Norman Molomut

The Effect of Cortisone on the Spleen in Mice.

Summary 1. Cortisone causes a significant reduction in the spleen size of mice. The average spleen size of the Cortisone-treated mice was 21% of the controls. 2. As little as 4 mg of Cortisone during a 2 day period produced this effect. Continued Cortisone treatment did not increase the original depletion, indicating that the effect is rapid and maximal. 3. Histologically there was a reduction in the size of the Malphigian bodies and in the number of cellular elements in the pulp in the Cortisone-treated group.

AN OXYGEN MASK METERED FOR POSITIVE PRESSURE

Excerpt In the preceding paper1the clinical advantage of breathing oxygen or oxygen-helium mixtures under positive pressure was described. When the head of the patient is placed within a hood that ...

Failure of Somatotrophic Hormone (STH) to Counteract Cortisone Action on Wounds in Mice.

Summary 1. 1 mg daily of somatotrophic hormone does not counteract the effect of 1 mg daily of cortisone on wound healing in mice. 2. 1 mg of somatotrophic hormone daily does not effect wound healing in mice as compared with untreated controls.

Effect of subconvulsive audiogenic stress in mice on turpentine induced inflammation.

Summary and Conclusions 1) A/Jax and C57BL/6 (both seizure resistant) and DBA/1 (seizure susceptible) strain mice were exposed to subeonvulsive audiogenic stress for 7 days before. and in some instances up to 14 days after intracutaneous injection with 0.025 cc of turpentine. 2) The effect of pretreatment audiogenic stress resulted in moderate repression of ordinary inflammatory response observed in control animals. This was characterized by a sharp localization of the lesion with only a very narrow limiting zone of inflammatory cells. 3) In addition to relative repression of inflammatory response, delayed repair of injury was observed, with a minimal amount of fibroblastic proliferation during first 10 days or more in the majority of animals. 4) No differences were observed in these reactions in mice subjected to posttreatment stress supplementing the initial pretreatment application of stress. This suggests that the mechanism initiated by such audiogenic stress persists for a considerable time. 5) The data were inadequate to establish the way in which the reaction operates, but a certain parallel may be drawn between inhibition of inflammatory response clinically by use of adrenal cortical steroids to suggest that adrenal cortical stimulation may be involved.

Preparations of lysates from cultures of T. cruzi and their effects on normal and tumor-bearing mice.

Summary 1. No inhibition of tumors was noted in Bagg-albino strain mice with spontaneous mammary carcinoma over one cm in size when treated with whole culture lysate of T. cruzi; on the other hand in the same mouse strain with tumors under one cm in size a degree of inhibition was noted which warrants closer study. 2. The inhibition noted could not be attributed to malnutrition effects or concurrent bacterial infections. 3. No inhibition was noted in tumor-bearing “A” strain mice (spontaneous mammary carcinoma; transplanted carcinoma No. 119) when treated with T. cruzi whole culture lysates. 4. Survival time of treated tumor-bearing mice was less than that of control treated animals. 5. A simple method is given for a reproducible preparation of T. cruzi lysates.

Cortisone effect on pneumonitis produced in mice by exposure to a high oxygen atmosphere.

Summary 1. Cortisone was shown to increase the susceptibility of mice to acute pneumonitis induced by high oxygen atmosphere. 2. Pathologic changes appeared earlier in the lungs of the cortisone treated animals and the mortality rate was accelerated. 3. The terminal histologic findings in the lungs of the cortisone treated animals and the controls were qualitatively similar. 4. It is suggested that cortisone is contraindicated in the treatment of acute pulmonary infections. 5. Attention is called to the possibility that high oxygen atmospheres may be deleterious to patients receiving cortisone.

Infection with Trypanosoma lewisi in the Hypophysectomized Rat

Trypanosoma lewisi is a natural parasite of the blood of wild rats, and can be transferred easily to laboratory rats. After inoculation to normal adult rats, it produces a blood stream infection of considerable intensity, although only rarely does the infected animal die. At the end of a patent period ranging from a few day to several weeks, the animals usually clear themselves of the infection and thereafter wholly resist reinfection with this parasite. 1 In the present paper are reported the results of infecting hypophysectomized rats with Trypanosoma lewisi. As will be seen, the hypophysectomized rat dies after infection with this parasite, death occurring in most cases 5 days after the parasite is injected. Procedure. The experimental work was designed: (1) to compare infection with Tryp. lewisi in hypophysectomized rats with that in control rats,∗ and (2) to study the effect of the administration of anterior pituitary extract upon the infection in the hypophysectomized rats. Thirty-three rats 60 days old were used for the first purpose of the work, 19 being hypophyseetomized† and 14 serving as controls. At infection, all animals were given one million Tryp. lewisi intraperitoneally. The hypophysectomized rats, together with 12 of the control rats which were subjected to the identical operative procedure except for the removal of the hypophysis, were infected from 5 to 10 days after operation. The 2 remaining control rats were normal unoperated animals. For the second purpose of the work, 14 hypophysectomized rats, infected 5 days after operation, were treated subcutaneously or intraperitoneally daily with 10 rat units of E. R. Squibb and Sons′ anterior pituitary extract ‡ beginning the first day after operation and continuing until death or recovery from the infection.