Changes of encephalic contents of neuropeptides in rats with vascular dementia / 浙江大学学报·医学版

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the changes of encephalic contents of somatostatin (SS) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) in rats with vascular dementia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: vascular dementia group (VDMG), sham operation group (SOG) and control group (CG). The vascular dementia model was established by permanent bilateral vertebral artery occlusion through electric coagulation and shut-off the bilateral carotid arteries. The remember behavior of animals was tested and the contents of SS and AVP in various encephalic region (frontal cortex, temporal lobe, hippocampus, cerebral ganglion and corpora striatum) were determined with radioimmunoassay.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>During the 15-day-long remembering test, the frequency of making mistakes in the VDMG was higher remarkably than that in SOG and CG (P<0.05); and the relative contents of SS were decreased in frontal area cortex, temporal lobe, hippocampus, cerebral ganglion and corpora striatum (P<0.01), while decrease of AVP contents was only detected in temporal lobe and corpora striatum (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The disturbance of learning and memory function might be associated with SS and AVP after multiple cerebral infarction in the animals.</p>

Leptin enhances the release of cytokines by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from acute multiple sclerosis patients / 神经科学通报·英文版

Objective To explore the effect of leptin on cytokine production by PBMCs obtained from MS patients either in acute (relapse) or in stable (nonrelapse) phase of disease. Methods PBMCs were collected from 25 untreated acute MS patients, 11 stable MS patients and 20 healthy controls. PBMCs were cultured either with RPMI-1640 alone or with leptin (1.25 nmol/ml), phytohemagglutinin (PHA) (100 mug/ml), and leptin + PHA. 72 h later the supernate of the culture medium were collected and stored at -70 degrees C. The pro-inflammatory cytokine (IFN-gamma) concentration were determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA), and the anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-4) concentration were investigated by radioimmunity methods. Results Our data showed that leptin induced IFN-gamma production by PBMCs of patients in an acute phase of disease but not in a stable phase or in healthy controls. Moreover, we found that PHA induced IL-4 production by PBMCs of patients in an acute phase of disease, but leptin inhibited this ability of PHA. Conclusion Leptin can affect on pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine production by PBMCs collected from MS patients, may be this connected with leptin increase the susceptiveness of MS.