Objective Toinvestigate MRIIVIM quantitativeassessmentoftheplacentalperfusioncanbeusedtodifferentiate womenwithandwithoutplacentaaccretaintheirthirdtrimester.Methods Thestudypopulationincluded17patientswithplacenta accreta,29patientswithplacentaincretaand16patientswithoutplacentaaccreta.Allwomenunderwentan MRIexaminationincluding anIVIMsequence.Theperfusionfraction(f),pseudodiffusioncoefficient(D?)andstandarddiffusioncoefficient(D)werecalculated. Results Womenwithplacentaaccretaandincretahadasmallerplacentalperfusionfraction (P＜0.05)thanpatientswithoutplacenta accreta,theplacentalperfusionfractiondidn’tdifferedbetweenplacentaaccretaandincreta(P＞0.05).DifferencesofDandD?between thethreegroupswerenotsignificant(P＞0.05).Conclusion Placentaaccretaandincretadifferinplacentalperfusionfractionfrom womenwithoutthedisease.Theperfusionfractioncanbeusedasafeasibleindextoevaluateplacentaperfusion.

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy disorder that is characterised by severe hypertension and increased risks of foetal and maternal mortality. The aetiology of PE not completely understood; however, maternal nutrition and oxidative stress play important roles in the development of hypertension. The treatment options for PE are currently limited to anti-hypertensive drugs. Punicalagin, a polyphenol present in pomegranate juice, has a range of bioactive properties. The effects of supplementation with punicalagin on angiogenesis and oxidative stress in pregnant rats with induced hypertension were investigated. The pregnant rats were randomly divided into five experimental groups (n=12 per group). Hypertension was induced using an oral dose of NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 50 mg/kg/day) on days 14–19 of pregnancy. Punicalagin (25, 50 or 100 mg/kg) was given orally on days 14–21 of pregnancy. Punicalagin treatment at the tested doses significantly reduced diastolic, systolic, and mean arterial blood pressure in L-NAME treated rats from day 14. Punicalagin also restored angiogenic balance by increasing the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and downregulating vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1/fms-like tyrosine kinase-1. Punicalagin, significantly increased the placental nitric oxide levels as compared to PE group. The increased levels of oxidative stress in rats with PE were markedly decreased by treatment with punicalagin. Punicalagin at the tested doses markedly (p < 0.05) enhanced the placental antioxidant capacity in L-NAME-treated rats. The raised catalase activity observed following L-NAME induction was significantly (p < 0.05) and restored to normal activity levels in punicalagin treatment. Further, 100 mg dose of punicalagin exhibited higher protective effects as compared to lower doses of 25 and 50 mg. This study shows that supplementation with punicalagin decreased blood pressure and oxidative stress and restored angiogenic balance in pregnant rats with induced PE.
Animals ; Antihypertensive Agents ; Arterial Pressure ; Blood Pressure ; Catalase ; Female ; Hypertension ; Hypertension, Pregnancy-Induced* ; Maternal Mortality ; Models, Animal* ; NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester ; Nitric Oxide ; Oxidative Stress* ; Pre-Eclampsia ; Pregnancy ; Punicaceae ; Rats* ; Tyrosine ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of acupuncture and medication on PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in rats with premature ovarian failure.

METHODSTen of fifty SPF-grade female SD rats were randomly selected into a normal group, and the remaining 40 rats were treated with intraperitoneal injection of cyclophospha mide (30 mg/kg) for consecutive 5 days to establish rat model of premature ovarian failure. Thirty five successful rat models were randomly divided into a model group (9 cases), a medication group (9 cases), an acupuncture group A (9 cases) and an acupuncture group B (8 cases). The rats in the model group and normal group did not receive any treatment. The rats in the medication group were treated with intragastric administration of diethylstil bestrol, once a day. The rats in the acupuncture group A and acupuncture group B were respectively treated with acupuncture at different acupoints, twice a day. All the treatment was given for 4 weeks. After the treatment, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to test the levels of estradiol (E2), progesterone (P), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteotropic hormone (LH). The ovarian tissue sample was processed with hematoxylin eosin (HE) staining as well as RNA and protein extraction to test the mRNA expression of estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha), estrogen receptor beta (ERP), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/serine/threonine kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (Akt) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR).

RESULTSHigh-dose short-term in- tervention of cyclophosphamide could establish rat model of premature ovarian failure with a successful rate of 87.5%. Compared with the normal group, the vaginal smear in the model group was featured with signs of estro gen deficiency, early-follicle reduction, structural damage to the follicle, and reducing number of mature follicles; the level of E2 was significantly reduced (P<0.05), levels of P, FSH and ILH were increased (all P<0.05), and mRNA expression of estrogen-related ERP3, PI3K, Akt and mTOR were all reduced (all P<0.05). Compared with the model group, the number of mature follicle was increased in the medication group and acupuncture groups, the levels of E2 was obviously increased (all P<0.05). level of FSH was reduced (all P<0.05), and mRNA expression of PI3K, Akt and mTOR all showed an increasing trend (all P<0.05). The differences of each index result between acupuncture groups and medication group were not significant (all P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONAcupuncture has certain advantage for the treatment of premature ovarian failure, which achieves similar therapeu tic effect as estrogen; the possible mechanism may be related to up-regulation of gene and protein expression in PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Animals ; Estradiol ; blood ; Female ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone ; blood ; Humans ; Oncogene Protein v-akt ; genetics ; metabolism ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Primary Ovarian Insufficiency ; blood ; enzymology ; genetics ; therapy ; Progesterone ; blood ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Signal Transduction ; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases ; genetics ; metabolism

Objective To observe the therapeutic effect of abdominal acupuncture combined with Chinese medicine for the treatment of functional constipation. Methods Ninety-three qi-deficiency functional constipation patients were evenly randomized into western medicine group, Chinese medicine group and combination group. The western medicine group was given oral use of Dupbalac, Chinese medicine group was given modified Buzhong Yiqi decoction, and the combination group was given abdominal acupuncture and oral use of modified Buzhong Yiqi decoction. The treatment of the three groups covered 3 months. After treatment, the therapeutic effect was evaluated accord ing to the symptom scores and the examination results of gastrointestinal kinetics. Results ( 1) The total effective rate for relieving symptoms was 100.00% in combination group, 90.32% in Chinese medicine group, and 38.71% in western medicine group, and the effect was the best in the combination group ( P<0.05). ( 2) The combination group had stronger effect on relieving dyskinesis of anal sphincter, rectal sensibility, colonic transportation than Chinese medicine group and western medicine group (P<0.05). Conclusion Abdominal acupuncture combined with Chinese medicine shows certain therapeutic effect for the treatment of qi-deficiency functional constipation, and the effect is superior to that of Chinese medicine or Dupbalac.