BACKGROUND: Tendon injury is common in clinic, which is mainly treated by surgical anastomosis. Postoperative tendon healing is usually assessed through surgeons' experience due to high cost and application restrictions of MRI examination. Thus there is still a lack of a convenient and objective imaging support. With the advancement and widespread application of high-frequency ultrasound, the diagnosis rate of tendon injury has been improved remarkably; thereafter, high-frequency ultrasound used for assessing tendon injury and repair has become an issuehas become an issue of concern.OBJECTIVE: To clarify the ultrasonic imaging features of tendon repair through high-frequency ultrasound scancombined with histological examination.METHODS: This was a single-central, preoperative and self-controlled animal experiment and finished in the Central People'sHospital of Siping, China. 130 adult male Highbrow chickens were selected and were then randomized into 13 groups (n=10per group). One side of each chicken hind foot was randomly selected as experimental limb to undergo achillotomy followedby repair using the modified Kessler method (groups 2-13) or no treatment (group 1); the contralateral limb served as control.Moreover, passive flexion-extension functional training targeting the experimental limbs was performed in the groups 8-13beginning at the 1st day after surgical anastomosis, several times a day. The high-frequency ultrasound and hematoxylineosinstaining were conducted before and after chillotomy (group 1), and at 3 (groups 2 and 8), 7 (groups 3 and 9), 14 (groups4 and 10), 21 (groups 5 and 11), 35 (groups 6 and 12) and 42 (groups 7 and 13) days after surgical anastomosis, respectively.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The primary measurement outcomes were the repair and healing of the injured tendonas assessed by high-frequency ultrasound; the secondary outcomes were the pathological manifestations of the injuredtendon detected by hematoxylin-eosin staining. Our findings will provide preclinical proof for high-frequency ultrasounduse in the assessment of tendon injury, repair and healing as well as for the rehabilitation therapy that promotes functionrecovery in the future.

ObjectiveTo observe the effect of indomethacin on the migration of breast cancer cell line MCF-7 in vitro and investigate the mechanism involved.MethodsThe migration of MCF-7 cell line stimulated with or without indomethacin were tested using transwell plates consisting upper and lower chambers separated by Millipore polycarbonate membrance filters with 8 μm pore sizes; the levels of chemokine receptor 4(CXCR4),cyclooxygenase(COX-2),epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)expression in MCF-7 cell line were detected by flow cytometry,Real-time PCR and ELISA,respectively.Results Indomethacin decreased the migration ability of MCF-7 cell line significandy.CXCR4 membrane expression was significantly reduced in a time-dose dependent manner,and CXCR4,COX-2 and EGFR mRNA levels were significantly downregulated after indomethacin stimulation.However,exposure to indometahcin had no major effect on VEGF production of cells.ConclusionThe downregulation of CXCR4,COX-2 and EGFR expression might be the primary mechanism involved in the inhibitory effect of indomethacin on the migration of MCF-7 cell line.

ObjectiveToll-like receptors (TLRs) play important role in the progression and tumor immunity of some types of cancer,some research have demonstrated that agonist of TLR3 can trigger apoptosis of cancers.This study was proposed to investigate if Poly(I:C),the specific agonist of TLR3,could impact proliferation or apoptosis of progressive breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231,and to investigate the primary mechanism of the function.MethodsExpression of TLR1-10 mRNA was detected by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.Cell Counting Kit-8 was used to determine the inhibitory effect of Poly(I:C) on proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells.Cell apoptosis was assayed by flow cytometry with V-FITC/PI staining.Results First,the toll-like receptors 1-10 were all expressed on MDA-MB-231 cells,while the expression level of TLR8 was lower than that of others.Second,according to the CCK-8,the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells was inhibited,but the apoptosis was not affected on the basis of Apoptosis Kit.At last,the mRNA expression of TNF-α、IFN-β and IFN-γ were elevated approximately 20 times after Poly(I:C) stimulation for 6 hours.ConclusionMDA-MB-231 cells express all toll-like receptors on mRNA level,and TLR8 was expressed lower than others.The stimulation of TLR3 with Poly(I:C) can inhibit the proliferation of MDA-MB-231,but had no effect on apoptosis.TNF-α、IFN-β and IFN-γ maybe participate in this process.

Bone Transplantation/adverse effects* ; Transplantation, Autologous/adverse effects*