Objective To study MRI findings of pancreatic ducts of piglets with chronic pancreatitis (CP) induced by pancreatic duct ligation and analyze the relationship between pancreatic duct changes in piglets with CP and the pathological severity of CP. Methods Thirty healthy piglets were included in this study. Five piglets were randomly selected as normal control group, and the remaining 25 piglets were served as the experimental group. The duct ligation operations were performed on experimental group. After 2 to 18 weeks, pancreas and pancreatic ducts were observed on MRI. Then the pancreas was removed and graded into three types by histopathology. The relationship between the diameter of pancreatic duct or the pancreatic branch displaying rate and the severity of CP was analyzed by Spearman correlation coefficient. Results CP was found in 21 piglets( 84. 0% ) in the experimental group including mild ( n = 7 ), moderate ( n = 8 ) and severe( n = 6) pancreatitis. Pancreatic ducts were shown in mild CP and the edge of pancreatic ducts was irregular in three cases. The dilated RPD, LPD and MPD constituted the "person" form in moderate and severe CP. The diameter of pancreatic ducts was(0. 9 ±0. 3)mm, (2. 9 ± 1.4)mm and (4. 8 ± 1.2)mm in mild, moderate, and severe CP respectively. The expansion extent of pancreatic ducts was correlated with the severity of CP of piglets (r = 0. 837, P ＜ 0. 05). The pancreatic branch displaying rate increased with the increase of the severity of CP ( r = 0. 990, P ＜ 0. 05 ); the displaying rate was 0/7 for mild, 3/8 for moderate, and 5/6 for severe CP. Conclusions The dilated pancreatic ducts with "person" form in piglets with obstructive CP created by pancreatic duct ligation. The pancreatic duct changes on MRI reflect the severity of CP of piglets.

Objective: To examine the alteration of pathologic structure and endogenous hydrogen sulfide pathway in rats with pulmonary hypertension induced by high pulmonary blood flow. Methods: Sixteen SD rats were randomly divided into shunting group and control group. An 11 week aortocaval shunting was produced in rats of shunting group, and pulmonary artery mean pressure (mPAP) was evaluated using right cardiac catheterization. The ratios of right ventricular mass to body weight (RV/BW) and right ventricular mass to left ventricular plus septal mass[RV/(LV+S)] were also detected. Pulmonary vascular micro and ultra structures were examined. Meanwhile the concentration of plasma hydrogen sulfide (H 2S) was measured by spectrophotography. The gene expression of cystathionine ? lyase (CSE)was detected by in situ hybridization, and the activity of CSE in lung tissues was measured by H 2S production according to chemical analysis. Results: After 11 weeks of aortocaval shunting, pulmonary artery mean pressure was significantly increased. Muscularization of small pulmonary vessels and relative medial thickness of pulmonary arteries were obviously increased in shunting rats compared with controls. Ultrastructure of intrapulmonary arteries changed obviously in shunting rats. Meanwhile, plasma H 2S concentration was decreased and the activity of CSE (according to H 2S production) in lung tissues decreased in shunting rats. CSEmRNA expression by pulmonary arteries was significantly suppressed. Conclusion: Pulmonary vascular structural remodeling is the important pathologic basis for pulmonary hypertension induced by high pulmonary blood flow. The down regula tion of endogenous H 2S pathway might play an im portant role in the development of high pulmonary blood flow induced pulmonary hypertension.

OBJECTIVETo explore the pharmacologic mechanism of cinnabar (CA) and realgar (RG) in Angong Niuhuang powder (ANP) by way of studying the characteristics of their effects on organism under physiologic and pathologic states.

METHODSSD rats were randomly divided into six groups, 8-10 rats in each group. Group A: untreated normal rats; Group B: normal rats administered by ANP (drug I) 278 mg/kg; Group C: normal rats administered by ANP subtracted CA and RG (drug II) 222.7 mg/kg; Group D: brain edema model rats established by unilateral common carotid artery injection of Bacillus pertussis 250 million/kg; Group E: model rats administered by ANP 278 mg/kg 1 hr before modeling; Group F: model rats administered by drug II 222.7 mg 1 hr before modeling. Blood sample and brain tissue in Group D were obtained 4 hrs after modeling and those in other groups obtained 5 hrs after drug administration. The total activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in serum and brain tissue was determined by colorimetry and that of serum LDH isoenzymes (LDH(1-5)) were determined by gel electrophoresis.

RESULTSAs compared with Group A, LDH, LDH1 and LDH2 activities increased in Group D (P < 0.01), and increased also in Group B and C (P < 0.05), while LDH4 and LDH5 decreased obviously in Group B and C. But except that of LDH5, no significant difference of LDH(1-4) in brain tissue and serum was shown in comparison of Group B and C. As compared with Group D, LDH was lower (P < 0.01) and LDH5 was higher (P < 0.01) in Group E and F without significant difference, LDH2, LDH3 were lower in Group E (P < 0.01) but unchanged in Group F, LDH1 and LDH4 were not changed in Group E but significantly lowered in Group F (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONAdministration of ANP in normal physiologic condition would cause damage on myocardium and kidney to certain extent, administration of ANP and drug II in pathologic (infectious brain edema) would suppress the hyper-activated LDH, with no significant difference between the effects of drug II and ANP. However, CA and RA in ANP are proven to have influence on the serum LDH isoenzymes, indicating that the two ingredients may have some potential pharmacological effects.

Animals ; Arsenicals ; pharmacology ; Brain Edema ; enzymology ; etiology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Encephalitis ; complications ; Isoenzymes ; metabolism ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; metabolism ; Male ; Mercury Compounds ; pharmacology ; Powders ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sulfides ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo observe the clinical efficacy difference between segmentation scraping and conventional acupuncture for cervical spondylosis (CS) so as to provide effective treatment method.

METHODSEighty-five cases of cervical type of CS were randomly divided into a scraping group (44 cases) and an acupuncture group (41 cases). The segmentation scraping therapy was used in the scraping group. The scraping group was treated with focusing on scraping the head and joint part of neck and occiput in the upper cervical spine injury, and focusing on scraping the lower section of cervical and shoulder in the lower cervical spine injury, once every seven days, totally for 3 times. In the acupuncture group, Fengchi (GB 20),Wangu (TE 5), Tianzhu (BL 10),Neck-Jiaji (EX-B 2), etc. were selected,once daily,for 15 days. The visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the immediate analgesic effect after the first treatment and the clinical efficacy was observed after the end of treatment.

RESULTSAfter the first treatment, the score of VAS was decreased significantly in the scaping group (P < 0.01), but there was no significant difference in the acupuncture group compared with those before treatment (P > 0.05); the score of VAS in the scaping group after the first treatment was lower than that in the acupuncture group (3.66 +/- 0.74 vs 5.43 +/- 0.35, P < 0.01). Compared with before treatment, the scores of VAS were decreased significantly after treatment in two groups (both P < 0.01), but without significant difference between two groups (P > 0.05); the effective rate was 95.5% (42/44) in the scaping group and 87.8% (36/41) in the acupuncture group, the curative effects were similar (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONBoth of scraping and acupuncture therapies have good analgesic effect for cervical spondylosis, and overall effects are similar, but the immediate analgesic effect of scraping thrapy is better than that of conventional acupuncture.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Neck Pain ; therapy ; Spondylosis ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo observe the effects of the grafting of a platelet-derived growth factor gene-modified artificial composite skin on rat wounds with full thickness defect.

METHODSPlatelet derived growth factor-B (PDGF-B) eukaryotic expression plasmid was constructed, and the fibroblasts were transfected with it by liposome mediation. Artificial composite skins 1 and 2 were constructed respectively. The skin1 was composed of keratinocyte, porcine acellular dermal matrix and PDGF-B gene-transfected fibroblasts while the skin 2 contained keratinocyte, porcine acellular dermal matrix and fibroblasts. The two kinds of composite skin were grafted onto wounds on the rat back to form composite skin group 1 (C1) and 2 (C2), respectively, with 18 rats in each group. Eight rats with wounds without treatment served as control (C) group. The survival rate of the composite skin was observed at 2 post-operative weeks (POWs). The rat wounds were examined grossly on 2, 4 and 6 POWs for the calculation of wound contraction rate. Wound tissue samples were harvested for histological examination.

RESULTS(1) Up to 2 POWs, 14 grafts in C1 group survived completely, 3 with partial survival and 1 failure. In C2 group, 10 skin grafts survived completely, 4 with partial survival and 4 failures. (2) A scab was formed in the wound at 2 POW in C group. The surface of the grafted skin in C1 group was smooth, elastic, and showed good anti-friction properly, and it was better in quality compared with that in other two groups at 6 POW. (3) The wound contraction rate of the grafts in C group of rats was higher than that in C1 and C2 groups at 2, 4 and 6 POWs, while that in C1 was lower than that in C2 group. (4) Capillary formation was more intense in the grafted skins in C1 group at 2 POWs, and the epithelia differentiated well into 7 to 10 layers of epithelial cells with compact and orderly arrangement and evenly distributed fibrous tissue at 6 POWs.

CONCLUSIONRepair of the wound with artificial composite skin containing PDGF-B gene could improve the quality of wound healing.

Animals ; Cells, Cultured ; Female ; Humans ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-sis ; genetics ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Skin Transplantation ; methods ; Skin, Artificial ; Swine ; Tissue Engineering ; Transfection ; Wound Healing

Objective To discuss the different clinical features and prognosis of single cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) and multiple CVT. Methods The site and the number of vein and thrombosed sinuses of 136 patients with CVT were summarized. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to the numbers of thrombosed sinuses. The clinical features and outcome of the patients with single CVT were analyzed in comparison with those with multiple CVT by univariate analysis. Results In 44 patients (32.4%), only 1 cerebral sinus was involved. In 92 patients (67.6%), 2 or more cerebral veins and sinuses were involved (2 sinuses in 45, 3 sinuses in 35, 4 sinuses in 9, 5 sinuses in 3). The lateral sinus and the sigmoid sinus were the most frequent thrombosed sinuses which were found in 86.8% of patients; the followings were superior sagittal sinus (58.1%), straight sinus (18.4%) , deep venous system (7.4%), and cortical veins (2.9%). Mean ages were significantly older but the short-term prognosis was better in the group of patients with single CVT in comparison with those in the group of patients with multiple CVT. The patients with multiple CVT also presented more serious intracranial hypertension, more frequent parenchymal lesions and systematic thrombotic events than those with single CVT (P＜0.05). Conclusion In most CVT patients, 2 or more veins and sinuses are involved and thromboses most commonly implicate the lateral sinus and the superior sagittal sinus. Patients with multiple CVT usually present higher intracranial pressure, more serious clinical course, worse outcome and higher incidence of systematic venous thrombotic events in comparison with patients with single CVT. And the multiple sinus thrombosis is more likely to cause venous infarctions and intracranial hemorrhage than the single one.

OBJECTIVEIn this experiment, genes sensitive to mechanical stretch in osteoblast like cells were cloned through subtractive hybridization technique.

METHODSTwo dimensional mechanical stretch with deformation of 12% and frequency of 6 cycles was loaded on human osteoblastic like cell line Saos-2. Complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) library of cells was constructed 12 h after loading, acting as tester. cDNA library of cells without loading was constructed, acting as driver. A subtractive cDNA library osteoblastic like cell stimulated with mechanical stretch was constructed through subtractive hybridization technique.

RESULTSOf clones randomly selected from this library, fifteen genes were identified to be the differentially expressed genes. Comparing with the sequences published in GeneBank via Internet, two sequences located in chromosome 9 and 18 respectively were identified to be novel, which were named as stretch sensitive gene 1 and stretch sensitive gene 2.

CONCLUSIONIt is an efficient approach to clone and study genes relative to mechanical stretch through subtractive hybridization technique.

Cell Line ; Cloning, Molecular ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Gene Library ; Humans ; Nucleic Acid Hybridization ; Osteoblasts ; physiology ; Stress, Mechanical

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical outcomes of improvement technique of double Endobutton plate for the treatment of Tossy III acromioclavicular joint dislocation.

METHODSFrom June 2008 to June 2009, 18 patients with Tossy III acromioclavicular joint dislocation were treated with improvement technique of double Endobutton plate. There were 11 males and 7 females, with an average age of 35 years old ranging from 28 to 55 years. The time from injury to operation was 2 to 5 days (means 3.5 days). All patients were followed and the clinical outcomes were recorded.

RESULTSThese 18 patients were followed up from 4 to 8 months (averaged 6 months). All acromioclavicular joint dislocation were reduced. According to the scales of Karlsson, the post-operation function 1 of shoulder-joint in 16 patients were A grade and 2 patients were B grade.

CONCLUSIONThe improvement technique of double Endobutton plate is an effective ideal treatment methods for Tossy III acromioclavicular joint dislocation due to its less invasion and convenience and good biocompatibility.

Acromioclavicular Joint ; injuries ; Adult ; Bone Plates ; Female ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; methods ; Humans ; Joint Dislocations ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged

Objective To determine the clinical features,neurophysiological characteristics and cervical magnetic resonance imaging of sensory neumnopathy,and to describe the pathology of skin nerve, sural nerve and spinal dorsal columns.Methods Two patients who died from sensory neuron disease (SND)after infection of digestive tract were discussed including clinical features and ancillary tests which included neurophysiology and pathology of peripheral nerve and spinal dorsal columns.Associated documents are reviewed.Results Early ataxia,widespread sensory symptoms and global loss of deep tendon reflex were the distinctive signs of SND,which was characterized by non-length-dependent abnormalities of sensory nerve action potentials,a hallmark of ganglionopathies.The second patient showed normal cervical magnetic resonance imaging possibly because of short course of disease,while diffuse hyperintensity in the spinal posterior columns of SND was reported.Demyelination of spinal posterior columns and loss of mostly large diameter nerve fibers without regeneration clusters were the main pathological features.Conclusions The distinctive clinical features and neurophysiological characteristics of SND indicate that peripheral sensory nerve fibers are widely damaged.Pathology of spinal posterior columns confirm that central sensory pathway are impaired which allow the localization of the pathologic site to the dorsal root ganglion neurons.Cervical spinal MRI of SND are possibly normal at early phase.

Objective To study the effects of Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Prescription on the migration ability of MHCC97-H and the expressions of CXCL12, CXCR4 and CXCR7; To discuss its relevant mechanism of action. Methods Setting Sorafenib as a positive control, CCK-8 method was used for determining the effects of Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Prescription on the cell proliferation of MHCC97-H and the optimum concentration. Scratch assay was used to observe the migration ability of MHCC97-H. The protein expressions of CXCL12, CXCR4 and CXCR7 were detected by Western blot after 24 h of medicine intervention. Results Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Prescription and Sorafenib can inhibit the cell proliferation of MHCC97-H , and the inhibitory concentration was 0.095 g/mL and 10 μmol/mL at 24 hours. Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Prescription can inhibit migration ability of MHCC97-H. The protein expressions of CXCL12, CXCR4 and CXCR7 in hepatocellular carcinoma cells decreased after the action of Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Prescription. Conclusion Yiqi Huayu Jiedu Prescription can inhibit MHCC97-H cell proliferation and migration, which may be realized by down-regulating chemokine axis of CXCL12/CXCR4/CXCR7.