Effect of moxibustion at "oppositely-located points" on neurogenic bladder after spinal cord injury and endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway in rats / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the effect of moxibustion at oppositely-located points "Mingmen" (GV 4) and "Shenque" (CV 8) on the motor function of the hind limbs and bladder function in rats with neurogenic bladder after suprasacral spinal cord injury (SCI), so as to explore the effect of this therapy on bladder tissue apoptosis mediated by endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway.@*METHODS@#Twenty-eight female Wistar rats were randomly divided into a sham-operation group (8 rats) and a model establishment group (20 rats). Using the modified Allen's method, the spinal cord of T10 segment was injured to establish a neurogenic bladder model in the model establishment group. Sixteen rats were modeled successfully and then divided into a model group (8 rats) and a moxibustion group (8 rats). In the moxibustion group, 2 h after consciousness regaining from modeling anesthesia, moxibustion was exerted at "Shenque" (CV 8) and "Mingmen" (GV 4), 2 cones at each acupoint in one intervention. The intervention was administered once every two days and 5-time intervention was required totally. After intervention, Basso, Beattie and Bresnahan locomotor rating scale (BBB) score for the motor function of the hind limbs, and the urodynamics indexes (maximum bladder capacity, urine leakage pressure and bladder compliance) were compared among groups. HE staining method was adopted to observe the morphological changes of bladder tissue. With Western blot method and real-time PCR assay, the protein and mRNA expressions of the endoplasmic reticulum stress-related genes (glucose- regulated protein 78 [GRP78], activating transcription factor 4 [ATF4] and cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase-12 [Caspase-12]) were determined.@*RESULTS@#The transitional epithelial cells were arranged irregularly, the bladder wall was getting thinner, and the cellular vacuolar degeneration and neutrophil infiltration were found in the model group. Whereas, compared with the model group, in the moxibustion group, the arrangement of transitional epithelial cells was clear and continuous in layers, the cellular vacuolar degeneration was mild and the infiltration presented in a small amount of neutrophil granulocytes. Compared with the sham-operation group, in the model group, the BBB score was reduced (P<0.01), the maximum bladder capacity and bladder compliance were increased (P<0.01), and the protein expression levels of GRP78, ATF4 and Caspase-12, as well as mRNA expressions were all increased (P<0.01). In comparison with the model group, in the moxibustion group, BBB score was increased (P<0.01), the maximum bladder capacity and bladder compliance were decreased (P<0.01), and the protein and mRNA expression levels of GRP78, ATF4 and Caspase-12 were all decreased (P<0.01).@*CONCLUSION@#Moxibustion at the "oppositely-located points" improves the urination function, alleviate urine retention in neurogenic bladder rats after spinal cord injury. The underlying mechanism may be related to the down-regulation of the expressions of GRP78, ATF4 and Caspase-12 in the endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway of the bladder tissues, and thus to alleviate the apoptosis of bladder tissue.

Effects of icariin on proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cell induced by ox-LDL via impacting MAPK signaling pathway / 中国中药杂志

This paper was aimed to study the effects of icariin (ICA) on the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) induced by oxidized low density lipoprotein (ox-LDL), and the molecular mechanism of the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and MAPK signaling pathway. In this study, VSMC was induced by ox-LDL (50 mg•L⁻¹),the effect of ICA on the proliferation of VSMC was detected by MTT assay, Western blot and Real-time PCR. The results showed that after stimulation of ox-LDL, the proliferation activity of VSMC was increased, S phase, G₂/M phase cells were increased, G₀/G₁ phase cells were decreased, PCNA protein expression was enhanced; ICA (40, 20, 10 μmol•L⁻¹) could effectively inhibit ox-LDL-induced VSMC proliferation, S phase and G₂/M phase cells were decreased, the percentage of cells in G₀/G₁ phase were increased, PCNA expression was decreased, p38MAPK and ERK1/2 activation were inhibited. These results indicate that ICA can inhibit the proliferation of VSMC by reducing the expression of PCNA and blocking the p38MAPK and ERK1/2 signaling pathway.

Role of alpha smooth muscle actin positive cells in early myocardial ischemia / 中国地方病学杂志

ObjectiveTo study the role of alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) positive cells (pericytes)in early myocardial ischemia.MethodsThirty healthy female Wistar rats were randomly divided by body weight into normal control group and subcutaneous multi-point injection of isoprenaline(Isp) group.Five rats were anesthetized after 0,2,4,6,12,24 and 48 h in each group.Blood was taken in eyeballs and,serum was separated,heart was taken and fixed in 4％ paraformaldehyde solution.The myocardial enzymes [serum apartate aminotransferase ( AST ),lactate dehydrogenase (LDH),creatine kinase (CK),creatine kinase isoenzymes (CK-MB)] were determined by biochemical automatic analyzer,the expression of α-SMA and vimentin in myocardial tissue was detected by immunohistochemical staining and changes of pericytes in early myocardial ischemia was observed by morphometric analysis.ResultsThe level of myocardial enzymes AST[(160.25 ± 3.86),(172.60 ± 8.82),(192.20 ± 25.35)U/L],and LDH[(1466.25 ± 643.38),(1645.20 ± 326.83),(1701.60 ± 640.06)U/L],12,24 and 48 h after subcutaneous injection of Isp,were higher than that[(129.18 ± 19.65),(849.45 ± 248.54)U/L,all P ＜ 0.05] of the control group.The level of CK[(1097.60 ± 301.57),(1247.20 ± 243.84),(1263.75 ± 271.22),(1448.00 ± 647.00),(1268.40 ± 479.81)U/L],and CK-MB[(217.12 ± 35.89),(229.08 ± 97.11),(251.70 ± 46.82),(318.80 ±77.76),(249.04 ±:98.54)U/L],4,6,12,24 and 48 h after subcutaneous injection of Isp,were higher than that [(713.45 ± 146.30),(147.05 ± 25.75)U/L,all P ＜ 0.05] of the control group.The number of α-SMA positive cells(61.00 ± 17.25),4 h after Isp injection,was significantly increased compared with that(28.20 ± 5.81,18.20 ± 2.17) of 24 and 48 h after Isp injection.The number of α-SMA positive cells in 48 h group was less than that(50.00 ± 3.61,P ＜ 0.05) of 6 h group.The number of vimentin positive cells in 6,12,24,48 h groups (4.17 ± 2.49,5.24 ± 2.84,8.37 ± 2.18,7.73 ± 2.49) were higher than that(1.88 ± 1.85,2.21 ± 1.54) of the control group and 4 h group(all P ＜ 0.05).Compared with 24 and 48 h groups,the level of vimentin protein was increased in 6 and 12 h groups(P ＜ 0.05).ConclusionThe number of pericytes in early myocardial ischemia is higher than that of other mesenthymal cells,and pericytes may be the main effector cells in the generation and development of myocardial fibrosis.

Expression and implication of angiotensin II type 1 receptor in myocardial fibrosis of rats / 中华病理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the expression and pathobiological implications of angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) in development of myocardial fibrosis of rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Rat myocardial necrosis model was established using isoproterenol injection (15 mg/kg). Rat serum aspartate transaminase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK) and creatine kinase isoenzymes (CK-MB) were detected by MD-100 automatic biochemical analyzer. Masson staining was used to evaluate the morphological changes. The expression of AT1R protein was determined by immunohistochemistry and its mRNA expression was analyzed by RT-PCR. The expression of collage type I and III was determined by immunohistochemistry.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Serum LDH, CK and CK-MB reached their peaks at 4 h (chi2 = 16.90, P < 0.05), and AST achieved its peak in 6 h (chi2 = 16.90, P < 0.05). AT1R mRNA expression was increased 2 - 12 h after isoproterenol injection, but no statistical significance (P > 0.05) was observed comparing with the control. However, a significant AT1R mRNA increase was present at 24 h and decreased gradually after 48 h, and back to the control level after 3 weeks. Protein expression of AT1R increased proportionally with the severity of the fibrosis.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>AT1R mRNA and protein expressions increase significantly during myocardial ischemia, and is closely correlated with the fibrosis. These findings indicate that AT1R may play an important role in the pathogenesis of myocardial fibrosis.</p>

Expression of annexin I in different histological types of carcinomas / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the expression of annexin I in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and carcinomas of other histological types in order to analyze the correlation between the expression of annexin I and carcinogenesis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>First, a set of tissue microarray was established, which consisted of SCC from the esophagus (208 cases), lung, larynx, cervix, and external genital organs; adenocarcinomas from the lung, stomach, colon and rectum, liver, pancreas, breast, thyroid and kidney with 30 cases in each group, meanwhile, the corresponding normal tissue was also obtained for control. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of annexin I in different types of carcinomas and the corresponding normal controls from different organs. The correlation between the expression of annexin I and the clinicopathological feature was analyzed and compared, which included age, gender, differentiation grade and lymph node metastasis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>It was found that the expression of annexin I was decreased in esophageal SCC, when compared with normal esophageal squamous epithelia (P < 0.001), the similarity was also found in SCC of the lung, larynx and cervix. However, though negative in normal epidermis, annexin I expression was detected in some cases with SCC from external genital organs. Annexin I was found to be overexpressed in adenocarcinomas of the lung, stomach, colon and rectum, liver, pancreas, breast, thyroid and kidney, particularly very strong expression of annexin I was seen in lung adenocarcinoma, uterine endometrioid adenocarcinoma and ovarian serous adenocarcinoma. Interestingly, it was found to be positive in all thyroid papillary carcinomas, but negative in all normal thyroid glands. However, annexin I expression was found to be negative in all hepatocellular carcinoma and normal hepatocytes; and it was only detected in myoepithelium of normal breast tissue, but not in ductal luminal cells, and rarely in infiltrating ductal adenocarcinoma. In SCC, annexin I expression was stronger in well differentiated ones than that in the poorly differentiated ones. However, contrasting with SCC, in the adenocarcinomas from different organs, annexin I expression was much stronger in poorly differentiated ones than that in the well differentiate ones, especially in the adenocarcinomas from stomach, colon and rectum, pancreas, ovarian and kidney.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Annexin I expression is quite different among different types of carcinomas, and is correlated with histopathological type and differentiation grade. Further study is needed to investigate its role in the carcinogenesis.</p>

Application of flow cytometric immunophenotypic analysis in the diagnosis of malignant lymphoma / 中华血液学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the value of flow cytometric immunophenotyping (FCI) in the diagnosis and differentiated diagnosis of lymphoma and explain the immunophenotypic features and differences of malignant lymphoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Seventy four fresh samples of suspicious lymphoma were collected from Nov. 2004 to Aug. 2006. Each sample was individually evaluated by FCI. The results were analyzed and compared with the histopathological diagnosis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the 74 cases, the FCI data consisted with the final morphological diagnosis in 61 cases (82.4%). For the diagnosis of B and T non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), thymoma, carcinoma and benign lesions of lymph node, the concordance between FCI data and morphological diagnosis were 93.5%, 100%, 100%, 100% and 81.3%, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Multi-parameter FCI analysis can provide important information and help for diagnosis of lymphoma. It is an assistant but necessary approach for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of lymphoma.</p>

Influence of recombined human growth hormone on sIgA and EGF in rats with obstructive jaundice / 中国应用生理学杂志

<p><b>AIM</b>To study the effect of the recombined human growth hormone(rhGH) on secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA), epidermal growth factor (EGF) in rats with obstructive jaundice.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups, sham-operated (group A), common biliary duct-ligated (group B), biliary duct-ligated plus rhGH-treat for one week (group C), biliary duct-ligated plus rhGH-treat for two weeks (group D), each group had 15 rats. Except group A, the rats of other groups were operated with biliary duct-ligated. Until two weeks after operation, the rats of group A and B were killed. After operation, the rats of group C were treated with rhGH hypodermic injection (0.75 U x kg(-1) x d(-1)) for one week, and then killed. The rats of D group were treated with rhGH hypodermic injection (0.75 U x kg(-1) x d(-1)) for two weeks, and then killed. All procedures were performed aseptically. Total bilirubin (TB), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), prealbumin(PA), insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), sIgA, EGF were measured.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with group A, in group B, C, D, serum level of PA, IGF-1 and sIgA, EGF level of gastric and intestinal juice were lower, but TB, ALP were higher, there were significant difference. Compared with group B, the rats with treatment of rhGH in group C and D had higher sIgA and EGF and lower intestinal bacterial translocation.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>In objective jaundice rats, rhGH can protect their hepatic function, intestinal physical-barrier function and immune-barrier function, and reduce intestinal bacterial translocation.</p>