Potential of Cellular Therapy for ALS: Current Strategies and Future Prospects.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive upper and lower motor neuron (MN) degeneration with unclear pathology. The worldwide prevalence of ALS is approximately 4.42 per 100,000 populations, and death occurs within 3-5 years after diagnosis. However, no effective therapeutic modality for ALS is currently available. In recent years, cellular therapy has shown considerable therapeutic potential because it exerts immunomodulatory effects and protects the MN circuit. However, the safety and efficacy of cellular therapy in ALS are still under debate. In this review, we summarize the current progress in cellular therapy for ALS. The underlying mechanism, current clinical trials, and the pros and cons of cellular therapy using different types of cell are discussed. In addition, clinical studies of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in ALS are highlighted. The summarized findings of this review can facilitate the future clinical application of precision medicine using cellular therapy in ALS.

Neuronal activity and the expression of hypothalamic oxytocin and vasopressin in social versus cocaine conditioning.

Although drug rewards and natural rewards share neural substrates, the neuronal activation patterns and mechanisms behind the interaction between cocaine and social reward are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the conditioned place preference (CPP) in social (conspecific) vs cocaine conditioning, and the expression of central c-Fos, hypothalamic oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) in ICR mice. We found that the mice produced CPP when conditioned with unfamiliar conspecific or cocaine alone. However, the mice failed to produce CPP when the two stimuli were concurrently conditioned. Compared to conditioning with conspecific alone, the mice decreased preference for conspecific when conditioning with social vs cocaine. We observed differential expression of c-Fos-immunoreactive neurons in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, accumbens (shell and core), medial nucleus of the amygdale and the ventral pallidum when comparing the control (CK), social (SC) or cocaine conditioning (CC) group, and social vs cocaine conditioning (SCC) group. Compared to the CK group, the SC or CC group had higher OT expression in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and lower AVP expression in the PVN and supraoptic nucleus. The SCC group showed lower OT expression compared to the SC group, and higher OT and AVP expression in the PVN compared to the CC group. These results indicate that cocaine impairs social preference through competing with social reward. The differential activations of neurons within specific reward areas, and differential expression of OT and AVP are likely to play an important role in mediating the interaction between social and cocaine rewards.

[Dynamic observation of pulmonary ventilation function in workers contacting chromate].

OBJECTIVE: To explore changes of pulmonary ventilation function of chromate exposed workers. METHODS: Ninety-five chromate exposed workers were used as exposure group, and forty-two workers without chromate exposure as control group. Pulmonary ventilation function was performed two times in the winter of 2010 and 2011 respectively in one chromate manufactured factory in Henan Province. RESULTS: In 2010, pulmonary ventilation function of chromate exposed group compared with the control group, forced vital capacity [FVC, (75.38±15.23) L vs. (83.99±26.52)L], forced expiratory volume in one second [FEV1,(82.13±16.51)L vs.(91.24±30.03)L], FEV1/FVC(112.10±13.23 vs. 116.18±11.32), peak expiratory flow [PEF,(74.31±28.09) L/s vs.(78.13±28.34)L/s], maximal expiratory flow [MEF,(101.23±46.37) L/s vs. (110.02±41.40)L/s], maximum ventilation volume [MVV,(90.82± 16.89)L/min vs. (99.95±22.61)L/min]were significantly decreased(P<0.05). In 2011, pulmonary ventilation function of chromate exposed group compared with the control group, FVC[(72.34±14.18)L vs.(81.01±20.79)L], FEV1[(76.04±16.20)L vs.(86.71±24.53)L], FEV1/FVC(109.10±16.18 vs.114.08±10.79), PEF[(71.35±24.87 )L/s vs.(75.36±20.67)L/s], MEF[(96.51±30.17)L/s vs.(107.11±34.81)L/s], MVV[(84.85±21.22)L/min vs. (96.77±22.63)L/min] were also significantly decreased(P<0.05). 2011 compared with 2010, pulmonary ventilation function of chromate exposed group FEV1[(76.04±16.20)L vs.( 82.13±16.51)L], MEF[(96.51±30.17)L/s vs. (101.23±46.37)L/s], MVV[(84.85±21.22)L/min vs. (90.82±16.89)L/min] were significantly decreased(P<0.05). Comparing the classification and category of pulmonary dysfunction based on FVC, FEV1, FVC/ FEV1, no difference was found for classification between the two groups and the category of pulmonary dysfunction almost belongs to limit type, which did not change with exposed time. CONCLUSION: Chronic chromate exposure can cause significant effects on pulmonary function of the workers, and the types of work in production can affect the results.

[The selecting experiment of resistance to Marek's disease of chicken].

The Marek's Disease is an acute infectious disease in poultry production. The selecting experiment through blood-group gene inspection of adult parents and attack-test by using of Marek's Disease virus (MDV) for offspring chicks was carried out. The results showed as follows: (1) The rates of positive reaction by No. 614 blood-group gene inspection of adult parents in four generations were increased due to generation increase, as F0-68.8%, F1-77.3%, F2-81.8% and F3-90.5%. (2) In the attack-test by using of MDV at 10 days of age of chicks the mortalities of the experimental group at 60 days of age of chicks whose parents have positive reaction by No. 614 blood-group reagent detect in F2-F4 generations were 25.8%, 69.2% and 29.4% respectively, while the mortalities of the control group at same age of chicks whose parents have negative reaction were 30.6%, 81.0% and 52.9% respectively. These differences of mortality were significant (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05). (3) The rates of pathological change of 9 viscera tumor of the experimental group chicks in F2-F4 generations were 87.6%, 83.3% and 58.8% respectively, while chicks in the control group were 88.1%, 84.5% and 70.6% respectively. Except individual generation and viscera, these differences between the experimental group and the control group were almost not significant (P > 0.05). The experimental results and genetic control of resistance to Marek's Disease are discussed in this paper. The new strain of chicken resistant to Marek's Disease will be bred.