Caracterização da variação da espessura dos anéis de crescimento em Pinheiro Bravo

Comunicação apresentada no 5.º Congresso Florestal Nacional que decorreu em Viseu em Maio de 2005.Com este trabalho pretende-se dar um contributo para o estudo dos factores de variação radial e axial da espessura dos anéis de crescimento de pinheiro bravo. O trabalho foi desenvolvido com base em técnicas de análise de imagem e tem como objectivo final incluir a variação dos anéis de crescimento na qualidade dos produtos finais serrados da madeira desta espécie. A informação para o estudo da variação das camadas de crescimento baseou-se numa amostra de tiras radiais e de discos nos níveis de altura 0, 5, 10, 15, 17 e 20 m de árvores de quatro estações em Portugal. A amostragem em discos permitiu a medição das camadas de crescimento em várias direcções e a posterior criação de um modelo tridimensional do tronco com base nos anéis de crescimento. A variação das camadas de crescimento foi analisada em sequência vertical, onde se analisam os anéis de crescimento em cada nível, obtendo-se assim o crescimento das árvores e quais as suas variação ao longo do tempo, e em sequência oblíqua onde se pode analisar o comportamento dos 13 anos terminais ao longo da árvore. Efectuou-se uma análise de variância para diferentes factores onde se contabilizou a percentagem de variação correspondente a cada um desses factores. Verificou-se que a maior parte da variação se deve à variação lenho juvenil/lenho adulto. O modelo tridimensional do tronco foi desenvolvido numa interface que permite observar a variação das camadas de crescimento nas diferentes secções transversais a níveis de altura especificados. De futuro este modelo será integrado na reconstrução tridimensional já desenvolvida para o Pinheiro bravo e que descreve a geometria do tronco e os anéis internos. O objectivo final será o uso da informação sobre as camadas de crescimento em programas de simulação de serração de forma a constituir mais um parâmetro de qualidade dos produtos finais

Taurine: a potential marker of apoptosis in gliomas

New cancer therapies are being developed that trigger tumour apoptosis and an in vivo method of apoptotic detection and early treatment response would be of great value. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) can determine the tumour biochemical profile in vivo, and we have investigated whether a specific spectroscopic signature exists for apoptosis in human astrocytomas. High-resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) 1H MRS provided detailed 1H spectra of brain tumour biopsies for direct correlation with histopathology. Metabolites, mobile lipids and macromolecules were quantified from presaturation HRMAS 1H spectra acquired from 41 biopsies of grades II (n=8), III (n=3) and IV (n=30) astrocytomas. Subsequently, TUNEL and H&E staining provided quantification of apoptosis, cell density and necrosis. Taurine was found to significantly correlate with apoptotic cell density (TUNEL) in both non-necrotic (R=0.727, P=0.003) and necrotic (R=0.626, P=0.0005) biopsies. However, the ca 2.8 p.p.m. polyunsaturated fatty acid peak, observed in other studies as a marker of apoptosis, correlated only in non-necrotic biopsies (R=0.705, P<0.005). We suggest that the taurine 1H MRS signal in astrocytomas may be a robust apoptotic biomarker that is independent of tumour necrotic status

1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy characterisation of metabolic phenotypes in the medulloblastoma of the SMO transgenic mice

BACKGROUND: Human medulloblastomas exhibit diverse molecular pathology. Aberrant hedgehog signalling is found in 20-30% of human medulloblastomas with largely unknown metabolic consequences. METHODS: Transgenic mice over-expressing smoothened (SMO) receptor in granule cell precursors with high incidence of exophytic medulloblastomas were sequentially followed up by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and characterised for metabolite phenotypes by ¹H MR spectroscopy (MRS) in vivo and ex vivo using high-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) ¹H MRS. RESULTS: Medulloblastomas in the SMO mice presented as T₂ hyperintense tumours in MRI. These tumours showed low concentrations of N-acetyl aspartate and high concentrations of choline-containing metabolites (CCMs), glycine, and taurine relative to the cerebellar parenchyma in the wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 mice. In contrast, ¹H MRS metabolite concentrations in normal appearing cerebellum of the SMO mice were not different from those in the WT mice. Macromolecule and lipid ¹H MRS signals in SMO medulloblastomas were not different from those detected in the cerebellum of WT mice. The HR-MAS analysis of SMO medulloblastomas confirmed the in vivo ¹H MRS metabolite profiles, and additionally revealed that phosphocholine was strongly elevated in medulloblastomas accounting for the high in vivo CCM. CONCLUSIONS: These metabolite profiles closely mirror those reported from human medulloblastomas confirming that SMO mice provide a realistic model for investigating metabolic aspects of this disease. Taurine, glycine, and CCM are potential metabolite biomarkers for the SMO medulloblastomas. The MRS data from the medulloblastomas with defined molecular pathology is discussed in the light of metabolite profiles reported from human tumours

Noninvasive estimation of tumour viability in a xenograft model of human neuroblastoma with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS)

The aim of the study was to evaluate proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) for noninvasive biological characterisation of neuroblastoma xenografts in vivo. For designing the experiments, human neuroblastoma xenografts growing subcutaneously in nude rats were analysed in vivo with 1H MRS and magnetic resonance imaging at 4.7 T. The effects of spontaneous tumour growth and antiangiogenesis treatment, respectively, on spectral characteristics were evaluated. The spectroscopic findings were compared to tumour morphology, proliferation and viable tumour tissue fraction. The results showed that signals from choline (Cho)-containing compounds and mobile lipids (MLs) dominated the spectra. The individual ML/Cho ratios for both treated and untreated tumours were positively correlated with tumour volume (P<0.05). There was an inverse correlation between the ML/Cho ratio and the viable tumour fraction (r=−0.86, P<0.001). Higher ML/Cho ratios concomitant with pronounced histological changes were seen in spectra from tumours treated with the antiangiogenic drug TNP-470, compared to untreated control tumours (P<0.05). In conclusion, the ML/Cho ratio obtained in vivo by 1H MRS enabled accurate assessment of the viable tumour fraction in a human neuroblastoma xenograft model. 1H MRS also revealed early metabolic effects of antiangiogenesis treatment. 1H MRS could prove useful as a tool to monitor experimental therapy in preclinical models of neuroblastoma, and possibly also in children