Hiromu Okabe

DISTRIBUTION AND ANTI-INFLAMMATORY EFFECT OF MESALAZINE ON CARRAGEENAN-INDUCED COLITIS IN THE RABBIT

1. A controlled‐release preparation of mesalazine microgranules (PentasaR; Ferring AS, Vanlose, Denmark) releases the active ingredient over a wide area from the small intestine to the rectum and is consequently expected to bring about therapeutic benefits to patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohns disease.

Location of nitroblue tetrazolium-reducing activity in human colonic mucosa obtained by biopsy

The location of nitroblue tetrazolium-reducing activity was studied in colonic biopsy specimens from 28 patients with ulcerative colitis and from 23 controls. Nitroblue tetrazolium was reduced by epithelial cells, vascular endothelium, and interstitial mononuclear cells of the colonic mucosa from both groups. Blue formazan, a reduced form of nitroblue tetrazolium, was seen faintly after 30 min of culture; the amount increased up to 2 hr tested. The vascular endothelium of the patients with ulcerative colitis reduced nitrobule tetrazolium significantly more than that of the controls. The reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium was graded from 0 to 3 and was 1.0±0.6 in the controls, 1.6±0.8 in ulcerative colitis patients (P<0.05), 1.9±0.7 (P<0.01) in patients with active ulcerative colitis, and 1.4±0.9 in patients with inactive ulcerative colitis (difference not significant). Aggregates of mononuclear cells that reduced nitroblue tetrazolium were found in 10 of 28 patients with ulcerative colitis but not in the controls.

A Study on Atypical Endoscopic Findings of Ulcerative Colitis: Longitudinal Ulcers, Mucosal Bridges and Red Spots

Abstract: One hundred and twenty‐one ulcerative colitis patients diagnosed during the period of 1984 to 1988 were examined endoscopically on repeated occasions. Forty‐six patients had total colitis, 56 had left‐sided colitis, 15 had proctitis, and 4 were postoperative patients. When classified according to their macroscopic findings, 28 of the patients had the polyposis type of this disease, 88 had the atrophic type, and 5 had the mixed type. Longitudinal ulcers were found in 9 patients, occuring usually in the sigmoid colon. There was no pathological evidence of ischemic changes in these 9 patients. Mucosal bridges were found in 13 of the patients with total colitis, occurring somewhere from the cecum to the rectum. The mucosal bridges tended to be present during the mildly active stage of the disease. Red spots, which sometimes looked like vascular spiders, were found in 10 patients. The spots tended to appear before the disease went into the inactive stage. Histological observation showed regenerating vessels, sometimes with intramucosal bleeding; therefore the spots seemed to be intractable changes.