The Effect of Incomplete Bile Duct Obstruction on Diisopropanolnitrosamine—Induced Cholangiocarcinoma

This study was carried out to clarify the influence of incomplete bile duct obstruction (IBDO) on the occurrence and proliferation of cholangiocarcinoma and to evaluate the effect of release of IBDO at an early stage, using 175 Syrian golden hamsters. These hamsters received 500mg/kg body weight of diisopropanolnitrosamine (DIPN) once weekly for 10 weeks, and then were divided into 3 groups, consisting of the simple laparotomy group (SL group), the IBDO group and 2 week IBDO group, in which IBDO was released after 2 weeks. The occurrence rates of cholangiocarcinoma at 20 weeks were 42% in the SL group, 76% in the IBDO group and 30% in the 2 week IBDO group. The mean numbers of tumors per hamster in the IBDO group were significantly greater than those in other groups (p < 0.05). Both occurrence rates and numbers of tumors in the 2 week IBDO group were similar to those in the SL group. The proliferation of bile ductules and isolation of bacteria from bile in the IBDO group had higher rates at 15, 20 weeks than those found in the other groups. These results suggest that IBDO has an influence, as promoter, on the occurrence of cholangiocarcinoma induced by DIPN, and the disappearance of its promoting effect is caused by release of the obstruction

Capacitance extraction method for a free-standing bilayer lipid membrane formed over an aperture in a nanofabricated silicon chip

A bilayer lipid membrane (BLM) is the main component of the cell membrane of living organisms, which can be formed artificially. Although the specific capacitance of a BLM is known to be in the range of 0.4–1.0 μF cm^–2, many previous works that formed free-standing BLMs over an aperture in silicon chips reported larger values beyond this typical range, which suggests that equivalent-circuit models are not adequate. In this work, we modified the equivalent-circuit model by adding a resistance element of silicon. To evaluate the validity of the modified model, we applied the model to the results of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for free-standing BLMs formed over an aperture in nanofabricated silicon chips. The derived specific capacitance values were 0.57 ± 0.08 μF cm^–2, which settles in the typical range

Equivalent circuit model modified for free-standing bilayer lipid membranes beyond 1 TΩ

A cell is the basic functional unit of living organisms. Bilayer lipid membranes (BLMs), which form cell membranes can be assembled by using artificial methods. The electrochemical characteristics of BLMs are normally investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS); however, the equivalent circuit need to be modified by the experimental conditions. In this study, we formed plain BLMs to determine the underlying equivalent circuit model of free-standing BLMs, and we measured the electrical characteristics using EIS. To analyze the results of EIS, we proposed equivalent circuit models including electrical double layer (EDL) effects on both sides of a BLM. We also extracted and evaluated the electrochemical parameters; the aperture-suspended BLMs using an Si chip having tapered edge recorded TΩ-order membrane resistances, which were one order higher than those reported in most previous studies. Regarding the capacitances of EDL, we compared the extracted values and the calculated results