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We observed that the purified venom of the Tityus serrulatus scorpion (T1 fraction), injected i.v. in rats, in a single dose of 0.5 mg/kg, produces: acute pancreatitis, characterized by degranulation and acinar cell vacuolization, necrosis and an inflammatory reaction, 24, 48 and 96 hours after the injection; chronic pancreatitis, characterized by interstitial fibrosis, lymphocyte infiltration, ductal and ductular dilation, acinar cell atrophy, periductal ductular hyperplasia, 20 days after injection: hyperplasia of Langerhans' islets and nesidioblastosis, associated to chronic pancreatitis. The absence of deaths in the experimental group is an interesting finding: the dose used preserved the animals from death and allowed the safe follow-up of the progression of the provoked pancreatitis. The results led us to conclude that the toxin of Tityus serrulatus scorpion is an agent of considerable efficacy in the induction of pancreatitis in rats providing an experimental model of acute and chronic form of this disease.

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The authors report 16 patients bearing the meningomyeloradicular form of Mansonic neuroschistosomiasis diagnosed according to clinical, laboratorial and image criteria. Patients have been observed at the Neurology Ambulatory of the Federal University of Bahia, within the period of April/91 to December/93. They have been treated with praziquantel, associated to corticosteroids. The aim has been to evaluate the drug's efficiency and safety in decreasing the neurological signs and symptoms.

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PURPOSE: To study the spatial arrangement of the bundles of myocardial fibers presents in the left atrial-venous junctions and in the wall of the pulmonary veins. METHODS: The study was made on 24 human adult hearts, together with pulmonary vessels, fixed in 10% formaldehyde solution. Each specimen was cleared of remnants of pericardium to expose the myocardial fibers as clearly as possible. Particular attention was paid to the atrial-venous junction and the extension of the myocardial fibers in the pulmonary veins. The specimens were embedded in celloidin and cut serially at a thickness of 70 mu and stained by methods of Azan's trichrome. RESULTS: The myocardial bundles leave the atrial wall around the openings of all pulmonary veins forming a sphincter-like structure. These fibers are continuous in the adventitial coat running in oblique or spiral directions. Some bundles, more external, leaving from the atrial wall, surround the ostium of the veins and return to the atrium, forming true loops. CONCLUSION: The extremities of the pulmonary veins and their junctions with the atrium have a morphological substract which may be of physiological importance in the control of the pulmonary venous pressure and blood flow.

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The clinicopathological study of five autopsied cases of Marchiafava-Bignami disease is reported. The demyelination of the central portion of the corpus callosum is the major characteristics of the disease. In two cases the demyelination also involved the anterior and posterior commissures. There is a clear relationship to alcoholism and malnutrition in the cases reported in the present study.

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The neuropathological findings in a fatal case of neurocysticercosis treated with praziquantel are reported in this paper. The extensive necrosis of the parasites besides the exuberant inflammatory response evidence the efficacy of the drug. The severe and necrotizing type of the inflammatory response to the dead parasites may have played an important role in the cause of death of this patient, by developing severe intracranial hypertension.

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It is reported in this paper, the study of the choroid plexus and ependyma in 42 cases of tuberculous meningitis. Granulomatous lesions were found as a very frequent lesion in the choroid plexus (75%). In some cases detached granulomas were found free among the villi. The ependymal lesions seen in 97% of the cases are characteristic of the tuberculous granular ependymitis. The report points out the role of these lesions, played in the pathogenesis of the tuberculous meningitis.

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Scorpion venom effects in the gastrointestinal system have been investigated both in men and experimental animals. Pancreatic flux and enzyme content are increased by TsTX, the purified venom from the scorpion Tityus serrulatus. In this study male rats received a single intravenous injection of TsTX. They were sacrificed 20 days later and their pancreas removed. Histopathological studies showed interstitial fibrosis, mononuclear infiltrate, acinar atrophy and ductal dilatation. There also appeared, although less frequently, eosinophil infiltrates, ductular hyperplasia and dense eosinophilic secretion in enlarged ducts. All lesions were multifocal. Islet hyperplasia and nesidioblastosis were also observed.

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The toxin produced by the Brazilian scorpion Tityrus serrulatus (Tityustoxin) promotes pancreatitis when injected into dogs and rats. The aim of this study is to analyse the histological picture of the rat pancreas at different time intervals after tityustoxin administration. Male adult Wistar rats, weighing 250 +/- 30 g, received i.v. injections of tityustoxin. Different groups were sacrificed after 10, 20 and 40 minutes and after 24 and 96 hours. In all groups the pancreas was removed and examined under light microscope. Results show specific lesions after TsTX administration. After 10, 20 and 40 minutes histological sections of the pancreas showed degeneration with degranulation. After 24 and 96 hours a characteristic picture of acute pancreatitis was evident. Since cellular damage to the pancreas is evident soon after TxTX injection, we suggest a direct action of the venom on this organ. Furthermore, based on these findings, it is possible to claim for a rapid onset of the management of patients offended by scorpion stings.

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This paper reports the study of liver cell dysplasia in cases of hepatic cirrhosis, cirrhosis associated to hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma without cirrhosis. The frequency of the lesion was higher in cases of hepatic cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma associated (84.2%), compared to the other groups. The search for evidence of B virus infection (AgHbs) was positive in 72.7% of the cases with liver cell dysplasia. It is pointed out the relation of liver cell dysplasia, to hepatocellular carcinoma and B virus infection.

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The paper reports the pathological study of 4 autopsied cases of massive basal ganglia calcifications, an entity that although related to hypoparathyroidism or pseudohypoparathyroidism, sometimes can be considered as idiopathic. In our cases no metabolic disturb or any common related disease could be found in association. Interesting is to point out that the lesion is confined to the central nervous system, with no foci of calcification outside the brain. There is a characteristic perivascular distribution of the deposits that, as demonstrated by histochemical study are composed by iron besides calcium.

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The histopathological study of the choroid plexus in cases of schistosomiasis showed that besides the formation of granulomatous lesions around the eggs, there is deposition of granular or linear Azan positive material in subepithelial areas. There is a suggestion that this material may represent immune complex deposit, as has been shown in the renal glomeruli in this disease.

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The pathological findings in the brain of patients who died with idiopathic cardiomegaly are reported. The major findings in the 38 studied cases were cerebral infarcts (10,5%) and cerebral atrophy (7,9%) besides the nonspecific histological changes represented by neuronal ischemic alteration, satellitosis of nerve cells and swollen and hyperplasia of endothelial cells in capilaries of the cerebral cortex. These findings were considered a consequence of the venous stasis of the congestive heart failure. These data were compared to those seen in the brain of patients with heart failure in the course of chronic Chagas disease. The morphological findings were similar. The frequence of infarcts and atrophy was higher in the cases of Chagas disease and the cerebral atrophy was seen in an younger group of patients compared to the cases of idiopathic cardiomegaly. It seems that there is another factor also responsible for the occurrence of cerebral atrophy in Chagas disease, since from the clinical and hemodynamic point of view both cardiopathies have many similarities.

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The involvement of the central nervous system in cysticercosis was demonstrate as an incidental finding in a frequence of 0,3% in 4000 autopsied cases. Most of the 12 patients came from rural areas of the State of Bahia. The low frequence compared to other sites reported in Brasil shows that the neurcysticercosis does not represent an important problem in Bahia. The host tissue response observed was represented by a chronic fibrosing inflammatory type of reaction. This study points out the importance of the methenamine silver stain (Grocott) in the identification of the degenerated embryo inside the fibrous and/or calcified lesions.

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In the study of 38 cases of leukemia, neoplastic infiltration of the brain was the most frequent lesion, occuring in 70,5%, compared to 48,5% for hemorrhage. The leptomeninges were the most frequent site of leukemic infiltration followed by the choroid plexus (57,8%) and the nervous tissue (50%). In few cases leukemic infiltration of choroid plexus was seen in the absence of meningeal involvement. Very often the leukemic infiltration of the CNS courses without clinical manifestations. The paper points out the importance of the cytologic study of the cerebro-spinal fluid as a routine procedure in cases of leukemia, since it is well known that the therapeutic agents have difficulty in penetrating the blood-brain barrier and that foci of CNS leukemic infiltration may represent points of reactivation points of reactivation of the disease even during the therapeutic remission.

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