Wen Yang

Aquaporins (AQPs) are members of the aquaporin water channel family that play an important role in reabsorption of water from the renal tubular fluid to concentrate urine. Using immunohistochemical staining on paraffin sections, We studied expression of AQP2, AQP3 and AQP4 in renal medulla of Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus). The renal medulla of cattle (Bos taurus) acted as the control. Compared with the control, strong expression of AQP2 was observed at the apical plasma membrane and intracellular vesicles, in both the outer medullary collecting duct (OMCD) and the inner medullary collecting duct (IMCD) of camel. Strong expression of AQP3 was observed at the basolateral plasma membrane of the IMCD of camel. Strong AQP4 expression, however, was observed at the basolateral plasma membrane in the OMCD of camel. Moreover, moderate AQP4 expression was detected in endothelium of capillary in medullary region of camels, whereas very weak/absent expression was detected in endothelium of capillary of cattle. We concluded that expression of AQP2, AQP3 and AQP4 in the camel kidney showed some differences from cattle in renal trans-epithelial water transport. It may enhance our better understanding of special water metabolism mechanisms that enable camels to survive in extreme environments.

Retinal artery lesions have been reported to be a risk marker of morbidity and mortality for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in various study populations. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is also a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, the relationship between retinal artery lesions and NAFLD is less certain.

The red blood cell distribution width (RDW) has been reported to be a risk marker of morbidity and mortality for cardiovascular diseases in various study populations. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is also a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. However, the relationship between RDW and NAFLD is less certain. RDW was determined using a Coulter counter together with the hemoglobin level in 1637 normal control individuals and 619 NAFLD patients who were consecutively referred by general practitioners for routine medical check-up. The total plasma cholesterol, plasma triglyceride, and fasting glucose were determined using a multichannel analyzer, and BMI, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and the incidence of hypertension and coronary artery disease were measured using statistical analysis. Patients with NAFLD had a higher RDW, BMI, waist to hip ratio, SBP and DBP, fasting glucose, triglycerides, and hypertension incidence (P<0.01), and were also younger (P<0.01). NAFLD was considered as a dependent variable, whereas age, sex, BMI, waist to hip ratio, RDW, hemoglobin, SBP and DBP, fasting glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, and hypertension were considered as covariate variables. We found that age (β=-0.031, P<0.01), BMI (β=0.265, P<0.01), waist to hip ratio (β=6.166, P<0.01), RDW (β=0.154, P<0.01), fasting plasma glucose (β=0.301, P<0.01), and triglyceride (β=0.222, P<0.01) were significantly associated with the risk for NAFLD, analyzed by binary logistic regression analysis. Patients with NAFLD were more likely to have high levels of RDW. Moreover, NAFLD was associated with age, BMI, RDW, fasting plasma glucose, and triglyceride. If confirmed in future follow-up studies, this association might provide a rationale to introduce the easy, inexpensive RDW in algorithms for NAFLD risk prediction.

Background. Colorectal cancer mostly arises from the polyps of colon. The aim of our study was to examine the association of body mass index (BMI) and serum lipids with the colorectal polyps in old Chinese people.Methods. The risk of developing colorectal polyps was studied in 244 subjects (212 men and 32 women, 74.63 ± 11.63 years old) who underwent colonoscopy for the first time from January 2008 to July 2012 at the Navy General Hospital, Beijing, China. According to the results of colonoscopy, all the subjects were divided into 112 normal control, 38 right colorectal polyps, 53 left colorectal polyps, and 41 both right and left colorectal polyps groups. The total plasma cholesterol, plasma triglyceride, plasma creatinine concentration, blood urinary nitrogen, and fasting glucose were determined using a multichannel analyzer.Results. There were significant differences among normal control, right colorectal polyps, left colorectal polyps, and both right and left polyps groups, which were the BMI, total cholesterol, triglycerides, creatinine, and urinary nitrogen. In binary logistic regression analysis, there were two risk factors associated with the occurrence of colorectal polyps, which included BMI and systolic blood pressure.Conclusions. Colorectal polyps were significantly associated with increased BMI, total cholesterol, and triglycerides levels.

Diabetes is often associated with atherothrombosis. It is unknown whether high glucose can modulate the expression of tissue factor (TF) and thrombomodulin (TM) in human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs). HAECs were treated with a lower-degree high glucose condition (LG, 11.2 mM) for 8 days and a higher-degree high glucose condition (HG, 30 mM) for 4–6 h. Methoxyphenyl tetrazolium inner salt assay, real-time polymerase chain reaction, western blot, and TF activity assay were performed. In HAECs, both LG and HG conditions were nontoxic. LG caused a 74 ± 20% decrease (P = 0.273) and HG caused a 57 ± 5% decrease in TF mRNA expression (P = 0.001). LG caused a 53 ± 13% decrease (P = 0.036) and HG caused a 75 ± 10% decrease in TF protein expression (P = 0.096). TF activity was not significantly changed by LG (127 ± 13%, P = 0.40) or HG treatments (120 ± 42%, P = 0.70). In contrast, LG caused a 153 ± 16% increase (P = 0.03) and HG caused a 211 ± 20% increase in TM mRNA expression (P = 0.005). LG caused a 131 ± 31% increase (P = 0.35) and HG caused a 140 ± 9% increase in TM protein expression (P = 0.006). Different high glucose conditions do not provide the sufficient stress required to induce TF expression in HAECs. In contrast, high glucose conditions can induce TM expression in HAECs.

A high red blood cell distribution width (RDW) may be associated with adverse outcomes in patients with heart failure and risk of death, and cardiovascular events in people with previous myocardial infarction. Ultrasound detection of carotid plaque helps to identify asymptomatic patients with advanced subclinical atherosclerosis, which can predict risk of cardiovascular death or myocardial infarction. However, the relationship of RDW and carotid artery atherosclerosis in hypertensive people is less certain. To evaluate the association between RDW and carotid artery atherosclerosis in people with hypertension. RDW was determined using a Coulter counter together with white blood cell count in 156 hypertensive inpatients 60 to 85 years of age. Carotid intimal-medial thickness (IMT) and carotid atherosclerotic plaques were identified by ultrasound imaging. Total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels were determined using a multichannel analyzer. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured manually. The number of patients with carotid artery atherosclerotic plaque, as well as the carotid IMT to inner diameter ratio, were significantly different among the different RDW groups of hypertensive inpatients (P<0.01). With linear regression analysis, increased carotid IMT and higher white blood cell count were identified to be significant and independent contributors to the RDW of hypertensive inpatients (P<0.05). A close relationship between high RDW and IMT, and the incidence of carotid plaque, was identified in 156 hypertensive inpatients.

Chondrocytes are useful as a cell culture system for studying arthritic degeneration in tissue engineered cartilage. However, primary chondrocytes have short in vitro lifespan and rapid shift of collagen phenotype. In this study, we used a high dosage of retroviral vector LXSN16E6E7 to transduce human primary chondrocytes and obtained an actively proliferating cell line, designated hPi, which expresses HPV‐16 E6/E7 mRNA in early passages. Parental primary chondrocytes cease to grow after five passages, whereas hPi could be propagated beyond 100 passages without requiring additional cell elements in defined medium. After 48 passages, hPi can also give many profiles similar to those of parental primary chondrocyte, including type II collagen in mRNA and protein level, aggrecan in mRNA level, lacunae in type I collagen matrices, and morphology with GAG‐specific Alcian blue staining. hPi has shown neoplastic transformation, as examined by NOD‐SCID mice tumorgenicity assays for 3 months. Our results indicated that human primary chondrocytes could be immortalized by transduction with HPV‐16 E6/E7, preserving stable cartilage‐specific differentiation markers. The established chondrocyte cell line could provide a novel model to engineer cartilage in vitro and in vivo for cartilage repair research and clinical application. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 2006