ABSTRACT
To investigate the effects of anti-androgen drugs and melengestrol acetate (MGA) on development of regrowth antlers in 6 year old sika deer, twenty healthysika deerwith similar body weight and antler weightwere randomly divided into five groups by using single factor test design: flutamide (=4), bicalutamide (=4), progesterone acetate (CPA, =4), melengestrol acetate (MGA, =4), control(=4). All deer were fed with same diets and were housed outside together in an opened fence of 15 m×30 m with free access to water and feed. Treatment groups were injected subcutaneously sustained-release agents of the four drugs respectively when two-branched antlers were harvested. The control group had no special treatment. In the experiment period of 60 d, blood sampleswere collected for 4 times for each deer. The concentration of testosterone in plasma was tested and analyzed to compare the changes between different groups. Development of regrowth antlers was observed. At the end of the experiment, regrowth antlers were weighted and analyzed. The resultsshowed that the weights of regrowth antlers in treatment groups were significantly greater than those from control group and the weight gain (as compared with the control group) was 100.50%, 64.46%, 87.16% and 117.46% respectively in flutamide group, bicalutamide group, progesterone acetate group and melengestrol acetate group. For plasma testosterone concentration, it was not significantly different in the early stage (in the first 35 d), but at the end of the experimen, it was significantly higher than that of earlier stage (<0.01) in various groups. Testosterone concentration of flutamide treated group was significantly lower than that of the other groups (<0.01), while the level inbicalutamide and MGA treated groups was significantly higher than that in other groups (<0.01). The results showed that both anti-androgen drugs and MGA treatment promoted the development of regrowth antlers and increased the weight of regrowth antlers, where the effect was most significant by MGA treatment. From the morphological observation of the antlers, it was found that anti-androgen and MGA treatments prolonged the growth period of regrowth antlers through delaying the ossification of antlers. However, plasma testosterone concentration was not affected by the treatments.
ABSTRACT
Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum, as a traditional Chinese medicine, has great potential for development. However, the identification and quality control system is not perfect, leading to the market chaos and chronic slow growth in deep processing of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum. This paper gives an overview of present situation in identification and quality control system of the Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum, and analyzes present problems. Based on these results, the feasibility study scheme in identification and quality control system for Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum would be then put forward, providing ideas to establish its comprehensive evaluation system.
ABSTRACT
Background Congenital fibrosis of extraocular muscles (CFEOM) affects patient' s appearance and quality of life,and no effective treatment for this disease is available.Imaging study is helpful for exploring the pathogenesis of CFEOM.Objective This study was to describe the characteristics of CFEOM associated with limb movement disorder using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).Methods A family with CFEOM associated with limb movement disorder was investigated in Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University.Disease history was collected and the pedigree was investigated.Ophthalmologic examinations,including corrected visual acuity,refractive error,slitlamp examination,ophthalmoscopic examination,force of levator palpebrae superioris,ocular movement,eye position,forced duction test,and bell phenomenon examination,were performed.Ocular orbital and cranial MRI was performed in 4 CFEOM patients and 10 normal subjects to compare the structures of the extraocular muscles,motor nerve and cranium.Oral informed consent was obtained from each patient prior to any medical examination.Results A total of 1 1 members from 3 generations were investigated in this study,presenting with 4 cases of disease.The mode of inheritance of this family complied with the Mendelian autosomal dominant inheritance law.Clinical signs included disturbance of eye movement,deviation of eye position,ptosis,lack of Bell sign and positive reaction of passive pull test.In addition,unstable gait,improper body limb alignment,dysphasia and mental retardation were ohserved in 1 patient,which coincided with the diagnostic criteria of type 3 CFEOM.MRI results demonstrated that the levator palpebrae superioris,superior rectus and superior oblique muscle were clearly thinner,and the medial rectus,lateral rectus,inferior rectus muscle were thinning in the patients,showing significant differences in comparison with the normal controls(P＜O.05).The oculomotor and abducens nerves became thinner and even absent in the patients.Cranial MRI showed that Ⅲ-3 in the pedigree with callosum was shorter than that of the normal controls,suggesting that patient suffered from corpus callosum hypoplasia.Meanwhile,cranial MRI indicated the presence of cerebellar hypoplasia and the expansion of the fourth ventricle.Conclusions MRI demonstrates consistent abnormalities of the oculomotor nerves and abducens nerves in the affected individuals in this CFEOM 3 family,and some affected members exhibit two types of central nervous system abnormalities-corpus callosum and cerebellar hypoplasia.These findings suggest that CFEOM 3 is primarily a neuronal disease.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To determine the expression level of Smad ubiquitination regulatory factor 1 (SMURF1) gene in hepatocellular carcinoma, and to explore its role in liver cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>With non-neoplastic adjacent normal tissues as controls, real-time PCR and Western blotting were used for measuring the expression of SMURF1 mRNA and protein in 89 samples of hepatocellular carcinoma. Correlations between SMURF1 expression and clinical features were explored. Following transfection of SMURF1--specific small interference RNA(siRNA), the apoptosis and proliferation of hepatic cancer cells Hep G2 were detected using flow cytometry and MTT assays .</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expression of SMURF1 mRNA and protein were significantly higher in hepatocellular cancer tissues compared with the paired normal tissues (P< 0.05). The expression of SMURF1 however did not correlate with any clinical features (P> 0.05). Transfection of SMURF1-specific siRNA can promote the apoptosis whilst inhibit the proliferation of Hep G2 cells.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The expression of SMURF1 is enhanced in hepatocellular carcinoma, which may have played a role in the disease through affecting apoptosis and proliferation of hepatic cancer cells.</p>
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Male , Hep G2 Cells , Liver Neoplasms , Pathology , RNA, Messenger , Transforming Growth Factor beta , Physiology , Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases , Genetics , PhysiologyABSTRACT
Objective To explore the relationship of polymorphisms of D17S1878, D17S932 sites and essential hypertension.Methods Sixty-seven pedigrees were collected at the region with high prevalence of hypertension. The polymorphisms of D17S1878 and D17S932 sites were genotyped using Genetic Analyzer and GeneScan Software. Case-control study in sibs with different phenotype was carried out and logistic analysis was used for multivariate analysis. Results There were significant differences on the distributions of age, male, drinking, average systolic pressure, average diastolic pressure, the characteristics of rash, body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol amount, triglyceride, low density lipoprotein(LDL) between the hypertensive-affected sibs and the normotensive sibs (P＜0.05). There was significant difference between the affected hypertensive and normotensive sibs in the D17S1878 site (P＜0.05), while there was no significant difference in D17S932 (P＞0.05 ). After non-conditional logistic analysis, data showed that both sites were not included in the model, while age( OR = 1.044,95%CI:1. 019-1. 069), drinking ( OR = 2. 644,95% CI : 1. 778-3. 932), the characteristics of rash ( OR = 3. 078,95%CI:1.721-5.504), triglyceride (OR= 1.305,95%CI: 1.016-1.676), LDL-C (OR= 1.787,95% CI:1. 296-2. 646), as risk factors, were included in the model. Conclusion The polymorphisms of D17S1878 and D17S932 possibly were not associated with essential hypertension.