Influence of chronic intermittent hypoxia on growth associated protein 43 expression in the hippocampus of young rats

This study aimed to explore the pathological change to hippocampal neurons and the expression of growth associated protein 43 in 21-day-old young rats following chronic intermittent hypoxia. Hematoxylin-eosin staining results showed varying degrees of degeneration and necrosis in hippocampal neurons depending on the modeling time. Immunohistochemistry revealed that growth associated protein 43 expression in young rats following chronic intermittent hypoxia decreased, but that levels were still higher than those of normal rats at each time point, especially 4 weeks after modeling. During 1 5 weeks after modeling, a slow growth in rat weight was observed. Experimental findings indicate that chronic intermittent hypoxia may induce growth dysfunction and necrosis of hippocampal neurons, as well as increase the expression of growth associated protein 43 in young rats.

Impairment of cognitive function and reduced hippocampal cholinergic activity in a rat model of chronic intermittent hypoxia

The present study established a rat model of chronic intermittent hypoxia （CIH） to simulate obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. CIH rats were evaluated for cognitive function using the Morris water maze, and neuronal pathology in the hippocampus was observed using hematoxylin-eosin staining. In addition, hippocampal choline acetyl transferase （CHAT） and nicotinic acetylcholine receptor （nAChR） expression was determined by immunohistochemistry. Our results revealed necrotic hippocampal neurons, decreased ChAT and nAChR expression, as well as cognitive impairment in CIH rats. These results suggest that hippocampal neuronal necrosis and decreased cholinerqic activity may be involved in CIH-induced cognitive impairment in rats.

Effect of Ginsenoside Rbl on Expressive Proteome of Rat Neurons

[ Objective ] This study aimed to explore the effect of ginsenoside Rbl on expressive proteome of rat neurons by technologies of proteomics, bioinformat- ies and MS peptide fingerprinting. [ Method ] Rat neurons were cultured conventionally and randomly separated into two groups. The experimental group was trea- ted with 5 μg/rnl Rbl for 20 min, while control group was added with the same amount of medium. After cell lysis, the whole-cell protein was extracted. Two-di- mensional electrophoresis （2-DE） was used to separate the extracts. Differential expression of proteome between the two groups was analyzed by using ImageMaster 2D Platinum v5.0 software and the two protein spots expressed differently were selected for differential identification with MALDI-TOF-MS. [ Result] Based on the matching and comparative analysis of the protein spots, 418 protein spots were detected in experimental group, including 226 protein spots with differently expres- sive levels; according to the mass spectrometry, the two ginsenoside Rbl-related and differentially-expressed protein spots were identified as cytochrome P-450 and phosducin-like protein, and both of them were phosphorylated proteins. [ Conclusion ] This study showed that the functions of those identified proteins were in- volved in signal transduction, suggesting that the effect of ginsenoside Rbl on expressive proteome of rat neurons might be related to the corresponding signal trans- duction networks.

Clinicopathological characteristics of 8697 patients with COVID-19 in China:a meta-analysis

Objective Our study aims to present a summary of the clinicopathological characteristics of patients affected by the coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)that can be used as a reference for further research and clinical decisions.Design Studies were included in the meta-analysis if they had cohort,case-control or case series designs and provided sufficient details on clinical symptoms,laboratory outcomes and asymptomatic patients.setting PubMed,Embase,Chinese Biomedical Literature Database,Wanfang,China Science and Technology Journal Database and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases were electronically searched to identify related studies published between 1 January 2020 and 16 March 2020.Three reviewers independently examined the literature,extracted relevant data and assessed the risk of publication bias before including the studies in the meta-analysis.Participants The confirmed cases of COVID-19.results A total of 55 unique retrospective studies involving 8697 patients with COVID-19 were identified.Meta-analysis showed that a higher proportion of infected patients were male(53.3%),and the two major symptoms observed were fever(78.4%)and cough(58.3%).Other common symptoms included fatigue(34%),myalgia(21.9%),expectoration(23.7%),anorexia(22.9%),chest tightness(22.9%)and dyspnoea(20.6%).Minor symptoms included nausea and vomiting(6.6%),diarrhoea(8.2%),headache(11.3%),pharyngalgia(11.6%),shivering(15.2%)and rhinorrhea(7.3%).About 5.4%of the patients were asymptomatic.Most patients showed normal leucocyte counts(64.7%)and elevated C reactive protein levels(65.9%).Lymphopaenia was observed in about 47.6%of the infected patients,along with abnormal levels of myocardial enzymes(49.4%)and liver function(26.4%).Other findings included leucopenia(23.5%),elevated D-dimer(20.4%),elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate(20.4%),leucocytosis(9.9%),elevated procalcitonin(16.7%)and abnormal renal function(10.9%).Conclusions The most commonly experienced symptoms of patients with COVID-19 were fever and cough.Myalgia,anorexia,chest tightness and dyspnoea were found in some patients.A relatively small percentage of patients were asymptomatic and could act as carriers of the disease.Most patients showed normal leucocyte counts,elevated levels of C reactive protein and lymphopaenia,confirming the viral origin of the disease.