Objective To investigate the expression of AIF, CYT C, PAF-1, caspase-3, and XIAP in Sprague-Dawley rats with spontaneous mammary neoplasms.Methods One-hundred and thirty 3-4-week old SPF Spargue-Dawley rats (♀∶♂=1∶1) were fed in a specific pathogen free (SPF) breeding barrier for 60 weeks.The occurrence of spontane-ous breast tumors was recorded and histopathology was performed to identify the types of tumors.The rats were divided into 3 groups:rats with normal breast tissue ( group I) , with benign tumors ( group II) and with malignant tumors ( group III) . The expression of AIF, CYT C, APAF-1, caspase-3 and XIAP proteins and mRNAs were detected by immunhistochemistry ( IHC) and RT-PCR assay.Results Among these 130 SD rats, 14 rats were observed having spontaneous mammary neo-plasms with the incidence rate of 10.77%(14/130).In these neoplasm cases, 7 cases were mammary fibroadenomas, 7 cases of breast carcinoma, both with an incidence rate of 5.38%.Immunohistochemistry showed that, compared with the group I, the positive expressions of AIF, APAF-1, caspase-3 were decreased significantly (P<0.01), and the CYT C and XIAP expressions were significantly increased in the group II.The positive expression of all genes except XIAP was de-creased in the group III(P<0.01).Compared with the group II, APAF-1 and XIAP were significantly higher in the group III (P<0.01), and the positive expression of AIF, Cyt C, and caspases-3 were significantly decreased (P<0.01).In the results of RT-PCR assay, except APAF-1 which showed significant correlation with the results of immunohistochemistry ( P<0.05 ) , all the others showed an extremely significant correlation with immunohistochemical results ( P <0.01 ) . Conclusions Mammary tumors are most common spontaneous neoplasms in SD rats.Abnormal expression of mitochondrial apoptotic pathway-related factors AIF, CytC, APAF-1, caspase-3, and XIAP are correlated with the carcinogenesis and de-velopment of breast tumors.

Objective To evaluate the therapeutic effect of oral and external application of Chinese medicine combined with Ilizarov external fixator and the accordion technique for severe chronic osteomyelitis of the tibia.Methods A total of 78 patients with severe chronic osteomyelitis of the tibia were randomized into a routine treatment group and a combined treatment group, 39 in each group. All the patients in the two groups received external fixation by use of Ilizarov external fixator and the accordion technique. All the patients in the combined treatment group received oralGuyu decoction. The patients who had large wound received vacuum-sealing drainage in the routine treatment group, and vacuum-sealing drainage combined with external application ofShengji-Yuhong plaster in the combined treatment group. All the patients were treated for 8 weeks and followed up for 2 years. The time to wound healing and fracture healing, and the drainage time were compared between the two groups. Functional and radiologic findings were evaluated according to Paley's criteria. The functions of the knee joint and ankle joint were evaluated using the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) knee score and the scoring system of Baird and Jackson, respectively.Results The time to wound healing (17.33 ± 6.21 dvs. 22.27 ± 8.12 d;t=3.018,P=0.004) and the time to fracture healing (32.25 ± 6.02 weeks vs. 36.37 ± 7.75 weeks;t=2.623,P=0.011), and the drainage time (17.01 ± 4.66 dvs. 21.51 ± 5.23 d;t=4.012, P<0.001) in the combined treatment group were significantly shorter than those in the routine treatment group. According to Paley's criteria, the patients who achieved a score of excellent or good for fracture healing (84.6%vs. 53.8%;χ2=7.282,P=0.007) and function (92.3%vs. 66.7%;χ2=6.369,P=0.012) in the combined treatment group were significantly more than those in the routine treatment group. The scores of the HSS knee score (84.56 ± 7.42vs. 78.81 ± 5.33;t=3.391,P=0.002) and the scoring system of Baird and Jackson (85.01 ± 8.21vs. 79.21 ± 6.78;t=3.402,P=0.024) in the combined treatment group were significantly higher than those in the routine treatment group.Conclusion OralGuyu decoction and external application ofShengji-Yuhong plaster combined with Ilizarov external fixator and the accordion technique can promote recovery of the joint function, fracture healing and wound healing.

Anxiety disorders,dopaminergic neurons and ventral tegmental area(VTA)are related closely.VTA dopaminergic neurons play an important role in the regulation of anxiety.Numerous research results in animals indicated that the VTA dopaminergic neurons,involving in multiple neural pathways,respectively regulate anxiety-like behavior in physiological or pathological condition.Dopamine,the main neurotransmitters in VTA regulates anxiety through dopamine D1 and D2 receptors.In addition,the VTA glutamate,GABA and acetylcholine also play directly or indirectly roles in regulating anxiety.The clinical imaging research showed that the integrity of dopaminergic VTA structural of anxiety disorder group is lower than healthy control.Current researches of VTA dopamine neurons involving in the regulation of anxiety-like behavior is developing at a high speed and deserving further exploration,which will further elucidate the pathogenesis and provide new ideas for prevention and treatment of anxiety disorders.

Objective To investigate the effect of exosomes derived from Echinococcus multilocularis on macrophage polarization after treatment for different durations and concentrations. Methods A total of 60 BALB/c mice were used for modeling, among which 4 mice were selected to observe the growth of abdominal lesions on 7.0T MRI. The mice for modeling were dissected, and the protoscoleces was taken from the abdominal lesion and cultured in vitro ; ultracentrifugation was used to extract the exosomes from the supernatant, and transmission electron microscopy and Western blotting were used for the characterization of exosomes. The macrophages without exosome treatment were established as control group, and the macrophages co-cultured with different concentrations of exosomes derived from Echinococcus multilocularis were established as experimental group (10 μg/mL group and 50 μg/mL group) and were cultured for 48 and 72 hours. The morphological changes of macrophages were observed under a microscope, and flow cytometry and ELISA were used to observe polarization state. A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups, and the least significant difference t -test was used for further comparison between two groups. Results The results of 7.0T MRI showed the formation of diffuse lesions with different sizes in the abdominal cavity of mice, and the exosomes derived from Echinococcus multilocularis were approximately 100 nm in diameter and were cup-shaped or saucer-shaped, with the positive expression of the surface markers CD9, TSG101, and CD63. After co-culture, most of the cells in the experimental group were elongated with an irregular and polygonal shape. Flow cytometry showed that after 48 hours of co-culture, the positive rates of CD16/32, CD206, and CD369 in the control group were 99.53%±0.06%, 90.27%±0.21%, and 2.40%±0.20%, respectively; compared with the control group, except that the 10 μg/mL exosome group had a significant reduction in the positive rate of CD369 (0.80%±0.00%) ( P < 0.05), all the other groups had a significant increase in the positive rates of CD16/32, CD206, and CD369 (all P < 0.000 1); after 72 hours of co-culture, the positive rates of CD16/32, CD206, and CD369 in the control group were 99.67%±0.06%, 85.47%±0.55%, and 6.60%±0.20%, respectively, and compared with the control group, the experimental group had significant increases in the positive rates of CD16/32, CD206, and CD369 (all P < 0.05). ELISA showed that after 48 hours of co-culture, the levels of IL-6 and TNFα in the control group were 58.53±15.52 pg/mL and 320.70±5.30 pg/mL, respectively, and when the exosome concentration was 50 μg/mL, the level of IL-6 in the experimental group was 98.81±15.55 pg/mL, which was higher than that in the control group ( P < 0.05); after 72 hours of co-culture, the levels of IL-6 and TNFα in the control group were 76.22±9.68 pg/mL and 323.90±87.37 pg/mL, respectively, and when the exosome concentration was 10 μg/mL, the level of TNFα was 164.20±14.17 pg/mL, which was significantly lower than that in the control group ( P < 0.05); when the exosome concentration was 50 μg/mL, the level of IL-6 was 99.52±8.35 pg/mL, which was significantly higher than that in the control group ( P < 0.05). Conclusion Exosomes derived from Echinococcus multilocularis can regulate macrophage polarization and induce M2-like polarization of macrophages after co-culture at a concentration of 10 μg /mL for 72 hours, and further studies are needed to clarify the specific method.