2. Advances in morphological and functional studies on the paraventricular thalamic nucleus
Jia-Ni LI ; Hui LI ; Yu-Lin DONG ; Yun-Qing LI
Acta Anatomica Sinica 2022;53(3):402-406
Paraventricular thalamic nucleus (PVT) is an essential component of the midline thalamus, which has been regarded as a transmit relay nucleus and an integrated center in multiple behaviors including wakefulness, food intake, addiction, reward and fear memory. PVT is predominantly populated with glutaminergic excitatory neurons expressing vesicular glutamate transporter-2 (VGluT2) but without GABAergic inhibitory neurons. Therefore, based on the paradox of its multiplexed roles in different behaviors and its comparatively simplex excitatory nature, more specific subclassification of excitatory PVT neurons is required in studies in this field. In the present review, morphological and electrophysiological characteristics, efferent and afferent connections, and morphological and functional distinctions in anterior subregion and posterior subregion of PVT are summarized. In addition, neural connections and neurochemical properties are used as subclassification criteria in PVT neurons. This review might explain the integrated role of PVT in different behaviors, which would be helpful for further studies on the PVT.
3.Inflammatory cytokines and childhood obstructive sleep apnoea.
Albert M LI ; Hugh S LAM ; Michael H M CHAN ; Hung K SO ; Siu K NG ; Iris H S CHAN ; Christopher W K LAM ; Yun K WING
Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore 2008;37(8):649-654
OBJECTIVETo evaluate serum cytokine concentrations in children with and without obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and to investigate the effects of OSA treatment on cytokines.
MATERIALS AND METHODSConsecutive children with habitual snoring and symptoms suggestive of OSA were recruited. They completed a sleep apnoea symptom questionnaire, underwent physical examination and overnight polysomnography (PSG). OSA was diagnosed if obstructive apnoea index (OAI) >1. A blood sample was collected for analysis of IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-alpha after PSG.
RESULTSOne hundred forty-two children (97 males) with a median (IQR) age of 11.1 years (9.0-12.8) were recruited. The commonest presenting symptoms were nocturnal mouth breathing, prone sleeping position and poor attention at school. Forty-seven children were found to have OSA and they had higher serum IL-6 [0.1 (0.1-0.4) vs 0.1 (0.1-0.1) pg/mL, P = 0.001] and IL-8 [1.7 (1.0-2.3) vs 1.3 (0.9-1.7) pg/mL, P = 0.029] concentrations compared to their non-OSA counterparts. Multiple regression analysis indicated that OAI was significantly associated with both IL-6 (r = 0.351, P <0.001) and IL-8 (r = 0.266, P = 0.002). Sixteen children underwent treatment and there was significant reduction in mean (SD) serum IL-8 after intervention [pre vs post levels of 1.9 (1.0) vs 1.1 (0.6) pg/mL, P = 0.001] independent of weight loss.
CONCLUSIONChildren with OSA had elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines that normalised following treatment suggesting that the inflammatory response is potentially reversible. Early detection and intervention may be beneficial.
Child ; Cytokines ; blood ; Female ; Humans ; Interleukin-6 ; blood ; Interleukin-8 ; blood ; Male ; Polysomnography ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; blood ; therapy ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; blood
4. Trends in neuroanatomical research
Acta Anatomica Sinica 2023;54(3):368-374
The basic structure of the nervous system is neurons and the connections formed by nerve fibers. Identifying different types of neurons in different parts of the nervous system, revealing the efferent and afferent nerve fibers they constitute, and elucidating the neuroactive substances and receptors involved, provide the basis for the regulation of neuronal activity and the uncovering of how the nervous system works. It is also the goal of neuroanatomy research. The rapid development of modern science and technology and interdisciplinary penetration require us to conduct in-depth neuroanatomy studies on specific neural pathways composed of specific types of neurons using specific neuroactive substances for specific neural functions. This also provides a good opportunity for us to clarify the structure of nervous system and analyze its working principle from macroscopic, mesoscopic and microscopic levels.
5.Factors influencing late stage of breast cancer at presentation in a district Hospital - Segamat Hospital, Johor
Mao Li Cheng ; BCh BAO, DaoYao Ling ; Prathibha K P Nanu ; Hasnizal Nording ; Chen Hong Lim
The Medical Journal of Malaysia 2015;70(3):148-152
Introduction: In Malaysia, late stage presentation of breast
cancer (stage III or IV) has been a healthcare problem that
varies geographically throughout the country. This study
aims to understand the factors influencing late stage of
breast cancer at presentation among Malaysian women in
Segamat Hospital, Johor, which is a district hospital.
Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted
on secondary data of all newly diagnosed breast cancer
women from 1st August 2011 to 28th February 2014.
Secondary data includes age, ethnicity, marital status, family
history, education level, occupation, presenting symptom,
duration of symptom, tumour size, tumour pathology,
tumour grading, oestrogen, progesterone and HER-2
receptor status were collected and analysed using SPSS
version 20.0.0.
Result: In total, data from 52 women was analysed and two
women were excluded for incompleteness as these women
defaulted. Late stage at presentation was 59.6% of all new
cases (17.3%, stage III and 42.3%, stage IV). The commonest
age group of all women diagnosed with breast cancer was in
the 5th decade. Majority of them were Malay, married and
housewives with no family history of breast cancer. The
statistically significant factors associated with late stage at
presentation include Malay ethnicity (p=0.019), presenting
symptoms other than breast lump (p=0.047), and duration of
breast lump more than 3 months (p=0.009).
Discussion/Conclusion: The study demonstrated presentation
at late stage of breast cancer is a major health concern
among Malaysian women in district hospital. This may be
attributed to different sociocultural beliefs, strong belief in
complementary and alternative medicine, lack of awareness,
and difficult accessibility to healthcare services.
Breast Neoplasms
6.Anterior Cingulate Cortex Mediates Hyperalgesia and Anxiety Induced by Chronic Pancreatitis in Rats.
Dan REN ; Jia-Ni LI ; Xin-Tong QIU ; Fa-Ping WAN ; Zhen-Yu WU ; Bo-Yuan FAN ; Ming-Ming ZHANG ; Tao CHEN ; Hui LI ; Yang BAI ; Yun-Qing LI
Neuroscience Bulletin 2022;38(4):342-358
Central sensitization is essential in maintaining chronic pain induced by chronic pancreatitis (CP), but cortical modulation of painful CP remains elusive. Here, we examined the role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in the pathogenesis of abdominal hyperalgesia in a rat model of CP induced by intraductal administration of trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS). TNBS treatment resulted in long-term abdominal hyperalgesia and anxiety in rats. Morphological data indicated that painful CP induced a significant increase in FOS-expressing neurons in the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) and ACC, and some FOS-expressing neurons in the NTS projected to the ACC. In addition, a larger portion of ascending fibers from the NTS innervated pyramidal neurons, the neural subpopulation primarily expressing FOS under the condition of painful CP, rather than GABAergic neurons within the ACC. CP rats showed increased expression of vesicular glutamate transporter 1, and increased membrane trafficking and phosphorylation of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) subunit NR2B and the α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid receptor (AMPAR) subunit GluR1 within the ACC. Microinjection of NMDAR and AMPAR antagonists into the ACC to block excitatory synaptic transmission significantly attenuated abdominal hyperalgesia in CP rats, which was similar to the analgesic effect of endomorphins injected into the ACC. Specifically inhibiting the excitability of ACC pyramidal cells via chemogenetics reduced both hyperalgesia and comorbid anxiety, whereas activating these neurons via optogenetics failed to aggravate hyperalgesia and anxiety in CP rats. Taken together, these findings provide neurocircuit, biochemical, and behavioral evidence for involvement of the ACC in hyperalgesia and anxiety in CP rats, as well as novel insights into the cortical modulation of painful CP, and highlights the ACC as a potential target for neuromodulatory interventions in the treatment of painful CP.
Animals
;
Anxiety/etiology*
;
Chronic Pain/etiology*
;
GABAergic Neurons
;
Gyrus Cinguli/metabolism*
;
Hyperalgesia/metabolism*
;
Pancreatitis, Chronic/pathology*
;
Rats
;
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
;
Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate/metabolism*
;
Trinitrobenzenesulfonic Acid/toxicity*
7.Molecular characterization of ascaris from Tibetan pigs by three mitochondrial markers of nad1, cox1 and cox2
Luo, H.Q. ; Zhang, H. ; Li, K. ; Lan, Y.F. ; Wang, X.Q. ; Khalid, M. ; Mujeeb, R. ; Huang, S.C. ; Li, J.K.
Tropical Biomedicine 2017;34(3):576-582
Ascaris is a helminthic parasite, which infects a wide range of host species
causing ascariasis, a predominant disease worldwide. This parasite causes significant economic
losses to the pig industry. The current study was designed to determine the Ascaris nematode
by the genetic characterization of three mitochondrial (mt) genes namely NADH dehydrogenase
subunit 1 (nad1), cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) and cytochrome oxidase subunit 2
(cox2). A high infection rate of Ascaris nematode has been found in Tibetan pigs at the
slaughter houses in Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The nad1, cox1 and cox2 genes
sequences collected from adult Ascaris individuals were amplified by polymerase chain
reaction. The cloned-amplicons and the positive products were sequenced and phylogenetic
analysis was performed. The results indicated that the Ascaris infecting the Tibetan pigs
were Ascaris suum (A. suum). This is the first report on the isolation, identification and
genetic characterization of three mitochondrial genomes (nad1, cox1, and cox2) of A. suum
originated from Tibetan pigs at high altitudes in Tibet.
8.The similarity between human embryonic stem cell-derived epithelial cells and ameloblast-lineage cells.
Li-Wei ZHENG ; Logan LINTHICUM ; Pamela K DENBESTEN ; Yan ZHANG
International Journal of Oral Science 2013;5(1):1-6
This study aimed to compare epithelial cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to human ameloblast-lineage cells (ALCs), as a way to determine their potential use as a cell source for ameloblast regeneration. Induced by various concentrations of bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4), retinoic acid (RA) and lithium chloride (LiCl) for 7 days, hESCs adopted cobble-stone epithelial phenotype (hESC-derived epithelial cells (ES-ECs)) and expressed cytokeratin 14. Compared with ALCs and oral epithelial cells (OE), ES-ECs expressed amelogenesis-associated genes similar to ALCs. ES-ECs were compared with human fetal skin epithelium, human fetal oral buccal mucosal epithelial cells and human ALCs for their expression pattern of cytokeratins as well. ALCs had relatively high expression levels of cytokeratin 76, which was also found to be upregulated in ES-ECs. Based on the present study, with the similarity of gene expression with ALCs, ES-ECs are a promising potential cell source for regeneration, which are not available in erupted human teeth for regeneration of enamel.
Ameloblasts
;
physiology
;
Amelogenesis
;
genetics
;
Amelogenin
;
analysis
;
Bone Morphogenetic Protein 4
;
pharmacology
;
Cell Culture Techniques
;
Cell Differentiation
;
drug effects
;
Cell Line
;
Cell Lineage
;
Embryonic Stem Cells
;
drug effects
;
physiology
;
Epithelial Cells
;
drug effects
;
physiology
;
Fibroblast Growth Factor 8
;
analysis
;
Hedgehog Proteins
;
analysis
;
Homeodomain Proteins
;
analysis
;
Humans
;
Keratins
;
analysis
;
classification
;
Lithium Chloride
;
pharmacology
;
MSX1 Transcription Factor
;
analysis
;
Mouth Mucosa
;
cytology
;
Phenotype
;
Regeneration
;
physiology
;
Skin
;
cytology
;
Transcription Factors
;
analysis
;
Tretinoin
;
pharmacology
9.Cardiovascular changes in children with snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea.
Ka-li KWOK ; Daniel K NG ; Chung-hong CHAN
Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore 2008;37(8):715-721
INTRODUCTIONAdults with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) are well documented to be at high risk for cardiovascular abnormalities. Growing evidence suggests that OSA is also associated with cardiovascular consequences in children. The purpose of this review is to examine the available data on this association in children.
METHODSPrimary studies were extracted from a MEDLINE search limited to those published between 1970 and 2008. The keywords used included child, sleep disordered breathing, sleep apnoea, snoring, blood pressure and hearts. The relevant articles were selected by consensus between 2 authors.
RESULTSThe results suggested that OSA was consistently associated with hypertension. Meta-analysis of risk of hypertension in those with high apnoea-hypopnoea index was undertaken. A combined odds ratio equal to 3.15 was found (95% confidence interval, 2.01 to 4.93). There was evidence for increased sympathetic activation, decreased arterial distensibility and ventricular hypertrophy in children with OSA.
CONCLUSIONChildhood OSA is associated with blood pressure dysregulation. The association of OSA with other cardiovascular morbidities requires further study in view of the limited data available currently.
Atherosclerosis ; physiopathology ; Blood Pressure ; physiology ; Cardiovascular System ; physiopathology ; Cerebral Arteries ; physiopathology ; Child ; Endothelium, Vascular ; physiopathology ; Heart Rate ; physiology ; Humans ; Hypertension ; physiopathology ; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular ; physiopathology ; Pulmonary Heart Disease ; physiopathology ; Regional Blood Flow ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; complications ; physiopathology ; Ventricular Function
10.Study of ex vivo expansion of mouse hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and the use of them for hematopoiesis reconstitution.
Jin-fu WANG ; Li-yan QIU ; Jenny HARRINTONG ; Ian K MCNIECE
Chinese Journal of Hematology 2003;24(11):584-588
OBJECTIVETo explore the rapid neutrophil engraftment and long-term hematopoietic reconstitution.
METHODSMononuclear cells (MNCs) were isolated from 5-Fu treated male BDF1 mouse bone marrow and CD(34)(+)/c-kit(+) cells were selected from the MNCs by using MoFlo Cell Sorter. MNCs and CD(34)(+)/c-kit(+) cells were co-cultured with mouse bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in a two-step expansion. The expanded cells were then transplanted into sublethally irradiated female BDF1 mice.
RESULTSCo-culture with MSCs resulted in 10.8-, 4.8-, 65.9- and 38.8-fold increases yields of median total nucleated cells, CD(34)(+) cells, GM-CFC and HPP-CFC, respectively, as for the MNCs culture, and 76.1-, 2.9-, 71.7- and 51.8-fold increase respectively for the CD(34)(+)/c-kit(+) cell culture. The expanded cells could rapidly engraft in the sublethally, irradiated mice, reconstitute their hematopoiesis, and be detected in the recipients bone marrow 2 months after transplantation.
CONCLUSIONSHematopoietic stem/progenitor cells co-cultures with MSCs in two-step expansion could increase expansion yields of total nucleated cells, GM-CFC and HPP-CFC. The availability of increased numbers of expanded cells may result in more rapid engraftment of neutrophils following infusion to transplant recipients.
Animals ; Antigens, CD34 ; analysis ; Hematopoiesis ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Hematopoietic Stem Cells ; physiology ; Male ; Mice