Objective: Alpha bungarotoxin (alpha-BTX) is a neurotoxin isolated from the venom of Bungarus multicinctus that binds specifically to the beta-subunits of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) on myotube membranes. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the distribution of alpha-BTX-sensitive nAChR in Hirschsprung's disease (HD) to understand the histopathological features of HD, especially the increase in acetylcholine esterase (AChE) positive nerve fibres.
Methods: Confocal microscopy was used to study the expression of FITC (fluorescein isothiocyanate)-alpha-BTX, anti-synaptophysin (A-SY) antibody, and anti-neurofilament (A-NF) antibody to determine the distribution of nAChR and ganglion cell and nerve fibres in colon specimens from five cases of HD and three normal controls.
Results: Quantitative assessment of the immunoreactivity of colonic muscle and colonic mucosal epithelium from an aganglionic segment of HD bowel demonstrated markedly increased nAChR compared with colonic muscle and colonic mucosal epithelium from a ganglionic segment of HD bowel and normal bowel (p < 0.0001, respectively), both of which have only a few positive nAChR. In colonic muscle from aganglionic and transitional segments of HD, there were many nAChR around hypertrophic nerve trunks identified by A-NF and A-SY staining.
Conclusion: We suggest that abnormal expression of nAChR in HD might be implicated in causing gastrointestinal dysmotility because of their localization around hypertrophic nerve trunks.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1015-9584(08)60035-4 | DOI Listing |
Antioxidants (Basel)
December 2024
Department of Biomaterials Science (BK 21 FOUR Program), Life and Industry Convergence Research Institute, College of Natural Resources and Life Science, Pusan National University, Miryang 50463, Republic of Korea.
Oxidative stress is the key cause of the etiopathogenesis of several diseases associated with constipation. This study examined whether the green pine cone can improve the symptoms of constipation based on the antioxidant activities. The changes in the key parameters for the antioxidant activity and laxative effects were examined in the loperamide (Lop)-induced constipation of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats after being treated with the methanol extracts of green pine cone (MPC, unripe fruits of ).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Med (Lausanne)
January 2025
Department of General Surgery, Baskent University, Istanbul, Türkiye.
Introduction: Various reports have confirmed that low skeletal muscle mass, a proxy marker of sarcopenia, can be a risk factor for surgical and oncological outcomes in colon cancer. We aimed to investigate the effects of skeletal muscle mass index (SMMI) on postoperative complications, overall survival (OS), and disease-free survival (DFS) in older patients with colon cancer who underwent elective curative colon resections.
Materials And Methods: Patients over 65 years old with stage I-III colon cancer who underwent elective curative colon resections between January 2015 and December 2023 were included in this single-center retrospective longitudinal study.
Food Res Int
February 2025
Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, NMPA Key Laboratory for Safety Evaluation of Cosmetics, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Research, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, 1026. Shatai South Road, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong, PR China; Department of Clinical Nutrition, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, 1838. Guangzhou Avenue North, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong, PR China. Electronic address:
Xylooligosaccharides (XOS) ameliorate insulin resistance (IR) in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) probably by propagating Akkermansia muciniphila (Akk). This study aimed to investigate the effects and mechanisms of XOS, Akk and combination on IR in GDM mice/pseudo-germ-free (PGF) mice. Female mice were fed with AIN-93 (n = 19) and high fat diet (HFD) (n = 206).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurr Res Toxicol
December 2024
University of Central Florida, NanoScience Technology Center, 12424 Research Parkway, Suite 400, Orlando, FL 23826, United States.
Opioids have been the primary method used to manage pain for hundreds of years, however the increasing prescription rate of these drugs in the modern world has led to a public health crisis of overdose related deaths. Naloxone is the current standard treatment for opioid overdose rescue, but it has not been fully investigated for potential off-target toxicity effects. The current methods for pharmaceutical development do not correlate well with pre-clinical animal studies compared to clinical results, creating a need for improved methods for therapeutic evaluation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Gastroenterol
January 2025
Department of Anesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital, Fujian Medical University, No. 20, Cha Zhong Road, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, People's Republic of China.
Background: Visceral pain sensitization and emotional reactions due to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) occur frequently in the general population. Oxidative stress plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of IBS. Previous studies have demonstrated that activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) has analgesic effects.
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