Organotypic slice cultures from rat brain tissue: a new approach for Naegleria fowleri CNS infection in vitro.

The free-living amoeba Naegleria fowleri is the aetiological agent of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a disease leading to death in the vast majority of cases. In patients suffering from PAM, and in corresponding animal models, the brain undergoes a massive inflammatory response, followed by haemorrhage and severe tissue necrosis. Both, in vivo and in vitro models are currently being used to study PAM infection. However, animal models may pose ethical issues, are dependent upon availability of specific infrastructural facilities, and are time-consuming and costly. Conversely, cell cultures lack the complex organ-specific morphology found in vivo, and thus, findings obtained in vitro do not necessarily reflect the situation in vivo. The present study reports infection of organotypic slice cultures from rat brain with N. fowleri and compares the findings in this culture system with in vivo infection in a rat model of PAM, that proved complementary to that of mice. We found that brain morphology, as present in vivo, is well retained in organotypic slice cultures, and that infection time-course including tissue damage parallels the observations in vivo in the rat. Therefore, organotypic slice cultures from rat brain offer a new in vitro approach to study N. fowleri infection in the context of PAM.

[Dynamic surface tension of blood and synovial fluid in rheumatoid arthritis]. / Dinamicheskoe poverkhnostnoe natiazhenie krovi i sinovial'noi zhidkosti pri revmatoidnom artrite.

AIM: Assessment of the dynamic surface tension (DST) of blood serum (BS), synovial fluid (SF) in various courses of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty three patients with RA and 63 apparently healthy individuals were examined. DST of BS and SF was determined in the computer-aided tensiometer and some blood biochemical parameters were also measured. RESULTS: DST of BS in patients with RA were found to be higher than the normal values and some parameters c beta 2 and beta 3) of BS DST did not significantly differ from the normal values whereas others (beta 1 and gamma proved to be much lower. Depending on the disease course variants, there were some differences in these DST changes. There was a feedback between DST parameters and the levels of immunoglobulins, beta 2-microglobulin, and lipids in blood. CONCLUSION: Assessment of BS and SF DST may be useful in the differential diagnosis of RA, in the determination of its intensity and prognosis, and therapeutical efficiency.