The thalamic reticular nucleus (RT) is a sheet-like nucleus which surrounds the anterolateral aspect of the dorsal thalamus. In this study, we present data on the connections of the dorsocaudal portion of the RT in hamsters using anterograde, retrograde and transneuroual fiber tracing techniques. After injection of one eye with a mixture of ~3H-proline and ~3H-fucose (2 animals; 10 and 15 days survival time), transneuronal label was located in the dorsocaudal portion of the RT (dc RT) on both sides of the thalamus.After separate injection of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) into the thalamic lateral posterior nucleus (LP), dorsal and ventral nuclei of the lateral geniculate body (LGd, LGv) (8 animals, one day survival time), HRP labelled neurons wereobserved in the dorsal, middle and ventral area of the ipsilateral dc RT respectively.A small iontophoretic injection of a mixture of ~3H-proline and ~3H-leucine was made into different sites of area 17 in each of 3 hamsters (one day survival time),in each case an elongated patch of label was located in nearly the entire rostrocaudal extent of the ipsilateral dc RT. A caudal Injection in area 17 resulted in labelling the dorsal area while a progressively more rostral injection resulted in labelling a more ventral area of the dc RT.Thus, the dorsocaudal portion of the RT can be defined as the visual portion of the nucleus because it has connections with many of the known visual centres, namely, the visual cortex, LP, LGd, LGv Furthermore, because of the topographic connection with area 17 and the visual thalamic nuclei, the notion that the dc RT as a nucleus which is capable of processing specific and localised visual information. should be considered.

The stress gastric ulcer is due to a stress-induced gastric erosions, superficial ulcers and bleeding gastric mucosal le-sions characterized by stress. Its etiology is closely associated with lives, the incidence is increasing. In recent years, the the basic re-search of drugs focuses on inhibition of oxidative damage caused by stress, anti-inflammatory cytokine expression, and regulation of gastric acid, etc., and made a lot of success. Treatment choice of stress ulcer drug gradually increased. The effects of plant extracts on stress ul-cer get more and more attention. This article reviews research progress of the treatment drugs of stress ulcer in the current stage.

Objective To investigate age-related changes of type Ⅰ and Ⅲ collagen in rat heart. Methods Twenty-one male Wistar rats were divided randomly into infanct,young and old group.Types Ⅰ and Ⅲ collagen expresson of different age hearts were studied by SP immunohistochemical methods. Results 1.Type Ⅰ and Ⅲ collagen all constitute thick fiber and fibril.The fibrils encircled every cardiac muscle and formed collagen net each other.The thick fibers being plaque were located among cardiac muscle groups.The content of type Ⅰ collagen was more than that of type Ⅲ.2.There were distinct expression difference of type Ⅰ and Ⅲ collagen in different aging rat hearts.The collagens distributed densely and evenly in infancy rat heart,and loosely and uniformly in young rat heart,and the contents were increased distinctly with heterogeneous distribution in old rat heart.The cardiac collagen was growing from infanct to old rat,and rapid progress of cardiac collagen was seen in young rat. 3.The content of collagen in right ventricle was more than that of left ventricle of infanct heart.The collagen in all parts of the heart is not of difference both in yound and old rat. Conclusion The contents of type Ⅰ collagen is more than that of type Ⅲ collagen.The two types collagen are increasing with growing.;

Objective To explore mechanism ( s) is dynamic expression and internal relations of c-kit gene and miR-21 in rat ventricular remodeling .Methods SD rats( n=140) were randomly divided into normal control group ( n=15 ) and heart failure model group ( n=125 ) .Heart failure model:4 mg/kg intraperitoneal injection of adria-mycin.To detect the cardiac function of rats in eight weeks , proving the heart failure .Then harvest the rat heart , frozen section , using immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence color to detect the expression changes of miR-21 and c-kit in myocardial tissue .Results The emergence of the pathological changes of cardiac muscle cells after myocardial infarction in the heart failure groups and the control group didn't appear the myocardial infarction and heart failure .Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence show that miR-21 positive cells in normal and heart failure myocardium mainly express in vascular endothelium ,a few myocardial cells and stem cells , and endocardial expressing quantity fell more than epicardial;c-kit positive cells tend to cluster together , mainly gather in the epi-cardial and its nearby , and the expressing quantity decrease significantly after heart failure .A small number of cells exsit miR-21 and c-kit common expression in both groups ( P<0.05 ) .Conclusions The decreased expression of c-kit and miR-21 is highly related to rats heart failure and left ventricular remodeling .

Distribution and morphologic features of AChE-containing neurons were observed by the technique of AChE regeneration. There are three kinds: AChE-staining cells--heavily stained cells, medium stained cells and lightly stained cells. Most heavily stained cells are larger multipolar cells. They are located mainly in striatum, basal forebrain, hypothalamus, substantia nigra, locus coeruleus, red nucleus, ventral tegmental nucleus, parabrachial nucleus, pontine tegmental nucleus and the motor nuclei of cranial nerves. The results of AChE-staining were compared with the date of ChAT immunohistochemistry. The relationship between AChE and cholinergic neurons as well as the nature of AChE-containing neurons were discussed.

Objective To investigate the effect of ischemia and ischemia/reperfusion(I/R)in rat heart on matrix metalloproteinase-1(MMP-1).Methods The I/R animal models were established by shutting down and reopening the anterior interventricular branch with a silver clamp,then the distribution and amount of MMP-1 of the normal and I/R rat hearts were observed by immunohistochemical staining and Western blotting and analyzed by computer image analysis.Results 1.Immunohistochemical staining showed MMP-1 existed mainly in the cardiac matrix.There were strong positive reactions in fibrocytes,smooth muscle cells of the blood vessel and endotheliaI cells of capillaries.MMP-1 didn't show distinct changes 30 minutes after ischemia,while its concentration increased dramatically 60 minutes after ischemia.The positive reaction of MMP-1 increased 30 minutes after I/R,and 60 minutes after I/R there was large fusion areas in MMP-1 existing reglons.2.Quantitative analysis showed no dramatic changes of MMP-1 after ischemia for 30 minutes(P＞0.05),while dramatic changes were seen 60 minutes after ischemia(P＜0.05).MMP-1 changed dramatically 30 minutes and 60 minutes after I/R.3.Western blotting showed that there were no distinct naked-eye-observable changes.The bands of MMP-1 became widened 30 minutes after I/R,and became obviously widened 60 minutes after I/R.Conclusion 1.MMP-1 is secreted by fibrocytes,smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells of cardiac tissue under physiological conditions,and cardiomyocytes has the potential to secrete MMP-1 under ischemia or I/R.2.The longer time the heart ischemia lasts,the greater MMP-1 concentration will increase.Reperfusion can increase MMP-1 concentration to an even higher level,which may be the main cause of the collagen destruction after heart I/R.

Objective To investigate the effects of inhibition of MDC1 protein expression on xenografted tumors in nude mice,and to observe the histopathological and cellular changes in nude mice.Methods Three pairs of effective and control short hairpin RNA targeting MDC1 mRNA were designed and cloned into the pSIH1-H1-copGFP vector.Real-time PCR and Western blot were used to determine the mRNA and protein expression of MDC1.After selection by copGFP reporter gene,cells were divided into negative transfection group (ECA109-N) and MDC1 transfection group (ECA109-M).The transfected cells were injected into nude mice.The mice were divided into ECA109 group,ECA109-N group,and ECA109-M group.Each group was divided into irradiation subgroup and non-irradiation subgroup.The changes in tumor size after irradiation were evaluated in each group.Western blot was used to measure the expression of CHK1,CHK2,and CHK2T68 in xenografted tumors.Flow cytometry was used to analyze the cell cycle distribution and apoptosis of tumor cells in nude mice.The variance analysis was used to compare the mean of multiple groups,and the SNK-q test was used in the two two groups.Results The pMDC1-shRNA plasmid was successfully constructed and used to transfect ECA109 cells.ECA109-M cells were obtained by stable transfection with the recombinant plasmid.All inoculated nude mice survived with visible xenografted tumors at the underside of the paw in about one week.There was no swelling and wound in inoculation sites.There was no significant difference in tumor size between different groups (P＞0.05).The tumor growth in the ECA109 group and the ECA109-N group significantly slowed down after irradiation with a dose of 15 Gy (P＜0.05).Compared with the other two groups,the ECA109-M group had a significant smaller tumor size,significantly slower relative tumor growth,and significantly higher growth inhibition (all P＜0.05).The q value of the ECA109-M group was 1.36.In the ECA109-M group,there were no significant changes in the protein expression of CHK1 and CHK2 after irradiation (P＞ 0.05);however,the phosphorylation of CHK2T68 protein was significantly reduced after irradiation (P＜0.05).There were no significant differences in cell cycle distribution or the proportion of apoptotic cells in tumor tissue between the three groups (P＞0.05).Conclusions Inhibition of MDC1 protein expression by RNA interference can effectively inhibit the growth of xenografted tumors after irradiation in the nude mice by increasing their radiosensitivity.

BACKGROUND:Both osteopontin and leptin are closely linked to bone metabolism, therefore, which may be related to the attack of femoral head necrosis. OBJECTIVE:To study the correlation of serum osteopontin and leptin in the development of femoral head necrosis. METHODS:Thirty-one patients with femoral head necrosis (case group, including 11 cases of ARCO II, 10 of ARCO III, 10 of ARCO IV) and 10 healthy adults (control group) were selected as the research objects. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine the levels of osteopontin and leptin in serum folowed by statistical analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:In the case group, the serum levels of osteopontin and leptin were significantly higher than those in the control group (P < 0.05). But the serum levels of osteopontin and leptin showed no correlation between the two groups. These findings indicate that the serum levels of osteopontin and leptin are both elevated in patients with femoral head necrosis, which maybe play a role in the pathogenesis of femoral head necrosis, but there is no obvious correlation.

Objective To apply RNA interference technique for reducing the expression of MDC1 gene in esophageal carcinoma cell line ECA109, observe the changes in cell cycle and radiosensitivity after radiation, and discuss related mechanisms. Methods Three pairs of effective interference sequences and negative control sequences were synthesized for MDC1 mRNA sequence, and a recombinant plasmid was constructed with the vector pSIH1?H1?copGFP. RT?PCR and Western blot were used to determine the expression levels of MDC1 mRNA and protein. Colony?forming assay was applied to measure radiosensitivity, flow cytometry to determine cell cycle, Western blot to determine the expression of CHK1 and CHK2 proteins, and laser scanning confocal microscope to observe the number of MDC1 blotches inside the nucleus. One?way analysis of variance was used to analyze the differences between groups. Results The pSIH1?H1?copGFP plasmid was constructed successfully and ECA109 cells were infected to obtain ECA109M cells with stable transfection. The expression levels of MDC1 mRNA and protein in ECA109M cells were lower than those in ECA109N and ECA109 cells ( P= 0. 032 and 0. 041, respectively ) . After 5?Gy radiation, ECA109M cells had a lower proportion of G2+M cells than ECA109N and ECA109 cells ( P=0. 026) . After 5?Gy radiation, ECA109, ECA109N, and ECA109M cells had similar expression levels of CHK1 and CHK2 proteins ( P= 0. 345 and 0. 451, respectively ) , and ECA109M cells had a lower expression level of CHK2 T68 protein than ECA109 and ECA109N cells ( P=0. 012) . ECA109 cells had a D0 value of 3. 06 Gy and an SF2 value of 0. 91;the D0 values for ECA109N and ECA109M cells were 2. 90 Gy and 1. 88 Gy, respectively, and the SF2 values for them were 0. 89 and 0. 84, respectively ( P=0. 021 and 0. 037, respectively ) . Conclusions RNA interference can reduce the expression levels of MDC1 protein and cell cycle?related proteins, release cell cycle arrest, and enhance radiosensitivity in esophageal carcinoma ECA109 cells.

Objective To investigate the value of prophylactic irradiation to the lymphatic drainage area in radical three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) and to evaluate the efficacy and adverse effects of 3DCRT with different clinical target volumes.Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the records of 219 esophageal cancer patients without distant metastasis who received 3DCRT from January 2005 to December 2010.One hundred and five patients received involved-field irradiation (IFI) with a total dose of 54-66 Gy;114 patients received elective nodal irradiation (ENI) with a total dose of 46-52 Gy; the prescribed dose to the primary lesion was 56-70 Gy.The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate local control (LC) and overall survival (OS) rates,and the log-rank test was used for univariate prognostic analysis.Results The 1-,3-,and 5-year sample sizes were 219,172 and 67,respectively.The 1-,3-,and 5-year LC rates for IFI group were 63.0％,39.1％,and 27.2％,respectively,versus 70.5％,53.3％,and 51.7％ for ENI group (x2 =6.22,P =0.013) ;the 1-,3-,and 5-year OS rates for IFI group were 67.6％,24.9％,and 15.0％,respectively,versus 73.7％,45.1％,and 26.0％ for ENI group (x2=5.04,P =0.025).The univariate stratified analysis showed that the LC and OS rates were significantly higher in the ENI group than in the IFI group for patients with middle-or lower-thoracic primary lesion or N0 disease (P=0.007,0.015;P=0.054,0.013).Conclusions For esophageal cancer patients with middle-or lower-thoracic primary lesion or without lymph node metastasis,prophylactic irradiation to the lymphatic drainage area can increase LC and OS rates.