- Email: [email protected]
Transmission of serum proteins from fetus to mother in rhesus monkey
Reviews Abstracts Edited
by
LOUIS
M.
H
E L L M
A N .
M
. 1) .
Selected abstracts Lancet
baby up to 8 days after being given a similar dose of Ilal-labeled fetal serum. Thus albumin and gamma globulin can return to the mother from the fetus in a selective fashion inasmuch as little radioactivity was found in the maternal alpha and beta globulins. Negligible amounts of radioactivity were found in the liquor amnii. Previous experiments (Bangham, D. R.: J. Physiol. 150: 250, 1960; Bangham, D. R., Hobbs, K. R., Terry, R. J.: Lancet 2: 351, 1958) have shown that IIWabeled albumin and gamma globulin can be transferred from the mother to the fetus without the liquor amnii playing a significant part. Albumin in the liquor exchanges rapidly with the mother’s in-
Vol. 2, Nov. 6, 1960. “Bangham, D. R., Hobbs, K. R., and Tee, D. E. H.: Transmission of Serum Proteins From Fetus to Mother in the Rhesus Monkey, p. 1173.
Bangham,
Hobbs, and Tee: Transmission of Serum Proteins from Fetus to Mother in Rhesus Monkey, p. 1173.
In this preliminary report fetal rhesus serum containing protein labeled with 1131 was administered to each of 3 fetuses in utero as follows: in A after a midline incision exposed the fetus the dose was injected into B into the fetal peritoneum;
a placental vein; in in C a cannula was
inserted into the fetal peritoneal cavity and after 6 days allowed for repair the dose was injected through the cannula. Samples of blood and liquor were taken from each monkey at 1 and 4 hours and at longer intervals after the injections. Monkey B aborted after 24 hours; no fetal movements were felt in Monkey A after 48 hours; Monkey C gave birth to a normal
travascular serum albumin. The present experiments show that little of the serum proteins which occur in the liquor in midpregnancy can be derived from the fetus. David M. Kydd Dec. 3, 1960. *Russell, J. K.:
baby 7 weeks after operation. In all the maternal sera, radioactivity was found in the albumin fraction 18 hours after injection and increased in concentration in samples taken up to 8 days.
Russell:
articles
have
been
Insemination
Management
(Hus-
of Childless-
Artificial Insemination (Husband) in Management of Childlessness, p. 1223.
In this report the results of 55 trials of artificial insemination with the husband’s semen are drtailed. Each course consisted of 3 inseminations on the twelfth, fifteenth, and eighteenth days of the cycle and extended over several months (shortest, 2 months; longest, 2 years intermittently). At first the semen was injected into thr cervical canal but because of infection and unpleasant symptoms intracervical insemination was discontinued and thereafter the fresh semen was sprayed around the cervical OS. Of 34 women whose husbands had oligospermia (below 10 mil-
Radioactivity in the gamma globulin fraction isolated by electrophoresis and by chromatography appeared at 24 hours and also increased in concentration. Little radioactivity occurred in the electrophoretic fractions between albumin and gamma globulin, Thus the maternal samples were quite different from the dose material, the serum obtained from the fetus that aborted 24 hours after the operation, and the serum taken from an adult and from a l-month-old These
Artificial
band) in the ness, p. 1223.
abstracted.
460
Volume Number
82 2
Selected
lion per milliliter) 2 conceived during treatment. However, 8 of these patients conceived subsequently without insemination. Thus, oligospermia is not considered to be an indication for insemination. In 8 instances of apparent cervical hostility 1 patient conceived during treatment but 2 others became pregnant after the insemination had been discontinued. Thus, the procedure does not seem to increase the likelihood of conception. Artificial insemination was carried out in 7 women whose husbands were impotent and 6 of these women conceived. Two women whose husbands had hypospadias both conceived and 2 patients who had negative postcoital tests both conceived after the procedure. These, then, would appear to be the principal indications for insemination. Impotence can take less obvious forms and ineffective ejaculation may be more common than is generally suspected. In such instances insemination may be helpful whereas when the quality of the semen is poor there is no evidence that the procedure improves the chance
Dec.
gree of alertness, lethargy, or general appearance was concerned. Although Westphal and associates (A. M. A. J. Dis Child. 98: 138, 1959) reported statistically significant increase in the number of treated infants whose serum bilirubin levels either fell or remained the same between the second and fourth days of life when compared with the untreated control infants, they employed larger doses (25 pg triiodothyronine) and the series was in other ways not strictly comparable. David M. Kydd Dec. 31, 1960. *Duncan, S. L. B., Lawrie, J. H., and MacLennan, H. R.: Bromelain and the Cervix Uteri,
IO,
“Shrand,
M.
Duncan,
Kydd
1960. H., and Ruthven, C. R. J.: Effect Triiodothyronine on Serum-Bilirubin Level and Neonatal Development the Premature Infant, p. 1274.
of of
Shrand and Ruthven: Effect of Triiodothyronine on Serum-Bilirubin Level and Neonatal Development of Premature Infant, p. 1274. Excluding infants with Rh and ABO incompatibility, 28 premature infants weighing between 900 and 2,400 grams at birth were allocated at random to a control group and to a group each member of which received 10 pg of triiodothyronine orally in a single daily dose. The concentration of bilirubin in the serum was determined on the first day of life and then daily until the peak values were passed. In the control group of 14 infants the mean peak bilirubin level was 8.95 + 1.33 mg. per 100 ml. which was reached in 97 + 10.9 hours after birth. In the group of 14 treated infants the mean peak bilirubin level was 11.5 * 1.31 mg. per 100 ml. which was reached in 105 c 11.6 hours after birth. These differences were not considered to be of significance so that the effect of triiodothyronine that was reported previously (Lees, M. H., and was not
Ruthven, C. R.: Lancet 2: found in this series. Although
371, 1959) the mean
461
weight lost by the controls was less than the treated, the difference was not significant and in both groups the weight was regained within the same time. No differences were observed between the members of the two groups so far as temperature regulation, feeding ability, de-
of conception. David
abstracts
p. 1421.
Lawrie, and MacLennan: Bromelain and the Cervix Uteri, p. 1421.
Because bromelain (a mixture of enzymes prepared from the stems of pineapple plants) has been reported to be of value in the treatment of dysmenorrhea, studies of the action of this mixture were undertaken. Bromelain dissolved in 50 ml. of water was instilled into the vaginas of each of 5 women whose cervices appeared to be normal but who were about to undergo hysterectomy because of functional uterine bleeding. At varying periods of time (from 20 minutes to 12 hours after the instillation) the uterus was removed and the cervices were examined histologically. In a fifth woman one half of the cervix was removed by vaginal hysterectomy, the material was instilled, and the remaining cervix was removed 20 minutes later. No histological changes of any kind were found in any of the sections studied regardless of the period of treatment with bromelain. Specimens of cervix were exposed to the mixture in vitro. No histological change was noted after 12 and 24 hours of exposure but after 48 hours the outline of the cell membrane was lost and there was discrete fiber formation, These results indicated that there was no proteolytic effect in vivo. Specimens of mucus obtained from the cervical canal and from the intracervical glands were mixed with a solution of bromelain. There was no immediate effect, 48 hours being required for liquefaction. Tenacious
by
LOUIS
M.
H
E L L M
A N .
M
. 1) .
Selected abstracts Lancet
baby up to 8 days after being given a similar dose of Ilal-labeled fetal serum. Thus albumin and gamma globulin can return to the mother from the fetus in a selective fashion inasmuch as little radioactivity was found in the maternal alpha and beta globulins. Negligible amounts of radioactivity were found in the liquor amnii. Previous experiments (Bangham, D. R.: J. Physiol. 150: 250, 1960; Bangham, D. R., Hobbs, K. R., Terry, R. J.: Lancet 2: 351, 1958) have shown that IIWabeled albumin and gamma globulin can be transferred from the mother to the fetus without the liquor amnii playing a significant part. Albumin in the liquor exchanges rapidly with the mother’s in-
Vol. 2, Nov. 6, 1960. “Bangham, D. R., Hobbs, K. R., and Tee, D. E. H.: Transmission of Serum Proteins From Fetus to Mother in the Rhesus Monkey, p. 1173.
Bangham,
Hobbs, and Tee: Transmission of Serum Proteins from Fetus to Mother in Rhesus Monkey, p. 1173.
In this preliminary report fetal rhesus serum containing protein labeled with 1131 was administered to each of 3 fetuses in utero as follows: in A after a midline incision exposed the fetus the dose was injected into B into the fetal peritoneum;
a placental vein; in in C a cannula was
inserted into the fetal peritoneal cavity and after 6 days allowed for repair the dose was injected through the cannula. Samples of blood and liquor were taken from each monkey at 1 and 4 hours and at longer intervals after the injections. Monkey B aborted after 24 hours; no fetal movements were felt in Monkey A after 48 hours; Monkey C gave birth to a normal
travascular serum albumin. The present experiments show that little of the serum proteins which occur in the liquor in midpregnancy can be derived from the fetus. David M. Kydd Dec. 3, 1960. *Russell, J. K.:
baby 7 weeks after operation. In all the maternal sera, radioactivity was found in the albumin fraction 18 hours after injection and increased in concentration in samples taken up to 8 days.
Russell:
articles
have
been
Insemination
Management
(Hus-
of Childless-
Artificial Insemination (Husband) in Management of Childlessness, p. 1223.
In this report the results of 55 trials of artificial insemination with the husband’s semen are drtailed. Each course consisted of 3 inseminations on the twelfth, fifteenth, and eighteenth days of the cycle and extended over several months (shortest, 2 months; longest, 2 years intermittently). At first the semen was injected into thr cervical canal but because of infection and unpleasant symptoms intracervical insemination was discontinued and thereafter the fresh semen was sprayed around the cervical OS. Of 34 women whose husbands had oligospermia (below 10 mil-
Radioactivity in the gamma globulin fraction isolated by electrophoresis and by chromatography appeared at 24 hours and also increased in concentration. Little radioactivity occurred in the electrophoretic fractions between albumin and gamma globulin, Thus the maternal samples were quite different from the dose material, the serum obtained from the fetus that aborted 24 hours after the operation, and the serum taken from an adult and from a l-month-old These
Artificial
band) in the ness, p. 1223.
abstracted.
460
Volume Number
82 2
Selected
lion per milliliter) 2 conceived during treatment. However, 8 of these patients conceived subsequently without insemination. Thus, oligospermia is not considered to be an indication for insemination. In 8 instances of apparent cervical hostility 1 patient conceived during treatment but 2 others became pregnant after the insemination had been discontinued. Thus, the procedure does not seem to increase the likelihood of conception. Artificial insemination was carried out in 7 women whose husbands were impotent and 6 of these women conceived. Two women whose husbands had hypospadias both conceived and 2 patients who had negative postcoital tests both conceived after the procedure. These, then, would appear to be the principal indications for insemination. Impotence can take less obvious forms and ineffective ejaculation may be more common than is generally suspected. In such instances insemination may be helpful whereas when the quality of the semen is poor there is no evidence that the procedure improves the chance
Dec.
gree of alertness, lethargy, or general appearance was concerned. Although Westphal and associates (A. M. A. J. Dis Child. 98: 138, 1959) reported statistically significant increase in the number of treated infants whose serum bilirubin levels either fell or remained the same between the second and fourth days of life when compared with the untreated control infants, they employed larger doses (25 pg triiodothyronine) and the series was in other ways not strictly comparable. David M. Kydd Dec. 31, 1960. *Duncan, S. L. B., Lawrie, J. H., and MacLennan, H. R.: Bromelain and the Cervix Uteri,
IO,
“Shrand,
M.
Duncan,
Kydd
1960. H., and Ruthven, C. R. J.: Effect Triiodothyronine on Serum-Bilirubin Level and Neonatal Development the Premature Infant, p. 1274.
of of
Shrand and Ruthven: Effect of Triiodothyronine on Serum-Bilirubin Level and Neonatal Development of Premature Infant, p. 1274. Excluding infants with Rh and ABO incompatibility, 28 premature infants weighing between 900 and 2,400 grams at birth were allocated at random to a control group and to a group each member of which received 10 pg of triiodothyronine orally in a single daily dose. The concentration of bilirubin in the serum was determined on the first day of life and then daily until the peak values were passed. In the control group of 14 infants the mean peak bilirubin level was 8.95 + 1.33 mg. per 100 ml. which was reached in 97 + 10.9 hours after birth. In the group of 14 treated infants the mean peak bilirubin level was 11.5 * 1.31 mg. per 100 ml. which was reached in 105 c 11.6 hours after birth. These differences were not considered to be of significance so that the effect of triiodothyronine that was reported previously (Lees, M. H., and was not
Ruthven, C. R.: Lancet 2: found in this series. Although
371, 1959) the mean
461
weight lost by the controls was less than the treated, the difference was not significant and in both groups the weight was regained within the same time. No differences were observed between the members of the two groups so far as temperature regulation, feeding ability, de-
of conception. David
abstracts
p. 1421.
Lawrie, and MacLennan: Bromelain and the Cervix Uteri, p. 1421.
Because bromelain (a mixture of enzymes prepared from the stems of pineapple plants) has been reported to be of value in the treatment of dysmenorrhea, studies of the action of this mixture were undertaken. Bromelain dissolved in 50 ml. of water was instilled into the vaginas of each of 5 women whose cervices appeared to be normal but who were about to undergo hysterectomy because of functional uterine bleeding. At varying periods of time (from 20 minutes to 12 hours after the instillation) the uterus was removed and the cervices were examined histologically. In a fifth woman one half of the cervix was removed by vaginal hysterectomy, the material was instilled, and the remaining cervix was removed 20 minutes later. No histological changes of any kind were found in any of the sections studied regardless of the period of treatment with bromelain. Specimens of cervix were exposed to the mixture in vitro. No histological change was noted after 12 and 24 hours of exposure but after 48 hours the outline of the cell membrane was lost and there was discrete fiber formation, These results indicated that there was no proteolytic effect in vivo. Specimens of mucus obtained from the cervical canal and from the intracervical glands were mixed with a solution of bromelain. There was no immediate effect, 48 hours being required for liquefaction. Tenacious