1) Dendritic activities of spinal motoneurons in infant pigs and adult rabbits were studied intracellularly in acute experiments.
2) The motoneuron of the normal infant pig showed all-or-none potentials of 1-5 mV in amplitude and 2-6 ms in duration. Because of the multiplicity in waveform, they were ascribed to the dendrites.
3) The motoneuron of the normal rabbit did not exhibit dendritic spikes, but that of the rabbit with chronic stimulation to the L7 dorsal root showed dendritic spikes whose amplitude was less than 9 mV and duration more than 2 ms. The chronically stimulated motoneuron showed no signs of chromatolysis.
4) The discovery of dendritic spikes in the motoneuron suggested the functional importance of the dendrites.

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Macrophages may play an important role in the atherogenic process because they appear to be precursors of some arterial wall foam cells. Recently, it has been reported that human peripheral monocytes in culture synthesize and secrete lipoprotein lipase (LPL). LPL catalyzes the hydrolysis of triglycerides which are transported in plasma by chylomicrons and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL). Consequently, it is possible that LPL secretion by human monocytes is related to atherogenesis. As shown below, human monocytes and guinea pig alveolar macrophages in culture synthesize and secrete LPL. The purpose of this research is to study the significance of this macrophage LPL.
Therefore I investigated the effect of lipoprotein on LPL activity of guinea pig alveolar macrophages.
Monocytes were obtained from a normal healthy donor and were separated from whole blood by Ficoll-Hypaque. The lungs of guinea pig were washed 10-12 times with 0.9% NaCl and the washings were cultured. The enzyme activity was determined by a modification of the method of Schotz et al. The separation of the lipoprotein fractions was performed in a type RP-40 rotor by ultracentrifugation by the method of Havel et al.
The rate of LPL secretion from human monocytes was low initially but increased with time in culture. During 14 days in culture, maximal activity was attained on the 12th day.
On the other hand, guinea pig alveolar macrophages increased from the beginning. During 8 days in culture, maximal activity was attained on the 4th day. Next, we investigated the effect of lipoprotein on LPL activity of guinea pig alveolar macrophages. Alveolar macrophages were cultured for 2 days with either RPMI-1640 medium containing 10% lipoprotein deficient serum (LPDS) or that medium with the addition of VLDL, LDL, and HDL respectively in the concentrations of 300μg protein/ml. When VLDL was added to LPDS after one day, LPL activity was significantly reduced to 48.3% within 2 days of exposure when compared with LPDS controls. (p<0.02). A possible explanation for this phenomenon, is that LPL activity may be inhibited by apoprotein CIII of VLDL.

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Transient ischemic attacks (TIA)-reversible ischemic neurological deficits (RIND) are regarded as precursors and risk factors of complete strokes. I evaluated 54 patients who had complete strokes with a history of TIA or RIND (cerebral infarction with full recovery within three days) and studied their clinical features and neuroradiological aspects.
I classified TIA and RIND according to the duration, frequency and the interval between the initial attacks and the complete strokes. A type of TIA with short duration occurred rather frequently and its interval was shorter than others. In comparison, a type with long duration and RIND usually occurred less frequently, and the time lapse before the complete strokes was longer.
As to their past histories, 74% had hypertension, 30%, cardiovascular diseases, and 21%, diabetes mellitus. The high rate of ST-T wave changes on the electrocardiogram was recognized, suggesting their possible correlation to the cardiovascular diseases.
In 69% of the 54 cases, TIA-RIND occurred within the internal carotid artery (ICA) system, inducing the infarction within the same territory. Most of the TIA-RIND occurred within the vertebral basilar artery (VB) system that led to the infarction within the ICA territory.
The CT findings revealed the infarctions in various sites, and no difference was noted in the infarction distribution depending on the types of TIA. The angiography revealed the abnormalities limited to the ex tracranial vessels in 21%, intracranial in 32%, combined type in 26%, and no vascular abnormalities in 21%. In many of the cases with short duration and intermittent attacks, the abnormalities in the extracranial vessels were recognized.
Regarding the prognoses for their functional recovery and survival, the types of attacks were distributed widely according to the ADLclassification. However, the prognoses were poor in the types with short duration, intermittent attacks and short intervals, and so were those in the cases complicated with hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

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A dose of 300 mg a day of ursodeoxycholic aicd (UDCA) was given to 54 subjects to evaluate atherosclerosis. The atherogenic index, that is AI: [Total cholesterol (TC)-HDL cholesterol (HDL-C)]/HDL-C was observed before and two weeks after UDCA administration.
1) The atherogenic score by Goto was used to evaluate clinical atherogenicity. The score showed a good correlation with clinical symptoms.
2) In the young group, TC decreased and HDL-C increased significantly after UDCA administration. ΔAI:{[AI(after)-AI(before)]/AI(before)}×100% was -8.16±14.4%. On the other hand, AI inold group was not significantly changed.
3) There was a significant positive correlation between ΔAI and the atherogenic score. In the old group, the correlation was especially significant, i.e. Y=2.1301X - 24.4656, r=0.6158, p<0.005.
4) The subjects were devided into three groups: an increased AI group, a non-changing group, and a decreased AI group. There were significant differences among them.
5) In the subjects whose ΔAI decreased, the level of serum Chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) increased, and there was a statistically significant negative correlation between ΔAI and the change of CDCA level.
From the above results, it was concluded that the progression of atherosclerosis in an individual can be predicted by measuring TC and HDL-C before and after UDCA administration, that is to say, by usingthe bile acid tolerance test.

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The diurnal and day-to-day variation in the frequency of ventricular premature contraction (VPC) were observed in 60 cases. Observation was made by Holter 24-hour continuous recording electrocardiograms on two occasions at an interval of approximately 9 days. Two distinct groups emerged; a high-frequency group (35 patients, 7200 contractions or more per day) and a low-frequency group (25patients, less than7200contractions per day).
The following results were obtained:
1) No significant differences in clinical backgrounds including age, sex or underlying diseases were found between two groups.
2) The coefficient of correlation between the number of VPCs per day in both Holter recordings, a higher value was obtained in the high-frequency group than in the low-frequency group(r=0.780 as against r=0.471).
3) VPCs in the high-frequency group tended to occur continuously throughout the 24-hour period in both recordings, while those in the low-frequency group appeared predominantly in the daytime.
4) There were significant correlations between the coefficient of variation, as an index of the magnitude of diurnal fluctuation, and the number of VPCs per day(r=-0.694 in the first recording and r=-0.646in the second recording). The coefficient of variation was significantly larger in the low-frequency group than in the high-frequency one.
5) The incidence of multifocal VPC was not significantly different between two groups, and reproducibility in both recordings was92.3%in the high-frequency group and73.3% in the low-frequency group.
6) Although the incidence of couplet VPC was significantly higher in the high-frequency group than in the low-frequency group, reproducibility was similar in both groups(87.0% as against83.3%, respectively).
7) The incidence of ventricular tachycardia was 29% in the high-frequency group and 8% in the low-frequency group, and reproducibility was 81.8% in the high-frequency group and 100% in the low-frequency group.
8) When the cases were divided into 4 groups according to the number of VPCs per day(28800 or more, 28800-7200, 7200-3600 and 3600 or less), the 95% confidence limits of day-to-day variation in the number of VPCs were 26.2, 51.9, 61.2 and 90.1%, respectively.
The 95% confidence limits were found to contribute to the evaluation of the efficacy of antiarrhythmic drugs against VPC.

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One hundred and six cases of internal thoracic arteriography were performed in the Department of Radiology, First Hospital Nippon Medical School. The radio-anatomical analyses of 22 cases on both side lesions were performed. The angiographic studies were performed on 12 cases of mediastinal tumors, 6 cases of primary lung cancers and 7 cases of breast diseases out of 62 cases. On both sides, the internal thoracic artery was positioned and tended to project to the anterior thoracic wall against the body axis.
The angle was rather less among younger patients and greater as the age increased. The first branch of both right and left sides was classified as follows:
Type I: Thymic branch (right... 30%, left... 40%)
Type II: Pericardiacophrenic artery (right... 35%, left... 25%)
Type III: Thymo-pericardiacophrenic trunk (right and left... 35%)
The thymic branch was always demonstrated in thymic disease as well as other mediastinal tumors. However, no distinct correlation was established between the abnormal distribution of the thymic branch and pathological lesions.
The arterial trees which supplied to the thymoma were the thymic branch and pericardiacophrenic artery. Similar vascular distribution of the malignant tumor was also noted even in the benign thymoma.
The pericardiacophrenic artery was distributed in the mediastinal space regardless of pericardial disease and it demonstrated similar vascular distribution to the thymic branch.
The vascular pattern of malignant lymphoma showed a similar pattern as the thymic branch or a slightly intensified pattern such as the pericardiacophrenic artery.
In the cystosarcoma phylloides, the mammarian branch was dilated with tortuosity in its course, accompanying with high degree of neovascularity. The vascular pattern of this disease entity showed an obvious malignant tumor pattern, in spite of the fact that the pathological diagnosis disclosed rather benign behavior. The accessory bronchial artery was demonstrated in 2 cases out of the 106 cases, which were cases of lung cancer invading the mediastinal space. This fact emphasizes the necessity of internal thoracic arteriography in confirming the diagnosis of lung cancer.

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This study was designed to clarify the morphological features of the extra-cellular matrix and patterns of the neovascularization in gastric cancer in virtue of the histopathological and immunohistochemical methods. Abundant proliferation of collagen fibers and reticulum fibers as well as increased glycosaminoglycan was confirmed in the intra-mucosal invasive portion of the poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma in comparison with the similar portion of the well differentiated adenocarcinoma.
The mesenchymal components which were composed of the collagen and reticulum fibers were abundant in the invasive portion, compared to the intra-mucosal tumorous portion.
The immunohistochemical study disclosed dispersed positive reaction to the fibronectin in the stroma and positive reaction to the Factor VIII in the vascular wall in the well differentiated adenocarcinoma.
The findings differed from the ones observed in the poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma which disclosed pleomorphic vascular endothelial cells with large nuclei and incomplete formation of the basal lamina, demon-strating different immunohistochemical features.
Thus it is concluded that the extent of differentiation of the cancer may be closely related with the patterns of extra-cellular matrix and neovascularization.
The interacting pattern of the matrix and cell perse may be also well correlated with the tumor growth in gastric cancer.

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The Second Department of Pathology and The Second Department of Surgery, Nippon Medical School The signet ring cell carcinoma is one type of gastric carcinoma. The growth properties of this particular type are not fully understood. This study has been undertaken to elucidate the features of the tumor growth of the cells transplanted into athymic nude mice which correlated with the cell features in vitro.
In vitro, the signet ring cell carcinoma cell line, MA IV, was established from a pleural effusion of a 36-year-old male patient. These cells were cultured with a Ham's F-10 Medium containing 20% fetal bovine serum for two years in vitro with the following characteristics.; The doubling time was 33.6 hours. The model chromozomal analysis showed 46, XY, +8, mar in 74% cells. These cells ranged microscopically from 7 to 20μm in size and round in shape, having a pleomorphic nucleus, and containing PAS and alcian blue positive granules and vesicles in cytoplasm. Im-munohistochemically carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was localized on the cell membrane and CEA production correlated with cell growth property by 3H thymidine and BrdU uptake. Signet ring cells were classified as mature cells and immature cells with a morphological appearance. The nuclei of mature cells were compressed by abundant mucous granules and seen in the periphery of the cytoplasms. However, immature cells had round nuclei which were seen in the center of the cells, and the mucous granules were scarcely distributed. The morphological features changed corresponding to the maturing process and subsequent CEA production.
To transplant the carcinoma cells, athymic nude mice (nu/nu) having BALB/c genetic background were used. Five to eight-week-old mice were fed under germ free conditions. After 6 months, 1×10⁸ signet ring cells were injected into the subcutaneous tissue on the back of seven athymic mice with 500 rad radiation. Two weeks after cell transplantation, the mice were sacrificed. The tumor-bearing tissues were extirpated and evaluated histologically with HE, PAS and alcian blue stains in addition to the observations of the immunohistochemical localization of CEA. The CEA antibody (DAKO Co.) absorbed human spleen extract in order to avoid the localization of non specific cross reacting antigen (NCA).
In this experiment, tumor growth was not observed in seven nude mice without radiation, however, in two of seven mice with radiation, tumor growth was observed (Fig. 1a). Histologically, the tumor revealed the invasion of immature cells into the surrounding tissue (Fig. 1b). Mature cells with ghost cells were noted in the central zone of the tumor. The cytoplasms of these cells were stained with alcian blue and PAS stains. CEA localizations were observed in the cytoplasm of invasive immature cells into the surrounding tissue (Fig. 2), while mature cells showed a weakly positive reaction on the plasma membrane. The fibroblasts in the stroma of this tumor were growing around cancer cells, and the morphological appearance of growing stroma was observed as scirrhous carcinoma, which suggested the interaction of cancer cells and stromal cells. The morphological and immunohistochemical findings of cancer cells in vivo were similar to those of cells in vitro.
We concluded that the signet ring cells in vivo had been morphologically changed to the in-vasive pattern which correlated with excessive CEA production.

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