No abstract

BAT-26 instability, a sensitive marker for the high-frequency microsatellite instability (MSI-H) phenotype, was analyzed in samples of gastric cancer and in adjacent intestinal metaplastic mucosae. Although all MSI-H gastric cancer samples showed BAT-26 instability, as assessed using 12 dinucleotide microsatellite markers, BAT-26 instability was not found in the adjacent intestinal metaplastic mucosa in any of the samples.

A convenient high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for the rapid assay of granisetron (GRN) in biological fluids, such as serum, urine, and pleural effusion, from cancer patients. Extrelut-1 was used for the solid-phase extraction. HPLC was carried out using a LiChroCART cartridge column packed with Lichrospher 100 CN and a mobile phase consisting of 0.1 M acetate buffer (pH 3.5) and acetonitrile (7:3). A fluorescence detector of 290 nm for excitation and 365 nm for emission was used. The standard curve was linear over the range of 2 to 100 ng/ml of GRN. Assay precision, expressed as a coefficient of variation (C.V.), was in the range of 0.9-5.4% in the within-day assay and 2.5-6.9% in the between-day assay, respectively. GRN was well separated on the HPLC chromatogram from drugs such as etoposide, metclopramide, ondansetron, and domperidone which are often used together with GRN. It was suggested that the present method is useful for the rapid monitoring of GRN in the serum, urine, and pleural effusion of patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy.

These findings suggest that amylase and glycoconjugates are present in the secretory granules in sialadenosis although the granule structure is abnormal, being enlarged by disturbance of normal protein synthesis and release at the cellular level and by dense-core formation in the granules.

Diabetic nephropathy is a major cause of chronic renal failure in Japan, and the prevalence rate has markedly increased during the past decade. Diabetic nephropathy shows various specific histological changes not only in glomeruli but also in the interstitial region. Nodular, diffuse, and exudative lesions, so-called diabetic glomerulosclerosis, are well known as glomerular lesions. At first, they were historically evaluated only by light microscopy, and thus which components of the glomeruli were modified was not sufficiently clear. Subsequent electron microscopic studies clarified that the expansion of the mesangial matrix was the true form of nodular and diffuse lesions, and that insudated serum substance was the real appearance of an exudative lesion. Interstitial lesions also exhibit specific features in diabetic nephropathy. In electron microscopic studies, it was proved that the size of mitochondria and thickness of the tubular basement membrane were increased in diabetic nephropathy. In this review, we introduce typical electron microscopic findings in diabetic nephropathy and recent opinions on the progression of diabetic nephropathy.