Myrcene exerts anti-asthmatic activity in neonatal rats via modulating the matrix remodeling.

Myrcene (MC), an organic hydrocarbon, was found to exert anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antimutagenic and antioxidant properties. However, the protective role of MC has not been reported against neonatal asthma. Wistar rats induced with asthma were administered with MC; while asthma control and vehicle control were maintained without MC administration. At the end of the experimental period, lung histology, inflammatory cell counts, cytokine analysis, matrix protein expressions were elucidated. Rats administered with MC exerted significant (P < 0.05) defense in protecting the lung tissue with the evidenced restoration of alveolar thickening of the lung tissues. Also, the present study elicited the anti-asthmatic activity of MC, especially via modulating the extracellular matrix protein expression in the asthma-induced animals, while a significant reduction (P < 0.05) in the fibrotic markers were found in MC treated animals. Moreover, the protective effect of MC was evidenced with reduced leukocyte infiltration in BALF, hypersensitive specific IgE levels with a profound decrease in the inflammatory cytokines such as IL-2, IL-4, IL-18, and IL-21 in MC administered animals compared to the asthma-induced group. To an extent, the markers of asthmatic inflammation such as CD14, MCP-1, and TARC were also found to be attenuated in MC exposed animals. The possible application of MC is a promising drug for the treatment of asthma-mediated complications.

The Morphological Analysis of Cells in the Peritoneal Washing Fluids of Patients with Gastric Cancer.

The cytology of peritoneal washing fluids for gastric cancer is the most basic method for judging peritoneal micrometastasis. However, the clinical value of this method is not clear at present. A retrospective analysis was performed on 277 patients with pathologically proven and surgically treated gastric cancer. The peritoneal washing fluids were collected after opening the abdomen and before the operation, and were sent to the cytology laboratory for screening of occult cancer cells in the collected washing fluids. The number of cases diagnosed as cancer cells, reactive mesothelial cells, serosal balls, and traumatic mesothelial cells were 42, 18, 27, and 190, respectively. Typical adenocarcinoma cell nests were found in eight of 10 T4b samples, whereas 34 cases of cancer cells in T3 and T4a showed that these cell nests usually contained mesothelial cells, and the three-dimensional stereoscopic sense of the nests was not obvious. In the specific subcellular morphological changes of both reactive mesothelial cells and serosal balls, the changes of both the contour of nuclear membrane and the polarity of cell alignment were present only in stage T3 and T4a. The presence or absence of mesothelial cells in the nests of cancer cells and the changes of the contour of nuclear membrane and of the polarity of cell alignment in reactive mesothelial cells or serosal balls may help us to predict the depth of invasion of cancer cells.