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BACKGROUND:Congenital clubfoot mainly manifests as abnormal bone itself and abnormal cartilage development.The bone morphogenetic protein(BMP)/drosophila mothers against decapentaplegic protein(Smad)signaling pathway can direct the development of bone and cartilage during embryonic period,but its role in the field of clubfoot etiology has not been confirmed in animal experiments. OBJECTIVE:To explore the mechanism by which the BMP/Smad signaling pathway is involved in the regulation of foot and ankle chondroplasia in a rat congenital clubfoot model. METHODS:Sprague-Dawley rats at 10 days of gestation with the same growth condition were randomly divided into experimental and control groups.The experimental group was intragastrically given 135 mg/kg retinoic acid to make the clubfoot model,while the control group was given the same amount of vegetable oil.The fetal rats were taken out after 21 days of gestation by cesarean section.In the experimental group,the 27 of 41 fetal rats had clubfoot,with a deformity rate of 65.9%;in the control group,no clubfoot was observed in all the 36 fetuses.The ankles tissues of the rats were collected for hematoxylin-eosin staining.Western blot assay,RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry were performed to detect the expression levels of Smad5 and P-Smad5,the core proteins of the BMP/Smad signaling pathway,as well as SP7 and Sox9,the downstream proteins of the BMP/Smad signaling pathway. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with the control group,hematoxylin-eosin staining showed that the cartilage matrix in the foot and ankle tissues increased and the gap between the bones increased in the experimental group.Immunohistochemical findings showed that the expression levels of Smad5 and SP7 decreased in the experimental group,while the mRNA expression of Sox9 increased.RT-qPCR results showed that the mRNA expression of Smad5 and SP7 decreased,while the mRNA expression of Sox9 increased in the foot and ankle tissues of rats in the experimental group.Western blot results showed that P-Smad5/Smad5 expression and SP7 expression were decreased and Sox9 expression was increased in the ankle of rats in the experimental group.To conclude,the occurrence of cartilage abnormalities in the foot and ankle of the rat model of congenital clubfoot is associated with impaired transmission of the BMP/Smad signaling pathway.
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@#The aim of this research were to prepare CI-921 mixed micelles(CI-Micelles), to establish a method for determining the entrapment efficiency of CI-Micelles, to optimize the formulation and to evaluate their in vitro properties. CI-Micelles were prepared by film dispersion. Dialysis and fitting were used to calculate true entrapment efficiency(EE)and drug loading(DL)of CI-Micelles. The influences of polymer concentration, polymer radio and hydrating media on the entrapment efficiency, drug loading and particle-size were investigated. The stability at 4 °C in 6 days was evaluated. The optimal formulation of CI-921-Micelles consisting of polymer concentration of 72 mg/mL, a mass radio of Pluronic F127/Solutol HS15 at mass ratio of 1 ∶2 and 5% glucose solution as hydrating medium, showed a EE of more than 90%, and mean particle-size of 17-25 nm and PDI< 0. 210. There were no significant changes to CI-Micelles in EE and particle-size after treatment at 4 °C for 6 days. The applied method of dialysis and fitting could be used to determine EE for micelles loaded with weakly basic drug which was difficult to meet sink conditions. Adjustment of the mass radio of Pluronic F127 to Solutol HS15 had resulted in uniform particle size distribution, high entrapment efficiency and drug loading capacity and better stability of CI-Micelles.