Extracellular matrix protein coatings for facilitation of urothelial cell attachment

Synthetic urothelium is an important goal for the tissue-engineering field that would have great utility for treating diseases and congenital defects affecting the urinary tract. A key step in the development of synthetic tissue is optimizing the conditions for coating biomaterials with cells of interest. Initial cell attachment is an important consideration when designing tissue-engineering scaffolds. The scaffold environment must also be conducive to cell proliferation and differentiation. The most popular materials for tissue-engineering scaffold often have suboptimal properties when analyzed for cell attachment and growth. It would then be of interest to know, for urinary tract tissue-engineering applications, which extracellular matrix protein coatings can facilitate urothelial cell attachment and encourage growth. Cells grown on 96-well cycloolefin plates coated with type IV or type I collagen exhibited improved initial attachment over plates coated with fibronectin or laminin. After 20 h, deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis was found to increase in cultures grown on type IV collagen, fibronectin, and laminin. Total metabolic activity of urothelial cell cultures was also monitored, and no difference was seen between any protein-coating conditions. The development of such reliable assays will be beneficial in monitoring the fate of scaffolds seeded with human urothelial cells.     

脑内GABA能神经元对红藻氨酸中枢性心血管效应的影响

采用侧脑室微最注射法证明,谷氯酸受体哑型激动剂红藻氨酸(KA)可依剂量性地升高大鼠血压和加快心率。预先给予GABA合成抑制剂氮基脲140 mg/kg ip或GABA拮抗剂印防己毒1 mg/kg iv均可明显增强KA的作用;而GABA转氨酶抑制剂氨氧乙酸25μg/rat icv明显减弱KA的作用。结果表明,脑内GABA能神经元功能受抑,KA的中枢性心血管效应增强。从而推测,脑内GABA能神经元与谷氯酸能神经元之间相互制约,共同参与中枢性调节心血管的活动。     

苦参碱的正性肌力作用及与细胞外钙的关系

苦参碱(matrine,Ma)来源于苦豆子Sophora alopecuroides L.)。Ma有加强豚鼠乳头肌收缩的作用,对豚鼠心房亦有明显正性肌力作用。本文对Ma的正性肌力作用与细胞外钙的关系进行了研究。Ma (mp 75.5～77.5℃)为淡黄色粉末结晶,为宁夏盐池制药厂产品。     

锁阳中三萜及甾体成分的研究

From the whole parasitic plant of Cynomorium songaricum Rupr. three ursane type triterpenes, three steroidal compounds, palmitic acid and sucrose were isolated. The triterpenes were identified as acetyl ursolic acid (2), ursolic acid (3) and a new compound, ursa-12-ene-28-oic acid, 3β-propanedioic acid monoester (1). The steroidal compounds were identified as β-sitosterol palmitate (4), β-sitosterol (5) and β-sitosterol glucoside (daucosterol, 6). Compounds 2 and 5 were found in this genus for the first time.     

吡拉西坦拮抗地西泮对小鼠致健忘作用

用小鼠跳台法,于训练前1h先po地西泮1mg·kg^-1,对小鼠记忆获得有明显损害作用;而于训练前1hip吡拉西坦200mg·kg^-1,对地西泮造成的记忆获得不良则有明显改善作用。此结果在避暗法中得到验证。另采用光电管法,吡拉西坦对地西泮的中枢抑制作用没有显著性影响。用y迷宫法,于训练前3min先icv谷氨酸0.1μg,则能显著提高小鼠的空间学习成绩,并能完全对抗GABA造成的记忆缺损。     

Hepatoma, arterioportal shunting, and hyperkinetic portal hypertension: therapeutic embolization

Four patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, shunting of blood from the hepatic artery to the portal vein, and hyperkinetic portal hypertension were treated by transcatheter embolization of the hepatic artery. In three acutely bleeding patients variceal hemorrhage was controlled by the embolization. Following embolization hepatofugal portal venous flow became hepatopetal in all four patients. No serious complications were encountered. When hepatoma is complicated by arterioportal shunting and hyperkinetic portal hypertension, occlusion of the fistula by transcatheter embolotherapy can reduce the portal pressure.     

Parental perception of acute scrotal pain in children

IntroductionAcute scrotal pain (ASP) remains one of the more common urological emergencies in the paediatric age group. Acute testicular torsion is the only true urological emergency, where delay in presentation or management can lead to loss of the affected testicle. Since prompt presentation, diagnosis and treatment are critical for testicular salvage, multiple patient and hospital specific factors may influence orchidectomy rates. Parental awareness of the sequelae of ASP may be a significant factor in delayed presentation of children to hospital. We examine the awareness among parents of the implications of ASP in this snapshot study.MethodsA prospective study was planned, and all boys between the ages of 2 and 16 years presenting to the unit with ASP and undergoing emergency scrotal exploration were considered for inclusion in the study. The accompanying parents/guardians of all these boys were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing their awareness of ASP and its potential consequences.ResultsOver a period of 26 months (July 2010 to September 2012), 76 boys were eligible for the study. The response rate was 81.6%. Only a third (30%) presented to hospital within six hours of onset of pain and just under a quarter (22%) of the cohort attended the emergency department directly. Parents overwhelmingly (96%) felt that there ought to be increased public awareness of the condition. The majority of parents questioned (n=41, 66%) did not fully appreciate the implications of ASP.ConclusionsThis is a first snapshot study demonstrating the apparent lack of awareness among parents about the implications of ASP, which could influence the rate of testicular salvage.     

Immunological specificity and mechanism of action of IgG lupus anticoagulants

Although observations have implied that lupus anticoagulants have immunologic specificity toward anionic phospholipids, this assumption has been directly demonstrated in only one patient with a monoclonal IgM paraprotein. We tested the generality of this hypothesis directly by isolating five IgG lupus anticoagulants from patients with lupuslike syndromes and/or thrombosis. IgG lupus anticoagulant fractions were isolated free of other plasma proteins and free of contaminating phospholipid by adsorption to and elution from cardiolipin-cholesterol- dicetyl phosphate liposomes, followed by chromatography on protein A- Sepharose. Cardiolipin liposomes, but not phosphatidylcholine liposomes, were capable of removing all, or nearly all, lupus anticoagulant activity from patient plasma. The affinity-purified IgG preparations reacted with cardiolipin, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylinositol, and phosphatidic acid, but not with phosphatidylcholine or phosphatidylethanolamine, and inhibited calcium- dependent binding of prothrombin and of factor X to phosphatidylserine- coated and to cardiolipin-coated surfaces. F(ab')2 fragments retained lupus anticoagulant activity and bound to cardiolipin in an enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Anticardiolipin and lupus anticoagulant activity were both present in acidic fractions on isoelectric focusing. These data strongly suggest that most, if not all, lupus anticoagulants are antibodies that have immunologic specificity towards anionic phospholipids, thereby blocking the calcium- mediated binding of vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors to coagulation-active phospholipid surfaces.