Chemotherapy and resection for gastric cancer with synchronous liver metastases.

AIM: To investigate the effect of surgery and chemotherapy for gastric cancer with multiple synchronous liver metastases (GCLM). METHODS: A total of 114 patients were entered in this study, and 20 patients with multiple synchronous liver metastases were eligible. After screening with preoperative chemotherapy, 20 patients underwent curative gastrectomy and hepatectomy for GCLM; 14 underwent major hepatectomy, and the remaining six underwent minor hepatectomy. There were 94 patients without aggressive treatment, and they were in the non-operative group. Two regimens of perioperative chemotherapy were used: S-1 and cisplatin (SP) in 12 patients, and docetaxel, cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (DCF) in eight patients. These GCLM patients were given preoperative chemotherapy consisting of two courses chemotherapy of SP or DCF regimens. After chemotherapy, gastrectomy and hepatectomy were preformed. Evaluation of patient survival was by follow-up contact using telephone and outpatient records. All patients were assessed every 3 mo during the first year and every 6 mo thereafter. RESULTS: Twenty patients underwent gastrectomy and hepatectomy and completed their perioperative chemotherapy and hepatic arterial infusion before and after surgery. Ninety-four patients had no aggressive treatment of liver metastases because of technical difficulties with resection and severe cardiopulmonary dysfunction. In the surgery group, there was no toxicity greater than grade 3 during the course of chemotherapy. The response rate was 100% according to the response evaluation criteria in solid tumors criteria. For all 114 patients, the overall survival rate was 8.0%, 4.0%, 4.0% and 4.0% at 1, 2, 3 and 4 years, respectively, with a median survival time (MST) of 8.5 mo (range: 0.5-48 mo). For the 20 patients in the surgery group, MST was 22.3 mo (range: 4-48 mo). In the 94 patients without aggressive treatment, MST was 5.5 mo (range: 0.5-21 mo). There was a significant difference between the surgery and unresectable patients (P = 0.000). Three patients in surgery group were still alive at the end of the cut-off date. CONCLUSION: Perioperative weekly DCF and SP achieved a good response, and combined with surgery, they could improve prognosis of GCLM.

Bioaccumulation and sub-acute toxicity of zinc oxide nanoparticles in juvenile carp (Cyprinus carpio): a comparative study with its bulk counterparts.

In this study, bioaccumulation and sub-acute toxicity of water-borne nano-ZnO in the test fish, juvenvile carp (Cyprinus Carpio) were evaluated. To clarify the contribution of particle size and free Zn ion to NPs toxicity, its bulk counterparts (bulk-ZnO) and the released Zn(2+) were also tested. The results showed that after a 30-day exposure, 50mg/L of nano-ZnO and bulk-ZnO could be significantly accumulated and distributed in various tissues of fish, but nano-ZnO exhibited more hyper-bioaccumulation than bulk-ZnO. Liver and gill might be the target tissues with exposure to nano-ZnO, instead, the target tissue for bulk-ZnO might be intestine. Also, 50mg/L of nano-ZnO caused more severe histopathological changes than the same concentration of bulk-ZnO, which was in accordance with the induction of higher levels of intracellular oxidative stress. The effects of dissolved Zn ions were assessed and the ion toxicity was negligible herein. The results of this study indicated that the observed toxicities of nano-ZnO were not likely a result solely of particle dissolution and identified as a function of particle toxicity and the possibility for a size dependence. The main toxic mechanism of nano-ZnO was possibly by increasing cellular oxidative stress response.

Oxidative stress responses in different organs of carp (Cyprinus carpio) with exposure to ZnO nanoparticles.

Changes in activities of antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and non-enzymatic antioxidant reduced glutathione (GSH) content and levels of Lipid peroxidation (LPO) in gill, liver, brain and intestine of juvenile carp (Cyprinus carpio) were evaluated after exposure to different concentrations (0.5, 5.0 and 50.0mg/L) of waterborne nano-ZnO for 1, 3, 7, 10 and 14 day. The results showed that the variation trendency of antioxidant defense systems and LPO levels would be more significant with increasing concentration and exposure time. 50.0mg/L nano-ZnO caused significant decrease of several enzymes activities and GSH content and increase of LPO level. As a result, these biomarkers were all appropriate for monitoring oxidative stress status of fish after exposure to nano-ZnO. Gill, liver and brain might be more sensitive response organs, being intestine the least altered organ. Further ecotoxicological evaluation should be made concerning the risk of nano-ZnO on aquatic environment.

Effect of sub-acute exposure to TiO2 nanoparticles on oxidative stress and histopathological changes in Juvenile Carp (Cyprinus carpio).

Increasing application of nanotechnology highlights the need to clarify and understand nanotoxicity. Mammalian and in vitro studies have raised concerns about the toxicity of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs), but there are limited data on ecotoxicity to aquatic organisms. In this work, the sub-acute toxicity of TiO2-NPs to carp (Cyprinus carpio) was assessed. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) activities and lipid peroxidation (LPO) levels in liver, gill and brain tissues of carps varied with concentration of TiO2-NPs suspensions and exposure time (up to 8 d). As a result, 100 and 200 mg/L TiO2-NPs caused statistically significant decrease in SOD, CAT and POD activities and significant increase in LPO levels in tissues (P < 0.05), suggesting that the fish exposed to these two concentrations of TiO2-NPs suffered from the oxidative stress. The extent of depletion of antioxidant enzymes activities and the elevation of LPO in the liver was the greatest, indicating that the liver might be the most susceptible organ to TiO2-NPs exposure. In addition, carps had gill pathologies including edema and thickening of gill lamellae as well as gill filaments, and liver pathologies including necrotic and apoptosis hepatocytes after exposed to 100 and 200 mg/L TiO2-NPs for 20 d. These results indicated a potential risk from TiO2-NPs released into the aqueous environment.

[Study on the early liver metastasis forecast of colorectal neoplasms].

OBJECTIVE: To obtain some effective objective markers used to predict the early liver metastasis of colorectal tumor, the relationship of liver metastasis of colorectal tumor with associate detection three markers such as CK20mRNA, CD44v6 and VEGF was studied. METHODS: The expression of CK20mRNA in patrol venous blood from 30 colorectal cancer patients was detected by fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR, and the results of CD44v6 and VEGF in colorectal cancer tissue were determined by means of immunohistochemistry, and then compared with those in control groups. RESULTS: The rate of positive expression of CK20mRNA in colorectal cancer patients' patrol venous blood was obviously superior to the level of benign pathological changes controls (P < 0.01), and significantly higher than that of normal controls (P < 0.01). The rate of positive expression of CD44v6 and VEGF in colorectal tumor tissue was distinctly superior to the level of benign pathological controls, and remarkable higher than that of normal controls (P < 0.01). The positive expression of liver metastasis was also clearly higher than that of no liver metastasis (P < 0.05). The rate of positive expression of CK20mRNA in patrol venous blood was evidently correlated to the expression of CD44v6 and VEGF in tumor tissue (r(1) = 0.933, r(2) = 0.906, P < 0.05). The results of associate detection of CK20mRNA, CD44v6 and VEGF were closely related to the incidence of liver metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: If combined detecting these markers of CK20mRNA, CD44v6 and VEGF to forecast liver metastasis of colorectal tumor, the sensitivity and specialty of prediction will be improved, there were highly clinical values in predicting in early diagnosis liver metastasis of colorectal tumor.

[Physiological effects of taurine on the growth of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seedlings].

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seedlings were grown in taurine solution at concentrations of 10, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 mg/L, and the photochemistry efficiency, the relative permeability of membrane, membrane lipid peroxidation and the growth indexes in wheat seedlings were determined. The results showed that taurine treatments distinctly promoted the growth of wheat seedlings and increased root length, plant height, dry weight and fresh weight single plant of wheat seedlings. In addition, the photochemistry efficiency in the leaf was also increase, and the membrane relative permeability and the content of membrane lipid peroxidation product MDA were decreased, with an optimum treatment concentration at about 500 mg/L. It suggests that taurine has protective effects on the cell membrane of wheat seedlings to the certain extent.