Aquaporin-4 regulates water molecule channels and is important in tissue regulation and water transportation in the brain. Upregulation of aquaporin-4 expression is closely related to cel-lular edema after early cerebral infarction. Cellular edema and aquaporin-4 expression can be determined by measuring cerebral infarct area and apparent diffusion coefficient using diffu-sion-weighted imaging (DWI). We examined the effects of silencing aquaporin-4 on cerebral infarction. Rat models of cerebral infarction were established by occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery and siRNA-aquaporin-4 was immediately injectedvia the right basal ganglia. In control animals, the area of high signal intensity and relative apparent diffusion coefifcient value on T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) and DWI gradually increased within 0.5–6 hours after cerebral infarction. After aquaporin-4 gene silencing, the area of high signal intensity on T2WI and DWI reduced, relative apparent diffusion coefifcient value was increased, and cellular edema was ob-viously alleviated. At 6 hours after cerebral infarction, the apparent diffusion coefifcient value was similar between treatment and model groups, but angioedema was still obvious in the treat-ment group. These results indicate that aquaporin-4 gene silencing can effectively relieve cellular edema after early cerebral infarction; and when conducted accurately and on time, the diffusion coefifcient value and the area of high signal intensity on T2WI and DWI can relfect therapeutic effects of aquaporin-4 gene silencing on cellular edema.

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

Deep brain stimulation has become a well-established symptomatic treatment for Parkinson’s disease during the last 25 years. Besides improving motor symptoms and long-term motor com-plications, positive effects on patients’ mobility, activities of daily living, emotional well-being and health-related quality of life have been recognized. Apart from that, numerous clinical trials analyzed effects on non-motor symptoms and side effects of deep brain stimulation. Several technical issues and stimulation paradigms have been and are still being developed to optimize the therapeutic effects, minimize the side effects and facilitate handling. This review summarizes current therapeutic issues,i.e., patient and target selection, surgical procedure and programming paradigms. In addition it focuses on neuropsychological effects and side effects of deep brain stimulation.

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

Temporal lobe resection is an important treatment option for epilepsy that involves removal of potentially essential brain regions. Selective amygdalohippocampectomy is a widely performed temporal lobe surgery. We suggest starting the incision for selective amygdalohippocampec-tomy at the inferior temporal gyrus based on diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tractography. Diffusion MRI data from 20 normal participants were obtained from Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) database (www.ppmi-info.org). A tractography algorithm was applied to extract neuronal fiber information for the temporal lobe, hippocampus, and amygdala. Fiber information was analyzed in terms of the number of fibers and betweenness centrality. Distances between starting incisions and surgical target regions were also considered to explore the length of the surgical path. Middle temporal and superior temporal gyrus regions have higher connectivity values than the inferior temporal gyrus and thus are not good candi-dates for starting the incision. The distances between inferior temporal gyrus and surgical target regions were shorter than those between middle temporal gyrus and target regions. Thus, the in-ferior temporal gyrus is a good candidate for starting the incision. Starting the incision from the inferior temporal gyrus would spare the important (in terms of betweenness centrality values) middle region and shorten the distance to the target regions of the hippocampus and amygdala.

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

Amentoflavone is a natural biflavone compound with many biological properties, including anti-inlfammatory, antioxidative, and neuroprotective effects. We presumed that amentolfavone exerts a neuroprotective effect in epilepsy models. Prior to model establishment, mice were intragastrically administered 25 mg/kg amentoflavone for 3 consecutive days. Amentoflavone effectively prevented pilocarpine-induced epilepsy in a mouse kindling model, suppressed nu-clear factor-κB activation and expression, inhibited excessive discharge of hippocampal neurons resulting in a reduction in epileptic seizures, shortened attack time, and diminished loss and apoptosis of hippocampal neurons. Results suggested that amentolfavone protected hippocampal neurons in epilepsy micevia anti-inlfammation, antioxidation, and antiapoptosis, and then ef-fectively prevented the occurrence of seizures.

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

In this study, we aimed to determine gastrointestinal problems associated with neurogenic bowel dysfunction in spinal cord injury patients and to assess the efifcacy of bowel program on gas-trointestinal problems and the severity of neurogenic bowel dysfunction. Fifty-ifve spinal cord injury patients were included in this study. A bowel program according to the characteristics of neurogenic bowel dysfunction was performed for each patient. Before and after bowel program, gastrointestinal problems (constipation, dififcult intestinal evacuation, incontinence, abdominal pain, abdominal distension, loss of appetite, hemorrhoids, rectal bleeding and gastrointestinal induced autonomic dysrelfexia) and bowel evacuation methods (digital stimulation, oral med-ication, suppositories, abdominal massage, Valsalva maneuver and manual evacuation) were determined. Neurogenic bowel dysfunction score was used to assess the severity of neurogenic bowel dysfunction. At least one gastrointestinal problem was identiifed in 44 (80%) of the 55 patients before bowel program. Constipation (56%, 31/55) and incontinence (42%, 23/55) were the most common gastrointestinal problems. Digital rectal stimulation was the most common method for bowel evacuation, both before (76%, 42/55) and after (73%, 40/55) bowel program. Oral medication, enema and manual evacuation application rates were signiifcantly decreased and constipation, dififcult intestinal evacuation, abdominal distention, and abdominal pain rates were signiifcantly reduced after bowel program. In addition, mean neurogenic bowel dysfunction score was decreased after bowel program. An effective bowel program decreases the severity of neurogenic bowel dysfunction and reduces associated gastrointestinal problems in patients with spinal cord injury.

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

Microsurgical suturing is the gold standard of nerve coaptation. Although literature on the usefulness of ifbrin glue as an alternative is becoming increasingly available, it remains contradic-tory. Furthermore, no data exist on how both repair methods might inlfuence the morphological aspects (arborization; branching) of early peripheral nerve regeneration. We used the sciatic nerve transplantation model in thy-1 yellow lfuorescent protein mice (YFP;n = 10). Pieces of nerve (1cm) were grafted from YFP-negative mice (n = 10) into those expressing YFP. We per-formed microsuture coaptations on one side and used ifbrin glue for repair on the contralateral side. Seven days after grafting, the regeneration distance, the percentage of regenerating and ar-borizing axons, the number of branches per axon, the coaptation failure rate, the gap size at the repair site and the time needed for surgical repair were all investigated. Fibrin glue repair resulted in regenerating axons travelling further into the distal nerve. It also increased the percentage of arborizing axons. No coaptation failure was detected. Gap sizes were comparable in both groups. Fibrin glue signiifcantly reduced surgical repair time. The increase in regeneration distance, even after the short period of time, is in line with the results of others that showed faster axonal regen-eration after ifbrin glue repair. The increase in arborizing axons could be another explanation for better functional and electrophysiological results after ifbrin glue repair. Fibrin glue nerve coap-tation seems to be a promising alternative to microsuture repair.

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

Although ultrasound measurements have been used in previous studies on carpal tunnel syn-drome to visualize injury to the median nerve, whether such ultrasound data can indicate the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome remains controversial. The cross-sectional areas of the median nerve at the tunnel inlet and outlet can show swelling and compression of the nerve at the carpal. We hypothesized that the ratio of the cross-sectional areas of the median nerve at the carpal tunnel inlet to outlet accurately relfects the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome. To test this, high-resolution ultrasound with a linear array transducer at 5–17 MHz was used to assess 77 pa-tients with carpal tunnel syndrome. The results showed that the cut-off point for the inlet-to-outlet ratio was 1.14. Signiifcant differences in the inlet-to-outlet ratio were found among patients with mild, moderate, and severe carpal tunnel syndrome. The cut-off point in the ratio of cross-section-al areas of the median nerve was 1.29 between mild and more severe (moderate and severe) carpal tunnel syndrome patients with 64.7% sensitivity and 72.7% speciifcity. The cut-off point in the ratio of cross-sectional areas of the median nerve was 1.52 between the moderate and severe carpal tunnel syndrome patients with 80.0% sensitivity and 64.7% speciifcity. These results suggest that the inlet-to-outlet ratio relfected the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome.

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

With chromium-hematoxylin staining, we found evidence for the existence of novel age-depen-dent network structures in the dura mater of rat brains. Under stereomicroscopy, we noticed that chromium-hematoxylin-stained threadlike structures, which were barely observable in 1-week-old rats, were networked in specific areas of the brain, for example, the lateral lobes and the cerebella, in 4-week-old rats. In 7-week-old rats, those structures were found to have become larger and better networked. With phase contrast microscopy, we found that in 1-week-old rats, chromium-hematoxylin-stained granules were scattered in the same areas of the brain in which the network structures would later be observed in the 4- and 7-week-old rats. Such age-depen-dent network structures were examined by using optical and transmission electron microscopy, and the following results were obtained. The scattered granules fused into networks with increas-ing age. Cross-sections of the age-dependent network structures demonstrated heavily-stained basophilic substructures. Transmission electron microscopy revealed the basophilic substructures to be clusters with high electron densities consisting of nanosized particles. We report these data as evidence for the existence of age-dependent network structures in the dura mater, we discuss their putative functions of age-dependent network structures beyond the general concept of the dura mater as a supporting matrix.

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

Electroacupuncture has therapeutic effects on ischemic brain injury, but its mechanism is still poorly understood. In this study, mice were stimulated by electroacupuncture at theBaihui (GV20) acupoint for 30 minutes at 1 mA and 2/15 Hz for 5 consecutive days. A cerebral isch-emia model was established by ligating the bilateral common carotid artery for 15 minutes. At 72 hours after injury, neuronal injury in the mouse hippocampus had lessened, and the number of terminal deoxynucleotide transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling-positive cells reduced after electroacupuncture treatment. Moreover, expression of adenosine monophos-phate-activated protein kinaseα (AMPKα) and phosphorylated AMPKα was up-regulated. Intraperitoneal injection of the AMPK antagonist, compound C, suppressed this phenomenon. Our ifndings suggest that electroacupuncture preconditioning alleviates ischemic brain injury via AMPK activation.

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

Treatment for optic nerve injury by brain-derived neurotrophic factor or the transplantation of human umbilical cord blood stem cells has gained progress, but analysis by biomechanical indicators is rare. Rabbit models of optic nerve injury were established by a clamp. At 7 days after injury, the vitreous body received a one-time injection of 50 μg brain-derived neurotrophic factor or 1 × 106 human umbilical cord blood stem cells. After 30 days, the maximum load, max-imum stress, maximum strain, elastic limit load, elastic limit stress, and elastic limit strain had clearly improved in rabbit models of optical nerve injury after treatment with brain-derived neu-rotrophic factor or human umbilical cord blood stem cells. The damage to the ultrastructure of the optic nerve had also been reduced. These ifndings suggest that human umbilical cord blood stem cells and brain-derived neurotrophic factor effectively repair the injured optical nerve, im-prove biomechanical properties, and contribute to the recovery after injury.

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期

作者： 刊期： 2015年第07期