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Chiari anomalies in the human right atrium ostensibly are encountered rarely. There is only sporadic mention in the literature of these fenestrated, net-like valves of the inferior vena cava, coronary sinus, or various strands connecting these with other right atrial structures. The effects of such structural anomalies on heart function are unknown. We report here gross observations of the right atrial net from among 213 cadavers, 38 autopsied, and 11 fetal hearts. Histological and ultrastructural examination of inferior vena cava and coronary sinus valves demonstrated that only the anomalous coronary sinus valves contained cardiac muscle. Chiari anomalies typically have referred to perforations or tissue strands related to the inferior vena cava valve and possibly the coronary sinus valve. The anomaly commonly is cited as occurring in 2% of individuals, although there has been no study to support this. We observed Chiari malformations in 13.6% of the 213 cadaver hearts, and 10.5% of the autopsied hearts examined. Of these malformations, the coronary sinus valve was fenestrated most frequently. We propose the term "right atrial net" for "Chiari net," for anomalies involving valves of the inferior vena cava and coronary sinus, and strands within the right atrium connecting these valves with the crista terminalis, right atrial wall, or interatrial septum.

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Phase partition fixation permits fixation of tissue in a nonaqueous environment, thus eliminating osmotic effects. It was shown in an earlier investigation that retention of protein in liver blocks can be improved by phase partition Incation. By using radioisotopic labeling techniques, the effects of phase partition fixation on lipid retention during Incation, dehydration, and dearing have been determined and compared with those of standard aqueous Iixation techniques. In this artide we show that retention of total lipid

The Feulgen reaction is used for cytophotometric quantitation of nuclear DNA. Schiff's reagents used in the Feulgen reaction usually are prepared from basic fuchsin, a variable mixture of four triaminotriphenylmethane analogs. The effect of the several fuchsin analogs on the quality of Schiff's staining of hydrolyzed DNA is not known. In this investigation Schiff's reagents prepared from relatively pure fuchsin analogs were used to determine whether different fuchsin analogs affect the absorbance of the Schiff's reagent-DNA complexes formed in solution. It has been determined that the complex formed by pararosaniline-Schiff's reagent and hydrolyzed DNA exhibits lower absorption than do corresponding complexes formed by Schiff's reagents prepared from magenta II or from new fuchsin.

It has been proposed in the literature that Schiffs reagent reacts with aldehydes to form one of the following types of compounds: alkylsulfonic acids, N-sulfinic acid derivatives, or Schiff bases. Model compounds whose structures are consistent with those proposed in the literature have been synthesized and subjected to infrared analysis. Also, actual products of Schiff reagent reactions with various aldehydes have been isolated and examined using infrared spectroscopy. Comparison of the spectra of the model compounds with those of Schiff-aldehyde reaction products yielded the following conclusions: 1. The reaction of simple organic aldehydes with Schiff's reagent produces an alkylsulfonate-type reaction product. 2. The reaction of periodate-oxidized glycogen with Schiff's reagent probably involves the formation of an alklsulfonate-type compound. 3. The product of the Schiff-aldehyde reaction exists as neither an N-sulfinic acid nor a Schiff base derivative of the fuchsin molecule.

Aldehyde fuchsin stains pancreatic B cell granules, hypophyseal basophils, goblet cell mucins, gastric chief cells, hyaline cartilage, and elastica. Neither the chemical structure of aldehyde fuchsin nor its staining mechanism is known. This study was undertaken to clarify the role of the fuchsin component of aldehyde fuchsin in its staining reaction. The major findings of this investigation include: 1) single N-methylation of the fuchsin molecule abolishes staining of unoxidized pancreatic B cells, although it does Paraldehyde, a cyclic trimer of acetaldehyde, depolymerizes to acetaldehyde in the presence of HCI. Bangle (1954) suggested that the acetaldehyde then could react with the amino groups of basic fuchsin to form a Schiff base (azomethine). Sumner (1965) confirmed that the amino groups offuchsin are the sites ofaldehyde attachment by using amine blocking reagents to prevent the formation of aldehyde fuchsin. Buehner et al. (1979) systematically varied the aldehyde moiety ofaldehyde fuchsin to determine its role in the staining reaction. They showed that acetaldehyde, whether reacted with pararosaniline-HCI directly or as paraldehyde, produced the most intense stain for almost all aldehyde fuchsin-positive tissues tested. They also showed that only acetaldehyde and paraldehyde fuchsins stained unoxidized B cells of the pancreas. Because their experimental aldehyde fuchsin analogs stained known tissue anions, but not unoxidized B cells, they concluded that the reaction of aidehyde fuchsin with unoxidized pancreatic B cells is more specific than electrostatic attraction ofa basic dye to an acidic tissue. by these aldehyde fuchsin variants. Materials and Methods Dyes. The following dyes, in as pure form as possible, were used as fuchsin variants in this investigation: A. Triaminotriphenylmethanes I. Pararosaniline-HCI (CI. #42500) 2. N-Methylated pararosaniline-HCI (No CI. Number) 3. Methyl violet 2B (Cl. #42535) 4. Crystal violet (Cl. #42555) B. Thiazins 1. Thionin-HCI (Cl. #52000) 2. Azure C (CI. #52002) 3. Azure A (CI. #52005) The hydrochloride ofpararosaniline was prepared by recrystallization of the carbinol (Chroma-Gesellschaft, Schmid and Co. , West Germany) from acid alcohol (l9 v/v concentrated HCI in 70% ethanol). The dye content of this lot was 92%. The Chroma pararosaniline was analyzed by mass spectrometry, courtesy of the