ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the damage of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons in retinitis pigmentosa (RP) quantitatively by using reduced-filed-of-view DTI (rfov-DTI) together with optical coherence tomography(OCT).Methods Thirty four patients(68 eyes,Patient group)and 33 healthy controls (66 eyes, Control group) were enrolled in this study. Measures of rfov-DTI and OCT of both eyes in all subjects were performed by 3.0 MRI. The difference of fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (λ//) and radial diffusivity (λ⊥) were compared by two independent sample t test. The peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in temporal and lateral nose, which data don't conform to normal distribution, were calculated by average and four quadrants and compared by Mann-Whitney U test,the average RNFL thickness and RNFL thickness in low quadrant and upper quadrant were compared by two independent sample t test.Spearman rank were performed to determine the correlation between DTI parameters of optic nerves (ONs) and RNFL thickness. Results The value of FA, MD, λ//, λ⊥, average, temporalside, nasal side, low quadrant and upper quadrant RNFL thickness in patient group were 0.445±0.078,(1.330±0.236)×10-3mm2/s,(5.502±0.263)×10-3mm2/s,(4.494±0.238)×10-3mm2/s,(104.7± 25.4)μm,(104.0±31.0)μm,(65.0±25.0)μm,(122.0±33.3)μm,and(117.4±37.7)μm respectively and the data in control group were 0.581±0.043,(1.079±0.146)×10-3mm2/s,(5.349±0.214)×10-3mm2/s,(4.195±0.126)× 10-3mm2/s, (101.2 ± 10.6)μm, (70.0 ± 10.8)μm, (81.3 ± 13.4)μm, (127.3 ± 12.5)μm, (126.3 ± 11.5)μm respectively.Compared with the control group,the value of MD,λ//,λ⊥were significantly higher but FA was significantly lower (t=-12.388, 7.394, 3.695, 9.062;all P<0.01). The temporal RNFL was significantly thicker while the nasal RNFL was much thinner than that in control group respectively(Z=-8.384,-4.518;all P<0.01);the average, low quadrant and upper quadrant RNFL thickness showed no significant differences compared with the control group(t=-1.217,-1.843, 1.049;P=0.227, 0.069, 0.297).Especially,there was a weak correlation between the temporal RNFL thickness and FA(r=0.268,P=0.029),however,no correlation of nasal RNFL thickness with mean FA was found(r=0.164,P=0.186). Conclusions rFOV-DTI together with OCT can provide information about the pathology of RGC axon disease in patients with RP.there is a weak correlation between the retinal nerve fiber layer and the pathological changes of optic nerve in the retinal ganglion cells,but the performance were not coincident.
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Objective To investigate the correlation between dynamic contrast enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) quantitative parameters and pathological grading in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(SCC). Methods Prospective analysis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma confirmed by electronic gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed. Thirty nine patients who underwent radical resection of esophageal carcinoma with MRI examination one weeks before operation were included. All patients underwent routine chest MRI and DCE-MRI scans, and DCE-MRI quantitative parameters including volume transfer constant (Ktrans), exchange rate constant (Kep) and extravascular extracellular volume fraction(Ve)were measured.Pathological analysis of postoperative specimens,including pathological grading(highly differentiated,moderately differentiated,poorly differentiated,undifferentiated),gross tumor pathological type(ulcerative type,medullary type,fungating type,sclerotic type)and local infiltration degree (T staging) were performed. Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to compare the differences of quantitative parameters between different pathological T staging,gross tumor pathological types and pathological grades of DCE-MRI,and a Dunn-Bonferroni test for post hoc comparisons.Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between DCE-MRI parameters and pathological grading of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.The ROC curves was used to evaluate the efficiency of different parameters in the diagnosis of poorly differentiated esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Result Among the thirty nine patients, they were divided into three group according to pathological findings: well differentiated (12 patients),moderately differentiated(15 patients)and poorly differentiated group(12 patients);ulcerative type (19 patients), fungating type(10 patients), medullary type(10 patients);T1, 2 stage(16 patients), T3 stage(14 patients), and T4 stage(9 patients). There was no significant difference in the value of Ktrans, Kepand Ve between different T staging groups and different tumor pathological types groups(all P>0.05).The differences of Ktrans, Kepand Vebetween different pathological grading groups were statistically significant (all P<0.05). There were positive correlation between Ktrans, Kep, Veand the pathological grading, rs value were 0.874, 0.672, 0.578 respectively, all P<0.01. The ROC curve area of Ktrans, Kepand Vein the diagnosis of poorly differentiated esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was 0.941,0.809 and 0.773 respectively.The diagnostic efficiency of Ktranswas the best.Conclusions The quantitative parameters of DCE-MRI are correlated with the pathological grading of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Ktrans, Kepand Vecan reflect the perfusion characteristics of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:The mechanism and effect of glycogen synthase kinase 3β(GSK-3β) in the differentiation of cardiac stem cel s into cardiomyocytes are stil unclear, although GSK-3βis closely related to the life activities of cel s. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the changes of GSK-3βexpression in the treatment of myocardial infarction in rats undergoing cardiac stem cel transplantation. METHODS:The isolation and culture of cardiac stem cel s were performed in 10 neonatal rats. Lentivirus overexpressing GSK-3βor LacZ (control) was constructed and transferred into cardiac stem cel s. Animal model of myocardial infarction was made in 30 Sprague-Dawley rats. Six weeks after model preparation, rat models were assigned into GSK-3β, LacZ or PBS group. GSK-3βor LacZ overexpressing cardiac stem cel solution or PBS in equal volume was injected into the rat myocardium, respectively. Four weeks after transplantation, the cardiac function and myocardial col agen production in rats were detected and compared. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with the other two groups, the left ventricular ejection fraction was significantly higher, and the left ventricular end diastolic diameter was significantly lower in the GSK-3βgroup (P<0.05). Hydroxyproline content, type I col agen mRNA, and type III col agen mRNA expression were significantly lower in the GSK-3βgroup than the other two groups (P<0.05). Findings from Masson staining showed that the content of blue-stained col agen was significantly lower in the GSK-3βgroup than the LacZ group. Moreover, lowest myocardial infarction size was found in the GSK-3βgroup (P<0.05). Al these experimental findings show that GSK-3 overexpression plays a positive role in promoting the therapeutic effect of cardiac stem cel transplantation.