Potentiation of erythroid abnormalities following macrophage depletion in aged rats.

Objectives: The effects of prolonged macrophage depletion on haematological parameters were investigated in aged rats and compared with those in young ones.

Methods: Four weekly i.v.

Aging of red blood cells and impaired erythropoiesis following prolonged administration of dichloromethylene diphosphonate containing liposomes in rats.

Objectives: To investigate whether macrophage-depleted rats may serve as a model for studying red blood cell (RBC) aging.

Methods: Rats were macrophage-depleted by 4 weekly injections of dichloromethylene diphosphonate-containing liposomes (Cl2MDP-CL). The macrophage content of spleens and bone marrows (BMs) was investigated by immunohistochemistry and light microscopy and by flow cytometry, respectively, after staining with macrophage-specific monoclonal antibodies.

Mutations in the SPINK1 gene in idiopathic pancreatitis Italian patients.

Idiopathic chronic and acute recurrent pancreatitis (IP) have been associated with mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. Mutations in the serine protease inhibitor Kazal 1 (SPINK1) have been described in some idiopathic chronic patients and it has been suggested that mutations in this gene could be responsible for a loss of trypsin inhibitor function. In this study, the 5'UTR region, and the four exons and exon-intron boundaries of the SPINK1 gene in 32 IP patients have been analyzed.