Does electroacupuncture have different effects on peripheral and central sensitization in humans : a randomized controlled study

Background: Acupuncture is used to reduce chronic musculoskeletal pain. The common mechanism underlying these types of pain are peripheral and/or central sensitization. In the clinical setting, it is difficult to separate the peripheral from the central component of pain. Heat/capsaicin 45°C/0.075%-induced hyperalgesia provides a stable, human central sensitization model in which the peripheral component is also assessed. Aim: This randomized, sham-controlled study aimed to investigate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on the severity of heat (peripheral sensitization) and mechanical hyperalgesia (central sensitization) in a heat/capsaicin pain model in humans. Methods: Twenty-six healthy young participants (24 ± 3.9 years) were recruited. After baseline assessment, heat/capsaicin 45°C/0.075% was applied to the non-dominant forearm to induce hyperalgesia. The primary outcome measures were the size of the area of mechanical hyperalgesia, intensity of pain to heat stimulation and heat pain thresholds. The intensity of pain was recorded using modified 10-cm visual analogues scales (VAS). Participants were assessed at 70 min after the initial application of capsaicin then randomly allocated to receive either real electroacupuncture (REA, n = 14) or sham non-invasive EA (SEA, n = 12) for 30 min. The main outcome measures were assessed again immediately and then 90 min following EA. Credibility of blinding was assessed. Data were analyzed with t-tests or analysis of variance (ANOVA) where appropriate. Results: After the model was established, the area of mechanical hyperalgesia was formed (55.64 cm2), as was heat hyperalgesia, as the rating to heat stimulation, increased from 2/10 to 6/10. The REA and SEA groups were comparable. Immediately after the allocated acupuncture treatment, the rating to heat stimulation was statistically significantly lower in the REA group (2.94 ± 1.64) than in the SEA group (4.62 ± 2.26) (p < 0.05). The area of mechanical hyperalgesia reduced significantly without any group difference. No group difference was detected in heat pain threshold. Blinding of the participants was successful. Conclusion: Peripheral and central sensitization in the heat/capsaicin 45°C/0.075% model responded to EA differently, suggesting that acupuncture analgesia could vary, depending on the types of pain. This observation may explain some inconsistent findings from clinical trials of acupuncture

Polymer-protein conjugate particles with biocatalytic activity for stabilization of water-in-water emulsions

Water-in-water (w/w) emulsions are attractive micro-compartmentalized platforms due to their outstanding biocom-patibility. To address the main disadvantage of poor stability that hampers their practical application, here we report a novel type of polymer-protein conjugate emulsifier obtained by Schiff base synthesis to stabilize w/w emulsions. In par-ticular, the proposed mild approach benefits the modification of proteins of suitable size and wettability as particulate emulsifiers retaining their bioactivity. As demonstrated in a model system, the methoxy polyethylene glycol (mPEG)-urease conjugate particles anchor at the w/w interfaces, where they serve as an effective emulsifier-combined-catalyst and catalyze the hydrolysis of urea in water to ammonium carbonate. Our study is unique in that it employs bioactive particles to stabilize w/w emulsions. Considering the characteristics of all-aqueous, compartmental and interfacial bio-catalysis of the system, it will open up new possibilities in the life sciences

Silencing the epidermal growth factor receptor gene with RNAi may be developed as a potential therapy for non small cell lung cancer

Lung cancer has emerged as a leading cause of cancer death in the world. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 75–80% of all lung cancers. Current therapies are ineffective, thus new approaches are needed to improve the therapeutic ratio. Double stranded RNA (dsRNA) -mediated RNA interference (RNAi) has shown promise in gene silencing, the potential of which in developing new methods for the therapy of NSCLC needs to be tested. We report here RNAi induced effective silencing of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene, which is over expressed in NSCLC. NSCLC cell lines A549 and SPC-A1 were transfected with sequence- specific dsRNA as well as various controls. Immune fluorescent labeling and flow cytometry were used to monitor the reduction in the production of EGFR protein. Quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR was used to detect the level of EGFR mRNA. Cell count, colony assay, scratch assay, MTT assay in vitro and tumor growth assay in athymic nude mice in vivo were used to assess the functional effects of EGFR silencing on tumor cell growth and proliferation. Our data showed transfection of NSCLC cells with dsRNA resulted in sequence specific silencing of EGFR with 71.31% and 71.78 % decreases in EGFR protein production and 37.04% and 54.92% in mRNA transcription in A549 and SPC-A1 cells respectively. The decrease in EGFR protein production caused significant growth inhibition, i.e.: reducing the total cell numbers by 85.0% and 78.3 %, and colony forming numbers by 63.3% and 66.8%. These effects greatly retarded the migration of NSCLC cells by more than 80% both at 24 h and at 48 h, and enhanced chemo-sensitivity to cisplatin by four-fold in A549 cells and seven-fold in SPC-A1. Furthermore, dsRNA specific for EGFR inhibited tumor growth in vivo both in size by 75.06 % and in weight by 73.08 %. Our data demonstrate a new therapeutic effect of sequence specific suppression of EGFR gene expression by RNAi, enabling inhibition of tumor proliferation and growth. However, in vivo use of dsRNA for gene transfer to tumor cells would be limited because dsRNA would be quickly degraded once delivered in vivo. We thus tested a new bovine lentiviral vector and showed lentivector-mediated RNAi effects were efficient and specific. Combining RNAi with this gene delivery system may enable us to develop RNAi for silencing EGFR into an effective therapy for NSCLC