ABSTRACT
The mechanisms underlying stress-induced hyperalgesia (SIH) remain poorly understood. Recent findings have provided strong evidence indicating that SIH could be related, at least in part, to alterations in spinal cord GABA activity. In the present study, we first investigated how acute restraint stress impacted pain responses as assessed using the tail flick immersion test. These results showed that rats developed hyperalgesia at 6 h after being subjected to 1-h acute restraint stress. Second, we measured the activation of spinal neurons and alterations in expression of GABAA receptor ß2 and ß3 subunits as related to stress-induced hyperalgesia. Results from Western blot and immunofluorescence assays showed that c-fos protein increased in the dorsal horn of the lumbar spinal cord and GABAA receptor ß2 and ß3 subunit proteins decreased significantly at 6 h after exposure to 1 h of acute restraint stress. Finally, the effects of spinal GABAA receptor alteration on SIH were evaluated. These results showed that intrathecal administration of muscimol inhibited hyperalgesia induced by stress while bicuculline enhanced hyperalgesia in the control groups. Taken together, the present data reveal that GABAA receptor ß2 and ß3 decrease following 1 h of acute restraint stress and may play a critical role in SIH.
Subject(s)
Hyperalgesia/complications , Receptors, GABA-A/metabolism , Spinal Cord/metabolism , Stress, Psychological/complications , Stress, Psychological/pathology , Analysis of Variance , Animals , Bicuculline/pharmacology , Disease Models, Animal , GABA-A Receptor Agonists/therapeutic use , GABA-A Receptor Antagonists/pharmacology , Gene Expression Regulation/drug effects , Male , Muscimol/therapeutic use , Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos/metabolism , Rats , Rats, Wistar , Reaction Time/drug effects , Stress, Psychological/drug therapy , Time FactorsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical features, therapeutic effects, survival time and prognostic factors of patents with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). METHODS: Clinical data of 47 MCL patients admitted from January 2002 to December 2011 were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: Of all patients, median age was 58 year-old and male to female ratio was 3.3:1. Forty-two cases (89.4%) were in Ann Arbor stage III-IV, 13 cases (27.7%) with bone marrow involvement, 6 cases (12.8%) with lymphocytosis, 18 cases (38.3%) with elevated LDH, and 28 cases (59.6%) with elevated ß(2)-MG. Age, bone marrow involvement, increased LDH level and treatment without rituximab were poor prognostic factors. The efficiency and complete remission rate of rituximab combined with chemotherapy were 91.4% and 48.6%, which were superior to those of CHOP regimen (41.7% and 16.7%). As compared to CHOP regimen, rituximab combined with chemotherapy induced longer progression-free survival and overall survival. CONCLUSION: Most patients with MCL were older adults with a male predominance and usually had bone marrow involvement and poor prognosis. Rituximab combined with chemotherapy could significantly improve patient outcome.
