Purpose To assess the value of 2-(fluorine-18) fluroro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG)-PET/CT on the diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy.Materials and Methods FDG-PET/CT was performed in 38 patients with cervical lymphadenopathy from June 2006 to October 2008. The standard uptake value (SUV) of abdominal lymph nodes (SUVmean) and SUV of normal cervical lymph nodes (SUVneck) were measured. All malignant lymph nodes were pathologically proved.Results 35 enlarged lymph nodes detected in 30 patients demonstrated higher SUV than normal neck tissue. 7 benign lymph nodes were not visualized and 4 benign ones were visualized.The accuracy of PET/CT in indicating the malignant lymph nodes was higher than that of ultrasonography, CT and MRI (P<0.001).Conclusion PET/CT is an effective tool in differentiating malignant lymph nodes from benign ones for patitents with lymphadenopathy.

Objective: To compare the osteogenic differentiation abilities of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs) from different sources, and to provide basis for choosing a new source of seed cells in bone tissue engineering. Methods: Jaw bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (JMMSCs) were isolated from orthognathic surgical sites and cultured by limited dilution for single cell clone. Long bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) were obtained from bone marrow of volunteers and isolated by density gradient centrifugation method. Flow cytometry was used to detect the surface markers of both cells. Osteogenic ability was assessed by PCR and Western Blot after osteogenic differentiation for the following molecules: Runx2, COL-1 and OCN. Alizarin red staining was used for determining the ability of cell mineralization after osteogenic differentiation. Results : The expressions of cell surface markers CD90 and CD105 were positive in both type of cells, while CD34, CD14 and CD45 were all negative. After 21 days of osteogenic induction, JMMSCs formed significantly more mineralized nodules than BMMSCs. After 7, 14, 21 days of osteogenic induction, JMMSCs expressed more osteogenic-related molecules than BMMSCs. Conclusion The osteogenic differentiation capacity and mineralization ability of JMMSCs are significantly higher than BMMSCs. Jaw bone might be a more suitable source of seed cells in bone tissue engineering compared with long bone.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the mechanism of K (lysine) acetyltransferase 2A (KAT2A) regulation and control on the osteogenic differentiation of periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs). METHODS: The expression levels of KAT2A in PDLSCs were compared from each generation of the normal (H-PDLSCs) and periodontitis tissues (P-PDLSCs). The influences of KAT2A gene interference on the osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs were also detected. In addition, the influences of the KAT2A gene interference to the canonical Wnt pathway and ligands were detected. The upstream and down-stream relationships between KAT2A and canonical Wnt pathway were also determined. RESULTS: The decreased expression of KAT2A in PDLSCs from the inflammatory tissue in each generation was compared with that in PDLSCs from the healthy tissue, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). When the KAT2A gene was disrupted, the osteogenesis ability of PDLSC was declined, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The canonical Wnt pathway was activated, and the antagonist Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) was reduced. After the DKK-1 addition, the osteogenic differentiation of the disturbed PDLSCs was recovered, and KAT2A was unaffected. CONCLUSIONS The KAT2A expression in PDLSCs was decreased because of perio-dontitis. The classical Wnt pathway was activated to inhibit the osteogenic differentiation of the cells.
Acetyltransferases ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Histone Acetyltransferases ; metabolism ; Humans ; Lysine ; Osteogenesis ; Periodontal Ligament ; metabolism ; Periodontitis ; metabolism ; Stem Cells ; Wnt Signaling Pathway