OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of Tetramethyl pyrazine (TMP) on the cytokines and inflammatory mediators in the serum and the synovial fluid of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA)rats, and further to investigate its possible mechanisms for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

METHODSType II CIA rat model was established. Rats in the TMP group were administered with TMP at 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg, once daily. Dexamethasone at 2.0 mg/kg was intramuscularly injected to those in the Dexamethasone treated group, once daily. Normal saline at 2 mL/kg was given to those in the normal control group and the model group, once daily. All medication was started from the 7th day, lasting to the 35th day. CIA rats' foot swelling degree was observed. Contents of serum IL-1, IL-6, IL-2, NO and PGE2in the synovial fluid were detected by radioimmunoassay and nitrate reduction method.

RESULTSCompared with the normal group, the foot swelling obviously increased, contents of NO and PGE2 in the synovial fluid were obviously elevated in the model group (P < 0.01). Compared with the model group, the foot swelling could be obviously inhibited by 100 mg/kg TMP and Dexamethasone; serum levels of IL-1 and IL-6 obviously decreased, serum IL-2 level obviously increased, contents of NO and PGE, decreased (P < 0.01). TMP 50 mg/kg could obviously inhibit the foot swelling of CIA rats (P < 0.01). There was no statistical difference in other indices (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSTMP at 100 mg/kg showed obvious inhibition on CIA rats. Its inhibitory effect might be correlated to inhibiting activities of endogenous cytokines and the generation of inflammatory mediators in inflammation local regions, improving contents of anti-inflammation cytokines, and inducing the balance of the inflammatory cytokine network.

Animals ; Arthritis, Experimental ; blood ; metabolism ; Dinoprostone ; metabolism ; Female ; Interleukin-1beta ; blood ; Interleukin-2 ; blood ; Interleukin-6 ; blood ; Male ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Pyrazines ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Synovial Fluid ; metabolism

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases ; therapy ; Retrospective Studies

Endoscopes ; Humans ; Nasal Cavity ; surgery ; Nasal Septum ; surgery ; Reconstructive Surgical Procedures ; Rhinoplasty ; Surgical Flaps

Artemisia lactiflora is an important medicinal plant in China. The antitumor and antioxidant activities of the extracts of 54 endophytic fungi from the plant were screened via MTT assay and DPPH scavenging radical assay, respectively. The bioactive strains were identified based on similarity of 5.8S gene and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences. The results showed that extracts from ten (18.5%) isolates exhibited antitumor activity, and which from two (3.7%) isolates exhibited antioxidant activity. The Alternaria sp. GYBH47 strain was simultaneously having antagonistic activity against HL-60 leukemia, MCF-7 breast and COLO205 colon cell lines, and Phomopsis sp. GYBH42 strain having cytotoxic and antioxidant activities. The results indicated that endophytic fungi from Artemisia lactiflora are potential resources to find valuable bioactive components.
Antineoplastic Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Artemisia ; microbiology ; Biphenyl Compounds ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Endophytes ; chemistry ; classification ; physiology ; Free Radical Scavengers ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Fungi ; classification ; physiology ; Humans ; Picrates ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the role of endogenous hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in erectile dysfunction (ED) induced by androgen deficiency.

METHODSWe randomly divided 30 eight-week-old healthy male SD rats into six groups: 2-week control (A), 4-week control (B), 2-week castration (C), 4-week castration (D), 2-week castration + androgen replacement (E), and 4-week castration + androgen replacement (F), those in groups E and F subcutaneously injected with testosterone propionate (TP) at the physiological dose of 3 mg/kg per day after castration, while those in the other groups with isodose oil instead. At 2 and 4 weeks after operation, we determined the level of serum testosterone (T) , intracavernous pressure (ICP) , mean carotid arterial pressure (MAP) of the rats, measured the concentration of H2S in the plasma and corpus cavernosum tissue, and detected the expressions of cystathionine-P3-synthase (CBS) and cystathionine-gamma-lyase (CSE) by immunohistochemistry and Western blot.

RESULTSThe serum T level was significantly lower in group C ([0.63 +/- 0.15] nmol/L) than in A ( [ 16.55 +/- 4.17] nmol/L) and E ( [ 18.99 +/- 4.62] nmol/L) (P <0.05), as well as in group D ([0.70 +/-0.22] nmol/L) than in B ([15.44 +/-5.18] nmol/L) and F ([20.99 +/-6.41] nmol/L) (P <0. 05) , and so were ICP/MAP after 5 and 7 V electrical stimulation of the pelvic ganglia (P <0. 05) , H2 S concentration (P <0.05), and the expressions of CBS and CSE (P <0.05). The expressions of CBS and CSE proteins were also significantly decreased in group C as compared with D (P <0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe reduced expressions of CBS and CSE may inhibit the H2 S signaling pathway, which might be one of the mechanisms underlying androgen deficiency-induced ED in rats.

Androgens ; deficiency ; Animals ; Cystathionine beta-Synthase ; metabolism ; Cystathionine gamma-Lyase ; metabolism ; Erectile Dysfunction ; metabolism ; Hydrogen Sulfide ; metabolism ; Male ; Orchiectomy ; Penis ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Purpose: To evaluate the use of signal intensity index (SII) of skull-base invasion in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), select a best cut-off SII value to predict the outcome of NPC. Materials and Methods: One hundred and twenty-two NPC patients (92 men, 30 women) with skull-base invasion were included. All patients underwent MRI, signal intensities on T1-weighted imaging (T1WI) were measured for each invaded site and its contralateral normal counterpart. The SIIs were calculated, receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed. The optimal cut-off values were extracted. The overall survival (OS) rates of 5-year follow-up were performed. Results: Sensitivities for differentiating skull-base invasion from normal contralateral anatomy were 98.9%, 88.5% and 70.0%, and specificities were 98.9%, 96.0% and 74.4%, respectively. There were three cut-off values for differentiating invasion from normal anatomy of skull-base, 49%, 98%, and 60%. Significant difference in OS rates (84.2% vs. 57.1%, p=0.007) was seen for SII threshold values > 60% and those ≤ 60%. Conclusions: The SII might be a useful means of differentiating invasion from normal tissue at the skull-base in NPC. The cut-off value of quantitative SII at the skull-base may aid in monitoring the response to treatment of NPC patients.

Objective To establish an automatic synthesis method for 11C-carfentanil (CFN) as an novel opiate receptor radioligand and study its biodistribution in rats. Methods 11C-Triflate-CH3 was bubbled into 0.5 mg precursor desmethyl-CFN (which was dissolved in 0.15 ml DMSO) to generate 11C-CFN in a V-tube at room temperature. Sep-Pak C2 column was used for purification of 11C-CFN, which was eluted by 3ml binary system aqueous solution, 10 ml water thrice, and then I ml ethanol. The biodistribution (% ID/g) of 11C-CFN in SD rats was studied. SPSS 13.0 was used for statistical analysis. Non-normal distribution data were analyzed using nonparametric test. Results The synthesis time for 11C-CFN was 20 min (end of bombardment, EOB). The synthesis yield was (35.5 ± 2.2) % on average (n = 12, uncorrected)with the radiochemical purity over 98%. Biodistribution study in rats showed that the tracer had a high brain uptake, rapid blood clearance, and a metabolic pathway via liver and kidney. The highest tracer uptake was in thalamus (4.26 ± 0.89) % ID/g and striatum (4.05 ± 1.08) % ID/g at 5 min after injection, followed by cerebral cortex (2.63±0.89) %ID/g, pons (2.26 ±0.57) % ID/g, hippocampus (2. 17 ±0.55) %ID/g and cerebellum (2. 15 ±0.39) %ID/g. Conclusions The automatic synthesis of 11C-CFN is fast and reliable, and this radioligand can be used for opiate receptor imaging.

Objective To discuss the molecular mechanism of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in tumor and to assess its value to identify pathologic type and cancer staging in patients with earlystage nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods Forty patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma of early-stage,including 12 cases with T1 stage and 28 cases with T2 stage, underwent FDG PET imaging.The maximum standardized uptake value ( SUVmax ) and mean standardized uptake value ( SUVmean ) of FDG uptake of each patient were measured and compared between T1 and T2 stage by t-test.The expression of glucose transport protein 1 ( Glut1 ) and hexokinase- Ⅱ ( HK- Ⅱ ) of each case was measured in paraffin sections by streptavidin-perosidase (SP) immunohistochemistry.The positive expression rate of Glut1 and HK- Ⅱ was calculated and compared between T1 and T2 by x2 test.Meanwhile, the correlation between the expression of Glut1 or HK-Ⅱ and the SUVmax was tested by Pearson analysis.Results The SUVmax and SUVmean in 40 patients were 9.45 ± 1.87 and 6.04 ± 1.09, respectively.The SUVmax of patients with T1 stage (8.95 ± 1.91 ) was significantly lower (t =4.46, P＜0.001 ) than that of patients with T2 stage (11.55 ± 1.70), and the SUVmean of patients with T1 stage (5.61 ± 1.08) was significantly lower ( t = 6.76, P ＜ 0.001 ) than that of patients with T2 stage (7.98 ± 1.10) too.Among 40 patients, all patients showed positive expression of Glut1 and HK-Ⅱ , and the positive expression rate of Glut1 and HK-Ⅱ was ( 45.2 ± 10.9 )% and ( 68.3 ±9.5)%, respectively.The positive expression rate of Glut1 was (38.4 ±8.1)% in T1 stage and (49.7 ±12.6)% in T2 stage, which displayed no difference (x2 =40.58, P＞0.05), but the HK-Ⅱ positive expression rate showed significant difference (x2 =58.71, P＜0.05) between T1 stage (60.1 ±11.1)% and T2 stage (77.9 ± 14.7 )%.The correlation analysis indicated that there was low-degree positive correlation (r =0.369, P=0.019) between the SUVmax and Glut1 expression, and there was medium-degree positive correlation (r = 0.549, P = 0.001 ) between the SUVmax and HK-Ⅱ expression.Conclusion Expression of Glut1 and HK-Ⅱ was positively correlated with FDG uptake in patients with early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Objective To investigate the glucose metabolic pattern of brain functional loop in patients with refractory obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) using 18 F-FDG PET.Methods Eight patients with refractory OCD and 8 age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers underwent 18F-FDG PET brain imaging.SPM software was used for image post-processing and quantitative analysis.Correlation analysis between 18F-FDG uptake and Yale-Brown obsessive compulsive scale(Y-BOCS) score was performed.Results Compared with the controls,the glucose metabolism of bilateral frontal cortices ( including the rectal gyrus,orbital gyrus and cingulate gyrus),left thalamus,right temporal lobe and bilateral cerebellum in refractory OCD patients increased significantly ( Zmax =3.45 - 5.80,all P ＜ 0.001 ).Bilateral motor cortices and bilateral parietal lobes (BA7),however,showed decreased glucose metabolism (Zmax =3.44 - 4.46,all P ＜0.001 ).Y-BOCS score was positively correlated with the glucose metabolism of the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (Zmax =3.77,3.48 and 2.97,all P ＜ 0.01 ).Conclusions There is a characteristic metabolic pattern of increased glucose utilization in the fronto-striato-thalamic loop and decreased glucose utilization in bilateral motor cortices and parietal lobes in patients with OCD.The glucose metabolism in the anterior cingulate cortex might serve as a quantitative parameter for the assessment of the severity of OCD.

OBJECTIVE: The content changes of energy substances in the cardiac muscle of rat killed by different manners were investigated to elucidate evidence that can be used to determine the modes of death and postmortem interval. METHODS: One hundred and eighty rats were randomly allocated into 3 groups and killed by bleeding, suffocating, and neck breaking, respectively. The contents of ATP, ADP, and AMP in the cardiac muscle of rats killed by the different manners at different death intervals (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 18, and 24 h) were measured by HPLC. RESULTS: There were significant differences observed in the contents of ATP and AMP in the rats' cardiac muscle in different groups at most of the intervals (P < 0.05) and at all of the intervals within the same group (P < 0.01), but no differences were found in the ADP contents in any of the group at most of the intervals. CONCLUSION The content changes of energy substances (ATP and AMP) in the cardiac muscle of dead rats may provide a basis for determination of the death manners and postmortem intervals.
Adenosine Diphosphate/metabolism* ; Adenosine Monophosphate/metabolism* ; Adenosine Triphosphate/metabolism* ; Animals ; Asphyxia/metabolism* ; Cause of Death ; Cervical Vertebrae/injuries* ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Female ; Male ; Myocardium/pathology* ; Postmortem Changes ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Shock, Hemorrhagic/metabolism* ; Time Factors