Injectable bioactive glass in the restoration of oral bone defect.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the application value of injectable bioactive glass in the restoration of the oral bone defect. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study included 58 consecutive patients with oral bone defect > 1 mm, these patients were randomly assigned to a control group (n=26, Hydroxyapatite bioceramics) and an observation group (n=32, Injectable bioactive glass). The purpose of this study was to assess the comparison of the healing of oral bone defect. RESULTS: X-ray examination was performed at 6-month and 12-month following treatment. The bone healing in the observation group was significantly better than the control group (p <0.05), the incidences of local rejection reactions were not significantly different (p >0.05). Cone-beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) was performed at 6-month and 12-month following treatment. The mean bone thickness in the observation group was significantly lower than the control group, p <0.05. Both the levels of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) and transforming growth factor ß (TGF-ß) in the observation group were significantly higher than the control group, p <0.05. CONCLUSIONS: The effect of injectable bioactive glass in the restoration of the oral bone defect was better than hydroxyapatite bioceramics. Thus, injectable bioactive glass has great application value.

Expression of MMP-13 is associated with invasion and metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Collagenase-3 (MMP-13), a matrix metalloproteinase, is a recently identified member of the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) with broad substrate specificity, and a potential role in tumor metastasis and invasion has been proposed. Collagenase-3 expression has been reported in many carcinomas. However, the presence and possible implication of MMP-13 in the progression of papillary thyroid carcinomas are unknown. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the present study, we examined MMP-13 gene expression in 208 papillary thyroid carcinomas who underwent surgery without preoperative treatment and 100 matched samples of adjacent normal thyroid tissue (Paraffin-embedded tissue samples) by immunohistochemistry analysis. In vitro and in vivo studies were done in order to investigate the effect of MMP-13 overexpression or silencing on cancer cells invasion and metastasis. RESULTS: We found MMP-13 expression was significantly increased in the tumours from local regional lymph node metastases patients. The MMP-13 was stained more intensely in invading fronts than in central portions of local regional lymph node. No MMP-13 staining was observed in matched samples of adjacent normal thyroid tissue. MMP-13 expression was significantly related with TNM and recurrent disease, no relation was found with age extent of tumour and size of tumour. Studies with cell and mice models indicated that overexpression of MMP-13 increased cell migration and promoted metastasis, and MMP-13 sliencing decreased cell migration. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that MMP-13 is associated with thyroid tumour invasion and metastasis and it may be a potential target for therapeutic intervention.

Involvement of hippocampal serotonin and neuropeptide Y in depression induced by chronic unpredicted mild stress.

Accumulated evidence indicates a role of the hippocampal 5-hydroxy-tryptamine (5-HT) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the response to stress and modulation of depression, but it is unclear whether and how the hippocampal 5-HT and NPY systems make contributions to chronic unpredicted mild stress (CUMS)-induced depression. Here we observed that rats receiving a variety of chronic unpredictable mild stressors for 3 weeks showed a variety of depression-like behavioral changes, including a significant reduction in body weight, sucrose preference, and locomotion, rearing and grooming in open field test, and a significant increase in immobility time in forced swimming test. These CUMS-induced behavioral changes were suppressed or blocked by intra-hippocampal injection of 5-HT (31.25 microg/microl) or NPY (10 microg/microl). These data suggest a critical role of reduced hippocampal 5-HT and NPY neurotransmission in CUMS-induced depression.

Effects of neonatal oxytocin treatment on aggression and neural activities in mandarin voles.

Neonatal manipulation of oxytocin (OT) has long-term effects on behavior and physiology. Here we test the hypothesis that neonatal OT treatment can affect the subsequent expression of intrasexual aggression partly by reprogramming the neural activities of relevant brain regions. To test this hypothesis, mandarin voles (Lasiopodomys mandarinus) received OT or isotonic saline treatment within 24 h of birth. At about 75 days of age, aggressive behaviors and Fos expression in different brain regions were tested. The results indicate that the (1) level of intrasexual aggression was higher and other social contact was lower in SAL-treated sexually naïve males than in females and; (2) OT-treated females showed a greater increase in aggressive behaviors and Fos expression only after exposure to a male than SAL-treated females, but there were no significant changes in aggressive behaviors in males. These results demonstrate a sexual difference in aggression, and that neonatal exposure to OT may increase aggression in female mandarin voles. These effects may be based on changes in neural activities of relevant brain regions including the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), lateral septal nucleus (LS), medial preoptic area (MPOA), the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), supraoptic nucleus (SON), mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (MD), ventromedial nucleus of hypothalamic (VMH), the medial amygdala (MeA) and central amygdala (CeA).