Yasuo Sakakura

Quantitative cytology of nasal secretions under various conditions

Quantitative cytology was performed in nasal secretions of normal control (NC), seasonal allergic rhinitis in season (SAR), perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR), chronic sinusitis with mucoid secretion (MS), and chronic sinusitis with mucopurulent secretion (MPS). The majority of inflammatory cells were neutrophils in NC, MS, and MPS; the majority were eosinophils in SAR and PAR. The concomitant appearance of inflammatory cells in nasal secretions was found, i.e., there were significant correlations between neutrophil and eosinophil counts in MPS, and between eosionophil and basophil counts in SAR. The eosinophil/neutrophil ratio was more than 0.1 in SAR and PAR, but the ratio was less than 0.1 in all NC, all MPS, and in 93% of MS; this indicates that 0.1 in eosinophil/neutrophil ratio is the critical value between allergic and nonallergic nasal diseases.

Purification of glandular kallikrein in maxillary mucosa from humans suffering from chronic inflammation.

Glandular kallikrein was purified from human maxillary mucosa with chronic inflammation and its biochemical properties were characterized. The purification procedure consisted of extraction with 3 mol/l KCl, saturation of ammonium sulfate (66%), DEAE-Sepharose, arginine-Sepharose and Sephadex G-150 chromatographies. Maxillary mucosa with chronic inflammation contains considerable activity of glandular kallikrein, which is a serine protease with limited proteolytic activity and its biochemical properties resemble those of pancreatic kallikrein.