BACKGROUND: Previous research has proved that olfactory ensheathing cells can promote neuronal survival and axonal regeneration. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of olfactory ensheathing cell transplantation on the treatment of spinal cord injury of rats. METHODS: A total of 40 healthy adult female SD rats were randomly divided into control and cell transplantation groups, with 20 rats for each group. Ten additional SD rats were used for separation and culture of olfactory ensheathing cells. Spinal cord injury was induced in both control and cell transplantation groups. 2-cm bilateral 8th-10th intercostal nerves were crossly implanted into spinal cord defect region, i.e., proximal white matter and distal gray matter, distal white matter and proximal gray matter. Olfactory ensheathing cells at density of 2×10~6 were locally injected into cell transplantation group, while an equal amount saline was locally injected into control group. Somatosensory evoked potential and motion evoked potential were detected to observe neuro-electrophsiological recovery; BBB was used to evaluate hindlimb motor function; BDA anterograde tracer was used to observe motor conduction recovery. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Latency and amplitude of somatosensory evoked potential and motion evoked potential in the cell transplantation group were significantly greater than control group (P < 0.01). BBB scores of cell transplantation group were significantly greater than control group (P < 0.01). BDA-positive nerve fibers in the cell transplantation group were significantly more than control group (P < 0.01). Local injection of olfactory ensheathing cells can improve neuro-electrophysiological changes and promote hindlimb motor functional recovery following spinal cord injury.

BACKGROUND: To improve neural regeneration and functional recovery following spinal cord injury (SCI) remains difficult. Embryonic neural stem cells benefit neuronal survival and promote axonal regeneration.OBJECTIVE: To explore the feasibility of the local injection of embryonic neural stem cells to treat rats with high level SCI, and evaluate its effect by neuroelectrophysiology and motor function of hind limbs.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: In vivo experiment of cytology was performed at the Animal Experimental Center of Harbin Medical University from June 2007 to June 2008.MATERIALS: A total of 40 healthy adult SD rats were randomly divided into two groups (n=20): normal saline and cell transplantation groups. In addition, 5 SD rats, pregnant 14 days, were used for preparation of embryonic neural stem cells.METHODS: High level SCI was made in two groups. Briefly, 2 cm of bilateral intercostal nerves respectively from the 8~(th) to 10~(th) costal bones was crossing implanted in the SCI (proximal white matter and distal gray matter; distal white matter and proximal gray matter). Cell transplantation group was locally injected with 2×10~6 embryonic neural stem cells, and normal saline group was injected with the same volume of normal saline.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) and motor evoked potentials (MEP) testing, observation of the recovery of neuroelectrophysiology; BDA anterograde neural tracer; the recovery of motor conduction by the main beam;BBB hind limb motor function score.RESULTS: SEP and MEP latency and amplitude of cell transplantation group were better than normal saline group (P < 0.01).BDA-positive nerve fibers through the tag were found in cell transplantation group, but no in normal saline group. BBB hind limb motor function score of cell transplantation group was significantly improved compared with normal saline group improved (P < 0.01).CONCLUSION: Local injection of embryonic neural stem cells betters neuroelectrophysiology and motor function of hind limbs following high level SCI.

BACKGROUND:Brain injury is a serious central nervous system trauma.However,it is difficult to promote nerve regeneration and functional recovery after brain injury.Sheath cells are conducive to neuronal survival and axonal regeneration.OBJECTIVE:To explore feasibility and effect of olfactory ensheathing cells transplantation on rat brain injury.METHODS:A total of 90 healthy adult male SD rats were selected and 10 were used to prepare olfactory ensheathing cells.The remaining were randomly divided into model control and transplantation groups with 40 animals in each group.Model of middle cerebral artery occlusion was established by thread method.At 1 week,2×10~6 suspension of olfactory sheath cells and an equal volume of sterile saline were injected into two groups,respectively via the carotid artery.Neurological deficits were evaluated by creeping scores;histopathological changes were detected by HE staining,and glial fibrillary acidic protein and neurotrophic factor receptor p75 expression was detected by immunohistochemistry.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with the model control group,the neurological deficit scores were significantly reduced in the transplantation group compared with the control group at 1,2,3,and 4 weeks following cerebral ischemia/reperfusion(P ＜ 0.05);the pathological changes in injured brain tissues were ameliorated,the number of nerve cell degeneration and necrosis was significantly reduced,and edema was attenuated.A great amount of glial fibrillary acidic protein and neurotrophic factor receptor p75 expression was detected in the infarct hemisphere following cell transplantation,and little in the contralateral hemisphere and vascular endothelial cells.Negative expression was detected in the model control group.Results show that the olfactory ensheathing cell transplantation is effective on ischemic brain injury in the rats.

Objective To observe the operation of Nav1.6 voltage-gated sodium channels in rats with acute cerebral injury after electroacupuncture therapy and investigate the mechanism.Methods Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into an ischemia control group (IC,n =48),an electroacupuncture group (ET,n =48),a nimodipine therapy group (NT,n =48) and a sham operation group (SO,n =24),and were treated accordingly.A model of acute cerebral ischemia was induced by occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery using the suture method.The expression of Nav1.6,the concentration of Ca2+ and infarct volume were observed at 6 h,1 d,2 d and 3 d after ischemia with the real-time quantitative fluorescence PCR,immunofluorescence and 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride methods,respectively.Results The Joshua score for neural function was zero in the sham operation group,and increased gradually in the three other groups 6 h and1 and 2 d after ischemia.The average Joshua score 3 d after ischemia was significantly lower than 1 d earlier in each group.In the ET group the expression of Nav1.6 was significantly upregulated at first,followed by a significant decrease.The concentration of Ca2+ behaved similarly.However,no significant changes were observed in the infarction volume percentage.At 3 d after ischemia the expression of Nav 1.6,the Joshua grades,the Ca2+ concentrations and the infarction volume percentage were all significantly lower in the ET group compared with the IC,NT and SO groups.Conclusion Electroacupuncture therapy after acute cerebral ischemia can inhibit the expression of Navl.6,reduced Na + inflow and calcium overload,and mitigate acute cerebral ischemic injury,at least in rats.The protective effect may be attributed to inhibiting the expression of Nav 1.6.

To clarify the effect of the sympathetic nerves on the body's physiopathological changes and acupuncture effect by the alphal-AR mediation in the past 30 years.The paper has referred to the database of CNKI and Pubmed,and systematically reviewed the publications in the past 30 years about the research of the alphal-AR mediation of the sympathetic nerves to the body's physiological andpathological changes and acupuncture effect.Alphal-AR not only mediated the sympathetic nerves on the inotropic change of the heart,and the contraction of the vascular smooth muscles,bladder sphincter,and uterine smooth muscles and other physiological effect,but also mediated cardiac arrhythmia,myocardial hypertrophy and other pathological process.In addition,Alphal-AR also mediated the acupuncture signal transmission,and acupuncture was able to adjust the sympathetic nervous tension.The body's physiopathological changes are closely related to alpha1-AR and subtype alteration.The in-depth study of alphal-AR helps to explain physiopathological mechanism of the body,as well as provide theoretical basis and the corresponding pharmacological models for better selective drugs.Studying Alpha1-AR on meridians contributes to the discovery of meridian essence and the substantial basis of acupuncture effects.

The schemes of dose fractionation play an important role in tumor radiotherapy. We used mathematical methods to describe the process of tumor cells evolution during radiotherapy, trying to find how the schemes of dose fractionation affect tumor cells. In clinical radiobiology, linear-quadratic (LQ) model is frequently used to describe radiation effects of tumor cells. We integrated LQ model with effect of oxygen, and with the phenomenon of repopulation and reoxygenation in the theory of radiation biology. While we considered the disappearing progress of doomed cells in tumor, we established the mathematical model of tumor evolution in radiotherapy. We simulated some common treatment schedules, and studied the change role of tumor cells during radiotherapy. These results can serve for the optimization of dose fractionation scheme based on tumor radiobiological characteristics.
Cell Growth Processes ; radiation effects ; Dose Fractionation ; Humans ; Models, Theoretical ; Neoplasms ; pathology ; physiopathology ; radiotherapy ; Radiobiology

Computed tomography (CT) is an essential imaging modality. To solve the problem caused by increasing radiation exposure from CT scanner and to elevate the image quality, we aimed to apply the general objective image quality methods in CT image quality evaluation. After analyzing the perceptual features of CT image, we tested several popular objective image quality metrics, which focus on the similar perceptual features, on the CT image of phantom and animals. Experiments for verifying the feasibility were carried out. Compared with the subjective ratings from two professional radiation physicians, the complex wavelet-based structural similarity metric presents the better prediction results of the image quality.
Computer Simulation ; Equipment Design ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; instrumentation ; Quality Control ; Radiation Dosage ; Radiometry ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; standards

Objective To investigate the effects and mechanisms of Glutamine (Gln) supplementation on neurobehavioral outcome,neuronal apoptosis,microglia polarization,and neuroinflammatory response after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rats.Methods TBI animal models were established using Feeney's method.Sixty Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups:control group (Con),traumatic brain injury group (TBI),and glutamine supplementation group (TBI+Gln).We measured rat behavioral outcomes by modified neurologic severity score (mNSS) tests at day 1,3,7 and 14 after TBI.Apoptotic neurons were determined by Nissl staining.The microglia polarization relatived protein (Iba-1,CD16,CD86) expressions in TBI cerebral cortices were determined by immunohistochemistry staining and western blotting,respectively.While,the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α),interleukin (IL)-1 and interferon (IFN)-γ were tested by enzyme linked immunosorbent Assay (ELISA).Results Compared with the Con group,the levels of neurobehavioral outcome,neurons apoptosis,microglia polarization and neuroinflammatory factors were significantly increased in the other two groups (P=0.00).Compared with the TBl group,glutamin supplementation improvedneurobehavioral outcome [7 d:(10.74±0.25) points vs.(8.94±0.24) points,P=0.01;14 d:(8.77± 0.16) points vs.(7.43±0.13) points,P=0.03].Meanwhile,glutamin supplementation suppressed the apoptotic rates of neurons [3d:(80.18±8.38)％ vs.(65.47±7.02)％,P=0.01;7 d:(58.90±6.12)％ vs.(42.73±4.88)％,P=0.01;14d:(39.56±2.95)％vs.(31.12±3.16)％,P=0.01],inhibited protein expressions of Iba-1 and CD16,and increased the protein expression of CD86,which promoted the phenotypic shift of microglia from M1 to M2 phenotype,inhibited microglial activation,and thus reduced TBI-induced neuroinflammatory factors [TNF-α:(125.42 ± 12.81) pg/ml vs.(74.36 ± 9.25) pg/ml,P =0.01;IL-1:(69.04±8.48) pg/ml vs.(34.73±3.92) pg/ml,P=0.01;TNF-α:(89.75±9.40) pg/ml vs.(45.62±6.64) pg/ml,P=0.02].Conclusion Glutamine supplementation can markedly reduce neuron apoptosis and improve neurological outcomes after TBI,possibly mediated by promoting the phenotypic shift of microglia from M1 to M2 phenotype and thus reducing TBI-induced neuroinflammatory factors.

Objective To observe over-time changes in rat blood flow in the skins of related meridian points during physiological status, the pathological state of ischemic myocardial injury and low or high frequency electroacupuncture intervention and explore the post effect of different frequency electroacupuncture on related meridian points after treating ischemic myocardial injury. Method Fifty male Wister rats were randomized into five groups: blank control, sham operation, model, low frequency electroacupuncture (meridian point A) and high frequency electroacupuncture (meridian point B), 10 rats each. Blood flow in the skins of bilateral points Neiguan (PC6), Ximen (PC4) and Tianquan (PC2), and non-meridian and non-acupoint control points was measured by laser speckle contrast imaging in every group immediately and at 30 and 60 min after the end of three treatments. Statistical analysis was made. Result Blood flow in the skins of bilateral points Neiguan, Ximen and Tianquan was significantly lower in the blank control group than in the model group (P<0.01,P<0.05). Blood flow in the skin of every acupoint increased in varing degrees after low or high frequency electroacupuncture treatment. Blood flow in bilateral points Neiguan, Ximen and Tianquan regions in meridian point group A was closer to that in the blank control group immediately after treatment. Blood flow in three left-side and three right-side acupoint regions in meridian point group B was closer to that in the blank control group at 30 and 60 min, respectively, after treatment. Conclusion The immediate effect of low frequency electroacupuncture on blood flow in acupoint regions is better than high frequency electroacupuncture during intervention in ischemic myocardial injury. The post effect of high frequency electroacupuncture on blood flow in acupoint regions is better than low frequency electroacupuncture during intervention in ischemic myocardial injury.

Peanut yield and quality are seriously affected by pod rot pathogens worldwide, especially in China in recent years. The goals of this study are to analyze the structure of fungal communities of peanut pod rot in soil in three peanut cultivars and the correlation of pod rot with environmental variables using 454 pyrosequencing. A total of 46,723 internal transcribed spacer high-quality sequences were obtained and grouped into 1,706 operational taxonomic units at the 97% similarity cut-off level. The coverage, rank abundance, and the Chao 1 and Shannon diversity indices of the operational taxonomic units were analyzed. Members of the phylum Ascomycota were dominant, such as Fusarium, Chaetomium, Alternaria, and Sordariomycetes, followed by Basidiomycota. The results of the heatmap and redundancy analysis revealed significant variation in the composition of the fungal community among the three cultivar samples. The environmental conditions in different peanut cultivars may also influence on the structure of the fungal community. The results of this study suggest that the causal agent of peanut pod rot may be more complex, and cultivars and environmental conditions are both important contributors to the community structure of peanut pod rot fungi.
Alternaria ; Arachis* ; Ascomycota ; Basidiomycota ; Chaetomium ; China* ; Fungi* ; Fusarium ; Soil*