Inert Body Research Articles

Venous thrombosis produced by the local injection of fat.

An experimental study performed in 16 mongrel dogs is presented, which shows that when venous stasis is combined with the local injection of non-esterified fatty acid an intense thrombosis results. This response is not produced by venous stasis alone, nor by the combination of venous stasis and triacylglycerol. Histologically it is quite different from the response produced by an inert intraluminal foreign body. It does resemble venous thrombosis described experimentally and in patients. The clinical relevance of these findings is that during accidental or operative trauma to a long bone, fat is commonly forced into the local venous circulation. If this event is combined with venous stasis or a tourniquet is used, then the circumstances of this experiment are reproduced. It is suggested that the venous thrombosis which commonly complicates long-bone injury or operation is in part caused by the thrombogenic nature of the introduced fat.

Heteronuclear recombination of chlorine and iodine atoms

Various works dealing with the flash photolysis studies of IClI are discussed. Some results wherein relatively inert bodies such as N/sub 2/ and CO/sub 2/ are reported to catalyze the formation of IClI much faster than the homonuclear recombination that produces I/sub 2/ or CL/sub 2/ are questioned and reexamined. Results of recent studies indicate that 99% of the Cl atoms will have reacted within a period of 4 ..mu..s. Since all reaction times reported in the flash photolysis studies were measured from 50 ..mu..s after the onset of the flash, essentially all the Cl atoms are thought to have disappeared before any measurements could have been made. The authors then conclude that reported values for the rate constant for heteronuclear recombination of Cl atoms did not actually have any basis of fact, but the values reported for the IClI catalyzed recombination of I atoms are considered to be valid.

Age dependent variation of elastin and elastase in aorta and human breast cancers

The elastin and elastase content of human aortas and human breast cancers was compared as a function of age and as a function of the degree of atherosclerosis (for aortas). It was confirmed that the cross-linked elastin content of aortas (expressed as desmosine per g dry weight) decreased with age and also with the degree of atherosclerosis. The elastase content of the same aortas increased exponentially with age (on a DNA basis) as well as with the degree of atherosclerosis. In human breast cancers both elastin and elastase increased linearly with age. The speed of increase for both elastin and elastase is nearly identical. These results indicate that although the steady increase of elastase in aortas with age may be causally related to the loss of the cross-linked elastin content, the concomitant decrease of the rate of elastin biosynthesis is probably a very important factor. In the presence of an adequate synthesis of elastin, the presence of increasing amounts of elastase is not bound to determine a steady loss of elastin. This is shown by the strongly correlated increase of elastin and elastase in breast cancers where an active biosynthesis probably replaces the elastin degraded by elastase. Cross-linked elastin may thus be synthesised at an advanced age and elastin cannot be considered as an inert body constituent but appears to have a measurable turover.

Ultrastructure of the Schistosome Granuloma

Adults of the digenetic trematode Schistosoma mansoni inhabit the mesenteric veins of their definitive hosts. A wide variety of mammals ranging from mice to men are susceptible to infection. Little or no pathology is associated with the adults' presence within the blood vessels. However, the majority of the eggs laid by the adults fail to pass from the host, are carried in the veins to the liver or intestinal wall, and become trapped in the tissues where they elicit a granulomatous response.The schistosome granuloma has been found to be a manifestation of delayed hypersensitivity and as such represents an immunologically specific inflammatory response to the presence of e'ggs. Thus, this type of granuloma can be distinguished from the immunologically non-specific type of granulomas that occur around inert foreign bodies when they become trapped in tissue. It has been hypothesized that granuloma formation represents an attempt by the host to sequester and destroy antigens of low diffusibility which are released from the egg. This report describes some preliminary observations on the ultrastructure of granulomas elicited by Schistosoma mansoni eggs in the liver of experimentally infected white mice.

LONG-LIVING SMALL LYMPHOCYTES IN DIFFUSION CHAMBERS IN RABBITS.

A 340-day-survival of viable small lymphocytes was obtained in diffusion chamber cultures of homologous rabbit lymph lymphocytes in the rabbit peritoneal cavity. No cellular proliferation could explain this long life span and no adjuvant effect of other cell types (such as histiocytes) on the lymphocyte survival was established. The long lasting chambers behaved in the recipients as inert bodies and provoked no reaction in recipient tissues.

The Serology of Spores of Bacillus Niger with Special Reference to the H Antigen

Although in most particulars the properties of bacterial spores have received abundant study, little attention has been paid to their serology. Should spores be found to possess an antigenic system distinct from that of vegetative cells of the same species, it would be reasonable to suppose that their presence might diminish the value of antigenic preparations for diagnostic or immunization procedures. From a theoretical point of view, also, the problem offers abundant possibilities. First, it may be asked, are these thick-walled, relatively inert bodies themselves able to induce antibody formation, and, if so, are the antibodies so produced identical with those formed for vegetative cells of the same species? If spores and vegetative cells are thus closely related, do spores contain, in an active form, all of the antigens which eventually appear in the vegetative stage, or are the potentialities for this development (which must, it seems, be assumed) nonantigenic? This study is concerned with the last question in an attempt to determine the presence or absence of the H (flagellar, or flocculating) antigen in spores. Since the H antigen is often species specific as contrasted with a group specific O antigen, some light may be thrown upon the relationship of the spore stage to the species as a whole.

Fossil Algæ 1

THE publication of Saporta and Marion's “Evolution of the Cryptogams” (see NATURE, vol. xxiv. p. 75, 558) has been followed by a work in which Dr. Nathorst has endeavoured to prove that nearly the whole of the supposed fossil marine Algæ, especially from the older rocks, are either tracks of Invertebrata or were produced by mechanical agency. “Florideæ, Laminarieæ, Chondriteæ, Alectorurideæ, Arthrophyceæ, Bilobites, and other algæ; comprising among them forms curious and remark. able by the regularity of their branching thallus, their phyllome with raised periphery and striated surface; all had disappeared as if by enchantment, and in their place there remained but tracks of Invertebrata, moving upon the ooze, swimming or creeping, and impressing the exare tremities of their tentaculary palpæ around them, or of larvæ gliding through the slimy mud.” When these are insufficient, the movement of water acting on inert bodies, or waving tufts of sea-weed, are appealed to, for no fossil imprint either sunk or in relief, unless preserving carbonaceous matter, is admitted in Dr. Nathorst's hypoProximity thesis to have ever been a plant. This view is eneror getically combated by Saporta in the present work. The issue however does not very materially affect either the general theory of plant-evolution, as traced by Saporta and Marion, since this relies but little upon the evidence of doubtful fossil alg, or the succession of marine algæ in time, which seems to have been probably Laminarieæ, Fucaceæ, and Florideæ. The main point in dispute is whether the supposed primordial algæ, Eophyton and Bilobites, are of vegetable or of other origin. There are numerous a priori reasons for supposing pl ant life to have existed in palæozoic seas, and the complexity of life seen in even the older rocks renders their presence almost a necessity. The question is whether certain impressions which are abundant in Silurian rocks reproduce some of these forms, or whether we are still without indications of the primæval algæ.

The Problem of Mind, propounded to Metaphysics and Science

The Problem of Mind, propounded to Metaphysics and Science