Roles of adenosine and cytokines in the prostate tissue of rats with acute bacterial prostatitis / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the possible roles of adenosine and the cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-10 in the pathogenesis of acute bacterial prostatitis (ABP) in rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-eight male Wistar rats were randomly divided into groups A (ABP), B (ABP + theophylline intervention), C (sham) and D (blank control). ABP models were established by injecting Escherichia coli 0157 into the prostate, and those in group B were treated by intraperitoneal injection of theophylline immediately after modeling. At 4 and 14 days, the prostate tissues of the rats were collected for detection of the expressions of TNF-alpha and IL-10 by immunohistochemistry and the concentration of adenosine by high-performance liquid chromatography.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>At 4 and 14 days, the concentrations of adenosine were significantly higher in group A ([48.38 +/- 17.27] and [26.54 +/- 11.22] microg/g) than in C ([0.45 +/- 0.25] and [0.46 +/- 0.29] microg/g) and D ([0.41 +/- 0.23] and [0.43 +/- 0.27] microg/g) (P < 0.05), and so were the expressions of TNF-alpha in A (0.23 +/- 0.08 and 0.21 +/- 0.03) than in C (0.07 +/- 0.03 and 0.07 +/- 0.01) and D (0.07 +/- 0.06 and 0.07 +/- 0.06) (P < 0.05), and those of IL-10 in A (0.13 +/- 0.03 and 0.25 +/- 0.01) than in C (0.07 +/- 0.03 and 0.07 +/- 0.03) and D (0.07 +/- 0.01 and 0.07 +/- 0.02) (P < 0.05). Compared with group A, the rats in group B showed significant increases at 4 and 14 days in the severity of inflammation, concentration of adenosine ([86.64 +/- 32.87] and [51.17 +/- 22.96] microg/g, P < 0.05) and expression of TNF-alpha (0.37 +/- 0.08 and 0.32 +/- 0.06, P < 0.05), but exhibited no remarkable difference in the expression of IL-10 (0.12 +/- 0.06 and 0.15 +/- 0.06, P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Adenosine may affect the progression of inflammation by regulating the expressions of the cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-10 in ABP rats through the adenosine receptor signaling pathway.</p>

Assessing validation of dual fluoroscopic image matching method for measurement of in vivo spine kinematics / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Accurate knowledge of the spinal structural functions is critical to understand the biomechanical factors that affect spinal pathology. Many studies have investigated the human vertebral motion both in vitro and in vivo. However, determination of in vivo motion of the vertebrae under physiologic loading conditions remains a challenge in biomedical engineering because of the limitations of current technology and the complicated anatomy of the spine.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>For in vitro validation, a human lumbar specimen was imbedded with steel beads and moved to a known distance by an universal testing machine (UTM). The dual fluoroscopic system was used to capture the spine motion and reproduce the moving distance. For in vivo validation, a living subject moved the spine in various positions while bearing weight. The fluoroscopes were used to reproduce the in vivo spine positions 5 times. The standard deviations in translation and orientation of the five measurements were used to evaluate the repeatability of technique. The accuracy of vertebral outline matching with metallic marks matching technology was compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The translation positions of the human lumbar specimen could be determined with a mean accuracy less than 0.35 mm and a mean repeatability 0.36 mm for the image matching technique. The repeatability of the method in reproducing in vivo human spine six degrees of freedom (6DOF) kinematics was less than 0.43 mm in translation and less than 0.65° in rotation. The accuracy of metallic marks and vertebral outline matching did not show significant difference.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Combining a dual fluoroscopic and computerized tomography imaging technique was accurate and reproduceable for noninvasive measurement of spine vertebral motion. The vertebral outline matching technique could be a useful technique for matching of vertebral positions and orientations which can evaluate and improve the efficacy of the various surgical treatments.</p>