Objective:To design a kind of head holder for small animal imaging without artifact. Methods: The head holder was designed for small animal imaging according to rodent head stereotaxic apparatus with lightweight and easy molding material (polymethyl methacrylate). The holder can be easily made with ordinary lathe and can be easily operated in small animal imaging device. Results:After the trial in small animal PET-CT, the holder can effectively solve the problems in small animal imaging such as the artifact caused by tiny displacement, tilt head position, deviating from the central field of view and respiratory depression. Conclusion: The small animal imaging device was designed in simple structure to overcome the shortcomings of the existing technology. The operation of the device is simple, which is worthy of popularization head holder of application.

Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Arsenicals ; pharmacology ; Boronic Acids ; pharmacology ; Bortezomib ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Humans ; Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute ; pathology ; Oxides ; pharmacology ; Pyrazines ; pharmacology

Adolescent ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Diverticulum, Stomach ; complications ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage ; diagnosis ; etiology ; pathology ; Gastroscopy ; Humans ; Male

Animals ; HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins ; metabolism ; Male ; Physical Conditioning, Animal ; Physical Endurance ; physiology ; Quadriceps Muscle ; metabolism ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; metabolism

As an important neurotransmitter, adenosine displays its functions by acting on the adenosine receptors. Recent studies have shown that the distribution, expression and balance among subtypes of adenosine receptors are closely related with cognitive activities, and changes of adenosine receptors play key roles in neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease. It has been pointed out that prolonged activation of adenosine receptors by high level adenosine may lead to the disturbance of balance among adenosine receptor subtypes. This imbalance mainly performed as increased expression of A2a receptor and decreased expression of A1 receptor, and enhancement of the excitatory signals mediated by A2a receptor and weakened inhibitory signals mediated by A1 receptor. Changes of these two subtypes of adenosine receptors may lead to a lot of disorders of neurological activities which developed into dysfunction of cognition to the end. These findings imply that the potential of maintaining the balance among adenosine receptors on the treatment of AD would facilitate both the revealing of the mechanism and the cure of AD.
Adenosine ; physiology ; Alzheimer Disease ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Neurotransmitter Agents ; physiology ; Receptors, Purinergic P1 ; classification ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the technological parameters of the purification process of total flavones from Smilax china with macroporous absorption resin.

METHODThe technical process for purification of total flavones with the optimum macroporous absorption resin was screened by yield of total flavones product.

RESULTThe D140 macroporous absorption resin had the best separating efficiency when the flavones content in the liquid was 0.5 g x mL(-1) equivalent to raw material, the volume of drug 18 BV (resin bad volume) with the adsorption-power 2 BV x h(-1), and the volume of 60% (mL x mL(-1)) ethanol as eluant 5-10 BV (resin bad volume) with desorption-power 1 BV x h(-1). The obtained flavones product has total flavones recovery rate of 84.72%.

CONCLUSIONThe treatment of regenerated resin is easy, this method is advisable.

Absorption ; Flavones ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Resins, Synthetic ; chemistry ; Rhizome ; chemistry ; Smilax ; chemistry ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods

Alzheimer' s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia in the elderly. AD is an invariably fatal neurodegenerative disorder with no effective treatment. Senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) is a model for studying age-related cognitive impairments and also is a good model to study brain aging and one of mouse model of AD. The technique of cDNA microarray can monitor the expression levels of thousands of genes simultaneously and can be used to study AD with the character of multi-mechanism, multi-targets and multi-pathway. In order to disclose the mechanism of AD and find the drug targets of AD, cDNA microarray containing 3136 cDNAs amplified from the suppression subtracted cDNA library of hippocampus of SAMP8 and SAMR1 was prepared with 16 blocks and 14 x 14 pins, the housekeeping gene beta-actin and G3PDH as inner conference. The background of this microarray was low and unanimous, and dots divided evenly. The conditions of hybridization and washing were optimized during the hybridization of probe and target molecule. After the data of hybridization analysis, the differential expressed cDNAs were sequenced and analyzed by the bioinformatics, and some of genes were quantified by the real time RT-PCR and the reliability of this cDNA microarray were validated. This cDNA microarray may be the good means to select the differential expressed genes and disclose the molecular mechanism of SAMP8's brain aging and AD.
Aging ; genetics ; metabolism ; Alzheimer Disease ; genetics ; metabolism ; Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Gene Expression ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; Male ; Mice ; Models, Animal ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of Tiaoxin Recipe (TXR) on learning and memory related gene expression in hippocampus of senescence accelerated mice (SAM).

METHODSChanges of learning and memory related gene expression, including mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), presenile protein 1 and 2 (PS-1, PS-2), tau, APP, apoE and bcl-2 in hippocampus of SAM were determined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The effect of TXR were tested. E2020 was used as the drug for control.

RESULTSCompared with those in the same aged mice, in the 5-month old SAM, levels of gene expression of MR, tau, PS-2 and APP were significantly higher, that of apo-E lower, levels of gene expression PS-1 and bcl-2 were unobviously changed; while in the 12-month old SAM, gene expression of MR and tau were higher, bcl-2 was lower and PS-1, PS-2, apoE and APP were also unobviously changed. Continuously orally taken TXR could correct the abnormality of MR, tau and apoE gene expression in hippocampus of 5-month SAM and that of MR and bcl-2 in 12-month SAM.

CONCLUSIONContinuously orally taken of TXR has the effect of regulating and correcting learning and memory related gene expression in hippocampus of 5-month and 12-month SAM.

Aging ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Animals ; Apolipoproteins E ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Gene Expression ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; Learning ; drug effects ; Membrane Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Memory ; drug effects ; Mice ; Presenilin-1 ; Presenilin-2 ; tau Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics

OBJECTIVE LW- AFC is extracted from the classical traditional Chinese medicinal prescription-Liuwei Dihuang Decoction. Previous studies have showed that LW-AFC could improve learning & memory ability in amny animal models. In this study, we focused on evaluating the effect of several main active components from LW-AFC (B-B; loganin, LOG; morroniside, MOR; paeoniflorin, PF and stachyose, STA) on LTP. METHODS In vivo recording of LTP was used in this study to evaluate the effects of LW-AFC and it's active components on coticorsterone (Cort) induced LTP impairment. RESULTS The results showed that LW-AFC could ameliorate Cort-induced LTP impairment. The effect of LW-AFC was abolished when the immune function was inhibited. Single administration (ig, ip, icv) of any of the components had no effect on Cort-induced LTP impairment. Consecutively intragastric admin?istration or intraperitoneal injections (chronic administration) of B-B, LOG, MOR or PF for 7 d showed protective effect on Cort-induced LTP impairment. Intragastric administration of STA for 7 d protected LTP from impairment induced by Cort, while there was little improving effect when STA was administrated via intraperitoneal injection. In addition, when the intestinal microbiota was disrupted by applying the antibiotic cocktail, STA showed little protective effect against Cort. CONCLUSION In conclusion, LW-AFC and it' s components showed positive effects against cort induced LTP impairment, it seems that all displayed protective effects via indirectly, immune modulation might be the common pathway for all components; the exact pathways are different in each component, B-B, LOG, MOR and PF could be absorbed into the bloods tream and then modulate the peripheral immune function, while STA could not be absorbed and modulates the immune function via modulating intestinal microbiota. Further studies are needed to invesgate the underlying mechanisms and the synergetic effects of all components.

Objective To investigate the value of intraoperative ultrasound in the resection of hemangioblastoma.Methods Intraoperative ultrasound was applied in 17 patients who underwent resection. The size,number,location ,depth,feeding arteries and draining veins of the tumors were clearly displayed.Results Intraoperative ultrasound could real-time locate the tumor with high accuracy. Totally there were 35 tumors in 17 patients, and intraoperative ultrasound found 32 of them.The diameter of thr smallest tumor was 7 mm. Intraoperative ultrasound could displayed clearly the feeding arteries and draining veins in bigger tumors. Conclusions Intraoperative ultrasound should be routinely used in the operation of hemangioblastoma for its high detection rate.