Assessment of hepatic functional reserve by cirrhosis grading and liver volume measurement using CT

AIM： To explore a method for quantitative assessment of hepatic functional reserve by combining computed tomography （CT） volumetry with CT grading of liver cirrhosis before liver resection in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. METHODS： CT images of 55 patients undergoing liver resection were studied prospectively. The degree of liver cirrhosis was referred as ＂CT grade＂ and the percentage of remnant liver volume （PRLV） [PRLV = predicted RLV/predicted total liver volume （PTLV） × 100%; PTLV （mL） = 121.75 ＋ 16.49 × body mass （kg）] were calculated by adding slice by slice of CT liver images. The postoperative RLV, pathologic stages of liver fibrosis in non-tumor area and survival time in these cases were analyzed. RESULTS： There was a significant difference in survival time between the group with PRLV ≤ 50% and the group with PRLV 〉 50% （X^2= 4.988, P = 0.026）, and between the group with CT grade 0/1 and the group with CT grade 2/3 （X^2= 5.429, P = 0.026）. With combination of the both parameters, an oblique line was identified according to the distribution of 32 survivors versus 23 deceased subjects. The mortality rate above the line was 7.1% （1/14）, and that below the line was 53.7% （22/41）, indicating a significant difference between the two rates （X^2 = 9.281, P = 0.002, P 〈 0.05）. CONCLUSION： PRLV and CT grades are significantly correlated with hepatic functional reserve. The predicted line using these two parameters is useful in candidates undergoing liver resection for judging hepatic functional reserve.

Toxicarioside A inhibits SGC-7901 proliferation,migration and invasion via NF-κB/bFGF signaling

AIM:To investigate the inhibitory role of toxicarioside A on the gastric cancer cell line human gastric cancer cell line(SGC-7901) and determine the underlying molecular mechanism.METHODS:After SGC-7901 cells were treated with toxicarioside A at various concentrations(0.5,1.5,4.5,9.0 μg/mL) for 24 h or 48 h,cell viability was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethyl-thiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl2H-tetrazolium bromide assay,and the motility and invasion of tumor cells were assessed by the Transwell chamber assay.Immunofluorescence staining,reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were performed to detect the expression of basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF) and fibroblast growth factor receptor-1(FGFR1),and nuclear factorkappa B(NF-κB) activation was examined by electrophoretic mobility shift assay.RESULTS:The results showed that toxicarioside A was capable of reducing cell viability,inhibiting cell growth,and suppressing cell migration and invasion activities in a time-and dose-dependent manner in SGC-7901 cells.Further analysis revealed that not only the expression of bFGF and its high-affinity receptor FGFR1 but also the NF-κB-DNA binding activity were effectively blocked by toxicarioside A in a dose-dependent manner compared with the control group(P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).Interestingly,application of the NF-κB specific inhibitor,pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate(PDTC),to SGC-7901 cells significantly potentized the toxicarioside A-induced down-regulation of bFGF compared with the control group(P < 0.05).CONCLUSION:These findings suggest that toxicarioside A has an anti-gastric cancer activity and this effect may be achieved partly through down-regulation of NF-κB and bFGF/FGFR1 signaling.

Effect of fragile histidine triad gene transduction on proliferation and apoptosis of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells

AIM:To evaluate the inhibitory effects of human fragile histidine triad(FHIT) gene on cell proliferation and apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma line Hep3B in vitro. METHODS:A recombinant pcDNA3.1(+) /FHIT including the functional region of FHIT gene was constructed and transferred into human hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro. mRNA and protein expression of the FHIT gene in the transfected cells was detected by RT-PCR and Western blot,respectively. The effect of FHIT on proliferation was detected by MTT assay. Changes in cell cycle and apoptosis were assayed by flow cytometry. Five mice received subcutaneous transplantation of Hep3B-FHIT;5 mice received subcutaneous transplantation of normal Hep3B and Hep3B-C as controls. The body weight of nude mice and tumor growth were measured. RESULTS:RT-PCR and Western blot analysis showed that the expression level of FHIT-mRNA and FHIT protein was higher in Hep3B cells after infection withpcDNA3.1(+) /FHIT. The growth of Hep3B cells treated with pcDNA3.1(+) /FHIT was significantly inhibited. The pcDNA3.1(+) /FHIT-transfected Hep3B cells showed a significantly higher cell rate at G0-G1 phase and increased apoptosis in comparison with controls(P < 0.05) . The growth of transplanted tumor was inhibited markedly by FHIT. Tumors arising from the Hep3B-FHIT cells occurred much later than those arising from the Hep3B and Hep3B-C cells. The growth of Hep3B-FHIT cells was slow and the tumor volume was low. CONCLUSION:Transduction of FHIT gene inhibits the growth of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells and induces cell apoptosis in vivo and in vitro.

Application of Hydrogen Peroxide as an Environmental Stress Indicator for Vegetation Management

Adaptive vegetation management is time-consuming and requires long-term colony monitoring to obtain reliable results. Although vegetation management has been widely adopted, the only method existing at present for evaluating the habitat conditions under management involves observations over a long period of time. The presence of reactive oxygen species （ROS） has long been used as an indicator of environmen- tal stress in plants, and has recently been intensely studied. Among such ROS, hydrogen peroxide （H202） is relatively stable, and can be conveniently and accurately quantified. Thus, the quantification of plant H202 could be applied as a stress indicator for riparian and aquatic vegetation management approaches while evaluating the conditions of a plant species within a habitat. This study presents an approach for elucidating the applicability of H202 as a quantitative indicator of environmental stresses on plants, particularly for vegetation management. Submerged macrophytes and riparian species were studied under laboratory and field conditions （Lake Shinji, Saba River, Eno River, and Hii River in Japan） for H202 formation under various stress conditions. The results suggest that H202 can be conveniently applied as a stress indicator in environmental management.

Influence of serum adiponectin level and SNP +45 polymorphism of adiponectin gene on myocardial fibrosis

Adiponectin plays an important role in the development of hypertension, atherosclerosis, and cardio- myocyte hypertrophy, but very little was known about the influence of serum adiponectin or the adiponectin gene polymorphism on myocardial fibrosis. Our study investigates the influence of the SNP ＋45 polymorphism of the adi- ponectin gene and serum levels of adiponectin on myocardial fibrosis in patients with essential hypertension. A case-control study was conducted on 165 hypertensive patients and 126 normotensive healthy controls. The geno- types of adiponectin gene polymorphisms were detected by the polymerase chain reaction （PCR） method. Serum concentrations of procollagen were measured by a double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） in all subjects. The integrated backscatter score （IBS） was measured in the left ventricular myocardium using echocardiography. The serum levels of adiponectin in hypertensive patients were significantly lower than those in the normal control group （（2.69±1.0） μg/ml vs. （4.21±2.89） μg/ml, respectively, P〈0.001）. The serum levels of type-Ⅰ procoilagen carboxyl end peptide （PiCP） and type-Ⅲprocollagen ammonia cardinal extremity peptide （PIIINP） in the hypertension group were significantly higher than those in the control group. In the hypertension group, serum levels of adiponectin were significantly and negatively related to the average acoustic intensity and corrected acoustic intensity of the myocardium （t=0.46 and 0.61, respectively, P〈0.05 for both）. The serum levels of PICP and PIIINP were sig- nificantly different among the three genotypes of SNP ＋45 （P〈0.01）. Logistic regression analyses showed that sex and genotype （GG＋GT） were the major risk factors of myocardial fibrosis in hypertensive patients （OR=5.343 and 3.278, respectively, P〈0.05）. These data suggest that lower levels of adiponectin and SNP ＋45 polymorphism of the adi- ponectin gene are likely to play an important role in myocardial fibrosis in hypertensive patients.