ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the clinical features of Rathke cleft cysts(RCCs) in children diagnosed by pituitary magnetic resonance(MR) and their features on MR.Methods Twenty-two children with RCCs aged 2-18 years old who visited the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University Medical College between Jan.2002 and Feb.2012 were enrolled.RCCs was conformed by pituitary MR.The clinical symptoms and imaging features were reviewed retrospectively.Results The clinical presentation of symptomatic children were as follows:endocrinopathy in 13 cases (59.1％),headache in 5 cases(22.7％) and visual disturbance in 1 case(4.5％) and variety of symptoms in 3 cases (13.6％),which including 1 case of short stature and dysgenitalism,1 case of type 1 diabetes with electrolyte disorder and the other of headache associated with visual impairment.Endocrinopathy included short stature 5 cases(22.7％),precocious puberty 4 cases(18.2％)and diabetes insipidus 4 cases(18.2％).Generally,RCCs appeared various on Tl-weighted MR,whereas on T2-weighted sequences the signal intensity was mostly high.High signals in the T1-weighted image on brain MR were related to pituitary hormone deficiency.Hypointensity of the cysts in T1-weighted was appeared when enhanced images.Conclusions The most common clinical manifestation of children with RCCs is endocrinopathy.Pituitary MR shows a certain characteristics and it is favorable in agreement with pathological diagnosis.MR may be of predictive value for the preoperative diagnosis.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the protective effect of Astragalus on islet β cell apoptosis in vivo.Methods Fifty-six healthy male mice were divided into control group,diabetic mellitus (DM) group,and Astragalus pretreatment group.After pretreatment with different doses of Astragalus,each group of mice received intraperitoneal injection of Streptozotocin(STZ) in order to induce DM,and then the incidence of DM was observed.Serum nitric oxide (NO)was measured by the nitratase method,the activity of induced nitric oxide synthase(iNOS) was measured by chemical colorimetric method,and insulin level was detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay method.Insulitis score was evaluated according to pancreatic histology.Islet β cell apoptosis was measured by using a terminal dexynucleotidyl transferase(TdT)-mediated dUTP nick end labeling assay.Results 1.DM attack began 1 week after STZ injection in DM group.Pretreatment with 30 g/(kg · d) of Astragalus,DM appeared 2 weeks after STZ injection.Compared with DM group,the onset of DM was delayed,and the incidence of DM was significantly reduced(P ＜ 0.01).After pretreatment with 15 g/(kg · d) of Astragalus,the DM began 1 week after STZ injection,compared with DM group,the incidence of DM was reduced,but there was no statistical difference(P ＞ 0.05).2.Compared with DM group,after pretreatment with 30 g/(kg · d) of Astragalus,the activity of iNOS was significantly inhibited(all P ＜ 0.01),and then NO level significantly declined(all P ＜ 0.01),and the insulitis score and apoptosis of β cells were also significantly decreased (all P ＜ 0.01) ;after pretreatment with 15 g/(kg · d) of Astragalus,there was no statistical difference in all the indexes (all P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Astragalus can protect islet β cells of mice in vivo,which is associated with its inhibition on the iNOS activity,reduction on NO generation,and can decrease β cells insulitis and apoptosis.Therefore,improving the body free radicals scavenger ability may prevent and delay the occurrence of DM.