AIM To compare the effects of micronised fenofibrate with those of standard fenofibrate on regulating serum lipid. METHODS Wistar rats were fed by the hyperlipids food to induce hypolipidemia, and then orally treated with 20,30,40 mg?kg -1 per day micronised fenofibrate and 20,30,40,60,80 mg?kg -1 per day standard fenofibrate for 10 days. At the tenth day, serum total cholesterol and triglycerides were measured. RESULTS 1 In the same experimental conditions,the minimal efficacious dose of the micronised fenofibrate is 30 mg?kg -1 , but that of the standard fenofibrate is 80 mg?kg -1 ; 2 Using efficacious doses, both kinds of fenofibrate could decrease the content of triglyceride to normal level. They also could decrease the level of total cholesterol by 36 69%～51 56%. CONCLUSION The effects of micronised fenofibrate are better than those of standard fenofibrate, which mainly decreases the level of triglyceride. Micronised fenofibrate also decreases level of serum total cholesterol.

Objective To explore the neuroprotective effects ofβ-aescinate on brain edema in rats of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods A total of 78 male SD (Sprague Dawley) rats were randomly divided into three groups: sham-operation group (Sham), traumatic brain injury group (TBI) andβ-aescinate group, with 26 rats in each group. Rats of Sham group were anesthetized and surgically prepared only, but were not induced by cortical contusion. Electronic brain cortical damage impactor (eCCI) was used for establishing TBI model in TBI group and β-aescinate group after opening the bone window. TBI group was only established TBI model, but no intervention. After establishment of TBI model in β-aescinate group, β-aescinate (5 mg/kg body weight) was intraperitoneally injected, once every 24 hours. The modified neurological severity scores (mNSS) was used for evaluating changes of neurological function. After 48 hours, SD rats were sacrificed for hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining (n=6). Additionally, water content of the brain tissue was evaluated using the wet-to-dry weight ratio (n=10). Evans blue assay was performed to investigate the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability (n=4). The expression of aquaporin 4 (AQP4) was measured by Western blot assay (n=6). Results Compared with the Sham group, neurologic deficit, increased brain water content and the expression of AQP4 were found in TBI group (all P<0.05). Moreover, BBB permeability was destroyed. However, β-aescinate can improve the neurological function, reduce the brain water content and significantly decrease the expression of AQP4 in TBI rats. The BBB permeability was significantly improved in treatment group (all P<0.05). Conclusion These findings suggest that β-aescinate can reduce cerebral edema and improve neurological outcome in SD rats after TBI. This neuroprotection may be related with the down-regulation of AQP4 protein.

BACKGROUNDIt is well known that more than 40% patients were initially diagnosed with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with intrapulmonary or/and distant metastasis. However, up to now, the reports about effects of different metastatic sites on survival were limited. The aim of this study is to investigate the clinicopathologic and survival difference by retrospective analysis among sole intrapulmonary metastasis, sole extrathoracic distant metastasis and simultaneous metastasis of lung and other extrathoracic organs for the patients with advanced NSCLC, and to analyze the prognosis-related factors of NSCLC with intrapulmonary metastasis.

METHODSOf the 425 patients with stage IV NSCLC diagnosed by pathology and through staging evaluation and treated at Beijing Cancer Hospital with long follow-up during Oct. 1995 to Dec. 2003, 81 cases had sole intrapulmonary metastasis, 98 cases had sole extrathoracic distant metastasis and 68 cases presented simultaneous lung metastasis and extrathoracic spread. Kaplan-Meier survival curve was performed to estimate the survival of patients with different metastasis, Log-Rank test was used to compare their survival difference, and univariate analysis was used to find prognostic related factors.

RESULTSMedian survival time (MST) and 1-, 2-, 3-year survival rate (SR) for patients with sole intrapulmonary metastasis were 13 months (95% CI: 11-15), 57%, 21%, 7%, respectively; MST was 22 months (95% CI: 18-26) for patients with N1 and/or N2 and 10 months (95%CI: 7-13) for patients with N3 (P=0.001). Among the patients with ipsilateral, contralateral and bilateral intrapulmonary metastasis, difference of MST and 1-, 2-, 3-year SR had no statistical significance (P > 0.05); Survival of patients with sole intrapulmonary metastasis was not significantly different from that of patients with sole brain or bone metastasis (P > 0.05), but was longer than that of patients with simultaneous lung and extrathoracic spread (P=0.021). One way analysis of variance showed that no significant association were found among age, pathologic subtype, differentiation degree or response of first-line chemotherapy and survival of the patients with sole intrapulmonary metastasis (P > 0.05), but sex and invasive status of lymph node (N1/N2 vs N3) were found to influence the survival of the patients (P= 0.018, P=0.001). Further stratified analysis by age showed that invasion of lymph node was independent prognostic factor (P=0.002); whereas for the patients with simultaneous metastasis of lung and distant organs, metastatic numbers (2 vs ≥3) of organ were independent prognostic factor (P=0.013).

CONCLUSIONSNo statistical difference is found among survival of NSCLC patients with sole intrapulmonary metastasis and with sole brain, bone metastasis. Invasive status of lymph node and metastatic number of organ are important prognostic factors for patients with sole intrapulmonary metastasis and simultaneous metastasis of lung and extrathoracic organs, respectively.