Objective To explore the role of RBC[Ca2+]i levels in pathogenesis of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) in neonates. Methods Twenty-eight neonates with moderate and severe HIE hospitalizeal from Jun. 2002 to Mar. 2006 were enrolled the study. The neonates with HIE were given routine treatment and Nimodipine for 7～10 days. Blood samples were collected before treatment and at 72 hours,7～10 days after treatment respectively. The levels of RBC [Ca2+]i were measured by Fura-2/AM. Twenty healthy full-term neonates were studied as controls. Results (1) The levels of RBC [Ca2+] i in the neonates with moderate and severe HIE were significantly higher than that in control group at every time points( P＜0. 05 ,P＜0.01). (2) the levels of RBC[Ca2+]i in the neonates with moderate and severe HIE peaked at 72 hours after treatment,and were still significantly higher than that of control group at 7～10 days after treatment(P＜0. 05). (3) In the neonates with HIE,RBC[Ca2+ ]i levels correlated positively with the severity of HIE ( r = 0. 447, P＜ 0. 05 ). Conclusion RBC [Ca2+ ] i levels are closely associated with pathogenesis of HIE, and may play an important role in the pathogenesis of HIE. Evaluating RBC [ Ca2+] i levels in neonate after birth may provide clinical clues for the early diagnosis and prognosis assessment of HIE.

Objective To observe the changes of plasma pulmonary surfactant protein-A (SP-A) and serum ferritin (SF) in neonates with mechanical ventilation and its clinical significance in ventilation-induced lung injury (VILI).Methods The study was carried out in 36 neonates with mechanical ventilation and 31 neonates without mechanical ventilation .Plasma SP-A and SF levels in venous blood were mea- sured on 1,24,48,72 hours after mechanical ventilation and 24 hours after mechanical ventilation removal by Western-dot blot and radioimmunoassay (RIA).Plasma SP-A and SF levels of non-mechanical ventilation group were determined at the same time.Results Plasma SP-A levels in neonates on 24,48,72 hours after mechanical ventilation were significantly higher than those of non-mechanical ventilation group[( 2.20? 0.22)vs(1.97?0.29) ?g/L,(2.43?0.28)vs(1.94?0.33) ?g/L,(2.61?0.38)vs(1.80?0.34) ?g/L,respectively P

Objective To explore change of RBC[Ca2+]i levels in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy(HIE)and the influence of nimodipine on RBC[Ca2+]i and its clinical significance.Methods Fifty-eight neonates with moderate and severe HIE were randomly divided into 2 groups including routine treatment group(n=28)and nimodipine group(n=30),and 20 healthy full-term neonates were selected as healthy control group.Based on the routine treatment,nimodipine[2 mg,0.5-1.0 ?g/(kg?min)] was given intravenously in the nimodipine group for 7-10 days.Blood samples were collected before and after treatment for 72 hours and 10-14 days,respectively.The levels of RBC[Ca2+]i were measured by Fura-2 pentakis(acetoxymethyl)ester[Fura-2/AM].The results were analyzed by SPSS 10.0 software.Results 1.The levels of RBC[Ca2+]i in neonates with HIE were significantly higher than those in healthy control group[(2.83?0.36)mmol/L vs(2.15?0.18)mmol/L,P

Objective To construct eukaryotic expression plasmid pIRESneo3-pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) and detect its transient expression in SP2/0 cells. Methods Specific primers were designed based on the mature peptide sequence of human PEDF cDNA in the GenBank. Human PEDF gene was cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector pIRESneo3. The PEDF DNA was transfected into SP2/0 with LipofectamineTM 2000. The recombinant human PEDF protein expressed in SP2/0 cell culture supernatant was identified by Western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The biological activity of the recombinant human PEDF was measured by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-z-y1)-2,5-diphenytetrazolium bromide(MTT) method. Results PCR amplification, restriction enzyme digestion and DNA sequencing confirmed that the mature peptide sequence of human PEDF cDNA was successfully cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector pIRESneo3. And the plasmid was transfected into SP2/0 cells, which could secret PEDF. Western blot analysis showed that there was only one obvious band at the position of relative molecular weight of 50 000, and it is equivalent to the expected value. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay suggested that the content of PEDF began to rise after transfection, and peaked at 36 h [(0.92±0.04) μg/ml]. The proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cell line was significantly inhibited by supernatant after transfection of 36 h (P<0.05). Conclusions The eukaryotic expression plasmid pIRESneo3-PEDF had been successfully constructed and active human PEDF was transiently secreted, which made a foundation for further study of stable expression and purification of PEDF. This protein could be a potential medication for preventing and managing retinopathy of prematurity.

BackgroundRecent studies showed that diabetic retinal neuropathy is an earlier and more dangerous complication and neurotrophin has a protective effect on retina.ObjectiveThe present study was to observe the changes of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF),its receptor TrkB,signal pathway protein phosphatized extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase1/2 (p-ERK1/2) and c-fos in the retina after injection of BDNF into the vitreous in STZ induced Wistar diabetic rats.MethodsWistar rats aged 9 weeks-old were randomly divided into BDNF injection group,diabetes mellitus (DM) control group and normal control group and 20 rats for each group.STZ was intraperitoneally injected in the rats of BDNF injection group and DM control group to create the experimental DM.BDNF was intravitreously injected in the rats of BDNF group 2 weeks after administration of STZ in three-day interval for 5 times,and BSS containing O.1％ bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used at the same way in the DM control group and normal control group.The retina was isolated for hybridization in situ for BDNF,and TrkB,p-ERK1/2 and c-fos.Levels in retina were detected using sandwich method ELISA.ResultsThe number of BDNF positive cells and the gray scale were lower obviously in the rat retina of DM control group than those of BDNF injection group and normal control group,showing significant differences among the 3 groups ( F =102.36,92.55 ;P＜0.05 ).ELISA assay showed that TrkB,p-ERK1/2 and c-fos values in retina were statistically significantly different among the 3 groups ( F =92.54,95.46,94.84,P＜0.05 ).The TrkB level in retina was statistically reduced,but the p-ERK1/2 and c-fos levels in retina were increased statistically in DM control group compared with BDNF injection group and normal control group( P＜0.05 ).No statistical difference was found in TrkB,p-ERK1/2 and c-fos values between the BDNF injection group and normal control group(P＞0.05).ConclusionsThe injection of BDNF into the vitreous cavity can protect retina from downregulating BDNF and TrkB levels and up-regulating the p-ERK1/2 and c-fos protein levels in the early stage of DM.

Objective ·To study changes of morphological characteristics of pituitary glands Objective · To study changes of morphological characteristics of pituitary glandsin normal adults by high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods · A total of 245 healthy adults were scanned by 3.0T MRI to measurewidths,lengths,heights and volumes of pituitary glands and observe pituitary gland morphology. Results · The average height of pituitary was (5.47±1.33) mm inmales and (6.06±1.32) mm in females; the average volume of pituitary was (614.07±125.52) mm3 in males and (660.00±117.35) mm3 in females. The difference betweenthe genders was statistically significant (P<0.01). The pituitary height was positively related to the pituitary volume (r=0.829,P<0.01). Except the pituitary lengths, there was statistically significance in the pituitary widths, heights and volumes among different age groups (P<0.05), and all of them were negatively correlated with age (P<0.01). Conclusion · The pituitary heights and volumes peak in the 18-29 age group in adults and tend to decline with increased age. In female subjects, however, there is a tendency of pituitary heights and volumes to increaseagain in the 50-59 age group. The average height and volume of female pituitary glands are significantly greater than those of males.

Objective To investigate the enhanced effect of polysaccharide from B.jiangsiensis(PBJ) on the immune hypofunction mouse models and its dose-effect relationship.Methods The immune hypofunction mouse models were made by hypodermic injection with cyclophosphamide(Cy) in mice.PBJ's effect on hemolysin content in mouse body induced by chicken erythrocytes and the delayed-type hypersensitivity(DTH) induced by dinitrochlorobenzene in mice were observed and contrasted in the different mouse groups treated with Cy in vivo by hypodermic injection together with PBJ at doses of 400mg/kg,200mg/kg and 50mg/kg,respectively.Results The test showed that the index of hemolysin,hemolytic plaque formation and delayed hypersensitivity reaction in model group markedly decreased while the indexes of hemolysin test in the control group,high and middle dose groups increased(P

Objective To study the therapeutic effect of tianluo decoction against hepatitis B virus(HBV) in vivo and vitro.Methods The inhibitive effect were observed in the duplication process of hepatitis B virus by fluorescence quantitative PCR(FQ-PCR) in vitro test and duck's hepatitis B animal model in vivo test.Results FQ-PCR in vitro test demonstrated that tianluo decoction had biological function to inhibit from duplication of hepatitis B virus,and there were significant difference in inhibit hepatitis B virus from duplicating in distilled water and tianluo decoction group(median:6.9?108/ml vs 2.6?104/ml,u=2.76,P

Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Larynx ; abnormalities ; surgery ; Male ; Respiratory System Abnormalities ; surgery ; Vocal Cords ; abnormalities ; surgery

Authentications of Chinese herbal medicine have a critical effect in Chinese clinical medicine. DNA molecular marker, as an important component for true or false authentication, is more and more widely used in iden-tification of Chinese medicinal materials. At the same time, many new methods for authentication of Chinese medici-nal materials are continuously emerging. But the systematically comparative analysis of these new methods is lack. The present study taking Lonicera japonica as an example, systematically compared principles, characteristics, ex-periment methods, detection time and the application scope of express sequence tag-simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR), polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), allele-specific PCR (AS-PCR), DNA barcoding and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), and put forward corresponding improve-ment opinions. This study can help to screen appropriate approach for rapid authentication of L. japonica and offer demonstrating to other Chinese herbal medicines.