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Biomedical subjects

F Basset

Publications and source records attributed to F Basset.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Hypersensitivity pneumonitis in man. Light- and electron-microscopic studies of 18 lung biopsies.

Light- and electron-microscopic changes produced by hypersensitivity pneumonitis were analyzed in open lung biopsies taken from 18 patients with chronic forms of the disease. The main changes observed were: alveolitis (both luminal and mural), granulomas, intraalveolar buds, and interstitial fibrosis. The cells infiltrating the alveolar walls were mainly lymphocytes. Occasionally these lymphocytes presented irregularities in the contours of the nuclear membranes and resembled Sézary cells. In one patient, a few lymphocytes were found that resembled "hand-mirror" cells. Intraalveolar macrophages often had a foamy appearance. Granulomas, present in two-thirds of the patients, differed in several respects from those in sarcoidosis: they were smaller, more loosely arranged, and poorly limited; they had a higher content of lymphocytes; and they were located more frequently in alveolar tissue than in the vicinity of bronchioles and vessels. Intraalveolar buds, also present in about two thirds of the patients, were composed mainly of fibroblasts, myofibroblasts, and macrophages in a loose connective tissue that was rich in proteoglycan material. Capillaries and epithelial cells were rarely seen in buds. Alveolar buds appear to develop by a process of disruption of the epithelial lining layer, due to alveolitis, followed by intraalveolar exudation and by subsequent intraalveolar migration of connective tissue cells interacting with macrophages. Severe fibrotic and alveolar epithelial changes were observed in four patients; milder changes were frequent in most other patients. It is concluded that hypersensitivity pneumonitis usually has distinctive morphologic features; these may help to distinguish the resultant pulmonary fibrosis from that due to other causes.

Adult↗

Peroxidatic activity distinct from myeloperoxidase in human monocytes cultured in vitro and in alveolar macrophages.

Human monocytes develop a peroxidatic activity (PA) in rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) after adherence or after culture in semi-solid medium. This enzyme activity disappears after three days of culture in the majority of macrophages derived from adult monocytes but persists for one week in macrophages derived from neonatal monocytes. The PA is due to an enzyme distinct from myeloperoxidase (MPO), since monocytes from a patient with MPO deficiency develop the same PA as that of normal monocytes after adherence. By its localization and other characteristics, PA of adherent monocytes resembles that of rodent macrophages. We therefore investigated whether human alveolar macrophages exhibit PA, using a sensitive cytochemical method which prevents inhibition by aldehyde in adherent monocytes. In various pathological cases, four types of macrophages could be identified: the majority were peroxidase-negative, a small percentage was of exudate type exhibiting a PA in granules as blood monocytes, while few macrophages were intermediate, possessing only PA in RER i.e. of type resident and a smaller proportion had PA in RER and in granules i.e. exudate-resident macrophages. These findings demonstrate that human macrophages and adherent monocytes may exhibit PA in RER as has been reported for rodent macrophages. The true nature and function of the enzyme responsible for this PA, which is distinct from MPO, remains unknown, but some arguments seem to suggest its role in prostaglandin synthesis.

Cells, Cultured↗

Chest radiological features of pulmonary histiocytosis X: a report based on 50 adult cases.

This study describes the chest radiographs of 50 adult patients with histologically verified histiocytosis X, proposes a radiological classification, and examines the role of radiology in assessing the prognosis of the disease. Radiologically the lesions predominate in the middle and lower lung fields, usually sparing the costophrenic angles, and are typically micronodular, reticular, or cystic. These features are especially suggestive of histiocytosis X if lung volume is normal or increased, there is an associated pneumothorax, they occur in a young male and there are no other intrathoracic changes (pleural or mediastinal). The three evolutionary patterns of improvement, stabilisation, and worsening are analysed with respect to the initial radiological features; one which carries a good prognosis is sparing of both costophrenic angles.

Adolescent↗

Epithelial-mesenchymal associations of cells in human pulmonary fibrosis and in BHT-oxygen-induced fibrosis in mice.

It was reported earlier that in the lungs of individuals with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, many cells lining small air spaces have intimate associations with underlying interstitial cells. The present study confirms and extends these previous observations by describing changes seen in a different patient group. Light microscopy of lung biopsy tissue showed thickened alveolar walls with infiltrates of mixed inflammatory cells. There were undefined associations between interstitial cells and cuboidal and attenuated epithelial cells lining smaller air spaces. Electron microscopy demonstrated that cytoplasmic processes from the lining cells protruded through discontinuities in underlying basement membranes, and that intimate connections between lining cells and interstitial cells frequently were present. In addition, some of the cells lining air spaces had few microvilli, rare pinocytotic vesicles, and did not lie on basement membranes. These cells were mesenchymal-like in appearance and were clearly associated with interstitial cells and connective tissue. Similar pulmonary lesions were observed in mice that received a single intraperitoneal injection of butylated hydroxytoluene and were exposed subsequently to 70% oxygen for 6 days. Our findings suggest that communication between a regenerating epithelium and the underlying mesenchyme is an integral step for ongoing alveolar repair.

Animals↗

Pulmonary Langerhans' cells in patients with fibrotic lung disorders.

Langerhans' cells were found in lung biopsies in one of nine control patients and in 20 of 160 patients with fibrotic lung disorders, including 13 of 56 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, two of nine patients with collagen vascular diseases, two of seven patients with hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and each of three patients with end stage fibrosis of uncertain cause. Langerhans' cells were not found in any of the 41 patients with sarcoidosis, the 35 patients with interstitial lung diseases associated with inhalation of inorganic dusts, the seven patients with pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis, or the two patients with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia. In the control patient, Langerhans' cells were found between epithelial cells in bronchioles. In patients with fibrotic lung disorders, Langerhans' cells were found in the epithelial layer of bronchioles and alveoli containing proliferating epithelial cells, i.e., either cuboidal epithelial cells of bronchiolar origin or type II alveolar epithelial cells. Severe fibrosis or squamous metaplasia were not prerequisites for the presence of Langerhans' cells. The motility of Langerhans' cells apparently was restricted, as they were not found in the air spaces in any of the biopsies, and they were not recovered from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of any of the 97 patients studied, even though some of these patients had relatively numerous Langerhans' cells in lung biopsies. These observations are in sharp contrast to those in pulmonary histiocytosis X, in which histiocytosis X cells (HX cells) occur in granulomas, in alveolar interstitium, and between epithelial cells of the lower respiratory system. HX cells also migrate into air spaces, as shown by their occurrence in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. The HX bodies in HX cells are morphologically similar to Langerhans' cell granules, but are more numerous and pleomorphic. HX cells are considered to be reactive or activated Langerhans' cells.

Alveolitis, Extrinsic Allergic↗

[Evidence of junctional complexes between cells of monocytic origin in sarcoid granulomas (author's transl)].

Ultrastructural studies of lung and lymph nodes biopsies from twelve patients with sarcoidosis were performed. They consistently demonstrated junctional complexes between consistently demonstrated junctional complexes between granulomatous cells issued from the mononuclear phagocyte system. These inter-cellular contacts have a desmosome-like appearance but differ in some of their structural aspects. The role of these complexes appearing between cells of monocytic origin remains to be defined.

Granuloma↗

The Langerhans cell.

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Histiocytosis, Langerhans-Cell↗

Chronic cor pulmonale in pulmonary sarcoidosis.

Right-heart overload happens relatively rarely in sarcoidosis, even with fibroemphysematous changes. Of 21 cases that we studied, six (28%) had clinical and/or electrocardiographic features of cor pulmonale. The cause of cor pulmonale often evoked is an invasion of the walls of pulmonary vessels by sarcoid granulomas or their compression by the fibrotic process. Pathological studies in one patient showed compression of large pulmonary arteries associated with specific sarcoid lesions in small small and medium-sized arteries.

Adult↗