Shelley N Chou

✓ In vitro experiments were performed to determine the contractile activity of human serum and cerebrospinal fluid on the canine basilar artery. The majority of contractile activity in these CSF samples, which were collected 2 to 7 days following a subarachnoid hemorrhage, was proven to be due to serotonin. Serotonin was capable of producing a prolonged contraction of the artery depending on its activity. Methylsergide reversibly blocked the artery's response to serotonin and caused a ...

In vitro experiments were performed with a small volume chamber to determine the contractile activity of various vasoactive agents on human basilar and anterior cerebral arteries. Cumulative log-dose response curves were obtained for most of the agents tested including serotonin and three different prostaglandins; many of these curves were found to be similar to curves previously obtained with canine cerebral arteries. It was concluded from these similarities that canine cerebral ...

✓ In vivo experiments in dogs demonstrated that physiological concentrations of serotonin, when injected intracisternally, caused cerebral arterial spasm that lasted for at least 3 hours. Comparable spasm was produced by the injection of blood containing approximately the same amount of serotonin. Phenoxybenzamine reversed both the spasm produced by pure serotonin and that produced by blood. A hypothesis of the etiology of cerebral arterial spasm is proposed based on the experimental ...

Stimulating electrodes were placed on the terminal branches of the pelvic nerves to the urinary bladder and the pudendal nerve to the sphincters in seven Rhesus monkeys and two chimpanzees. The proximity of the electrodes to these structures assured organ specificity. Evoked responses produced by stimulation of these terminal nerve branches were recorded in the fascicles and rootlets of the lower thoracic, lumbar, and sacral nerve roots. During identical stimulating and recording ...

The clinical outcome of our first 40 patients (six with transient ischemic attacks, 22 with mild ischemic infarctions, and 12 with moderate ischemic infarctions) treated with a superficial temporal artery-middle cerebral artery anastomosis was analyzed. All cerebral ischemias or infarctions occurred in the internal carotid artery distribution. An independent neurologist observer recorded the patients preoperative and postoperative medical and neurological histories and objective ...

Stimulating electrodes were placed on the terminal branches of the pudendal nerve to the external urethral and external anal sphincters. The proximity of the electrodes to the sphincters assured organ specificity. Evoked responses produced by stimulation of these terminal nerve branches were recorded in the fascicles and rootlets of the lower thoracic, lumbar, and sacral nerve roots. By this method, the segmental spinal cord origin of the innervation of the external urethral and anal ...

The efficacy of cerebral revascularization by anastomosis of the superficial temporal artery (STA) to the middle cerebral artery (MCA), performed 4 and 24 hours after a regional MCA infarction had been produced by combined occlusion of the MCA and internal carotid artery, was tested in 12 dogs. To control possible intercurrent variables, seven other dogs remained untreated and five had a sham operation. Clinical and pathological changes were recorded and analyzed. An incidence of 85% ...

In vitro experiments were performed using a small volume chamber to study serotonin-induced contractions of the canine basilar artery. Temperature was found to have a profound effect on the artery's response to serotonin. Raising the temperature to 40 degrees C (104 degrees F) increased the maximum response by 20% and lowering the temperature by 10 degrees C caused a 40% reduction in the maximum contraction. Cumulative log-dose response curves for analogues of serotonin demonstrated a ...

✓ This report presents 18 cases of lipoma of the spinal cord or cauda equina, four of which were unassociated with congenital anomalies of the spine and 14 with such anomalies. Review of the literature shows that unassociated cases are rare, with only 100 cases reported, while those associated with congenital anomalies are more common. The patients ranged in age from 2 months to 5 years. Fourteen patients had external evidence of an abnormality in the form of a mass or dimple over the ...

✓ This report describes a technique of differential sacral rhizotomy for the treatment of neurogenic bladder dysfunction, particularly symptoms of frequency, urgency, and incontinence due to detrusor hyperreflexia. Under cystometric control, the sacral nerve roots are stimulated and anesthetized to determine the correct roots for section. Under magnification, cutting a few but not all of the fascicles in one or two roots increases bladder capacity while preserving detrusor reflex and ...

Fifteen infants and children, 11 of whom had clinical brain death and four of whom were comatose, were evaluated with the radionuclide bolus study and electroencephalography. Clinical criteria for brain death included: (1) absence of spontaneous respirations, (2) absence of cephalic reflexes, and (3) unresponsiveness. Results demonstrated complete correlation among clinical examination, EEG, and radionuclide study in 79% of cases. An approach to the evaluation of the infant or child with ...

✓ Brain injury was created in anesthetized dogs by the inflation and subsequent deflation of an epidural balloon. Animals in which intracranial pressure (ICP) increased to 40 torr within 3 hours after balloon removal were included in a randomized treatment protocol that included three treatment groups. Group I (control animals) received no additional treatment. Group II animals received 40 mg/kg pentobarbital initially, plus hourly doses. Group III animals received sufficient sodium ...

Quantitation of the concentration of immunoproteins in serum, and cystic fluids from six patients (three with cerebral astrocytoma and three with cerebellar hemangioblastoma) has been determined. The values for total protein, albumin, immunoproteins IgG, IgA, and IgM, and C3C (complement) in cyst fluid more closely correspond to serum than to cerebrospinal fluid values. Values for cyst fluid, cerebrospinal fluid, and serum were determined using albumin ratios in order to compare relative ...

The authors present the results of a controlled, randomized study of alterations in spinal cord blood flow, CO2 responsiveness, and autoregulation following experimental spinal cord injury in cats. Permanent paraplegia is shown to be associated with persistent hyperemia, loss of CO2 responsiveness, and impaired autoregulation in the white matter at the injury site. Probable mechanisms underlying these changes in spinal cord vasomotor control are discussed. Marked similarities between ...