Ai-Jun Sun | PubMed Health

PubMed2004

[Osteopontin enhances migratory ability of cultured aortic adventitial fibroblasts from spontaneously hypertensive rats].

Migration of adventitial fibroblasts (AF) is involved in the neointimal formation which is one of the common pathological processes in several vascular diseases. The observation of whether the migratory response of AF from hypertensive animal is different from that of controls may provide an explanation of vascular remodeling in hypertension. We examined whether there is any difference between the migratory activity of AF derived from spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) and that from their normotensive counterpart Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). In addition, the role of osteopontin (OPN) in cell migration was also examined. Primary cultures of aortic adventitial fibroblasts were derived from SHR and age-matched WKY. Migration of fibroblasts was determined with the Transwell method. The mRNA expression level of OPN was measured by a real-time quantitative PCR. When compared with WKY-derived cells, migration of adventitial fibroblasts from SHR exhibited an increased response when stimulated by 10% serum (cell number per field 35.20+/-5.26 vs 22.2+/-3.27, p<0.05). Chemotaxis induced by 10 ng/ml bFGF showed a similar difference (cell number per field 30.23+/-4.54 vs 19.20+/-4.47, p<0.05). We also found that SHR-derived fibroblasts expressed a higher level of OPN mRNA than the cells from WKY (1863.23+/-43.91 vs 326.24+/-68.29, p<0.01). To verify if OPN is associated with the enhanced migratory ability in AF from SHR, we designed the antisense oligonucleotide of OPN. The results showed that the antisense OPN oligonucleotide significantly inhibited AF migration (cell number per field 38.60+/-5.98 vs 26.61+/-3.84, p<0.05), while sense and mismatch OPN oligonucleotide had no effect on cell migration. Therefore, the migration of adventitial fibroblasts appeared to be enhanced in cultures derived from SHR. OPN might be involved in the difference observed.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

[Ovarian tumors with endocrine function].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinicopathological features of ovarian tumors with endocrine function. METHODS: Twenty-four cases of ovarian tumor with endocrine manifestation were collected from the hospital. Their clinical presentation and histopathologic features were reviewed, along with a panel immunohistochemistry stainings (EnVision method). The antibodies were AE1/AE3, epithelial membrane antibody (EMA), alpha-inhibin, calretini and smooth myoglobin (SMA). RESULTS: The main clinical endocrinological manifestations were related to an excess production of sex steroids. Histologically, the principle histological subtype of these tumors was ovarian sex cord-stroma tumors, including 13 cases ovarian type (8 granulosa cell tumors, 2 thecofibromas, 3 sclerosing stromal tumors), 7 cases testicular type (1 sertoli cell tumors, 5 sertoli-Leydig cell tumors, 1 Leydig cell tumor, and 2 cases of steroid cell tumor (NOS). Another 2 cases were ovarian epithelial tumors. Grossly, 50% (11/22) ovarian sex cord-stromal tumors were less than 5 cm in diameter. However, 4 tumors were quite larger, up to 18 cm in diameter. Most of these tumors were solid or solid-cystic and their cut surfaces were brown, pink, yellow or grey in color. The 2 primary ovarian epithelial tumors were larger, being 12 cm and 14 cm in diameter, respectively. Immunohistochemically, ovarian sex cord-stromal tumors showed positive staining for alpha-inhibin in all cases (22/22) and for calretinin in majority cases (18/22), and that the intensity of reactivity correlated with the degree of tumor differentiation. The non-neoplastic, luteinized stromal cells in 2 ovarian primary epithelial tumors also showed positive staining. Five cases of fibrothecomas and sclerosing stroma tumors were all positive for SMA. Although 6 of the 22 ovarian sex cord-stromal tumors were AE1/AE3 positive, all were EMA negative. CONCLUSIONS: Most endocrinological syndromes in ovarian neoplasia reflect an overproduction of sex steroids, but the clinical manifestations do not correlate with the tumor histological subtypes. Most functional ovarian tumors are sex cord-stromal tumors and are usually of small to medium in size, but few are larger or giant. The size of the tumor does not correlate with the duration and the degree of clinical manifestations. Ovarian tumors of non-sex cord-stromal type may also be clinically functional. The immunohistochemical results suggests that alpha-inhibin and/or calretinin expression are useful markers in support of a diagnosis of sex cord-stromal tumor of the ovary. Although some of these tumors are AE1/AE3 positive, EMA negativity may be useful for the differential diagnosis with epithelial ovarian tumors.

Adolescent↗