Abstract
The present experiment has been attempted to find out whether the heart especially the myocardium of rabbit was influenced by the injection of gold containing drugs pathologi-cally.
Method of experiment:
Solganal B (Schering A.G. CO., Germany) containing organic gold was administrated as follows:
1) group A… (12.0 ml, 80 mg in all, during 45 days)
2) group B… (23.1 ml, 154 mg in all, during 198 days)
3) group C… (7.1 ml, 539.1 mg in all, during 159 days)
The morphological changes observed in the heart were as follows:
1) As the initial changes of myocardium, regressive changes, such as granular and vacuolar degeneration were chiefly found in each group, and in addition to the doses of the gold drug.
2) The interstitium was differentiated into gross interstitium and minute interstitium. The minute interstitium was divided in two types; perivascular and perimyofibral interstitium.
3) In the gross interstitium, edematous loosening was observed around vessels which revealed loosening, vacuolization, fragmentation, disappearance of elastic fiber. Fibrous proliferation as edematous sclerosis in these area has also been seen, and in cases with greater change it extended into the muscle fiber.
4) These changes were most remarkable in the left ventricular wall than other regions.
5) As the mechanism of development, they may be caused by vascular stimulative and hypoxidetic influence by the administration of gold drug, and edematous changes may play a leading part in all cardiac findings.
