Cardiac MR tissue tracking technique for quantitatively evaluating myocardial strain of cardiac amyloidosis patients / 中国介入影像与治疗学

Objective To observe the feasibility of cardiac MR tissue tracking(CMR-TT)technique for quantitatively evaluating myocardial strain of patients with myocardial amyloidosis(CA).Methods Cardiac MRI were collected from 20 patients of immunoglobulin amyloid light-chain CA(AL-CA,group A),20 cases of transthyretin CA(ATTR-CA,group B)and 20 healthy subjects(group C),and myocardial strain parameters were obtained using CMR-TT technique.Left ventricular cardiac function parameters were compared among 3 groups,so were strain parameters of each myocardial segment of left ventricle and global myocardium,including 3D longitudinal strain(LS),3D radial strain(RS)and 3D circumferential strain(CS).Results Compared with those in group C,significant differences of left ventricular cardiac function parameters were found in both group A and B(all P＜0.01),while no statistical difference was found between group A and B(all P＞0.05).Except for apical segment RS(P=0.81),strain parameters in group A and B were both lower than those in group C(all P＜0.01),while no significant difference was detected between group A and B(all P＞0.05).Conclusion CMR-TT technique could be used to quantitatively evaluate left ventricular myocardial strain of CA patients.

Expression of Vimentin in hair follicle growth cycle of inner Mongolian Cashmere goats.

BACKGROUND: The growth of Inner Mongolian Cashmere goat skin hair follicle exhibits a periodic growth pattern. The hair growth cycle is distinguished as telogen, anagen, and catagen stages. The role of vimentin in the growth process of hair follicles is evident. To elucidate the mechanism underlying the vimentin activity in the growth cycle of hair follicles, transcriptome sequencing and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry were used to obtain the nucleic acid and amino acid sequences of VIIM gene and vimentin. The amino acid and nucleic acid sequences were analyzed by comparison. Real-time quantitative PCR, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry analyzed the expression level and sites of vimentin in the three growth stages of the Inner Mongolia Cashmere goat skin samples. RESULTS: VIM gene cDNA, obtained by transcriptome sequencing, was aligned against that of the Capra hircus VIM gene. The amino acid sequence of vimentin revealed a high similarity rate across other species. The expressions of both VIM gene and vimentin were highest during the growth period and lowest in the rest period. Furthermore, vimentin was primarily expressed in the outer root sheath of the hair follicle as assessed by staining. CONCLUSIONS: The sequences of the gene and protein are similar to that of other species and identical to Capra hircus. However, the expression of VIM and vimentin was proportional to that of the growth of hair follicles. And vimentin expressed only in the outer root sheath of hair follicles. Thus, vimentin was speculated to participate in the regulation of the hair follicle growth cycle by affecting the outer root sheath.