Curative effect of interferon-alpha on rat liver fibrosis induced by CCl4 / 中南大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the curative effect and the mechanism of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) on rat liver fibrosis induced by CCl4.@*METHODS@#Thirty-nine male SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups. The rats in the normal control group (n=10) received subcutaneous injection of peanut oil (0.003 mL/g body weight) for 10 weeks. Rat liver fibrosis was induced in 29 rats by 0.003 mL/g subcutaneous injection of 40% CCl4 (CCl4: peanut oil = 2:3), twice weekly for 10 weeks. In the 7th week, these 29 rats were randomly divided into a liver fibrosis group without treatment (n=15) and an IFN-alpha treatment group (n=14), which received subcutaneous injection of IFN-alpha-2b at 10(6) units per rat. The rats' liver tissue was collected and HE and Masson staining were performed to observe of pathological changes, stage of liver fibrosis,and semi-quantitative scoring. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of Collagen I, alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA),and transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) in the rat liver.@*RESULTS@#The stage of liver fibrosis, semi-quantitative scoring of Masson staining, and immunohistochemical staining of Collagen I in the liver fibrosis group were significantly higher than those of the normal controls (All P<0.01), and those in the IFN-alpha treatment group were significantly lower than those of the liver fibrosis group(P<0.05). The semi-quantitative immunohistochemical scoring of alpha-SMA and TGF-beta1 in the liver fibrosis group was significantly higher than those of the normal control (All P<0.01), and that in the IFN-alpha treatment group was significantly lower than that of the liver fibrosis group (All P<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#Treatment of IFN-alpha can decrease the liver fibrogenesis induced by CCl4 in rats. The anti-fibrosis effect of IFN-alpha may be attributed to the inhibition of the hepatic stellate cells' activation to decrease TGF-beta1 expression.

Effect of ranitidine on the gastric acid, plasma endothelin, and calcitonin gene-related peptide in patients undergoing the brain operation / 中南大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the effect of ranitidine on gastric acid, plasma endothelin, and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in patients undergoing the brain operation, and to explore the possible pathogenesis of ranitidine on preventing from gastric mucosal injury under the stress.@*METHODS@#Thirty patients who underwent brain surgery were randomly divided into 2 groups: Fifteen patients in the control group did not use ranitidine and the other 15 in the treatment group received ranitidine 150 mg intravenously twice daily besides the routine therapy. We continuously monitored the gastric pH value from 4 hours pre-operatively to 72 hours post-operatively in the 30 patients. We also determined the plasma endothelin and CGRP levels of the patients at the 4th hour pre-operatively and at the 4th, 24th, and 72nd hours post-operatively.@*RESULTS@#In the control group there was no significant difference between the mean intra-gastric pH values pre-operatively and post-operatively (P> 0.05). In the treatment group the level of intra-gastric pH was much higher than that in the control group (P< 0.05). In the control group, the level of plasma endothelin significantly higher and the level of calcitonin gene-related peptide significantly lower than that pre-operatively (P< 0.01), but the level of plasma endothelin significantly was lower and the level of calcitonin gene-related peptide obviously higher in the post-operative treatment group than that pre-operatively (P< 0.01).@*CONCLUSION@#The brain operation obviously influences the endogenous plasma endothelin and CGRP levels, but its influence on the intra-gastric acid is not visible. Ranitidine can obviously decrease the level of intra-gastric acid, and improve the macrocirculation of gastric mucous membrane by decreasing ET and increasing the CGRP level.

Study on the prognostic factors of patients with invasive bladder cancer after radical surgery / 中华泌尿外科杂志

Objective To investigate the prognostic factors affecting the postoperative survival of patients with invasive bladder cancer,and to predict the survival time of the patients.Methods We retro- spectively analyzed the clinical and follow-up data of 178 patients with invasive bladder cancer treated by radical cystectomy and urinary diversion from 1991 to 2004.A multivariate analysis was performed in these patients by the Cox proportional hazard model.A prognostic index(PI)based on the Cox regression was con- structed.According to the individualized PI,the patients were classified into different hazard groups and the expected survival curve of each patient was calculated.Results Cox regression analysis showed that the factors which influenced the postoperative survival included tumor stage(RR=1.982,P=0.000),grade (RR=1.978,P =0.042),lymph node metastasis(RR=2.142,P=0.048),Tis(RR=6.177,P= 0.000),tumor shape(RR=0.416,P=0.003),number of tumors( RR=1.820,P=0.035),pathological type(RR=2.228,P=0.032),patient age(RR=0.672,P=0.025)and neoadjuvant chemotherapy (RR=0.257,P=0.016).Based on the percentile of PI,patients were classified into 3 prognostic groups; the median survival time of 3 groups were 42.5,22.5 and 7.0 months,respectively.There were significant differences between each 2 among the 3 groups(P＜0.01).Conclusions Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, tumor stage,grade,lymph node metastasis,Tis,shape and number of tumors,pathological type,patient age were important prognostic factors.PI value can be used to predict the prognosis of patients with invasive blad- der cancer.