Giant aneurysmal of the left sinus of Valsalva in adults.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the aneurysmal of the left sinus of Valsalva, and to improve the understanding of the disease and the level of diagnosis and treatment. METHOD: This article mainly reports a case of a huge aneurysmal of the left sinus of Valsalva patients treated with surgical treatment. RESULT: After surgery, the prognosis of the case was good. CONCLUSION: Aneurysmal of the left sinus of Valsalva has a low incidence, which is rare in clinical with no clinical specific symptoms leading to difficulty in early detection. The appropriate surgical method should be considered to the patient's condition, to prevent the tumor rupture and the death of patients.

[Construction of an in vitro carotid artery bifurcation model].

OBJECTIVE: To construct a solid carotid artery bifurcation model with general applicability that simulates the real shape. METHODS: The diameter of the carotid artery was measured using ultrasonic cardiograph. A modified carotid artery model was constructed according to the tuning fork model geometry with the geometry size being rectified. The flow fields in the carotid artery model were detected by the particle imaging velocimetry technique. RESULTS: The characteristics of the distribution of the flow fields in the carotid artery model were similar to those in the human bodies. CONCLUSION: The carotid artery we constructed well resembles the real shape and has good representativeness and practicability, which provides a reliable experimental platform for further research.

Differentiation induction of mouse cardiac stem cells into sinus node-like cells by co-culturing with sinus node.

Sinus nodal cells can generate a diastolic or "pacemaker" depolarization at the end of an action potential driving the membrane potential slowly up to the threshold for firing the next action potential. It has been proved that adult cardiac stem cells (CSCs) can differentiate into sinus nodal cells by demethylating agent. However, there is no report about adult CSCs-derived sinus nodal cells with pacemaker current (the funny current, I f). In this study, we isolated the mouse adult CSCs from mouse hearts by the method of tissue explants adherence. The expression of c-kit protein indicated the isolation of CSCs. Then we co-cultured mouse CSCs with mouse sinus node tissue to induce the differentiation of these CSCs into sinus node-like cells, which was proved by identifying the enhanced expression of marker proteins cTnI, cTnT and α-Actinin with Immunofluorescence staining. At the same time, with whole-cell patch-clamp we detected the I f current, which can be blocked by CsCl, in these differentiated cells. In conclusion, by confirming specific I f current in the induced node-like cells, our work shows a method inducing differentiation of CSCs into sinus node-like cells, which can provide helpful information for the further research on sick sinus syndrome.