Late response evoked by cerebellar stimuli: effect of optokinetic stimulation.

We previously demonstrated that late electromyographic responses with a latency of 100 ms were evoked bilaterally in soleus muscles following transcranial magnetic stimulation over the left cerebellum. Efferent fibers from the left cerebellum modulate vestibulospinal tract influences on the extensor muscles of the left hindlimb. Here, we investigated whether the vestibulospinal tract mediates this late response. We activated the vestibulospinal tract by optokinetic stimulation. Our results show that the latency of the soleus electromyographic response is shortened by optokinetic stimulation, but the latency of the motor response evoked by the corticospinal tract is unchanged. These findings support our hypothesis that vestibulospinal tracts mediate late electromyographic responses, and allow the development of techniques to assess the human vestibulospinal system function.

The effect of pretreatment with different doses of GnRH to synchronize follicular wave on superstimulation of follicular growth in dairy cattle.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) and GnRH doses in synchronizing follicular wave emergence as a pretreatment for superovulation in cattle. Fourteen Holstein-Friesian cows 6 days from estrus were randomly assigned to receive 100 microg (n=4), 50 microg (n=5), or 25 microg (n=5) of GnRH. Superovulation was induced with injections of porcine FSH (pFSH) twice daily, decreasing the dose (total 42 AU) over 5 days beginning 2.5 days after receiving GnRH. On the 7th and 8th injections of pFSH, 750 microg of PGF(2alpha) was also given. With the exception of one cow that was given 50 microg of GnRH, ovulation was induced in all cows from the three groups and the new follicular wave emergence was observed. The total number of follicles for the 25 microg GnRH group was less than that observed for the 100 microg GnRH group (P<0.05), although there were no differences between the 100 microg, 50 microg and 25 microg GnRH groups with respect to the number of preovulatory follicles (>or=10 mm) and CL. The numbers of normal embryos were greater for the 25 microg GnRH group than the 100 or 50 microg GnRH groups (P<0.01); however, the numbers of ova/embryos did not differ significantly between the three groups. These results suggest that 25 microg of GnRH was sufficient to induce ovulation and follicular wave emergence. On day 6 of the estrous cycle, a reduction of the dose of GnRH to synchronize follicular wave emergence as a pretreatment for superstimulation promotes transferable embryos.

ICF syndrome in a girl with DNA hypomethylation but without detectable DNMT3B mutation.

A 3-year-old girl with phenotypic and cytogenetic manifestations of the ICF syndrome and DNA hypomethylation but without DNMT3B gene mutation is described. At age 3 months, she had an apneic spell that left her with spastic paraplegia and severe mental retardation. At age 8 months, she suffered meningococcal meningitis and sepsis. When seen by us at age 3 years with virilization, she had a cleft plate, macroglossia, and an atrial septal defect. An adenoma was surgically removed from the right adrenal cortex. Her serum immunoglobulin levels were normal except IgA at the low normal border. Her lymphocytes showed paracentromeric stretching of chromosomes 1 and 16 in 7% of metaphases, and multiradial figures involving these chromosomes in 1% of cells. Hypomethylation of classical satellite 2 DNA was observed with BstBI digestion, but in a lesser degree than those in the individuals with proven DNMT3B mutations. No mutation was found in the coding and promoter regions of the gene. Several alternative interpretations were considered to explain the low frequencies of chromosomal instabilities and the lower degree of DNA hypomethylation, and undetected DNA3B mutations. A mutation may be present in the gene but undetected, present in other DNA methyltransferases (DNMT) genes or in a DNMT-associated protein gene.

Functional evaluation of ex vivo expanded cord blood lymphocytes: possible use for adoptive cellular immunotherapy.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the possibility of adoptive cellular immunotherapy such as donor lymphocyte infusion using ex vivo expanded cord blood (CBL) lymphocytes, the potential expansion ability of CBL lymphocytes and the function of expanded CBL lymphocytes were evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Mononuclear cell fractions derived from CBL or peripheral blood (PBL) were placed in anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody-coated flasks and cultured in the presence of recombinant human interleukin-2 for 4 days. Cells then were transferred to noncoated flasks and cultured for another 2 weeks. On day 14, polyclonality, cell surface markers, killer activity, and intracellular cytokine profiles were evaluated. RESULTS: Cells were polyclonally expanded. The differences in cumulative fold expansion on day 14 between CBL [1174 +/- 637 (292-1939), n = 6] and PBL [1247 +/- 568 (517-2328), n = 9] were not significant (p = 0.95). Phenotypic patterns of both expanded CBL and PBL were similar. CD4/CD8 ratio of expanded CBL appeared to remain greater than 1 on day 8. In contrast, that of expanded PBL became less than 1. In both cases, approximately 20% of cells had the CD3(+)CD8(+)CD56(+) phenotype. At an effector to target ratio (E/T) of 40:1, the natural killer activity of expanded CBL (64.5% +/- 10.8%, n = 9) was significantly higher than that of expanded PBL (48.3% +/- 16.8%, n = 9) (p < 0.01, Mann-Whitney U-test). However, there was no significant difference in lymphokine-activated killer activity between expanded CBL (45.3% +/- 25.2%, n = 7) and expanded PBL (67.2% +/- 12.3%, n = 7). Interferon-gamma-producing cells were dominant in both cases. CONCLUSIONS: It was feasible to achieve approximately 1000-fold expansion of CBL, and the phenotype and function of expanded CBLs were essentially equivalent to those of expanded PBL. This suggested that ex vivo expanded CBL may be applied to adoptive cellular immunotherapy such as donor lymphocyte infusion.