Int J Med Sci
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Monosodium -iodoacetate (MIA)-induced animal model of osteoarthritis (OA) is under-utilised despite having many inherent advantages. At present, there is lack of studies that directly compare the degenerative changes induced by MIA with the surgical osteoarthritis induction method and human osteoarthritis, which would further verify a greater use of this model. Therefore, we compared the histological, biochemical and biomechanical characteristics in rat model using MIA against the anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) and human cartilage with clinically established osteoarthritis. ⋯ Cartilage stiffness score were 24.2 ± 15.3 Mpa for MIA, 25.3 ± 4.8 for ACLT and 0.5 ± 0.0 Mpa for human OA. The MIA model produces comparable degenerative changes to ACLT and human OA with the advantage of being rapid, minimally invasive and reproducible. Therefore, wider utilisation of MIA as animal translational OA model should perhaps be advocated.
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We examined the effects of overexpressed human chymase on survival and activity in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated mice. Human chymase transgenic (Tg) and wild-type C57BL/6 (WT) mice were treated with LPS (0.03, 0.1 and 0.3 mg/day; intraperitoneal) for 2 weeks. Treatment with 0.03 mg LPS did not affect survival in either WT or Tg mice. ⋯ Survival of mice treated with 0.3 mg/day of LPS was 87.5% and 0% in WT and Tg, respectively. LPS-induced increases in chymase activity in the heart and skin were significantly greater in Tg than WT mice. These data suggest a possible contribution of human chymase activation to LPS-induced mortality.
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The trefoil factor family (TFF) is composed of three thermostable, and protease-resistant proteins, named TFF1, TFF2 and TFF3, and plays a role in gastrointestinal mucosal defence and repair. Recently, TFFs have been found to be related to the development of various types of cancer. This study assessed the relationship between the expression of TFF1 and TFF3 and the clinicopathological parameters in gastric carcinoma (GC). ⋯ Reduced expression of TFF1 and increased expression of TFF3 may play a role in the carcinogenesis of gastric cancer. Furthermore, high expression of TFF3 with reduced expression of TFF1 may be a marker of poor prognosis for patients with EGC.