Epilepsy ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Humans ; Signal Transduction ; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases ; antagonists & inhibitors ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo explore the synergistic antidepressant effect of quercetin and hyperforin (HF, extracted from Hypericum perforatum).

METHODSMale ICR mice were divided into nine groups:blank control, positive control (Paroxetine, 10 mg/kg), quercetin groups (A: 5 mg/kg, B: 10 mg/kg, C: 20 mg/kg), Hypericum perforatum extract (HF 10 mg/kg),combination groups (A: quercetin 2.5 mg/kg + HF 5 mg/kg,B:quercetin 5 mg/kg + HF 5 mg/kg,C: quercetin 10 mg/kg + HF 5 mg/kg). All drugs were administered intragastrically. Reserpine reversal tests were used to compare the reversal effects of drugs on body temperature decline, eyelid ptosis and akinesia. Tail suspension test was used to compare immobility time in each group.

RESULTSCombination group B showed no significant difference (P>0.05) compared with combination group C in reserpine reversal tests and tail suspension test. However, its body temperature reversal effect was significantly higher (P<0.01) than that of quercetin group B, and its effect in shortening immobility time was stronger than that of HF 10 mg/kg group (P<0.05) and quercetin group B (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe combination of quercetin and Hypericum perforatum extract in certain ratio has significant synergistic antidepressant effect in ICR mice.

Animals ; Antidepressive Agents ; pharmacology ; Depression ; drug therapy ; Disease Models, Animal ; Hypericum ; chemistry ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Quercetin ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo compare seizure induced by different epileptic drugs in ICR mice.

METHODSMale adult ICR mice were injected with pilocarpine (Pilo), kainic acid (KA) and pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) to induce status epilepticus (SE). After 2 h of SE, seizures were terminated by injection of diazepam. Mice were sacrificed and sectioned for assessment of neuronal cell death by Fluro-Jade B staining after 7 d and mossy fiber sprouting by Timm staining after 28 d, respectively. Spontaneous seizures were detected by video for 28 d.

RESULTSPilo and KA induced typical SE in ICR mice, which was identical to those observed in rats and C57/BL6 mice. Timm staining showed evident mossy fiber sprouting in both Pilo and KA treated mice. The incidences of spontaneous seizure were 57.1% and 35.7% in Pilo and KA treated mice, respectively. Mice treated with PTZ represented kindling model. No mossy fiber sprouting and spontaneous seizures were observed. No cell death was detected in all three groups.

CONCLUSIONSimilar seizure pattern is observed in ICR mice as in rats and C57/BL6 mice. Both Pilo and KA model are the ideal models for chronic temporal lobe epilepsy. ICR mice can be widely used as a cheaper substitute in epilepsy research.

Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Epilepsy ; chemically induced ; Kainic Acid ; toxicity ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Pentylenetetrazole ; toxicity ; Pilocarpine ; toxicity

Objective To investigate feasibility and early stage postoperative complications of lapa-roscopic radical cystectomy ( LRC) . Methods We retrospectively analyzed the data of 63 consecutive pa-tents (58 males and 5 females) who underwent LRC from Oct .2011 to Oct.2013 in our institute.Of these patients, 46 patients underwent ileal conduit , 9 patients underwent ureterocutaneostomy , and 8 patients un-derwent orthotopic ileal neobladder urinary diversion .The average age and body mass index of patients were 67.7±11.1 (33-84) years and 23.3±2.1 (18.8-28.7) kg/m2, respectively.The mean hemoglobin and al-bumin of patients were (130.7±20.3) g/L and (38.9±4.1) g/L, respectively.Comorbidities of hyperten-sion, diabetes, coronary heart disease and decompensated liver cirrhosis were found in 10, 6, 2 and 1 pa-tient, respectively.10 of 61 patients had a history of abdominal surgery .The indications for cystectomy were classified as muscle invasive bladder cancer for 30 patients, unresectable superficial bladder cancer for 19 patients and recurrent bladder cancer for 14 patients.Postoperative data and early stage postoperative compli-cations within 3 months after surgery were collected . Results The median operative time for LRC and uri-nary diversion was 390 (260-480) min, with a median estimated blood loss of 400 (100-1 500) ml.This was one patient converted to open surgery .The mean postoperative hemoglobin and albumin of patients was 108.5±14.7 g/L and 29.5±3.7 g/L, respectively, both of which significantly reduced compared with pre-operative data (P<0.01).The median duration of hospital stay was 15 days.The median time for liquid in-take, abdominal drainage removal and ureteral stent removal was 4 days, 9 days and 2 months after surgery , respectively.Catheter was removed 2 weeks after laparoscopic orthotopic cystectomy .21 (33.3%) of 63 pa-tients suffered from perioperative complications .15 of 46 patients (32.6%) in ileal conduit group had com-plications including ileus ( 5, 1 of 5 need re-operation ) , lymphatic fistulas ( 5) , pulmonary infection ( 1) , pyelonephritis (1), delirium (1), anastomotic leak (1, re-operation was needed) and pneumothorax (1). 2 of 9 patients (22.2%) in ureterocutaneostomy group had complications such as ileus (1) and lymphatic fistulas (1).4 of 8 patients (50.0%) in orthotopic ileal neobladder group suffered from complications like ileus (2, 1 of 2 required re-operation), lymphatic fistulas (1) and arrhythmia (1). Conclusions LRC is technically feasible and safe .It reduces the estimated blood loss and postoperative complications .It is noteworthy to surgeons that serum albumin significantly reduced after LRC , nutrition should be kept balanced after surgery.