Asperuloside attenuates cadmium-induced toxicity by inhibiting oxidative stress, inflammation, fibrosis and apoptosis in rats.

This present study investigated the protective effects of asperuloside (ASP) against cadmium-induced nephrocardiac toxicity. Rats were treated with 50 mg/kg of ASP for five weeks and CdCl2 (5 mg/kg, p.o., once daily) during the last 4 weeks of ASP treatment. The serum levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Scr), aspartate transaminase (AST), creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), troponin T (TnT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were evealuted. Oxido-inflammatory parameters were detected via malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1beta (IL-1ß) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB). Additionally, the cardiorenal levels of caspase 3, transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß), α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), collagen IV and Bcl2 were measured by ELISA or immunohistochemical assays. The results indicated that ASP significantly decreased Cd-instigated oxidative stress, serum BUN, Scr, AST, CK-MB, TnT and LDH as well as histopathological alterations. Furthermore, ASP notably attenuated Cd-induced cardiorenal and apoptosis and fibrosis by reducing caspase 3 and TGF-ß levels, as well as reducing the stain intensity of a-SMA and collagen IV, while increasing Bcl2 intensity. These results revealed that ASP attenuated Cd induced cardiac and renal toxicity which may be attributed to reducing oxidative stress, inflammation, fibrosis and apoptosis.

Kirschner wire is more effective than the nerve root retractor in treating patients with disc herniation.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the value of using Kirschner wire in the intraspinal procedures. METHODS: From May 2011 to October 2013, a total of 46 patients with a single-level lumbar disc herniation with concomitant lumbar instability were randomly assigned to two groups at the time of admission. Group 1 had 23 patients who underwent posterior lumbar fusion using a nerve root retractor to drag nerve root, and Group 2 also had 23 patients who underwent the same operation by fixing Kirschner wires in the vertebral body to drag nerve root. All of these patients were assessed with visual analog scales (VAS) and Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores before surgery, and were followed up at the time points of one week (VAS score only), three, six, and twelve months respectively after surgery. The actual retraction time of the nerve root of each patient was also recorded during the operation. RESULTS: The differences in VAS and JOA scores were not significant between Group 1 and 2 before surgery. However, these scores showed significant improvement in Group 2 at one week and three months after surgery compared with those in Group 1. At six and twelve month follow-up time points, no significant difference was observed between these two groups. However, the retraction time of the nerve root of the patients in Group 2 was significantly shorter than in Group 1. CONCLUSIONS: Using Kirschner wires instead of the nerve root retractor to pull nerve root in the patients with a single-level lumbar disc herniation accompanied by the lumbar instability is more effective in reducing the dragging damage of the nerve root at early phases after surgery and in shortening retraction time.