Deep gray matter atrophy in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder and multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We investigated changes in deep gray matter (DGM) volume and its relationship to cognition and clinical factors in a large cohort of patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) and compared them with results from multiple sclerosis (MS). METHODS: Brain magnetic resonance imaging (3 Tesla) and clinical data from 91 patients with NMOSD, 52 patients with MS and 44 healthy controls (HCs) were prospectively evaluated. Differences in DGM volumes were compared among groups. The relationships between DGM atrophy and clinical variables were also analysed. RESULTS: Patients with NMOSD exhibited significantly reduced thalamic volumes compared with HCs (P = 0.029), although this atrophy was less severe than that seen in patients with MS (P < 0.001). DGM atrophy was restricted to the thalamus in NMOSD, but it was broadly distributed in MS. Patients with NMOSD with cognitive impairment (CI) exhibited more severe thalamic atrophy than those with cognitive preservation (P = 0.017) and HCs (P = 0.003), whereas patients with MS with CI revealed DGM atrophy across the entire structure, with the exception of the bilateral pallidum, left hippocampus and amygdala, relative to HCs. The Expanded Disability Status Scale score was correlated with thalamic atrophy in both NMOSD and MS. Patients with NMOSD with brain lesions demonstrated more severe thalamic atrophy than did those without brain lesions and HCs (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The DGM atrophy was less severe and more selectively distributed in NMOSD than in MS. Thalamic atrophy was associated with clinical disability, including CI, in both NMOSD and MS.

Cytotoxic activities of acetoxyscirpenediol and ergosterol peroxide from Paecilomyces tenuipes.

Paecilomyces tenuipes is one of the famous Chinese medicinal entomopathogenic fungi that parasites in the lavae of silkworm. Two cytotoxic components were isolated from methanolic extract of the carpophores of this fungus that was cultivated artificially. Spectral analyses of the cytotoxic components showed that they were known ergosterol peroxide (5alpha,8alpha-epidioxy-24(R)-methylcholesta-6,22-dien-3beta-ol) and acetoxyscirpenediol (4beta-acetoxyscirpene-3alpha,15-diol) that were isolated for the first time from this fungus. The 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of ergosterol peroxide against human gastric tumor cell line (SNU-1), human hepatoma cell line (SNU-354), human colorectal tumor cell line (SNU-C4) and murine sarcoma-180 were 18.7, 158.2, 84.6 and 74.1 microM, respectively. The IC50 values of acetoxyscirpenediol against SNU-1, SNU-C4, SNU-354 and sarcoma-180 were 1.2,4.0, 2.2 and 1.9 microM, respectively. Cytotoxic activities of acetoxyscirpenediol were about 4.0-6.6 times stronger than those of cisplatin which is currently used clinically for cancer patients.

The cytotoxicity of psoralidin from Psoralea corylifolia.

A cytotoxic coumestan derivative, psoralidin (1), was isolated from the seed of Psoralea corylifolia. The IC50 values of 1 against SNU-1 and SNU-16 carcinoma cell lines were 53 and 203 micrograms/ml, respectively, indicating cytotoxic activity against stomach carcinoma cell lines.