AIM: To study the tumor metastasis-related genes expression in adenomyosis and normal endometrium in order to investigate the pathogenesis of adenomyosis. METHODS: 43 specimens of adenomyosis, 22 specimens of controls (normal endometrium) were studied. The expressions of nm23-H1, MMP-2, MMP-9, MT1-MMP, and TIMP-1 in adenomyosis and controls were detected by immunohistochemical method. RESULTS: The expression levels of MMP-2, MMP-9, and MT1-MMP in adenomyosis were significantly higher than those in controls ( P 0 05). CONCLUSION: MMP-2, MMP-9, especially MT1-MMP, maybe play an important role in the pathogenesis of adenomyosis.

Objective To investigate neuroprotective effect of AM-36 on secondary brain injury following traumatic brain injury(TBI)in rats.Methods A total of 38 male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into an experimental group,a control group and a sham operation group,then sustained to moder- ate TBI.AM-36(0.1 ml/100 g)was administered intraperitoneally in the experimental group and isoton- ic saline solution was administered intraperitoneally in the control and the sham operation groups at 30 mi- nutes,24 and 48 hours after TBI,respectively.The brain water content was determined at 24 hours after TBI.Rats were sacrificed by decapitation at 24 hours or one week after TBI for observing histological changes in peripheral cortex,thalamus and hippocampus by means of Hematoxylin and Eosin staining and Fluoro-Jade(F-J)staining.Results The brain water content of bilateral hemispheres 24 hours after TBI in the experimental group was significantly decreased,compared to that of the control group.Histo- logical examination revealed less degenerating neurons(F-J positive neurons)in the cortex,thalamus, CAI and CA3 of the hippocampus in AM-36 treated rats 24 hours and one week after injury(P＜0.05). Conclusion Systemic administration of AM-36 at the early stage after TBI can decrease brain water content and exert neuroprotective effect on TBI.F-J staining can be used for histopathologic quantitation of neuronal damage,for it can accurately exhibit pathologic changes following TBI induced by fluid per- cussion.

Objective To measure the effect of tetrandrineon (Tet) on inflammatory mediators and endogenous neural stem cell proliferation after spinal cord injury (SCI) in rats.Methods A total of 162 Wistar rats were separated into injury group,Tet group and sham operation group according to the random number table,with 54 rats per group.Allen' s method was used for induction of experimental SCI.Animals in Tet group were given Tet (22.5 mg/kg) through the tail vein at 30 min,24 h and 48 h postinjury.The same volume of normal saline was given to other two groups.Spinal cord tissue samples were taken from the rats after injury to measure levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α,interleukin (IL)-1 β and IL-10,and tissues were examined with HE staining and Nestin immunohistochemistry staining.Results Levels of TNF-α,IL-1 βand IL-10 in injury and Tet groups increased compared to these in sham operation group at 6 h,12 h,1 d,3 d,5 d and 1 week postinjury (P ＜ 0.05).At the same time point,level of IL-10 was higher in Tet group than in injury group,but inversely for TNF-α and IL-1 β (P ＜ 0.05).More Nestin-positive cells were present in injury and Tet groups than in sham operation group at 1 d,3 d,1 week,2 week,3 week and 4 week postinjury (P ＜ 0.05).Additionally,more Nestin-positive cells were found in Tet group than in injury group at 1 d,3 d,1 week,2 week and 3 week postinjury (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion Tet is effective to relieve inflammatory reaction,increase neural stem cell number and promote neurological recovery after SCI.

It is reported that type Ⅲ interferon (IFN-λ) has an anti-tumor effect on melanoma,hepatocellular carcinoma,esophageal carcinoma and fibrosarcoma in recent years.IFN-λ could not only inhibit melanoma metastasis,but also induce cell apoptosis;its constitutively expression could activate natural killer cells,affecting hepatocellular carcinoma growth;IFN-λ could induce cells of G1 phase in esophageal carcinoma directly to stagnation or apoptosis;IFN-λ could cause native and adaptive immune response to suppress fibrosarcoma growth.Research on the anti-tumor mechanisms of IFN-λ will provide new ideas for clinical tumor therapy.

Objective To investigate the differences of regional homogeneity(ReHo) in depressed patients with vary degrees of anxiety using resting-state function MRI,and the relationship vary degrees of anxiety symptoms.Methods 10 depressed patients with scores less than 1 in anxiety/somatization factor of Hamilton depression scale,10 depressed patients with scores above 2,and 10 age-,gender-,education-matched healthy controls were underwent resting-state fMRI scanning at 3.0 Tesla.Correlation analysis between ReHo with significant differences level of brain region and the total score of Hamilton depression scale,and anxiety/somatization factor were underwent respectively.Results The brain regions with significant difference level among three groups were the left posterior cerebellum(-39,-77,-29 ; K =15),the left angular gyrus (-56,-63,22 ; K =13) and the left anterior cingulate (-3,22,29 ; K =19) (P ＜ 0.05,Alphasim) ; compared with healthy group,the mild anxiety group showed significantly decreased ReHo in the left posterior cerebellum,and increased ReHo in the left anterior cingulate; the moderate and severe anxiety group showed significantly decreased ReHo in the left posterior cerebellum,and increased ReHo in the left anterior cingulate and the left angular gyrus; no significant differences were found in patient groups.In the mild anxiety group,the left anterior cingulate positively correlated with the anxiety severity(r=0.646,P=0.043),and in the severe anxiety group positively correlated with the somatic anxiety(r =0.693,P=0.038).Conclusion Depressed patients showed abnormal neural activity in resting state,and the degree of abnormality is associated with clinical anxiety/somatization symptoms.

Objective To discuss the effect of tetrandrine on endogenous neural stem cell proliferation and differentiation after spinal cord injury in rats. Methods 78 rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: control group(n=36), Tet-treated group(n=36), sham-operated group(n=6). Control group and Tet-treated group were adapted with Allen's combat modeling method. Rats in Tet group were injected Ted with a dosage 22.5 mg/kg in 30 minutes, 24 hours and 48 hours after ASCI, and the same dose of saline was injected into injured group as control .Samples were dissected from the spinal cord injury sites at 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks after ASCI, and tested by HE staining for morphology and by immunolfuorescence staining for the expression of BrdU and nestin. Results A little Nestin positive cells and BrdU positive cells were found in control group and Tet-treated group at 1 day after injury. A large number of positive cells were found in both groups at 1 week after injury and reached the peak which lasted for 2 weeks and then decreased gradually. The expression of Nestin positive cells and BrdU positive cells in control group and Tet-treated group were decreased significantly at 4 weeks after injury, but were still more than that in sham operation group. The number of Nestin positive cells and BrdU positive cells in Tet-treated group were more than that in control group at each time point after injury. The expression was higher in Tet-treated group than control group at 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks after injury and had no difference at 4 weeks after injury. Conclusions Tetrandrine could increase the number of Nestin positive cells, BrdU positive cells and endogenous neural stem cells though improving the microenvironment, and it is beneficial for the recovery of spinal cord injury in rats.

Objective To provide applied anatomic data for relevant operations of blood vessels of perisacral promontory(BVPSP). Methods The composition of BVPSP including origin, course, diameter of the middle sacral vessels, the distance between the sacral promontory and the sacral 1 transverse trunk were observed on 37 adult cadavers. Result The BVPSP is composed of the common and internal iliac vessels, the superior segment of the middle sacral vessels and the sacral 1 transverse trunk. Middle sacral artery comes from abdominal aorta. Middle sacral veins are thin walled without valves. The average diameter of middle sacral artery and vein is 1.02 mm and 2.53 mm respectively. The distance between the sacral 1 transverse trunk and the sacral promontory is 5.75 mm. Conclusion The composition of BVPSP, especially middle sacral veins, plentiful vascular anastomosis are the anatomical basis leading to massive hemorrhage in the relevant operations.

To identify whether a highly repeated GT sequence from DCA1 promoter from Dunaliella salina,which have been proved to be a salt-inducible promoter in our previous study,would be a salt-inducible regulation element,different primers were designed to amplify 6 different-length fragments of DCA1 promoter from D.salina by PCR.After these fragments were respectively inserted into the HindⅢ-BamH I sites of the vector pU?GUS,serial expression vectors containing the gus gene were generated.D.salina cells transformed with these recombinant plasmids by electroporation were grown in liquid media containing different concentrations of sodium chloride respectively.GUS enzyme activity was measured histochemically and fluorometrically.The results revealed that 3 fragments containing GT repeated sequence drove the external gus gene expression and the expression pattern of the gus gene was regulated by the concentrations of sodium chloride.Additionally,the 2 fragments without tandem GT sequence drove the gus gene expression,but the expression pattern of the gus gene wasn't regulated by the concentration of sodium chloride;Also,the upstream fragment of the tandem GT sequence wasn't able to drive the gus gene expression.In conclusion,the highly repeated GT sequence from the DCA1 promoter plays an important role in the salt-inducible regulation of DCA1 promoter from D.salina and might be a novel salt-inducible element.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the role of recombinant human transforming growth factor beta3 (rhTGFbeta3) on fibroblast and its possible mechanism.

METHODSNormal skin fibroblast (NSFb) and hypertrophic scar fibroblast (HSFb) were cultured in vitro, and were processed by different concentrations of rhTGFbeta3. NSFb and HSFb in DMEM solution without rhTGFbeta3 were employed as control. The changes in the protein and mRNA expression of type I and III collagen in NSFb and HSFb were observed.

RESULTS(1) The expression of type I and III procollagen in NSFb was evidently different from that of HSFb (2) The synthesis of type I and III procollagen in all test groups was increased obviously after rhTGFbeta3 process (P < 0.001) while the ratio of type I to III procollagen was decreased when compared with that in control group. (3) The effects of rhTGFbeta3 on the biological behavior exhibited an obvious dose- effects relationship. The contents of type I to III procollagen in HSFb were higher than those in NSFb when the dose of rhTGFbeta3 was same.

CONCLUSIONrhTGFbeta3 could effectively promote the synthesis of type I and III procollagen, especially type III procollagen in fibroblasts. This might be beneficial to the accelerate of wound healing and to inhibit or prevent scar formation.

Cicatrix, Hypertrophic ; metabolism ; Collagen Type I ; biosynthesis ; Collagen Type III ; biosynthesis ; Fibroblasts ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Recombinant Proteins ; pharmacology ; Transforming Growth Factor beta3 ; pharmacology

Objective To assess the feasibility of semi-quantitative scoring system for contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS)quantitative analysis's color images in the differential diagnosis of breast nodules.Methods Totally 244 BI-RADS 4 breast solid lesions received CEUS before core needle biopsy or surgical resection were included.A semi-quantitative scoring system for color images of CEUS quantitative analysis were built.The scores were given as follows:1 )Color type and its distribution (0 to 4);2)Color scope (0 to 1 );3)Color margin (0 to 1 );4)Color shape (0 to1 ).The total score for each lesion would be from 0 to 7.And the differenital value between benign and malignant lesions were assessed.Results The total semi-quantitative scores of 102 malignant tumors (5.1 ±1 .7)was significant higher than that of benign lesions (3.34±0.7)(P < 0.05 ).In 102 malignant lesions,the total scores of 81 lesions (79.41 %)were more than 4 points,and in 142 benign lesions,the total scores of 89 lesions (62.67%)were less than 4 points.Depending on the Wilcox rank sum test (Mann-Whitney)analysis,the distribution of total scores between benign and malignant lesions was significant different (P <0.000 1).Total score 4 was selected as the best cutoff,the area under ROC curve was 0.749,on which the sensitivity,specificity and accuracy were 79.4%,62.7% and 69.67%,respectively.Conclusions The semi-quantitative scoring system of CEUS quantitative analysis color images showed good sensitivity but not satisfied specificity and accuracy in differential diagnosis between malignant and benign breast lesions.