Human tear lysozyme. A comparison of electro-immunodiffusion, radial immunodiffusion and a spectrophotometric assay.

In 116 persons (67 men and 49 woman) the tear fluid of both eyes was collected using paper discs and once more after topical anaesthesia. After weighing the discs and eluting the tear fluid, the lysozyme content was measured using two immunological methods [radial immunodiffusion (RID) and rocket immuno-electrophoresis (RIE)] and a spectrophotometric assay. Standard curves were established with purified human lysozyme and egg-white lysozyme. In addition, albumin was determined in all the samples by rocket immuno-electrophoresis. All lysozyme assays showed a high degree of correlation, the spectrophotometric technique giving significantly lower values (compared with RID and RIE) when human lysozyme was used for standardization. The lysozyme content of the tears did not correlate with the fluid uptake in the discs, but showed a significant decrease with age, which was abolished by topical anaesthesia. In contrast, albumin levels were dependent upon the weight and independent of the age of the patient. It is suggested that the determination of albumin as a "reference protein' might help in comparing the results of different tear sampling techniques used by various groups, which induce variable amounts of reflex tearing.

[Treatment of porphyria cutanea tarda with intermittent chloroquine]. / Behandlung der Porphyria cutanea tarda mit intermittierender Resochinmedikation.

Intermittent chloroquine medication was given to 15 patients with porphyria cutanea tarda. These are the advantages of the chloroquine treatment: The clinical signs of porphyria cutanea tarda and the liver-dysfunction are re-adjusted in short time. The equilibrium of porphyrin metabolism is restored by the transformation of the biochemical manifest porphyria cutanea tarda into a latent form.

[Porphyrinsynthesis of Propionibacterium acnes in acne and seborrhea (author's transl)]. / Die Porphyrinproduktion des Propionibacterium acnes bei Acne und Seborrhoe.

The porphyrin productions of P a.-strains, isolated on the one hand from inlfammatory acne lesions, on the other hand from sebaceous follicle filaments from 10 persons each were compared quantitatively and qualitatively, after the appropriate material had been pooled, With respect to the acne strains one could observe a somewhat increased porphyrin production as well as the discharging of a precentually greater portion of porphyrins to the surrounding material. When separated by TLC the acne material showed a more intense coproporphyrin band.

[Porphyrinsynthesis by propionibacterium acnes (author's transl)]. / Porphyrinproduktion des Propionibacterium Acnes.

Strains of P.a. were isolated from seborrheic filaments from 11 persons and investigated according to their production of porphyrins. After growing the organisms during a 5 resp. 10 days cultivation period on solid as well as in liquid culture medium the quantity and quality of the bacterial porphyrins were determined. There existed intense variations in quantity not only when the special strains were compared with each other but also when the same strains were treated with different preparations. The porphyrin-spectrum, as demonstrated by thin-layer-chromatography, showed porphyrins with 2--8 carboxyclic groups, the coproporphyrin standing out in most cases as the most intense band.