[Cross antigenicity between human arterial tissue and various germs].

Cross antigenicity was demonstrated between human arterial tissue and enterobacteriaceae, some streptococcus strains or some viruses, using the indirect immunoenzymatic test. Absorption of antigerm antisera by the glycoproteins of either the human serum or aorta suggested that a glycoprotein or some fragment of it acted as a target-antigen or target-epitope for the investigated antibodies and that these antibodies might attack human arterial tissue.

[Experimental immune arteriosclerosis in the rabbit. Immunogenic and pathogenic properties of glycoproteins and elastins in arterial tissue].

Rabbits immunized with kappa elastin produced arteriosclerosis and antibodies that bound to target-structures (elastic fiber sheaths, endothelial and smooth muscle cells). These antibodies were cytotoxic for cultured rabbit or rat arterial smooth muscle cells. Absorption of the antielastin antiserum with pig aorta or human serum glycoproteins inhibited its binding to target-structures and suppressed its in vitro cytotoxicity.

[Possible intervention of immune mechanisms in the genesis and course of human atherosclerosis].

Aortas, coronary and carotid arteries from 31 patients who died of myocardial or cerebral infarction were examined by direct immunoenzymatic tests (using peroxidase-labelled anti human IgG sheep Fab or anti human complement sheep IgG) and compared to those of 9 patients who died of non atherosclerotic diseases. Immunoglobulins and complement bound to all atherosclerotic lesions, all elastic fiber alterations, all lipid infiltration in patients who died of atherosclerosis, as well as in patients who died of various other causes. Binding was generally more intensive in patients who died of atherosclerosis and in arteries irrigating infarcted areas.

[Experimental immune arteriosclerosis of rabbits. Immunoenzymatic study].

The immunization of rabbits with aorta homogenates, constituants of the arterial tissue, serum glycoproteins, or lipopolysaccharides from enterobacteria, leads to the production of cross-reacting antibodies and to identical arteriosclerotic lesions. The incubation of aortic slices with anti-rabbit IgG sheep Fab, or anti-rabbit complement sheep IgG, labelled with peroxidase, shows that IgG and complement are bound on prenecrotic cells and on sheaths of elastic fibers. The binding sites are the same, whatever the immunizing agent.

In vitro immune aggression against rabbit aortic smooth muscle cells.

Rabbit aortic smooth muscle cells cultivated with certain antisera underwent growth changes and necrosis. These cytotoxic antisera were obtained by immunizing rabbits against rat aorta, human or pig aortic glycoproteins, human serum glycoproteins and E. coli lipopolysaccharide.

Rheumatic-like carditis induced in rabbits by cross-reacting antigens: Streptococcus A polysaccharide and rabbit aortic glycoproteins.

A rheumatic-like carditis was induced in rabbits by 8 mo of immunization with small doses of Streptococcus A polysaccharides or peptoglycane and rabbit aortic glycoprotein. Cardiac lesions were detected 5 to 6 mo after the beginning of immunization and were preceded by the appearance of circulating antibodies. The immunopathological study with peroxidase-labeled antibodies indicated the binding of IgG and C3 complement to the damaged cardiac areas.

[Traumatic tricuspid insufficiency with right-left atrial shunt].

A particular form of traumatic tricuspid incompetence with a right-to-left interatrial shunt through a patent foramen ovale is reported. This case and six similar previously published reports have the following features in common: clinically, tricuspid incompetence is associated with cyanosis and raised jugular venous pressure, pulsatile hepatomegaly and a systolic murmur in the subxiphoid region in about haĺf the cases. The ECG showed incomplete or complete right bundle branch block in six of the seven cases, associated with left anterior hemiblock in four cases.

[Behaviour of the aortic lipoidosis in rats twenty months after stopping of an hyperlipidic diet (author's transl)].

48 rats were placed on an hyperlipidic diet (cholesterol, cholic acid, cholin, propylthiouracil), 23 were sacrificed at various intervals from the fourth up to the twelve month of the experiment. In the remaining 25 rats, the atherogenic regimen was replaced by a normal one. These animals were sacrificed one to twenty months after stopping of the experimental diet.

A comparative study of the arterial tissue metabolism in atherosensitive and atheroresistant species. I. Comparison between rabbit and rat aortas.

Twenty eight enzymatic activities and four macromolecular substances have been histochemically compared in rat and rabbit aortas, embedded in a common block. The study was carried out at different stages of development: 3 days, 3 months, 7-9 months and 17-19 months. In addition, lipase and cholinesterase were biochemically assayed in adult rat and rabbit aortas.

[Prolonged probucol treatment in patients with cardiovascular diseases (author's transl)].

Thirty five patients with cardiovascular diseases and hypercholesterolemia were treated with probucol and a low-fat diet for 12 to 50 months. The mean serum cholesterol level decreased from 327,2 to 279,4 mg/dl (- 14,6% p. < 0,001).

[Behaviour of the aortic lipoidosis in rats twenty months after the withdrawal of an hyperlipidic diet (author's transl)].

48 rats were placed on an hyperlipidic diet (cholesterol, cholic acid, cholin, propylthiouracil), 23 were sacrificed at various intervals from the fourth up to the twelve month of the experiment. In the remaining 25 rats, the atherogenic regimen was replaced by a normal one. These animals were sacrificed one to twenty months after the withdrawal of the experimental diet.

Experimental nephropathy induced in rabbits by immunization with Escherichia coli 055 lipopolysaccharide. 2. Immunologic findings.

Thirty-seven rabbits were immunized against lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli or Salmonella enteritidis over a period of up to 16 months. The animals developed antibodies against rabbit renal glycoproteins and against bacterial polysaccharide; they also showed signs of kidney lesions. The immunoperoxidase test showed antibody and complement (C3) fixation on the periphery of glomeruli and tubules.

Cartilage and bone formation in arterial wall. 2. Ultrastructural patterns.

The ultrastructural aspects of cartilaginous and osseous foci developed in aorta of rabbits immunized against rat aorta homogenates was studied. Besides normal and modified smooth muscle cells, various types of transformed mediacytes were observed in and around these foci: some of them resembled connective and young mesenchymatous cells, others had the appearances of cartilaginous and osseous cells. The possible role of the modified (multipotential) smooth muscle cells in aortic chondro- and osteogenesis is considered in some cases.

[Spontaneous aortic lesions in the rabbit. Possible role of immune mechanisms].

The incidence of spontaneous arteriosclerosis, studied in 493 rabbits, increased with ageing. Various evidences suggested the immune nature of these lesions : 1. The direct immunoperoxidase test showed the binding of both rabbit IgG and complement on injured areas, while in apparently normal structures of the same aortas (endothelium and elastic fibers) this binding occurred in some areas with only IgG.

Cartilage and bone formation in arterial wall. 1. Morphological and histochemical aspects.

Cartilaginous and/or osseous foci were observed in eight aortas from 20 rabbits immunized against heterologous aorta homogenates and sacrificed 11 to 24 months later. They were studied by means of histological and histochemical methods and compared with normal aortas, cartilage and bone. Some of the observed changes seemed to be true markers of these transformations.

[Morphological and histochemical behavior of arterial tissue in normal and spontaneously hypo- or hypercholesterolemic rats on a normal or hyperlipidic diet].

Hypo and hypercholesterolemic rats strains were selected (Lyon) and compared to a normocholesterolemic one issued from the same race (Sprague-Dawley). The arterial tissue of these three strains at three ages (10-19-25 months) and their reactivity to an hyperlipidic diet (2 and 6 month duration) were studied using histological and histochemical technics. There were neither histological nor histochemical differences between the three strains whatever the ages.

Experimental nephropathy induced in the rabbit by immunization with a lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli.

Twenty rabbits were each injected with 100 microgram of lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli 055 at weekly intervals for up to 15 months. The antisera showed an immunologic cross-reactivity with rabbit kidney glycoprotein. A macroscopic nephropathy was present in 14 of the 17 rabbits in which the kidneys were examined.

[Early histochemical aging of arteries submitted to constant physical stress].

The hemodynamic stress effect on the tissue metabolism of coronary and splenic arteries was histochemically and comparatively studied in beagle dogs 6 months, 1 and 8 years-old. The results indicated that more than 30 enzyme activities (EA) studied are similar in both vessels in the young animal (6 months). During ageing (1--8 years old dogs) the EA linked to aerobic oxydo-reduction, ATP hydrolysis and estero-lipolysis decreased in the coronary arterial wall; conjointly the lysosomal acid phosphatase increased.

[Aortic myocytes and calciferol-induced arterial calcification: ultrastructural and biochemical study].

Thirty0seven rats were given Vitamin D2 orally at the daily dose of 4000 I.U. for two months, then 8000 I.

Segmental differences in morphogenetic activity of arterial smooth muscle cells. Histochemical and radioautographic studies.

Differences in morphogenetic and metabolic activities of the arterial smooth muscle cells (s.m.c.

[Coronary stenosis in angina pectoris with normal resting electrocardiogram].

The arteriographic abnormalities found in 104 patients with typical angina pectoris and an electrocardiogram at rest which was normal at the time of arteriography were compared with those of 238 cases with typical angina pectoris, but with an abnormal electrocardiogram (127 having ST/T changes, 111 having transmural necrosis). There was no major difference between the two groups as far as the degree of coronary stenosis was concerned, nor in its extent and distribution. However, by comparison with the group with an abnormal electrocardiogram, very tight stenoses of the three trunks or of one trunk alone were slightly less common in the patients with a normal electrocardiogram; also, for each of the three trunks, the index of the lesion was slightly less raised, and the circumflex and right coronary arteries were slightly less commonly, affected, although the difference was not usually great enough to achieve significance.

[Diagnosis of myxomas of the left auricle by ultrasonic echography].

The two case histories of myxoma of the left auricle reported in this paper illustrate how echography is a diagnostic method which is non-invasive, simple, and relatively accurate provided that different angles of incidence are used, and especially the "root aorta-left auricle" incidence. It is indicated especially in cases with variable mitral murmurs on auscultation, but also where there is a very large left auricle, heart failure of unknown cause, or even an apparently straightforward case of mital stenosis. Moreover, as one of these case histories demonstrates, the technique allows both short and long term postoperative follow-up to be carried out with ease and safety, so that a possible recurrence can be picked up later.