Objective To explore the regularity of cell apoptosis in the early development of human embryonic spinal cord tissue. Methods The apoptotic cells in the spinal cord tissue of human embryos were stained in the second, third and fourth month of gestation by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase biotin-dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) method, and the integral optical density (IOD) was analyzed with Nikon imaging system (NIS-DR). One-Way ANOVA was applied to compare these IODs. Results The positive expression of cells apoptosis was detected in the central canal, anterior horn and posterior horn of human embryonic spinal cord in the second, third and fourth month of gestation. The IOD values of apoptotic cells at the 3 time points were 134.9954?10.53257, 149.0331?5.66187 and 140.7892?7.65320, respectively. The IOD value of apoptotic cells of human embryonic spinal cord at the third month of fetal age was higher than that of the second and the fourth month of fetal age, and the IOD value at the fourth month of fetal age was higher than that of the second month of fetal age. With the advancement of fetal age, the expressions of IOD of apoptotic cells showed an up then down trend. One-Way ANOVA was employed to compare the IOD values of the apoptotic cells detected in the 3 fetal periods, and the results showed significant difference (P

AIM:To explore the preventing effect of citalopram on neuro-cell apoptosis caused by long-term stress in CA1 and CA3 region of hippocampus.METHODS:Forty male Sprague Dawley(SD)rats were randomly divided into five groups including blank group,control group(the control group was filled the stomade by 0.9% saline)and three experimental groups(intragastric administration of citalopram hydrobromide at doses of 8 mg?kg-1?d-1,4 mg?kg-1?d-1,1 mg?kg-1?d-1,respectively).Rat stress model was made by compulsory swimming everyday for 4 weeks.Cell apoptosis in CA1 and CA3 region of hippocampus was observed by HE staining method.Apoptotic cell numbers and integral optical density in CA1 and CA3 region were tested and analyzed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase biotin-dUTP nick end labeling(TUNEL)method and Norton Internet Security BR(NIS BR)software.t-test was applied to compare apoptosis cell numbers and integral optical density.RESULTS:Control rats showed more static time and less struggling times.Conversely,static time was shorter and rats spent more time after exhaustive exercise,and more struggling times in the experimental group.Rats in control group showed more positive cells in CA1 and CA3 regions and higher integral optical density in CA3 region than those in blank group.Rats in experimental groups showed fewer positive cells in CA1 and CA3 regions.Rats in experimental group 1 and group 3 showed higher integral optical density in CA1 and CA3 regions than that in control group.CONCLUSION:Long-term stress might cause neuro-cell apoptosis in CA1 and CA3 region of hippocampus.Citalopram might have prophylactic effect on apoptosis caused by long-term stress in CA1 and CA3 region,and the prophylactic effect might not be influenced by citalopram.Our study suggests that the treatment mechanism of citalopram in neural and mental illness by long-term stress may involve in a major role by antagonizing neuronal apoptosis in both the CA1 and CA3.

Objective:To investigate the early behavioral characteristics of children with autism within the age of 1.5 to 3 years in order to provide basis for early diagnosis and intervention. Methods: Using mass random sampling, 8006 children aged 1.5 to 3 years in nine districts in Tianjin were screened with a self-made questionnaire. Totally 432 children with suspected autism were diagnosed and rated according to the diagnosing criteria of DSM-Ⅳ and assessed with the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). Their behavioral characteristics were assessed with the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) and the early behaviors were compared between the children with autism and the normal children. Results: Children with autism in infants and suspicious positive group were different from normal children in 9 items such as" Abnormal language skills", "No index points the light", "No acts of posing as the game", "Could not normally play with toys, "and others(P <0.05). Children with autism in infants were different from suspicious positive group in 5 items such as"Children have no eye contact with others". The items with positive rate higher than 95% were interpersonal communicate barriers, mimic the functional deficiencies, language communicate barriers, non-verbal communication barriers and mental deficiency in CARS. The results of ABC showed that severe autism had much higher scores than mild to moderate autism both in the sense (S) and body function(B) areas [(8.00 ±3.30) vs. (5.15 ±2.58), (12.00 ±6.12) vs. (6.15 ±3.26); Ps <0.05]. Conclusion: The develop mental and behavioral symptoms can exist in early period of life of children with alltism, to which highly attention should be paid.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the distribution patterns of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and synaptophysin (SYN) during the development of human fetal stomach.

METHODSSixteen specimens of human fetal (gestational age 2 to 4 months) gastric tissues were examined with immunohistochemistry for detecting the distribution of NSE and SYN expressions in the gastric walls.

RESULTSDuring the second to fourth gestational months, NSE was strongly expressed in the nerve cells and nerve fibers of the myenteric nerve plexus of human fetal stomach. As the gestational age increased, the numbers of NSE positive cells and fibers increased gradually in the gastric submucosa, but NSE was negative in the gastric mucosa. At the second gestational month, SYN expression was negative in the mucosa but positive in the myenteric nerve plexus; during the third to fourth months, positive SYN expression was found in the mucosa, submucosa and myenteric nerve plexus of the embryonic gastric walls and its expression intensity increased with the gestational age.

CONCLUSIONSYN and NSE are both involved in the regulation of the nervous system in the gastric wall but their expressions and distributions follow different patterns during the development of human fetal stomach.

Fetus ; metabolism ; Gastric Mucosa ; metabolism ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Myenteric Plexus ; Nerve Fibers ; metabolism ; Neurons ; metabolism ; Phosphopyruvate Hydratase ; metabolism ; Stomach ; metabolism ; Synaptophysin ; metabolism