Dilated cerebral venous system observed in growth-restricted fetuses

<p><b>Purpose:</b> The dilation of the fetal cerebral veins is a rare phenomenon that may be associated to a bad obstetric outcome, and is usually connected to antenatal thrombosis of the posterior dural venous sinuses. There are several descriptions of cerebral vein distension on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but all of them are detected postnatally. We present herein two cases of fetal antenatal cerebral dilation of the venous system, without any association to any sign of vein thrombosis, and a systematic review of literature regarding pathogenesis, diagnosis and outcomes associated to the antenatal detection of this condition with the use of MRI.</p> <p><b>Materials and methods:</b> To identify potentially eligible studies, we searched PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library (all from inception to October 20th, 2016) and applied no language restrictions.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> The electronic database search provided a total of 22,843 results. After the exclusion of duplicates, manuscripts that resulted not relevant to the review based on title and abstract screening, and analysis of manuscripts eligible for full-text assessment, no papers were found related to the subject reported in the present manuscript.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> Our report adds importance to MRI as a tool in cases of complex ultrasound finding with the presence of fetal heart failure and deterioration of fetal growth, in order to improve the prognostic evaluation and patient?s counseling.</p

Correlations between symptoms severity and total CC FA values.

<p> Significant linear correlations were found between arousal, avoidance and re-experiencing symptoms intensity, as well as to the total CAPS score to total CC FA values.</p

Experimental paradigm.

<p> Participants performed two types of memory tasks (A. words, B. pictures) with a similar construct: a learning phase that was followed by two repetitions for items and associative memory recognition. Participants were presented with a study list of emotionally neutral pairs. In the item recognition task, participants had to identify the 6 items that appeared in the study list and reject the others. In the associative recognition task, participants had to identify the 6 correct pairs, which appeared in the study list and reject the new, recombined pairs. Highlighted green rectangles indicate targets.</p

Questionnaire results.

<p> Significant differences between groups were found in the total PDS as well as the trait and state anxiety scores (p < .000 for all independent between-groups comparisons).</p

High fat feeding induces only a minor adipose tissue macrophage infiltration in IL-1βKO mice.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Quantitative real-time PCR analysis of adipose tissue (epididymal fat pad) of <i>IL-1b, il6</i> and <i>tnf</i> (normalized to <i>tbp</i>, <i>18S</i> and <i>36b4</i>). n≥3 per group. (<b>B–D</b>) Representative X20 light microscopy images of adipose tissue stained with H&E or with anti-Mac2 antibody. The mean±SEM number of crown like structures (CLS) per X10 microscopic field was counted as described in Materials and Methods. mRNA levels of <i>f4/80</i>, a macrophage marker, was assessed by quantitative real-time PCR. (<b>E–G</b>) Similar analysis as described above (B–D), but for IL-1βKO-NC and IL-1βKO-HFF mice. n = 3–6 animals per group were included in the analysis. *p<0.05 compared to IL-1βKO-NC; ***p<0.001 compared to WT-NC.</p

Role of adipose IL-1β in hepatocyte insulin resistance as revealed by co-culture approach.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Schematic representation of the fat explants – primary hepatocyte co-culture experimental design. (<b>B</b>) Insulin-stimulated Akt and GSK3 phosphorylation in primary hepatocytes from IL-1RIKO liver co-cultured or not with fat explants from WT-NC or WT-HFF and densitometry analysis of 2–5 mice per group. *p = 0.05 compared to incubation with fat explants from WT-HFF mice. (<b>C</b>) Insulin-stimulated Akt phosphorylation in primary hepatocytes from WT mice co-cultured with fat explants from WT-HFF, IL-1βKO-HFF, or WT-HFF in the presence of IL-1 receptor antagonist (WT-HFF+RA). The right graph depicts densitometry analysis of 7–9 mice per group. *p<0.05 compared to the signal obtained from primary hepatocytes incubated with fat explants from WT-HFF mice.</p

Role of adipose IL-1β in adipose-liver cross-talk as revealed by portally-drained mesenteric adipose tissue transplantation.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Serum IL-1β levels were measured in peripheral (systemic) or portal vein blood in WT mice fed normal chow (WT-NC) or high fat diet (WT-HFF). Connecting lines indicate the paired systemic-portal samples from a single mouse, n = 17–19. Red symbols represent≥20% higher IL-1β level in the portal compared to the systemic blood; (<b>B</b>) Schematic representation of the mesenteric adipose tissue transplantation experimental flow. (<b>C</b>)Portal blood levels of IL-1β were measured in sham-operated (n = 9) and in mice receiving mesenteric adipose tissue transplantation from a littermate WT mouse (Trans-WT, n = 13)*p<0.05. (<b>D, E</b>) Intra-peritoneal pyruvate tolerance test (PTT, 2 gr/Kg body weight) was performed in Sham (n = 9), Trans-WT (n = 13), and in mice receiving transplants from IL-1βKO mice (Trans-IL-1βKO, n = 7) four weeks post-transplantation. Area under the glucose levels curve (AUC) was calculated; *p<0.05 compared to Sham-operated controls.</p

IL-1β impact on liver and adipose tissue mass and adipose tissue expandability.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Representative Computed Tomography (CT) scans (mid-coronal sections) of WT-NC and WT-HFF mice, and excised epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT) and livers, and the mean±SEM of their weights. (<b>B</b>) Similar to A, but for IL-1βKO mice. ***p<0.001 compared to NC. (<b>C</b>) Spearman correlation between epididymal fat pads' weight and liver weight in HFF mice. (<b>D</b>) Adipocyte size distribution in WT and IL-1βKO mice, quantified as described in Methods. n = 3–6 mice per group. (<b>E</b>) Quantitative real-time PCR analysis of the indicated genes in epididymal adipose tissue in WT and IL-1βKO mice, respectively. n = 3–6 per group. *p<0.05 compared to IL-1βKO-NC ***p<0.0001 compared to WT-NC.</p

Role of IL-1β in adipose tissue macrophage recruitment, ATM lipid content, and adipose inflammatory profile in dietary obesity.

<p>(<b>A</b>) FACS plots and gating of the stromal-vascular cells (SVCs) to detect adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs). Leucocytes (<b>B</b>), ATMs (<b>C</b>) in adipose tissue of WT-NC (n = 4), WT-HFF (n = 11), IL-1βKO-NC (n = 3) and IL-1βKO-HFF (n = 7). (<b>D</b>) Histogram of lipid content (determined with Bodipy) in representative mice of the 4 mouse groups (<b>E</b>)<b>.</b> Quantitative real-time PCR analysis of M1 or M2- genes in epididymal adipose tissue of (<b>F</b>) WT-NC, WT-HFF (n = 4, 11, respectively), and (<b>G</b>) IL-1βKO-NC and IL-1βKO-HFF (n = 3 and 7, respectively). The expression of each transcript was normalized to <i>tbp</i>, <i>18S</i> and <i>36b4</i> mRNA/rRNA, and a value of 1 was assigned to the normal chow group (NC) of each strain. *p<0.05, compared to NC; **p<0.01 compared to NC ***p<0.001.</p

Characteristics of the study population across intervention groups.

<p>Characteristics of the study population across intervention groups.</p