[Morphological study of adenoid by endoscopy and its clinical significance].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the natural process of adenoid growth and degeneration as the age grows, to investigate the related clinical significance and pathologic characteristics of hypertrophied adenoid. METHODS: Totally 2650 (age 2 to 87) cases with nasal obstruction or/and other symptoms were included in the patients group, and 810 (age 3 to 85) subjects without symptoms were included as the control group. Morphological characteristics examined with nasal endoscope. Biopsy was performed for 39 cases. The adenoid was calcified as 4 degrees according to the size. RESULTS: In the patient group, age 2 to 9, degree III and degree II adenoid were 81.1% (198/244) and 18.9% (46/244) respectively. And adenoid of children whose age 2 to 5 was 100.0% in degree III; In above 10 years old group, the adenoid was mostly degree II. In age 60 to 69 group, degree 0 was (66.5%), and in age 81 or above, degree 0 reaches 100%. And 19 years old was the youngest age at which adenoid of degree 0 started to be found and 21 was the oldest age at which there is no adenoid of degree III. In the control group, compared with the patient group, no statistical significant difference found in all other groups except in age 2 to 9 (degree III 57.9%, 22/38, degree II 42.1%, 16/38). Shapes of adenoids at degree II varied while degree I were almost like peeled orange. Pathologically, among children there are abundant of adenoidal lymph tissue, while in adults the lymph tissue getting less as age grows but with evident inflammation reaction. Among patients, the incidence of sinusitis and snoring was higher in degree III group compared with others, 47.4% and 18.7% respectively, and the differences is statistically significant (chi2 = 51.28, P < 0.01; chi2 = 40.26, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Adenoid volume of children (age < 10) is the biggest, especially of children under 5 years old.

Heat shock protein 70 expression in the brain of rats with cerebral infarction after receiving vascular endothelial growth factor 165 gene therapy.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) in the brain of rats with cerebral infarction after the administration of vascular endothelial growth factor 165 (VEGF165) gene therapy, thereby to provide molecular basis for clinical gene therapy of cerebral infarction. METHODS: Twenty-five Wistar rats were divided equally into 5 groups, namely normal control group, sham-operated control group, middle cerebral artery occlusion group (MACO group), eukaryotic expression plasmid group (pUCCAGGS group) and gene therapy group (receiving pUCCAGGS/hVEGF165).Rat models of permanent MACO was established by ligation with nylon suture, and in the latter two groups, pUCCAGGS or pUCCAGGS/ hVEGF165 was directly injected into the infarcted area. Seven days after the infarction, the rats were killed to obtain the brain tissues for immunohistochemical detection of HSP70 expression. RESULTS: In the rat brain cortex of the normal and sham-operated control group, similar low levels of HSP70 expression were detected (P >0.05), while in the MCAO group and pUCCAGGS group, HSP70 levels were both significantly higher (P <0.01), showing no differences between the latter two groups (P >0.05). Most intense HSP70 expression was detected in the gene therapy group (P <0.01). In the penumbra of the infarct area, MCAO, pUCCAGGS, and gene therapy group all had high expression levels of HSP70, which were comparable in the former two groups (P >0.05), with the highest expression levels occurring in the latter group. Within the infarct area, similar expression pattern was observed (P <0.01). CONCLUSION: The elevated HSP70 expression in response to VEGF165 gene therapy in the rats as observed in this study suggests the potency of VEGF165 gene to induce HSP70 expression.