Solitary eosinophilic granulocytic sarcoma in a dog.

A 6-year-old male golden retriever presented with swelling of the left upper eyelid of 2 months duration, which did not improve following a course of antibiotics. Routine serum biochemistry, complete blood count and diagnostic imaging identified no clinically significant abnormalities. The mass was surgically excised, and histopathologic examination was performed. Eosinophilic granulocytic sarcoma (GS) was diagnosed based on the results of histopathology and immunohistochemistry. This is the first report of GS affecting the eyelid of a dog.

Paraganglioma of the Urinary Bladder in a Dog.

A 3-year-old male Bichon Frise developed lethargy, anorexia and haematuria. B-scan ultrasonography examination revealed a small, irregular, soft-textured mass in the bladder. Histopathologically, there was an incomplete fibrous pseudocapsule around the tumour tissue and although there was clear demarcation from the surrounding tissue, there was invasion of the capsule. Tumour cells proliferated in nests or cords of variable size, separated by fibrovascular tissue. The neoplastic cells were immunopositive for chromogranin A, synaptophysin and neuron-specific enolase, and electron microscopy revealed that they contained cytoplasmic secretory granules. On the basis of these findings, the tumour was diagnosed as a primary paraganglioma of the urinary bladder.

Chemical Peeling with a Modified Phenol Formula for the Treatment of Facial Freckles on Asian Skin.

BACKGROUND: Chemical peeling is an efficient method for the treatment of pigment disorders. For freckles, medium-depth to deep peeling using a phenol solution is one of the most effective chemical peels, and modifications of facial skin can be observed up to 20 years after peeling. However, applying phenol to the skin may cause serious side effects. Phenol peeling has been rarely used in Asia due to its tendency to cause permanent pigmentary changes and hypertrophic scars. METHODS: In total, 896 Chinese inpatients with facial freckles were enrolled in this study. The phenol formula was modified with crystalline phenol, dyclonine, camphor, anhydrous alcohol and glycerin and adjusted to a concentration of 73.6-90.0%. The entire peeling treatment was divided into two procedures performed separately on 2 days. RESULTS: All patients exhibited 26% or greater improvement, and 99.66% of patients exhibited 51% or greater improvement (good and excellent). Scarring and systemic complications were not observed in any patient. CONCLUSIONS: The modified phenol formula is very effective and safe for the treatment of facial freckles in Asian patients. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

[The protective effects of gangliosides on LPS-induced PC12 cells injury].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the protective effects of endogenous gangliosides on LPS-induced PC12 cells injury and its possible mechanism. METHODS: PC12 cells were cultured, and lipopolysaccharide(LPS) injury model was established. We detected the changes in sur-vival rate of different concentrations of LPS on PC12 cells, and the changes in survival rate of LPS when endogenous gangliosides were exhaust-ed by D-threo-1-phenyl-2-decanoylamino-3-morpholino-1-propanol(D-PDMP), and the protective effects of monosialoganglioside (GM1) on LPS-induced PC12 cells injury. Meanwhile, we observed the morphological changes of GM1 on PC12 cells induced after LPS injury by inverted microscope and fluorescence microscope, and then we detected the relative expression of NF-κB. RESULTS: LPS could decrease the survival rate of cells in a concentration-dependent manner, and GM1 could significantly protect the cells against the changes in survival rate and morphologi-cal damages induced by LPS; After depletion of endogenous gangliosides by D-PDMP, LPS had more injury to PC12 cells, which could be im-proved by adding GM1; RT-PCR results showed that the relative expression of NF-κB in PC12 cells was increased in LPS group, while relative expression of NF-κB increased much higher when endogenous gangliosides were exhausted by D-PDMP, and the relative expression of NF-κB was decreased after GM1 being added. CONCLUSIONS: The endogenous gangliosides might through NF-κB signal pathway to protect PC12 cells a-gainst LPS-induced injury.

[The protective effect of nerve growth factor on PC12 cells to lipopolysaccharide injury].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of nerve growth factor (NGF) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injury and activation of nuclear factor-kappa B in PC12 cells. METHODS: In order to set injury models, the PC12 cells were incubated in different concentration of LPS. Cells were cultured in the culture and were reduced by LPS, and then cells were treated by NGF of various concentrations. The cell viability was determined by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay, cellular morphology was observed under inverted microscope and fluorescence microscope, and the content of NF-kappaB was assessed by RT-PCR. RESULTS: (1) The viability of PC12 cell was decreased with concentration of LPS increasing. (2) The cellular morphology change showed that NGF had an ability to reduce LPS injury. (3) The result of RT-PCR showed that the content of NF-kappaB in LPS injury was more than the normal and treated cell, and the treated one was close to the normal one. CONCLUSION: The reports about NGF in brain cells repair after inflammatory are very small. And our study is about that NGF can protect the PC12 cell from LPS injury, and this mechanism possible bears on the activation of NF-kappaB.