Objective To investigate whether the activation of secretory prophospholipase A2 (sPLA2) plays the role in the pathophysiological mechanism of acute aristolochic acid nephropathy (AAN) in rats. Methods Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups. Model group received decocted Aristolochia Manshuriensis Kom 30 g·kg-1d-1 by gavage for 7 days following tap water in same way for additional 7 days. Control group received only tap water by garage at parallel time. The renal pathological changes were observed at the 4th, 8th and 14th day. The injury of renal tubules and interstitium was observed under light microscope following a semi-quantity grade. The level of Scr was measured to evaluate glomerular function. Urinary N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase (NAG) was tested as renal tubular injury marker. The activity of sPLA2 in serum was detected by manifesting the color of thiols in the substrate. The protein expression of renal cortex and medulla COX-2 was analyzed by Western blot. The metabolic products of pretaglandins (PC, s) including 6-kcto-PGF1α and TXB2 in the plasma and urine were assayed by radioimmunoassay. The ratio of 6-keto-PGF1α/TXB2 was calculated. Results After Aristolochia administration, the tubulointerstitial injury and Scr increased in AA rats and reached the peak at the 8th day, the tubulointerstitial injury index(8.14±2.55 vs 1.50±0.71, P<0.05) and Scr[(0.24±0.10) vs (0.19±0.02) μmol/g, P<0.05] increased significantly in AA rats compared with control group. The activity of sPLA2 (μmol ·min-1·mg-1) in AA group elevated by 1.3-fold compared to control group at 8th day (133.15±17.05 vs 101.3±16.07, P<0.05), while theexpression of COX-2 in renal cortex increased (1.16±0.36 vs 0.69±0.28, P<0.05) with no change in renal medulla. Even though the levels of serum 6-keto-PGF1α and TXB2 did not change obviously in both AA and control group, but urinary levels of 6-keto-PGF1α and TXB2 increased by 2-fold and 3-fold in AA group compared to control group, respectively (all P<0.05), while the ratio of 6-keto-PGF1α/TXB2 decreased significantly (207.53±17.52 vs 296.64±51.31, P<0.05). All of above changes recovered to the control level at the 14th day except the tubulointerstitial injury index. Conclusion Serum sPLA2 is activated in the rots with acute kidney injury induced by aristolochic acid, which accompanied by up-regulated expression of COX-2 in renal cotex and increased the metabolic products of vasoconstrictive PG s in urine. These changes may participate the mechanism of renal peritubular ischemia in AAN.

Objective To construct a large animal model of ischemic heart disease induced by acute myocardial infarction (AMI) . Methods Male Diannan Mini-pigs were selected (n=8), weight 20 ± 4 Kg. After general anesthesia and endotracheal intubation, blood pressure and electrocardiograph were monitored. Parasternal incision was taken and thoracotomyv was performed at 4th-to-5th intercostalgap. Pericardium was opened and left anterior descending artery was ligated. Echocardiography was performed at baseline, postoperative 28 and 60 day. Euthanasia and heart explanted was conducted at 60 day of experimental pig. After gross examination of the heart, the histological examination was used to assess myocardial infarction by using H&E staining. Results All of the pigs were presented with ventricular arrhythmias in varying degrees after ligation of the left anterior descending artery, of whom 2 died of refractory ventricular fibrillation, the mortality was 25%. Echocardiography assessment showed the loss left ventricular function, the thinning of left ventricular apical and the enlargement of left ventricule. Histological examination revealed that myocardial fibrosis and fibrous scar were formed in myocardial infarction area. Conclusion The ligation of left anterior descending artery through thoracotomy under direct vision is a reliable strategy for construction of AMI porcine model and the experimental porcine can develop ischemic cardiac dysfunction progressively.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the microsurgical techniques for insular glioma without damaging its surrounding normal structures. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 54 patients with insular gliomas who underwent microsurgical operation by trans-syvian fissure approach between May, 2003 and August, 2008 in Xiangya Hospital. We discussed the techniques in the operation and summarized how to protect the key blood vessels, distinguish and protect the surrounding normal structures. RESULTS: There were 36 complete removals,14 secondary complete removals, and 4 partial removals.Six patients had complications after the craniotomy who had temporal speech disorder (aphasia mostly began to recover about 10 days after the craniotomy),4 patients had opposite side paralysis worsening (3 recovered normally and 1 improved after 6 months),4 had light paralysis, and another 3 had paralysis and speech disorder. CONCLUSION The microsurgery by means of trans-syvian fissure approach can well expose the anatomical relation between tumor and its surrounding structures,so that we can remove the tumor and protect the surrounding normal tissues as much as we can.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Brain Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Cerebral Cortex ; pathology ; surgery ; Female ; Glioma ; pathology ; surgery ; Humans ; Male ; Microsurgery ; methods ; Middle Aged ; Neurosurgical Procedures ; methods ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

In recent years, the biopharmaceutical industry has developed rapidly, creating urgent demand for high-quality, innovative, and application-oriented talents. In the context of "first-class undergraduate education", it is of great significance to reform and explore biopharmaceutics blended learning to foster professional talents who can adapt to the industrial development. The blended teaching of biopharmaceutics course in Hubei University was based on small private online course (SPOC) and ChaoXing platform, aiming to meet the first-class "AIC (advanced, innovation, challenge)". The course strengthened the three phases of teaching: before, during, and after class, and innovated teaching methods actively to achieve curriculum goals, and integrated typical cases organically. In addition, the course improved the discriminative power of assessment by strengthening the formative performance evaluation. Moreover, the course provided guidance for students to improve the learning efficiency through investigating the students' learning behavior and employing the marginal utility curve to analyze the characteristics of group activities. Furthermore, the course also offered students personalized learning guidance based on their career planning. The reform of biopharmaceutics blended teaching has achieved significant outcomes, such as improving students' satisfaction, students' innovation and entrepreneurship ability, and curriculum construction level, thus may serve as a reference for the teaching reform and research of the related courses.
Humans ; Biopharmaceutics ; Curriculum ; Learning ; Students

Neuroligins (NLs) are postsynaptic cell-adhesion proteins that play important roles in synapse formation and the excitatory-inhibitory balance. They have been associated with autism in both human genetic and animal model studies, and affect synaptic connections and synaptic plasticity in several brain regions. Yet current research mainly focuses on pyramidal neurons, while the function of NLs in interneurons remains to be understood. To explore the functional difference among NLs in the subtype-specific synapse formation of both pyramidal neurons and interneurons, we performed viral-mediated shRNA knockdown of NLs in cultured rat cortical neurons and examined the synapses in the two major types of neurons. Our results showed that in both types of neurons, NL1 and NL3 were involved in excitatory synapse formation, and NL2 in GABAergic synapse formation. Interestingly, NL1 affected GABAergic synapse formation more specifically than NL3, and NL2 affected excitatory synapse density preferentially in pyramidal neurons. In summary, our results demonstrated that different NLs play distinct roles in regulating the development and balance of excitatory and inhibitory synapses in pyramidal neurons and interneurons.
Animals ; Cell Adhesion Molecules, Neuronal ; physiology ; Cells, Cultured ; Cerebral Cortex ; embryology ; physiology ; GABAergic Neurons ; physiology ; Interneurons ; physiology ; Membrane Proteins ; physiology ; Nerve Tissue Proteins ; physiology ; Protein Isoforms ; physiology ; Pyramidal Cells ; physiology ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Synapses ; physiology