R Binggeli’s research while affiliated with University of Southern California and other places

Norepinephrine has been shown to improve signal-to-noise ratios of sensory systems, including that of the auditory system. Yohimbine has been observed to cause a selective increase of cerebral norepinephrine. It was administered in one dose to sensorineurally impaired subjects with the object of improving their speech hearing in noise. Speech intelligibility was measured by the adaptive procedure. Mild, significant improvement was noted in one of the hearing components, "attenuation," and an adverse effect was shown on "distortion," owing to noise. Auditory brainstem response was improved significantly. The objective of temporarily improving intelligibility in noise was not attained.

A diagnostic procedure during a nutritionally supported fast week followed by conventional food sensitivity management achieved major improvement for 80% of a migraine panel. This procedure gave a reliable (0.8 correlation coefficient) prognosis on the substantial value of this approach for selection of the treatment of migraine. The study gave two lines of evidence which indicate that migraine has an etiology of food sensitivity.

Most cancer cells are known to have lower resting cellular potentials than do their normal counterparts. This study investigates how these potentials establish themselves during growth and cellular contact in tissue culture. Normal quail embryonic fibroblasts and quail fibrosarcoma (QT-35) and normal rat kidney cells and rat fibrosarcoma (from rat fibroblasts chemically transformed by nitroquinoline oxide) were recorded intracellularly using high-impedance micropipets. In high-density high-contact cultures, both quail and rat cancer cells had lower potentials than did normal cells (-20.7 compared to -40.1 mV for quail and -30.7 compared to -61.9 mV for rat). In low-density mitotically synchronous cultures, the rat cells were recorded every 4 hr for 96 hr. Starting at a low density, normal cell membrane potential is maintained at a low level through subsequent cell divisions. Without any additional change in cell density, the potential suddenly elevates to a high level. The membrane potential of cancer cells is by contrast unrelated either to cell density or to time. Cancer cells maintained an intermediate potential from low to very high densities and never elevated their potential to high values. The failure of cancer cells to reach high potentials may be linked to their uncontrolled cell division.

A diagnostic procedure developed for adults and children which includes a week-long fast nutritionally supported with a chemically defined diet was applied to a pilot group of children having ADD/HA syndrome. A probable etiology of food hypersensitivity was shown for a majority of the panel with several standard subjective tests. Three neurological tests, one of which was of the corpus callosum, were evaluated as objective measurements of ADD/HA. Management procedures are not discussed. A follow-up at one year showed substantial continuing control for many of the subjects. It is suggested that this type of general diagnostic procedure be employed to indicate for treatment those having food sensitivity as the primary etiology.

Several lines of investigation point to differences in electrical properties between normal and cancerous cells. Several tumor lines have low-resting membrane potentials. A few comparisons have been made between normal and tumor cells within the same tissue cell type. This study compares the cellular or transmembrane potential of hepatocytes and fibroblasts in both normal and tumor cells. High-impedance micropipets were used to record intracellularly in vivo in Buffalo rat hepatocytes and Morris 7777 hepatoma cells, as well as A/J mouse corneal fibroblasts and poorly differentiated fibrosarcoma cells. Rat hepatocytes had a mean membrane potential of -37.1 +/- 4.3 (S.D.) mV compared to -19.8 +/- 7.1 mV in the hepatoma cells. Mouse corneal fibroblasts measured -42.5 +/- 5.4 mV, while cells of mouse fibrosarcoma were -14.3 +/- 5.4 mV. The membrane potentials of the tumor cells were lower in both instances than in their normal counterpart (statistically significant at p = 0.001 for both tissue cell types). This supports the notion that lower cellular or membrane potentials may play a significant role in the altered physiology of the tumor cell.