Objective To investigate the value of acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) on evaluating the renal tubular atrophy and interstitial fibrosis of IgA nephropathy(IgAN).Methods 117 patients diagnosed with IgAN,and 80 normal cases were examined with conventional ultrasonography and ARFI,recording the shear wave velocities(SWV),the hemodynamics and the renal biopsy results to quantify the elastic changes of renal cortex,with the aim of assessing AFRI's advantages on early diagnosing the impair of kidney.Results The SWV value of renal cortex,renal medulla of IgAN group were smaller than that of normal group (P ＜0.05),while the collective system SWV value had no difference(P ＞0.05).According to the ROC curve,the cut-off value of SWV in renal cortex was 2.7 cm/s.The accuracy of the diagnosis was 71 ％,which was better than RI (61.9％).The SWV value of the renal cortex decreased with the different stage of 1,2,3,4,but stage 5 was larger than stage 4.The degree of renal tubular atrophy and interstitial fibrosis(T) can be classified by the SWV of renal cortex,and the SWV of T2 was larger than T1 (P ＜0.05).Conclusions By quantifying the elastic change of kidney,ARFI technology is able to distinguish the degree of renal tubular atrophy and interstitial fibrosis,diagnose renal impairment early and judge the clinical stages.Furthermore the sensitivity,specificity,accuracy of it are superior to hemodynamic.

Objective To discuss the effects of utero placental ischemia on the body and nervous system development in fetal rats Methods By clamping the unilateral uterine artery of the rat, we produced a utero placental ischemia model The opposite uterus of the rat with normal uterine artery supply served as control We compared the body weight, weight of brain, and the expression of growth associated protein 43(GAP 43) mRNA in cerebral tissue by RT PCR in the 13 day (group 1) and 17 day(group 2) old fetal rats respectively Results The body weight and weight of brain in group 1 were 3 2 g and 0 16 g respectively, significantly lower than those of control 1 of 3 6 g and 0 18 g respectively ( P 0 05) However, GAP 43 mRNA in cerebral tissue of the group 2 (1 06) was significantly decreased compared with that of its control(1 21 )( P

BACKGROUND: It is demonstrated in modern pharmacologic study that total paeony glycoside (TPG) provides extensive pharmacologic activities,such as inhibiting aggregation of platelets and erythrocytes, anticoagulation,antithrombsis, anti-arterial sclerosis, protecting heart and liver, anti-tumor,etc.OBJECTIVE: Neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were cultured in vitro and by the changes of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) contents in cell culture solution, the protection of TPG on injured cardiomyocytes was analyzed.DESIGN: Controlled observation was designed.SETTING: Bioengineering Department in School of Life Science and Technology of Xi 'an Jiaotong University and Institute of Bone Diseases in Medical School of Xi'an Jiaotong University.MATERIALS: The experiment was performed in Bioengineering Department in School of Life Science and Technology of Xi 'an Jiaotong University from February to June in 2003, in which, 44 SD neonatal rats aged 1-3 days were employed. The 48-hour-cultured cardioryocytes were prepared in 42 bottles and randomized into 6 groups, named normal control (normal group), medicated-injury group (injury group), TPG 0.625 mg/L group,TPG 3.125 mg/L group, TPG 15.625 mg/L group and positive control, 7 bottles in each group.METHODS: Cardiomyocytic primary culture was performed under aseptic condition. No any drug was used in normal group, isoprenaline was added in injury group to terminate the concentration at 100 mg/L, in TPG 0.625, 3.125 and 15.625 mg/L groups, 30 minutes after isoprenaline added, RGP at dosages of 0.625, 3.125 and 15.625 mg/L were added respectively; in positive control, 30 minutes after isoprenaline added, coenzyme Q10 was used to terminate the concentration as 100 mg/L.Afterwards, the assay of every index was performed. Xanthine oxidase (XOD) method was used to assay SOD activity, thiobarbituric acid (TBA)method was to assay MDA content and nitrate reductase (NR) method was to assay NO content.cell culture solution in each group.Compared with normal group, the levels of total SOD, CuZn-SOD and MnSOD were reduced remarkably in injury group (P ＜ 0.05 or P ＜ 0.01).The above-indexes in every TPG group and positive control were improved to different extents (P ＜ 0.05 or ＜ 0.01), in which, the protection of TPG 15.625 mg/L group was near to or superior to positive control [(79.50±10.67), (80.30±13.50); (48.24±13.26), (49.73±10.23); (31.26±10.22),in cell culture solution in each group: Those in injury group were higher remarkably than normal group (P ＜ 0.01). MDA and NO contents were all reduced in every TPG group and positive control and dose dependence presented in TPG protection, the higher the dose was, the stronger the action of TPG on protection was, in which, in high-dose group, MDA content was near to normal group [(5.41±1.81), (4.48±0.94) μmol/L, P ＞ 0.05] and NO content was similar to positive control [(81.83± 9.08), (82.41±12.37) mol/L,P ＞ 0.05].CONCLUSION: TPG protects myocardial injury induced by isoprenaline,indicating dose-dependence relationship, which is probably associated with enhanced anti-oxidation of cell, reduced injury of cellular membrane induced by free radical and lipid oxidant.

AIM:To detect the activation of macrophage autophagy caused by lipopolysaccharide ( LPS) and the possible related signaling pathways .METHODS:The macrophage cell line RAW264.7 cultured in vitro was divided into 5 groups according to the culture environment , including normal culture group , starvation-activated sautophagy group , LPS group, LPS+PI3K inhibitor (hVps34) group and LPS+mTOR inhibitor (rapamycin) group.Fluorescent expression vector pcDNA3.1-GFP-LC3 constructed in previous work was transfected into the macrophages .The fluorescence microscopy was used to detect the formation of autophagosome .The mRNA expression of autophagy-associated genes Atg5, Atg7, LC3-II and Bnip3 in the macrophages was detected by qRT-PCR.The protein levels of LC3-II, p-Akt and p-mTOR were deter-mined by Western blotting , so as to evaluate the molecular pathways of autophagy in LPS-activated macrophages .RE-SULTS:The macrophages stably expressing GFP-LC3 were successfully established , which were used to observe the auto-phagy under fluorescence microscope .Compared with normal culture group , the autophagy in starvation group , LPS +hVps34 group and LPS+rapamycin group was significantly increased .The mRNA expression levels of Atg5, LC3-II and Bnip3 were significantly increased in starvation group , LPS+hVps34 group and LPS +rapamycin group , while in LPS group, those decreased slightly .The protein level of p-Akt in starvation group , LPS group and LPS+rapamycin group was significantly increased , while p-mTOR in starvation group , LPS+hVps34 group and LPS+rapamycin group significantly declined .LC3-II expression level in starvation group , LPS+hVps34 group and LPS+rapamycin group was higher than that in control group and LPS group .CONCLUSION: LPS regulates macrophage autophagy , and its possible pathway is the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, but there are some other effective regulatory pathways .

Aniline Compounds ; blood ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Humans ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Aim To investigate the antioxidative effect of total paeony glycoside(TPG) on cardiomyocytes injured.Methods The ischemia and hypoxia injuy model of cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes was induced by adding isoprenaline(ISO), and superoxide dismutase(SOD), malonalde hyde(MDA) and nitric oxide(NO) in the culture solution of normal control group; ISO injure group, CoQ 10 positive control group as well as protective group s with high,middle or low-dose TPG were respectively analyzed and compared. Results Compared with normal control group,the enzyme activity o f total SOD, CuZn-SOD and Mn-SOD decreased obviously, and the content of MDA and NO increased markedly in injury group, but in TPG and CoQ 10 groups all of detective indicators had improvement in varying degrees, and the protective effect was better than or close to positive control group in high-dose TPG grou p.Conclusion TPG has protective action on injured cardiomyocyte s induced by ISO in dose-dependent manner. The mechanism relates to the enhance ment of antioxidative effect in cells, and the reduction of membrane damage caus ed by free radical and lipid peroxide.

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of T2 *mapping T2 *value combined with DWI ADC value in quantitative assessment of the activity of sacroiliitis.Methods 30 patients diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS)were divided into 2 groups as acute group (n=17)and chronic group (n=13)according to the BASDAI scores of the clinical severity of disease.And 20 healthy adults were recruited as control group.All groups were examined by MR with traditional sequence,T2 *mapping and DWI in the sacroiliac joint.The T2 *value and ADC value of the bone marrow edema region and normal region were measured.Furthermore,the imaging data and the clinical scores were statistical analysis and compared among three groups.Results T2 *values and ADC values in acute group of AS patients were higher than chronic group (P<0.05),as well as compared with healthy volunteers (P<0.05).There was no statistically significant difference between the chronic group of AS patients and control group (P>0.05).Positive correlation between ADC value and BASDAI was observed in patients group.Conclusion T2 *mapping combined with DWI imaging in AS is beneficial for early diagnosis and quantitative analysis of the activity of sacroiliitis.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of serum containing Gumibao (Chinese character: see text) on the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblast induced by dexamethasone.

METHODSOsteoblasts were extracted from skulls in newly born (within 24 hours) SD rats, and digested with collagenase. The first passage of cells were used for experiments. Cells were cultured in the medium containing different concentrations of dexamethasone (0, 10(-8), 10(-7), 10(-6), 10(-5) ,10(-4) mol/L). Alkaline phosphatase staining were carried out after 1 week and numbers of mineralized nodes with alizarin red staining were observed after 3 weeks. Accordingly, following the treatment of 10(-5) mol/L dexamethasone for 1 week, cells were cultured in the medium with serum containing Gumibao (Chinese character: see text). One week after Cumibao (Chinese character: see text) treatment, cells were stained with Alkaline phosphatase and collagen I and PCNA were examined by Western-blot. However, the observation of numbers of mineralized nodes with alizarin red stain required one more week.

RESULTSHigh concentration of dexamethasone could inhibit the expression of PCNA, collagen I, alkaline phosphatase and reduce the number of mineralized nodes of osteoblast, while serum containing Gumibao (Chinese character: see text) could reverse the inhibition.

CONCLUSIONHigh concentration of dexamethasone could inhibit the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblastic cells, while serum containing Gumibao (Chinese character: see text) could reverse the inhibition.

Animals ; Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Collagen Type I ; analysis ; Dexamethasone ; pharmacology ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Female ; Osteoblasts ; cytology ; drug effects ; physiology ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen ; analysis ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the efficacy and safety of three different spinal rotation manipulations for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation.

METHODSFrom September 2011 to April 2013,180 patients diagnosed as lumbar disc herniation were randomly divided into seat fixed rotation group (A), lateral position rotation group (B) and supine position rotation group (C) by using a digital table. Finally 10 patients were excluded and dropped, 170 patients were included in the study. There were 57 patients in group A, 57 patients in group B and 56 patients in group C. Baseline demographic characteristics of patients, clinical findings and indexes of health status had no statistically differences among three groups (P > 0.05). The manipulation was performed every other day, and the treatment duration for all patients was 3 weeks. Body pain (BP), Physical function (PF) in SF-36, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and adverse reactions were observed statistically 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, one year and two years after finishing treatment.

RESULTSBP, PF scores in 3 groups were significantly improved and ODI scores were significantly lower than those before treatment and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05); However, there was no significant difference among three groups in the BP, PF and ODI scores (P > 0.05). There were no obvious and serious adverse reactions among these groups.

CONCLUSIONBased on the theory of dislocation of bone joints in TCM, three kinds of spinal rotation manipulations can be used safely for the treatment of lumbar disc herniation, and the efficacy was similar.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; physiopathology ; therapy ; Male ; Manipulation, Spinal ; methods ; Middle Aged ; Rotation ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

Objective To investigate the effect of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) on the activity of nuclear factor (NF)-?B in rats with myocardial infarction.Methods MSC were isolated from SD rats (120—150 g in weight).SD rats (180—200 g in weight) were subjected to MI by left coronary artery occlusion,and were allo- cated into three groups randomly:1)sham group (without ligation of the artery,n=8);2)injection of PBS solu- tion (n=8);3)injection of MSC (n=8).MSC or PBS solution was injected into myocardium from epicardium instantly after MI models were established.Four weeks after transplantation,cardiac function was evaluated u- sing physiological recorder.Western blot were performed to investigate the nuclear factor-? activity.The ex- pressions of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-? and interleukin (IL)-6 were evaluated by RT-PCR and Western blot. Results 1)Mortality was 20%(2/10) in sham group,33.3%(4/12) in PBS group and 20%(2/10) in MSC group with no statistic differences between them(P=0.646).2) Hemodynamic measurements showed that MSC trans- plantation caused significant improvement in cardiac function,comparing with MI+PBS group.3) MSC inhibi- ted the activities of NF-?B in myocardium and down-regulated the expression of TNF-? and IL-6 in mRNA and protein level.Conclusion Transplantation of MSC improved cardiac function in MI rats,which may partly at- tribute to their immuno-inflammatory regulation mechanism.