Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can augment the effectiveness of cognition training for persons with vascular cognitive impairment / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

Objective:To explore the effect of combining hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy with cognition training for persons with vascular cognitive impairment (VCI).Methods:Forty-two persons with VCI were randomly divided into a control group of 19 and a research group of 23. In addition to basic treatment, the control group was given hyperbaric oxygen therapy once a day, 5 days per week for 4 weeks, while the research group received cognition training along with the hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Each person′s cognition was assessed using the Simple Mental Status Scale (MMSE) before and after the four-week treatment. Meanwhile, 3ml of venous blood was collected before eating in the morning to test the plasma levels of Klotho protein and homocysteine using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.Results:After the treatment the average MMSE score had improved significantly in both group, with the improvement in the research group′s average significantly greater than that in the control group. The average plasma levels of Klotho protein and homocysteine had also improved significantly more in the research group. In the control group, the only significant improvement was in the average homocysteine level.Conclusions:Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be an effective supplement to cognition training for persons with vascular cognitive impairment.

Effects of early postnatal exposure to dieldrin on synaptic development of striatum in mice / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of early postnatal exposure to dieldrin on striatum synaptic development in lactation, adolescence and adulthood of mice.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The pups were divided into 5 groups randomly. Three groups were exposed to dieldrin (0.01% DMSO solution) at doses of 0.2, 2.0 and 20.0 microg/kg and two control groups were exposed to DMSO or saline by intraperitoneal injection of every other day from postnatal days (PND) 3 to PND13. The striatum were isolated from brain in lactation (PND14), adolescence (PND36) and adulthood (PND98). Western blot assay was used to detect the expression levels of striatal synaptic proteins.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The postnatal exposure to dieldrin could reduce the level of growth associated protein (GAP43) of striatum in lactation in a dose-dependent manner. In adolescence, the level of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in striatum increased and the levels of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), GAP43 and post-synaptic density protein 95 (PSD95) decreased with exposure doses. The level of Synapsin I decreased in adolescence male mice. The changes of expression levels of GFAP, TH and PSD95 proteins lasted to adulthood.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Early postnatal exposure to dieldrin could affect the expression level of GAP43 protein in striatum. The expression levels of TH and PSD95 proteins in striatum decreased in adolescence and adulthood. These results indicated that the early postnatal exposure to dieldrin may persistently interfere in the striatal synaptic development.</p>

Effects of postnatal lambda-cyhalothrin exposure on synaptic proteins in ICR mouse brain / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the influence on the synaptic protein expression in different brain regions of ICR mice after lambda-cyhalothrin (LCT) exposure during postnatal period.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Two male and 4 female healthy ICR mice were put in one cage. It was set as pregnancy if vaginal plug was founded. Offspring were divided into 5 groups randomly, and exposed to LCT (0.01% DMSO solution) at the doses of 0.1, 1.0 and 10.0 mg/kg by intragastric rout every other day from postnatal days (PND) 5 to PND13, control animals were treated with normal saline or DMSO by the same route. The brains were removed from pups on PND 14, the synaptic protein expression levels in cortex, hippocampus and striatum were measured by western blot.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>GFAP levels of cortex and hippocampus in the LCT exposure group increased with doses, as compared with control group (P < 0.05), while Tuj protein expression did not change significantly in the various brain regions of ICR mice. GAP-43 protein expression levels in the LCT exposed mouse hippocampus and in female ICR mouse cortex increased with doses, as compared with control group (P < 0.05). Presynaptic protein (Synapsin I) expression levels did not change obviously in various brain regions. However, postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD95) expression levels of the hippocampus and striatum in male offspring of 10.0 mg/kg LCT group, of cortex of female LCT groups, and of female offspring in all exposure groups, of striatum, in 1.0 or 10.0 mg/kg LCT exposure groups significantly decreased (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Early postnatal exposure to LCT affects synaptic protein expression. These effects may ultimately affect the construction of synaptic connections.</p>

Effect of aluminum trichloride on dissociated Ca2+ in Hippocampus neuron cell as well as learning and memory / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of aluminum chloride on dissociated Ca(2+) in hippocampus neuron cells in mice and the relationship to the learning and memory.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Male ICR mice in the three intoxicated groups were administered with the double distilled water containing AlCl(3) (10, 50, 300 mg.kg(-1).d(-1)) while those in the control group were administered with the double distilled water for 100 days. The methods of behavior toxicology such as Morris swim maze were used for studying the effect of aluminum chloride on the changes of learning and memory in mice. With calcium sensitive fluorescence indicator Fura-2 as the fluorescent probe, the influence of the subchronic exposure to Al on the dissociated Ca(2+) in hippocampus neuron cells was observed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The dissociated Ca(2+) in hippocampus neuron cells in the middle dosage group and the high dosage group [(412.25 +/- 53.20), (467.37 +/- 32.85) times] was lower than those in the control group [(293.91 +/- 32.21) times] respectively (P < 0.01), and correlated positively with the dose and dissociated Ca(2+) (r = 0.861, P < 0.01). Compared with the control group, the latent period was lengthened (P < 0.05) in the middle dosage and the high dosage group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The subchronic exposure to AlCl(3) in mice affects the dissociated Ca(2+) in hippocampus neuron cells. The increase of dissociated Ca(2+) in hippocampus neuron cells may be correlated with the disfunction of cognition in the aluminium intoxicated mice.</p>