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@#Objective:To study the molecular biology mechanisms of Wistar rats after spinal cord injury, and find out key microRNAs. Methods:A total of 15 Wistar rats were divided into control group (<italic>n</italic> = 3) and spinal cord injury group (<italic>n</italic> = 12). The latter group was divided into four hours, three days, seven days and 14 days subgroups, with three rats in each subgroup. Microarray 3.0 was used to investigate microRNA expression profiles of Wistar rats with spinal cord injury. Bioinformatics was used to predict microRNAs playing key regulatory roles, and to predict target genes. Reverse transcription real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was applied to detect the expression of miR-20a-3p. Western blotting was employed to detect the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 level. The correlation between target protein and microRNA expression trend in each group was analyzed. The key microRNA was inhibited in the neurons. The relationship between target protein expression and axon growth was observed with immunofluorescence. Results:In the rats with spinal cord injury, totally 658 microRNAs had changed at least once. In all the altered microRNAs, miR-20a-3p was upregulated obviously. It predicted that the target gene of miR-20a-3p was STAT3 via application of bioinformatics analysis. The expression trend of STAT 3 and miR-20a-3p in spinal cord was opposite. After the inhibition of miR-20a-3p, the expression of STAT3 in neurons was unregulated and axonal growth was extended. Conclusion:The upregulation of miR-20a-3p leads to downregulation of STAT3, and miR-20a-3p is one of the key targets in the treatment of spinal cord injury.
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Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a disabling disease usually caused by trauma. The treatment and nursing of SCI patients has brought great economic burden to the society. This article introduced the mechanism of riluzole in treating spinal cord in-jury, including blocking Na+channels, reducing glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity, promoting the expression of neuro-trophic factors, and alleviating cellular oxidative stress damage and apoptosis, and the research progress on clinical trials of riluzole.
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@#Objective To apply MR diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to quantitatively analyze cervical spinal cord injury without radiographic abnormality (CSCIWORA). Methods 15 patients with CSCIWORA and 20 healthy controls were scanned with MRI of conventional scans and DTI. The fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) were measured. Results FA and ADC of the patients were (0.475±0.109) and (1.438±0.252)×10-3 mm2/s, respectively. Whereas, they were (0.604±0.096) and (1.371±0.280)×10-3 mm2/s in the controls. Compared with the controls, the FA was less (P<0.05) in the patients, but the ADC was not significantly different (P=0.267). The fiber tracking (FT) showed the abnormality of white matter fiber tracts of cervical spinal cord in the patients. Conclusion DTI can detect the CSCIWORA, and FT can directly display the injuries of white matter fiber tracts of cervical spinal cord, which provide more information to evaluate the clinical severity of CSCIWORA.
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<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To inquire into the diagnostic significance of cytokeratin 19(CK19) and cytokeratin 20(CK20) expression on hematogenous micrometastasis of colorectal cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-four patients with colorectal cancer were collected as colorectal cancer groups, and another 18 patients treated with abdominal surgical operations because of benign diseases were collected as benign disease group. Blood of all the patients was harvested from their portal and peripheral veins, and CK19 and CK20 levels in the blood were determined by RT-PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were no positive expression of CK19 and CK20 in the portal and peripheral blood of all the patients in benign disease group. Of the colorectal cancer group, 34 patients(77.3%) appeared positive expressions of CK19 and/or CK20 in portal and peripheral blood, and there was significant difference in the expressions of CK19 and CK20 between the two groups(P<0.05). Within the colorectal cancer group, the positive expression rates of CK19 and CK20 in peripheral blood were 36.4% and 52.3%, and the rates in portal blood were 59.1% and 72.7%. The rates of portal blood were significantly higher than those of peripheral blood(P<0.05). The positive expression rate in patients at stage III( was significantly higher than that in patients at stage I( orII( (P<0.05). The postoperative metastasis and recurrence rate of colorectal cancer in patients with positive expression of CK19 and CK20 in peripheral blood was 61.5%, which was significantly higher than that(25.0%) in patients with positive expression in portal blood only(P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>In patients with colorectal cancer, the expressions of CK19 and CK20, which are determined by RT-PCR in blood from portal and peripheral veins, are the sensitive and specific indexes for diagnosing hematogenous micrometastasis of the cancer.</p>