Separation, culture and identification of SD rat corpus cavernosal endothelial cells

The aim of the study is to investigate the methods of separation, culture and identification of Sprague Dawley (SD) rat corpus cavernosal vascular endothelial cells (CCECs). Cavernosal tissues were isolated from male SD rats. Enzymatic digestion was applied to separate CCECs. Purified cells were obtained using immunomagnetic beads and flow cytometric cell sorting and subcultured in EMG-2 medium. The growth curve of CCECs was measured by the tetrazolium salt 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. The cells were identified by von Willebrand factor (vWF) using immunofluorescence, and the positive percentage of vWF expression was detected by flow cytometry. The monomorphic cobblestone-like cells were observed by microscopy. High purification was obtained using immunomagnetic beads. After 2 days of incubation, cells entered the logarithmic growth phase and reached a plateau on the fifth day. The vWF expression in cytoplasm was positive. The purity of cells was 95.8%, which was tested by flow cytometry. SD rat CCECs can be separated and cultured successfully by the method of enzymatic digestion, immunomagnetic beads and flow cytometric cell sorting.

Alveolar macrophage-derived vascular endothelial growth factor contributes to allergic airway inflammation in a mouse asthma model

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent proangiogenic factor that correlates with vascular permeability and remodelling in asthma. Recently, alveolar macrophages (AM) were shown to be an important source of VEGF during lung injury. Our previous studies demonstrated that AM are an important subset of macrophages in the initiation of asthmatic symptoms. Here, we further investigated whether AM-derived VEGF was required for allergic airway inflammation in asthma. In this study, we reported that the expression of VEGF in AM was significantly increased after allergen challenge. Depleting AM or neutralizing VEGF in alveolus prevented ovalbumin (OVA)-induced asthma-related inflammation by inhibiting the infiltration of inflammatory cells in the lung, reduced the level of the cytokines, IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13, in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and decreased airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). Moreover, the inhibition of miR-20b increased the protein level of VEGF in normal AM; conversely, increasing miR-20b in asthmatic AM resulted in decreased VEGF protein levels. These findings suggest that AM-derived VEGF is necessary for allergic airway inflammation in asthmatic mice and miR-20b negatively regulates this expression.

Single embryo transfer with comprehensive chromosome screening results in improved ongoing pregnancy rates and decreased miscarriage rates

BACKGROUND

Single embryo transfer (SET) provides the most certain means to reduce the risk of multiple gestation. Regrettably, prospective trials of SET have demonstrated reductions in per-cycle delivery rates. A validated method of comprehensive chromosome screening (CCS) has the potential to optimize SET by transferring only euploid embryos. This retrospective study evaluates the efficacy of SET with CCS in an infertile population.

METHODS

Overall and age-controlled ongoing pregnancy rates (OPR) were compared between women undergoing SET following CCS (CCS-SET, n= 140) and those undergoing SET without aneuploidy screening (control SET, n= 182). All transfers were at the blastocyst stage, with CCS performed after trophectoderm biopsy of expanded blastocysts and analysis with rapid PCR allowing for fresh transfer.

RESULTS

In the CCS-SET and control SET groups, an OPR of 55.0 and 41.8%, respectively, was obtained. The OPR was lower for the control group (P< 0.01) despite a younger age than the CCS group (37.3 ± 3.4 versus 34.2 ± 3.9 years; P< 0.001). Birthweight and gestational age at delivery were equivalent. The proportion of clinical pregnancies resulting in miscarriage was higher in the control group (24.8 versus 10.5%, P< 0.01), with more patients requiring surgical interventions for aneuploid pregnancies. There was one monozygotic twin delivery in the CCS group and none in the control group.

CONCLUSIONS

Compared with traditional blastocyst SET, SET after trophectoderm biopsy and rapid PCR-based CCS increases OPR and reduces the miscarriage rate. The enhanced selection empowered by CCS with SET may provide a practical way to eliminate multi-zygotic multiple gestation without compromising clinical outcomes per cycle.

Local sensitivity to stimulus orientation and spatial frequency within the receptive fields of neurons in visual area 2 of macaque monkeys

We used dynamic dense noise stimuli and local spectral reverse correlation methods to reveal the local sensitivities of neurons in visual area 2 (V2) of macaque monkeys to orientation and spatial frequency within their receptive fields. This minimized the potentially confounding assumptions that are inherent in stimulus selections. The majority of neurons exhibited a relatively high degree of homogeneity for the preferred orientations and spatial frequencies in the spatial matrix of facilitatory subfields. However, about 20% of all neurons showed maximum orientation differences between neighboring subfields that were greater than 25 deg. The neurons preferring horizontal or vertical orientations showed less inhomogeneity in space than the neurons preferring oblique orientations. Over 50% of all units also exhibited suppressive profiles, and those were more heterogeneous than facilitatory profiles. The preferred orientation and spatial frequency of suppressive profiles differed substantially from those of facilitatory profiles, and the neurons with suppressive subfields had greater orientation selectivity than those without suppressive subfields. The peak suppression occurred with longer delays than the peak facilitation. These results suggest that the receptive field profiles of the majority of V2 neurons reflect the orderly convergence of V1 inputs over space, but that a subset of V2 neurons exhibit more complex response profiles having both suppressive and facilitatory subfields. These V2 neurons with heterogeneous subfield profiles could play an important role in the initial processing of complex stimulus features.

Fabrication of silver tips for scanning tunneling microscope induced luminescence

We describe a reliable fabrication procedure of silver tips for scanning tunneling microscope (STM) induced luminescence experiments. The tip was first etched electrochemically to yield a sharp cone shape using selected electrolyte solutions and then sputter cleaned in ultrahigh vacuum to remove surface oxidation. The tip status, in particular the tip induced plasmon mode and its emission intensity, can be further tuned through field emission and voltage pulse. The quality of silver tips thus fabricated not only offers atomically resolved STM imaging, but more importantly, also allows us to perform challenging "color" photon mapping with emission spectra taken at each pixel simultaneously during the STM scan under relatively small tunnel currents and relatively short exposure time.

Inhibitory member of the apoptosis-stimulating protein of p53 (ASPP) family promotes growth and tumorigenesis in human p53-deficient prostate cancer cells

iASPP is a member of the apoptosis-stimulating protein of p53 (ASPP) family and an evolutionarily conserved inhibitor of p53. Higher levels of iASPP proteins were examined in paraffin-embedded sections collected from 30 patients with prostate cancer using an immunohistochemical method. We found that specially knocking down iASPP with lentivirus-mediated small interfering RNA inhibited the growth, in vitro colony-forming capacity and in vivo tumorigenesis of p53-defective prostate cancer cells. Importantly, inhibition of iASPP induced cell apoptosis, which confers the inhibitory effect on cell survival. We conclude that iASPP is essential for prostate cancer cellular proliferation and survival and may be a potential target for the gene therapy for prostate cancer.

Neuronal responses in visual area V2 (V2) of macaque monkeys with strabismic amblyopia

Amblyopia, a developmental disorder of spatial vision, is thought to result from a cascade of cortical deficits over several processing stages beginning at the primary visual cortex (V1). However, beyond V1, little is known about how cortical development limits the visual performance of amblyopic primates. We quantitatively analyzed the monocular and binocular responses of V1 and V2 neurons in a group of strabismic monkeys exhibiting varying depths of amblyopia. Unlike in V1, the relative effectiveness of the affected eye to drive V2 neurons was drastically reduced in the amblyopic monkeys. The spatial resolution and the orientation bias of V2, but not V1, neurons were subnormal for the affected eyes. Binocular suppression was robust in both cortical areas, and the magnitude of suppression in individual monkeys was correlated with the depth of their amblyopia. These results suggest that the reduced functional connections beyond V1 and the subnormal spatial filter properties of V2 neurons might have substantially limited the sensitivity of the amblyopic eyes and that interocular suppression was likely to have played a key role in the observed alterations of V2 responses and the emergence of amblyopia.

How to choose PET-CT or CT in the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer. Practical experience in China

How to use CT and PET-CT rationally to raise diagnosis, staging and prognostic assessment of lung cancer to a higher level at the best cost-effect ratio is a subject that Chinese clinicians and radiologists should face conscientiously. We review the rational application of CT and PET-CT in four aspects of lung cancer, including screening and detection, morphologic evaluation, haemodynamic or metabolic feature evaluation, and follow-up, staging and prognostic evaluation. As PET-CT is only available in class III-A hospitals today, CT is the most popular equipment in China. PET-CT is more valuable only in cases where CT presentation of lung cancer is atypical or difficult to determine, or in cases where the diagnosis of lung cancer has been initially confirmed, for which clinical staging and decision concerning on therapeutic regimens are needed. We also recommend the current strategies of CT and PET-CT managing of SPN in China.