The effects of noradrenaline, adrenaline, isoproterenol, dopamine, apomorphine and their blockers on biphasic insulin secretion induced by 0.3% glucose were observed by means of a modified Lacy's perifusion method.
Noradrenaline and adrenaline completely inhibit biphasic insulin secretion, and their effects disappeared completely after pretreatment with phentolamine. Dopamine inhibited the first phase completely and inhibited the second phase partially, and the inhibitory action of the dopamine disappeared after the pretreatment with phentolamine or propranolol. Isoproterenol had no effect on glucose-induced insulin secretion, whereas after treatment with phentolamine, isoproterenol produced a first-phase type of response. Domperidone blocked the effect of dopamine on the suppression of the first phase response. Apomorphine produced the second phase suppression slightly. It was concluded that the sympathetic α receptor and DA₁ was distributed on the B-cells, the sympathetic β2 receptors on the D-cell and the DA₂ on the varicosity of the sympathetic β2 neuron.

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MTT assay was performed simultaneously with a clonogenic assay to assess its validity on chemosensitivity test by using the cultured human urogenital carcinoma cell lines PC3, 19PC93, DU145 and T24. The drugs used were carboquone (CQ), adriamycin (ADM), cisplatin (CDDP) and pepleomycin (PLM). Dose response curves were drawn and 50% inhibition doses (ID₅₀) were calculated and examined by t-test. The correlations between the results obtained from both assays were observed. For comparing antitumor intensity of drugs with each other, predicted antitumor activity (PAA) was calculated from the peak plasma concentration of the clinically used dose. High cytotoxicity of drug was considered if PAA. 1 was observed. The optical density (OD) was almost directly proportional to the number of cells. Good correlations between OD and colony number, or between ID₅₀ from both assays were noted although the clonogenic assay is more sensitive than the MIT assay. Relative resistances between cell lines to a drug observed by the clonogenic assay were also maintained by the MTT assay. The chemosensitive intensity was CQ>ADM>CDDP>PLM, and the sequence was similar in both assays. PC3, DU145 and T24 were sensitive to CQ but 19PC93 was to CQ and ADM. Therefore, MTT assay was concluded as a usful method for chemosensitivity test, although the problem of normal cell contamination was left to be solved for clinical use.

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In this study, the author intended to examine the validity of the inhaled hydrogen gas clearance method (i-H₂) f or determination of the hepatic blood flow (HBF), and also to show some applicabilities of the method in experimental animals and patients with liver diseases.
Simultaneous determinations of HBF by i-H₂ and electromagnetic flowmetry in rabbits revealed an excellent correlation between the values obtained by the two methods. Moreover, HBF in rabbits measured by i-112v aried in parallel with that by thermocouple flowmetry or laser Dopplerv elocimetry after administration of norepinephrine, propranolol or glucagon. In carbon tetrachloride-treated rats, HBF measured by i-H₂ correlated better with the severity of damage in the sinusoidal structure than the severity of hepatic cell injury or the serum levels of transaminases.
HBF as determined by i-H₂ was significantly decreased in acute hepatitis (AH), chronic inactive hepatitis (CIH), chronic active hepatitis (CAH), liver cirrhosis (LC) and fatty liver. Reduced HBF in AH returned to normal during recovery of the disease. The ratio of HBF in tumor/normal tissue was greater than 1.0 for hepatocellular carcinoma in contrast to the ratio of less than 1.0 for metastatic liver carcinoma. Propranolol caused a decrease in HBF by 31%, and vasopressin by 39% in patients with CIH or LC. In contrast, glucagon induced its increase by 65%, 35% and I7%, respectively, in patients with CIH, AH and LC.

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Coexisted peripheral vascular disease (PVD: ankle/brachial pressure index ARBI<0.75) or carotid artery disease (CTD: Brochenbrough's supraorbita) Doppler flow analysis were diagnosed by non-invasive testings, and correlated with clinical pictures and coronary backgrounds in 121 consective patients with confirmed coronary artery disease. PVD were found in 16.5%, CTD in 33.1% and both PVD and CTD in 9.9%. The mean age of PVD (+) patients was significantly higher than that of PVD (-) patients, furthermore CTD (+) patients displayed a significantly larger number of coronary risk factors than CTD (-) patients. Concerning the subjective symptoms, 20% of PVD (+) patients and 45% of CTD (+) patients were asymptomatic regarding PVD or CTD symptoms. However the degree of calcification of the aortic arch on the chest X-film (n=-104) significantly cor-related with A/BPI. In patients with AMI, PVD patients showed significantly higher peak CK and CK-MB values than those in PVD (-) patients, which suggested large infarct size in coexistent PVD patients. With respect to the relationship between coronary risk factors, there was a statistically significant difference between PVD (+) patients and PVD (-) patients in terms of the obesity ratio in males as well as hypercholesterolemia ratio and obesity ratio in females. In CTD patients, significant differences between CTD (+) and CTD (-) patients were found with respect to the smoking ratio and obesity ratio in males as well as the smoking ratio in females. In whole study patients. A/BPI with lowered and A.I. (atherogenic index) increased significantly when patients possessed coronary risk factors equal or more than 4 items, which suggested the progression of PVD with incureasing number of coronary risk factors. Key words: coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, acute myocardial infarction, coronary risk factors.

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The basement membrane components in the primary and metastatic lesions of 29 cases of early gastric cancer were histologically and immunohistochemically examined.
On silver-impregnated specimens, reticular fibers were much more abundant in the basement membrane regions and stromal tissues in the metastatic lesions than in the primary lesions. Immunohistochemically, the basement membrane components examined, i. e. laminin, type N collagen and fibronectin were localized much more intensely in the basement membrane and more diffusely in the stroma in the differentiated adenocarcinomas than in the undifferentiated adenocarcinomas, having a closer relationship with the rate of proliferation of reticular fibers in the differentiated adenocarcinomas than in the undifferentiated ones. Electron microscopically, laminin was also detected in the endoplasmic reticulum of differentiated adenocarcinoma cells.
From these results it should be noted that the metastatic mechanism in the differentiated adenocarcinomas may be different from that in the undifferentiated adenocarcinomas of the stomach from the viewpoint of the localization pattern of basement membrane component.

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Fifty-eight salivary gland pleornorphic adenomas and 5 normal salivary glands were studied immunohistochemically with respect to intermediate filaments (keratin, desmin, and vimentin), actin and S-100 protein to observe the cellular differentiation of these tumor cells. Normal myoepithelial cells showed positive immunostaining for actin, vimentin and S-100 protein. Pleomorphic adenomas expressed keratin, vimentin and S-100 protein to various degrees, but only a few tumor cells of pleomorphic adenoma revealed actin. The results indicate that the tumor cells of pleomorphic adenoma show a bipolar differentiation capability of both epithelial and mesenchymal origins, although normal myoepithelial cells show only mesenchymal characteristics. The findings also support previous reports using light and electron microscopy, and also contribute to more precise diagnosis and a better understanding of the histogenesis of this tumor.

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Bradykinin (BK) is known to be involved in the inflammatory process causing various tissue reactions such as peripheral vasodilation and increased vascular permeability. The aims of this study was to investigate the involvement of the kallikrein-kinin system (K-K system) in the generation and progression of cerebral edema following an ischemic incident. First, after infusion of BK into the internal carotid artery, the cerebral water content was measured and electron microscopic observations were made to investigate changes of permeability using the horseradish peroxidase (HRP) tracer method. Second) y, the plasma and tissue BK levels, cerebral water content and energy metabolites (ATP, lactate and pyruvate) were measured at scheduled intervals. This was achieved using the cerebral ischemia model induced in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) in which the common carotid artery were occluded (BLCO) with clips in both sides. The plasma and tissue BK were measured by radioimmunoassay. Furthermore, aprotinin and soybean trypsin inhibitor (SBIT), which specifically inhibit the K-K system, were applied to the same model and the effects on cerebral edema and metabolism were tested.
At three hours after infusion of BK, cerebral edema was observed on the infused hemisphere and an increase of pinocytosis in the vessels was observed in the electron microscopic study. The chronological observation of cerebral water content revealed that it started to increase after BLCO, reaching a peak level at 30 min after reperfusion, before decreasing slightly. The plasma BK levels also showed an increase at the end of BLCO and reached a peak level at 30 min after reperfusion, decreasing thereafter. The tissue BK levels elevated significantly at 30 min after reperfusion and returned to control levels at 60 min. The ATP levels decreased remarkably after BLCO, and then increased after 30 min of reperfusion. The lactate levels increased during ischemia and became higher at 30 min after reperfusion and then decreased. The pyruvate levels did not change during this time period.
In the treated group, aprotinin showed significantly lower levels of cerebral water content compared to the control. This group also showed lower lactate accumulation and preservation of ATP levels than the control. SBTI also had significantly lower water content than the control, but there was no difference in the metabolites.
These results showed that BK augments the progression of brain edema and that the BK level corresponded with progression of ischemic brain edema and the suppression of BK decreased edema formation. These novel findings indicate a close relationship between BK and ischemic brain edema.

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