Effect of ginsenoside Rg3 on mouse neural stem cell differentiation in vitro / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND: Application of neural stem cells (NSCs) is of great current interest in neuroscience, but NSCs origin is very limited. And they always differentiate into a large percentage of glial cells and small percentage of neurons in natural differentiation process, so researchers should take effective measures to promote NSCs differentiation into certain offsprings. Previous studies have shown that ginseng saponin ingredients, such as Rb1 and Rg1, have certain influence on NSCs differentiation, but it is unclear whether Rg3 plays a role on NSCs differentiation. OBJECTIVE:To preliminarily investigate the effect of ginsenoside Rg3 on mouse NSCs differentiation into neurons and astrocytes in vitro. METHODS: The fetal cortices of embryonic 14 days (E14) C57BL/6 mice were isolated for culturing primary NSCs. Then passaged NSCs were identified by their purity with NSCs specific antibodies, Nestin and Sox2, by immunofluorescence staining. NSCs were induced for 3 days in the differentiation medium containing ginsenoside Rg3 of different concentrations (blank control, 50 and 250 nmol/L). After that, immunofluorescence staining was used to identify differentiated neurons with neuronal specific antibody, Tuj1, and differentiated astrocytes with astrocyte specific antibody, GFAP. Then, we calculated and statistically analyzed Tuj1+/DAPI and GFAP+/DAPI percentages in the three different groups. Besides, real-time PCR assay was used to test Tuj1 and GFAP mRNA expression in the three groups after 3 days of differentiation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Primary and passaged NSCs were successfully cultured and almost of cells were positive for both Nestin and Sox2, so these high-purity NSCs could be used in the following experiments. Immunofluorescence staining and statistical analysis results showed that compared with the blank control and 250 nmol/L groups, 50 nmol/L group had an obviously increased neuronal percentage after 3 days differentiation (P < 0.01), while the blank control and 250 nmol/L groups had no significant difference (P > 0.05); compared with the blank control group, 50 and 250 nmol/L groups had significantly increased astrocyte percentages (P < 0.05), whereas there was no obvious difference between 50 and 250 nmol/L groups (P > 0.05). The results of real-time PCR assay were similar with the above immunofluorescence results. In conclusion, 50 nmol/L ginsenoside Rg3 can enhance mouse NSCs differentiation into neurons and astrocytes, while 250 nmol/L ginsenoside Rg3 can only promote mouse NSCs differentiation into astrocytes.

Application of echocardiography in resynchronization treatment of heart failure patients / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To review the updated research progress about the application of echocardiography in resynchronization treatment of chronic heart failure patients.</p><p><b>DATA SOURCES</b>The data used in this review were from PubMed, published in English and using the key terms "heart failure", "echocardiography" and "cardiac resynchronization therapy".</p><p><b>STUDY SELECTION</b>Relevant articles were reviewed and selected to address the stated purpose.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Increasing numbers of studies have suggested the importance of echocardiography in resynchronization treatment of chronic heart failure patients. Echocardiography can evaluate atrioventricular, inter- and intra-ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony before cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), as a guidance to assess the optimal left ventricular (LV) pacing location, optimize the atrioventricular and interventricular delays and predict response to CRT.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Echocardiography is both non invasive and easily repeatable, and plays a crucial role in appraisal of heart synchronism, instruction of actuator placement, optimization of the device procedure, and prediction of the response to CRT.</p>

Identification of brain tumor stem cells and research on their characters of proliferation and drug-resistance / 中华神经医学杂志

Objective To isolate and culture brain tumor stem cells (BTSCs) from glioma tissues and explore the biological characteristics of BTSCs. Methods Different grade glioma tissues were obtained from 20 clinical cases. After tumors were dissociated, the sample was triturated into the single cells and then filtered. The primary glioma cells were collected and cultured in the DMEM/F12 medium containing epidermal growth factor (EGF), leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), in order to promote the proliferation of BTSCs. CD133 + cells were separated by immunomagnetic bead method and identified by testing the expressions of CD133, NSE and GFAP using immunocytochemistry. CCK8 was employed to assay the proliferating situation of CD133+ cells in the different grade gliomas, and to compare the drug resistance between the CD133+ and CD133- cells in the medium containing VM-26. Results CD133+ cells were successfully separated from glioma tissues.CD133+ cells proliferated by self-renewal, then differentiated into NSE+ cells and GFAP+ ones respectively. CD133+ cells in the high grade gliomas showed the faster generation than the ones in the low grade gliomas. CD133+ cells survived more easily than the CD133- cells in the medium containing VM-26. Conclusions BTSCs exist in the glioma tissues, and possess the more tolerant to the VM-26.CD133+ cells in the high grade glioma can proliferate much more easily.