ABSTRACT
Objective To establish the rat model of collagen-induced arthritis and study the diagnostic value of MRI for early RA by comparing to pathological changes. Methods Thirty Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal groups and experimental groups.Fifteen rats of the experimental groups were immunized with type Ⅱ collagen and Freund's Adjuvant Incomplete. At the scheduled days, the selected rats of both experimental and normal groups underwent X-ray, 1.5T MR scan plus enhancement and histological analysis. Results Arthritis Index increased on the 14th day after immunization and reached the peak on the 28th day in the experimental group, the positivity of Anti-CⅡ antibody was significantly different from the normal group.The experiemental model was established in 93.33% of all rats. The enhanced MRI showed that 12 (12/15) rats presented with abnormal signs . The sensitivity of MRI was 85.71% and the specificity was 100%. There was no significant correlation could be found between MRI and histological changes X-ray revealed soft tissue swollen in 4 (4/15) rats, which showed that MRI had higher sensitivity in detecting abnormal signs of arthritis than X-ray. Conclusion MRI may be used in the early diagnosis of early RA.
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Objective To investigate the quantity of perforin (PF) expressed on peripheral lymphocytes of active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and its distribution in lymphocytes subsets. The effect of glucocorticosteroid on PF expression is also explored. Methods Phenotype analysis of peripheral lymphocytes was carried out by flow cytometry. SLE patients with SLEDAI≥10 (n=16) and normal controls (n=12) were enrolled into this study. The PF expressed on the iymphocytes of SLE patients with disease flares (n=10) Was studied before and after glucocorticosteroid treatment. Results SLE patients with active disease were characterized by higher proportions of PF-positive lymphocytes and higher perforin density. PF and CD8 double positive T cell proportions was evidently increased. The proportions of PF-positive lymphocytes was correlated to SLEDAI (r=0.673). After a short period of glucocorticosteroid therapy, a reduced expression of PF was observed. Conclusion There is an increased expression of perforin in peripheral lymphocytes from SLE patients with active disease. CD8 positive T cell subsets expand significantly in those patients. In addition, the frequency of PF-positive lymphocytes is correlated with SLEDAI. Finally, glucocorticosteroid inhibits the expression of perforin.
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Objective Through investigating the effect of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on the expression of yon Willebrand factor (vWF) and soluble thrumbomodulin (sTM) of vascular endothelial cells stimulated by serum of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients to discuss the repairing effect of MSCs on injured endothelium of SLE patients.Methods When human umbilical vein endothelial cell strain ECV-304 was co-cultivated with serum of SLE patients in vitro for twelve hours in order to induce endothelial cells injury,then MSCs were seeded for three days.Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the expression of vWF and sTM in the supernatant.Results When ECV-304 was stimulated by serum of SLE patients,the expression of vWF and sTM in the supernatant was significantly higher than that in the groups not stimulated by serum of SLE patients;When MSCs were seeded ,the expression of vWF in the Lupus serum stimulated group in which MSCs were seeded was significantly lower than that in the lupus serum stimulated group in which MSCs were not seeded,but the expression of sTM between the lupus serum stimulated group which MSCs were seeded and the lupus serum stimulated group in which MSCs were not seeded was not significantly deviatied.Conclusion Serum of lupus patients at active stage can cause injure vascular endothelial cells.MSCs can downregulate the expression of vWF of vascular endothelial cells.These suggest it may participate in the repairing of injured vascular endothelium of SLE patients.