Search

Dissociated cells from rat fetal cerebral hemispheres were grown in surface adhering culture using a novel synthetic medium (Maat medium) and compared with those grown either in the presence of serum or in the chemically defined medium described by Bottenstein and Sato. The addition of various compound combinations allowed us to lower insulin concentration to almost physiological levels. Maat medium improved the purity and longevity of neuronal cultures. The purity of neuronal cultures grown in different media was checked both by immunofluorescence and by the analysis of [3H]thymidine incorporation.

The authors report on the case of a woman, aged 29, who was suffering for 15 years from an unipolar manic psychosis and for 5 years from ataxia, speech troubles and urine incontinence. The diagnosis of MS was supported by the presence of a marked increase of liquoral IgG as well as Link's and Tourtelotte's index. CT scan, EEG and VEPs were normal. The relationships between the two clinical conditions are briefly discussed on the view of data of the literature.

The addition of serum from multiple sclerosis (MS) patients to the culture medium of dissociated cells from cerebral hemispheres of rat embryos caused a delay in glial proliferation and an enhancement of neuronal survival. Sera from normal individuals and patients with other neurological diseases failed to show this effect. These morphological observations are interpreted as the outcome of inhibition of in vitro gliogenesis.

At the time of terminal differentiation, mammalian cortical neurons undergo a dramatic change in the structural organization of their chromatin: the nucleosomal repeat length shortens from approximately 200 base pairs in fetuses to a value of 165 base pairs after birth. These events occur several days after the end of neuronal proliferation. Previously, we reported that rat cortical neurons cultured in a very selective synthetic medium were not yet programmed to these events at the end of mitotic cycles. Herein, we report that addition of triiodothyronine to neuronal cultures induces a shortening of the chromatin repeat length comparable to the natural one.

An atypical case of "Foix-Chavany syndrome", is described. A definite diagnosis could be achieved through an electromyographic and reflessological investigation (jaw reflex, blink reflex, perioral reflex), when a poor clinical history was not helping towards a definite diagnostic conclusion. It is proposed that the diagnosis of "Foix-Chavany syndrome" should not be limited only to classical "facial diplegia of cortical origin" or to "facio-linguo-pharyngo-laryngo-masseter paralysis of cortico-subcortical origin". Considering the great clinical variability of a syndrome with a common anatomical substrate, it is proposed to use the eponym for all syndromes characterized by: 1) a motor deficit in the cephalic district with relative integrity of motor function of the limbs; 2) a dissociation between loss of voluntary motility and preservation of reflex and automatic motility.

Neurons from rat fetal cerebral hemispheres were grown in a synthetic medium (Maat medium), as previously described, for different periods of time. The repeat length of their chromatin was determined by micrococcal nuclease digestion and compared with that of neurons isolated from postnatal rat brain of corresponding ages. In contrast to the in vivo situation, we found that neurons, dissociated at the 16th gestational day and cultured in vitro, did not undergo the shortening of their chromatin repeat, thus indicating that, at the end of their mitotic cycles, they are not yet programmed to this event.

A clinical and electrophysiological study was carried out on 19 selected patients with chronic liver disease. Clinical signs of peripheral nerve involvement were found in 4 patients (21%); while electrophysiological impairment was present in 11 patients (57.8%). These abnormalities were mostly limited to the sensory and motor fibers of the tibialis posterior nerve. Our data confirm the presence of peripheral nerve involvement in chronic liver disease, and that it may be evidenced by careful electrophysiological examination.

The islands of Sicily and Malta have very different prevalence rates for multiple sclerosis (MS): at least 44 per 100,000 in Sicily and only 4 per 100,000 in Malta. In Northern Europe, MS is associated with HLA-DR2/Dw2. The other components of the commonest DR2-containing haplotype of this region, HLA-A3-B7-DR2-Dw2, also tend to be present at higher frequency in MS patients. HLA Class I and II antigen frequencies and associations in controls and MS patients from Sicily and Malta were studied to discover whether they might account for the difference in MS prevalence. In Sicilian MS patients, DR2 is increased in frequency compared with controls and four out of five DR2-positive patients also type as Dw2. In the Maltese population, DR2 is present at high frequency but approximately half of the DR2 positive individuals do not type as Dw2 so that DR2 is probably most commonly present as part of Class II haplotypes other than those commonly associated with MS. Additional differences in HLA profile of the Sicilian and Maltese populations were found when HLA-A, -B, and B-DR antigen associations were examined. Therefore, some of the difference in MS prevalence might be explained by genetic factors.