How Does Cryotherapy Effect Ankle Proprioception in Healthy Individuals?

Objectives: To investigate how a 15 minute Cryotherapy intervention effects proprioception by measuring Joint positional Sense (JPS) and static single legged balance. Design: Repeated measures design. Setting: Laboratory. Participants: Eighteen healthy university sports team students (11 males, 7 females) aged between 20-21 years. Main Outcome Measures: Participants were treated with 15 minutes Aircast Cryo-cuff. The subject’s skin temperature was measured before and immediately after 15 minutes Cryotherapy treatment. Ankle active joint positional sense (A-JPS) and passive joint positional sense (P-JPS) was measured at pre-test, immediately post-test and 5 minutes post-test. Static balance was measured by Centre of Pressure (CoP) mean path length, medial-lateral (ML) CoP mean Deviation and anterior-posterior (AP) CoP mean Deviation and mean time-to-boundary (TtB) Minima for AP and ML directions. Results: No significant differences found for the variables of JPS and static single balance testing after 15 minutes Cryotherapy treatment. However, mean differences for CoP mean path length and ML mean deviation were shown to improve following Cryotherapy treatment, results not previously found in the literature. Conclusion: Results suggest that 15 minute Cryo-cuff treatment doesn’t significantly affect proprioception. Although the effect of Cryotherapy on proprioception depends on cooling modality used, time frame applied and joint applied to

Protection against LPS-induced cartilage inflammation and degradation provided by a biological extract of Mentha spicata

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A variety of mint [<it>Mentha spicata</it>] has been bred which over-expresses Rosmarinic acid (RA) by approximately 20-fold. RA has demonstrated significant anti-inflammatory activity <it>in vitro </it>and in small rodents; thus it was hypothesized that this plant would demonstrate significant anti-inflammatory activity <it>in vitro</it>. The objectives of this study were: a) to develop an <it>in vitro </it>extraction procedure which mimics digestion and hepatic metabolism, b) to compare anti-inflammatory properties of High-Rosmarinic-Acid <it>Mentha spicata </it>(HRAM) with wild-type control <it>M. spicata </it>(CM), and c) to quantify the relative contributions of RA and three of its hepatic metabolites [ferulic acid (FA), caffeic acid (CA), coumaric acid (CO)] to anti-inflammatory activity of HRAM.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>HRAM and CM were incubated in simulated gastric and intestinal fluid, liver microsomes (from male rat) and NADPH. Concentrations of RA, CA, CO, and FA in simulated digest of HRAM (HRAM_sim) and CM (CM_sim) were determined (HPLC) and compared with concentrations in aqueous extracts of HRAM and CM. Cartilage explants (porcine) were cultured with LPS (0 or 3 μg/mL) and test article [HRAM_sim(0, 8, 40, 80, 240, or 400 μg/mL), or CM_sim(0, 1, 5 or 10 mg/mL), or RA (0.640 μg/mL), or CA (0.384 μg/mL), or CO (0.057 μg/mL) or FA (0.038 μg/mL)] for 96 h. Media samples were analyzed for prostaglandin E₂(PGE₂), interleukin 1β (IL-1), glycosaminoglycan (GAG), nitric oxide (NO) and cell viability (differential live-dead cell staining).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>RA concentration of HRAM_simand CM_simwas 49.3 and 0.4 μg/mL, respectively. CA, FA and CO were identified in HRAM_simbut not in aqueous extract of HRAM. HRAM_sim(≥ 8 μg/mL) inhibited LPS-induced PGE₂and NO; HRAM_sim(≥ 80 μg/mL) inhibited LPS-induced GAG release. RA inhibited LPS-induced GAG release. No anti-inflammatory or chondroprotective effects of RA metabolites on cartilage explants were identified.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our biological extraction procedure produces a substance which is similar in composition to post-hepatic products. HRAM_simis an effective inhibitor of LPS-induced inflammation in cartilage explants, and effects are primarily independent of RA. Further research is needed to identify bioactive phytochemical(s) in HRAM_sim.</p

Identification of Hub Genes Related to the Recovery Phase of Irradiation Injury by Microarray and Integrated Gene Network Analysis

BACKGROUND: Irradiation commonly causes long-term bone marrow injury charactertized by defective HSC self-renewal and a decrease in HSC reserve. However, the effect of high-dose IR on global gene expression during bone marrow recovery remains unknown. METHODOLOGY: Microarray analysis was used to identify differentially expressed genes that are likely to be critical for bone marrow recovery. Multiple bioinformatics analyses were conducted to identify key hub genes, pathways and biological processes. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: 1) We identified 1302 differentially expressed genes in murine bone marrow at 3, 7, 11 and 21 days after irradiation. Eleven of these genes are known to be HSC self-renewal associated genes, including Adipoq, Ccl3, Ccnd1, Ccnd2, Cdkn1a, Cxcl12, Junb, Pten, Tal1, Thy1 and Tnf; 2) These 1302 differentially expressed genes function in multiple biological processes of immunity, including hematopoiesis and response to stimuli, and cellular processes including cell proliferation, differentiation, adhesion and signaling; 3) Dynamic Gene Network analysis identified a subgroup of 25 core genes that participate in immune response, regulation of transcription and nucleosome assembly; 4) A comparison of our data with known irradiation-related genes extracted from literature showed 42 genes that matched the results of our microarray analysis, thus demonstrated consistency between studies; 5) Protein-protein interaction network and pathway analyses indicated several essential protein-protein interactions and signaling pathways, including focal adhesion and several immune-related signaling pathways. CONCLUSIONS: Comparisons to other gene array datasets indicate that global gene expression profiles of irradiation damaged bone marrow show significant differences between injury and recovery phases. Our data suggest that immune response (including hematopoiesis) can be considered as a critical biological process in bone marrow recovery. Several critical hub genes that are key members of significant pathways or gene networks were identified by our comprehensive analysis