Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Findings According to the Route of Injecting Stem Cells in Experimental Traumatic Brain Injured Rats

OBJECTIVE: To identify the effective injection route for adult human bone marrow stromal cells into traumatic brain injured rats. METHOD: The TBI rats were created by the lateral percussion model (HD1700, Dragonfly, Silver Spring, USA). Eight rats without stem cell transplantation were assigned to a control group. We performed adult human bone marrow stromal cell transplantation into the contralateral hemisphere (n=7), the ipsilateral brain lesion (n=8) and via a tail vein (n=11), respectively, at 24 hours after brain injury. For all of the groups, MRS (magnetic resonance spectroscopy) study, behavior tests, rotarod tests and Barnes maze tests were conducted on day 1, day 7, day 42 and day 84. Sixteen rats were randomly assigned and were sacrificed for immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: At day 42 (p=0.048) and day 84 (p=0.031) after TBI, the ratio of N-acetylaspartate to creatine (NAA/Cr) of the ipsilateral hemisphere was decreased in the control group, as assessed by MRS, whereas the ratio was increased in the other groups. On the post hoc analysis, significant differences were obtained among the intravenous group and the control group for the NAA/Cr ratio of the ipsilateral hemisphere at day 84 after TBI (p=0.050). However, there was no significant improvement on the behavior test, the rotarod test and the Barnes maze test. The cells were positively stained with antibodies to MAB-1281 and to GFAP. CONCLUSION: We confirmed that adult human bone marrow stromal cell transplantation induced an increase of the NAA/Cr ratio of the ipsilateral hemisphere at day 84 in the intravenous group. Therefore, we suggest the intravenous route is more effective for mesenchymal stem cell transplantation.

Mechanism of Humoral and Cellular Immune Modulation Provided by Porcine Sertoli Cells

The understanding of main mechanisms that determine the ability of immune privilege related to Sertoli cells (SCs) will provide clues for promoting a local tolerogenic environment. In this study, we evaluated the property of humoral and cellular immune response modulation provided by porcine SCs. Porcine SCs were resistant to human antibody and complement-mediated formation of the membrane attack complex (38.41+/-2.77% vs. 55.02+/-5.44%, p=0.027) and cell lysis (42.95+/-1.75% vs. 87.99 +/-2.25%, p<0.001) compared to immortalized aortic endothelial cells, suggesting that porcine SCs are able to escape cellular lysis associated with complement activation by producing one or more immunoprotective factors that may be capable of inhibiting membrane attack complex formation. On the other hand, porcine SCs and their culture supernatant suppressed the up-regulation of CD40 expression (p<0.05) on DCs in the presence of LPS stimulation. These novel findings, as we know, suggest that immune modulatory effects of porcine SCs in the presence of other antigen can be obtained from the first step of antigen presentation. These might open optimistic perspectives for the use of porcine SCs in tolerance induction eliminating the need for chronic immunosuppressive drugs.

Role of Complement Regulatory Proteins in the Survival of Murine Allo-transplanted Sertoli Cells

Sertoli cells (SC) are known to contain immunoprotective properties, which allow them to survive as allografts without the use of immunosuppressive drugs. Experiments were designed to determine which factors are related to prolonged survival of allogeneic SC. Balb/c derived Sertoli (TM4) and colon cancer (CT-26) cell lines were implanted beneath the kidney capsule of non-immunosuppressed C57BL/6 mice and compared their survival as allografts. Compared to TM4 graft, which survived more than 7 days after transplantation, CT-26 showed massive infiltration of polymorphonuclear cells, necrosis and enlargement of draining lymph nodes. Cultured cell lines showed no differences in their expression patterns of FasL, TGF beta1, clusterin and two complement regulatory proteins (CRP, i.e., membrane cofactor protein, MCP; decay accelerating factor, DAF), but protectin (CD59), another member of CRP was expressed only on TM4. These results suggest that CD59 and unknown factors may contribute to the prolonged survival of SC in non-immunoprivileged sites.

Usefulness of Nasogastric Decompression Following Elective Gastric Cancer Surgery: A Randomized Prospective Study

PURPOSE: Traditionally, nasogastric decompression has been a routine procedure following major abdominal surgery or gastrointestinal surgery. This prospective, randomized controlled trial was performed in order to evaluate the usefulness of nasogastric decompression following elective gastric cancer surgery. METHODS: This study was carried out prospectively. A total of 95 patients were randomly divided into two groups, group I (45 patients with nasogatric tube) and group II (50 patients without nasogastric tube). Patients receiving emergency surgery due to gastric outlet obstruction were excluded from this study. The data was analysed by chi-square test, T-test and Mann-Whitney U test with the level of significance set at P<0.05. RESULTS: No significant differences were found between the two groups in regards to nausea, vomting, distension, anastomotic leak or wound dehiscence. However, longer hospital stay, delayed passage of flatus, delayed initiation of ambulation, delayed start of feeding and sore throat occurred more often in group I patients than in group II patients. CONCLUSION: The result showed that the routine prophylactic use of nasogastric decompression following gastric cancer surgery is an unnecessary procedure and does not offer any considerable advantage.

Subcutaneous Metastasis at the PTBD Catheter Insertion Site in Bile-duct Carcinomas: Report of two cases

Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) is the basis for most biliary interventional pro cedures, and the application of preoperative PTBD to patients who have malignant obstructive jaundice has a significant effect on overall morbidity, mortality, and patient survival by allowing selective application of the most appropriate therapeutic modality. There are few case reports on subcutaneous metastasis of bile-duct cancer. We recently observed a subcutaneous metastasis at the catheter insertion site after PTBD in two patients with bile-duct cancer. Although tumor-cell seeding along the catheter tract is a very rare complication, we think that PTBD requires more attention when a curative resection is planned.