UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (UGDH) activity is suppressed by peroxide and promoted by PDGF in fibroblast-like synoviocytes: Evidence of a redox control mechanism.

UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (UGDH) generates essential precursors of hyaluronic acid (HA) synthesis, however mechanisms regulating its activity are unclear. We used enzyme histostaining and quantitative image analysis to test whether cytokines that stimulate HA synthesis upregulate UGDH activity. Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS, from N = 6 human donors with knee pain) were cultured, freeze-thawed, and incubated for 1 hour with UDP-glucose, NAD+ and nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) which allows UGDH to generate NADH, and NADH to reduce NBT to a blue stain.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Caused by an Axillary Lipoma.

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), formerly known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome, is a rare chronic neuro-inflammatory pain condition, which can follow a soft-tissue, bone (type I), or nerve injury (type II) that can be severe and often lasts longer than the original tissue damage. Lipomas impinging on the brachial plexus are rare. To date, there have been no documented cases of CRPS caused by a benign tumor.

Post-operative emergence of acute brachial neuritis following posterior cervical laminectomy with fusion: A case report and review of the literature.

Introduction: Idiopathic brachial plexus neuritis or neuralgic amyotrophy is a rare neurological condition whose true etiology currently remains unknown. Epidemiologically, the incidence of this condition is exceptionally rare with only 1.6 cases for every 100,000 people (Turner and Parsonage, 1987).

Intracranial and spinal metastases from eccrine mucinous carcinoma: case report.

Background And Importance: Mucinous eccrine carcinoma (MEC) is a rare but distinct type of sweat gland tumor. MECs tend to recur locally, and their spread to distant organs is very uncommon. This article describes the first case of MEC metastasizing to the brain and the spine.

Transplantation of human bone marrow-derived stromal cells into the contused spinal cord of nude rats.

Object: Human bone marrow stromal cells (hMSCs) constitute a potential source of pluripotent stem cells. In the present study, hMSCs were transplanted into an area of spinal cord contusion in nude rats to determine their survival, differentiation, potential for neuroprotection, and influence on axonal growth and functional recovery.

Methods: Twenty-nine animals received 6 x 10(5) hMSCs in 6 microl medium 1 week after a contusion, while 14 control animals received an injection of 6 microl medium alone.

Modification of Wright's technique for placement of bilateral crossing C2 translaminar screws: technical note.

Background Context: Several relatively new screw techniques have been described that rigidly capture the posterior elements of C2. The previously described procedures of axis fixation are technically demanding and place the vertebral artery at some risk. A novel and less technically demanding technique of obtaining C-2 translaminar screws has been recently described.

Open-door expansile cervical laminoplasty.

Open-door expansile laminoplasty is a practical surgical technique for the treatment of cervical myelopathy secondary to cervical spinal stenosis. Laminoplasty procedures were first described in the late 1970s and have undergone numerous modifications. The current article reviews the indications, techniques, and outcome data for cervical laminoplasty.

Surgical treatment of thoracic outlet syndrome: a randomized trial comparing two operations.

Object: Various surgical approaches have been proposed for the treatment of thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS). The authors of this study focused on the differences in outcome after supraclavicular neuroplasty of brachial plexus (SNBP [no rib resection]) and transaxillary first rib resection (TFRR) in patients in whom the dominant clinical problem was pain.

Methods: Fifty-five patients were randomized to undergo TFRR or SNBP.

Nerve injury induces a tonic bilateral mu-opioid receptor-mediated inhibitory effect on mechanical allodynia in mice.

Background: Mice lacking the mu-opioid receptor gene have been used to characterize the role of mu-opioid receptors in nociception and the analgesic actions of opioid agonists. In this study, the authors determined the role of mu-opioid receptors in neuropathic pain behaviors and the effectiveness of mu- and kappa-opioid receptor agonists on this behavior in mice.

Methods: The authors studied the behavioral responses of mu-opioid receptor knockout and wild-type mice to thermal and mechanical stimuli before and after neuropathic pain induced by unilateral ligation and section of the L5 spinal nerve.

Severity and duration of hyperalgesia in rat varies with type of nerve lesion.

Objective: To learn how lesions with differing capacity for nerve regeneration affect the severity and duration of hyperalgesia in an animal model of neuropathic pain.

Methods: Three groups of rats were studied: 1). L5 nerve root crush (favorable for regeneration); 2).

Naloxone increases pain induced by topical capsaicin in healthy human volunteers.

Opioid receptors occur in locations of strategic importance within the central nervous system for modulation of pain. Is pain reduced by ongoing inhibition mediated by activation of these receptors? Experiments to date in which the opioid-receptor antagonist, naloxone, is administered during a painful event have yielded unclear results. Topically applied capsaicin can be used to induce tonic pain of moderate to severe intensity without tissue injury and is an ideal stimulus for studying acute pain modulation.

Mechanical hyperalgesia after an L5 ventral rhizotomy or an L5 ganglionectomy in the rat.

An L5 spinal nerve ligation (SNL) in the rat leads to behavioral signs of mechanical hyperalgesia. Our recent finding that an L5 dorsal root rhizotomy did not alter the mechanical hyperalgesia following an L5 SNL suggests that signals originating from the proximal stump of the injured nerve are not essential. We postulate that Wallerian degeneration of L5 nerve fibers leads to altered properties of adjacent intact nociceptive afferents.