Fibrous Elements Research Articles

Hormone secretion by human placenta grown in the eyes of rabbits

Successful growth of human placenta in tissue culture in a previous study showed that the Langhans cells secreted gonadotropin.1 The amount of gonadotropin in the tissue culture fluid was directly proportional to the number of the Langhans cells present. Syncytial cells grew sparingly and degenerated early. The study was inconclusive as to the production of estrogens and progesterone due to the failure of syncytial cells to grow.Since estrone, progesterone, and their metabolic derivatives attain the highest concentrations in the blood and urine during the last month of pregnancy, it would be desirable to grow the full-term placenta. In all attempts, tissue cultures of the term placenta were unsuccessful, and resulted only in an over-growth of fibrous elements. Syncytial cells, as well as Langhans cells, failed to grow.Intraocular transplants in monkeys, guinea pigs, hamsters, and rabbits have been successful in the study of normal tissues of the male and female genital systems, as well as embryonic organ implants and benign and malignant tumors. Implantation of the mature human placental tissue into the eyes of rabbits offers a method of study where tissue cultures in vitro have been inconclusive. If Langhans cells are present in the term placenta, will they grow in intraocular explants with evidence of gonadotropin secretion? Will syncytial cells grow with evidence of estrogen and progestin secretion? The present study developed with these questions in mind.

ENDOCARDIAL FIBROELASTOSIS

Eleven cases of fibroelastosis of the endocardium are reviewed and two new cases reported. The microscopic evidence of hyperplasia of the fibrous and elastic tissue elements of the endocardium in the two new cases reported parallels the findings in the previously reported cases. The pathogenesis of this lesion is at present not clear, although it is probable that the explanation lies in a developmental aberration in the fetus.

A Case of Mediastinal Tumor, as Object of Surgical Cure; a Contribution to the Study of Neurofibroma and Peripheral Glioma

ReSume 1) A case of solitary neurofibroma of the posterior medastinum right side, supposedly originated in the sympathetic nerve chain and with successful operation is reported. Posterior mediastinotoiny is recommended. 2) A review of literature on operated mediastinal neurofibro-mata cases proves its rarity. The present case represents the second successful one reported in this country. 31 Neurofibroma presents a variety of neurinoma (neurilemmoma), in which fibrous elements overshadow the Schwannian cell bodies. In the present case, Schwannian cell chains are demonstrable through silver methods at the top zone of the new-growth. Therefore, it does not fall under category of perineurial fibroblastoma of Mallory-Penfield. 4) Microglia-like cells migrate within the tumor tissue in one hand and oligodendroglia-like cells are impregnated by means of Hortega-Penfield's combined method in the other hand. Angiomatous proliferations of the blood vessel suggest prevalnce of angioplastic character (scherer) in a ccrtain glioma type. Therefore, the term peripheral glioma of Masson will also be reasonably acccptable from the standpoint of modern conception of glia. 5) The reaction mode of the silver impregnation of paraffin section is different from that of frozen section. Under the present state of neuropathology, one cannot discriminate various types of argyrophilic fiber without consideration of impregnation methods at large.

Comparative Anatomy and Phylogeny of the Casuarinaceae

1. The chief purposes of this investigation have been to contribute toward a better understanding of the evolutionary status of the Casuarinaceae; to present a thorough anatomical description of the family; and to tabulate, at least provisionally, the outstanding characteristics of twenty-nine species. 2. The anatomy of the secondary xylem of the old wood (wood at some distance from the pith) may be summarized as follows: Growth rings are poorly defined or absent; both tracheids and fibertracheids are found in all but one species, in which only tracheids occur; tracheids generally predominate, and the larger, thinner-walled tracheids are vasicentric; the fiber-tracheids often have very thick walls; the fibrous elements are extremely short to moderately long, mostly short to medium-sized; spiral thickenings occur in the fibrous elements of six species. The range of species means for the number of vessels per square millimeter is from moderately few to very numerous; vessel distribution is universally solit...

Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis

XCIV. MINERAL CHANGES IN NEURODERMATITIS REVEALED BY MICROINCINERATION

Chronic disseminated neurodermatitis is apparently characterized by a cutaneous deficiency of magnesium, as has been determined previously 1 by spectrographic analysis. Evidently, the whole skin of patients suffering from this disorder either is incapable of absorbing biologically essential amounts of this element or loses its capacity for retention of already absorbed magnesium. The unaffected skin of patients with neurodermatitis is histologically different from skin of healthy persons in that the epidermis is acanthotic, hyperkeratotic and hyperpigmented. 2 In unaffected skin the dermis is densely packed with long ropelike cords of connective tissue fibers of a collagenous nature. It is significant that the entire skin of patients with neurodermatitis is measurably thicker and obviously tougher than that of normal persons. The thickening and hardening are due in part to an increase in fibrous elements in the dermis. Such fibrosis is especially marked prior to the development and after the healing of

Diffuse Interstitial Calcinosis

THE name “interstitial calcinosis” was introduced and the condition defined as a nosological entity by Krause, in 1909. The disease is anatomically characterized by inflammatory changes in the interstitial connective tissue of the muscles and the subcutaneous region, with secondary calcium deposits confined to the fibrous elements. It may occur in either a localized or a diffuse form. As the condition is rare and especially in view of the fact that postmortem studies have been made in only three instances, it may be of interest to report an additional case, with autopsy findings. The case to be reported was observed by me some years ago in the roentgen department of the Montefiore Home. Its findings were brought into recollection recently in connection with the preparation of a paper on calcification in scleroderma, on account of the great similarity in the roentgenologic appearance of these two conditions. Prior to her admission to the Montefiore Home the patient had been in the Mt. Sinai Hospital, where...

Specialization in Secondary Xylem of Dicotyledons. I. Origin of Vessel

1. Tracheids are characterized by great average length, small cross-sectional diameter, angularity of outline, evenly thickened walls, thin walls, and the absence of a distinct end wall. 2. Vessel segments which retain these primitive characteristics nearly always have scalariform perforations; the scalariform perforation is therefore primitive. 3. There is a high correlation between the diffuse arrangement of vessels and the scalariform condition of the end wall. 4. Vessel segments with scalariform perforations are characterized by scalariform lateral pitting; therefore scalariform lateral pitting is primitive, and this leads to the natural inference that the tracheid type from which the vessel was derived was also scalariform. 5. A high correlation was found between the scalariform condition of the lateral walls of vessel segments and the presence of bordered pits in the fibrous elements. 6. There was some evidence to indicate that a sequence from the protoxylem to the secondary xylem would reflect the origin of the vessel. 7. Many primitive woods show, in this positional sequence, all transitions from scalariform tracheids to scalariform vessel segments. 8. The evidence would indicate that vessel segments with scalariform pitting on both the end and side walls are more primitive than vessel segments with scalariform pitting on the end walls and opposite to alternate pitting on the side walls. 9. The wood of the vessel-less angiosperms Trochodendron, Tetracentron, and Drimys is unquestionably very primitive. The primitive tracheids of these genera resemble, to a considerable degree, the scalariform tracheids characteristic of the primary wood of primitive angiosperms.

Influence of Annular Tympanic Cartilage on Development of Tympanic Membrane (Rana pipiens).

The formation of the tympanic membrane constitutes one of the last adult structures to be developed during the metamorphosis of the frog tadpole. The present communication, based on over 300 autoplastic transplantations, is designed to point out the factors responsible for its formation. Histological sections of tympanic membranes in various stages of development show clearly that a definite series of events takes place in the integument during which the stratum spongiosum and stratum compactum layers disappear and the latter is replaced with a network of fibrous elements typical of the adult tympanic membrane. Preliminary transplantations of skin grafts from the back and side of the tadpole to the tympanic membrane region, resulted in the formation of typical membranes in the grafts during metamorphosis. This would indicate that all integument of the metamorphosing tadpole is totipotent in this regard and that structures in the immediate vicinity of the tympanic membrane region have a direct influence on membrane formation. Autoplastic transplantations of the annular tympanic cartilage in various stages of development were made to regions under the skin of the side and under the skin of the back of metamorphosing tadpoles. Typical tympanic membranes were formed in the skin of the back directly over the annular tympanic cartilage transplants. Less perfectly formed membranes developed in the skin of the side directly over the transplants. Histological sections of such membranes showed that typical cellular transformations had taken place, identical to those found in normal membrane formation.

The Development of the Connective Tissue Framework of the Human Optic Nerve with Especial Reference to the Lamina Cribrosa

This paper is based on the histologic study of nine human fetuses, from 45 mm. to 500 mm. in length. The sections were stained to differentiate glial from fibrous connective tissue. They show that the optic nerve is originally wholly ectodermal. Later it becomes invaded by fibrous connective tissue elements from the mesoderm of the anlage of the pial sheath. The fibrous connective tissue of the lamina cribrosa is not a growth forward of the septa of the nerve, but a direct ingrowth of the collagenous fibers of the sclera.

Stem Anatomy of Dioon spinulosum

1. The medullary rays of Dioon spinulosum are of three distinct types: uniseriate rays, a single layer of cells wide and several cells deep; multiseriate rays, two to several cells in width and of variable longitudinal extent; and broad foliar rays or leaf gaps, which, with their included leaf traces, are such a constant feature of this wood. 2. The fibrovascular elements constituting the leaf traces in the foliar rays and connecting these traces with the secondary wood are peculiar, irregular scalariform tracheids which in the course of their development curve gradually downward through the ray, until they become inserted between the perpendicular fibrous elements of the main stele. 3. The regular pitted elements of the secondary xylem are also often diverted to one side into a direction parallel to that of the trace. 4. Both the scalariform and the pitted elements constituting these traces, in their peculiar manner of enlargement and elongation, furnish excellent illustrations of gliding growth. 5. For each leaf or scale leaf 7-9 strands (the number varying with the size of the leaf base) separate from the vascular cylinder. The two inner ones, arising from the proximal side of the central cylinder, pursue a more or less direct vertical course into the ventral part of the petiole; the rest of the traces, leaving the stem cylinder at different points, pass obliquely upward into the cortex and the sheathing base of the leaf, where an anastomosis of traces takes place, resulting in the two characteristic girdles. 6. The two direct strands entering the ventral or abaxial part of the leaf may also unite with the two dorsal girdling strands at the base of the petiole, so that the whole system is reducible in the older seedlings and adult stem to two main horizontal strands with their associated lateral traces.

THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOL ON THE REPRODUCTIVE TISSUES

Administration of alcohol in the food of male white rats for 2 or more months, in daily quantities of 0.25 to 2.25 cc., results almost constantly in the appearance of marked degenerative alterations in the testicles. These changes affect the steps of spermatogenesis in inverse order to their occurrence, so that for some time before sterility and complete aspermia result, the animal is producing spermatozoa with all possible degrees of abnormality and deficiency. The possible relation of this abnormal spermatogenesis to the production of defective offspring is obvious. Individual rats show marked differences in the degree of change produced by equal amounts of alcohol. The fibrous, interstitial, and vascular elements of the testicle are not affected, except for intertubular edema compensating for tubular atrophy. These experimental observations harmonize with the necropsy findings in human alcoholics. No other tissue was found to be noticeably affected by the alcohol; especially to be remarked is the absence of cirrhosis or fatty infiltration in the liver.

A STUDY OF GOUT.

That the pathology of gout has not kept pace with the lines of distinction that have clinically been drawn, is much to be regretted, but we do know that it is the fibrous element which is most affected in chronic rheumatism, the synovial membrane with degeneration later on in the cartilage and bone in arthritis deformane, and the kidneys and blood primarily in gouty affections causing deposits of urates in the joints. If one should say that it was the uric acid in excess in the blood, in the form of urates, that was the cause of gout, he would very rightly be met with the assertion that there were other diseases with excess of urates in the blood and which did not have the manifestations of gout. A similar wrong conclusion would be to attribute the cause of arthritis deformane to micro-organisms, for it is known that the investigators