Luigi Scucchi

Immunoreactive adrenomedullin in human fetoplacental tissues

OBJECTIVE Adrenomedullin is increased in maternal plasma in pregnancy and has been found in very high concentrations in amniotic fluid and umbilical plasma. To identify adrenomedullin-producing tissue in pregnancy we measured adrenomedullin concentration and distribution in fetoplacental tissues. STUDY DESIGN By use of a specific radioimmunoassay we determined the concentrations of adrenomedullin and, by immunohistochemical studies, its localization and distribution in fetal membranes and placentas collected at elective cesarean section from 11 healthy pregnant women at term. RESULTS The content of adrenomedullin in placentas (117.7 +/- 7.8 pg/mg wet tissue) and fetal membranes (168.7 +/- 2.3 pg/mg wet tissue) was similar to the adrenomedullin concentration in adrenal medulla (157.3 +/- 4.4 pg/mg wet tissue). Adrenomedullin staining appears to be greater in fetal membranes than in placentas and was localized in amnion and trophoblast cells. In term placentas positive staining was detected predominantly in extravillous trophoblast cells, although a few syncytiotrophoblast cells and endothelial cells of primary villi stained for adrenomedullin. CONCLUSION This study provides evidence that is consistent with fetoplacental tissues as a site of synthesis or action of adrenomedullin during pregnancy.

A comparative study of histopathology, hormone receptors, peanut lectin binding, ki-67 immunostaining, and nucleolar organizer region-associated proteins in human breast cancer

The current study was performed on 71 cases of human female breast cancer and compares the results of five morphologic methods developed for the detection of estrogen receptors (ER), progesterone receptors (PgR), lectin Peanut agglutinin (PNA) binding sites, monoclonal antibody Ki‐67 immunoreactivity, and the mean number of argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (Ag‐NOR). All the parameters were evaluated on serial cryostat sections representative of a closely related, if not identical, neoplastic population. A significant positive correlation was found between the occurrence of estrogen, progesterone, and peanut receptors and between Ki‐67 immunoreactivity, mean number of NOR, and mitotic index. Furthermore, ER, PgR, and PNA receptors showed a significant, inverse correlation with Ki‐67 immunoreactivity, mitotic index, and mean number of Ag‐NOR. These results provide further data that support the hypothesis that (1) progesterone and PNA receptors are estrogen‐induced and indicate a metabolic response of the target cells to functioning estrogen receptors; (2) the mean number of NOR reflects the cell kinetics of the tumor; and (3) metabolic differentiation of neoplastic cells is inversely correlated to the proliferation index.

Value of cytology as an adjunctive intraoperative diagnostic method. An audit of 2,250 consecutive cases.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the role of intraoperative cytology (IC) in the improvement of diagnostic accuracy obtained by frozen section (FS) alone. STUDY DESIGN Comparison of 2,250 intraoperative cytologies performed along with frozen sections, with the final diagnoses achieved on paraffin sections. RESULTS In 18 cases the diagnoses were deferred until the paraffin sections at the time of intraoperative consultation. The diagnostic accuracy in distinguishing benign from malignant lesions by combined intraoperative cytology and frozen section was 99.2%. The accuracy rate is significantly higher than that reported in large series based on frozen section preparations alone. Sensitivity and specificity were, respectively, 98.2% and 100%. The diagnostic accuracy of each technique alone was 94.9% for FS (sensitivity 89.9%, specificity 97.9%) and 96% for IC (sensitivity 94.9%, and specificity 96.8%). Although specific diagnoses were more frequently formulated on the bases of frozen section examination, FSs were not diagnostic in 113 case in which cytology allowed a specific diagnosis. CONCLUSION Our results emphasize the increasingly important diagnostic role of intraoperative cytology as an adjunct to frozen section. The approach does have limitations.

Immunohistochemical Localization of Endothelin-1 in Placenta and Fetal Membranes in Term and Preterm Human Pregnancy

PROBLEM: The aim of the study was to determine the ET‐1 localization on human placenta and fetal membranes and to compare its distribution between term and preterm pregnancies in laboring and non‐laboring tissues.

Interphasic nucleolar organizer regions expression and cell kinetics evaluation during gastric carcinogenesis induced by nitrosoguanidine in the rat

SummaryAn increased number of interphasic nucleolar organizer regions containing ribosomal cistrons associated with argyrophilic proteins (AgNORs) has been described in human malignant tumor cells. In this study variations in AgNOR numbers have been compared with changes of cell kinetics, evaluated by the mitotic count (MC) and bromodeoxyuridine labeling index (BrdU LI), during gastric carcinogenesis induced with N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NG) in rats. Significant differences (2P< 0.005) in AgNOR mean numbers, evaluated in the antral isthmic cells, in MC mean values and BrdU LI, evaluated in the whole antral cellular population, were found when comparing areas of acute gastritis, atrophy and hyperplasia in NG-treated rats with the normal mucosa in controls.No differences were observed in MC and BrdU LI between normal antrum and carcinoma cells which showed an AgNORs mean number lower than in the isthmic cells of controls (2P< 0.005). Moreover, significant correlations were found comparing changes in Ag-NOR numbers with MC (r = 0.89,P<0.001) and BrdU LI (r = 0.66,P<0.001) in different lesions.These data show that evaluation of AgNOR numbers does not allow the identification of malignant cells in NG-induced gastric carcinoma. However AgNOR quantification seems to be a reliable index of cell kinetics and related well with the cellular dividing fraction.

Immunohistochemical localization of nitric oxide synthase in human fetal membranes

Subject. It has been demonstrated that L‐arginine‐nitric oxide (NO) system is present in the myometrium during pregnancy where it can regulate uterine contractility.

Primary Gastric Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma: A Surgical Experience

Clinicopathologic data from 59 patients with primary gastric non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) were reviewed. Lymphomas in 13 patients were limited to the gastric wall, in the remaining cases nodes or adja

Interphasic Nucleolar Organizer Regions in Colorectal Dysplastic and Neoplastic Lesions

The behaviour of silver-binding Nucleolar Organizer Regions (Ag-NORs) in interphasic nuclei was investigated in six cases of normal colonic mucosa, six cases each of mild, moderate and severely dysplastic colonic adenomatous polyps and six cases of colonic adenocarcinomas. The silver-stained dots were counted directly from slides using a 100X oil-immersion lens and from micrographs of the same fields using an image analyzer at a final magnification of 1,700X. The mean number of argyrophilic dots and the mean nuclear area occupied by argyrophilic proteins increased progressively from mild to severe dysplasia to adenocarcinoma with both methods. The Ag-NORs technique has a predictive value only when a suitable number of cells are examined because a wide overlap between the ranges of different parameters does not allow to consider the Ag-NOR method as a marker of malignant transformation in a single cell.