Combining ultrasound and lactobacilli treatment for high-fat-diet-induced obesity in mice.

Chronic systemic lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation can cause obesity. In animal experiments, lactobacilli have been shown to inhibit obesity by modifying the gut microbiota, controlling inflammation and influencing the associated gene expression. A previous study found that high-fat-diet-induced (HFD) obesity was suppressed by lactobacilli ingestion in rats via the inhibition of parasympathetic nerve activity. This study explored the combined use of lactobacilli ingestion and ultrasound (US) to control body weight and body fat deposition in HFD mice over an 8-week experimental period. Male C57BL/6J mice received an HFD during treatment and were randomly divided into four groups: (i) control group (H), (ii) lactobacilli alone (HB), (iii) US alone (HU) and (iv) lactobacilli combined with US (HUB). The US was targeted at the inguinal portion of the epididymal fat pad on the right side. At the 8th week, body weight had decreased significantly in the HUB group (15.56 ± 1.18%, mean ± SD) group compared with the HU (26.63 ± 0.96%) and H (32.62 ± 5.03%) groups (p < 0.05). High-resolution microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) scans revealed that the reduction in total body fat volume was significantly greater in the HUB group (69%) than in the other two experimental groups (HB, 52%; HU, 37%; p < 0.05). The reductions in the thickness of the subcutaneous epididymal fat pads were significantly greater in the HUB group (final thickness: 340 ± 7 µm) than in the H (final thickness: 1150 ± 21 µm), HB (final thickness: 1060 ± 18 µm) and HU (final thickness: 370 ± 5 µm) groups (all p < 0.05). Combination therapy with lactobacilli and US appears to enhance the reduction in body weight, total and local body fat deposition, adipocyte size and plasma lipid levels over an 8-week period over that achieved with lactobacilli or US alone in HFD mice. These results indicate that US treatment alone can reduce hyperlipidemia in HFD mice.

Efficacy of ultrasound mediated microbubbles in diclofenac gel to enhance transdermal permeation in rheumatoid arthritis induced rat.

In previous study in the literature, the effect of ultrasound on the transdermal permeation of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac has been investigated. Therapeutic ultrasound can increase circulation in the inflamed joint and decrease arthritic pain. Recently, transdermal drug delivery has been demonstrated by ultrasound (US) combining with microbubbles (MBs) contrast agent. In this study, the efficiency of US-MBs mediated diclofenac delivery for adjuvant-induced rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in rats was evaluated. RA was induced by injection of 100 µl Freund's complete adjuvant into the ankle joint in SD male rats (250-300g) and were randomly divided into five groups: (1) control group (C); (2) penetrating diclofenac alone (D); (3) US alone (U); (4) US combined with penetrating diclofenac (DU); (5) US combined with MBs and penetrating diclofenac (DUB). The evaluations of ankle width were performed for 10 days by high frequency (40MHz) US B-mode and color Doppler mode imaging before and after treatment. Longitudinal US images of arthritis induced show synovitis and neovascularity. After treatment, only a little neovascularity has been observed. The recovery rate at 10th day in the group DUB (97.7±2.7 %) was significantly higher than in the group C (1.0±2.7 %), group D (37.5±4.6 %), group U (75.5±4.2 %) and group DU (87.3±5.2 %) (p <; 0.05). Our results investigated that the treatments of US and MBs can increase skin permeability to enhance diclofenac sodium delivery and inhibit inflammation of the tissues surrounded the arthritic ankle. In color Doppler imaging, after the combination treatment, the synovial neoangiogenesis in the arthritic area was reduced quickly.

Evaluation of donor semen quality provided by six sperm banks: a retrospective study of 1877 artificial insemination cycles.

This study aimed at evaluating the impacts of sperm quality of six national sperm banks on pregnancy rates (PRs) of artificial insemination with donor sperm (AID) in China. A large retrospective analysis was performed on 1877 insemination cycles in 1209 women in a unique setting during a 3.5-year period. Global PRs of 22.1% per cycle and 34.2% per patient were achieved. The PRs of the six banks varied from 15.5% to 29.0% (P = 0.011). Significant differences were observed in the quality of donor semen provided by the six sperm banks. Moreover, in some banks, the poor sperm quality was related to the suboptimal PRs. However, in certain banks, high values of sperm parameters did not result in satisfactory PRs accordingly. These data demonstrated that variability of donor semen quality existed in the different banks. But, sperm parameters after thawing may not be detrimental factors affecting the success rate of AID treatment. Further studies are needed to seek potential molecular markers for predicting fertility potency of donor sperm.

Biodistribution of phenylboric acid derivative entrapped lipiodol and 4-borono-2-18F-fluoro-L-phenylalanine-fructose in GP7TB liver tumor bearing rats for BNCT.

A new phenylboric acid derivative entrapped lipiodol (PBAD-lipiodol) was developed as a boron carrier for the boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) of hepatoma in Taiwan. The biodistribution of both PBAD-lipiodol and BPA-fructose was assayed in GP7TB hepatoma-bearing rat model. The highest uptake of PBAD-lipiodol was found at 2h post injection. The application of BNCT for the hepatoma treatment in tumor-bearing rats is suggested to be 2-4h post PBAD-lipiodol injection.