Correlation of endoanal sonography with cross-sectional anatomy of the anal sphincter

Abstract Background: Anal endosonography has become an important imaging method in the diagnosis of anorectal disorders. However, little information exists as to whether anal endosonography reliably defines pelvic floor structures. The aim of this study was to correlate endoanal sonography with cross-sectional anatomy and histology. Methods: Endosonographic tomograms were obtained from 9 human cadavers before fixation and cross-sectioning at identical levels. Muscular layers were defined by visual inspection, histology, immunohistology, and morphometry using three-dimensional sphincter reconstructions. Results: Endosonography visualized only two muscular layers, whereas anatomic sections al…

Plexiform Vasculopathy in Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension

Expression of apoptosis-related proteins, p53, and DNA fragmentation in sarcomas of the pulmonary artery

Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Max-Planck Institute for Physiology and Clinical Re-search, Bad Nauheim, Germany.The results of this article were presented at theannual Meeting of the German Society of Pathol-ogy, May 26–29, 1999, Jena, Germany.The authors acknowledge the excellent technicalsupport of Sandra Gerecht and Antonietta Ras-tiello, the photographic support of Peter Pulkowskiand Thomas Bo¨hm, and the helpful comments andcritical reading of the manuscript by Dr. NorbertSpeich (Imogen, Bonn, Germany) and Dr. Ron Un-ger.Address for correspondence: Andreas Gaumann,M.D., Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Max-Planck Institute for Physiology and Clincial Re-search, W. G. Kerckh…

The Vascular Anatomy of the Inner Anterior Abdominal Wall with Special Reference to the Transversus and Rectus Abdominis Musculoperitoneal (TRAMP) Composite Flap for Vaginal Reconstruction

This study was designed to clarify the vascularization of the inner anterior abdominal wall with respect to the novel transversus and rectus abdominis musculoperitoneal (TRAMP) flap, which was introduced recently for vaginal reconstruction. A series of human cadavers was injected with a lead oxide-gelatine mixture by means of the deep inferior epigastric artery and subsequently dissected and examined by radiography. In all cases we found that the blood supply of the entire rectus abdominis muscle from the symphysis to the costal arch and that of the medial 10 to 15 cm of the transversus abdominis muscle, as well as the underlying peritoneum, was provided by several branches of the deep infe…

Lactate adversely affects the in vitro formation of endothelial cell tubular structures through the action of TGF-beta1.

When lactate accumulation in a tumor microenvironment reaches an average concentration of 10-20 mM, it tends to reflect a high degree of malignancy. However, the hypothesis that tumor-derived lactate has a number of partially adverse biological effects on malignant and tumor-associated host cells requires further evidence. The present study attempted to evaluate the impact of lactate on the process of angiogenesis, in particular on the formation of tubular structures. The endothelial cell (EC) network in desmoplastic breast tumors is primarily located in areas of reactive fibroblastic stroma. We employed a fibroblast-endothelial cell co-culture model as in vitro angiogenesis system normally…

Molecular similarities and differences from human pulmonary fibrosis and corresponding mouse model: MALDI imaging mass spectrometry in comparative medicine

Animal models can reproduce some model-specific aspects of human diseases, but some animal models translate poorly or fail to translate to the corresponding human disease. Here, we develop a strategy to systematically compare human and mouse tissues, and conduct a proof-of-concept experiment to identify molecular similarities and differences using patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and a bleomycin-induced fibrosis mouse model. Our novel approach employs high-throughput tissue microarrays (TMAs) of humans and mice, high-resolution matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance-mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-FT-ICR-MSI) to spatially resolve ma…