Several studies have reported on injury of the dentato-rubro-thalamic tract (DRTT) in patients with various brain pathologies. However, no study on recovery of an injured DRTT has been reported so far. We report on a patient who showed recovery of an injured DRTT during a period of approximately 4 years following traumatic brain injury (TBI), which was demonstrated by follow-up diffusion tensor tractography (DTT). A 24-year-old male patient suffered a car accident. The patient lost consciousness for approximately 4 months. At the beginning of rehabilitation, the patient showed mild quadriparesis, severe resting and intentional tremor on four extremities and severe truncal ataxia. He was not able to sit independently. With rehabilitation, he showed continuous improvement, and was able to walk independently at 45 months after onset of injury. On 5-month DTT, DRTTs in both hemispheres were not reconstructed. In contrast, on 13-month DTT, the lower portion of the left DRTT was reconstructed, although the right DRTT was still not reconstructed. On 32-month DTT, the whole left DRTT was reconstructed, however, only the lower portion of the right DRTT was reconstructed. Finally, both DRTTs were reconstructed on 45-month DTT.Conclusions: Recovery of an injured DRTT was demonstrated in a patient with TBI, using DTT. We believe that evaluation of the DRTT using DTT may be helpful to monitor the progress of rehabilitation in patients with movement symptoms following TBI.

We have previously isolated a novel protein "B/K" that contains two C2-like domains. Here, we report the isolatioin and mRNA distribution of a human B/K isoform, and protein kinase A (PKA)-dependent phosphorylation of the B/K protein. The 1.5 kb human B/K cDNA clone exhibits 89% and 97% identities with rat B/K in the sequences of nucleotide and amino acid, respectively. Human B/K isoform encodes a 474 amino acid protein and shows structural features similar to the rat counterpart including two C2 domains, three consensus sequences for PKA, absence of a transmembrane region, and conservation of the N-terminal cysteine cluster. On Northern and dot blot analyses, a 3.0 kb B/K transcript was abundantly present in human brain, kidney, and prostate. Among the brain regions, strong signals were observed in the frontal and temporal lobes, the hippocampus, the hypothalamus, the amygdala, the substantia nigra, and the pituitary. Recombinant B/K proteins containing three consensus sites for PKA was very efficiently phosphorylated in vitro by PKA catalytic subunit. B/K protein which was overexpressed in LLC-PK1 cells was also strongly phosphorylated in vivo by vasopressin analog DDAVP, and PKA-specific inhibitor H89 as well as type 2 vasopressin receptor antagonist specifically suppressed DDAVP-induced B/K phosphorylation. These results suggest that B/K proteins play a role as potential substrates for PKA in the area where they are expressed.
Sequence Homology, Amino Acid ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Rats ; Protein Isoforms/genetics ; Phosphorylation ; Phosphoproteins/genetics/*metabolism ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mice ; Male ; Humans ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Female ; DNA, Complementary/chemistry/genetics ; Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases/*physiology ; Cloning, Molecular ; Cell Line ; Base Sequence ; Animals ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Adult

Clonorchis sinensis is a Group-I bio-carcinogen, associated with cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). The hamster is the only experimental model of C. sinensis-mediated CCA, but we oblige another animal model. The present study intended to develop a C. sinensis (Cs) mediated CCA model using C3H/He mice, co-stimulated with N-nitrosodimethyl-amine (NDMA) and dicyclanil (DC). The mice were divided into 8 groups with different combinations of Cs, NDMA, and DC. Six months later the mice were sacrificed and subjected to gross and histopathological examination. The body weights were significantly reduced among the groups treated with 2 or more agents (eg. Cs+NDMA, Cs+DC, NDMA+DC, and Cs+NDMA+DC). In contrast, liver weight percentages to body weight were increased in above groups by 4.1% to 4.7%. A Change of the spleen weight was observed only in Cs+NDMA group. Though C. sinensis infection is evident from hyperplastic changes, only 1 worm was recovered. T wo mice, 1 from Cs and the other from Cs+DC group, showed mass forming lesions; 1 (281.2 mm3) from the Cs group was a hepatocellular adenoma and the other (280.6 mm3) from the Cs+DC group was a cystic mass (peliosis). Higher prevalence of gray-white nodules was observed in Cs group (42.9%) followed by Cs+NDMA+DC group (21.4%). The mice of the Cs+NDMA+DC group showed hyper-proliferation of the bile duct with fibrotic changes. No characteristic change for CCA was recognized in any of the groups. In conclusion, C3H/He mice produce no CCA but extensive fibrosis when they are challenged by Cs, NDMA, and DC together.
Adenoma, Liver Cell ; Animals ; Bile Ducts ; Body Weight ; Cholangiocarcinoma* ; Clonorchis sinensis* ; Cricetinae ; Dimethylnitrosamine* ; Fibrosis ; Liver ; Mice* ; Models, Animal ; Models, Theoretical ; Prevalence ; Spleen