertrophic cardiomyocytes in HCM, and decreased mitochondrial function and cardiomyocytic contractility in DCM.     

Recent developments in DXA. Quality of new DXA/MXA-devices for densitometry and morphometry

The introduction of new devices demands the assessment of their capabilities in established terms. The accuracy, reproducibility and spatial resolution of in vitro (phantom) osteodensitometric and morphometric measurements of QDR 2000 Plus and EXPERT are presented. Design details of these DXA/MXA-devices are listed and discussed in combination with the data acquired in the test measurements and calculations. The image quality will improve with further software developments. The long-term reproducibility and in vivo reliability remains to be evaluated.