Chronic ethanol intake may delay the onset of gossypol-induced infertility in the male rat

Summary. Parameters were obtained from the reproductive organs of ethanol-fed, gossypol-treated Sprague Dawley rats. The experimental animals were fed either on a normal (15.17%) or low protein (8.00%) diet. Measurements included reproductive organ weights, seminal characteristics, serum concentration of testosterone and histological, stereological and histomorphometric evaluation of the testis. The testis size, length and diameter of the seminiferous tubule had the least values in the protein-malnourished, gossy-pol-treated rats (3.01±0.26 g, 0.56 ± 0.03 m, 281.34±11.30 μn), in comparison to corresponding animals which had received ethanol simultaneously with gossypol (3.40 ± 0.25, 0.71±0.06m, 314.42 ± 11.61 μn). As gossypol and ethanol are both associated with reduced reproductive capacity, this unexpected but interesting finding lends support to the hypothesis that either a normal dietary protein or ethanol consumption may modify the action of gossypol on body tissues, including the testis. This effect, presumably mediated through changes caused to the bioavailability of gossypol, modifies its antifertility activity. The present observation further highlights the need to consider the concurrent administration of other drugs, such as alcohol, and the nutritional status in the evaluation of gossypol for various potential uses.     

Inhibition of spontaneous testicular Leydig cell tumor development in F-344 rats by dehydroepiandrosterone.

The incidence of spontaneous Leydig cell tumors of testis is very high in old F-344 rats. We have examined the effect of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a steroid hormone with antimitotic and anticarcinogenic properties, on spontaneous Leydig cell tumorigenesis. Fifteen-week-old male F-344 rats were fed a diet containing DHEA (0.45% w/w) for 84 weeks. At the termination of experiment none of the 13 rats had Leydig cell hyperplasia or Leydig cell tumors. All the eight control rats of comparable age had Leydig cell tumors. These findings suggest that DHEA is a potent inhibitor of spontaneous Leydig cell tumors of testis in aged rats.     

Dengue fever presenting with acute colitis.

Gastrointestinal manifestations of dengue fever are mainly in the form of bleeding or liver function abnormalities. Dengue fever presenting as acute colitis-like picture is not reported to date. We report a 50-year-old man with dengue fever presenting with lower gastrointestinal bleeding and colonoscopic features of acute inflammatory colitis.     

Tannic acid-induced nucleolar changes in hepatocytes transplanted into syngeneic or xenogeneic host and in hepatocytes maintained in primary culture

In this study we have investigated the effect of a single dose of tannic acid, administered s.c., on the nucleolar ultrastructure of hepatocytes transplanted into a syngeneic or xenogeneic host in order to evaluate the validity of our hepatocyte transplantation system as an in vivo alternative to the use of whole animals to test for species and strain differences to the effects of hepatotoxins. Within 4-6 h following tannic acid injection, rat hepatocytes transplanted into the anterior chamber of eye and inguinal fat pads of rat and athymic nude mouse, showed changes of nucleolar components, with separation of ribonucleoprotein containing granules into discrete dark zones. These dark areas were surrounded by light areas consisting of granular and fibrillar components of the nucleolus. These changes were identical to tannic acid-induced nucleolar alterations in the homotopic liver. Hamster and rat hepatocytes xenotransplanted into athymic nude mice also displayed prominent nucleolar alterations in response to tannic acid. The similarity and extent of nucleolar alterations observed in transplanted hepatocytes and the in situ homotopic liver cells attest to the usefulness of the hepatocyte transplantation system for the evaluation of species differences in biological response to toxic/carcinogenic effects of xenobiotics.     

Benign synovioma causing internal derangement of the knee. A report of nine cases

Nine pedunculated benign synoviomata causing mechanical symptoms similar to those of a torn meniscus are described. The average age of the patients was 34.4 years. During the period of study, 2254 meniscal lesions causing mechanical symptoms were identified, giving an incidence of one benign synovioma for every 250 meniscal lesions. All the lesions were removed arthroscopically with relief of symptoms.     

Growth factor pre-treatment differentially regulates phosphoinositide turnover downstream of lysophospholipid receptor and metabotropic glutamate receptors in cultured rat cerebrocortical astrocytes

Reactive gliosis is an aspect of neural plasticity and growth factor (GF) stimulation of astrocytes in vitro is widely regarded as a model system to study astrocyte plasticity. Astrocytes express receptors for several ligands including lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), agonists for the G-protein-coupled lysophospholipid receptors (lpRs). Activation of lpRs by LPA or S1P leads to multiple pharmacological effects including the influx of calcium, phosphoinositide (PI) hydrolysis, phosphorylation of extracellular receptor regulated kinase (ERK), release of arachidonic acid, and induces mitogenesis. Treatment of astrocytes in vitro with a growth factor cocktail (containing epidermal growth factor [EGF], basic fibroblast growth factor [bFGF] and insulin) led to a marked attenuation of lpR-induced PI hydrolysis. In contrast, under identical conditions, GF treatment led to marked potentiation of PI hydrolysis downstream of activation of another abundantly expressed G-protein coupled receptor, mGluR5. Quantitative gene expression analysis of GF-treated or control astrocytes by TaqMan RT-PCR indicated that GF treatment did not change gene expression of lpa1 and s1p1, but increased gene expression of s1p5 which is expressed at very low levels in basal conditions. These results suggest that GF differentially affected PLC activation downstream of mGluR5 versus lpR activation and that the changes in mRNA levels of lpRs do not account for marked attenuation of agonist-induced phosphoinositide turnover.     

Do human leukocyte antigens have a role to play in differential manifestation of multibacillary leprosy: A study on multibacillary leprosy patients from North India

118 multibacillary leprosy patients with differential manifestations were studied for the antigens they expressed at MHC loci to investigate the role of human leukocyte antigens in the differential response to the same causative agent. While the lepromatous leprosy (LL) patients showed a significant increase of Bw60, DR2, DRw8 and DQw1, borderline lepromatous (BL) patients had Bw52, DR9 and DQw7 significantly more often as compared to the normal controls. A comparison of LL, BL and mid-borderline (BB) patients showed a significantly higher frequency of Bw60 in LL patients as compared to the BL. However, Bw52, Bw53, DR9 and DQw7 were found significantly more often in the BL patients as compared to the LL patients but the difference failed to reach significance after pc. A comparison of HLA antigens in BB patients with those of either the LL or BL patients did not show any significant differences.     

Long-term effects of physiologic concentrations of dexamethasone on human bone-derived cells

Bone cells derived from human trabecular explants display osteoblastic features. We examined the modulation of alkaline phosphatase activity and cAMP production as the result of exposing trabecular explants to physiologic concentrations of dexamethasone for 4 weeks during cellular outgrowth and subculture. Cells treated with dexamethasone were observed to grow generally more slowly than control cells. Cells appeared larger and more polygonal, and staining for alkaline phosphatase was more intense in the dexamethasone-exposed cultures. There was a progressive increase in cellular PTH responsiveness with increasing duration of exposure of cells to dexamethasone. Cells grown for 6 weeks in 3 x 10(-8) M dexamethasone had a 10-fold increase in PTH-stimulated cyclic AMP accumulation. Dexamethasone-treated cells also had a significantly increased alkaline phosphatase activity. 1,25-(OH)2D3-stimulated alkaline phosphatase activity was increased approximately 20-fold. cAMP responses were significantly increased to PTH (21.7-fold), PGE1 (2.67-fold), and forskolin (4.81-fold), but not to cholera toxin. Dexamethasone-treated cells also had a mean decrease in 1,25-(OH)2D3-stimulated osteocalcin production to 26.2% of control values (p less than 0.001). Hydrocortisone treatment gave rise to similar effects but of smaller magnitude than those of dexamethasone. Testosterone did not have a significant effect on alkaline phosphatase activity or cAMP production. Skin fibroblasts showed a significant enhancement of alkaline phosphatase activity in response to dexamethasone, but of a much smaller magnitude than in bone cells. The phenotypic changes induced by long-term culture in dexamethasone are consistent with the promotion of a more differentiated osteoblastic phenotype.     

大肝癌手术切除探讨（附16例分析）

报告16例大肝癌手术切除治疗效果，癌块直径>7cm。其中巨块型12例，癌块>10cm9例；癌块>14cm3例，均经病理证实。Ⅱ期切除3例，均经肝固有动脉结扎加插管注药化疗，肿块缩小后再手术，术后生存1年4例，2年3例，3年4例，4年1例，全组中位生存期24.1个月，并对大肝癌的手术适应证及术式选择等进行了探讨。