1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the evaluation of high intensity focused ultrasound ablation for primary liver cancer / 中华肝脏病杂志

To investigate the clinical value of 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) in the evaluation of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation for primary liver cancer. Routine magnetic resonance sequences, contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging and respiratory-triggered single voxel point resolved spectroscopy sequence (PRESS) were performed on 24 patients with primary liver cancer before and after HIFU ablation. A respiratory-triggered axial T2 weighted imaging (T2WI) was used as localizer for PRESS. Spectroscopy data was transmitted to a personal computer and was post-processed with a custom software (Saker, provided by Ning Jing, an engineer in GE Healthcare). It would be considered "technical success" if the baselines of spectra were stable and main metabolites were without overlapping and could be identified. Integral areas of choline (Cho) peak at 3.2 parts per million (ppm) and lipid (Lip) peak at 1.3 ppm were measured, and the choline to lipid (Cho/Lip) ratios were calculated. The differences of areas of Cho, Lip peak and Cho/Lip ratios before and after HIFU ablation were compared by using paired samples t test, and a P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The technical success rate of 1H-MRS was 87.50% (42/48). Integral areas of Cho peak and Lip peak of 20 patients with satisfied spectra were measured, and the Cho/Lip ratios were calculated. The Integral area of Cho peak decreased from 34 597+/-6 802 before HIFU ablation to 6 372+/-2 466 after HIFU ablation (t = 18.02, P less than 0.01). The Integral area of Lip peak increased from 147 948+/-16 317 before HIFU ablation to 149 069+/-16 345 after HIFU ablation (t = -15.11, P less than 0.01). The Cho/Lip ratio decreased from 0.23+/-0.03 before HIFU ablation to 0.04+/-0.02 after HIFU ablation (t = 25.32, P less than 0.01). 1H-MRS could provide information of metabolites changes of primary liver cancer after HIFU ablation and could be used as a complementary sequence to other magnetic resonance sequences to evaluate all around primary liver cancer after HIFU ablation.

Multidrug resistance in breast cancer cells during epithelial-mesenchymal transition is modulated by breast cancer resistant protein / 癌症

<p><b>BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE</b>Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) not only initiates invasion and metastasis of tumors, but also induces multidrug resistance in tumor cells. Our experiment analyzed the dependability between breast cancer resistant protein (BCRP) and EMT in breast cancer to explore the effect of EMT on BCRP-mediated multidrug resistance.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The expressions of BCRP and transcription inhibitor Snai1 (Snail) in breast cancer were detected by immunohistochemistry. The eukaryotic expression vector pCDNA3.1-Snail was constructed and then transfected into human breast cancer cell line MCF-7. Snail, epithelial marker gene E-cadherin, interstitial marker gene Vimentin, multidrug resistance protein BCRP, and relative drug resistance were measured by immunofluorescence, Western blot, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and MTT assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Immunohistochemistry showed that Snail was highly correlated with BCRP in breast cancer. Immunofluorescence, Western blot, real-time PCR revealed that compared with parent cell MCF-7, after transfected with Snail, the expression of E-cadherin in MCF-7 decreased, but Snail, Vimentin, and BCRP increased. MTT displayed that the relative drug resistance increased to 9.93.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>After transfected with eukaryotic expression vector pCDNA3.1-Snail, breast cancer cells MCF-7 showed EMT with BCRP-mediated multidrug resistance.</p>

Establishment of liver fibrosis in rabbit model and quantitative study on hepatic perfusion with dynamic whole-liver 3D MR imaging / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the ideal approach in creating rabbit model of hepatic fibrosis and to evaluate the feasibility and value of dynamic whole-liver 3D magnetic resonance (MR) perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) in the quantitative study on the staging of hepatic fibrosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Rabbit model of hepatic fibrosis was created by intraperitoneal injection of 5% and 100% carbon tetrachloride (0.1 ml/kg, once a week) respectively. MR perfusion weighted imaging was performed at the 6th, 8th, 10th and 12th week since injection. The time of peak (TOP), the time to peak (TTP), the maximum slope of increase(MSI) and the maximal relative signal increase (MRSI) of portal vein and hepatic parenchyma were analyzed quantitatively, and were compared with pathological results. Comparison of different concentrations of CCl4 was analyzed using chi-square test. Inter-group comparison of perfusion parameters was analyzed using one-way ANOVA P less than 0.05 was regarded as statistically significant.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>40% of the rabbits treated with 5% carbon tetrachloride developed hepatic fibrosis, while 75% of the rabbits treated with 100% carbon tetrachloride developed hepatic fibrosis; the mortality rate is significantly different between these two groups (X2=5.013, P less than 0.05). PWI examination was successfully achieved in 31 rabbits, liver perfusion baseline was stable, and good TIC curve was obtained. With the progress of hepatic fibrosis, TOP and TTP of portal vein and hepatic parenchyma were increased, and MSI and MRSI were decreased. There were significant differences among stage of S0-S2, S3 and S4.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The method (100% carbon tetrachloride intraperitoneal injection, 0.1 ml/kg, once a week) has high success rate of creating rabbit model of hepatic fibrosis. The stage of hepatic fibrosis could be evaluated quantitatively with dynamic whole-liver 3D MR perfusion-weighted imaging.</p>

The application of 3D liver acquisition volume acceleration integrated with array spatial sensitivity encoding technique in liver dynamic-enhancement scanning / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the application of 3D liver acquisition volume acceleration (3D-LAVA) integrated with array spatial sensitivity encoding technique (ASSET) in liver dynamic-enhancement scanning.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>One hundred forty-seven patients underwent conventional plain and contrast enhancement liver MR imaging. 3D-LAVA and 2D fast spoiled gradient recalled echo were used for contrast enhancement liver MR scanning in 90 and 57 patients respectively. In the 3D-LAVA group, integrated ASSET was used in 72 out of the 90 patients. Of the 57 patients who underwent examinations using 2D fast spoiled gradient recalled echo, portal vein CE-MRA was performed on 20. The ability of 3D-LAVA to detect the lesions and the advantage to shorten the acquisition time after integrating with ASSET were analyzed. Original images of 60 patients in the 3D-LAVA group were processed using MIP to illustrate the anatomy of the portal vein. They were compared with those shown by CE-MRA to evaluate the illustration abilities of the two approaches.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>3D-LAVA is more sensitive than 2D-FSPGR in detecting metastatic hepatic carcinomas. In the 3D-LAVA group integrated with ASSET, earlier and peak arterial phase images were acquired in 34 cases; and earlier, peak and late arterial phase images were acquired in 23 cases. The illustrations of the portal vein anatomy by 3D-LAVA were similar to those shown by portal vein CE-MRA.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>3D-LAVA integrated with ASSET can obtain higher quality multi-phase dynamic enhancement images of the liver in a shorter time, and in the meantime also shows the vascular anatomy.</p>

Study on corresponding areas the liver and lung channels in brain with fMRI / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore distribution of the Liver and Lung Channels in the brain so as to provide imaging basis for construction of channel theory in the brain.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty healthy student volunteers were randomly divided into a Liver Channel group (I) and a Lung Channel group (II), and the each group was further divided into five subgroups with 6 volunteers in each subgroup, based on five-shu-point principles which, were Dadun (LR 1, I 1), Xingjian (LR 2, I 2), Taichong (LR 3, I 3), Zhongfeng (LR 4, I 4), Ququan (LR 8, I 5), Shaoshang (LU 11, II 1), Yuji (LU 10, II 2), Taiyuan (LU 9, II 3), Jingqu (LU 8, II 4), and Chize (LU 5, II 5), respectively. In order to observe the brain activating patterns during acupuncture at the different acupoints, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique was adopted. All image data were then analyzed with SPM 2 software. The statistical parameter gram was composed of the pixel P < 0.01, and anatomic location was made according to Talairach coordinate, attaining experimentally activated areas, and the commonly activated area of five-shu-point of each channel was considered as the brain distribution of the Liver and Lung Channels.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The common areas activated by the five-shu-points of the Liver Channel were homolateral Brodmann area (BA) 34, BA 47, red nucleus, contralateral BA 19, BA 30, BA 39, the superior parietal lobule, cerebellum decline, and bilateral BA 3 and culmen. The common areas activated by the five-shu-points of the Lung Channels included homolateral BA 2, BA 18, BA 35, and contralateral BA 9 and substania nigra.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There are relatively specific corresponding brain areas for the Liver and Lung Channels, indicating that there is possible relatively specific connection between channels and the brain.</p>