Tissue Culture Facilities Research Articles

Diarrheal disease and DRGs.

This article has presented a rational protocol for examining stools for enteric pathogens. When modified according to a laboratory's geographical location and patient population, this approach should allow efficient, comprehensive diagnosis of diarrheal disease. Laboratories should be able to examine stools routinely for Campylobacter spp., Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Y. enterocolitica, intestinal parasites [including Cryptosporidium (14)], rotavirus, and C. difficile toxin. When unusual organisms such as pathogenic E. coli are suspected, or tissue culture facilities for C. difficile toxin assays are unavailable, the use of reference laboratories is strongly encouraged.

Enzyme immunoassay for the detection of Chlamydia trachomatis antigen in urethral and endocervical swabs.

An enzyme immunoassay technique based on the direct detection of Chlamydia trachomatis antigen in urethral or cervical swabs was used for the rapid diagnosis of chlamydial genital infection. Urethral and cervical samples from 140 patients were tested in parallel by enzyme immunoassay and cell culture using iodine staining. The direct test had a sensitivity of 92.5% and specificity of 97.2% when compared with the cell culture system. The enzyme immunoassay technique provides a rapid and simple method for diagnosing chlamydial genital infection and may be performed on a large number of samples in laboratories which do not have tissue culture facilities or a trained microscopist.

A simple and convenient culture chamber conversion for use with standard disposable culture dishes

A tissue culture chamber is described for the observation of living cells utilizing inverted phase-contrast microscopy. This chamber is easily assembled from component parts already available in most tissue culture facilities. Rapid assembly and low unit cost are the principle advantages of this system.

Isolation of polymerization-competent vimentin from porcine eye lens tissue

Most higher cells contain ‘10 nm filaments’ (intermediate filaments) as third cytoskeletal component in addition to microtubules and actincontaining microfilaments. Immunological and gelelectrophoretic studies have distinguished several distinct intermediate filament subclasses, each related to certain cell and tissue types (review [ 1,2]). Whereas neurofilaments, glial filaments, muscle desmin filaments and epidermal tonofilaments are readily available from corresponding tissues, it has consistently remained difficult to obtain vimentin in larger amounts. Vimentin is found in mesenchymal cells and also expressed in many, if not all, permanent cell lines [ 1,4]. Denatured vimentin has been purified in small amounts by extraction of cytoskeletons of cultured cells using preparative gel electrophoresis [l-4]. In addition,native intermediate filaments have been isolated in bundled form from cultured BHK 21 cells [5], but subsequent studies revealed that they contain not only vimentin, but also desmin [6,7] and some higher molecular weight (or M,) proteins [8]. In order to explore the molecular basis of different intermediate filaments, protein-chemical characterization is required and in the case of vimentin an easy purification scheme is demanded. Here we report that eye lens tissue, which is known to contain vimentin by immunological criteria [9] is an excellent source to obtain purified vimentin in good yield. The isolated protein renatures spontaneously into filaments after urea treatment. The purification scheme described eliminates the need for costly tissue culture facilities and provides amounts suitable for further biochemical and protein-chemical characterizations.

Postoperative Vaginal Discharge-Reply

In Reply.— I wish to thank Dr Handsfield for his important comments. The description was examination of the was within normal limits. Nevertheless, if the white mucus vaginal discharge requiring the daily use of a tampon for 18 months in fact came from the endocervical canal, if it was mucopurulent without trichomonads and with a negative gonorrhea culture, then it might be caused by Chlamydia , especially if the patient's asymptomatic husband had nongonococcal urethritis. The diagnostic problem is complex because (1) it may be that most infected women with endocervical Chlamydia are asymptomatic 1 ; (2) when Chlamydia causes clinical infection of the cervix it is variable and not distinctive; (3) there may be a purulent endocervical discharge not caused by Chlamydia ; and (4) Chlamydia often coexists with other sexually transmitted diseases. Furthermore, the actual diagnosis requires tissue culture facilities not generally available. Though I agree with the recommendations, if

Rapid viral diagnosis

Both the methodology and the demand for rapid viral diagnosis are increasing. Many of the methods used are within the scope of a clinical laboratory where tissue culture facilities are not available. Little standardization exists as yet, however, and rapid diagnostic tests require both careful attention to detail and knowledgeable interpretation to assure their usefulness.

Rabies neutralizing antibody determination by the interference inhibition test (IIT) and the mouse neutralization test (MNT)

The CVS-11 strain of rabies virus was shown to interfere with plaque formation by vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) in a continuous line of monkey kidney cells (V3). Interference was inhibited by rabies antibody and an interference inhibition test (IIT) was devised to titrate rabies neutralizing antibody in 94 human sera. The sera were also tested by the mouse neutralization test (MNT) and the results obtained by either method were comparable. The IIT was highly reproducible and since only routine tissue culture facilities are required for the test, the technique is recommended as an alternative to the MNT and the rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test (RFFIT).

Diagnostic De Laboratoire De La Maladie De Nairobi Du Mouton

The laboratory methods available for the isolation and identification of Nairobi sheep disease virus have been compared. The results show that inoculation of tissue culture (BHK 21 C 13) with suspensions of infected organs or plasma followed by fluorescent antibody tests on coverslip preparations gave the quickest means of identification. This test did not depend on the production of a cytopathic effect. Primary isolation of the virus in infant mouse brain and identification either by fluorescent antibody methods or by complement fixation with antigen prepared from the mouse brain offers a slightly more sensitive isolation system and would be recommended where no tissue culture facility exists.