Effect of corticosterone on lissencephaly 1 expression in developing cerebral cortical neurons of fetal rats cultured in vitro / 中国当代儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of corticosterone on the expression of the neuronal migration protein lissencephaly 1 (LIS1) in developing cerebral cortical neurons of fetal rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The primary cultured cerebral cortical neurons of fetal Wistar rats were divided into control group, low-dose group, and high-dose group. The neurons were exposed to the medium containing different concentrations of corticosterone (0 μmol/L for the control group, 0.1 μmol/L for the low-dose group, and 1.0 μmol/L for the high-dose group). The neurons were collected at 1, 4, and 7 days after intervention. Western blot and immunocytochemical staining were used to observe the change in LIS1 expression in neurons.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Western blot showed that at 7 days after intervention, the low- and high-dose groups had significantly higher expression of LIS1 in the cytoplasm and nucleus of cerebral cortical neurons than the control group (P<0.05), and the high-dose group had significantly lower expression of LIS1 in the cytoplasm of cerebral cortical neurons than the low-dose group (P<0.05). Immunocytochemical staining showed that at 1, 4, and 7 days after corticosterone intervention, the high-dose group had a significantly lower mean optical density of LIS1 than the control group and the low-dose group (P<0.05). At 7 days after intervention, the low-dose group had a significantly lower mean optical density of LIS1 than the control group (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Corticosterone downregulates the expression of the neuronal migration protein LIS1 in developing cerebral cortical neurons of fetal rats cultured in vitro, and such effect depends on the concentration of corticosterone and duration of corticosterone intervention.</p>

Analysis on health information extracted from an urban professional population in Beijing / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>The assembled data from a population could provide information on health trends within the population. The aim of this research was to extract and know basic health information from an urban professional population in Beijing.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Data analysis was carried out in a population who underwent a routine medical check-up and aged > 20 years, including 30 058 individuals. General information, data from physical examinations and blood samples were collected in the same method. The health status was separated into three groups by the criteria generated in this study, i.e., people with common chronic diseases, people in a sub-clinic situation, and healthy people. The proportion of both common diseases suffered and health risk distribution of different age groups were also analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The proportion of people with common chronic diseases, in the sub-clinic group and in the healthy group was 28.6%, 67.8% and 3.6% respectively. There were significant differences in the health situation in different age groups. Hypertension was on the top of list of self-reported diseases. The proportion of chronic diseases increased significantly in people after 35 years of age. Meanwhile, the proportion of sub-clinic conditions was decreasing at the same rate. The complex risk factors to health in this population were metabolic disturbances (61.3%), risk for tumor (2.7%), abnormal results of morphological examination (8.2%) and abnormal results of lab tests of serum (27.8%).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Health information could be extracted from a complex data set from the heath check-ups of the general population. The information should be applied to support prevention and control chronic diseases as well as for directing intervention for patients with risk factors for disease.</p>

Functional magnetic resonance imaging and immunohistochemical study of hypothalamic function following oral glucose ingestion in rats / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>The hypothalamus plays a central role in the regulation of metabolism by sensing metabolic demands and releasing regulatory neurotransmitters. This study investigated the response of the hypothalamus to glucose ingestion in rats by blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-fMRI) and immunohistochemical techniques to determine the role of the hypothalamus in glyco-regulation during disturbances in carbohydrate metabolism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The signal intensity of the hypothalamus was monitored by fMRI for 60 minutes after oral glucose intake in 48 healthy rats (age 14 months), which included 24 normal weight rats (weighing (365 +/- 76.5) g) and 24 overweight rats (weighing (714 +/- 83.5) g). Then, 12 rats (6 normal, 6 overweight) underwent a repeat fMRI scan after consuming an equivalent amount of water without glucose on a separate day. The procedure for fMRI with water intake was the same as for glucose ingestion. fMRI data was processed using time cluster analysis and intensity averaging method. After fMRI, the expression of neuropeptide Y (NPY) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in the hypothalamus of all rats was determined by immunohistochemistry. Positive cells for NPY or 5-HT were counted.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There was a transient, but significant, decrease in fMRI signal intensity in all rats (mean (3.12 +/- 0.78)%) in the hypothalamus within 19.5 - 25.5 minutes of oral glucose ingestion. In overweight rats, the decrease in signal intensity in response to the glucose ingestion was more markedly attenuated than that observed in normal weight rats ((2.2 +/- 1.5)% vs (4.2 +/- 0.7)% inhibition, t = 2.12, P < 0.05). There was no significant response in the hypothalamus after oral water ingestion. The percentage of NPY positive cells in obese rats were slightly lower than those in control group (21% vs 23%, t = 0.71, P > 0.05); but there was no significant difference between the two groups; the percentage of 5-HT positive cells in obese rats were significantly lower than those in the control group (22% vs 31%, t = 3.25, P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>There is a transient, but significant, decrease in BOLD signal intensity in the hypothalamus following glucose ingestion, which is similar to that observed in humans. The response of the hypothalamus to glucose ingestion was different in overweight and normal weight rats. The percentage of NPY positive cells in obese rats were lower than those in the control group, although this difference was not statistically significant. The percentage of 5-HT positive cells in obese rats was significantly lower than those in the control group.</p>