Objective To establish whether Wnt-signaling pathway plays a role in mice β-cell function and/or survival in vitro. Methods Mice NIT-1 beta cells were cultured in media with glucose concentration of 33.3 mmol/L and the cytokines interleukin-1β, interferon-γand tumor necrosis factor-α with or without the addition of purified Wnt3a protein in vitro. Subsequently, β-cell apoptosis by Tunnel and flow cytometry, and β-cell proliferation by BrdU were analyzed. Total RNA was extracted to measure gene expressions by real-time PCR.Results Incubations of NIT-1 cells with high glucose and cytokines resulted in an increase in β-cell apoptosis and decrease in β-cell proliferation (P<0.01). In contrast, treatment with Wnt3a protein protected β-cell from glucose and cytokines-induced apoptosis through up-regulating the expressions of above Pitx2、 TCF7L2. Conclusions Wnt-signaling regulates the proliferation of pancreatic β-cell, and protectes β-cell from glucotoxicity and cytokine toxicity with respect to proliferation and apoptosis.

Objective:To search for a method for radical resection of pancreatic and duodenal malignancy involving the mesentery root and for the long post-operation survival of patients.Methods:From Jan.2004 to Aug.2006,a total of 26(16 male and 10 female. aged 27-70)patients with pancreatic and duodenal malignancy involving the mesentery root were treated in our department.The patients included 3 with duodenal malignancy and 23 with pancreatic malignancy.Curative resection was performed by the extended pancreaticoduodenetomy(Whipple procedure)combined with mesentery root resection(MRR)for all patients.The outcomes,safety and the post-operation survival rate were analyzed retrospectively.Results:Thirteen patients were treated with Whipple procedures combined with MRR,9 were treated with partial portal vein/superior mesenteric vein(PV/SMV)and reconstruction of the vessel,and 4 patients received pre-shunt between PV and SMV with artificial vessel graft before the extended Whipple and MRR procedures.The operation time was 2.5 to 7(4.4?1.1)hour,and blood loss was 300 to 5 000(1892?1414)ml with the blood transfusion of 0 to 5 600(2 100?1 586)ml.There was no death in our group and 7(27%)had post-operation complication.The post-operation hospital stay was 10 to 30 days.The pathologic examination showed negative surgical margins for all specimens.The tumor size was 4 to 10 (6.17?2.03)cm.After a follow-up of 9 to 38 months,the pain was relieved in all patients.One of the 3 patients with duodenal adenocarcinoma had liver metastasis at 10 months after operation,and the other 2 survived 10 months and 27 months without evidence of tumor reccurence.The patient with pancreatic micro-adenocarcinoma died of local reccurence 9 months after operation.The patient with neuroendocrine carcinoma died of organ failure 24 months after operation.The patient with lymphoma have survived for 24 months after operation.The 1-year and 2-year accumulated survival rates in the 20 cases with pancreatic ductal cancer were 86.6% and 45.6%. respectively.Conclusion:The extended Whipple procedure with MRR is safe and effective.It can obtain R0 resection in patients with malignant tumors(over 5 cm in diameter)in the head,neck and uncinate process of the pancreas and duodenal.

AIM: To investigate the influence of He-Ne laser on connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) expression and collagen formation of fibroblast in filtration site after trabeculectomy in rabbit, and to discuss the mechanism for preventing scar formation with He-Ne laserin vivo.METHODS: The upper nasal limbus area next to the upper rectus muscle in right eyes Received 10 minutes He-Ne laser irradiation (200mW/cm2) every day for three days, the left eyes served as control. Twenty-four hours after the last irradiation, both eyes of the rabbits were took trabeculectomy surgery. The expressions of CTGF in the filtration area were tested on the 7th, 14th and 28th day after surgery and collagen density was tested on the 14th and 28th day after surgery. Each of the time point had 7 rabbits. RESULTS: The expression of CTGF was lower than that of the control group's on the 7th and 14th day after trabeculectomy surgery (P=0.01, P=0.005). When examined on the 14th and 28th day, the collagen density of irradiation group were significantly lower than that of the control group's (P=0.013, P=0.01).CONCLUSION: Pretreating the filtration area with 200mW/cm2 He-Ne laser may be helpful in preventing scar formation after trabeculectomy in rabbit, possibly due to downregulation of the expression of CTGF and collagen synthesis in fibroblasts. He-Ne laser may be developed into a new scar preventing method in filtration surgery.

Background Whether ocular anterior and posterior chamber exist a blood-aqueous barrier is in controversy.Conventional method can not offer a good evidence because it is unable to detect the aqueous component in the posterior chamber.Objective This study was to investigate the distribution of Gadolinium-diethylene triamine pentaacetic acids(Gd-DTPA)after peripheral iridectomy with magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)in rabbit.Methods Monocular peripheral iridectomy was performed on the right eyes in 8 clean New Zealand white rabbits and the fellow eyes were as controls.0.2 ml/kg(0.5 mol/L)Gd-DTPA,a tracer of MRI,was injected into ear vein in vivo to scan the eyes with MRI for the observation of the permeability and distribution.The signal enhanced ratio of interest region associated with time were analyzed.Results The signal in ciliary body of both eyes showed an immediately sharp enhancement within 10 minutes following the injection of Gd-DTPA with a peak intensity at 30-40 minutes,and then the intensity was gradually weaken over time.The signal was stronger in the operative eyes than that in the fellow eyes.The signal in the posterior chamber was gradually increased after operation,however,that in posterior chamber of the control eyes was lower.The interest regions of Gd-DTPA were ciliary,anterior chamber and posterior chamber,and the enhanced signal intensities were consisted in the posterior chamber after operation.However,the increase of the signal was not seen in the posterior chamber in the control eyes.Conclusions The pathway of plasma protein entering into the anterior chamber is very different from that of aqueous secretion.There exists a barrier between the anterior and posterior chamber which might be an integral part of the blood-ocular barrier.

Objective To investigate the preventive effect of TGF-?_1 neutralizing antibody on flexor tendon adhesion from operation.Methods One hundred and eight leghon cocks performed anastomonsis op- eration were divieded into three groups randomly,as normal saline(control group),5?g/ml group,10?g/ml group of TGF-?_1,antibody.At 1 st,3rd,8th and 12th weeks respectively after operation,the flexor biomechan- ics test,HE staining,Masson staining,Sirius red-polarization staining and TGF-?_1 immunohistochemistry stai- ning were used.Results The max of strength of tendon and the stimulate active flexor from the experiment groups(5?g/ml group,10?g/ml) are higher than from the control group,The max of strength of tendon of the experiment groups are less at 8th weeks,and no difference at 12th weeks from the control group;Compared with the control group,the 10?g/ml group were less shorten the progress of inflammation and accelerated the progress of molding;In the experiment groups(5?g/ml group,10?g/ml),the density of the collagenⅠtype were less,the ratio ofⅠ/Ⅲcollagen and expression of the TGF-?_1 were decreasing.Condusion The study showed that applying of TGF-?_1 muhiclonal neutralizing antibody can inhibit efficiently the function of the TGF-?_1 during the flexor tendon repair,reduce tendon adhesion and scar fromation,however has no affec- tion of tendon intensity,suggesting it is a latent and efficient method for preventiong flexor tendon from adhe- ring after operation.

AIMTo search for new compounds with strong anti-inflammatory activity and low gastrointestinal (GI) side effects.

METHODSA series of alpha-substituted p-(methanesulfonyl) phenyl-propenamides were synthesized. Their anti-inflammatory activities against xylene-induced mice ear swelling and carrageenan-induced rat paw edema were evaluated, and their GI side effects in rats were examined.

RESULTSTwenty-five target compounds (II1-25) were obtained, and their structures were determined by IR, 1H NMR, MS and elemental analysis. Thirteen compounds (II1,3,5,8-13,15,18,19,23) exhibited marked anti-inflammatory activity comparable to diclofenac sodium (DC) and rofecoxib (RC) in xylene-induced mice ear swelling model, and twelve compounds (II1,3,5,7,8,10-12,17,18,20,23) showed remarkable anti-inflammatory activity comparable to DC and RC in carrageenan-induced rat paw edema. Compounds II3,8,10,11,18,20 showed GI side effects less than DC (P < 0.01), and no significant difference compared with RC and CMC-Na (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONalpha-Substituted p-(methanesulfonyl)phenylpropenamides showed strong anti-inflammatory activity but few GI side effects and deserve to be further investigated.

Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; adverse effects ; chemical synthesis ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Carrageenan ; Edema ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Mice ; Peptic Ulcer ; chemically induced ; Phenylpropionates ; adverse effects ; chemical synthesis ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Structure-Activity Relationship ; Sulfones ; adverse effects ; chemical synthesis ; pharmacology ; Xylenes

Arsenites ; toxicity ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; Cell Division ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Humans ; Keratinocytes ; cytology ; Skin ; cytology ; Sodium Compounds ; toxicity

Eight compounds were isolated from the stems of Brucea mollis by various chromatographic techniques such as column chromatography on silica gel and Sephadex LH-20, and preparative HPLC, and their structures were elucidated as bruceolline O (1), 1-(1-beta-glucopyranosyl)-1H-indole-3-carbaldehyde (2), canthin-6-one (3), 11-hydroxycanthin-6-one (4), 9-methoxycanthin-6-one (5), 4-methoxycanthin-6-one (6), infractin (7), and beta-carboline-1-propionic acid (8). The cytotoxic activities of compounds 1-8 against HCT-8 and A549 human cell lines were determined, but none of them exhibited significant activity (IC 50 > 10 micromol x L(-1)). Among them, compound 1 is a new indole alkaloid, and compounds 2 and 5-7 were isolated from this plant for the first time.
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Brucea ; chemistry ; Carbolines ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Humans ; Indole Alkaloids ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Molecular Structure ; Plant Stems ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry

AIMTo search for new compounds with strong anti-inflammatory activity and low gastrointestinal (GI) side effects.

METHODSA series of p-(methanesulfonyl) styrene-linked cyclic ketone derivatives were synthesized. Their anti-inflammatory activities against xylene-induced mice ear swelling and carrageenan-induced rat paw edema were evaluated, and their GI side effects in the rats were examined.

RESULTSNine target compounds (ZA(1-9)) were obtained, and their structures were determined by IR, 1HNMR, MS and elemental analysis. Compared with controls diclofenac (DC) and rofecoxib (RC) , ZA(3, 5-9) showed no significant difference in anti-inflammatory activity against xylene-induced ear swelling in mice. ZA(3, 7, 8) showed potency comparable to DC and RC (P > 0.05) and ZA6 was more potent than DC and RC (P < 0.05) in the treatment of carrageenan-induced rat paw edema. ZA(3, 5-9) showed less GI side effects than DC (P < 0.05, P < 0.01) and no significant difference compared with RC (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONp-(Methanesulfonyl) styrene-linked cyclic ketone derivatives showed strong anti-inflammatory activity but few GI side effects and deserve to be further investigated.

Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; adverse effects ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Carrageenan ; Edema ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Ketones ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; Mice ; Peptic Ulcer ; drug therapy ; Rats ; Structure-Activity Relationship ; Styrenes ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo determine the effects of Jiji decoction (Traditional Chinese Medicine) on the cognitive function and oxidative stress in mice with vascular dementia (VD) induced by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion.

METHODSThirty-two mice were randomly divided into nonnal group (n = 8), sham group (operation, but no cerebral ischemia/reperfusi6n, n = 8), model group (vascular dementia model induced by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion, n = 8), and Jiji decoction-treated group (vascular dementia model plus treatment with Jiji decoction, n = 8). Fourteen days of treatment after operation, the cognitive behavior was measured in step-through test, spatial probe test and platform test. Afterwards, to assess the levels of oxidative stress, the activity of superoxide dismutase(SOD) and content of malonaldehyde (MDA) in brain of these mice were measured.

RESULTSData from step-through test indicated that the escaping latency of Jiji decoction-treated group was prolonged and the error counts were decreased significantly ( P <0.01) compared with those of model group. Data from spatial probe test indicated that the time of entering darkroom, the time of climbing height and the time of entering bright room in Jiji decoction-treated group were shortened and the counts of climbing height were increased (P < 0.05-0.01) significantly compared with those of model group. Data from platform test showed that the escaping latency of Jiji decoction-treated group was prolonged significantly (P < 0.01) compared with that of model group. Compared with normal and sham group, the activity of SOD was decreased and the content of MDA was increased in model group significantly (P < 0.01). Compared with those of model group, the levels of SOD and MDA in Jiji decoction-treated group were improved significantly (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONJiji decoction could improve cognitive function of VD mice. Its mechanism might be related with the inhibition of oxidative stiess in the brain.

Animals ; Brain ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Cerebral Infarction ; physiopathology ; Cognition ; drug effects ; Dementia, Vascular ; drug therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Mice ; Oxidative Stress ; drug effects ; Reperfusion Injury ; drug therapy ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism