Effectiveness of functional electrical stimulation (FES)-robot assisted wrist training on persons after stroke

A functional electrical stimulation (FES)-robot system controlled by subjects' motor intention was developed in our previous study. The effectiveness of the FES-robot on wrist training was investigated in this work. Five hemiplegic subjects with chronic stroke were recruited for an FES-robot assisted wrist training with 20 sessions. After the training, motor improvements were found in the wrist and fingers, represented by significant increase (P < 0.05) in clinical scores of the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA), the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT), and the Modified Ashworth Score (MAS). Muscle coordination in the upper limb was also improved during the training as assessed by electromyography. The increased ARAT scores suggested improved upper limb motor functions, especially in the hand and fingers, compared to no improvement in previous study with only interactive robot-assisted wrist training without FES.

Changes of serum omentin levels and relationship between omentin and adiponectin concentrations in type 2 diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND

Omentin has recently been characterized as a potent insulin-sensitizing adipokine, but its pathophysiologic roles in humans remain largely unknown.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the change of fasting serum omentin levels and evaluate the relationship of omentin with adiponectin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

DESIGN

35 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes (T2DM), 35 patients with impaired glucose regulation (IGT) and 35 patients with normal glucose tolerance (NGT) participated in this study. Fasting serum omentin and adiponectin levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The relationship between serum omentin, serum adiponectin levels and metabolic parameters was also analyzed.

RESULTS

Fasting serum omentin levels were significantly lower in T2DM and IGT groups than in NGT group (16.75±1.71 vs. 18.62±1.22 vs. 24.60±1.43 ng/ml, all P<0.01). Obesity subjects had significantly lower serum omentin levels than normal body weight subjects ( P<0.01 or P<0.05). Female subjects had moderately higher fasting serum omentin levels than male subjects. Fasting serum adiponectin levels showed a similar variation trend to omentin in T2DM and NGT groups, obesity and normal body weight subjects, female and male subjects. Fasting serum omentin levels were negatively correlated with HOMA-IR and positively correlated with adiponectin. Moreover, HOMA-IR and adiponectin were the independently predictors of fasting serum omentin levels.

CONCLUSIONS

Serum omentin levels possibly play an important role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and diabetes. More importantly, there is such a close connection between serum omentin and adiponectin levels that regulation of omentin may be dependent on adiponectin.

49 IMPROVED PORCINE CLONING EFFICIENCY WITH CELLS CULTURED FOR SEVERAL GENERATIONS AFTER A SINGLE TREATMENT WITH XENOPUS EGG EXTRACT

Extracts from eggs of Xenopus laevis frogs can induce nuclear remodelling or increase transcriptional reprogramming in somatic cells. However, it is not known if this effect is passed on from one cell generation to another, or how it affects somatic cell nuclear transfer in porcine cells. This study aimed to investigate the effect of extract-treated cells over several generations on porcine cloning. Extracts were prepared from 2 frogs (B1 and B2) by the same protocol (Higa et al. 2006 Methods 39, 284–290). Fetal fibroblasts grown on poly-L-lysine coated coverslips were permeabilized by digitonin (7 μg mL–1, 2 min, 4°C) and incubated with 1 extract batch at 37°C for 30 min. After resealing the membrane in DMEM supplemented with 2 mM CaCl2 at 37°C for 2 h, the remaining cells were cultured in ES medium (Vejlsted et al. 2005 Mol. Reprod. Dev. 70, 445–454) for 7 to 8 days when they formed colonies. The colonies were trypsinized and divided onto 2 coverslips for subculture, defined as Experimental Passage 1 (XP1). New subcultures were made every 7 to 8 days when 70 to 80% clusters become colonies until XP15. Colonies from XP3, 8 and 15 were isolated and trypsinized before being used in handmade cloning. Nontreated cells grown in DMEM were used as controls (no colony formation was observed). On each cloning day, cells from different XP number and controls were used. Rates of cleavage (Day 2) and blastocyst development (Day 6) were analysed with chi-square test (SAS version 9.2, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). Results are summarised in Table 1. No difference was observed in cleavage rate between groups. Blastocyst rates of all XP colony cells were significantly higher than their controls. For the same XP number and their controls, blastocyst rates were similar between the colony cells from the 2 extract batches, and there was no difference between their controls, either. In conclusion, the cloning efficiency in porcine cells could be increased with extract-treated cells used for several generations, and this effect was present at XP3, 8, and 15. Table 1.Developmental competence of cloned porcine embryos with extract-treated cells from different batches of extract (B1 and B2) and Experimental Passage (XP) numbers

48 DEVELOPMENTAL COMPETENCE OF CLONED OR PARTHENOGENETICALLY ACTIVATED PORCINE EMBRYOS: EFFECT OF DIAMETER OF PREPUBERTAL GILT OOCYTES

One of the primary factors influencing the developmental ability of cloned embryos is the oocyte′s diameter (Hirao et al. 1994 J. Reprod. Fertil. 100, 333–339). However, the oocyte donor's age (i.e. its sexual maturity) is also important to consider, because a high proportion of immature oocytes can be expected (Ikeda and Takahashi 2003 Reprod. Fertil. Dev. 15, 215–221). The present study was to investigate the effect of diameter of oocytes collected from prepubertal gilts weighing 100 to 120 kg on the developmental ability of cloned and parthenogenetically activated (PA) embryos. Cumulus–oocyte complexes collected from ovaries of prepubertal gilts were in vitro matured for 42 to 44 h as described for sow oocytes (Li et al. 2008 Theriog 70, 800–808). After removal of the cumulus cells, the matured oocytes were sorted into 2 groups based on visual inspection: large (L) and small (S) oocytes, whereas non-sorted oocytes were used as control (C). In addition, 1 batch from each of the 3 groups of oocytes had their mean size measured. Subsequently, all 3 groups were used for handmade cloning (HMC; Li et al. 2009 Reprod. Domest. Anim. 44, 122–127) or parthenogenetic activation (PA; Kragh et al. 2005 Theriogenology 64, 1536–1545). Then a chemical activation with 5 μg mL–1 cytochalasin B and 10 μg mL–1 cycloheximide in PZM-3 medium was applied for 4 h on both HMC and PA embryos. Finally, the activated embryos were washed and cultured in PZM-3 medium using the WOW system. The embryo development was evaluated by cleavage rate (Day 2), blastocyst rate (Day 6), and total cell number in blastocysts. Data were analysed by ANOVA with single factor in Excel (Microsoft Excel 2007, Redmond, WA, USA). The results showed (Table 1) that by simple visual observation, oocytes could be easily sorted into the following groups: L group (mean diameter 110 μm, from 105 to 116 μm), S group (mean diameter 101 μm, from 93 to 106 μm) and C group (mean diameter 107 μm, from 93 to 116 μm). Cleavage rates and total cell number were similar in the 3 groups. However, the blastocyst rate in L group either for HMC or PA was higher than S group. The data confirm that prepubertal gilt oocytes are useful for cloning and PA, but developmental rates can be increased by selection of large oocytes by simple visual observation. Table 1.Data analysis results

Abstract P5-03-01: Role of Aromatase and Its Inhibitor in Breast Cancer-Induced Tumorigenesis and Bone Metastasis

Aromatase (Aro) is the rate-limiting enzyme that catalyzes the final step in estrogen (E2) biosynthesis. An important strategy to treat hormone-dependent BCa is suppression of estrogen receptor (ER) action by antiestrogens or aromatase inhibitors (AI). Letrozole is a very specific and potent AI. In postmenopausal women, the ovaries cease to make E2 but concentration of E2 in their BCa tissue are maintained at a certain level for survival and proliferation of BCa cells, which is dependent on local E2 formation catalyzed by Aro. Although BCa cells have been shown to express Aro, the local E2 is largely produced by adipose stromal cells in the breast. This raises the question of how ER positive (ER+) metastatic BCa cells survive after they enter blood circulation, where E2 level is very low.

We cultured human ER+ BCa CAMA-1, Aro-transfected MCF-7 and ZR-75-1 (ZR) cells in suspension to mimic circulating BCa cells. Interestingly, suspension culture increased Aro expression, suggesting circulating ER+ BCa may up-regulate intracrine E2 activity for survival after leaving the E2-rich adipose stroma at primary site. The expression of Aro also enhances cell proliferation and supplementation of testosterone (T), the substrate of Aro, stimulates this proliferation further. Notably, while these cells show an increased rate of apoptosis in suspension than in adherent culture, addition of T in suspension culture significantly suppressed the rate of apoptosis and addition of letrozole blocked the T-induced cell survival in suspension culture. To investigate the importance of intracrine E2 in promoting tumorigenesis and metastasis, we implanted Aro-expressing ZR cells orthotopically and intracardiacally (I.C.) into female athymic mice; vector-transfected ZR cells were used as control. While control ZR cells were incapable of forming tumors without E2 supplementation, Aro-expressing cells generated orthotopic tumors with no E2 supplementation after 3-weeks of inoculation. More interestingly, mice with I.C. inoculated Aro-expressing cells also presented distant bone metastasis in the mandible and tibiae/femora after 2-weeks of inoculation, detected by whole mouse fluorescence and bioluminescence imaging as the cells were stably transfected with a luciferase and GFP expression vector. To determine whether growth of orthotopic tumors can be inhibited by systemic administration of an AI, we treated the mice in one group with letrozole at 10 mg/mouse/day and the other group with the vehicle as control after the average tumor volume reached 150 mm3. After 3-weeks, the tumor burden in the letrozole treatment group reduced significantly while tumor burden in the control group increased continuously. Our studies show that suspension culture increases expression of Aro mRNA in several ER+ BCa cell lines, which likely results in increased intracrine E2 signaling and contributes to the survival of these BCa cellsin suspension. This provides a mechanistic insight into how ER+ BCa cells may survive the low E2 condition in circulation and subsequently induce distant metastasis as observed in the I.C. model. Our study provides an important foundation for future investigation on how hormone-dependent BCa cells up-regulate Aro expression in circulation and induce bone metastasis.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2010;70(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-03-01.

Prevalence and relationships of sensory taint, 5α-androstenone and skatole in fat and lean tissue from the loin (Longissimus dorsi) of barrows, gilts, sows, and boars from selected abattoirs in the United States

This study assessed prevalence of boar taint in backfat and lean of barrows, gilts, sows, and boars, collected from abattoirs, without knowledge of the farms of origin, in different regions in the United States. Concentrations of 5α-androstenone (liquid chromatography/mass spectroscopy) and skatole (liquid chromatography with fluorescent detection) in backfat were measured. A trained panel evaluated boar taint aroma in heated samples. Mean 5α-androstenone and skatole levels were low among barrows, gilts, and sows, whereas 55.8% of boars scored above a 1.0 μg/g threshold for 5α-androstenone concentrations and 34.2% were above a 0.2 μg/g threshold for skatole concentrations. Mean aroma scores for backfat and lean from barrows, gilts, and sows were low. In comparison, 59.2% of boars had elevated mean aroma scores from fat samples and 31.7% from lean. Importantly, boar taint aroma was detectable by the trained panel in at least some animals in each of the sex classes.

Dynamics below the depinning transition of interacting dislocations moving over fields of obstacles

The transition from the behavior of a single dislocation interacting with a field of fixed obstacles to the collective motion of multiple dislocations is studied below the depinning transition (thermally activated glide). In absence of interactions, a truncated power law distribution of jump amplitudes (avalanches) with a diverging cutoff toward the critical point, and intermittency are observed. Interactions lead to a modification of the correlation length exponent below the critical point and to more pronounced intermittency, a dynamics more compatible to acoustic emission experimental data.

Diphenhydramine modulates cytokines and induces apoptosis in experimental acute pancreatitis

In this study, we investigated the therapeutic potential of diphenhydramine (DPH), a H(1) receptor antagonist, on taurocholate-induced acute pancreatitis and the underlying mechanisms involved. Rats were randomly divided into sham-operated, model, DPH-treated, octreotide-treated and the DPH plus octreotide combination therapy groups (n = 30 per group). Animals were sacrificed 3, 6 and 24 h after modeling and drug administration (n = 10 per time point) and sera, pancreas and lungs were harvested for further studies. DPH and octreotide monotherapy relieved histopathological injuries in multiple organs when compared to the model group. Combination therapy (DPH + octreotide) demonstrated better therapeutic potential than monotherapy. Data indicated that combination therapy had a better ability to reduce average mortality rates in rats, decrease the number of inflammatory cells, attenuate necrosis, upregulate the levels of amylase, TNF-alpha and IL-8 and downregulate the levels of IL-10 in the serum. Moreover, enhanced expression of Bax in the pancreas and lung were recorded suggesting a pro-apoptotic mechanism involved in the therapeutic potential of DPH. Our study demonstrated the therapeutic potential of DPH in acute pancreatitis and suggested a novel strategy for clinical management of this disease.