Auditory evoked potentials in multiple sclerosis: alpha responses are reduced in amplitude, but theta responses are not altered.

Auditory evoked potentials (EPs) were measured in a group of 16 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and in a control group of 20 subjects. In vertex recordings, response amplitudes were reduced in the MS group. Remarkably, EP frequency components computed from the averaged EPs showed different degrees of amplitude reduction in different frequency channels: alpha (7-12 Hz) components were reduced whereas theta (4-7 Hz) responses were not altered.

Visual evoked potentials in multiple sclerosis: frequency response shows reduced alpha amplitude.

Visual evoked potentials were measured in a group of 16 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and in a control group of 20 subjects. With respect to vertex and occipital recordings, latencies of main peaks were prolonged and response amplitudes were reduced in the MS group. As a result of frequency domain analysis we found that the amplitude reduction was not uniform in all frequency ranges: alpha (7-12 (Hz) components of EPs were markedly reduced whereas theta (4-7 Hz) responses were not altered.

[Oligoclonal bands of four IgG subfractions and IgM and IgA in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of friends with multiple sclerosis].

Using the methods of isoelectric focusing and immunoblotting the CSF and serum immunoglobulins were analysed in 47 patients with multiple sclerosis and 57 patients with other neurological diseases. The oligoclonal bands were found in the IgG fraction in 42 multiple sclerosis (ms) patients and 13 controls. The percent proportion of oligoclonal bands in various IgG subfractions was similar in both groups and was: 66% and 61% respectively for IgG1, 22% and 22% for IgG3, 12% and 17% for IgG2.

[Cerebrospinal fluid parameters in Guillain-Barré polyradiculitis. Importance of barrier disorder and intrathecal immunoglobulin synthesis].

With routine CSF determination of 21 patients with GBS the BBB and the intrathecal IgG synthesis was investigated when calculated CSF/serum albumin ratio and CSF IgG-index respectively. Only in 2 of 21 patients (9.5%) an intrathecal IgG synthesis and in 14 of 21 patients (67%) a BBB damage was found.

Expression of alpha 2-glycoprotein by glial precursor cells: an immunocytochemical study with glial cultures.

Studies on the presence of the brain-specific alpha 2-glycoprotein in cultures of newborn rat brain cells revealed that a population of glial precursor cells expressed this antigen at an early stage of development. This cell population consisted of small, phase-dark cells that proliferated in culture and occupied the surface of a layer of flat epithelial-like astrocytes. The latter cell type did not react with the antibodies.

Ethanol and polyneuropathy.

Two groups of alcoholics (30 patients each)--identified by the MALT score--were examined. Clinical and laboratory investigations showed no connection between thiamine, riboflavin, or Vitamin B6 deficiency and development of the polyneuropathy. Neither the polyneuropathy nor the diminished sensory conduction velocity were related to malnutrition.

[Sporadic and familial-occurring multiple sclerosis. HLA typing and study of chromosomal sister chromatid exchange rate].

HLA and sister chromatid exchange (SCE) has been investigated in 17 multiple sclerosis cases and 10 controls. While the HLA showed no differences between familial cases of MS and the control group, in sporadic cases of MS the occurrence of the antigen A3 and B7 have been confirmed. The study showed a significant increase of the SCE-rate in sporadic cases of multiple sclerosis, in the contrary, in those cases with familial occurrence no changes in the SCE-rate could be found.

Thiamine deficiency and nervous system function disturbances.

Thiamine is important for oxidative metabolism, and B1 deficiency is thought to give rise to polyneuropathies. A group of male Wistar rats (n = 15) received a vitamin B1 deficient diet (group-a), and the pair fed control group (n = 20, group-b) received a normal diet with no vitamin deficiency. A second control group (group-c) was fed unrestrictedly with a standard diet (n = 19).

The influence of vitamin B6 deficiency on somatosensory stimulus conduction in the rat.

Whilst 22 male Wistar rats were fed on a pyridoxine-deficient diet for 26 weeks, 22 controls received a normal diet. The vitamin B6 deficient animals lost no weight but they developed symptoms of rat pellagra. The sensory nerve conduction velocity, the compound radicular, spinal and brain stem responses and the SEP were derived following tail and hind paw stimulation.

Immunoelectron microscopy of alpha 2-glycoprotein. An astrocyte-specific antigen.

The cellular and fine structural localization of the soluble brain-specific acidic alpha 2-glycoprotein was investigated using the indirect immunohistochemical method. The electron microscope was used to unambiguously identify cells containing the antigen. A single type of cell, the astrocyte, was found to be labelled with specific antisera directed against alpha 2-glycoprotein.

Cellular localization of the brain specific alpha 2-glycoprotein in rat cerebellum: an immunohistological study.

The cellular localization of the brain-specific, soluble, acidic alpha 2-glycoprotein was studied in rat cerebellum by using the immunoperoxidase technique at the light-and electron-microscopy levels with monospecific immune serum directed against this glycoprotein. Only astrocytes, their processes, and their end feet (subpial or perivascular) contained heavy immunoperoxidase reaction product. Cerebellar neurones, oligodendrocytes, myelin and blood vessel endothelia did not stain.

[Psychotic disturbance and epilepsy as principal signs of arteriovenous angioma of the brain--described on case history basis (author's transl)].

The article describes the case of a 36-year old female patient with left temporal arteriovenous angioma suffering from psychomotoric epilepsy followed five years later by a symptomatic psychosis (paraphrenia). Basing on the case history of this patient, the phenomenological, neurophysiologico-biochemical and cerebrolocalisatory common features of psychotic disturbance and psychomotoric epilepsy are discussed; the etiologically underlying lesion of the limbic system is described. As far as clinical practice is concerned, the author raises the demand that, to say the least, orientating neurological diagnosis should be included at any early stage into differential diagnostic considerations.

Quantitation of glial fibrillary acidic protein in human brain tumours.

The glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFA) content of 58 human brain tumours was determined by quantitative immunoelectrophoresis, using monospecific antibody against GFA. Astrocytomas, glioblastomas, oligodendrogliomas, spongioblastomas, ependymomas and medulloblastomas contained relatively high amounts of GFA, up to 85 times the concentration in parietal grey substance of normal human brain. GFA was not found in neurinomas, meningiomas, adenomas of the hypophysis, or in a single case of metastasis of adenocarcinoma.

[Nystagmus giratoire and optic nerve hypoplasia in combination with absence of the septum pellucidum (author's transl)].

Septo-optical dysplasia and Optic nerve hypoplasia often are combined with pendular nystagmus in the horizontal, vertikal or rotatory direction. Our patient, 26 year old, showing discret neurological symptoms, added the nystagmus giratoire, perhaps similar to see-saw-nystagmus: Vision was about 0.2.

["Slow virus" infections and degenerative diseases of the central nervous system].

Slow virus infections of the central nervous system are produced by both conventional and unconventional viruses. Diseases of the central nervous system which are produced by unconventional viruses are discussed. They are kuru and the Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.

[Lymphocyte sensitivity to brain specific glycoprotein in multiple sclerosis].

The lymphocytes of seven out of eight multiple sclerosis patients were sensitized to brain-specific glycoproteins that had been isolated from extracts of human white matter and purified by means of affinity chromatography utilizing specific antibodies as immunoadsorbents. The diagnosis of multiple sclerosis for the eighth patient, whose lymphocytes were not sensitized, was doubtful. A significant correlation between the severity of the disease and degree of lymphocyte sensitization was not obtained, although the most disabled patient showed the greatest sensitization.

Primary malignant melanoma of the gallbladder.

A primary malignant melanoma of the gallbladder in a 44-years-old man is presented. The typical pathologic findings in the now eight reported cases are analysed. The clinical course of the present case was determined by multiple metastases to the brain.

Immunological differential diagnosis of human brain tumours.

Results of immunological experiments with various human brain tumours show differences between astrocytoma and glioblastoma multiforme when brain-specific alpha2-glycoprotein is used as an immunological marker. On this basis a tentative model of cytogenesis and oncogenic transformation of glial cells was presented. Morphological resemblances between the brain-specific alpha2-glycoprotein immuno-precipitation lines obtained from astrocytoma cells and from normal cerebral white matter treated with neuraminidase are discussed in relation to experimental and clinical studies of tumour cells treated with neuraminidase.

[Quantitative determination of glia-specific proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with MS (author's transl)].

150 cerebrospinal fluids from MS patients (85 cases) and patients with different neurological diseases (65 cases) were investigated for their glia-specific content. The demonstration was made quantitatively by means of modified passive hemagglutination tests. The brain-specific glycoprotein was examined for its possible endogenous antigen and/or antibody properties in the cerebrospinal fluid (csf).