Immunohistochemical staining was used to evaluate the presence of nitricoxide synthase (NOS) family enzymes in the rat penis and major pelvic ganglion.We used three kinds of antisera which are brain(neuronal), endothelial cell andmacrophge(inducible) enzymes of NOS. Many brain NOS positive neurons wereobserved in the major pelvic ganglion, especially in the initial portion of thecavenous nerve. In the penile erectile tissue, many delicate, beaded or linearbrain NOS-positive fibers were observed on the bundle of smooth muscles,adventitia of helicine artery and wall of cavernous space. Brain NOS-positiveimmunoreactivity were also seen on the encapsulated nerve ending and adventitiaof dorsal vessels of penis. Endothelial cell NOS immunoreactivity was exclusivelyin the urethral epithelium of corpus spongiosum. There was no inducible NOSimmunoreactivity in rat penis and major pelvic ganglion. These results suggestthat NO related to penile erection in rat was made from brain NOS rather thanendothelia1 cell or inducible NOS.
Animals ; Arteries ; Brain ; Endothelial Cells ; Epithelium ; Ganglion Cysts* ; Humans ; Immune Sera ; Male ; Nerve Endings ; Neurons ; Nitric Oxide Synthase* ; Nitric Oxide* ; Penile Erection ; Penis* ; Protein Isoforms* ; Rats*

PURPOSE: We aimed to study the feasibility of arsenic trioxide as a treatment of neuroblastoma which has the ability to differentiate into nonmalignant cells like acute promyelocytic leukemia. METHODS: To determine the effects of arsenic trioxide in various concentrations and exposure time on the survivial of neuroblastoma cell lines, SH-SY5Y and SK-N-AS cells were cultured in RPMI 1640 media with 1 to 20muM concentration of arsenic trioxide. Apoptosis was measured with flow cytometry by staining with 7-aminoactinomycin D. Cell cycle was assessed by monitoring the DNA contents by flow cytometry. Arsenic trioxide induced cell morphologic changes were also observed with May-Grunwald-Giemsa stain under a light microscope. RESULTS: Arsenic trioxide induced apoptosis in SH-SY5Y cells earlier in the same concentration and to a more severe degree with the same exposure time than in HL-60 cells. The apoptosis induced by arsenic trioxide was steeply increased to 79.3 10.1% at 24 hours and then maintained a plateau on 20muM concentration, while increasing steadily to 40.2 6.5% until 72 hours on 5muM concentration. The proliferating cell proportion in S/G2/M phase was decreased with arsenic trioxide concentration and with exposure time in both SH-SY5Y and HL-60 cells, especially more so with the SH-SY5Y cells. The cellularity was decreased and more apoptotic cells could be observed in the arsenic trioxide treatment group than in untreated control group. CONCLUSION: As in acute promyelocytic leukemic cells, arsenic trioxide induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest of proliferating phase in neuroblastoma cells.
Apoptosis ; Arsenic* ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints ; Cell Line ; DNA ; Flow Cytometry ; HL-60 Cells ; Humans ; Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute ; Neuroblastoma*

Progress in medical science and cell biology has resulted in the transplantation of human cells and tissues from on human into another, facilitating reproduction and the restoration of form and function, as well as enhancing the quality of life. For more than 40 years, society has recognized the medical and humanitarian value of donation and transplanting organs and tissues. The standard operating procedures of hard tissues reflect the collective expertise and conscientious efforts of tissue bank professionals to provide a foundation for the guidance of tissue banking activities. Procurement of allograft tissues from surgical bone donors is a part of tissue banking. During the past decades the use of bone allografts has become widely accepted for the filling of skelectal defects in a variety of surgical procedures. In particular in the field of orthopaedic and oral and maxillofacial surgery the demand for allografts obtained from either living or post-mortem donors has increased. Hospital-based tissue banks mainly retrieve allografts from living donors undergoing primary total hip replacement for osteoarthritis or hemi arthroplasty for hip fractures and orthgnatic surgery such as angle reduction. Although bone banks have existed for many years, the elements of organized and maintaining a hospital bone bank have not been well documented. The experience with a tissue bank at Korea Tissue Bank(KTB) between 2001 and 2004 provides a model of procurement, storage, processing, sterilization and documentation associated with such a facility. The following report describes the standard operating procedures of hard tissues such as femoral head obtained from living donors.
Allografts* ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; Bone Banks ; Head* ; Hemiarthroplasty ; Hip Fractures ; Humans ; Korea ; Living Donors* ; Osteoarthritis ; Quality of Life ; Reproduction ; Sterilization ; Surgery, Oral ; Tissue Banks ; Tissue Donors

BACKGROUND: Chemotaxis is one of the cardinal functions of leukocytes, which enables them to be recruited efficiently to the right place at the right time. Analyzing chemotactic activities is important not only for the study on leukocyte migration but also for many other applications including development of new drugs interfering with the chemotactic process. However, there are many technical limitations in the conventional in vitro chemotaxis assays. Here we applied a new optical assay to investigate chemotactic activities induced in differentiated HL-60 cells. METHODS: HL-60 cells were stimulated with 0.8% dimethylformamide (DMF) for 4 days. The cells were analyzed for morphology, flow cytometry as well as chemotactic activities by a time-lapse videomicroscopic assay using a chemotactic microchamber bearing a fibronectin-coated cover slip and an etched silicon chip. RESULTS: Videomicroscopic observation of the real cellular motions in a stable concentration gradient of chemokines demonstrated that HL-60 cells showed chemotaxis to inflammatory chemokines (CCL3, CCL5 and CXCL8) and also a homeostatic chemokine (CXCL12) after DFM-induced differentiation to granulocytic cells. The cells moved randomly at a speed of 6.99+/-1.24 micrometer/min (n=100) in the absence of chemokine. Chemokine stimulation induced directional migration of differentiated HL-60 cells, while they still wandered very much and significantly increased the moving speeds. CONCLUSION: The locomotive patterns of DMF-stimulated HL-60 cells can be analyzed in detail throughout the course of chemotaxis by the use of a time-lapse videomicroscopic assay. DMF-stimulated HL-60 cells may provide a convenient in vitro model for chemotactic studies of neutrophils.
Chemokines ; Chemotaxis ; Dimethylformamide ; Flow Cytometry ; HL-60 Cells* ; Humans ; Leukocytes ; Microscopy, Video ; Neutrophils ; Silicon

Allografts ; Bacteria ; Bacteriology ; Communicable Diseases ; Gamma Rays ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Radiation, Ionizing ; Sterilization ; Tendons ; Tissue Banks ; Tissue Donors

BACKGROUND: The cell-mediated immune reaction to tuberculosis infection involves a complex network of cytokines. The extent of inflammation, tissue damage and severity of the disease suggested to be determined by the balance between extent and duration of the proinflammatory cytokine response versus those of the suppressive cytokines. The systemic cytokine response in pathogenesis of tuberculosis can be assessed by measuring serum cytokine levels. METHOD: Serum interleukin-1 beta(IL-1 ), IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12(p40), tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF-alpha), interferon-gamma(IFN-gamma) and transforming growth factor-beta(TGF-beta) levels were measured in 83 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, 10 patients with endobronchial tuberculosis before treatment and 20 healthy subjects by using a sandwich ELISA. In patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, they were divided into mild, moderate and far advanced group according to the severity by ATS guidelines. To compare with those of pretreatment levels, we measured serum IL-1beta, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12(p40), TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma and TGF-beta levels in 45 of 83 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis after 2 and 6 months of treatment. RESULTS: 1) In sera of patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis(n=83), IL-1beta, IL-6(p<0.05), TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma were elevated and TGF-beta was decreased comparing to control. IL-2, IL-12(p40), IL-4 and IL-10 were similar between the patients with tuberculosis and control. 2) In endobronchial tuberculosis, IL-6 and TNF-alpha were elevated and TGF-beta was decreased comparing to control. IL-12(p40) seemed to be elevated comparing to pulmonary tuberculosis. 3) Far advanced tuberculosis showed markedly elevated IL-6 and IFN-gamma level(p<0.05). 4) The significant correlations were noted between IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-alpha and between IL-12, IL-2 and IL-4(p<0.01). 5) After 2 and 6 months of standard treatment, the level of IL-6 and IFN-gamma was significantly decreased(p<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results showed that an altered balance between cytokines is likely to be involved in the extent of inflammation, tissue damage and severity of the disease tuberculosis. But, it should be considered diversities of cytokine response according to type of tuberculosis and immunity in clinical application and interpreting future studies.
Cytokines ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Interleukin-1 ; Interleukin-10 ; Interleukin-12 ; Interleukin-2 ; Interleukin-4 ; Interleukin-6 ; Korea* ; Necrosis ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; Tuberculosis* ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

BACKGROUND: A range of well characterized materials are needed for validating the performance of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) immunoassays. These materials are purchased currently from overseas manufacturers at a high cost and with limited quantity. This study was conducted to establish an HBsAg low titer performance panel for use as a national standard for validation of HBsAg immunoassays in Korea. METHODS: 476 plasma units reactive on blood donor screening were collected HBsAg was tested using 3 enzyme immunoassays (EIA) and 1 chemiluminescence immunoassay (CIA). Units reactive on the CIA assay or on 2 or more immunoassays were subjected to hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA quantification, HBV genotyping and subtyping. Units reactive on HBV DNA quantification were confirmed for HBsAg by neutralization. Candidates for the panel were subjected to a collaborative study performed at 7 laboratories using 7 immunoassays. RESULTS: Eleven HBsAg positive units were selected for the low titer performance panel based on HBsAg immunoassay, HBV DNA quantification, HBV genotyping and subtyping results. The range of the HBsAg concentration of the panel members was 0.05~1.28 IU/mL. Two HBsAg negative units were also included as negative controls. CONCLUSION: As a result of this study, a low titer performance panel [KFDA standard (08/028); HBsAg low titer performance panel (BTRL HBV/LP)] for validation of HBsAg immunoassays has been established as a Korean national standard. Use of this panel will improve performance assessment of HBsAg immunoassays. Because the performance of immunoassays cannot be assessed properly with a limited number of panels, continuous efforts are needed to develop a range of performance panels.
Blood Donors ; DNA ; Hepatitis ; Hepatitis B ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis B virus ; Humans ; Immunoassay ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Luminescence ; Mass Screening ; Plasma

Azathioprine (AZA) treatment in transplant or autoimmune patients and subsequent appearance squamous cell carcinomas at various sites, particularly skin and cervix, has shown a close relationship. However, it remains uncertain whether this is true for the patients with Crohn's disease. We report a case of squamous cell carcinoma of the breast occurred in a 35-year-old female with Crohn's disease taking AZA. She was first diagnosed with Crohn's disease 10 years ago and has taken AZA with 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) on regular follow up in gastrointestinal department for 9 years. She had no family history of breast cancer. She visited breast cancer clinic due to incidentally found right breast mass. A mastectomy on the right breast was performed and 6.3x5.5 cm mass was removed. The mass was microscopically proven to be poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma with focal keratin pearl formation. At age of 25, she was first diagnosed with active Crohn's disease. 5-ASA and corticosteroid induced remission. Then, steroid was tapered off and AZA was maintained at 1 mg/kg due to leukopenia at higher dose. She stopped taking AZA at her discretion during her two pregnancies and reported total of 67 months of AZA medication on her breast cancer diagnosis.
Adult ; Azathioprine/*therapeutic use ; Breast Neoplasms/*diagnosis/pathology/therapy ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/*diagnosis/pathology/therapy ; Colonoscopy ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Crohn Disease/*drug therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents/*therapeutic use ; Mesalamine/therapeutic use ; Positron-Emission Tomography

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although the size of the coronary artery is known to be closely related to the outcome of coronary artery bypass grafting and percutaneous coronary intervention, its normal value and determinants have not been examined in Koreans. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: One hundred and twenty seven normal coronary arteriograms were carefully selected from 3,412 studied consecutively. Of these, 53 women and 23 men, with no abnormalities in their cardiac function and not using nitrates, were studied. The lumen diameter was measured at 10 segments in the epicardial coronary arteries. RESULTS: For men, the mean lumen diameter of the proximal left anterior descending and left circumflex coronary arteries were 3.88+/-0.39 and 3.45+/-0.47 mm, respectively, and were not affected by the anatomic dominance. However, the left main and proximal right coronary arteries varied between 4.44+/-0.49 and 5.18+/-0.32 mm (p<0.05) and 3.29+/-0.60 and 4.05+/-0.42 mm (p<0.05), respectively, by the anatomic dominance. Women had a smaller mean coronary artery size than men [for diameter, -7% (p<0.01);for cross-sectional area, -13% (p<0.01)], and the left ventricular (LV) mass was significantly associated with coronary artery diameter (p<0.05). From a multiple linear regression analysis, gender was an only independent predictor of the coronary artery size (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: We revealed normal coronary artery dimensions in Koreans. Although, body size, hypertension, use of calcium channel blockers, anatomic dominance and age had no effect on the size of the coronary artery, but the LV mass and gender were shown to have an effect. The multivariate regression analysis showed gender was an only independent predictor of the coronary artery size.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Body Size ; Calcium Channel Blockers ; Coronary Artery Bypass ; Coronary Vessels* ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Linear Models ; Male ; Nitrates ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Reference Values*

PURPOSE: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is characterized by arrested vascular and alveolar growth in the premature lung. Considering the consequences of arrested lung growth, the idea of administering bone marrow cells to enhance the inborn repair mechanism is promising as this may reduce the morbidity and mortality of BPD. We followed enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)-labeled bone marrow cells (BMC) injected intraperitoneally into non-EGFP mice in order to determine their fate after transplantation. METHODS: An angiogenesis inhibitor, SU1498, was injected subcutaneously on day 3 in non-EGFP C57BL/6 newborn mice to create a model of arrested alveolar development. On the following day, 1x10(6) BMCs isolated from major histocompatibility complex (MHC)- matched syngenic EGFP mice were injected intraperitoneally to non-EGFP BPD mice. Morphometric analysis, immunostaining, and confocal microscopy were performed to determine the fate of EGFP-positive stem cells in the injured lung. RESULTS: SU1498 injection reduced alveolar surface area and mean alveolar volume in newborn mice. BMC injection resulted in recovery of lung structure comparable to controls. EGFP-positive BMCs were identified in the lungs of the recipient mice after intraperitoneal injection. The injected EGFP cells were co-stained with endothelial and epithelial cells of the developing lung as determined by confocal microscopy. CONCLUSION: Our results illustrated that EGFP-positive BMCs engrafted and trans- differentiated into epithelial and endothelial cells after intraperitoneal injection in a mouse model of arrested alveolar development.
Animals ; Bone Marrow ; Bone Marrow Cells ; Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia ; Cinnamates ; Endothelial Cells ; Epithelial Cells ; Green Fluorescent Proteins ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Lung ; Major Histocompatibility Complex ; Mice ; Microscopy, Confocal ; Stem Cells