Effect of endotoxin and a burn injury on lung and liver lipid peroxidation and catalase activity

Both endotoxin and a burn alone produce oxidant-induced tissue lipid peroxidation. The endotoxin response is due in large part to hydrogen peroxide. The combination of endotoxin after a burn results in an increased liver, but not lung, oxidant injury. Our purpose was to determine whether the burn oxidant injury inactivated endogenous liver tissue catalase, thereby amplifying a subsequent H2O2 insult. Twenty-six adult sheep were studied. Twelve sheep had a 15% TBS burn. Tissue catalase activity, measured in lung and liver 3 days postburn, was significantly decreased from a control of 3.58 +/- 1.8 and 193 +/- 63, respectively, to 1.72 +/- 0.63 and 148 +/- 33 k(sec-1)/0.5 gram tissue. The addition of endotoxin 3 days postburn resulted in an increase in liver malondialdehyde, MDA, a measure of lipid peroxidation, from a control of 110 +/- 80 to 450 +/- 54 nmol/gram tissue. This value was significantly greater than the 210 +/- 80 nmol/gram tissue seen after endotoxin alone. Lung tissue MDA with burn and endotoxin was 65 +/- 8 compared to 42 +/- 7 for control and 80 +/- 6 nmol/gram for endotoxin alone. We conclude that a decrease in liver catalase activity occurs after a burn. The decrease corresponds to an accentuated oxidant-induced lipid peroxidation after an added endotoxin insult where H2O2 is known to be an etiologic agent. The catalase activity also decreases in postburn lung, but accentuated lung damage was not seen, indicating a variable tissue response from the burn-induced decrease in antioxidant activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Urogenitale Infektionen beim Mann – können sie die Fertilität beeinflussen?

Urogenital infections are established as hazards to male fertility. Various pathophysiological hypotheses have evolved from experimental and clinical studies, facilitating explanation of the effects of bacteria and immunological events on reproductive tissues. Numerous current studies have identified and evaluated infectious mediators accounting for specific molecular events in urogenital infections. Valuable studies can be expected to appear in the future due to improvements in diagnostic procedures and new classifications of urogenital infections.     

Venous surgery in veno-occlusive dysfunction: long-time results after deep dorsal vein resection.

Follow-up of patients 1 year after deep dorsal vein resection gives evidence of an approximate 50-60% success rate. A careful selection of only this small percentage of patients, in whom abnormal drainage through the penile dorsum is obvious, is mandatory. Men with an arterial cofactor have to be excluded or to be subsequently treated by intracavernosal autoinjection of vasoactive substances. Late results from our study demonstrate a further loss of sufficient erection, also in men considered as persistent success by us, in the subjective view of the patient and/or his sexual partner.     

Spindle-cell adenomyoepithelioma of the breast. A microscopic, ultrastructural, and immunocytochemical study

Two patients developed nodular, well-circumscribed tumors of the breast, discovered by mammography. They were fibroadenoma-like by gross examination and biphasic by light microscopy, containing both tubular glands and spindled myoid cells. Immunocytochemical studies revealed cytokeratin and S-100 immunoreactivity in both the spindled myoid cells and in the tubuloglandular cells (S-100 was focal in the latter). In addition, the spindled myoid cells were immunoreactive for vimentin but negative for desmin. Ultrastructural studies showed the tubular glands to be composed of luminal epithelial cells focally surrounded by myoepithelial cells, but the stroma contained spindled myoepithelial cells admixed with occasional fibroblasts. The diagnostic term, "adenomyoepithelioma," is appropriate for biphasic tumors having both glandular and myoepitheliomatous differentiation. Although additional experience is necessary to be conclusive regarding the biologic behavior of these unusual lesions, the authors believe the adenomyoepitheliomas described here are benign. They were well circumscribed without invasion of adjacent breast, contained neither mitotic figures nor cytologic atypia, and have not recurred or metastasized (6 and 10 months after removal).     

Round spermatids from infertile men exhibit decreased protamine-1 and -2 mRNA

During spermiogenesis, histone-to-protamine exchange causes chromatin condensation. Spermatozoa from infertile men are known to exhibit an increased protamine-1 (PRM1) to protamine-2 (PRM2) protein ratio. Since patients undergoing testicular sperm extraction (TESE) followed by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) reveal low fertilization rates, whether the outcome of ICSI could be related to the percentage of round spermatids expressing PRM1-mRNA and PRM2-mRNA was investigated. Applying in-situ hybridization, 55 testicular biopsies from men undergoing TESE/ICSI were investigated. The percentage of PRM1-mRNA and PRM2-mRNA positive spermatids was significantly (P < 0.0001) decreased in men with at least qualitatively normal spermatogenesis (PRM1-mRNA: 58.4 +/- 13.8%; PRM2-mRNA: 56.4 +/- 11.3%) and impaired spermatogenesis (PRM1-mRNA: 32.6 +/- 10.8%; PRM2-mRNA: 31.7 +/- 11.1%) compared with men with obstructive azoospermia and quantitatively normal spermatogenesis (PRM1-mRNA: 79.9 +/- 4.6%; PRM2-mRNA: 78.1 +/- 5.7%). A positive correlation (r(PRM1) = 0.733; r(PRM2) = 0.784; P < 0.001) was demonstrated between the score and the percentage of PRM1-mRNA and PRM2-mRNA positive spermatids. While successful fertilization was neither related to the score, nor to the percentage of PRM1-mRNA and PRM2-mRNA positive spermatids, a significant (P < 0.05) relationship was demonstrated between successful fertilization and the PRM1-mRNA to PRM2-mRNA ratio. Therefore, the PRM1-mRNA to PRM2-mRNA ratio in round spermatids may serve as a possible predictive factor for the outcome of ICSI.     

Lymphokine activation of J774G8 cells and mouse peritoneal macrophages challenged with Toxoplasma gondii.

In vitro activation of macrophage cell line J774G8 and mouse peritoneal macrophages resulted in oxygen-dependent and oxygen-independent killing of intracellular Toxoplasma gondii. Activation was characterized by oxygen-dependent killing detectable by enhanced lysosome fusion and digestion of T. gondii. The toxoplasmacidal activity of activated J774G8 cells and peritoneal macrophages was prevented by adding the oxygen intermediate scavengers catalase or superoxide dismutase during culture. Activated J774G8 cells and peritoneal macrophages also inhibited replication of those Toxoplasma organisms which survived the initial microbicidal activity. The inhibition of Toxoplasma replication was not significantly affected by exogenous catalase or superoxide dismutase. Peritoneal macrophages from Toxoplasma-immune mice showed similar microbicidal and inhibitory responses, supporting the model that activation leads to destruction of intracellular parasites by two different mechanisms.     

Ultrastructural study of microsporidian invasion into cells

Summary Nosema michaelis spores were primed to discharge extracellularly or into culture medium 199 containing ascites leukemia EL4 cells, mouse macrophages, neuroblastoma C1300 adapted to ascites, human red blood cells, and blue crab epithelial cells and hemocytes.Before discharge, the polar tube has a single membrane enveloping a glycoprotein-like matrix. After extrusion, there are two membrane envelopes surrounded by a glycoprotein sheath. This sheath is silver methenamine negative, trypsinsensitive, has low solubility to 1% SDS treatment, and binds ferritin-conjugated concanavalin A.Before spore discharge, the sporoplasm is dispersed, uncompartmentalized by any membrane and exterior to the extrusion apparatus. After passage through the extrusion tube, the sporoplasm ends up in vesicle formed at the end of extruded tube. The sporoplasm nucleus maintains its integrity during extrusion; both the cytoplasm and nuclear components of the discharged sporoplasm are compartmentalized within membranes. After 15–20 min within the host cytoplasm, the sporoplasm shows obvious cytoplasmic reorganization and endoplasmic reticulum synthesis.Within the host cell, the sporoplasm is surrounded by two envelopes, the outer of which appears continuous with the polar tube sheath. Two envelopes surround the parasite when it is injected into extracellular medium, into human red blood cells, or into ascites leukemia EL4 cells. One envelope is lost when the sporoplasm is injected into normal host cells such as blue crab hemocytes and epithelial cells.A fibrous corona surrounds the sporoplasm in ascites leukemia EL4 cells, neuroblastoma C1300 or mouse macrophages. This corona is believed to be host reaction material since it is absent when parasites are injected into blue crab gut epithelial cells and hemocytes, into extracellular medium, or into human red blood cells.Supported by training grant from the National Institutes of Health A 10092. Special thanks are extended to Prof. William Trager.     

Myoid gonadal stromal tumor with epithelial differentiation (? testicular myoepithelioma).

A 46-year-old man presented with a cytologically bland testicular tumor composed of spindle cells that showed both epitheliallike (ie, true desmosomes and tonofilamentlike structures) and myogenous differentiation (ie, thin filaments with focal densities and alpha-smooth muscle actin immunoreactivity). Tumor cells were immunoreactive for vimentin and S-100 protein but negative for cytokeratin and desmin. Peritubular myoid cells are present in the normal testis; contain subplasmalemmal micropinocytotic vesicles; show thin filaments with focal densities; and are reactive with desmin, vimentin, and alpha-smooth muscle actin. They have no desmosomes and lie outside the basement membrane of the seminiferous tubules; thus they are not true myoepithelial cells (a cell type not present in the testis). Paradoxically, the current tumor appeared to show bidirectional differentiation, mimicking both a peritubular myoid spindle cell and an epitheliallike cell (possibly similar to the granulosa cell or rete testis epithelial cell). Although the findings suggest myoepithelial differentiation, the cytogenesis of this tumor remains uncertain.     

Giant-cell vasculitides

Although many of the vasculitides within the classification of the American College of Rheumatology can have a component of granulomatous inflammation with giant cells, two (ie, giant-cell [temporal] arteritis and Takayasu arteritis) are characterized by infiltrates that are dominated by granulomatous and/or giant-cell-containing inflammation. Furthermore, granulomatous and/or giant-cell dominant infiltrates can characterize disseminated giant-cell arteritis, granulomatous vasculitis of the central nervous system, localized giant-cell arteritis, mesenteric inflammatory veno-occlusive disease, primary cutaneous phlebitis, and giant-cell phlebitis of mesenteric veins and/or omentum. Like the other systemic vasculitides, there is considerable clinicopathologic overlap between these giant-cell vasculitides. Indeed, they are likely closely related, but how they specifically relate to each other is not clear. Their accurate diagnosis is important; because serious morbidity and even death may occur, if proper treatment is delayed or if excessive immunotherapy is given.