Effects of glucose concentration in the medium on rat hepatocyte culture

PURPOSE: To determine the optimum culture conditions by investigating isolated rat hepatocytes cultured in medium containing different glucose concentrations. METHODS: Hepatocytes were isolated from rats using a two-step perfusion technique and divided into the following two groups cultured in medium containing different glucose concentrations: (1) low-glucose group and (2) high-glucose group. Total cell count and viability of cultured rat hepatocytes and liver function parameters (i.e., concentrations of albumin, ammonia, and urea in the culture medium) were measured. The morphology of cultured rat hepatocytes was examined by staining with hematoxylin and eosin, and albumin receptor expression was confirmed by immunofluorescence. RESULTS: Total cell count and viability showed smaller increases in the low-glucose group than the high-glucose group, although the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.112 and P = 0.147, respectively). The levels of albumin (P = 0.943), ammonia (P = 0.744), and urea (P = 0.709) were not significantly different between the two groups. In both groups, the function of cultured hepatocytes decreased significantly over time. The morphology of hepatocytes was well maintained in both groups at 3 days. On day 7, the cytoplasm was transformed into a spindle shape. On day 10, these changes were exaggerated, and were more prominent in the high-glucose group. CONCLUSION: Morphological assessment indicated that low-glucose culture medium is better than high-glucose culture medium for culturing of hepatocytes, although there was not significantly different in functional assessment. The cultured hepatocytes with low-glucose culture medium could be maintained for 7 days.

Prevalence of Allergic Diseases and Risk Factors in Preschool Children, 2009 / 소아알레르기및호흡기학회지

PURPOSE: In Korea, there have been many epidemiologic studies about allergic diseases of school children, but so far only a few studies of preschool children have been done. Research on preschool children will be a great help to understand the epidemiology of the allergic diseases in the pediatric population. In this perspective, we researched the prevalence and risk factors of allergic diseases in preschool children in Jung-gu, Seoul. METHODS: A modified International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire survey was done on 917 (male, 492; female, 425) preschool children in Jung-gu area of Seoul in June, 2009. Parents or caregivers answered the questionnaires that asked about the prevalence of allergic diseases and the risk factors. RESULTS: For asthma, the prevalence of "wheeze, ever", "diagnosis" and "treatment, last 12 months" were 18.4%, 5.8% and 2.8%, respectively. For allergic rhinitis (AR), the prevalence of "rhinitis, ever", "diagnosis" and "treatment, last 12 months" were 31.8%, 16.2% and 12.9%, respectively. For atopic dermatitis (AD), the prevalence of "itchy rash, ever", "diagnosis" and "treatment, last 12 months" were 26.1%, 34.3% and 19.0%, respectively. The risk factors of asthma were cesarean section delivery, use of antibiotics and history of bronchiolitis before the age of 2 years. The risk factor of AR was history of asthma. The risk factor of AD was parent allergy. CONCLUSION: In comparison to preceding studies of preschool children in Seoul, the prevalence of allergic diseases is similar. In comparison to the studies of school children, the prevalence of AR was lower and the prevalence of AD was higher.

Airway Compression or Airway Anomaly Causing Respiratory Symptoms in Infants and Children with Cardiovascular Diseases / 소아과

PURPOSE: Infants and children with cardiovascular diseases often present with respiratory symptoms. However, missed or delayed evaluation for potential airway problem may complicate overall prognosis. The aim of this study is to determine the clinical characteristics of these patients and explore the cause of airway problem. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 64 patients (M: F=33: 31, mean age: 6.3+/-7.5 months) whose airway problems were proven by computed tomography or bronchoscopy in perioperative periods at the Asan Medical Center from January 1997 to June 2004. Patients were divided into two groups based on the duration of ventilator care: 7 days (group 2: 41 cases, M: F=23: 18). RESULTS: The patients in group 2 significantly developed more post-operative respiratory symptoms than group 1 (P< 0.001) and had more airway problems including extrinsic obstruction, intrinsic anomaly, and combined problem than group 1 although not significantly different (P=0.082). Among underlying diseases, the most common diseases were vascular anomaly (26.2 percent) and aortic arch anomaly (26.2 percent) in group 1 and pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect (22.4 percent) in group 2. The most frequent respiratory symptoms were recurrent wheezing pre-operatively and failure of ventilator weaning post-operatively. The major types of airway anomaly were tracheomalacia and tracheal stenosis (in each case 18.2 percent). Nineteen patients with persistent airway problems underwent aortopexy or other vascular correction. Of the 19 patients, 13 (68.4 percent) were improved, but 2 failed in weaning ventilator and 4 died of non-airway problems. CONCLUSION: Early evaluation and treatment for potential airway problems may affect natural or surgical prognosis in patients with cardiovascular diseases presenting with respiratory symptoms.