Role of complement inhibition in topical therapy of muco-cutaneous herpes simplex virus infections.

A complement-inhibiting formulation with anti-inflammatory activity due to suppression of both the classical and alternative pathways of complement activation is presented for local treatment of muco-cutaneous lesions produced by Herpes simplex virus, types 1 and 2. The drug contains glutaraldehyde, a strong inhibitor of the complement system, dimethylsulphoxyde, used as a vector modifying the barrier properties of the skin and 1,2-propylene glycol, a delipidating agent which increases the adhesiveness of the watery solutions to the skin surface. It proved to be devoid of adverse effects for normal skin of animal and humans, and produced rapid disappearance of herpetic neuralgia and accelerates the remission of local symptoms.

Electron microscopic localization of silver binding proteins in the cytoplasmic granules of guinea pig eosinophil.

A new electron optic configuration is described in the specific granules of eosinophil leukocytes. Application of the ammonium silver nitrate impregnation after treatment of intact cells with formaldehyde-OsO4 solution reveals regular deposits of 50 A-electron-opaque particles which are localized in the axial region of the central core. They contain acid-extractable proteins that seem to include the eosinophil basic proteins which participate to the local immune response of the host.

Bioeffects of the plant Mahonia sempervirens.

Water extracts of mature fruits of Mahonia sempervirens possess four biological properties: hemagglutinin, hemolysin, complement antagonism and antistreptoccocal activity. Partial characterization of the crude extract was carried out by barbital-mediated spectrophotometry, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, thin layer chromatography and interaction chromatography. Fractionation of the Mahonia extract by ionic exchange static adsorption resulted in the quantitative separation of the fruit red pigment with recovery of the entire anticomplementary activity and indicated that the complement inhibitor was different from the aggregating and lytic properties.