Objective To investigate the effectiveness of treating postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) by intradermal drug injection.Methods Ten rabbits of both sexes weighing 2.3-2.8 kg were anesthetized with intravenous urethane 1.5 g/kg. In group A (n = 5) 30% horseradish peroxidase(HRP) 500 ?l and in group B (n = 5) 1%-2% fluorescent nuclear yellow (NY) 500?l were injected intradermally at 6-8 points along the both sides of spine in the scapula region. After 48-72 h the animals were sacrificed and C4 -T10 spinal ganglia, cervical and thoracic sympathetic ganglia and celiac ganglia were harvested for identification of labeled neurocytes. Results Labeled neurocytes were found in C4-T10 spinal ganglia, cervical and thoracic sympathetic ganglia and celiac ganglia. There were more labeled neurocytes in the C6-T8 spinal ganglia. There were more labeled neurocytes in the sympathetic ganglia than in the spinal ganglia. The distribution of fluorescent labeled neurocytes corresponded to neurocytes labeled by HRP method. At the same segment there were more fluorescent labeled neurocytes than neurocytes labeled by HRP. Conclusion There is an ascending axoplasma streaming channel from nerver ending to the neurocytes in the ganglion as shown by morphological study and the good therapeutic effect of intradermal drug injection in the treatment of PHN may be related to this channel.

The model of knee OA (KOA) was established in our laboratory with three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction technique based on the CT data. We then designed the unicompartmental prosthesis matching KOA model with parametric software Pro/e 5. 0. Finally, the models were used to mimic the operation of knee unicompantment replacement and the model of unicompartmental knee athroplasty (UKA) was analyzed using 3D finite element method. The results indicates that the approach for designing the model by 3D parametric is effective and meets the need of automation and efficacy to design unicompartmental prosthesis. The results proves that the model is vivid and precise, and the 3D parameteric modeling method can provide biomechanical research of unicompantment replacement with model foundation and new experimental method. It can be widely utilized in the clinics and research.
Algorithms ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee ; methods ; Computer-Aided Design ; Finite Element Analysis ; Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; methods ; Knee Joint ; diagnostic imaging ; surgery ; Knee Prosthesis ; Prosthesis Design ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

BACKGROUND:Studies have shown that imbalance of bone metabolism during glucocorticoid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head necrosis is closely related to oxidative stress. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the pathological mechanism by which oxidative stress-induced ferroptosis promote apoptosis in osteoblasts involved in steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head. METHODS:General data and serum specimens were collected from 47 patients with steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head.In addition,six femoral head specimens were collected from these patients.According to the Association Research Circulation Osseous(ARCO)staging system,serum specimens were grouped into ARCO Ⅱ,Ⅲ,and IV,while femoral head specimens were classified into ARCO Ⅲ and IV.Serum levels of malondialdehyde and superoxide dismutase 1 were measured.The protein expression of superoxide dismutase 1,glutathione peroxidase 4,Bcl-2 in the femoral head was detected and verified by Data independent acquisition(DIA)for quantitative sequencing,western blot and alkaline phosphate detection. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The ARCO stage of patients with steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head was independent of age,sex and necrotic side.The serum levels of malondialdehyde and superoxide dismutase 1 were higher in patients with ARCO stage Ⅲ compared with those with ARCO stage Ⅱ and IV.The results of DIA protein quantification showed that the function of differential proteins was mainly related to redox.The levels of superoxide dismutase 1,glutathione peroxidase 4,and Bcl-2 in the necrotic region were lower than in the normal region,as well as lower in ARCO stage IV than in ARCO stage Ⅲ.Western blot verified the results of DIA protein quantification.The alkaline phosphatase activity was lower in the necrotic region than in the normal region,as well as lower in ARCO stage IV than in ARCO stage Ⅲ.In the necrotic and sclerotic regions,the function of differential proteins was also related to redox,and superoxide dismutase 1,glutathione peroxidase 4,Bcl-2 protein expression and alkaline phosphatase activity were lower in the necrotic area than in the sclerotic region,as well as lower in ARCO stage IV than in ARCO stage Ⅲ.To conclude,glucocorticoids can influence the progression of steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head by upregulating oxidative stress levels,inducing osteoblast ferroptosis,and inhibiting osteogenic function.

BACKGROUND:Pelvic tilt,which is often seen in hip diseases,is also a common functional problem after total hip arthroplasty. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the mechanism of occurrence and recovery of pelvic tilt after unilateral total hip arthroplasty in patients with femoral head necrosis. METHODS:The clinical data of 100 patients with femoral head necrosis who underwent unilateral total hip arthroplasty in the Department of Femoral Head Necrosis,Bone Injury Center of First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine were collected retrospectively from June 2021 to February 2023.The patients were divided into three groups,namely,groups A(<2°,n=48),B(2°-3°,n=34),and C(>3°,n=18),according to the severity of pelvic tilt on postoperative 3 day.Statistical data were collected and compared between the pre-and postoperative periods of patients of these three groups in terms of the angle of the coronal plane of the pelvis tilt,the length of the gluteus medius muscles of the bilateral sides,the heights of the rotational centers of the femoral heads,the difference in the lengths of the gluteus medius muscles of the bilateral sides and the heights of the rotational centers of the femoral heads,and the ratio of changes in the angle of the pelvic tilt.Pearson correlation coefficient was used to examine the correlation between pelvic tilt angle and other indexes. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)Pelvic tilt aggravation occurred in the short term after surgery.(2)The ratio of change in pelvic tilt angle from postoperative 3 days to postoperative 1 month time period differed between the groups,with group C>group B>group A.There was a difference between group C and the other groups in the time period from postoperative 1 to postoperative 3 months,with the ratio of change being the smallest in group C.There was no difference in the ratio of change between the groups in the time period from postoperative 3 days to postoperative 3 months.(3)The difference in bilateral gluteus medius muscles decreased gradually after surgery,and there was no difference in the comparison of bilateral gluteus medius muscles in the time period from postoperative 3 months.(4)The difference between bilateral centers of rotation increased after surgery,and the difference between bilateral heights at 3 months after surgery was smaller than that before surgery.(5)The pelvic tilt angle at 3 days after surgery,the duration of the disease and the pelvic tilt angle at 3 months after surgery were significantly correlated(all P=0.000),and the difference between bilateral gluteus medius muscles before surgery and the pelvic tilt angle at 3 days after surgery was significantly correlated(P=0.006)(6)The functional pelvic tilt occurred in the patients with femoral head necrosis after total hip arthroplasty.Correction of the pelvic tilt after surgery was based on the adaptive restoration of the functional pelvic tilt angle after surgery.Functional pelvic tilt arises as a compensatory adaptation of the organism based on the short-term postoperative reconstruction of bony structures and the survival of cumulative soft tissue damage.

Objective:To develop a deep transfer learning method for the differential diagnosis of osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) with other common hip diseases using anteroposterior hip radiographs.Methods:Patients suffering from ONFH, DDH, and other hip diseases including primary hip osteoarthritis, non-infectious inflammatory hip disease, and femoral neck fracture treated in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine from January 2018 to December 2020 were enrolled in the study. A clinical data set containing anteroposterior hip radiographs of the eligible patients was created. Data augmentation by rotating and flipping images was performed to enlarge the data set, then the data set was divided equally into a training data set and a testing data set. The ResNet-152, a deep neural network model, was used in the study, but the original Batch Normalization was replaced with Transferable Normalization to construct a novel deep transfer learning model. The model was trained to distinguish ONFH and DDH from other common hip diseases using anteroposterior hip radiographs on the training data set and its classification performance was evaluated on the testing data set.Results:The clinical data set was comprised of anteroposterior hip radiographs of 1024 hips, including 542 with ONFH, 296 with DDH, and 186 with other common hip diseases (56 hips with primary osteoarthritis, 85 hips with non-infectious inflammatory osteoarthritis, 45 hips with femoral neck fracture). After data augmentation, the size of the data set multiplied to 6144. The model was trained 100 050 times in each task. Accuracy was used as the representative parameter to evaluate the performance of the model. In the binary classification task to identify ONFH, the best accuracy was 95.80%. As for the multi-classification task for classification of ONFH and DDH from other hip diseases, the best accuracy was 91.40%. The plateau of the model was observed in each task after 50 000 times of training. The mean accuracy in plateaus was 95.35% (95% CI: 95.33%, 95.37%), and 90.85% (95% CI: 90.82%, 90.87%), respectively. Conclusion:The present study proves the encouraging performance of a deep transfer learning method for the first-visit classification of ONFH, DDH, and other hip diseases using the convenient and economical anteroposterior hip radiographs.

BACKGROUND:Overactive osteoclasts disrupt bone homeostasis and play a bad role in the pathological mechanisms of related skeletal diseases,such as osteoporosis,fragility fractures,and osteoarthritis.Studies have confirmed that ellagic acid and ellagtannin have the potential to inhibit osteoclast differentiation.As their natural metabolites,urolithin A has antioxidant,anti-inflammatory,anti-proliferative and anti-cancer effects,but its effect on osteoclast differentiation and its underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. OBJECTIVE:To explore the effect of urolithin A on osteoclast differentiation induced by receptor activator for nuclear factor-κB ligand and its mechanism. METHODS:Mouse mononuclear macrophage leukemia cells(RAW264.7)that grew stably were cultured in vitro.Toxicity of urolithin A(0,0.1,0.5,1.5,2.5 μmol/L)to RAW264.7 cells were detected by cytotoxic MTS assay to screen out the safe concentration.Different concentrations of urolithin A were used again to intervene with receptor activator for nuclear factor-κB ligand-induced differentiation of RAW264.7 cells in vitro.Then,tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining and F-actin ring and nucleus staining were performed to observe its effect on the formation and function of osteoclasts.Finally,the expressions of urolithin A on upstream and downstream genes and proteins in the MAPK signaling pathway were observed by western blot and RT-qPCR assays. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Urolithin A inhibited osteoclast differentiation and F-actin ring formation in a concentration-dependent manner and 2.5 μmol/L had the strongest inhibitory effect.Urolithin A inhibited the mRNA expression of Nfatc1,Ctsk,Mmp9 and Atp6v0d2 and the protein synthesis of Nfatc1 and Ctsk,related to osteoclast formation and bone resorption.Urolithin A inhibited the activity of osteoclasts by downregulating the phosphorylation of p38 protein to inhibit the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway.

【Objective】 To explore pain and collapse mechanisms in fosteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) with bone marrow edema (BME). 【Methods】 ONFH patients at ARCO Ⅲ stage who underwent total hip arthroplasty in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine were enrolled; the femoral head samples, clinical and imaging data were collected. These patients were divided into BME group and non-BME group according to the MR data in one week preoperative. Hematoxylin-eosin and Sirius red staining were performed to observe the morphological changes in bone tissue of femoral head specimens. Western blotting and qPCR were used to semi-quantitatively analyze the expression levels of CTSK, RANKL, and Netrin-1 proteins and mRNA in different regions of the bone tissue. 【Results】 Clinical and imaging data showed that ONFH patients with BME had significantly higher scores of VAS than ONFH patients without BME. Hematoxylin-eosin staining showed that bone structure disorder and a large number of empty bone lacunae were found in the necrotic areas in both groups, but there exited significant granulation tissue in the BME group, and spindle-shaped fibroblastic cells and inflammatory cells aggregated in the repaired region. Sirius red staining revealed the necrotic and sclerotic areas were accumulated with many collagenous fiber in the BME group. The results of Western blotting and qPCR showed that Netrin-1 expressions in the necrotic, sclerotic and health areas in the BME group were higher than those in the non-BME group (P<0.05), while osteoclast related proteins and mRNA expressions of the necrotic and sclerotic areas in the BME group was higher than those in the non-BME group (P<0.05). 【Conclusion】 All these findings indicated that hip pain was positively correlated with femoral head necrosis with BME, hyperactive osteoclasts participated in the femoral head collapse with BME, and the upregulated expression of Netrin-1 mediated the pain mechanism.