Objective To investigate the relationship between changes in Ca2+ concentration and unit discharge in the hippocampal neurons of epileptic rats.Methods Thirty-six healthy male Wistar rats were divided into three groups. Rats of the epilepsy group received an intraperitoneal injection of benzylpenicllin sodium at 6 million unit/kg; Rats of the epilepsy pretreatment group received 20 mg/kg of flunarizine at 14 and 2 hours before injection of benzylponicllin;the control group of rats received an intraperitoneal injection of normal saline.Three groups of rats were euthanized after recording of the unit discharge,and bilateral hippocampal cells were obtained to measure the cellular concentration of Ca2+ fluorescence using the new generation Ca2+ fluorescent dye Fluo-3-AM and flow cytometry.Results (1) A total of 24 units of hippocampal discharges were recorded in the control group.The average concentration Ca2+ fluorescence of the hippocampal neurons was 37.12±5.08.(2)A total of 78 units of hippocampal discharges were recorded in the epilepsy group.The average concentration of Ca2+fluorescence of the hippocampal neurons was 52.04±6.75.(3)A total of 47 units of hippocampal discharges were recorded in the epilepsy pretreatment group. The average concentration of Ca2+ fluorescence of the hippocampal neurons was 37.79±3.09.The correlation coefficient between the average concentration of Ca2+ fluorescence of the hippocampal neurons and the number of units of hippocampal discharge ( r=0.737,P＜0.01).Conclusion There is a positive correlation between changes in average concentration of Ca2+ fluorescence of the hippocampal neurons and the numbers of units of hippocampal discharge.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the cytotoxicity of normal CD8(+) T lymphocytes retrovirally transduced with WT1 peptide-specific T-cell receptor (TCR) genes against human lung cancer cells.

METHODSHLA-A*2402-restricted and WT1 peptide-specific TCR-α/β genes were cloned from a cytotoxic T lymphocyte clone and inserted into a retroviral TCR expression vector. The cytotoxicity of normal peripheral CD8⁺ T cells transduced with the WT1-TCR genes against human lung cancer cells was evaluated using a standard ⁵¹Cr release assay.

RESULTSThe WT1-TCR gene-modified T cells recognized the peptide-pulsed target cells but not the non-pulsed cells. TCR-redirected CD8⁺ T cells lysed WT1-overexpressing human lung cancer cells in an HLA-A*2402-restricted manner, but did not kill normal cells positively expressing HLA-A*2402.

CONCLUSIONThese data demonstrate the feasibility of adoptive immunotherapy with TCR-redirected T cell for the treatment of lung cancer.

CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; cytology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Genes, T-Cell Receptor ; Humans ; Immunotherapy, Adoptive ; Lung Neoplasms ; pathology ; Peptides ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta ; genetics ; Retroviridae ; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic ; cytology ; Transduction, Genetic ; WT1 Proteins ; genetics