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Objective To explore the role and mechanism of thymosin β4 (Tβ4) in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).Methods Forty male C57BL/J6 mice were divided into normal group,NAFLD group,low dose Tβ4 group and high dose Tβ4 group with 10 mice in each group.NAFLD mice model was established by feeding with high fat and high sugar diet for 16 weeks.The mice in low-dose Tβ4 group and high dose Tβ4 group were intraperitonealy injected with Tβ4 at 0.05 mg · kg-1 · d-1 and 0.20 mg · kg-1 · d-1,respectively,for eight weeks.The liver function indexes and serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) level were detected;the pathological changes of liver tissue were observed under optical microscope and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease activity score (NAS) was evaluated.The protein expression levels of nuclear factor-κB p65 (NF-κB p65) and nuclear factor κB inhibit protein a (IκBa) at the protein level in liver tissue were measured by Western blotting method.The expression of TNF-α in liver tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry.Mean integral absorbance (MIA) was calculated.T test was performed for groups comparison.Results The levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT),γ-glutamine transferase (GGT) and serum TNF-α levels of high dose Tβ4 group were all lower than those of NAFLD group ((28±17) U/L vs.(76±29) U/L,(61±39) U/L vs.(102±56) U/L,(144.1± 48.2) ng/L vs.(187.3±58.8) ng/L,respectively),and the differences were statistically significant (t=4.52,2.78 and 2.30,all P＜0.05).The NAS of low dose Tβ4 group and high dose Tβ4 group were both lower than that of NAFLD group (3.7±40.4,2.3±0.3 vs.4.6±0.3),and the differences were statistically significant (t=5.69 and 17.14,both P＜0.01).The relative expression level of Tβ4 protein of NAFLD group was lower than that of normal group (0.2±0.1 vs.1.4±0.6),and the difference was statistically significant (t=6.24,P＜0.01).The relative expression levels of Tβ4 and IκBa of high dose Tβ4 group were higher than those of NAFLD group (1.0±0.3,0.5±0.3 vs.0.2±0.1),and the differences were statistically significant (t=8.00 and 3.00,both P＜0.01).The relative expression level of NF-κB p65 in liver tissue of high dose Tβ4 group was lower than that of NAFLD group (0.6±0.3 vs.1.5±0.7),and the difference was statistically significant (t=3.74,P＜0.01).The MIA of high dose Tβ4 group was lower than that of NAFLD group (0.4±0.2 vs.0.7±0.3),and the difference was statistically significant (t=2.63,P＜ 0.01).Conclusion Tβ4 can effectively treat NAFLD probably through inhibiting the NF-κB pathway.
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Objective To evaluate the significance of serum 8-hydroxy-deoxyguanosine acid ( 8-OHdG) in the diagnosis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis ( NASH).Methods Patients or healthy subjects were enrolled at the Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University and the Second People ′s Hospital of Tianjin from May 2013 to December 2015.A total of 41 patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease were enrolled in the study , including 20 nonalcoholic simple fatty liver ( NAFL) patients and 21 NASH patients whose diagnosis were proven by liver biopsy.The other 32 healthy subjects were studied as controls.Serum 8-OHdG, ALT, AST and GGT were tested.Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease activity score ( NAS ) and expression of 8-OHdG in liver was investigated between NAFL patients and NASH patients.The correlations between serum 8-OHdG and serum ALT , AST, GGT, and 8-OHdG in liver tissue in NASH group were investigated.In addition , the receiver operating characteristic ( ROC) curve analyses for ALT and 8-OHdG levels were performed in NAFL patients and NASH patients , and the cut-off value was determined.Results Serum 8-OHdG values in healthy controls , NAFL and NASH patients were (0.19 ±0.16) μg/L, (0.22 ±0.16) μg/L, (0.42 ±0.21) μg/L respectively.The serum 8-OHdG and serum ALT, GGT and 8-OHdG in liver tissue were all positively correlated in NASH group with respective correlation coefficient r values as 0.454 7, 0.382 9, and 0.497 6.AUC of 8-OHdG was 0.901 with cut-off value 0.39 μg/L.Its sensitivity was 88.3%and specificity was 81.5%, which were higher than those of ALT.Conclusion The value of serum 8-OHdG would be used as a marker for the diagnosis of NASH.
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Objective To detect the level of serum fragmented cytokeratin 18 (CK-18 M30) in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), to explore the relationship between the expression of CK-18 M30 and NASH. Methods 33 healthy people as control group, 24 nonalcoholic simple fatty liver (NAFL) patients, and 21 NASH patients were included in this study. CK-18 M30, ALT, AST and GGT were detected in all patients’ vein blood. NAFLD activity points (NAS) was examined in biopsy specimens of NAFL patients and NASH patients. Pearson correlation was applied to analyze the correlations between serum CK-18 M30, ALT, AST, GGT and the NAS of liver tissue in NASH group. Results Serum CK-18 M30 level of healthy control, NAFL and NASH group were (96.557 2 ± 41.226 8)U/L, (104.321 7 ± 45.167 3)U/L, (263.125 5 ± 61.578 1)U/L respectively. Serum CK-18 M30 level in NASH patients positively correlated with both NAS of liver tissue and serum ALT, which correlation coefficient r values were 0.601 5 and 0.420 6. Conclusion The concentration of serum CK-18 M30 could be used as a marker in the diagnosis of NASH.
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Objective To investigate the impact and clinical significance of helicobacter pylori (Hp) elimination on ghrelin. Methods Forty patients with chronic superficial gastritis (CSG), 42 patients with chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG), 41 patients with peptic ulcer (PU) and 17 patients with gastric adenocarcinoma (CA) were included in this study. All of pa-tients in four groups were Hp-positive. Forty patients with Hp-negative were used as control. The Hp elimination were only performed in CAG,CSG and PU groups. The serum ghrelin and pepsinogen (PG) levels before and after Hp elimination were detected with ELISA assay in CSG, CAG and PU groups. The correlation between PG and glrelin was also detected. The ex-pression of ghrelin in gastric mucosa was detected by RT-PCR. Results Comparing with control group (30.41 ± 8.97), the ghrelin level was increased in PU group (35.42±9.87), but which were decreased in CAG group (18.59±8.19) and CA group (18.33±6.88). There was no significant difference in ghrelin level between CSG group (26.08±9.14) and control group. After Hp elimination, the serum and gastric mucosa ghrelin levels were significantly increased in CSG group (P＜0.01), but both serum and gastric mucosa ghrelin levels were significantly decreased in PU group (P＜0.01). And no significant difference in the level of ghrelin after Hp elimination in CAG group (P>0.05). A positive correlation was found between serum PGⅠ/PGⅡand serum ghrelin level in CSG, CAG and CA groups (r=0.668,P＜0.01). Conclusion Hp elimination has an impact on ghrelin level in patients with upper gastrointestinal diseases. The changes of ghrelin level related to PGⅠ/PGⅡ. Ghrelin can be used as one of the indexes of diagnostic and prognostic evaluation in Hp related upper gastrointestinal diseases.
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Objective To explore the effect of oral mosapride on gastrointestinal transit time in elderly patients undergoing capsule endoscopy.Methods A total of 61 patients referred for capsule endoscopy during 2010 September to 2012 January were involved in this study.40 patients over 65 years old were prospectively randomized into mosapride citrate group (n=19) or non-mosapride citrate group (n=21).Patients under 65 years old were in control group (n=21).Mosapride citrate group took 10 mg mosapride citrate orally before endoscopy.The gastrointestinal transit time was calculated.Results Gastric emptying time and small intestinal transit time of patients over 65 years old were significantly shorter in mosapride citrate group than in non-mosapride citrate group [(48.6± 21.1) minand (64.3±22.4) min,t=2.274,P=0.029; (302.2±67.6) min vs.(347.14±51.18) min,t=2.384,P=0.022].There were on significant differences in gastric emptying time and small intestinal transit time between non-older group [(45.4 ± 28.4) min and (284.8 ± 78.3) min] and mosapride citrate group (t=0.407,P=0.686;t=0.751,P=0.457).There was a difference in the image score between medication group and no medication group (4.94±0.63 versus 4.50±0.68; t=2.137,P=0.039) in over 65 years old patients.Conclusions Mosapride may decreased the gastric emptying time and small intestinal transit time,improves the capsules endoscopy image quality and testing completion rate.