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Bilateral subtotal resection or enucleation or unilateral resection was performed in 60 patients (36 with bland nodular goitre, 24 with autonomic adenoma). The thyrotropic pituitary activity and the peripheral thyroid function were examined in all patients preoperatively and followed up for 12 months postoperatively. The results show that all patients with bilaterally resected bland nodular goitre require postoperative administration of thyroid hormone, since enhanced thyrotropic activity is seen not later than three months after surgery. Since thyrotropic function remains normal in unilaterally operated nodular goitre, thyroid hormone administration does not appear generally necessary. In patients with autonomic adenoma there is postoperatively variability of function, independent of the surgical method employed. In view of possible functional recompensation, final decision on the administration of thyroid hormones should not be made before the end of the sixth postoperative month. These results can be considered as guidelines for a differentiated postoperative management.

To assess intestinal absorption in the early post-operative period, portal and subclavian vein catheters were implanted into 8 pigs. For direct d-xylose infusion into the upper small intestine a feeding tube was inserted via a gastrostomy. Four control animals (Group 1) underwent an open and close laparotomy after catheter and tube implantation. Four pigs (Group 2) underwent a standardised ileocoecostomy. At 6, 24, 36, 48 and 72 h after surgery, d-xylose was infused into the small intestine in both groups of animals. After single-dose administration the absorption kinetics were measured in the pre- and post-hepatic blood compartment. With increasing time after operation the rate and extent of d-xylose absorption returned towards normal but there were significant differences in the d-xylose kinetics between the two groups. The absorption kinetics and d-xylose uptake recovered more rapidly in the control group than in those who underwent ileocoecostomy. Effective enteral feeding in controls after 36 h was achieved, but in Group 2 was delayed until 48 h post-operatively. Absorption capacity returned to normal after 48 h in controls and after 72 h in Group 2.

Although the rabbit brain, in particular the basal forebrain cholinergic system, has become a common model for neuropathological changes associated with Alzheimer's disease, detailed neuroanatomical studies on the morphological organization of basal forebrain cholinergic nuclei and on their output pathways are still awaited. Therefore, we performed quantitative choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immunocytochemistry to localize major cholinergic nuclei and to determine the number of respective cholinergic neurons in the rabbit forebrain. The density of ChAT-immunoreactive terminals in layer V of distinct neocortical territories and in hippocampal subfields was also measured. Another cholinergic marker, the low-affinity neurotrophin receptor (p75(NTR)), was also employed to identify subsets of cholinergic neurons. Double-immunofluorescence labeling of ChAT and p75(NTR), calbindin D-28k (CB), parvalbumin, calretinin, neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), tyrosine hydroxylase, or substance P was used to elucidate the neuroanatomical borders of cholinergic nuclei and to analyze the neurochemical complexity of cholinergic cell populations. Cholinergic projection neurons with heterogeneous densities were found in the medial septum, vertical and horizontal diagonal bands of Broca, ventral pallidum, and magnocellular nucleus basalis (MBN)/substantia innominata (SI) complex; cholinergic interneurons were observed in the caudate nucleus, putamen, accumbens nucleus, and olfactory tubercule, whereas the globus pallidus was devoid of cholinergic nerve cells. Cholinergic interneurons were frequently present in the hippocampus and to a lesser extent in cerebral cortex. Cholinergic projection neurons, except those localized in SI, abundantly expressed p75(NTR), and a subset of cholinergic neurons in posterior MBN was immunoreactive for CB and nNOS. A strict laminar distribution pattern of cholinergic terminals was recorded both in the cerebral cortex and in CA1-CA3 and dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. In summary, the structural organization and chemoarchitecture of rabbit basal forebrain may be considered as a transition between that of rodents and that of primates. (C) 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.