In vertebrate visual system, information is firstly processed in retina. With the development of the multi-electrode recording technique, concerted activity has been extensively observed in retinal ganglion cells of different species. However, the role of concerted activity in visual information processing is still unclear and under debating. This article reviews the recent studies focused on concerted activity among retinal ganglion cells, discussing the issues about its category, detection and physiological function.
Animals ; Cell Communication ; physiology ; Humans ; Photic Stimulation ; Retina ; physiology ; Retinal Ganglion Cells ; physiology ; Visual Pathways ; physiology ; Visual Perception ; physiology

Objective To investigate the immunoregulatory effects of bone marrow-derived mesenehy-real stem ceils (BMSCs) combined with leflunomide (LEF) on mice T-lymphocytes in vitro. Methods BMSCs from BALB/c mice were isolated and expanded. The purity of BMSCs was identified by flow cytometry (FCM). The BALB/c mice's spleen lymphocytes were isolated by using EZ-Sep<'TM> Mouse 1X. Under ConA stimulation, spleen lymphocytes were pretreated with LEF, then washed and co-cuhured with BMSCs. We set up four groups to investigate in this study: group A, spleen lymphocytes alone; group B, spleen lymphocytes with BM- SCs; group C, LEF-pretreated spleen lymphocytes alone and the group D, LEF-pretreated spleen lymphocytes with BMSCs. T-lymphocytes proliferation was assessed by MTT. FCM was used to analysis T-lymphocytes apoptosis and surface markers of CD69 and CD28. The mRNA expression of interleukin (IL)-2, IL-10 were detected by real-time RT-PCR. Results In vitro, the T-lymphocytes'values of A570 nm were significantly lower in group B and group C, compared with group A (group B vs group C vs group A, 0.578±0.042 vs 0.502± 0.040 vs 0.778±0.035, P<0.01), while the value of A<,570 nm>in group D was 0.218±0.033, which was also obviously lower than that in group B and group C (P<0.01). There were no suppressing effects on T-lympho-cytes'activation and expression of IL-2 had been observed. The proportion of apoptotic T-lymphocytes in group B and group D were (2.29±0.32)％ and (4.22±0.98)％, which was significandy lower than that in group A (8.08±1.20) (P<0.01). The expression of IL-10 in group B and C were also lower than that in group A (group B vs group C vs group A, 0.098±0.039 vs 0.054±0.022 vs 1.000, P<0.01 ). Either, the expression of IL-10 in group D was 0.023±0.015, which was obviously lower than that in group B and group C (P<0.01). Conclusion BMSCs combined with LEF show synergistic immunoregulatary effects on mice's T-lymphoeytes.

Objective To determine the prevalence of microembolic signals (MES) by using transcranial Doppler (TCD) and to assess their association with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) and clinical presentations in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).Methods Forty-four patients with SLE underwent TCD for 30 min were included for MES detection and their clinical information were recorded.In addition to the frequency of patients with MES,patients with MES were followed-up for sixmonth.Mann-Whitney U test and Fisher exact test were applied to investigate the clinical characteristics.Results There were 4 patients with history of NPSLE and the occurrence times were from 8 to 120 month before our study.There were 4 patients had the abnormal neuropsychiatric symptom during our study period.MES were detected in 5/44 patients (11％) with mean 17.6 per 30 min.MES were more prone to be detected in patients with higher systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLEDAI) score [16(12.5,19) vs 8(5,10),U=14.5,P=0.001],shorter course of disease [1(0.1,48.5) vs 26(13,55),U=38,P=0.028] and neuropsychiatric symptoms [3 vs 1,P=0.003].Conclusion MES may be detected in SLE patients.MES is associated with higher disease activity,shorter course of disease and NPSLE.TCD microemboli detection may be a noninvasive method to evaluate NPSLE patients.

This study investigated the abnormal expression of ATP synthase β-subunit (ATPsyn-β) in pancreas islets of rat model of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM),and the secretion function changes after up-regulation of ATP5b.Sixty female SD rats were divided into three groups randomly and equally.The rat model of PCOS with T2DM was established by free access to the high-carbohydrate/high-fat diet,subcutaneous injections of DHEA,and a single injection of streptozotocin.The pancreas was removed for the detection of the ATPsyn-β expression by immunohistochemical staining,Western blotting and reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR).The pancreas islets of the rats were cultured,isolated with collagenase Ⅴ and purified by gradient centrifugation,and the insulin secretion after treatment with different glucose concentrations was tested.Lentivirus ATP5b was successfully constructed with the vector of GV208 and transfected into the pancreas islets for the over-expression of ATPsyn-β.The insulin secretion and intracellular ATP content were determined after transfection of the PCOS-T2DM pancreas islets with Lenti-ATP5b.The results showed that the expression of ATPsyn-β protein and mRNA was significantly decreased in the pancreas of PCOS-T2DM rats.The ATP content in the pancreas islets was greatly increased and the insulin secretion was improved after the up-regulation of ATPsyn-β in the pancreas islets transfected with lenti-ATP5b.These results indicated that for PCOS,the ATPsyn-β might be one of the key factors for the attack of T2DM.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a major endocrine disorder afflicting women of reproductive age.Women with PCOS are more likely to suffer from mental health disturbances than healthy women.The "infertility" suffered by PCOS patients would also lead to mental health disturbances.Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) and questionnaire which includes patients' socio-economic and demographic data were used to assess the mental health status of PCOS (n=103) and non-PCOS (n=ll0) infertile patients.Logistic regression analysis and t-tests were used for comparative analysis.The data demonstrated that scores of depression,interpersonal sensitivity,obsessive-compulsive,and hostility symptoms in PCOS infertile patients were significantly higher than those in the non-PCOS infertile patients (P＜0.05).Logistic regression analysis revealed that acne had negative effect on mental health status (P＜0.05).Secondary infertile PCOS patients were more easily to suffer from somatization,interpersonal sensitivity,obsessive-compulsive,anxiety,hostility and paranoid ideation symptoms than the primary infertile PCOS patients (P＜0.05).The results suggested that the PCOS patients especially the secondary infertile PCOS patients had obvious mental health disturbances.The ache might play an importance role in the occurrence of mental health disturbances in PCOS patients.PCOS related symptoms may be risk factors of mental health status in PCOS patients with infertility.More attention should be paid to the PCOS infertile patients,and mental health therapy should be considered if necessary.

Objective Adopting serology assay-fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen (FAMA) as "gold standard" , sero-prevalence status of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection was investigated, in Guangzhou. Methods FAMA test was established with VZV infected human embryo fibroblasts as antigens and fluorescein isothiocyanate(FITC) labeled goat anti-human IgG as the secondary antibody. Sensitivity and specificity of the assay were evaluated. The sero-prevalence of anti-VZV IgG in 592 serum specimens randomly collected from a clinical laboratory, was analyzed with FAMA. Results Data from FAMA test showed no cross-reaction with other Herpesviruses when it was used to detect VZV antibodies. The overall prevalence of VZV antibody was 76.52%. Age-specific prevalence rates of VZV antibody in different age groups as: 1-3, 4-6, 7-13, 14-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, ≥50, were found to be 14.67%, 51.56%, 73.91%, 91.26%, 92.78%, 95.65%, 98.11% and 100%, respectively.The sero-prevalence of 1-3 age group appeared the lowest but rose sharply with the increase of age but showing no association with gender. Conclusion Our data indicated that VZV infection occurred in early childhood, in Guangzhou, suggesting that the primary recipients of VZV vaccine should be under the 1-3 age group. Additional subjects for vaccination would be children above 3 years old with no history of VZV infection, and serology test negative for VZV. The assay was validated by its excellent specificity and could be used as the first choice in the detection of protective antibodies against VZV infection.

OBJECTIVETo discuss the replantation of fingertip amputation in lack of availability of intravenous anastomosis.

METHODSFrom November 2009 to November 2010, 86 patients (104 fingers) with fingertip amputation were treated with replantatioin, including 64 males and 22 females, with an average age of 26 years ranging from 2 to 64 years. The time from injury to therapy was from 30 min to 12 h, time of broken finger ischemia was from 2.5 to 12 h. Preoperative examination showed no obvious abnormalities. Four different replantation methods were selectively applied to these 104 amputated fingertips of 86 cases: (1) replantation with anastomosis of single or bilateral proper digital artery in 37 fingers; (2) replantation with arteriovenous bypass in 27 fingers; (3) replantation with exclusive anastomosis of digital artery in 24 fingers; (4) replantation with removing the palmar pocket method in 16 fingers.

RESULTSOne hundred and two of 104 amputated fingertips were survived. Among these survived fingers,75 cases (92 fingers) were followed-up for 6 to 24 months. According to the assessment standard of Chinese Medical Association of Hand Surgery, the results were excellent in 52 cases, good in 19, poor in 4.

CONCLUSIONIt benefits to expand the indications and improve the survival rate of replantation of fingertip amputation with the correct choice of different replantation methods according to the injury situation of the broken fingertip artery after debridement under the microscope.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Amputation ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Debridement ; Female ; Fingers ; physiology ; surgery ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Recovery of Function ; Replantation ; methods ; Young Adult

AIM:To observe the effect of simvastatin on myocardial tissue after renal ischemia-reperfusion in-jury and its mechanism .METHODS:A rat model of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury was prepared by clamping the bilat-eral renal arteries for 45 min.The rats (n=36) were randomly divided into sham operation group , renal ischemia-reperfu-sion (I/R) group and simvastatin group with 12 rats in each group.The content of serum creatinine (SCr), blood urea ni-trogen ( BUN) and myocardial tissue malondialdehyde ( MDA) , the myocardial activity of lactate dehydrogenase ( LDH) , creatine kinase (CK) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), and the myocardial protein expression of Bcl-2 and Bax were de-tected.RESULTS:Compared with sham operation group , the content of SCr , BUN and myocardial MDA , and the myo-cardial activity of LDH and CK in I/R group were significantly increased (P<0.05), and the activity of SOD was signifi-cantly decreased (P<0.05).Compared with I/R group, the content of SCr, BUN and myocardial MDA, and the myocar-dial activity of LDH and CK in simvastatin group were significantly decreased ( P<0.05 ) , while SOD activity was en-hanced (P<0.05).The protein expression of Bcl-2 and Bax in sham operation group was less than that in I/R group (P<0.05), and the protein level of Bax in simvastatin group was significantly lower than that in I /R group (P<0.05), while the protein level of Bcl-2 was increased (P<0.05).CONCLUSION:Simvastatin has a protective effect on the my-ocardium of the rats with renal ischemia-reperfusion injury , and the protective mechanism may be related to the elimination of free radicals by simvastatin , increase in the protein expression of Bcl-2 and decrease in the protein expression of Bax .

Endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA) has protective effect on the heart against ischemia/reperfusion injury and arrhythmia, but the electrophysiological mechanism is unclear yet. In this study, the sinoatrial node (SAN) samples from New Zealand rabbits were prepared, and intracellular recording technique was used to elucidate the effect of AEA on the action potential (AP) of SAN pacemaker cells of rabbits and the mechanism. Different concentrations of AEA (1, 10, 100, 200, 500 nmol/L) were applied cumulatively. For some SAN samples, cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor antagonist AM251, cannabinoid type 2 (CB2) receptor antagonist AM630, potassium channel blocker tetraethylammonium (TEA) and nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor L-nitro-arginine methylester (L-NAME) were used before AEA treatment, respectively. We found that: (1) AEA (100, 200 and 500 nmol/L) not only shortened AP duration (APD), but also decreased AP amplitude (APA) (P < 0.05). (2) AM251, but not AM630, abolished the effect of AEA on APD shortening. (3) TEA and L-NAME had no influence on the AEA effect. These findings suggest that anandamide can decrease APA and shorten APD in SAN pacemaker cells of rabbits, which may be mediated by activation of CB1 receptors, and is related to blockade of calcium channels but not potassium channels and NO.
Action Potentials ; Animals ; Arachidonic Acids ; pharmacology ; Cannabinoid Receptor Antagonists ; pharmacology ; Endocannabinoids ; pharmacology ; Indoles ; pharmacology ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; drug effects ; NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester ; pharmacology ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Piperidines ; pharmacology ; Polyunsaturated Alkamides ; pharmacology ; Potassium Channel Blockers ; pharmacology ; Pyrazoles ; pharmacology ; Rabbits ; Sinoatrial Node ; cytology