Local ras and ros in the hypertrophic differentiation of chondrocytes

Newsletter of the Boston University School of Medicine, Student American Medical Association (SAMA

Tumour enhancement with newly developed Mn-metalloporphyrin (HOP-9P) in magnetic resonance imaging of mice

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the tumour enhancing characteristics and biodistribution of a newly developed metalloporphyrin derivative, HOP-9P (13, 17-bis (1-carboxypropionyl) carbamoylethyl-3, 8-bis (1-phenylpropyloxyethyl)-2,7,12,18-tetra- methyl-porphynato manganese (III)). Seven mice bearing SCC VII tumours were imaged using T1-weighted conventional spin echo magnetic resonance images before and 5 min, 2 h and 24 h after intravenous injection of 0.1 mmol/kg of HOP-9P. For the acquired images, signal intensities of the tumour, muscle and oil-phantom were measured. Then, tumor/oil and tumor/muscle signal intensity ratios were calculated. Nineteen mice were sacrificed before or after the administration of HOP-9P (at 5 min, 2 h and 24 h), and the biodistribution of manganese in the tumour, muscle, liver, blood and kidneys was measured using optical emission spectrometers and was expressed as micrograms of manganese per gram of tissue. The tumour/muscle signal intensity ratio at 24 h (3.18 ± 0.34) was significantly higher than precontrast ratio (1.77 ± 0.20) (P < 0.05). The biodistribution assessment of manganese demonstrated that HOP-9P gradually and consistently accumulated in the tumour to reach the highest concentration at 24 h (3.49 ± 1.22 μ gMn/g). It is concluded that HOP-9P is a potential tumour-specific MR contrast agent. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co

Diferenças no perfil antigênico de tripomastigotas sangüícolas e de cultura celular do Trypanosoma cruzi

A comparative study of the antigenic profile of bloodstream and cell culture derived trypomastigotes showed many differences in their components. Using mouse anti-T. cruzi antibodies the differences were located mostly in the 120 kDa band, whereas using chagasic patient sera the differences were located in the 85 and 52 kDa bands. These findings might explain known physiological differences between trypomatigotes obtained from cell culture and from infected blood. A brief report of this work has already been published9.O estudo comparativo do perfil antigênico de tripomastigotas sangüícolas e tripomatigotas obtidos por cultura celular do Trypanosoma cruzi revelou que estas formas apresentam diferenças em alguns de seus componentes. Utilizando-se anticorpos provenientes da infecção murina, as diferenças foram detectadas na região de 120 kDa enquanto soros de pacientes chagásicos detectaram diferenças nas regiões de 85 e 52 kDa. Estas observações podem oferecer uma explicação a diferenças fisiológicas que ocorrem entre os tripomastigotas sangüícolas e os obtidos de cultura celular

フククウキョウカ ユチャク ハクリジュツゴ サイド イレウス オ ハッショウシ チョウカン セツジョジュツ ガ ヒツヨウ トナッタ ユチャクセイ イレウス ノ イチレイ

A 12-year old boy with a history of surgery for a gastroschisis in the neonatal period had experienced recurrent adhesional ileus. Each condition had been successfully treated by conservative treatments. In June 2008, he was admitted to our hospital again, complaining of abdominal pain. An abdominal X-ray revealed remarkable dilatation of the small intestine. Because of the repeated adhesional ileus, the boy underwent laparoscopic adhesiolysis. Even after the operation, the boy complained of abdominal pain, which indicated that the laparoscopic operation was unsuccessful. We performed a partial resection of the strictured small intestine under open laparotomy. Until this operation, we had never recognized the causative stricture of the small intestine. After the reoperation, the boy had a good clinical course. The number of laparoscopic surgeries has dramatically increased in pediatric cases lately. Adhesional ileus is considered a good indication for this procedure. However, we experienced a failure of laparoscopic adhesiolysis, which made us realize that there are some limitations in this approach

Anticorpos líticos induzidos por infecção pelo Trypanosoma cruzi reconhecem epitopos presentes nas formas tripomastigotas e epimastigotas do parasita

Sera of Chaga's disease patients containing anti-T. cruzi lytic antibodies were submitted to affinity chromatography using Sepharose 4B conjugated with antigen extracted from epimasiigote or trypomasiigote forms of the parasite. Epimastigotes were obtained from culture at the exponential growth phase and the trypomastigotes from blood of infected and immunosuppressed mice. Antigen of both parasite forms was obtained by sonication of the parasites followed by centrifugation. Both antigens were then conjugated to activated Sepharose 4B. Affinity chromatography was performed by passing sera from chagasic patients through an immunoadsorbent column containing either epimasiigote or trypomasiigote antigens. Antibodies bound to the column were eluted with cold 0,2 M glycine buffer pH 2,8. The eluted antibodies were analysed regarding their isotype and lytic activity. The results showed that anti-T. cruzi lytic antibodies present in sera from chagasic patients are mainly located in the IgG isotype and recognize epitopes present in both trypomasiigote and epimastigote forms. A brief report of this work has already been published12.Soro de pacientes com doença de Chagas na fase crônica foram submetidos a cromatografia de afinidade com Sepharose 4B conjugada com um extrato antigênico obtido de formas epimastigotas ou tripomastigotas de T. cruzi: os epimastigotas foram obtidos de cultura na fase exponencial de crescimento e os tripomastigotas de sangue de camundongos infectados e imunossuprimidos. Os antígenos de ambas formas parasitárias foram obtidos por tratamento dos parasitas por ultra-som, seguido de centrifugação. A cromatografia de afinidade foi feita passando-se os soros chagásicos através de uma coluna de imunoadsorvente contendo antígenos de epimastigotas ou tripomastigotas. Os anticorpos foram eluídos da coluna com tampão glicina 0,2 M pH 2,8 a 4°C. Os anticorpos eluidos foram analisados quanto ao seu isotipo e atividade lítica. Os resultados mostraram que os anticorpos anti-T. cruzi com atividade lítica presentes em soros chagásicos estão localizados no isotipo IgG e reconhecem epitopos presentes tanto nos tripomastigotas quanto nos epimastigotas

Recurrence in skeletal muscle from squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix: a case report and review of the literature

BACKGROUND: The occurrence of skeletal muscle metastases is a very rare event. Only two cases of late skeletal muscle recurrence from cervical cancer have been documented until now. CASE PRESENTATION: A 38-year old patient, submitted to radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy for a squamous FIGO stage IB1 cervical carcinoma, presented after 76 months with a palpable, and painless swelling on the left hemithorax. MRI showed a nodule located in the context of the intercostal muscles. Pathology revealed the presence of metastasis of squamous cell carcinoma of similar morphology as the primary. On the basis of FDG-PET findings, which excluded other sites of disease, surgical excision of the lesion was performed. The patient was triaged to chemotherapy plus external radiotherapy. CONCLUSION: A case of skeletal muscle recurrence from cervical cancer after a very long interval from primary diagnosis is reported. Muscular pain or weakness, or just a palpable mass in a patient with a history of cancer has always to raise the suspicion of muscle metastasis

Expression of MK-1 and RegⅣ and its clinicopathological significances in the benign and malignant lesions of gallbladder

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To study the expression of MK-1 and RegⅣ and to detect their pathological significances in benign and malignant lesions of gallbladder.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The expression of MK-1 and RegⅣ was detected by immunohistochemical method in paraffin-embedded sections of surgical resected specimens from gallbladder adenocarcinoma (n = 108), peritumoral tissues (n = 46), adenomatous polyp (n = 15), and chronic cholecystitis (n = 35).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The positive rate of MK-1 or RegⅣ expression was significantly higher in gallbladder adenocarcinoma than that in peritumoral tissues (χ²_MK-1= 18.76, <it>P </it>< 0.01; χ²_RegⅣ= 9.92, <it>P </it>< 0.01), denomatous polyp (χ²_MK-1= 9.49, <it>P </it>< 0.01; χ²_RegⅣ= 8.59, <it>P </it>< 0.01) and chronic cholecystitis (χ²_MK-1= 24.11, <it>P </it>< 0.01; χ²_RegⅣ= 19.24, <it>P </it>< 0.01). The positive cases of MK-1 and/or RegⅣ in the benign lesions showed moderately- or severe-atypical hyperplasia of gallbladder epitheli. The positive rates of MK-1 were significantly higher in the cases of well-differentiated adenocarcinoma, no-metastasis of lymph node, and no-invasiveness of regional tissues than those in the ones of differentiated adenocarcinoma, metastasis of lymph node, and invasiveness of regional tissues in gallbladder adenocarcinoma (<it>P </it>< 0.05 or <it>P </it>< 0.01). On the contrary, the positive rates of RegⅣ were significantly lower in the cases of well-differentiated adenocarcinoma, no-metastasis of lymph node, and no-invasiveness of regional tissues than those in the ones of differentiated adenocarcinoma, metastasis of lymph node, and invasiveness of regional tissues in gallbladder adenocarcinoma (<it>P </it>< 0.05 or <it>P </it>< 0.01). Univariate Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that decreased expression of MK-1 (<it>P </it>= 0.09) or increased expression of RegⅣ (<it>P </it>= 0.003) was associated with decreased overall survival. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that decreased expression of MK-1 (<it>P </it>= 0.033) and increased expression of RegⅣ (<it>P </it>= 0.008) was an independent prognostic predictor in gallbladder adenocarcinoma.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The expression of MK-1 and/or RegⅣ might be closely related to the carcinogenesis, clinical biological behaviors, and prognosis of gallbladder adenocarcinoma.</p

Role of Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptors in Serial Feature-Positive Discrimination Task during Eyeblink Conditioning in Mice.

We investigated the role of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) in eyeblink serial feature-positive discrimination learning in mice using the mAChR antagonist. A 2-s light cue was delivered 5 or 6 s before the presentation of a 350-ms tone paired with a 100-ms periorbital electrical shock (cued trial) but not before the tone-alone presentation (non-cued trial). Mice received 30 cued and 30 non-cued trials each day in a random order. We found that saline-injected control mice were successfully discriminating between cued and non-cued trials within a few days of conditioning. The mice responded more frequently to the tone in cued trials than in non-cued trials. Analysis of conditioned response (CR) dynamics revealed that the CR onset latency was shorter in cued trials than in non-cued trials, despite the CR peak amplitude not differing significantly between the two conditions. In contrast, scopolamine-injected mice developed an equal number of CRs with similar temporal patterns irrespective of the presence of the cue during the 7 days of conditioning, indicating in a failure to acquire conditional discrimination. In addition, the scopolamine administration to the control mice after they had successfully acquired discrimination did not impair the conditional discrimination and expression of pre-acquired CR. These results suggest that mAChRs may play a pivotal role in memory formation in the conditional brain state associated with the feature cue; however they are unlikely to be involved in the development of discrimination after conditional memory had formed in the serial feature-positive discrimination task during eyeblink conditioning