Chinese medical journal
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Chinese medical journal · Jul 2010
Assessment of pancreatic carcinoma cell chemosensitivity using a three-dimensional culture system.
Monolayer cell culture models are the traditional culture models used for in vitro research of pancreatic carcinoma chemosensitivity. However, these models neglect the interactions between tumor cells and the impact of the tumor microenvironment. Such tumor cell monolayers poorly mimic the solid tumor microenvironment. The present study aimed to investigate the chemosensitivity characteristics of pancreatic cancer cells in a three-dimensional culture system by analyzing the differences in drug sensitivity between a scattered cell culture model and a multicellular spheroid culture model. ⋯ Pancreatic carcinoma cells exhibit multicellular resistance in three-dimensional cultures.
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Chinese medical journal · Jul 2010
The association between common genetic variation in the FTO gene and metabolic syndrome in Han Chinese.
Genome-wide association studies for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) identified FTO gene as a locus conferring increased risk for common obesity in many populations with European ancestry. However, the involvement of FTO gene in obesity or T2DM related metabolic traits has not been consistently established in Chinese populations. The objective of this study was to investigate the association of FTO genetic polymorphisms with metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Han Chinese. ⋯ A more common risk-conferring variant of FTO for MetS was identified in Han Chinese. Our study substantiated that genetic variations in FTO locus are involved in the pathogenesis of MetS.
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Chinese medical journal · Jun 2010
Changes in functional connectivity of ventral anterior cingulate cortex in heroin abusers.
Previous studies with animal experiments, autopsy, structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and task-related functional MRI (fMRI) have confirmed that brain functional connectivity in addicts has become impaired. The goal of this study was to investigate the alteration of resting-state functional connectivity of the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) in the heroin abusers' brain. ⋯ The altered resting-state functional connectivity to the vACC suggests the neural circuitry on which the addictive drug has an affect and reflects the dysfunction of the addictive brain.