Thoracic splenosis presenting as pulmonary space-occupying lesion.

BACKGROUND: Spleen leaves its normal anatomical position and appears in other locations, which is called ectopic spleen. It is most commonly found in the abdomen or pelvis with seeding of the peritoneum, omentum or mesentery. A few of cases of thoracic splenosis associated with traumatic diaphragmatic rupture have been reported. CASE PRESENTATION: We make a report on a case of intrapulmonary thoracic splenosis. A 44-year-old male patient underwent splenectomy due to a high fall accident injury in 2008. After ten years, thoracic splenosis were found in the lungs and chest wall. Clinical diagnosis was unidentified masses, benign tumor of lungs and chest wall. The radiological imaging was suggestive of the thoracic splenosis, After surgery, the diagnosis of thoracic splenosis was confirmed by pathological diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Thoracic splenosis may occur after the injury to spleen and surgical treatment may not be the preferred method for asymptomatic or less symptomatic thoracic splenosis.

Lymph Node-on-Chip Technology: Cutting-Edge Advances in Immune Microenvironment Simulation.

Organ-on-a-chip technology is attracting growing interest across various domains as a crucial platform for drug screening and testing and is set to play a significant role in precision medicine research. Lymph nodes, being intricately structured organs essential for the body's adaptive immune responses to antigens and foreign particles, are pivotal in assessing the immunotoxicity of novel pharmaceuticals. Significant progress has been made in research on the structure and function of the lymphatic system. However, there is still an urgent need to develop prospective tools and techniques to delve deeper into its role in various diseases' pathological and physiological processes and to develop corresponding immunotherapeutic therapies. Organ chips can accurately reproduce the specific functional areas in lymph nodes to better simulate the complex microstructure of lymph nodes and the interactions between different immune cells, which is convenient for studying specific biological processes. This paper reviews existing lymph node chips and their design approaches. It discusses the applications of the above systems in modeling immune cell motility, cell-cell interactions, vaccine responses, drug testing, and cancer research. Finally, we summarize the challenges that current research faces in terms of structure, cell source, and extracellular matrix simulation of lymph nodes, and we provide an outlook on the future direction of integrated immune system chips.

Spectrometric study on the interaction of dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide with curcumin.

The interaction between dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) and curcumin has been studied in pH 5.0 sodium phosphate buffer using absorption and fluorescence measurements. With increasing DTAB concentration (C(DTAB)) from 0 to 20 mM, the absorption peak of curcumin at 430 nm, corresponding to the conjugated structure of curcumin, first weakens gradually into a shoulder but increases back into one peak with much higher absorption intensity. On the contrary, as C(DTAB) increases, the initial small absorption shoulder of curcumin at 355 nm, corresponding to the feruloyl unit of curcumin, first increases gradually into a clear peak but decreases back into one shoulder until almost disappeared finally. By remaining at nearly the same wavelength, the fluorescence of curcumin first decreases at C(DTAB) lower than 5 mM and then increases gradually up to C(DTAB) = 10 mM, which is followed by sharp increases of fluorescence intensity with marked blue-shifts at higher C(DTAB). The values of anisotropy and microviscosity of curcumin obtained from the fluorescence polarization technique also showed pronounced changes at different surfactant concentrations. The interaction mechanisms of DTAB with curcumin have been presented at low, intermediate, and high surfactant concentrations, which is relating to interaction forces, surfactant aggregations, as well as structural alterations of curcumin.

Temperature-dependent stability and DPPH scavenging activity of liposomal curcumin at pH 7.0.

This paper investigated the influences of temperature on the stability and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity of curcumin encapsulated in liposome at pH 7.0. Liposomal curcumin showed higher stability and DPPH scavenging activity than free curcumin at 25°C. When temperature increased from 25 to 80°C, liposomal curcumin degraded more pronouncedly above the phase transition temperature (T(m)=45.7°C) of liposome than lower temperatures, suggesting a weaker curcumin protection from the liquid crystalline phase of phospholipid bilayer than that from the gel phase. Moreover, the presence of remarkable "jump" increases around T(m) in the values of observed pseudo-first-order rate constant and the percent of DPPH scavenging activity of liposomal curcumin indicated that the liquid crystalline phase of phospholipid bilayer is more beneficial for curcumin to reduce DPPH. This study reveals that changing the microstructure of encapsulation carrier may effectively control the properties of phytochemicals like curcumin.

Effects of curcumin concentration and temperature on the spectroscopic properties of liposomal curcumin.

The spectroscopic properties of liposomal curcumin in pH 7.0 sodium phosphate buffer were studied at various curcumin concentrations and temperatures. At 25 °C, liposomal curcumin exhibited much higher values than free curcumin in absorption maximum, fluorescence maximum, and fluorescence anisotropy. When curcumin concentration was increased from 2 to 20 µM, the values of fluorescence anisotropy of liposomal curcumin decreased gradually, consistent with the reduction of phase transition temperature of liposome. This observation revealed that liposomal curcumin can disrupt the packing of phospholipid bilayer and give a loose and disordered structure. On the other hand, as the temperature was increased from 25 to 80 °C, the relative intensity of maximum absorption of liposomal curcumin showed a more pronounced decrease above the phase transition temperature than lower temperatures, suggesting a weaker curcumin protection from the liquid crystalline phase of phospholipid bilayer than the rigid gel phase. However, it was observed that the fluorescence anisotropy of liposomal curcumin had higher values as the temperature increased. This phenomenon was explained as the result of location change of curcumin toward the core of phospholipid bilayer, although the structure of the phospholipid bilayer tended to be looser at higher temperatures.