Microfibril-associated glycoprotein-1 controls human ciliary zonule development in vitro.

The ciliary zonule in the eye, also known as Zinn's zonule, is composed of oxytalan fibers, which are bundles of microfibrils consisting mainly of fibrillin-1. However, it is still unclear which of the microfibril-associated molecules present in the ciliary zonule controls oxytalan fibers. Microfibril-associated glycoprotein-1 (MAGP-1) is the only microfibril-associated molecule identified in the human ciliary zonule. In the present study, we used siRNA against MAGP-1 in cultures of human non-pigmented ciliary epithelial cells to examine the extracellular deposition and appearance of fibrillin-1 employing Western blotting and immunofluorescence. MAGP-1 suppression led to a reduction of fibrillin-1 deposition. Immunofluorescence also confirmed that RNAi-mediated down-regulation of MAGP-1 led to suppression of fiber development. These results suggest that MAGP-1 plays a crucial role in the extracellular deposition of fibrillin-1 during formation of the human ciliary zonule.

Fibrillin-1 and fibrillin-2 are essential for formation of thick oxytalan fibers in human nonpigmented ciliary epithelial cells in vitro.

The ciliary zonule, also known as Zinn's zonule, is composed of oxytalan fibers. However, the mechanism by which epithelial cells in the ciliary body form these fibers in not fully understood. We examined human nonpigmented ciliary epithelial cells to determine the appearance and amount of oxytalan fibers in terms of positivity for their major components, fibrillin-1 and fibrillin-2. Examination of fibrillin-1 and fibrillin-2 expression by immunofluorescence revealed that thin fibers positive for fibrillin-1 on Day 2 changed to thick fibers by Day 8. The fibers positive for fibrillin-2 appeared on the thick fibrillin-1-positive fibers after Day 4. Northern blot analysis revealed that the level of fibrillin-1 did not change markedly, while induction of fibrillin-2 gene was evident on Day 5. Western blot analysis showed that fibrillin-1 deposition increased gradually, while that of fibrillin-2 increased markedly from Day 5 to Day 8. Fibrillin-1 suppression did not lead to the formation of fibrillin-2-positive thick fibers, whereas fibrillin-2 suppression led to the formation of fibrillin-1-positive thin fibers, but not thick fibers. These results suggest that both fibrillin-1 and fibrillin-2 are essential for the formation of thick oxytalan fibers in the ciliary zonule and are informative for clarifying the mechanism of homeostasis of the ocular matrix.

Establishment of pharmaceutical management for patient care during lung cancer chemotherapy and its quantitative evaluation.

Pharmacists should play an important role in controlling the pharmaceutical management of the patients. Although the quantitative evaluations of pharmaceutical management are required systematically, no guideline is presented for patient care during lung cancer chemotherapy. We established a complete pharmaceutical management system and evaluated the performance of the system. Patients admitted to Hokkaido Keiaikai Minami-ichijo Hospital for lung cancer chemotherapy treatment from 2003.5 to 2003.11 were enrolled in this study after signing formal written consents. The pharmaceutical management system that was established involves a unified system consisting of a standard care plan and worksheets by the Problem Oriented System (POS). The system can apply to inpatients for their comprehensive evaluation of pharmaceutical management. The incidence of pharmaceutical problems reported, pharmacist interventions to the physicians, and the bedside pharmaceutical management were increased significantly after applying the system. More than 98% acceptance of interventions by pharmacists to the physicians was indicated. A high rate of intervention for adverse drug reaction (ADR) was demonstrated, due to the information about patient conditions is essential in managing ADR. The total pharmaceutical management system established is expected to give quality improvements of pharmaceutical care along with its efficiency.