Watery Secretion Research Articles

Neuropeptides and Secretion

In the rat parotid gland, an atropine-resistant parasympathetic-nerve-evoked secretion was demonstrated in vivo. In the absence of atropine, the non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic transmitter release seemed to contribute to the fluid secretion and to be largely responsible for the secretion of amylase and acinar secretory granules. The gland was reached by nerve fibers containing substance P (SP), vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), and, to some extent, calcitonin-gene-related peptide (CGRP) via the parasympathetic auriculo-temporal nerve. Upon electrical stimulation of the nerve, these peptides were released. SP and substance K (SK), a novel tachykinin, induced a profuse watery secretion when injected i.v., while VIP caused a sparse but amylase-rich secretion. CGRP caused no secretion on its own. The tachykinin-evoked secretory response was enhanced by VIP and CGRP. A SP-analogue almost abolished the SP-evoked response, while the atropine-resistant parasympathetic response was only halved. None of the peptides under study can on its own account for the atropine-resistant parasympathetic secretion. The neuropeptides may play complementary roles in the regulation of the exocrine functions of the gland.

Tanned silks.

The silks of the large cocoons of saturniid moths range in colour from pale to dark brown. They are invariably accompanied by phenolic compounds. The nature of these phenols and their interaction with silk form the subject of this paper. Silk, though fluid when secreted, dries out almost instantly. It is pure white; and if artificially kept dry remains white. If the larva is allowed (as is in normal) to drench it with a watery secretion from the anus, or if artificially moistened, it darkens. Saturniid silks are here shown to consist, not only of structural fibroin and sericin, but also of enzymes and phenols. The presence of moisture allows these to interact. The phenols in the silk gland are in the form of glucosides. They are cleaved by a glucosidase and the liberated phenols are then oxidized by an oxidase. The oxidation products act as tanning agents supposedly by introducing exogenous cross-links between protein chains. Tanning brings about considerable physical and chemical changes in the properties of the silk. These are described. Two of the tanning phenols have been identified. TheO-glucoside of 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid has not been previously recorded as a natural metabolite of animals or plants (although it is said to appear in the excreta ofBombyxlarvae following enforced administration of 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid). The 5-O-glucoside of gentisic acid has not been recorded in animals but has been found in boron-deficient plants. The identity of both has been confirmed by synthesis. 3-Hydroxyanthranilic acid glucoside is derived from dietary tryptophan, but gentisic acid does not arise from an aromatic amino acid. Our evidence is consistent with its being taken up from the food-plant as a conjugate, and with the phenolic moiety being used, without change, by the silk glands. The biological and industrial implications of tanning of the cocoon silk are briefly considered.

The parasympathetic secretory nerves of the nose of the cat.

1. A flow of watery nasal secretion can be induced in the anaesthetized cat either by electrical stimulation of the brain stem or by the simpler procedure of stimulating the cut peripheral end of the Vidian nerve. In both instances the rate of flow of secretion was dependent on the stimulation frequency. Because brain stem stimulation caused an increase in arterial blood pressure, nasal secretion was evoked in subsequent experiments by Vidian nerve stimulation.2. The application of nicotine to the sphenopalatine ganglion shows that the secretory fibres in the Vidian nerve relay in this ganglion and reach the nasal mucosa by way of the posterior nasal nerve.3. Inhibition by atropine of the secretion induced by Vidian nerve stimulation indicates that the secretory fibres are cholinergic.4. It is suggested that the induction of nasal secretion by Vidian nerve stimulation may be useful in assessing the effects of drugs on this secretion.

Wehrsubstanzen und wehrverhalten der termite Macrotermes carbonarius

Soldiers of the termite Macrotermes carbonarius which forage on the surface have a special defensive behaviour: they stab their sickle-shaped mandibles into the skin of the enemy and by crossing them they are irreversibly fixed. After this a brownish watery secretion from the huge labial glands is discharged by rhythmic contractions of the abdomen. The secretion was analysed by thin-layer chromatography and u.v.-spectroscopy. The main compound is toluquinone. A minor component is benzoquinone,

The subgenus Persicargas (Ixodoidea, Argasidae, Argas). 15. Histology and histochemistry of the salivary glands of A. (P.) persicus (Oken).

The salivary glands of Argas (Persicargas) persicus (Oken) consist of 2 types of alveoli. Type A alveoli, aggregated around and directly connected to the main salivary duct through shorter alveolar ducts, appear syncytial with finely granulated, fibrillar cytoplasm, and 1 large and several small nuclei. The cytoplasm contains proteins and phospholipids and fine PAS-positive granules. Type B alveoli, connected by branching secondary alveolar ducts to the main salivary duct, are formed of 3 cell types (Ba, Bb, and Bc) representing synthetic sites for at least 3 functional salivary components. One or 2 Ba cells at the alveolus base contain PAS-positive granules rich in tryptophan-containing proteins, and phospholipids. Two or more Bb cells next to Ba cells secrete granules containing neutral mucopolysaccharides and proteins rich in tyrosine. The others are Bc cells containing large PAS- and protein-positive globules showing a moderate degree of metachromasia. Histochemical tests suggest that Ba cell secretion may contribute a pharmacologically active substance to the saliva. Bb cells may produce a lytic salivary component. Bc cells may produce a moderately sulphated anticoagulant which becomes active as the tick feeds. Type A alveoli probably contribute watery secretions to the saliva. The results show that the 3 cell types are not different steps in secretion of a single salivary substance, as believed by previous workers.

The flow of juice from the pancreatic gland of the cat in response to vagal stimulation.

1. Stimulation of the vagus nerve of the cat causes a pancreatic secretion in most animals. The volume of the secretion is about 20% of the maximal response of the gland to exogenous secretin.2. Maximal secretory effect of vagal stimulation is obtained with frequencies between 8 and 15 c/s.3. The effect of the nerve stimulation is direct on the pancreas and not mediated by gastro-intestinal hormones.4. The secretion of water in response to vagal stimulation is not depressed by anticholinergic agents in doses which profoundly depress the secretion of enzymes.5. The secretion of water in response to submaximal vagal stimulation is not increased by eserinization of the gland, whereas the output of proteins is strongly augmented by this procedure.6. The significance of the finding that the watery and enzymic secretion can be dissociated pharmacologically is discussed.

Male reproductive organs of the African elephant, Loxodonta africana.

Summary. Results are presented of detailed dissections of the reproductive tracts of eight adult male African elephants and of one full-term male foetus, together with additional information obtained from the examination of a number of other bulls and cows. A notable feature of the elephant's tract is the absence of a pampini-form plexus, cremaster muscle and inguinal canal; this is consistent with the intra-abdominal location of the testes. The weight of the testes and the mean diameter of the seminiferous tubules appear to be related to the size and hence the age of the animal. Active spermatogenesis was observed in all the adult testes examined. Testosterone was isolated from the testes and identified by infra-red spectroscopy ; the testicular testosterone concentrations ranged from 3 to 490 μg/100 g testis and were apparently unrelated to season, age, behavioural status or vesicular fructose concentrations. The elephant has no anatomically distinct epididymis. The wolffian duct is highly convoluted and probably several hundred metres in length. Its caudal half has an unusual histological appearance, with a very folded and extremely vascular lamina propria. The ampullae are large glandular structures, opening into the ducts of the corresponding seminal vesicles. The seminal vesicles are large, thick-walled sacs that contain up to 350 ml of a watery secretion rich in fructose. The prostate varies in shape considerably between animals, being uni- or multilobular. The bulbo-urethral glands are large, and full of a highly viscous secretion. The penis has a well-developed corpus cavernosum penis and large paired levator penis muscles on its dorsal surface. The temporal gland is apocrine in nature, with a strongly smelling serous secretion. Its secretory activity appears to be unrelated to the reproductive status of the animal or the body temperature. The mean deep body temperature was found to be 36·8° C (range 36·2 to 37·5° C). Spermatozoa, recovered within 2 to 6 hours of death from the caudal end of the wolffian duct and the ampullae, were immotile, but could be partially activated by dilution with vesicular secretion. At least two of the elephants had had a retrograde ejaculation when they were shot, and in one instance motile spermatozoa were recovered from the bladder 6 hr after death.

The functions of the salivary glands of Apis mellifera

Worker bees dissolve dry sugar, clean their queen's body, and possibly also soften or lubricate materials being chewed, with the watery secretion of their labial glands. The small amount of oil produced by these glands accumulates in them and what little is discharged adheres to the tongue hairs and is not mixed with the food; its function is obscure. The secretion of the mandibular glands is discharged by a movement of the hypopharyngeal plate. It is an aqueous emulsion with a non-aqueous phase insoluble in lipoid solvents but soluble in alcohol, glycol, etc. The function of the secretion of workers' mandibular glands is discussed; it is not used in chewing. Salivary invertase comes only from the hypopharyngeal glands.

Atypical Pneumonia with Roentgen and Pathologic Findings

Atypical pneumonia has been reported as occurring in various Army and Navy organizations, as well as in civilian institutions in the United States, during the last few years. It is probably an old disease, endemic in some localities, assuming epidemic character due either to change in the virulence of the causative agent or an increase in individual susceptibility. The diagnosis is made from the history, physical examination, evaluation of laboratory findings, as smears from sputum or throat washings, animal inoculations and blood cultures, and roentgen examination. The clinical course of atypical pneumonia, possibly of virus origin (1–3), differs somewhat from that of bacterial pneumonias, in that the patient with atypical, non-bacterial pneumonia is not so ill. No one to date has been able to isolate a causative agent of atypical pneumonia of non-bacterial origin to be found in the majority of cases. It is believed by some workers, however, that parrot fever, ornithosis, or psittacosis is related closely to the disease, if not the direct cause in some instances (4). It seems unlikely that the psittacine virus could be the direct cause of all atypical, non-bacterial pneumonias, as usually the patients with psittacosis are decidedly more ill than the average patient with atypical pneumonia of non-bacterial origin. The onset in the non-bacterial type of pneumonia is often insidious, with mild coryza and a watery nasal secretion which soon becomes tenacious and at times blood-streaked but not grossly bloody. There is an annoying cough, possibly with substernal pain and malaise, but seldom are there enlarged cervical nodes. The temperature is usually elevated; it may reach 102 or 103° F. but rarely 104° or 105° F. In our series of 91 cases there were 2 with a temperature of 106° F. and 6 reaching 105° F. The temperature dropped by lysis, as a rule, in five to twenty days after the onset of the disease. In this series the majority of patients were fever-free ten days after entering the hospital. Seldom did the temperature fall below 98°. It has been observed by some that in atypical, non-bacterial pneumonia the temperature often drops about the third day. This finding was not particularly in evidence in our series except where it was believed to be due to the effect of one of the sulfa drugs, administered during the preceding twenty-four or forty-eight hours, on secondary bacterial invaders. There was slight, if any, elevation of the pulse or respiratory rate. Rarely did the pulse rate exceed 100. In the majority of cases it was seldom over 80 per minute; in a few it ranged from 80 to 90 per minute. If considerable consolidation developed, the pulse was likely to be rapid. The average respiratory rate was 20 per minute. In a moderate number of patients the rate was from 20 to 30 per minute. In few was it as high as 40 per minute.

UNILATERAL VASOMOTOR RHINITIS DUE TO INTERFERENCE WITH THE CERVICAL SYMPATHETIC SYSTEM

It was my fortune to be assigned the patient to be reported on by Dr. Charles Depping, who, even with the necessarily cursory examination of a busy chief of clinic and distribution officer, recognized the possible importance of the case in the search for a more complete understanding of allergic disease. REPORT OF A CASE History .—V. H., a widowed typist aged 34, presented herself at the clinic of the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital in November 1940. Her chief complaint was stoppage of the left side of the nose of fifteen months' duration and a watery secretion, with much sneezing, of three months' duration. There was no history of allergy in the family. She herself had had no symptoms suggestive of allergy before her present illness. Rarely had she had colds or sore throat and never ocular symptoms. In February 1939 a small lump which had been on the

The Morphology and Physiology of the Salivary Glands of Hemiptera-Heteroptera

ABSTRACT The salivary glands of the Heteroptera consist of a pair of primarily bilobed principal glands and accessory glands which vary very greatly in form and structure in different families. The glands are usually supplied with tracheae, and the principal glands are invested by a nervous plexus which is supplied by a glandular nerve from the hypocerebral ganglion of the stomatogastric system. The principal salivary gland of Notoneeta is characterized by the presence of large cells having zymogen granules and by the storage of fluid secretion in vacuoles. In contrast, most of the remaining Heteropteran salivary glands belong to the vesicular type, having a one-layered glandular epithelium made up of small cells which discharge their secretion into a large central storage cavity or axial canal. This type of gland lacks zymogen granules but has small dense masses of reserve material in the basal or outer parts of the cells. There is normally no difference in the structure of the glandular epithelium in the different lobes. The accessory glands are either in the form of a thin-walled bladder-like vesicle, or are tubular or duct-like ; they seem to be purely a development of the primary conducting glandular system, and are thus homologous with the salivary reservoir of other orders. All the information obtained in this work is strongly against the idea that the various lobes of Hemipterous salivary glands produce widely different chemical substances, each with a special function. The results obtained by Fauré-Fremiet have not been confirmed. Except with blood-sucking forms digestive enzymes were always found in the glands, two enzymes being the maximum number found in any particular gland. The enzymes were found to be always related to the type of food consumed, and were those concerned with the digestion of that particular component of the food which was present in the greatest proportion. In no case was a cellulase found. An anti-coagulant principle was found to be present in the glands of blood-sucking forms. The accessory glands appear to produce only a watery secretion, enzymes being absent. The pH of the principal gland is generally slightly acid, while that of the accessory gland is neutral. Mitochondria and Golgi bodies typical of insect tissue are present in certain glands, but show no relation to the secretion granules, and thus do not appear to contribute to secretion synthesis. From a number of experiments it appears that the action of the digestive enzymes is not sufficiently rapid for external digestion to take place to any great extent. It seems, however, certain that quite an appreciable quantity of the injected saliva is imbibed again, and that the salivary digestion continues in the stomach, where the food taken in is first stored. The pH activity range of the enzymes is in general wide.

ETIOLOGY OF ULCERATIVE COLITIS

In the preceding article1a method was described of preparing colonic explants in dogs and of quantitating the secretion of mucus by such explants. On the days immediately after the preparation of the explants, ulcers were found near the center of the grafts. A feature constantly associated with this phenomenon was marked muscular spasm of the explants. When dressings were continuously used the initial muscular spasm disappeared, the ulcers healed and the grafts retained indefinitely a normal gross and microscopic appearance. Thereafter, mucus was secreted largely in response to the initial mechanical stimulation of the dressings, and this secretion was associated with muscular contraction. It was noted that chronic surface irritation produced by leaving the grafts without dressings for forty-eight hours led to muscular spasm and an initial copious outpouring of mucus. This was soon replaced by a more watery secretion, at a time when microscopic study of the

TWO UNUSUAL EXPERIENCES WITH STREPTOCOCCUS HEMOLYTICUS

The cases reported in this paper were connected by but one thing, the causative organisms ; other than this, they have nothing in common. Case1.—Dr. A. J. B., while entering his home on the evening of Dec. 21, 1926, felt some hot cigaret ashes strike his left eye. While he was treating a patient the following morning, the latter sneezed in his face. By noon the eye was congested and watery, with some slight swelling of the bulbar conjunctiva. He was advised to use neosilvol, boric and zinc sulphate and ice compresses. The eye grew worse, the conjunctiva being very edematous, with only a thin watery secretion and no corneal involvement until the night of December 26, when an attempt to dislodge some secretion resulted in wiping off at least one third of the corneal epithelium. Fortunately, this loss was promptly replaced without infection of the cornea. Dr. Warren Davis

CHANGES IN THE PARAOCULAR GLANDS ACCOMPANYING THE OCULAR LESIONS WHICH RESULT FROM A DEFICIENCY OF VITAMINE A

There is evidence suggesting that the ophthalmia which results from a deficiency of vitamine A is secondary to some change outside the eyes, and that this change may lie in the paraocular glands. In rats these glands consist of the lacrimal, with its watery secretion, the Harderian, with a probable fatty product, and the Meibomian glands. A histological study of these structures shows questionable changes in the lacrimal and Meibomian glands, and marked changes in the Harderian gland. The changes in the Harderian gland are both degenerative and inflammatory. The degenerative changes consist of swelling, vacuolation, and occasionally complete epithelial disintegration. The inflammatory lesions may be either acute or chronic. The acute reactions are sometimes diffuse, but are more often focal. Definite suppuration occasionally results. The acute process generally passes over into a chronic inflammation with mononuclear cell infiltration, fibrosis, and atrophy. The changes demonstrated indicate a serious disturbance in the secretion of the Harderian gland, such as may conceivably render the conjunctiva susceptible to infection. Theses studies suggest the importance of investigating the paraocular glands in other types of conjunctival infection. It is possible that they may have a definite relation to the origin and course of such infections.

TREATMENT OF A COMMON COLD.

When a patient tells us that he has "a bad cold," or that he is "suffering with a cold," we at once understand him to mean that a group of symptoms are present, which are the usual results of an exposure to cold, or which frequently follow a chill, or a lowering of the surface temperature of the body, with insufficient reaction. Characteristic of this condition are muscular soreness, or actual pain on motion—muscular rheumatism—in different parts of the body; a general feeling of heaviness and indisposition to effort; more or less difficulty of breathing; partial obstruction of the nasal chambers, owing to the swelling of the mucous membrane; frequent sneezing; and a free discharge of a thin watery secretion from the nasal chambers and associated sinuses, often accompanied by a slight febrile condition. The tonsils may become inflamed, especially if they have been the site of former attacks. Other

RATIONAL TREATMENT OF PERTUSSIS.

With every disease its etiology shows us the way for its treatment. Therefore it is necessary to recapitulate the etiology of every disease for which we wish to outline the therapeutics. Pertussis or whooping cough is a contagious disease, which manifests itself in spasmodic cough. Although some bacteriologists have found in the sputum, bacilli, we are unable so far to determine their role, whether causing, accompanying or only accidental. It is a local disease of the larynx, acting upon the nerve supply, and causing spasms of this organ. The course of the disease shows three distinct phases: the catarrhal, paroxysmal and declining. The first stage shows only symptoms of mild catarrh of the bronchi, nose or conjunctiva. Pathognostic for pertussis is only the excessive watery secretion from the affected regions. This phase lasts from two to seven weeks, with infants often a few days only. The paroxysmal stage affirms the