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Biomedical subjects

F Gerber

Publications and source records attributed to F Gerber.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1982

Renal devitalization using 95 per cent ethyl alcohol.

Preoperative embolization of renal arteries with solid material before nephrectomy is a standard procedure for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma. However, it often is difficult to use these materials and sometimes special equipment is required. We have used 95 per cent ethyl alcohol in 3 patients to devitalize kidneys with tumors. Our results show 95 per cent ethyl alcohol to be safe, effective and easy to use. When combined with epidural anesthesia alcohol embolization is well tolerated by the patient, and its destructive effect is complete and limited to the selected organ.

Embolization, Therapeutic↗
PubMed1982

[Experimental animal pathology. Immuno-allergic asthma (author's transl)].

One of the interests of experimental animal work is the power to analyse a given pathophysiological mechanism and also the privilege of witnessing its appearance. Immuno-allergic asthma, mediated by specific IgE of an allergen only represents one aetiological form, among many others, that make up the clinical spectrum of asthma in the human species. It is, however, the type of asthma whose experimental reproduction, a priori, is the most easily reproduced and has been the most tested. The different protocols used an analysis of the results and the lines of current or projected research form the object of this review.

Allergens↗
PubMed1982

[Bacteriology of bronchial secretions. Proposals for a practical attitude in bacterial respiratory tract infections].

The inadequacy of the standard bacteriological method in the study of expectorations is unanimously accepted. Oropharyngeal contamination of specimens largely explains why this examination is a poor index of the causative organisms in bacterial respiratory infections. In a mixed clinical situation with few or non-specific signs of bacterial infection and of variable severity, the physician should answer two questions: 1) Is it a bacterial infection? 2) What is the causative organism? and their corollary: 1) Should one prescribe an antibiotic? 2) Which one? Only culture of blood or pleural fluid allow an accurate reply to these questions in about 50% of cases and they are the indispensable investigations of reference. Initial efforts undertaken to improve the standard examination of expectorations never overcome the stumbling block of oro-pharyngeal contaminations. The bacterial count of expectorated bacteria, a non traumatic method, represents some real progress. In 50% of cases it enables a predominant pathogen to be identified before any antibiotics are given. Bronchoscopy diminishes contamination, allows direct sampling and the inspection and biopsying of bronchial mucosal lesions and aids drainage in very suppurative disorders. Trans-tracheal puncture avoids oropharyngeal contamination in the majority of cases and appears to provide reliable results much more often. A pragmatic approach is recommended according to the clinical picture. Bronchial and limited alveolar infections which are well tolerated, heal without exception on blind antibiotic therapy. In suppurating infections (bronchiectasis, cavitating pneumonias), the yield and the reliability of the examinations are increased. Serious bacterial infections, by their extent or by their site, justify a more aggressive diagnostic and therapeutic attitude. It should be stressed, however, that death caused by inadequate antibiotic therapy remains the exception when one or two successive courses of antibiotics have been prescribed for the pathogens presumed responsible according to the clinical picture or found after one or more bacterial examinations.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMedDate not supplied

SO2-induced bronchopathy decreases airway sensitization with intratracheal ovalbumin in the rat.

We investigated in this study the effect of SO2-induced bronchopathy on airway sensitization to ovalbumin in the rat. Sprague-Dawley rats were immunized with a single intratracheal injection of ovalbumin (OA) 100 micrograms in 0.1 ml PBS or 0.1 ml Bordetella pertussis (BP) heat-killed vaccine (6.5 X 10(9) cells X ml-1). The rats were primed immediately after SO2 exposure (60 h, 200 ppm; group I, n = 16) and three months after exposure was achieved (group II, n = 24), then compared to a control group exposed to air (group III, n = 30). Airway sensitization was evaluated by the in vitro contractile response to antigen challenge using paired tracheal rings. Specific IgE level was determined with PCA reactions. No significant difference was found in the maximal contractile responses to carbamyl choline within and between each group. Excepted in animals of group III, OA alone was not found able to sensitize the airways. When OA was used in association with BP, sensitization of the airways occurred, but this occurrence was found to depend upon a previous SO2 exposure: 73.3% in group III, 41.7% in group II and 25% in group I were sensitized. In addition, only five animals (BP + OA injected rats of group III) displayed a PCA positive reaction. It is concluded that: 1) the concomitant intratracheal injection of BP with OA increased the occurrence of specific airway sensitization, 2) a previous chronic exposure to SO2 decreased the specific tracheal smooth muscle sensitization to intratracheal ovalbumin. This decrease persisted, although slighter, when immunization was done three months after the exposure to SO2 was stopped.

Airway Resistance↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Application of the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex method to the light microscopic localization of the IgA in the tracheal mucosa and the thoracic lymph nodes of the rat.

Visualization of rat IgA within the tracheal mucosa and the thoracic lymph nodes was achieved using the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex (ABC) method. This technique was compared to the indirect immunoperoxidase technique and both techniques were applied at the light microscopic level, with various fixing and embedding procedures. The ABC method was found superior to the indirect method with respect to sensitivity, to background staining and to the overall reaction time.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Suppression of bronchoalveolar lymphocyte antibody secretion by alveolar macrophage: an in vitro study in the rabbit.

The effect of rabbit alveolar macrophage (AM) on the antibody secretion of bronchoalveolar lymphocytes was investigated in vitro, using a plaque-forming cell assay. Animals were intratracheally primed and reimmunized with 10(10) sheep red blood cells (SRBC). Free alveolar cells were obtained by lung lavage and broncho-alveolar lymphocyte-enrichment was achieved through Sephadex G-10 columns. Cell suspensions with various macrophage-to-lymphocyte ratios (AM:L from 1:25 to 3:1) were prepared using appropriate numbers of plastic adherent alveolar cells. After a 4 day in vitro co-culture of 5 X 10(6) alveolar cells (AM plus lymphocytes) with 3 X 10(6) SRBC, IgM and IgG antibody-forming cells (AFC) were counted. A significant suppressive effect (p less than 0.05) of AM on both IgM and IgG-AFC was observed when AM:L ratio was increased from 1:25 to 1:10. This effect was slightly accentuated with higher AM:L values, required viable AM, and was not affected by adding indomethacin in the culture medium. Moreover, a preliminary co-culture of AM with bronchoalveolar lymphocytes and the antigen was necessary for the expression of this suppressive effect. These data suggest that the suppressive activity of primed AM on alveolar lymphocytes may be of physiologic significance in vivo in the regulation of one of the pulmonary immune responses to airborne antigens, namely local antibody production.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Immunologic competence of the bronchi in the rabbit: the IgA-mediated plaque-forming response to intratracheally injected sheep erythrocytes.

Immune responses to intratracheally injected sheep erythrocytes in rabbits were investigated in bronchi, thoracic lymph nodes (TLN), mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) and spleen using an IgA-mediated haemolytic plaque-assay. The time-course appearance of specific IgA antibody forming cells (IgA-AFC) was studied in each tissue after primary and secondary immunizations. Overall low splenic and MLN responses suggest weak systemic and intestinal immunizations, respectively. Peak IgA-AFC concentrations occurred in TLN five days after priming and, in a lesser extent, three days after the booster. Conversely, the bronchial response was delayed, progressive and enhanced by the re-immunization. These results strongly suggest that bronchial-derived, IgA-precommitted cells are the major source of these specific IgA-AFC which concentrate in bronchi and that, before homing in the submucosa, they accumulate transiently in the TLN.

Animals↗