Antiplatelet and antithrombotic activities of essential oil from wild Ocotea quixos (Lam.) Kosterm. (Lauraceae) calices from Amazonian Ecuador.

Ocotea quixos essential oil was shown to possess significant inhibitory activity of platelet aggregation and clot retraction in rodent plasma. This study is aimed at fully characterizing the antiplatelet activity of the whole essential oil and its main components trans-cinnamaldehyde and methyl cinnamate also in human plasma, at investigating the mechanism underlying such activity and at evaluating the potential antithrombotic activity of subacute treatment of mice with Ocotea essential oil. In vitro Ocotea essential oil and trans-cinnamaldehyde inhibited arachidonic acid-, U46619-, ADP-, phorbol12-myristate13-alcetate-, collagen-induced platelet aggregation and thrombin-induced clot retraction in human and rodent plasma; Ocotea oil and trans-cinnamaldehyde competitively antagonized contractions induced by thromboxane A2 receptor agonist U46619 in rat isolated aortic ring (K(B) = 18 and 3.2 microg ml(-1), respectively). In vivo Ocotea oil, orally administered in a subacute treatment (30-100 mg kg(-1) day(-1) for 5 days) to mice, prevented acute thrombosis induced by collagen-epinephrine intravenous injection. This antithrombotic activity was not accompanied by pro-haemorragic side effect, as detected by the inactivity in bleeding test, thus showing a favourable safety profile compared to the conventional antiplatelet agent, acetylsalicylic acid. Present findings indicate that Ocotea essential oil possesses potent and safe antithrombotic activity attributable to its antiplatelet and vasorelaxant effects. The main constituent trans-cinnamaldehyde seems to be the primary responsible for this activity through a putative mechanism involving the inhibition of thromboxane A2 receptors.     

Comparisons of different types and concentrations of alginates for encapsulation of Lagenidium giganteum (Oomycetes: Lagenidiales), a fungal pathogen of mosquito larvae

Six different types of alginates used to encapsulate Lagenidium giganteum gave similar levels of fungal infection in Culex quinquefasciatus larvae. Initial infection levels when the capsules were immersed in water after 6 days of storage (15 and 25 degrees C) were 100% for all types of alginate and after 42 days of storage was 62-100%, depending on the type of alginate. Infectivity was 24-100% after the encapsulated fungus were left in water for 7 days and after 15 days was 0 to 26%, depending on the alginate. When 2 of the alginates were tested at different concentrations to give high, medium and low viscosity solutions, the fungus encapsulated using lower concentration alginate solutions usually gave the highest level of infectivity.     

Loss of cables, a novel gene on chromosome 18q, in ovarian cancer.

Cables, a cyclin-dependent kinase (cdk) interacting protein, has recently been identified and mapped to human chromosome 18q11. Cables appears to be primarily involved in cell cycle regulation and cell proliferation. Overexpression of Cables in Hela and other cell lines inhibits cell proliferation and tumor formation. We hypothesize that loss of Cables expression is associated with ovarian cancer. To test our hypothesis, we examined Cables expression in the four most common subtypes of ovarian carcinomas: serous, endometrioid, mucinous, and clear cell. In addition, mucinous and serous borderline tumors were also included. Loss of Cables expression was observed at high frequency in ovarian serous (11 of 14 cases, 79%) and endometrioid (5 of 10 cases, 50%) carcinomas. In contrast, strong Cables staining was detected in all clear cell carcinomas (10 cases) and mucinous tumors (5 carcinomas and 5 borderline tumors). The majority of serous borderline tumors (11 of 14 cases, 79%) showed positive Cables staining, with the rest showing focal loss of Cables expression. Furthermore, RT-PCR revealed the lack of Cables mRNA in a human ovarian cancer xenograft. No correlation was noted between loss of Cables and histologic grade, tumor stage, and survival. In conclusion, our results indicate that loss of Cables is common in ovarian serous and endometrioid carcinomas and imply that Cables may be involved in the pathogenesis of these two types of ovarian carcinomas.     

SEOM clinical guidelines for the treatment of follicular non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

Follicular lymphoma (FL) is the second most common subtype of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) in the Western world. FL constitutes the most frequent indolent lymphoma, well characterized by its clinical presentation related to nodal involvement and its morphologic and biologic features. It is often managed as an incurable disease. However, several active therapeutic approaches from the ‘wait and watch” strategy to the allogeneic transplantation are available for management of patients with FL and clearly have changed the natural history of this disease, achieving a long-term disease-free survival. Therapeutic decision is mostly conditioned by patient’s characteristics, stage, histological grade, tumor burden, and risk-predicting factors. This article try to summarizes the diagnosis and treatment of this heterogeneous group of patients.     

Study of the olivocochlear neurons using two different tracers, fast blue and cholera toxin, in hypothyroid rats

Congenital hypothyroidism results in deafness that is caused by changes in the auditory receptor, including scanty development of the outer hair cells and a lack of synaptogenesis between these cells and the efferent system. although the afferent population is present. The normal efferent innervation of the cochlea originates in the superior olivary complex, arising from efferent neurons belonging to the lateral or to the medial olivocochlear system. In the rat, the former is constituted by neurons located in the lateral superior olivary nucleus, that project to the inner hair cells, while the later originates in the ventral nuclei of the trapezoid body and project to the outer hair cells. The aim of this work is to study the localization, number and morphology of the olivochochlear neurons in congenital hypothyroid animals by means of the injections of the retrograde tracers, either fast blue or cholera toxin, in the cochlea. The mean total number of labeled olivocochlear neurons after injection of fast blue in hypothyroid animals was 1,016, and in control ones was 1,027. Using cholera toxin, the mean total number of labeled olivocochlear neurons was slightly lower: 863 in hypothyroid animals versus 910 in control ones. Although both tracers showed no significant differences between groups, when the somatic area of the labeled olivocochlear neurons is considered, the size of all of the three different population of cells (lateral olivocochlear neurons, medial olivocochlear neurons and shell neurons) was significantly lower in the hypothyroid rats. This is the first study of the olivocochlear neurons in hypothyroid animals. The conclusion from this work is that in hypothyroid rats the labeled olivocochlear neurons are significantly smaller but that there is not any modification in the localization and number of the labeled olivocochlear neurons, suggesting that thyroid hormones are necessary for the neuronal growth. However, most of the medial olivocochlear neurons do not make contact with their target, so their maintenance suggests that the axons are in contact with other structures of the cochlea.     

Distribution of glycoconjugates during cochlea development in mice: light microscopic lectin study

During development, different epithelial cells in the mouse cochlea express different cell surface glycoconjugates, which may reflect membrane specialization. Some of the lectins tested in this study (SBA, succ-WGA, and PSA) labeled the sensory cells of the cochlea around birth. Other lectins (WGA, Con A, RCA-II, and PHA-E) labeled surfaces of the sensory cells, particularly the stereocilia, from early stages of development (gestation day (GD) 16) through 21 days after birth. These may be adhesion molecules needed to attach the newly forming tectorial membrane (TM) to the stereocilia. Lectin staining of the developing TM revealed that the substructures of the TM are biochemically distinct. Lectin staining also showed the temporal sequence of the expression of cytoplasmic glycoconjugates of the cochlear epithelium during development. Biochemical changes during development are probably the result of different cells being involved in the production of glycoconjugates, and may have functional significance, specifically with regard to the expression of adhesion and/or signaling molecules.