ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the clinical effificacy of treatment with catgut implantation at acupoints on simple obesity.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Following the theory of Chinese medicine (CM), pattern identification (PI) and treatment was based on the patient's symptoms and signs. Patients were observed during three courses and one year following treatment through self-comparison before and after six or seven acupoints catgut implantation. Obesity was divided into fifive types based on PI: (1) Stomach (Wei) and Intestine excess-heat, (2) Spleen (Pi) defificiency and phlegmwet stagnancy, (3) Liver (Gan)-qi stagnation, (4) Spleen-Kidney (Shen) yang deficiency, and (5) Liver-Kidney yin defificiency. Changes in the following measurements were recorded in 820 patients: body weight, body girth, skinfold thickness, body mass index (BMI), fat percentage (F%) and waist/hip ratio (WHR) and in the following blood values: leptin (LP), insulin (INS), blood lipids, fasting blood sugar (FBS), and insulin sensitive index (ISI) before and after the treatment. Values were compared with those of healthy controls (normal group).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Catgut implantation showed effificacy with all fifive types of obesity. Effificacy was greater in males than in females. There was no signifificant difference between the different types by Kruskal-Wallis H test, but the effect was best and of the highest number in patients with Stomach and Intestine excess-heat. Skin-fold thickness, body weight, waist circumference, F%, BMI, and WHR in all 820 cases decreased after treatment (at 90 days and one year), with signifificant differences before and after treatment (P<0.01). Improved metabolism of blood lipids was also seen. Following treatment, LP, INS, and FBS decreased signifificantly (P<0.01) and ISI increased signifificantly (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Catgut implantation at acupoints provided effective and persistent results, convenience, safety, painlessness, and prolonged effect with no side effects, resulting in reduced body weight and fat and improvement in body shape.</p>
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Male , Acupuncture Points , Catgut , Obesity , Therapeutics , Weight LossABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effects of cuttlefish bone-bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) composite material on osteogenesis and revascularization of bone defect in rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The cuttlefish bone was formed into cylinder with the diameter of about 5 mm and height of about 2 mm after the shell was removed, and then it was soaked in the recombinant human BMP 2 to make a cuttlefish bone-BMP (CBB) composite material. Thirty SD rats, with a defect of skull in every rat, were divided into the CBB and pure cuttlefish bone (PCB) groups according to the random number table, with 15 rats in each group. The rats in the group CBB and group PCB were transplanted with the corresponding material to repair the skull defect. At post transplantation week (PTW) 4, 6, and 8, 5 rats from every group were sacrificed by exsanguination, and ink perfusion was performed. One day later, all the transplants and part of the skull surrounding the defect were harvested, and general observation was conducted at the same time. The specimens were paraffin sectioned for HE staining and Masson staining. The area of microvessel and the area of newborn bone were observed and analyzed through histopathological techniques and image collection system. Data were processed with the analysis of variance of factorial design and LSD test. The correlation between the area of microvessel and the area of newborn bone of the group CBB was analyzed with Pearson correlation analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) The general observation of the transplant region showed that the transplants were encapsulated by a capsule of fibrous connective tissue. The texture of capsule was soft and relatively thick at PTW 4. The texture was tenacious and thin, but rather compact at PTW 6 and 8. The transplants became gelatinous at PTW 4, and similar to the cartilage tissue at PTW 6 and 8. (2) Histological observation showed that the structure of the transplants in two groups was damaged at PTW 4. A moderate quantity of inflammatory cell infiltration could be observed. The amounts of the primary bone trabeculae and microvessels in group CBB were more abundant than those of group PCB, while the number of osteoclasts was less than those of group PCB. At PTW 6, the inflammatory cell infiltration in the transplants in both groups decreased obviously, the cuttlefish bone was found to be further degraded, and the number of newborn microvessels was increased. There were mature bone trabeculae around the transplants in both groups. And there were also mature bone trabeculae in the degraded CBB in group CBB. At PTW 8, the inflammatory reaction in the transplants in both groups disappeared; there were more mature bone trabeculae; the structure of the cuttlefish bone was found to be damaged basically. Bone trabeculae in group PCB were found around the transplant, while the bone trabeculae could be observed not only around the transplant but also in the degraded CBB in group CBB. The amount of the microvessels in group CBB was still larger than that of group PCB. (3) From PTW 4 to 8, the area of microvessel in group CBB [(63 ± 4), ( 136 ± 36), ( 347 ± 31) µm(2)] was larger than that in group PCB [(44 ± 7), (73 ± 4), (268 ± 42) µm(2), P < 0.05 or P < 0.01]. From PTW 4 to 8, the area of newborn bone in group CBB [(236 ± 26), (339 ± 42), (553 ± 40) µm(2)] was larger than that in group PCB [(137 ± 15), (243 ± 21), (445 ± 29) µm(2), with P values all below 0.01]. (4) The relation between the area of microvessel and the area of newborn bone was significantly positive (r = 0.948, P = 0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The CBB may exert good effect on osteogenesis and vascularization of rats with bone defect. It is a good three dimensional scaffold in bone tissue engineering.</p>