[Distal radius fracture--indications for conservative, partial surgical and surgical therapy]. / Distale Radiusfraktur--Behandlungsergebnisse, Indikationen zur konservativen, halboperativen und operativen Therapie.

460 fractures of the distal radius including 91 which are treated surgically are investigated in a retrospective study. There were 260 fractures of the left and only 200 of the right radius. 66% of the patients were female, especially striking is the superior number of women older than 45 years. The evaluation of the final radiological results referring to anatomical joint angles and normal radius length shows a high correlation to the evaluation of the final functional results. 70% of the latter are valued as excellent or good, 19% as tolerable and 11% as poor. The classification according to Frykman shows a significantly better result for cases without violation of the distal ulna. The comparison between operative and non-operative treatment of dislocated fractures without infraction of the radiocarpal joint demonstrates good results of percutaneous wire fixation in those cases. The therapy of fractures with infraction of radiocarpal and radioulnar joint is difficult. In this group we could not find a superiority of operative against conservative treatment. Wire fixation lead to 19% poor results and cannot be recommended for all cases. Six patients treated by external fixation and five treated by osteosynthesis using metal plates had good or tolerable results. The indication for using these methods has to be considered.

Postnatal development of the connexion between tubulus seminiferous and tubulus rectus in the bovine testis.

Histology and ultrastructure of the connexion of seminiferous and straight testicular tubules were studied in 58 bovine testes of 29 animals ranging from 4 to 52 weeks of postnatal development. In the 4th and 8th week seminiferous tubules are solid. Their non-germinal supporting cells possess spherical nuclei in a basal location and a great amount of granular endoplasmic reticulum. The straight tubules have a narrow lumen and a stratified epithelium rich in intercellular canaliculi. Between 20 and 25 weeks the seminiferous tubules acquire a lumen and develop a terminal segment, the tip of which (terminal plug) protrudes into the cup-shaped modification of the adjacent straight tubule. At 30 weeks the structural differentiation between seminiferous tubule proper and its terminal segment has proceeded: in the former spermatocytes and spermatids make their first appearance, and the supporting cells have transformed to Sertoli cells. In the latter the morphology of the supporting cell preserves a more primitive state. Starting from the 16th week and proceeding through the 30th week and further, the epithelium of the tubulus rectus close to the connexion with the seminiferous tubule becomes monolayered by rearrangement of its cells and advances along the basal lamina into the area of the seminiferous tubule. Those cells of the seminiferous tubule that are cut off from the basal lamina by invading rectus cells degenerate. Between 40 and 52 weeks the adult situation is principally achieved. The terminal segment of the seminiferous tubule is tripartite consisting of transitional region, intermediate portion, and terminal plug. The terminal segment is surrounded by a vascular plexus. The straight testicular tubule adjacent to the terminal segment is modified into a cup region encompassing the terminal plug, followed by a narrow stalk region, which is lined by simple columnar epithelium. Mononuclear free cells are a constant feature of the tubulus rectus epithelium in all stages of postnatal development.

Histochemical localization and quantification of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in bovine leydig cells.

Some of the critical steps in the qualitative histochemical localization of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (freezing procedures, incubation techniques and the influence of intermediate electron carriers, respiratory chain inhibitors and different tetrazolium salts) were evaluated in sections of bovine testis as a prerequisite for the microdensitometric estimation of the activity of the enzyme in bovine Leydig cells in situ. A modification of the gel incubation method of Rieder et al. (1978) gave the best results and was used for the quantitative investigations. Quantitative data for the dehydrogenase activity gained from microdensitometry of the formazan final reaction products in Leydig cells in situ were compared with the results of assays of the activity in homogenates of testis. The following apparent kinetic properties of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase were obtained for the enzyme in Leydig cells in situ: Vmax = 0.11 absorbance units/min, Km = 0.37 mM. The quantitative characterization of glucose-6-phosphate activity in Leydig cells in situ appears to be suitable for combined morphological and functional diagnoses of small tissue samples such as testicular biopsies. This would give valuable information of the functional status of Leydig cells in normal and diseased testicular tissue.