Intracellular recordings were made from the luminosity type cone driven horizontal cells (LHCs) in the isolated carp retina and model analysis was performed to investigate possible mechanisms underlying the interaction of different cone signals converging onto these cells. It was observed that a green background light enhanced the LHC's red response, and such enhancement was closely related to the activation of green cones. Model analysis showed that the activity of both glutamate- and GABA-related pathways were potentiated during green background illumination. GABA application did not abolish the response enhancement. It is speculated that the extent of the LHC′s response enhancement may be determined by the balance of the increased activity between the feedforward and feedback pathways.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Automobile Driving ; China ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Heart ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Noise, Occupational ; adverse effects ; Occupational Exposure ; adverse effects ; Stress, Psychological ; etiology ; physiopathology ; Vibration ; adverse effects

In vertebrate visual system, information is firstly processed in retina. With the development of the multi-electrode recording technique, concerted activity has been extensively observed in retinal ganglion cells of different species. However, the role of concerted activity in visual information processing is still unclear and under debating. This article reviews the recent studies focused on concerted activity among retinal ganglion cells, discussing the issues about its category, detection and physiological function.
Animals ; Cell Communication ; physiology ; Humans ; Photic Stimulation ; Retina ; physiology ; Retinal Ganglion Cells ; physiology ; Visual Pathways ; physiology ; Visual Perception ; physiology

Objective: To observe the regulating effect of Chinese herbal medicine on peritoneal lymphatic stomata and its significance in treating ascites in liver fibrosis model mice. Methods: Two Chinese herbal compound prescriptions were used separately to treat the carbon tetrachloride induced mouse model of liver fibrosis, the histo-pathologic changes in mice were observed by using scanning electron microscope and processed by computer image processing. The changes of urinary volume and sodium ion concentration were measured, too.Results: In the treated group, the histo-pathologic changes were significantly less than those in the control group, the peritoneal lymphatic stomata enlarged with increased number of opening and higher density in distribution and the urinary volume and sodium ion excretion increased after treatment. Conclusion: Chinese herbal medicine has marked effect in alleviating liver fibrosis, regulating peritoneal lymphatic stomata, improving the drainage of ascites from peritoneal cavity, causing increase of urinary volume and sodium ion excretion to reduce water and sodium retention, and thus have favorable therapeutic effect in treating ascites.

Objective To study the clinical feature,treatment,and prognosis of the cytomegalovirus (CMV)pneumonia patients treated with immunosuppressor against kidney disease.Mlethod The patients received immunosuppressor against kidney disease in The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University from June 1999 to December 2006.CMV antigen of leucocyte in the peripheral blood and/or bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of these patients were detected with immunocytochemical methods,and 21 patients were found suffering from CMV pneumonia.The 21 patients were introvenously injected with ganciclovir 5～10 mg/(kg?d),and the immunosuppressive agent treatment suspended.Their clinical feature and prognosis were retrospectively analyzed. Results The 21 patients received corticosteroids before CMV pneumonia contracted,of them,13 patients had been intensively treated with Methyllprednisolone with mean total dose(3.2?0.6)g.Of them,15 had been treated with cyclophosphamide with mean total dose(3.8?1.3)g.The median time from the beginning of using immunosuppressor to the onset of CMV pneumonia was 25(13～92)days.All patients had fever,cough, shortness of breath and X-ray showed interstitial pneumonia,of them,19 patients developed hypoxemia,and 11 patients' CMV antigen was positive in the leucocyte from bronchial lavage fluid.The result showed 9 patients survived and 12 died.The average duration of treatment with ganciclovir was(26.2?6.3)days. CMV pneumonia is a serious complication in patients who were treated with immunosuppressor against kidney disease.The mortality is high.Ganciclovir is a medicine of choice to treat CMV pneumonia.

In the present study, the correlated activities of adjacent ganglion cells of transient subtype in response to full-field white light stimulation were investigated in the chicken retina. Pharmacological studies and cross-correlation analysis demonstrated that application of the GABA(A) receptor antagonist bicuculline (BIC) significantly down-regulated the correlation strength while increasing the firing activities. Meanwhile, application of the GABA(A) receptor agonist muscimol (MUS) potentiated the correlated activities while decreasing the firing rates. However, application of the GABA(C) receptor antagonist (1,2,5,6-Tetrahydropyridin-4-yl)methylphosphinic acid (TPMPA) did not have a consistent influence on either the firing rates or the correlation strength. These results suggest that in the chicken retina, correlated activities among neighborhood transient ganglion cells can be increased while firing activities are reduced with the activation of GABA(A) receptors. The GABA(A)-receptor-mediated inhibitory pathway may be critical for improving the efficiency of visual information transmission.
Action Potentials ; Animals ; Bicuculline ; pharmacology ; GABA-A Receptor Antagonists ; pharmacology ; Mice ; Muscimol ; pharmacology ; Phosphinic Acids ; pharmacology ; Pyridines ; pharmacology ; Receptors, GABA-A ; metabolism ; Retina ; physiology ; Retinal Ganglion Cells ; physiology ; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid

It was previously found that the efficacy of synaptic transmission between retinal cone systems and luminosity-type horizontal cells (LHCs) was activity-dependent. Repetitive activation of red-cone pathway increased the LHCos hyperpolarizing response to red light, and the response enhancement was reversible. In this study, intracellular recording and pharmacological method were applied to investigate the mechanism(s) underlying red-flickering-induced response enhancement. Lowering intracellular Ca(2+) in the LHC by intracellular injection of Ca(2+) chelator EGTA prevented the development of red-flickering-induced response enhancement, which implicates the importance of postsynaptic calcium signal. The response enhancement could also be eliminated by a potent antagonist of Ca(2+)-permeable AMPA receptor (CP-AMPAR), which suggests the possibility that Ca(2+) influx via glutamate-gated calcium channels is related to the changes of [Ca(2+)](i). Furthermore, the administration of ryanodine or caffeine also attenuated the phenomenon, which gives evidence that the local calcium signal caused by intracellular calcium-induced calcium release (CICR) may be involved. Taken together, our data implicate that postsynaptic CICR and CP-AMPAR are related to the activity-dependent response enhancement.
Animals ; Caffeine ; pharmacology ; Calcium ; metabolism ; Carps ; Neuronal Plasticity ; physiology ; Receptors, AMPA ; physiology ; Retina ; cytology ; Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells ; physiology ; Ryanodine ; pharmacology ; Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel ; physiology ; Signal Transduction ; physiology ; Synapses ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of different doses of 1,25-(OH)(2)VitD(3) early supplementation on airway inflammation and lung inflammatory factors in baby rats with asthma.

METHODSForty male weaned Wistar rats were divided into normal group, model group, low 1,25-(OH)(2)VitD(3) group, middle 1,25-(OH)(2)VitD(3) group, high 1,25-(OH)(2)VitD(3) group using random number table (8 rats each group). The rats in low, middle and high 1,25-(OH)(2)VitD(3) groups were given 1, 4, 10 µg/kg of 1,25-(OH)(2)VitD(3) every other day by intraperitoneal injection respectively for 25 days. Except normal group, the rats in other groups were challenged with ovalbumin to establish the asthma model. The pathologic changes of lung tissue, the total white blood cell and classified cell counts in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were measured. The concentrations of IL-4, IL-5 and IFN-γ in serum and BALF were measured by ELISA method.

RESULTSThe level of total white blood cell counts in BALF were (5.98 ± 1.67)×10(5)/ml, (25.34 ± 4.28)×10(5)/ml, (17.24 ± 3.3)×10(5)/ml, (9.31 ± 3.37)×10(5)/ml, (45.1 ± 15.75)×10(5)/ml, respectively (F = 33.453, P < 0.01). The percent ratio of EOS in BALF were (1.44 ± 0.78)%, (17.81 ± 6.88)%, (15.00 ± 5.70)%, (8.89 ± 3.66)%, (25.88 ± 5.57)%, respectively (F = 27.299, P < 0.01). The level of IL-4 in serum of normal, model, low, middle and high-1,25-(OH)(2)VitD(3) groups were (0.62 ± 0.54), (7.57 ± 1.04), (3.58 ± 0.56), (2.70 ± 0.78) and (5.27 ± 0.30) pg/ml, respectively (F = 116.287, P < 0.01); IL-5 in resume were (32.20 ± 4.23), (67.14 ± 18.14), (37.51 ± 0.47), (40.69 ± 2.47) and (124.60 ± 36.19) pg/ml, respectively (F = 23.902, P < 0.01); IFN-γ in serum were (79.71 ± 10.08), (49.06 ± 4.46), (59.15 ± 2.51), (59.27 ± 2.33) and (53.85 ± 1.97) pg/ml, respectively (F = 39.954, P < 0.01). Also in BLAF, the IL-4 of all groups were (0.51 ± 0.30), (102.92 ± 54.61), (8.64 ± 4.07), (3.10 ± 1.28) and (33.67 ± 8.1) pg/ml, respectively (F = 24.062, P < 0.01); the IFN-γ were (247.37 ± 189.18), (43.82 ± 13.76), (81.32 ± 17.07), (86.50 ± 14.26) and (59.89 ± 34.17) pg/ml, respectively (F = 7.157, P < 0.01); the IL-5 in BALF were (38.81 ± 0.60), (80.48 ± 17.90), (45.11 ± 1.33), (43.39 ± 1.11) and (149.60 ± 45.87) pg/ml, respectively (F = 35.978, P < 0.01). Pathologic changes in lung of asthma rat groups were obvious. The lung pathologic changes in low and middle dose groups showed a significant improvement compared to the asthma group and high dosage group showed more serious pathologic changes compared to the low and middle dose groups.

CONCLUSIONIntervention with appropriate dose of 1,25-(OH)(2)VitD(3) in the early life could improve lung pathologic changes and reduce the effect of inflammatory factors in air way of baby rat asthma model. However, overdose might play detrimental effect.

Animals ; Asthma ; metabolism ; pathology ; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid ; Disease Models, Animal ; Interferon-gamma ; metabolism ; Interleukin-4 ; metabolism ; Interleukin-5 ; metabolism ; Lung ; metabolism ; pathology ; Male ; Pneumonia ; metabolism ; pathology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Vitamin D ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology

Objective To establish a method performance verification project and experimental method for the clinical chemiluminescence immunoassay.Methods Referring to CLSI evaluation protocols and pertinent literature,and by combining our actual works,we designed a verification procedure and experimental method.By Using these above,the precision,accuracy,analytical sensitivity,analytical measurement range,clinical reportable range and biotic interval of AFP on the Bayer Centaur 240 chemiluminescence immunoassay system were verificated.Results would be compared with the declaration of the manufacturer or desirable specifications derived from biologic variation.Results The results showed that the between-day inaccuracy on AFP levels at 77.4 ng/ml and 168.0 ng/ml was 5.70% and 4.84% respectively,these were consistent with manufacturer's inaccuracy claimed.The relative bias between the results measured for calibrator at four levels and target value was less 5.0%,and the relative bias between the results measured for EQA control sample at five levels and target value was-3.4% to 11.9%.Lower limit of detection was 1.04 ng/ml,lower slightly manufacturer's analytical sensitivity claimed.Biologic limit of detection was 2.65 ng/ml-3.53 ng/ml,functional sensitivity was 3.53 ng/ml.Analytical measurement range was 3.53-912.00 ng/ml,within manufacturer's liner range claimed.Clinical reportable range was 3.53-182 400.00 ng/ml.Reference interval was 0.6-7.7 ng/ml,within manufacturer' s claimed.Conclusions The main performances of the detection system are accorded with the declaration of the manufacturer.The performance verification procedure and experimental method of our research ars simple and practical,which has important significations for building medical laboratory and laboratory accreditation, improving quality of the chemiluminescence immunoassay.

BACKGROUND: The recent development of stem cells has provided new ideas for the treatment of androgen-deficient diseases. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells can differentiate into Leydig cells.METHODS: Passage 3 rat adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells that grew well were taken and cultured in the medium with (experimental) or without (control) 0.1 mg/L human chorionic gonadotropin, 10.0 μg/L platelet-derived growth factor and 10.0 μg/L basic fibroblast growth factor. Indicator detection was done at 1, 7, 14, 24 days of induced culture. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Immunofluorescence staining results showed that there were no 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD) positive cells in the control group, while the number of 3β-HSD positive cells was gradually increased in the experimental group with the induction time, which presented with fluorescence enhancement. (2) There was no secretion of testosterone in the control group, while in the experimental group, testosterone secretion was detected at 7 days of induced culture, and moreover, the testosterone level was increased with the induction time. (3) RT-PCR findings showed no luteinizing hormone receptor, steroidogenic acute regulatory protein, and 3β-HSD positive bands in the control group, while these positive bands appeared in the experimental group after 1 day of induction, and strengthened with the induction time. To conclude, adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells can be induced to differentiate into Leydig cells.