PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

H M Murray

Publications and source records attributed to H M Murray.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

Pulsing electromagnetic field therapy in nerve regeneration: an experimental study in the cat.

A multidisciplinary approach to the study of peripheral nerve regeneration in the cat has been presented. The purpose of this work has been to determine if pulsing electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy can enhance peripheral nerve regeneration after injury. In equal groups of animals, two types of pulsing electromagnetic field treatment were compared with untreated controls. All animals underwent quantitative electrophysiologic and morphologic assessment at the area of injury. In addition, muscle fiber sizing in the periphery and retrograde labeling of anterior horn motoneurons with horseradish peroxidase were studied. Results have shown no statistical differences between the groups in electrophysiologic or morphologic parameters. However, in animals treated with a pulse-burst electromagnetic field there was a statistically significant improvement in the labeling and localization of anterior horn cells in the central nervous system. These results indicate that pulse-burst electromagnetic radiation can increase the numbers of motor neurons that reestablish appropriate connections to the periphery after nerve injury. It remains to be seen if this improved spinal cord organization can translate to improved peripheral functional return.

Animals

Responses to cortical injury: I. Methodology and local effects of contusions in the rat.

In order to develop some understanding of the evolution of cortical contusions, interdisciplinary studies including behavior, morphology and histochemistry were conducted at varying intervals after standardized injuries. A method for producing graded and reproducible focal cortical contusions in the rat is described. When these impact injuries are made in the "hindpaw cortical area,' specific trauma dose dependent behavioral deficits can be readily observed in the contralateral hindlimb. While most functional recovery occurs in the first two weeks after trauma, with severe contusions, deficits persist beyond 90 days. Morphologically these injuries progress from hemorrhages in white matter directly under contused cortex during the first hours after injury to the development of a necrotic cavity by 24 hours. The cavitation appears to expand over the subsequent two weeks and by 15 days is lined with fibroblast-like elements and macrophages. Intense acid phosphatase activity is seen on the borders of the area of necrosis. This lysosomal enzyme may participate in autolysis and development of focal cavitation following cortical contusion.

Acid Phosphatase

Responses to cortical injury: II. Widespread depression of the activity of an enzyme in cortex remote from a focal injury.

As a part of a broader study of the reaction of the brain to injury, we report here an interesting loss of the activity of an enzyme in areas quite remote from the site of direct injury. At 36 h following a laceration or contusion injury to the hindpaw area of the motor cortex, a peculiar loss of staining for the enzyme alpha glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (alpha-GPDH) was noted. alpha-GPDH activity was markedly depressed in cortical layers II and III throughout the hemisphere on the side of the injury. The depression of alpha-GPDH activity extended far laterally across the rhinal fissure into the pyriform cortex. The decrease in alpha-GPDH staining was prominent 4 days after the injury: however, the staining pattern had returned to normal at 9 days. Enzyme changes in animals lesioned in the occipital cortex paralleled that seen in animals with a lesion in the motor cortex. Animals which had received an undercut lesion in the motor cortex 56 days earlier were contused in the occipital cortex. The old injury site presented the same sequelae of changes as seen in other lesioned animals. Additionally, a suction ablation injury involving only a small part of motor cortex resulted in the same widespread reduction of staining for alpha-GPDH in layers II and III. The derangement in energy metabolism suggests that cells in layers II and III of the cerebral cortex may be particularly vulnerable to perturbations induced by cortical trauma. These findings may be related to the diffuse and transient functional losses observed after head injury in man.

Animals

Origin of the rubrospinal tract of the rat.

The location of cells of origin of the rat rubrospinal tract has been determined by the use of retrograde axonal transport of horseradish peroxidase. Rubral neurons projecting to cervical spinal levels are found in dorsal and medial portions of the nucleus while those sending fibers to lumbar cord levels are located ventrally and ventrolaterally within the nucleus. No cells in the rostral one-half of the nucleus were labelled in this study. The results indicate that the rat rubrospinal tract originates from somatotopically-organized groups of neurons in the caudal one-half of the red nucleus.

Animals

Benign polypoid adenoma of the ampulla of vater. Treatment by double sphincteroplasty.

A patient with a symptomatic duodenal polyp was found at operation to have a 4 cm diameter adenomatous polyp of the ampulla of Vater, with both the common bile duct and pancreatic duct passing through the stalk and emptying from the polyp. The polyp was excised at the base of the stalk, and the two ducts reconstructed by a double spincteroplasty technique. The postoperative course and 2 1/2 year follow-up have been uneventful.

Adenoma

Axillary-axillary bovine arteriovenous fistula for hemodialysis.

A preliminary evaluation of bovine carotid artery heterografts as axillary-axillary arteriovenous fistulas suggests that this graft may be an easily constructed and easily utilized portal for hemodialysis cannulation. At present, this fistula should be reserved for use when all other commonly employed peripheral sites and methods of constructing arteriovenous fistulas have been exhausted.

Animals

The rubrospinal tract in a prosimian primate, Galago senegalensis.

The spinal distribution of rubrospinal fibers is described in the lesser bushbaby (Galago senegalensis), a prosimian primate. The tract is composed of thick and thin fibers, extends the length of the cord in the lateral funiculus, and is located ventral and ventrolateral to the lateral corticospinal tract and medial to the dorsal spincerebellar tract. There is a topographical relationship between origin and termination of rubrospinal fibers in Galago. Dorsomedial areas of the red nucleus project primarily to contralateral lumbar and sacral levels. Thoracic fibers arise from intermediate regions of the nucleus. Rubrospinal fibers in Galago terminate in basilar regions of the dorsal horn mainly at cervical and lumbar levels. Degeneration is most concentrated in medial and lateral portions of lamina V-VII. Although degenerated fibers approached the midline, none could be traced to the contralateral side. Lesions of more extensive portion of the nucleus resulted in degeneration in Clarke's column especially evident in low thoracic and upper lumbar levels. The latter connection may represent one rubrocerebellar feedback loop in the lesser bushbaby.

Animals

Hydatid control.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Animals

Catecholamine neurons in the brain stem of tree shrew (Tupaia).

Glyoxylic acid-paraformaldehyde-induced histofluorescence was used to determine locations of catecholamine-containing neurons in the brain stem of Tupaia. Fluorescent cells in the medulla were located ventrolaterally in association with the lateral reticular nucleus; another group was found dorsolateral to the hypoglossal nucleus and extended laterally toward the solitary nucleus. In the pons, fluorescent cells were found in locus coeruleus, subcoeruleus and in association with the superior olivary nucleus. At caudal midbrain levels, catecholamine neurons were seen within the reticular formation and in association with the dorsal raphe nucleus, while more rostrally fluorescent neurons were located in substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, among root fibers of the oculomotor nerve and in periaqueductal gray. The locations of catecholamine-containing neurons in tree shrew conform to the general mammalian pattern. Additionally, tree shrew has catecholamine neurons in the rostral mesencephalic periaqueductal gray as described in rat, opossum, rabbit and some primate; catecholamine neurons are also associated with the dorsal raphe nucleus in Tupaia, a finding previously reported only in primates.

Animals

Effects of maternal administration of alcohol on fetal brain development.

The effects of oral administration of alcohol during pregnancy and lactation on fetal and neonatal development were determined. Female Wistar rats were pair-fed nutritionally adequate liquid diets containing either alcohol or isocaloric carbohydrates starting on day 1 of gestation. Blood alcohol levels were determined in the pregnant animals throughout the experiment. On the day of parturition the litters were culled to six. The pups were sacrificed on day 30 and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (gamma GTP) activity determined in liver and brain. gamma GTP activity was determined to be elevated in the alcohol treated rats in all areas of brain studied except in the cortex and striatum. Additionally, the alcohol treated animals were smaller than the controls and exhibited higher serum and liver gamma GTP activities. Routine light microscopic plastic sections revealed large vacuolated spaces mainly confined to cortical layer V in the alcoholic rats. Golgi studies also revealed a decreased number of dendritic spines on pyramidal cell dendrites in the alcohol treated animals. These data suggest that exposure to alcohol in utero and in the postnatal period has a dramatic effect on neurons and processes in the cerebral cortex as well as on the membrane bound enzyme, gamma GTP.

Alcohol Drinking