Potential therapeutic efficiency of pan-ERBB inhibitors for canine glioma

Canine glioma is one of the most common brain tumors with poor prognosis, making effective chemotherapy highly desirable. Previous studies have suggested that ERBB4, a signaling molecule involving one of the epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR), may be a promising therapeutic target. In this study, the anti-tumor effects of pan-ERBB inhibitors, which can inhibit the phosphorylation of ERBB4, were evaluated both in vitro and in vivo using a canine glioblastoma cell line. The results demonstrated that both afatinib and dacomitinib effectively reduced the expression of phosphorylated ERBB4, and significantly decreased the number of viable cells, ultimately prolonging the survival time of orthotopically xenografted mice. Further downstream of ERBB4, afatinib was found to suppress the expression of phosphorylated Akt and phosphorylated Extracellular signal-related kinases1 and 2 (ERK1/2) and induced apoptotic cell death. Thus, pan-ERBB inhibition is a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of canine gliomas.

Experimental model to estimate intestinal viability using charge-coupled device microscopy

BACKGROUND

Intraoperative assessment of intestinal viability following release of strangulation remains difficult. The aim of this study was to establish clinical standards for the evaluation of intestinal viability by charge-coupled device (CCD) microscopy.

METHODS

A rat ileus model with strangulation for between 15 and 120 min was used. The images obtained by CCD microscopy were used to calculate maximum velocity (V (max)) ratio (ratio of V (max) of blood cell transition in the experimental segment to that in the reference segment) and S ratio (the ratio of S-the effective area of the vascular bed against the total area of the vascular bed-in the experimental segment to that in the reference segment). Rats were divided into group 1, comprising animals that survived for 7 days or more, and group 2, which consisted of animals that died within 4 days.

RESULTS

V (max) ratio and S ratio in group 1 were both significantly higher than those in group 2 (P < 0.01). No death occurred at a V (max) ratio of 0.76 or higher and an S ratio of 0.61 or more, while there were no survivors with a V (max) ratio of 0.54 or less and an S ratio of 0.51 or less.

CONCLUSION

V (max) ratio and S ratio could be used as indices for evaluation of intestinal viability.

One-bone forearm formation using vascularized fibula graft for massive bone defect of the forearm with infection: case report

Massive long-bone defects of greater than 6 cm are difficult to treat with conventional bone grafts, and other methods are sometimes recommended, such as vascularized bone grafts or bone transport using the Ilizarov external fixator. The combination of local infection with a massive bone defect exacerbates the problem, and provides an even more negative prognosis. The authors treated a large bone defect of the forearm with local infection, using a one-bone forearm formation with a large vascularized fibula graft. They attached an adequate amount of muscle fascia to the vascularized fibula, which was useful not only for coverage of the skin defect, but also for treatment of the local infection. Twenty months after surgery, elbow and hand functions were maintained, and the patient had no disturbance of hand function in daily activities, although rotation of the forearm was sacrificed.

Protective effects of 5,6,7,8-tetrahydroneopterin against X-ray radiation injury in mice

The protective effects of 5,6,7,8-tetrahydroneopterin (NH4) against radiation injury in mice were studied. (C57BL/6xA/J)F1 (B6A) mice received a single whole-body irradiation dose of 200, 400, 700 or 800 cGy of X-rays. NH4 (30 mg/kg body weight) or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) was injected intraperitoneally into irradiated mice 10 min before and after the irradiation and again after 6 h. All mice which received the 800 cGy radiation+PBS died between 8 and 11 days after the treatment. In contrast, those which also received NH4 demonstrated a significantly prolonged survival time and 40% lived more than 5 months. Total numbers of thymocytes and spleen cells on day 5 post-irradiation were dramatically reduced in line with the radiation dose. The survival was significantly enhanced by NH4 in treated mice. The proliferation of spleen cells in mice stimulated by concanavalin A (Con A) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was also greater in NH4 treated mice. The immune response of survivors 5 months after 800 cGy+NH4 treatments, against Con A, LPS, allogenic mouse, and sheep red blood cells had essentially recovered to the levels of normal mice. These results indicate that NH4 had an important role in modifying radiation injury.

Microencapsulation of the renin inhibitor FK906 by phase separation of ethylcellulose in cyclohexane

Microencapsulation of the renin inhibitor FK906 (tripeptide) by phase separation of ethylcellulose in cyclohexane was performed to obtain sustained release of the drug for a once-a-day application. Owing to the binding characteristics and to the very low solubility of FK906 in cyclohexane, microencapsulation can be performed after granulation of the drug with an inert filler, and no additional binder is required. Microcapsules with a particle size of 180-590 microns are obtained in a yield of 70%. Drug content determinations and SEM-micrographs reveal the almost complete incorporation of the polymer for the coating and the high quality of the microcapsule wall. Despite the strongly pH-dependent solubility of FK906 (.HCl) in water, the microcapsules show almost identical sustained-release curves at pH 1.2 and 6.0 (0.05 M phosphate buffer). This is explained by an acidic microenvironment inside the microcapsules at both pHs investigated and was attributed to the intrinsic physico-chemical properties of FK906 which help to overcome the buffer capacity of the phosphate buffer, pH 6.0, inside the microcapsules. This theory was confirmed by solubility experiments at pH 6.0 using excess amounts of FK906 as well as by dissolution tests as a function of the buffer capacity and the osmolality of the dissolution medium. The buffer capacity was found to be the parameter with greater influence on the release rate.

[Inflammatory tumor of the hepatic hilus mimicking bile duct cancer--report of a case]

A 73-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of jaundice. Ultrasonography and computed tomography showed a tumor of the hepatic hilus causing obstructive jaundice. Angiography revealed a stenosis of the right hepatic artery. Under the diagnosis of carcinoma of the hepatic hilus, extended right hepatectomy with resection of the caudate lobe was performed. A tumor showing expophytic growth, 2.1 x 1.9 x 1.5cm in size, was seen in the hepatic hilus. Histologically, the tumor was proved to be a non-neoplastic fibrous tissue simulating the inflammatory pseudotumor.

Biosynthesis of membrane proteins of Pseudomonas aeruginosa: effects of various antibiotics

The biosynthesis of membrane proteins of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was examined using various antibiotics (puromycin, streptomycin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, and rifampin). Among six major membrane proteins separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, the biosynthesis of two membrane proteins (proteins I and II) was found to be unusually resistant to these antibiotics. The biosynthesis of protein I (apparent molecular weight of 6,500) was completely resistant to puromycin, streptomycin, chloramphenicol, and tetracycline at conditions which severely inhibited the biosynthesis of all the other membrane proteins except for protein II. Under the same conditions, the biosynthesis of protein II (apparent molecular weight of 9,000) was also resistant to puromycin, streptomycin, and tetracycline, but was sensitive to chloramphenicol. The effect of rifampin on the biosynthesis of proteins I and II indicated that their messenger RNAs are extremely stable; their functional half-lives are 16 and 8 min for proteins I and II, respectively, in contrast with 2.0 and 3.5 min for the average half-lives of the cytoplasmic and membrane proteins, respectively. Protein II was identified as the lipoprotein of the outer membrane from its amino acid composition and mobility in gel electrophoresis. Protein I is a cytoplasmic membrane protein lacking histidine. From the content of arginine residues, the number of protein I molecules per cell was estimated to be as many as, and most likely more than, that of the lipoprotein (protein II). Therefore, protein I is the most abundant protein in P. aeruginosa.

In vivo and in vitro conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol into vitamin D3 in rat skin by ultraviolet ray's irradiation

In order to confirm the photochemical conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol (7-DHC) into vitamin D3 in rat skin, the following in vitro and in vivo experiments were carried out. In the first (in vitro) experiment, the skin stripped off from a sacrificed normal rat was irradiated with an ultraviolet (UV) lamp for a constant period. In the second (in vivo) experiment, the normal rat, irradiated under the same condition mentioned above, was sacrificed and then the skin was stripped off. Lipids were individually extracted with chloroform-methanol (1:1) from the skin obtained in the two experiments and the solvent was evaporated. The resulting residue was saponified and the unsaponifiable matter extracted with benzene was purified by application to hydroxyalkoxy-propyl (HAP) Sephadex column chromatography. The resulting purified vitamin D3 fraction was applied to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in order to estimate vitamin D3. No peak, aside from that of alpha-naphthol as an internal standard, was observed in the HPLC chromatogram on the skin obtained from the non-irradiated rat, whereas the peak corresponding to vitamin D3 was observed in each HPLC chromatogram on both the irradiated skin (in vitro experiment) and the skin obtained from the irradiated rat (in vivo experiment). The peaks, confirmed to be due to vitamin D3 by the results of co-chromatography, were increased according to the increase of irradiation energy and there were little differences between the corresponding estimated values of vitamin D3 in the two experiments. These results prompted the conclusion that 7-DHC in rat skin was photochemically converted into vitamin D3 by UV irradiation and that the in vivo conversion mechanism might be the same as the in vitro one.

An improved procedure for the isolation of suprasterol2 I and II from a photochemical reaction mixture of ergocalciferol (vitamin D2)

An improved procedure for the isolateion suprasterol2 I and II from a photochemical reaction mixture of ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) and their spectral data are described in this paper. When a solution of ergocalciferol in ethanol was irradiated by UV light from a high-pressure mercury lamp, the reaction mixture gave six spots, including suprasterol2 I and II, on the thin-layer chromatogram, while the peaks corresponding to pyro-D2, isopyro-D2,5,b-trans-D2, suprasterol 2 I and II were observed in the gas chromatogram obtained from a capillary column GLC (Suprasterol2 I and II were main peaks). After purifying the mixture by column chromatography on silica gel containing 12% alumina as an absorbent, two main fractins were isolated. The data of their spectra, TLC and GLC showed that the former fraction was suprasterol2 II while the latter was suprasterol2 I and that the both fractions contained the respective compound only. Both suprasterol2 were crystallized as the 3,5-dinitro-benzoates.

Isolation and identification of the messenger ribonucleic acid for a structural lipoprotein of the Escherichia coli outer membrane

The cells of Escherichia coli strain CP 78 were labeled with [32P]orthophosphate and the total radioactive RNA was prepared from the cells. The mRNA that codes for a structural lipoprotein in the outer membrane was purified from the total RNA by three successive electrophoreses on polyacrylamide slab gels, twice at pH 8.3 and once at pH 3.5 in 7 M urea. Approximately 0.002% of the total radioactive phosphate used was incorporated into the fraction containing the most purified mRNA. The two-dimensional fingerprint of the T1 ribonuclease digest of the 32P-labeled mRNA showed that the purity of the mRNA was as high as 90%. A preliminary sequence analysis was carried out on the T1 ribonuclease oligonucleotides which had been separated by the fingerprinting procedure. By using the established amino acid sequence of the lipoprotein and the genetic code, three relatively long oligonucleotides were assigned to code for three different parts of the lipoprotein. From these data, the present RNA fraction was identified as the lipoprotein mRNA. From the analysis of the T1 ribonuclease oligonucleotides, the mRNA was estimated to be 360 +/- 10 nucleotides in length. Although the length of the mRNA was enough to code for 2 lipoprotein molecules, T1 ribonuclease digestion of the mRNA yielded only 1 mol/mol of mRNA of the individual oligonucleotides assigned to parts of the amino acid sequence of the lipoprotein. This suggests that the mRNA codes for only 1 molecule of the lipoprotein. It was also found that the mRNA has no polyadenylate sequence at the 3' end.