Short-term systems to assess thiophosphoryl chloride standards.

The rat acute oral LD50 value of PSCl3 is 750 mg per kg body weight. A rat 90-day oral feeding study at dose levels of 7.5 mg (P1) and 37.5 mg (P5) per kg resulted in increased body weight gain. Other responses inconsistently varied between dose levels. At 7.5 mg kg-1, a trend towards enhancement of relative weight of liver, spleen, kidney and adrenals was noted; at 37.5 mg kg-1, decreasing relative spleen and adrenal weights were observed. The most of the hematological and biochemical changes in blood serum cannot be believed to be transitory adaptive changes, but valid toxic effects. On the other hand, there are some indicators that suggest a possible trophic effect of this compound. However, the reversible dystrophic changes in liver, as well as the histochemical and histoenzymical results, require us to take into account that inactive chronic hepatitis could be reactivated by further toxic insult. A teratology study demonstrated increased number, body weight and length of fetuses, without apparent pathological events (tumors, external malformations). A mutagenicity test performed on rat femoral bone marrow after 30-days feeding of 37.5 mg kg-1 did not indicate any significant change in the incidence of chromosomal aberrations, compared with the control group. The recommended maximum allowable concentration in the working zone for thiophosphoryl chloride in air was set at 3 mg m-3.

The "concrete" histological diagnosis of cerebral tumours of neuroectodermic origin.

The "concrete" histological criteria for establishing the benignity or malignancy of cerebral tumours of neuroectodermic origin (gliomas and medulloblastomas, respectively granulocytomas) may be thus synthetized: 1) the benign tumours have a fibrocellular structure, the neoplastic cells being relatively monomorphous; vascular hyperplasia is absent, as well as necrotic and hemorrhagic foci; 2) the malignant tumours are hyper- and polymorphocellular, the fibrillar component being reduced or absent; vascular hyperplasia as well as the presence of necrotic and/or hemorrhagic foci is a constant characteristic; the tumoral cells often infiltrate the perivascular spaces.

The "concrete" histo-cytological diagnosis of noninfiltrative cancer.

The diagnosis of noninfiltrative carcinomas (intraepithelial carcinoma, respectively intramucosal adenocarcinoma) is based on the existence of architectural modifications of the stratified squamous epithelia (the skin included) and of glandular structures. The architectural alterations are associated with cellular, respectively nucleo-cytoplasmic changes. The most useful cellular modifications for the diagnosis of the noninfiltrative malignant process of epithelial origin are: the cellular pleomorphism (anisocytosis and especially anisokaryosis), large nuclei in comparison with cell dimensions determining modifications of the nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio, the presence of hypertrophic nucleoli, respectively giant and/or multiple nucleoli with the change of the nucleolo-nuclear ratio in favour of the nucleolus, a large percentage of mitoses (more than 20 mitoses per thousand cells), respectively more than 4 mitoses in the microscopic field at a high magnification.

Effect of cadmium chloride on adrenal function in the white rat.

Wistar female rats were given 0.5 mgCd+2/kg b.w. in the form of CdCl2, in drinking water, administered by intragastric probe daily for 90 days, and a dose of 5 mg/Cd+2/kg b.w. subcutaneously administered once a week, for a period of 30 days. The adrenal gland functional status was investigated by glycogen, total lipid, ascorbic acid content, organ weight and histometric measurements. No changes were observed in the animal which received intragastric Cd. Subcutaneous administration of 5 mgCd+2 determined a significant increase in organ weight as against the controls, with a widening of the fascicular stratum, and a marked decrease in glycogen, total lipids and ascorbic acid, parallel with high values of 17-ketosteroids. The data revealed a toxic effect of cadmium upon the adrenals, evidenced by a hyperactivity. Adrenal glycogen, total lipids and ascorbic acid depletion evoked a stimulated ACTH hormone release with a high rate of excreted 17-ketosteroids.

Postovariectomy bone marrow changes in irradiated and unirradiated wistar rats.

Bilateral ovariectomy of Wistar rats has per se a stimulative effect on the myeloid tissue, determining a hypercellularity of this organ-tissue. On the other hand, under the conditions of a whole-body irradiation with a single dose of 800 r X-rays, bilateral ovariectomy manifests a protective effect on the myeloid tissue preventing the development of hypoplastic, respectively aplastic modifications.

Effect of methylthiouracil on the colloidopexic capacity of hepatosplenic macrophages through thyroid function depression.

The effect of methylthiouracil (MTU) on the colloidopexic capacity of rat hepatosplenic macrophages was experimentally studied. MTU administration determined the depression of the colloidopexic function tested with isamine blue. Under such conditions, thyroid insufficiency may be responsible for the decrease of the hepatosplenic colloidopexic activity. X

Postcortisone medullary changes in the irradiated and unirradiated male Wistar rat.

Cortisone administration in male Wistar rat induces a depletion of the granulocytic-normoblastic cell population in the bone marrow in parallel with a numerical increase by accumulation of lymphoid and undifferentiated cells. These changes are more intense under irradiation conditions. The reversibility of medullary modifications is shown by the integrity of the reticulinic skeleton of the bone marrow.

Histological and histochemical study of rat salivary glands during their postnatal development.

The postnatal development of the three major salivary glands (parotid, submaxillary and sublingual) was comparatively followed up from the histological viewpoint and in relation with some histochemical reactions. The sublingual gland presented a well developed cytomorphological structure at birth, whereas the parotid and the submaxillary ones, immature at birth, gradually reached the overall appearance of adult glands, the former at 5--6 weeks, the latter at 8 weeks. In relation with the product secreted, it is already from birth that the parotid and the submaxillary glands presented negative reactions for mucosubstances and positive ones for revealing the protein-bound groups. The sublingual gland exhibited from the first postnatal 24 hrs positive reactions for revealing mucosubstances at the level of glandular secretory glands.

Effects of the "reverse" administration of sexual hormones on the lymph node structure in irradiated Wistar rats.

The whole-body irradiation of adult Wistar rats with a single dose of 800 r X-rays intensifies the lymph node changes and the decrease of the colloidopexic capacity of hepatosplenic macrophages established by the "reverse" administration of sexual hormones. The modifications observed after estradiol administration to the male rat are more marked after a 6 months' interval than those caused in the same interval by testosterone in the female rat lymph nodes.

Spleen and lymph node changes in rats irradiated with X-rays and treated with testosterone.

The authors have studied the effect of testosterone administration in male adult Wistar rats irradiated with a single total dose of 800 r X-rays. The results obtained show that testosterone exerts a double radioprotective action. This hormone prevents both the occurrence of the senile type spleen and lymph node changes and the depression of the colloidopexic capacity of the hepatosplenic macrophages. At the same time, these results suggest that testosterone induces hyperplasia of the lymphocytic elements, particularly of T lymphocytes.

[The role of cysteine in cadmium- induced experimental testicular damage (author's transl)]. / Die Rolle der Thioaminsäuren bei durch Kadmium hervorgerufenen experimentellen Hodenschädigungen

Simultaneous administration of cysteine and DL-ethionine in food protects, and enhances, respectively, the tissue damage produced by parenteral administration of cadmium (CdCl2) in testicles of rats. The effects are explained as an inactivation of SH-groups by cadmium, and in interference in cysteine metabolism by ethionine, respectively.

Spleen and lymph node reticulofibrosis in "chemically thyroidectomized" rats.

The effects of the X-rays on the peripherial lymphoid organs (lymph nodes and spleen) in male adult wistar rats "chemically thyroidectomized" (methylthiouracil) have been studied. Spontaneous death of these animals 9 days after the irradiation was determined by the hypoplasia (aplasia) of the hematogenous bone marrow. The spleen and lymph node changes -- represented by the lymphoid tissue depletion and reticulofibrosis -- in the experimental animals were similar to those observed in animals sacrificed 6-8 months after irradiation. They differed from the latter by the absence of the macromolecular hyperstability of the reticular and collagenous fibers, which is proper to early ageing by X-rays.

Differential cytology in the diagnosis of astrocytary gliomas. A statistical study using the "t" Students-Fisher test.

The authors have used the "t" Student-Fisher test in order to verify the differences between two compared average values. The results show the anatomo-clinical individuality of four main types of astrocytary gliomas; multiform glioblastoma, malignant astrocytoma, protoplasmatic astrocytoma, and fibrillary astrocytoma. The occurrence of significant quantitative differences between these four astrocytary gliomas indicates that the histological diagnosis must be differentially made, because these astrocytary neoplasias represent individualized anatomo-clinical entities.