Artemin and GFRalpha3 expressions and their relevance to perineural invasiveness and metastasis of pancreatic carcinoma / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the association of artemin and GFRalpha3 expressions with perineural invasion and metastasis of pancreatic carcinoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry were used to detect the expression of artemin and GFRalpha3 in pancreatic carcinoma tissues, adjacent tissues and normal pancreas tissues, and the relevance of artemin and GFRalpha3 expressions to the perineural invasion and metastasis of pancreatic carcinoma were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positivity rates of artemin and GFRalpha3 expressions were 72.09% and 67.44% in pancreatic carcinoma, respectively, significantly higher than those in the adjacent tissue (18.19% and 22.73%). The positivity rates of artemin and GFRalpha3 expressions were significantly higher in patients with perineural invasion than in those without perineural invasion (chi(2)=11.11 and 11.78, respectively, P<0.01). Significantly higher expression of artemin mRNA was noted in pancreatic carcinoma (0.741-/+0.014) than in the normal pancreas tissue (0.101-/+0.031, P<0.05), and patients with perineural invasion showed significantly higher positivity rates of artemin mRNA expression (0.843-/+0.012) than those without perineural invasion (0.512-/+0.017, P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Artemin and GFRalpha3 expressions may play an important role in perineural invasion of pancreatic carcinoma and can be used a useful indicators for evaluating the biological behavior of pancreatic carcinomas.</p>

Pretreatment of sarsasapogenin in Rhizoma Anemarrhenae: A research of methodology / 第二军医大学学报

Objective: To improve the pretreatment method described in ChP (2005 Edition, Vol I) for the determination of sarsasapogenin in Rhizoma Anemarrhenae. Methods: According to orthogonal design L9 (33), the extraction time, alcohol concentration, extraction frequency, etc. were modified to achieve the best extraction outcome with ultrasonic wave extraction. Results: The optimal extraction condition included 70% alcohol and twice ultrasonic wave extraction, 20 min each time. Finally hydrolization was applied to obtain sarsasapogenin for determination. Conclusion: Compared with the pretreatment method in ChP, this improved extraction method shows a higher sarsasapogenin content in determination and is more accurate in reflecting the true content of sarsasapogenin in Rhizoma Anemarrhene.