Objective To investigate the proliferation of rat bone marrow endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in the culture under different concentrations of TGF-?1 in order to optimize the culture conditions. Methods EPCs harvested from bone marrow by flushing fresh rat femur and tibia were isolated by density gradient centrifugation. The isolated cells were further purified and enriched by fast adhere to fibronectin coated dish. Flow cytometry was applied to enrich the cells positive to CD34, CD133 and VEGFR-2. EPCs were expanded in M199 medium in presence of different concentrations of TGF-?1 (10-300 pg/ml). Total cell output was recorded; and the expressions of CD34, CD133, and VEGFR-2 at different cell passages were analyzed through flow cytometer. Results Fast adhere cell group showed significantly higher positive proportion of CD34, CD133, and VEGFR-2 than unsorted cells (P

Objective To identify and analyze the species of vaginal lactobacilli between patients with bacterial vaginosis (BV) and healthy women at childbearing age in Inner Mongolia. Methods From Jun. 2008 to Dec. 2008, 203 Mongolian healthy women, 74 Han healthy women and 102 Mongolian patients with BV from 3 pastoral areas were enrolled in this study. Isolation and culture of lactobacilli from vaginal wall were performed by modified culture medium. DNA of lactobacilli were extracted and sequenced. H2O2 were detected by TMB-HRP-MRS. Results(1)The rate of lactobacilli identification were 76.8%(156/203) in Mongolian healthy women and 21.6% (22/102) in Mongolian patients with BV, which reached statistical difference(P＜0.01).Lactobacilli identification in Han healthy women [82.4%(61/74)] did not show significant difference with that of Mongolian healthy women (P＞0.05). (2) The total of 193 strains and 11 species of Lactobacillus were detected in 203 Mongolian healthy women. Meanwhile,22 strains and 4 species of Lactobacillus were found in 102 Mongolian BV cases.(3)The rate of H2O2 generating Lactobacilli was 27.3% (6/22) in Mongolian BV patients and 75.7% (56/74)in Mongolian healthy women, which showed statistical difference(P＜0.05). Conclusions The rate of Lactobacillus was not related with the race of women in pastoral area in Inner Mongolian. The amount of lactobacilli and H2O2 generating Lactobacilli in the vagina of BV patients was remarkably lower than those of healthy women at childbearing age.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the correlation of the deleted azoospermia (DAZ) gene copy related to gr/gr and b2/b3 deletions in the AZFc region with male spermatogenic impairment.

METHODSThis study included 121 infertile men with different de- grees of spermatogenic impairment and 95 healthy donors from the sperm bank. Using PCR, PCR-RFLP, and Y chromosome specific sequence tagged sites (STS) , we analyzed the association of DAZ gene copy deletions related to gr/gr and b2/b3 deletions in the AZFc region with spermatogenic impairment.

RESULTSThere were 15 cases of gr/gr deletion (12. 40% ) and 6 cases of b2/b3 deletion (4.96%) in the infertility group as compared with 13 cases of gr/gr deletion (13.68%) and 1 case of b2/b3 deletion (1.05%) in the control. Analysis of the DAZ-specific single nucleotide variant (SNV) loci revealed 11 gr/gr-DAZI/DAZ2 deletions (9.09%), 4 gr/gr-DAZ3/DAZ4 deletions (3.31%), and 6 b2/b3-DAZ1/DAZ2 deletions (4.96%) in the infertile men in comparison with 3 gr/ gr-DAZ1/DAZ2 deletions (3.16%), 10 gr/gr-DAZ3/DAZ4 deletions (10.53%), and 1 b2/b3- DAZ3/DAZ4 deletion (1.05%) in the control.

CONCLUSIONPartial deletions of gr/gr and b2/b3 exist in both healthy men and male patients with different degrees of spermatogenic impairment and cannot be considered as a risk factor for spermatogenesis impairment. However, deletions of different DAZ duplicons in gr/gr and b2/b3 deletions have different effects on spermatogenesis. DAZ1/DAZ2 instead of DAZ3/DAZ4 deletions might be associated with spermatogenesis impairment.

Deleted in Azoospermia 1 Protein ; Gene Deletion ; Gene Dosage ; Humans ; Male ; RNA-Binding Proteins ; genetics ; Spermatogenesis ; genetics

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common malignant tumors as well as a frequent cause of cancer-related mortality in men worldwide. The test of serum markers has dramatically improved the early diagnosis of PCa, but its underlying molecular mechanisms are not yet completely identified. Long noncoding RNA (IncRNA) is emerging as a new player in the PCa paradigm demonstrating its potential roles in both oncogenic and tumor suppressive pathways. LncRNA is frequently aberrantly expressed in the majority of PCa cases. This review highlights recent findings of the aberrant expression of lncRNA in PCa and discusses its novel roles in the diagnosis, prediction, prognosis, metastasis, and potential clinical treatment of PCa.
Humans ; Male ; Prognosis ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; metabolism ; RNA, Long Noncoding ; metabolism

Wuzhuyu Tang is a classical formula for treating migraine, but its' pharmacological ingredients is unclear yet. Present study employed the everted intestinal sac model to collect the absorption samples of 10 kinds of Wuzhuyu decoction, and then analyzed the contents of 9 ingredients in Wuzhuyu Tang and absorption samples quantitatively or semi-quantitatively by HPLC-DAD method. Reserpine was used to establish the mice model of migraine, and then the contents and activities of 5-hydroxytryptamine, noradrenaline, dopamine, nitric oxide and nitricoxide synthase in brain tissues and serums were determined respectively after oral administration of Wuzhuyu Tang. Using the partial least squares regression method to correlate the total absorption quantity of 9 ingredients and pharmacodynamics. The result shows that limocitrin-3-O-beta-D-glucoside, ginsenoside Rg1 and Rb1, rutaevine, limonin, evodiamine and rutaecarpine are the main ingredients influenced the effects in absorption samples in everted intestinal sacs, especially ginsenoside Rg1, rutaevine, evodiamine and rutaecarpine among them have obvious improving effects to most pharmacodynamics index, might be the pharmacological ingredients influenced the therapeutical effects of Wuzhuyu Tang treating migraine.
Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Female ; Intestinal Absorption ; drug effects ; Intestines ; drug effects ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Migraine Disorders ; drug therapy ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

BACKGROUNDAdrenocorticotrophin (ACTH)-secreting pituitary adenomas account for approximately 7% - 14% of all pituitary adenomas, but its pathogenesis is still enigmatic. This study aimed to explore mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of ACTH-secreting pituitary adenomas.

METHODSWe used fiber-optic beadarray to examine gene expression in three ACTH-secreting adenomas compared with three normal pituitaries. Four differentially expressed genes from the three ACTH-secreting adenomas and three normal pituitaries were chosen randomly for validation by reverse transcriptase-real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). We then analyzed the differentially expressed gene profile with Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway.

RESULTSFiber-optic beadarray analysis showed that the expression of 28 genes and 8 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were significantly increased and the expression of 412 genes and 31 ESTs were significantly decreased. Bioinformatic and pathway analysis showed that the genes HIGD1B, EPS8, HPGD, DAPK2, and IGFBP3 and the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β signaling pathway and extracellular matrix (ECM)-receptor interaction pathway may play important roles in tumorigenesis and progression of ACTH-secreting pituitary adenomas.

CONCLUSIONSOur data suggest that numerous aberrantly expressed genes and several pathways are involved in the pathogenesis of ACTH-secreting pituitary adenomas. Fiber-optic beadarray combined with pathway analysis of differential gene expression appears to be a valid method of investigating tumour pathogenesis.

ACTH-Secreting Pituitary Adenoma ; etiology ; genetics ; Adenoma ; etiology ; genetics ; Adult ; Disease Progression ; Expressed Sequence Tags ; Extracellular Matrix Proteins ; physiology ; Female ; Fiber Optic Technology ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; methods ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Signal Transduction ; physiology ; Transforming Growth Factor alpha ; physiology

Aquilaria sinensis can generate agarwood, which is closely related with endophyte. Up to now, studies mainly focused on the effects of endophytic fungi on agarwood formation, but studies about endophytic bacteria are rarely reported. In our research, the T-RFs and Shannon index of endophytic bacteria in samples of agarwood increase. The number of distinctive T-RFs fragments of corresponding samples in the same group accounted for more than 60% the number of total T-RFs fragments. In samples of no-agarwood, the dominant bacterial population are Anoxybacillus, Clostridium, Candidatus endobugula, Lysinibacillus. In samples of agarwood, the dominant bacterial population are Clostridium, Lysinibacillus, Luteimonas, phytoplasma. Besides, there are. specific T-RFs fragment in samples of agarwood and no-agarwood respectively. When we perform cluster analysis, we found samples of agarwood highly gather together and samples of no-agarwood highly gather together. This means community of endophytic bacteria emerge significant and regular changes during agarwood formation, which may be result of agarwood production, or maybe it is important reason of agarwood production. In this paper, we obtain more comprehensive and accurate community of endophytic bacteria in Aquilaria sinensis and it's variation during agarwood formation using T-RFLP, which is first study of effects of endophytic bacteria on agarwood formation, and will help to exploit resource of endophytic bacteria more reasonably.
Bacteria ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Biodiversity ; Endophytes ; classification ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Thymelaeaceae ; microbiology ; Wood ; microbiology

Objective To explore the variation trends of interleukin-1β( IL-1β) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) in both normal and affected sides of brain tissues in rats with ischemia-reperfusion injury and the therapeutic action of electroacupuncture.Methods The cerebral ischemia-reperfusion model was established with suture embolization in the right middle cerebral artery.The rats were randomly divided into control group, model group and electroacupunture group.Each group was then divided into six subgroups by the time after operation (12 h,24 h,48 h,72 h,96 h,144 h), ten rats in each subgroup. Frozen sections of brain tissues were prepared and the expression of IL-1βand ICAM-1 in brain tissues of both sides were detec-ted by immunohistochemistry.Results The expressions of IL-1βand ICAM-1 showed typical bimodal pattern in both affected is-chemic region and contralateral normal region.In the model group, the peaks of IL-1βin the cerebral ischemic region were at 12 h and 48 h, while in the contralateral normal region the peaks were at 12 h and 144 h, the expression of IL-1βin the ischemic region was significantly higher than that in the contralateral normal region at 48 h (P<0.05), and lower at 96 h and 144 h (P <0.05).In the electroacupuncture group, the expressions of IL-1βin the ipsilateral region were significantly lower than that in the contralateral region at 24 h, 48 h and 144 h (P<0.05).In the model group, the peaks of ICAM-1 in the cerebral ischemic regions were at 24 h and 72 h, while in the contralateral normal regions the peaks were at 24 h and 144 h.In the electroacupunc-ture group, the expressions of ICAM-1 in the ischemic regions were significantly lower than that in the contralateral normal re-gions at all the 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, 72 h and 144 h (P<0.05).Conclusions Our findings suggest that electroacupuncture may inhibit the inflammation of ischemia/reperfusion brain tissue through reducing the expression of IL-1βand ICAM-1 to relieve the cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Forty type 2 diabetic patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) were assigned to two groups and treated respectively with?-lipoic acid or mecobalamin for 2 weeks.The results suggested that?-lipoic acid could accelerate the nerve conduction velocity and decrease the plasma level of endothelin and C reactive protein as well as microalbuminceria with a effect similar to mecobalamin therapy on DPN.

AIM:To investigate the application of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness detected by OCT in the diagnosis of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) and its relationship with the mean defect of visual field.METHODS:A retrospective study was carried out.Totally 158 cases (158 eyes) of patients with POAG were selected as POAG group, including 81 cases in early stage, 47 cases in middle stage and 30 cases in late stage.At the same time, 50 cases of persons without eye related diseases were selected as the control group.The upper, lower, nasal and bitamporal RNFL thickness and mean defect of visual field were detected, and the patients with POAG were followed up for 3mo.RESULTS:The upper, lower, nasal and bitamporal RNFL in POAG group were thinner than those in the control, and the mean defect of visual field was higher than that in the control group at different time (P<0.05).There was no significant difference in RNFL thickness and mean defect of visual field between patients with early POAG and the control group (P>0.05).The RNFL thickness of various parts was higher than that in patients with middle and late POAG, and the mean defect of visual field was lower than that in patients with middle and late POAG (P<0.05).There was no significant difference in RNFL thickness of various parts and mean defect of visual field in POAG group at different time (P>0.05).Pearson correlation analysis showed that the upper, lower, nasal and bitamporal RNFL thickness was negatively correlated with the mean defect of visual field (r=-0.719,-0.615,-0.681,-0.518, P<0.05).CONCLUSION:OCT can monitor the change of RNFL thickness in patients with POAG, and has a negative correlation with mean defect of visual field, which can be used for early diagnosis of POAG.