Comparison of early clinical effects between Activ C cervical disc replacement and anterior cervical discectomy and fusion for single-level cervical spondylosis / 中国骨伤

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare the early clinical effects of Activ C cervical disc replacement (ACDR) and anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) in treating single-level cervical spondylosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical data of 76 patients with single-level cervical spondylosis underwent surgery from July 2009 to September 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 28 patients were treated with ACDR (ACDR group), including 18 males and 10 females, aged from 32 to 62 years old with an average of (45.2±6.2) years; and 48 patients were treated with ACDF (ACDF group), including 28 males and 20 females, aged from 33 to 60 years old with an average of (45.8±6.4) years. Visual analogue scale (VAS), Japanese Orthopedics Association (JOA) score, Short Form-36 (SF-36), imaging data were used to assess the clinical effects after operation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 76 patients were followed up from 6 to 24 months with an average of 13.2 months. VAS of neck pain and brachialgia were improved in all patients after operation (P<0.05), there was no significant difference between two group (P>0.05). Somato-score and psycho-score of SF-36 of two groups were obviously increased (P<0.05), ACDR group was better than that of ACDF group (P<0.05). In ACDR group, there was no significant difference in the range of motion of surgical segments and adjacent segments between preoperative and postoperative (P>0.05); heterotopic ossification around the edge of vertebral body occurred in 1 case on the 6th month after operation, no fusion was found on the 1st year after operation. In ACDF group, the adjacent vertebral disease occurred in 1 case and the patient underwent the reoperation.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Activ C cervical disc replacement can reduce the degeneration of adjacent segments and its early outcomes for the treatment of single-level cervical spondylosis are satisfactory, but the long-term effects still need study.</p>

Bufo gargarizans mcl-1 cloning and its prokaryotic recombinant protein expression / 药学学报

MCL-1 is encoded by myeloid cell leukemia-1 gene (mcl-1), which is one of the anti-apoptotic members of bcl-2 cell apoptotic gene superfamily. ChanSu is made of dorsal secretions of several Bufo species, commonly used in the prescriptions of traditional Chinese medicine for treating many diseases including cancer. To clarify if mcl-1 is expressed in the dorsal skin of B. gargarizans, the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) was performed with its dorsal skin first strand cDNA as the template and a pair of specific primers of mcl-1, and PCR products were cloned into the pGM-T vector. DNA sequencing indicated that the ORF length was 639 bp encoding 212 amino acid residues, and the homology of 44%-95% with the MCL-1 of several other animals. For the further studies on MCL-1 biological functions during the oncogenesis and preparation of its antibody, the prokaryotic expression construct of pET-28b-mcl-1 was prepared which was confirmed by DNA sequencing, and its recombinant protein expression (0.02% wet weight) in E. coli BL21 (DE3) strain was confirmed by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting.

Cloning and bioinformatic analysis of TAGLN2 cDNA of Bufo japonicus formosus / 药学学报

To study the bioactive polypeptides included in Bufo skin and its secretions the plasmid skin cDNA library of adult Japanese toad Bufo japonicus formosus was prepared. The pSD64TR has been used as the vector and the cloning sites are Xho I and EcoR I. To screen cDNAs encoding bioactive components, the plasmid cDNA library was transformed into E. coli DH5 competent cells, and positive colonies were screened by colony PCR (polymerase chain reaction). The suspension of a single colony in LB medium was used as the template, SP6 (the upstream primer of the plasmid cDNA library) and a primer with Xho I site and polyT were used as the primers. As the result, 465 positive colonies out of 1 344 were obtained and their plasmid were collected and sequenced. By homologous analysis, it was found that one of the cDNAs encoding a peptide with high homolog with transgelin-2, which was registered in GenBank (accession number: JX197456), and it was indicated as a partial cDNA sequence with a deletion at the 5' end. The transcript is 997 bp consisting of 31 bp 5', 618 bp 3' untranslated region (UTR) and an open reading frame (ORF) of 348 bp encoding a polypeptide of 115 amino acids. In the putative protein product, there is a calponin homology domain, two cysteine residues for a disulfide bond and three a-helix domains, and five potential phosphorylation sites. The homologous analysis indicates 90% similarity with Xenopus (Silurana) tropicalis and 89% with Xenopus laevis, and 71%-85% with other species.