Animals ; Bone Neoplasms ; Bone and Bones ; Humans ; Models, Animal ; Neoplasms ; Pain

OBJECTIVETo observe the intervention of electroacupuncture (EA) with different current frequencies and treatment frequencies on pain thresholt in rats with bone-cancer pain, so as to optimize treatment parameters of EA against bone cancer pain; and by measuring gene expression of opioid receptor and precursor in different tissues to preliminarily explore the possible mechanism of EA against bone cancer pain.

METHODSNinety healthy female SD rats were randomly divided into a control group, a model group, EA groups (6 subgroups according to different frequencies) and a sham EA group, ten rats in each one. Rats in the control group were injected with 10 µL of amicrobic phosphate buffer solution (PBS) into tibial cavity; rats in the remaining groups were injected with Walker 256 cancer cells to establish model of bone-cancer pain. No treatment was given to rats in the control group and model group; rats in the EA groups were treated with EA at bilateral "Housanli" (ST 36) and "Genduan" with 3 different current frequencies (2 Hz, 100 Hz and 2 Hz/100 Hz), once a day and once every other day, 30 min per treatment (1mA for 15 min, 2 mA for 15 min); rats in the sham EA group were treated with identical acupoints as the EA group, but the acupoints were needled subcutaneously and EA was connected with power off. All the treatment was given for 14 days. Dynamic plantar aesthesiometer was applied to measure the paw withdrawal thresholds (PWTs) of the affected side before the model establishment, 6d, 8d, 10d, 12d, 14d, 16d, 18d, and 20d after model establishment. The mRNA expressions of µ-opioid receptor (MOR), κ-opioid receptor (KOR), δ-opioid receptor (DOR), proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and prodynorphin (PDYN) in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and lumbar spinal cord dorsal horn (SCDH) of L4-L6 of the affected side were detected by PCR method.

RESULTSThere were no differences in PWTs among all groups before model establishment (P>0. 05). Each time point after model establishment, PWTs in model group were obviously lower than those in the control group (all P<0. 01). Compared with the model group, PWTs in each EA subgroup were all increased (all P<0.05), but the differences at different time points were not significant among EA subgroups (P>0.05). The mRNA expressions of MOR, KOR, POMC, and PDYN in L4-L6 DRG in the 2 Hz/100 Hz II group were significantly higher than those in model group (P<0. 05, P<0. 01), while the mRNA expressions of MOR, KOR, DOR, POMC and PDYN in SCDH were not different compared with the model group (P>0. 05).

CONCLUSIONEA treatment has obvious analgesic effect on bone-cancer pain, however, its effect is not related with current frequency and treating frequency. EA against bone-cancer pain may be related with increasing the mRNA expression of some peripheral opioid receptors and precursor.

Acupuncture Analgesia ; instrumentation ; methods ; Acupuncture Points ; Animals ; Bone Neoplasms ; complications ; Electroacupuncture ; instrumentation ; methods ; Enkephalins ; metabolism ; Female ; Ganglia, Spinal ; metabolism ; Humans ; Pain ; etiology ; genetics ; metabolism ; Pain Management ; instrumentation ; methods ; Protein Precursors ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Receptors, Opioid ; genetics ; metabolism

Objective To observe the functional changes of T lymphocytes in the spleen of rats with bone cancer pain.Methods forty-one healthy female Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study, and were divided into blank control, PBS and Walker-256 tumor groups.Bone cancer pain model was established by inoculation of Walker 256 cancer cells into the tibial cavity.The paw withdrawal threshold (PWT), paw withdrawal thermal latency (PWL), and spontaneous pain (SP) were all measured before modelling (as base) and at 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20 days after modelling. The function of T lymphocyte proliferation, and the content of T lymphocytes and their subgroups in the spleen were detected by cell counting kit-8 method and flow cytometry, respectively, on day 20 after modelling.Results Before modellng, there were no differences of PWT, PWL, and SP between the PBS and model groups.After modelling, the PWT and SP of model group were significantly decreased on day 4, and were always lower than that of PBS group during the experiment.Statistical analysis revealed that Walker-256 cancer cell inoculation in the tibia induced a significant decrease in PWL on day 8, 10 and 12 after modellng.Compared with the control group, T lymphocyte proliferation, content of T lymphocyte (CD3) and subgroups ( CD4 and CD8) in the PBS group were not significantly decreased.However, T lymphocyte proliferation and the content of CD3 lymphocytes in the model group were significantly lower than those in the blank control group and/or PBS group.Conclusions The bone cancer pain rat model may appear obvious mechanical allodynia and spontaneous pain.Its thermal pain hyperalgesiaonly occurred in the intermediate stage of bone cancer pain. The content of T lymphocytes and its subgroups, and the function of T lymphocyte proliferation are weakened to some extent in the bone cancer pain rat model.

Objective To investigate the relationship between image quality of PET/CT in automatic tube current modulation and effective dose(ED) of patients and to determine the optimal acquisition scheme.Methods Scanning was performed on anthropomorphic phantom RS-550 using GE Discovery ST-16 or Discovery Elite PET/CT.The same CT acquisition conditions was used:tube voltage 120 kV,pitch 1.375,rotation speed 0.8 s,noise index ranged from 8 to 30,interval 2,automatic tube current low limit 30 mA,high limit ranged from 200 to 350 mA,interval 50 mA.The images were analyzed,and the noise,signal to noise ratio (SNR) and figure of merit (FOM) of main organs in the abdomen were calculated.The relationship between image quality and ED was analyzed.Two-sample t test was used for data analysis.Results The noise of each organ decreased significantly along with the increase of ED until the ED of ST-16 increased to 15 mSv or Elite increased to 12 mSv,then the image noise decreased gently.SNR of each organ image increased along with the increase of ED.The FOM of liver decreased along with the increase of ED,while the FOM of other organs did not change significantly with ED.All image indicators of Elite PET/CT were better than ST-16 PET/CT at the same ED (5-20 mSv),though there was no significant difference (t:0.133-4.701,all P＞0.05).When ED was 5 mSy,the noise of liver with ST-16 was 12.0％ (28.9 vs 25.8)higher than that with Elite,and the SNR and FOM of liver with Elite was 13.9％ (4.1 vs 3.6) and 66.7％ (0.50 vs 0.30) higher than that with ST-16,respectively.Conclusion When the ED caused by the 2 PET/CT systems was between 5-20 mSy,the image quality is improved along with the ED increasing in a certain range.

This study aimed to explore the link between block copolymers' interfacial properties and nanoscale carrier formation and found out the influence of length ratio on these characters to optimize drug delivery system. A library of diblock copolymers of PEG-PCL and triblock copolymers with additional PEI (PEG-PCL-PEI) were synthesized. Subsequently, a systematic isothermal investigation was performed to explore molecular arrangements of copolymers at air/water interface. Then, structural properties and drug encapsulation in self-assembly were investigated with DLS, SLS and TEM. We found the additional hydrogen bond in the PEG-PCL-PEI contributes to film stability upon the hydrophobic interaction compared with PEG-PCL. PEG-PCL-PEI assemble into smaller micelle-like (such as PEG-PCL4006-PEI) or particle-like structure (such as PEG-PCL8636-PEI) determined by their hydrophilic and hydrophobic block ratio. The distinct structural architectures of copolymer are consistent between interface and self-assembly. Despite the disparity of constituent ratio, we discovered the arrangement of both chains guarantees balanced hydrophilic-hydrophobic ratio in self-assembly to form stable construction. Meanwhile, the structural differences were found to have significant influence on model drugs incorporation including docetaxel and siRNA. Taken together, these findings indicate the correlation between molecular arrangement and self-assembly and inspire us to tune block compositions to achieve desired nanostructure and drug loading.