BACKGROUND:Biological artificial skin made by fibroin, connective tissues, biopolymer materials, synthetic polymeric material, nano materials as wel as sensor and non-biological artificial skin both have achieved satisfactory effects in clinical trials, but there is stil a significant difference from the natural skin. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the treatment outcomes of epidermal stem cel s/porcine acel ular dermal tissue-engineered skin for ful-thickness skin defects in rats. METHODS:Twenty Sprague-Dawley rats were selected to make the skin defect model on the rat back, and then randomly divided into experimental and control groups, fol owed by subjected to the implantation of human epidermal stem cel s/porcine acel ular dermal tissue-engineered skin and porcine acel ular dermal matrix, respectively. Gross, histological and immunohistochemical observations were performed at 4 weeks after implantation.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Gross observation:the wound in the experimental group healed wel , and the skin had good elasticity;the control group showed scar formation in the implanted site and the texture was hard. Histological observation:there were good epidermal and dermal structures under microscope in both groups, and the basal layer, stratum corneum and stratum corneum of the epidermis could be distinguished clearly. Compared with the experimental group, more fibrous connective tissue could be found in the control group. Immunohistochemical observation:the wound surface in the experimental group was positive for the anti-HLA class I antigen, while the wound surface in the control group negative for the anti-HLA class I antigen. These findings suggest that the human epidermal stem cel s/porcine acel ular dermal tissue-engineered skin can effectively inhibit the scar formation and contracture in the repair of ful-thickness skin defects.

Objective To investigate the effects of 5-Aza-CdR (methylation transferase inhibitor) on gene expression levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β),transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in chondrocytes.Methods Chondrocytes from patients with osteoarthritis (OA) (n=22),rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (n=3) or trauma without rheumatic diseases (n=10) were collected and cultured.The mRNA expression levels of IL-1β,TGF-β and NOS were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).Chondrocytes in trauma group were treated with 5-Aza-CdR(10μmol/L) for 72 h,and the mRNA and protein expression levels of IL-1β,TGF-β and NOS were detected by RT-PCR and ELISA,respectively.Results The mRNA expression levels of IL-1β,TGF-β and NOS were increased in OA and RA group as compared with trauma group (P＜0.05),while they had no differences between OA and RA groups.After treated with 5-Aza-CdR,the mRNA and protein expression levels of IL-1β,TGF-β and NOS in chondrocytes rised in trauma group as compared with pretreatment (all P＜0.05).Conclusions The mRNA expression levels of IL-1β,TGF-β and NOS in chondroytes are higher in OA and RA patients.5-Aza-CdR could increase the mRNA and protein expression levels of IL-1β,TGF-β and NOS by inducing relative gene methylation,which suggests demethylation might play a role in OA pathogenesis by influncing the inflammatory signal pathway or cell apoptosis.

Objective:To explore the characteristics of plasma microRNA (miRNA) profiles and bioinformatics in patients with osteoarthritis(OA) in order to search for diseases related biomarkers.Methods:Blood samples from 20 cases of OA patients and 15 cases of normal control (NC) were collected to extracted total RNA in plasma. The plasma miRNA expression profile was tested by using Agilent Human miRNA array. Target gene analysis and clustering analysis were performed on differentially expressed microRNAs. Three differentially expressed miRNAs (miR-134-5p, miR-320c and miR-940) were detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) for further confirmation of microarray data. The differences were tested using t test analysis. Results:① MiRNA microarray showed that compared with NC, there were 74 differential expression genes in plasma of patients in the OA group (FC≥2, P≤0.01), among which 45 were up-regulated and 29 were down-regulated. ② A total of 2 731 potential target genes were predicted in three database, and involved in 462 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEEG) pathways. Target gene ontology (GO) functional clustering found that the main functions of miRNAs were intercellular adhesion, collagen synthesis, intracellular signal transduction, etc. The main KEGG pathways of miRNAs include mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) signaling pathway, osteoclast differentiation signaling pathway, etc. ③ The expression level of miR-20a-5p and miR-320c in OA group were significantly higher than that in controls ( t=-6.142, P<0.05; t=-3.854, P<0.05), while miR-940 was significantly lower than that of controls ( t=2.767, P<0.05) . The trend was consistent with the microarray data. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) curve analyses showed that they were useful biomarkers for differentiating patients with OA from controls. Conclusion:The study shows that plasma in OA patients has a specific miRNAs expression, and miRNAs play an important role in the pathogenesis of OA.

Objective:To study the clinical characteristics and compliance of early-onset gout patients by case-control analysis.Methods:A total of 111 early-onset patients (onset age ≤35 years old) were included as Group A, and 111 non-early-onset patients (onset age >35 years old) with matched disease durationwere included as Group B. The differences ofclinical characteristics, causes of acute gout attack, dairy diet habits, compliance, and misunderstanding of the disease were compared.Results:Compared with the non-early-onsetgoutpatients, the early-onset patients had a higher proportion of obesity (63 cases vs 28 cases), family history (36 cases vs 20 cases) and tophus (39 cases vs 23 cases) and higher level of VAS scores (8.5±1.3 vs 7.6±1.7; χ2=22.988, P<0.01; χ2=5.749, P=0.016; χ2=5.729, P=0.017; t=4.639, P<0.01), lowerproportionof the first metatarsophalangeal joint involvement as the initial joint involvement (45.9%, 51 cases vs 59.4%, 66 cases; χ2=4.066, P=0.044), higher proportion of the ankle involvement as the initial joint involvement (34.2%, 38 cases vs 21.6%, 24 cases; χ2=4.386, P=0.036), higher proportion of alcohol drinkers and high fructose drinkers, which was more likely to relate to alcohol intake, strenuous exercise and high fructose intakeas trigger of the flare ( χ2=6.513, P=0.011; χ2=7.126, P=0.008; χ2=1.978, P=0.160), while the proportion of regular exercisers and on diet in the family was lower ( χ2=22.887, P<0.01; t=-4.917, P<0.01). The proportion of poor diet and medication compliance in Group A was higher than that in Group B(57.7%, 64 cases vs 38.7%, 43 cases; χ2=5.207, P=0.022; χ2=5.867, P=0.015). As for the reason for poor treatment compliance, early-onset gout patients were more worry about the side-effects of drugs than non-early onset patients ( χ2=4.190, P=0.041). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the main misunderstanding of gout. Conclusion:Although early onset gout patients are young, their condition is more serious, and compliance is poorer, this group of patients should be highly valued in clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Objective:To investigate the expression level of plasma miR-320c in patients with osteoarthritis(OA), and explore the clinical significance and the role in pathogenesis of OA.Methods:The clinical data and peripheral blood of 30 patients with OA, 30 patients with connective tissue diseases and 30 healthy control individuals were collected.The levels of plasma miR-320c were detected byfluorescentquantitative reverse transcription PCR(qRT-PCR). Correlation analysis was used to explore the correlation of plasma miR-320c level with knee X-ray data and VAS pain score in OA patients.Finally the miR-320c mimic, the miR-320c inhibitor, and the control material were transfected to the chondrocyte HC-a.The proliferative capacity of HC-a chondrocytes was examined at different time points as determined by the CCK-8 assay.Results:The expression level of plasma miR-320c was significantly higher in OA group(3.26±0.55)than that in the connective tissue diseases group(1.62±0.50)and in healthy control group(1.21±0.66)( F=107.66, P<0.001). Plasma miR-320c expression was positively correlated with radiographic grade( r=0.830, P<0.001), and had no correlation with VAS pain score in OA group( P>0.05). Through repeated measurement variance analysis, the time effect, the group effect and the interaction effect between group and time showed statistically significant differences in chondrocyte proliferation between NC mimic group and miR-320c mimic group( Ftime=5256.767, Fgroup=1947.436, Ftime×group=114.314, all P<0.001). The level of proliferation was significantly reduced.Apoptosis rate of chondrocytes was significantly increased in the group transfected with miR-320c( t=7.85, P<0.01). Conclusions:The expression level of plasma miR-320c is significantly higher in osteoarthritis patients and associated with knee radiographic severity grade.Furthermore, over-expression of miR-320c could suppress the proliferation of chondrocytes.Plasma miR-320c might be potential bio-marker for osteoarthritis knee severity assessment, and involves in regulating chondrocyte growth in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis.