Objective:To explore the feasibility of mesencephalon progenitor cells as dopamine neuron's graft in treatment of Parkinson disease(PD) in rats. Methods: Animal model of PD were established in SD rats by 6 hydroxydopamine. Mesencephalon progenitor cells were obtained from 13 day old fetal rats. After in vitro proliferation and differentiation, the cells were planted into PD rat striatum. Results: Progenitor cells were expanded in an undifferentiated state with endothelia growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor as mitogens. IL 1 and striatal culture media further increased the number of TH immunoreactive cells. Transplantation of these neurons relieved the rotation symptom of PD rats. Conclusion: Transplantation of mesencephalon progenitor cells has certain effects on PD rats.

AIM To speculate the hypoglycemic mechanism for rats with type 2 diabetes by exploring the therapeutic effects of leaf aqueous extract from Cyclocarya paliurus on liver insulin receptor (InsR) and insulin receptor substrate 2 (IRS-2).METHODS The diabetic rat model was established through intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin and fed with high-fat diet.The moleled rats were equally assigned into the control group and leaf aqueous extract from Cyclocarya paliurus group (extract group).After the test extract was orally administrated for four weeks,body weight,urine output,food intake,water intake and fasting blood-glucose (FBG) were measured,and the levels of serum insulin,InsR and IRS-2 mRNA in liver tissue were investigated in rats.RESULTS Compared with the control group,the extract group showed a reduction in urine output,food intake,water intake,FBG and insulin levels.Meanwhile,the rats' body weights in extract group were presented a trend to increase.The gene expressions of InsR and IRS-2 in liver tissue were up-regulated.Moreover,the insulin sensitivity was improved.CONCLUSION The leaf aqueous extract from Cyclocarya paliurus can reduce FBS,improve insulin sensitivity,which may be associated with the increase of InsR and IRS-2 gene expression in liver tissue.

Objective:To investigate the effect and regulation of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) on islets function and NOD-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) and autophagy in type 2 diabetic mellitus (T2DM) mice.Methods:Experimental study. Twenty, 8-week-old, male C57BL/6J mice were selected and divided into a normal control group ( n=5) and a high-fat feeding modeling group ( n=15). The model of T2DM was established by high-fat feeding combined with intraperitoneal injection of low-dose streptozotocin. After successful modeling, those mice were divided into a diabetes group ( n=7) and a UC-MSCs treatment group ( n=7). The UC-MSCs treatment group was given UC-MSCs (1×10 6/0.2 ml phosphate buffer solution) by tail vein infusion once a week for a total of 4 weeks; the diabetes group was injected with the same amount of normal saline, and the normal control group was not treated. One week after the treatment, mice underwent intraperitoneal glucose tolerance tests and intraperitoneal insulin tolerance tests, and then the mice were sacrificed to obtain pancreatic tissue to detect the expressions of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1 (PDX-1) by immunofluorescence. The bone marrow-derived macrophages were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide and adenosine triphosphate (experimental group) in vitro, then co-cultured with UC-MSCs for 24 h (treatment group). After the culture, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the secretion level of IL-1β in the supernatant, and immunofluorescence staining was used to detect the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome, and related autophagy proteins. Statistical analysis was performed using unpaired one-way analysis of variance, repeated measure analysis of variance. Results:In vivo experiments showed that compared with the diabetes group, the UC-MSCs treatment group partially repaired islet structure, improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity (all P<0.05), and the expression of PDX-1 increased and IL-1β decreased in islets under confocal microscopy. In vitro experiments showed that compared with the experimental group, the level of IL-1β secreted by macrophages in the treatment group was decreased [(85.9±74.6) pg/ml vs. (883.4±446.2) pg/ml, P=0.001], the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome and autophagy-related protein P62 was decreased, and the expressions of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3β (LC3) and autophagy effector Beclin-1 were increased under confocal microscopy. Conclusions:UC-MSCs can reduce the level of pancreatic inflammation in T2DM mice, preserving pancreatic function. This might be associated with the ability of UC-MSCs to inhibit the activity of NLRP3 inflammasomes in macrophages and enhance autophagy levels.

AIM: Previous studies have suggested that big stick design (BSD) method can only be used in clinical trials of two treatments with equal proportion, which has good statistical performance and has become the recommended choice of randomized methods. This study expands BSD method, so that it can be applied to three groups, and provides more randomized methods for clinical trials. METHODS: On the basis of BSD method used in two treatments with equal proportion, the derivation conditional allocation probability of BSD method used in three treatments with equal proportion was carried out. BSD method was compared with simple randomization (SR) method, permuted block design (PBD) method and block urn design (BUD) method by Monte-Carlo simulation in balance and randomness. RESULTS: In terms of balance, PBD method was the best, followed by BUD method, BSD method, and SR method was the worst. In terms of randomness, SR method was the best, followed by BSD method, BUD method and PBD method. The comprehensive performance showed that BSD method was better than BUD method, PBD method and SR method. CONCLUSION: The expanded BSD method used in three treatments with equal proportion has good comprehensive performance, and it can be the recommended randomization method for clinical trials of three treatments with equal proportion.