BACKGROUND:Polyhydroxybutyrate-co-volerate (PHBV) is a noticeable tissue engineering material of polyhydroxyalkanoates family. It has the properties of low immune rejection response and good biocompatibility, and its degradation products are non-toxic.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the biocompatibility of PHBV membrane material and human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s in vitro.
METHODS:Human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s at passage 3 were seeded upon PHBV membrane as experimental group and upon conventional culture plates as control group. Then we calculated the adherent cel number of two groups at 1, 2 and 4 hours and got the cel adherent rate. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide assay was used at days 2, 4, 6, 8 to observe the cel proliferation of two groups. Fluorimetric method with the fluorescent dye Hoechst 33258 was used to detect the DNA content of cel s at days 3, 6, 9 and 12 in both groups. After cel s were seeded upon PHBV membrane for 5 days, the cel growth upon the material was examined under a scanning electron microscope.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:When the cel s were cultured for 1 hour, the adherent rate in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group;but there were no significant differences between two groups at the other two periods. No difference was found in the cel proliferation and the DNA content between the two groups. Human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s seeded upon PHBV membrane for 5 days grew wel with spindle morphology and the intercel ular connections were tight and more extracel ular matrices were observed by scanning electron microscopy. Taken together, PHBV membrane material shows a good biocompatibility with human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s.

We presented a new method for vessel segmentation and vascular structure recognition for coronary angiographic images. During vessel segmentation, a new vessel function was proposed to attain vessel feature map. Then the region growing algorithm was implemented with an automatic selection of seed point, extraction of main vessel branch, and vessel detail repairing. In the algorithm of vascular structure recognition, a fuzzy operator was used, which can detect the structures of vascular segments, bifurcations, crosses, and tips. The experimental results indicated that there was about 5 percent larger vessel region which was extracted by the proposed segmentation method than that by the simple region growing algorithm, and several thinner vessels were resumed from the lower gray region. The results also indicated that the fuzzy operator could correctly infer the simulative and real vessel structure with 100% and 90.59% correctness rate on the average, respectively.
Algorithms ; Coronary Angiography ; Humans ; Radiographic Image Enhancement ; methods ; X-Rays

BACKGROUND:As a noticeable tissue engineering material of polyhy droxyalka noates family, poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate)(P3HB4HB) exhibitsgood biocompatibility, adhesion and mechanicalproperties, presenting aextensive application future in tissue-engineered research.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the biocompat ibilityin vitroand ectopic osteogenic differentiationin vivoof P3HB4HB and human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels.
METHODS:Passage 5human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cels transplanted ontothe three-dimensional P3HB4HB scaffoldwereincubated with osteogenic induction medium (test group)or with no osteogenic induction(control group), respectively. After 5-day incubation, thecelgrowth was assessed by acridine orange staining and scanning electron microscopy; after14-day incubation, both kinds of cel-scaffold composites were subcutaneously implanted into the nude mice. At 16 weeks after implantation, the cel-scaffold composites were removed to observeectopic osteogenic differentiationin vivousing hematoxylin-eosin staining, von Kossa staining and colagen type I immunohistochemical staining.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Acridine orange staining showed that cels adhered wel on the surface of the scaffold;under thescanning electron microscope, induced celsgrew wel on the P3HB4HB scaffold and produced abundant extracelular matrixes. In addition, at 16 weeks after implantation, there were osteoidtissues in the test group, positive for von Kossa staining as wel as colagen type I immunohistochemical staining;furthermore, hematoxylin-eosin staining showednumerous osteoblasts and bone lacunas. In contrast, no bone tissues appeared in the control group. To conclude, P3HB4HB is a suitable material for bone tissue engineering.

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of serum cytokines concentrations and A- PACHE scores in evaluating the illness state for critical trauma patients.Methods A clinical prospective self-control trial was performed,in which 36 patients admitted to ICU by SIRS were enrolled.Objects were divided into mild and severe trauma group according to APACHE score.The TNF-?and IL-6 concentrations were determined on the 1st, 3rd and 5th day of admission,the APACHE score were assessed at the same time.Statistic analysis was performed according to this group.Results The TNF-?concentrations decreased continuously in the following days while IL-6 decreased from the 7th day in the mild trauma group.In the severe trauma group the TNF-?and IL-6,APACHE score concentrations kept increasing.There was a significant difference of TNF-?and IL-6 concentrations between severe trauma and mild trauma group.Conclusion Dynamic measurement of TNF-?and IL-6 concentrations with APACHE score provide great help to evaluate the illness state and predict the prognosis.

Objective To study the expression of MCP-1 and its correlation with SSc.Methods Twenty-seven patients with SSe and 21 healthy control subjects were examined for MCP-1 expressions by ELISA.mRNA and protein of MCP-1 in fibroblast cells from 5 SSc patients and 3 healthy subjects were also measured by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry.At the same time,the correlation between the expression levels of MCP-1 and SSc was analyzed.Results The plasma level of MCP-1 was significantly higher in pa- tients with SSc than in healthy control subjects(787?393)pg/ml versus(426?266)pg/ml,P

OBJECTIVETo analyze and identify fatty acids in the seeds of Sterculia lychnophora.

METHODThe compositions was isolated and determined by GC-MS technique, and area normalization method was used to make quantitative analyze of the content of compositions.

RESULTS21 Fatty acids and 5 other compositions were isolated and determined.

CONCLUSIONThe major fatty acids are 9,12(Z,Z)-octadecadienoic acid(37.96%), hexadecanoic acid(24.77%), 9-(Z)-octadecenoic acid(19.77%) and octadecanoic acid(5.01%).

Fatty Acids, Nonesterified ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Fatty Acids, Unsaturated ; analysis ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Palmitic Acid ; analysis ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Seeds ; chemistry ; Sterculia ; chemistry

AIMTo develop a capillary gas chromatographic method for the determination and pharmacokinetic study of patchouli alcohol in rat plasma after iv administration.

METHODSThe drug was extracted with ethyl acetate. Eugenol was used as internal standard. The separation was carried out on a HP-5MS quartz capillary column, with high-purity nitrogen as carrier gas and flame ionization detector (FID) as detector. The column temperature was maintained at 80 degrees C for 1 min and then programmed to 200 degrees C at a rate of 15 degrees C x min(-1); it was held at 200 degrees C for 1 min, and then programmed to 290 degrees C at a rate of 60 degrees C x min(-1); the final temperature was held for 1 min. The temperature of both injector and detector was set at 290 degrees C.

RESULTSThe standard curve was linear from 25 to 5 000 microg x L(-1) in rat plasma. The recovery of this method was from 90.0% to 110.0% with satisfactory relative standard deviation (RSD) less than 10.0%. The pharmacokinetic parameters demonstrated patchouli alcohol were consistent with the two-compartment open model and showed linear pharmacokinetics. The T1/2beta, AUC and MRT of patchouli alcohol in patchouli oil were all higher than that of patchouli alcohol.

CONCLUSIONThis method is quick, precise and reliable. The pharmacokinetics of patchouli alcohol is different from that of patchouli alcohol in patchouli oil.

Animals ; Area Under Curve ; Injections, Intravenous ; Lamiaceae ; chemistry ; Male ; Oils, Volatile ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sesquiterpenes ; blood ; isolation & purification ; pharmacokinetics

Objective To investigate the relationship of the levels of peroxisome proliferator- activated receptor-?(PPAR-?)mRNA,MMP-9 with the severity of coronary artery lesions in patients with coronary heart disease(CHD).Methods One hundred and fifty three patients with CHD who underwent coronary angiography were admitted.The expression of PPAR-?mRNA in lymphocytes of peripheral blood was detected by using RT-PCR,the level of MMP-9 enzyme was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorent assay,and the severity of coronary artery lesions were analyzed. Results As compared with control(0.624-0.13),PPAR-?mRNA expression was significantly lower in CHD patients(0.4+0.12).Negative correlation was found between PPAR-?mRNA and the classification(r=-0.56,P＜0.01)of coronary artery lesions,so was the number of coronary artery lesions(r=-0.42,P＜0.01).MMP-9 level was significantly higher in CHD patients(1.27?0.16)?g/L than that in controls(1.21?0.05)?g/L.Positive correlation was found between MMP-9 level and the classification(r=0.36,P＜0.01)of coronary artery lesions,so was the number of coronary artery lesions(r=0.30,P＜0.01).Negative correlation was also found between PPAR-?mRNA expression and MMP-9 level.Conclusions PPAR-?is a negative regulator of coronary artery lesions and PPAR-?inhibits the activation of MMP-9.It may be a valuable method for protecting patients from the incident of coronary artery disease to activate the expression of PPAR-?and decrease the level of MMP-9.

AIM:To observe the application efficiency of 5g/L indocyanine green ( ICG ) staining technique for continuous circular capsulorhexis ( CCC ) during phacoemulsification in white cataract.
METHODS:Ninety-eight patients (98 eyes) with white cataract were randomly divided into staining group ( 50 cases, 50 eyes) and control group (48 cases, 48 eyes). The control group didn't do anterior capsule staining. The staining group was injected to fill the anterior chamber, 5g/L ICG 0.1mL was applied on the central surface of the anterior capsule, using a 27G blunt needle through the side-port after 30s, and the redundant ICG was replaced by BSS, and continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis was accomplished using capsulorhexis forceps.
RESULTS: In staining group: after ICG staining, the capsule, which presented uniform light green and visualization of the anterior capsule was significantly improved. There are 48 eyes capsulorhexis success. The rate of success was 96%. Meanwhile, in control group, there was 29 eyes capsulorhexis success. The rate of success was 60%. The difference was statistically significant (P<0. 05). During follow-up, no dye particle and the complications of iritis or high intraocular pressure were found in the eyes of staining group. Anterior chamber inflammation, corneal opacity compared with control group, the difference was not statistically significant.
CONCLUSION:Indocyanine green staining increases the visibility of anterior capsule in over mature cataract, and it should be an effective and helpful method which can increase the success rate of capsulorehxis. At the same time, it can reduce the incidence of intraoperative complications. This will help beginners quickly grasp continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis, and shorten the learning curve.

Background Prevention and treatment of posterior capsular opacification (PCO) is a hot issue.To establish a PCO animal model is the basis of relevant studies.The most common methods of creating a PCO model are phacoemulsification surgery with or without intraocular lens (IOL) implantation.But the suitability of different methods is unclear.Objective This experiment was to compare the outcome between the two methods of establishing a PCO model in rabbit eyes.Methods Twenty New Zealand white rabbits were collected and randomized into 2 groups.Phacoemulsification of cataract with IOL or without IOL implantation was performed on the right eyes of rabbits in these two groups.The operative eyes were examined under the slit lamp from day 1 through 3 months after surgery.The inflammatory response was evaluated and compared between the two groups,and the extent of PCO was graded based on Odrich's criteria.The use of the animals complied with the Regulations for the Administration of Affairs Concerning Experimental Animals by State Science and Technology Commission.Results The inflammatory response,including conjunctival congestion,corneal edema and aqueous flare were less severe in the model eyes with IOL implantation than the eyes without IOL implantation 1-3 days after operation.Inflammatory response gradually disappeared and showed the same degree in the PCO grade from 2 weeks through 3 months in both groups.The numbers of eyes with 1-3 grade of PCO were 8 and 9,and those with 0 grade of PCO were 2 and 1 in the with IOL implantation group and without IOL implantation group,respectively,showing a significant difference (P=0.39).PCO appeared at 1 month,extended at 2 months and formed dense fibrosis following operation.Conclusions The model outcome of phacoemulsification combined with IOL implantation is better than without IOL implantation one.It is the ideal animal model for the study of after cataract.