Overexpression of Circ_0005585 Alleviates Cerebral Ischemia Reperfusion Injury via Targeting MiR-16-5p

Circular RNAs are implicated in the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke. In this work, we explored the modulation and potential mechanisms of action of circ_0005585 in ischemic stroke. Expression of circ_0005585 and miR-16-5p was assessed by quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR. Ischemic stroke was modeled in mice by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). The infarct volume was assessed by triphenyl tetrazolium chloride staining. Neurological deficits were evaluated according to Neurological Severity Score. The permeability of the blood-brain barrier was assessed by Evan's blue leakage and brain water content. Apoptosis in brain tissues was measured by the TUNEL test. Relative expression of apoptosis-related proteins was evaluated by Western blotting. The direct interaction between circ_0005585 and miR-16-5p was verified by dual-luciferase reporter assay. The expression of circ_0005585 was lower in mice with MCAO. Lentivirus-mediated overexpression of circ_0005585 ameliorated the neurological deficits and decreased the infarction volume in MCAO mice. The brain water content and Evan's blue leakage through the blood-brain barrier were reduced. In addition, overexpression of circ_0005585 inhibited apoptosis in the cerebral tissues. Our results revealed direct interaction between circ_0005585 and miR-16-5p. Hence, circ_0005585 protects mouse brain during ischemic stroke by targeting miR-16-5p, which uncovers the pathogenesis of this pathology and opens new vitas for its therapy.

Aortic regurgitation in Marfan syndrome patients who underwent prophylactic surgery: A single-center experience

BACKGROUND

Marfan syndrome is an inherited connective tissue disease that causes aortic root dilatation and dissection and requires surgical intervention. Apart from emergent surgery for aortic dissection or aortic aneurysmal rupture, prophylactic surgical intervention can also be administered, depending on the severity of aortic root dilatation. The direct relationship between surgical intervention and aortic regurgitation was seldom mentioned in previous studies.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort study was designed to determine the clinical presentations of prophylactic surgery in patients with Marfan syndrome. Between January 2009 and May 2019, 112 patients, adolescents and young adults, treated in the Department of Pediatric Cardiology of Taipei Veterans General Hospital, were enrolled. All patients' sex, body measurements, echocardiography reports, and surgical notes were collected for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

Among the participants, nine patients (8%) underwent the Bentall procedure, and the other 103 did not receive surgical intervention. The operation group had a larger aortic root size (4.89 vs 2.86 cm, p < 0.001), more dilated left ventricle (4.81 vs 4.1 cm, p = 0.002), and higher prevalence of moderate and severe aortic regurgitation (66% vs 1%, p < 0.001) than the nonoperation group.

CONCLUSION

Among adolescents and young adults with Marfan syndrome, echocardiographic presentation of aortic root dilatation, left ventricular dilatation, and significant aortic regurgitation was significantly associated with prophylactic surgical intervention. According to the study, significant aortic regurgitation should also be considered as an important indication for prophylactic surgery.

[MRI histogram texture analysis of lateral pterygoid muscle in patients with temporomandibular disorders]

Objective: To evaluate the functional changes of lateral pterygoid muscle (LPM) in the patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) using histogram texture analysis. Methods: A total of 28 TMD patients, including 15 males and 13 females, aged (26.2±12.1) years (15-62 years), were enrolled in the outpatient clinic of Department of Radiology, Hainan Hospital of Chinese PLA General Hospital from May 2016 to April 2020. At the same time, 13 volunteers with normal temporomandibular joint [6 males and 7 females, aged (23.5±3.3) years (20-30) years] were recruited. All participants were performed with temporomandibular joint MRI scan, and the subjects were classified into 3 groups according to the disc displacement: TMD with disc without displacement (TMD-DwoD), TMD with disc displacement without reduction (TMD-DDwoR) and NC with disc displacement without reduction (NC-DwoD) for each temporomandibular joint. The area, signal intensity, coefficient of variation (CV) of mean signal intensity and histogram texture of the superior belly of LPM (SBLPM) and inferior belly of LPM (IBLPM) were measured using regions of interests. Results: The area of SILPM presented significantly smaller in TMD-DwoD [(67.36±30.23) mm²] compared with that in NC-DwoD [(91.42±45.01) mm²] (P<0.05) and in TMD-DDwoR group [(72.27±37.53) mm²] (P>0.05). The mean signal intensity of SBLPM was identified significantly higher in TMD-DwoD (304.20±29.90) and TMD-DDwoR (315.06±40.20) compared with that in NC-DwoD (269.79±25.54) (P<0.05). The CV of mean signal intensity of SBLPM presented significantly higher in TMD-DwoD (8.89±2.60) compared with that in NC-DwoD (6.76±1.82) and TMD-DDwoR (7.63±1.62) (P<0.05). The skew and kurtosis showed no significantly differences among three groups for SBLPM (P>0.05). The mean signal intensity and CV for IBLPM presented significantly higher in TMD-DwoD (286.69±23.48 and 9.96±2.24, respectively) and TMD-DDwoR (275.98±30.55 and 10.25±1.96, respectively) compared with that in NC-DwoD (243.56±17.04 and 8.49±1.94, respectively) (P<0.05). The skewness showed significantly lower in TMD-DwoD (0.90±0.94) and TMD-DDwoR (0.73±0.97) compared with that in NC-DwoD (1.40±1.03) (P<0.05). The area and kurtosis for IBLPM showed no significant differences among three groups (P>0.05). Conclusions: The MR histogram texture analysis could primarily be considered as a tool to evaluate the LPM function in TMD patients.

[Evaluation of brain volume changes in patients with painful temporomandibular disorders using voxel-based morphometry]

Objective: To evaluate the altered brain volume of the patients with painful temporomandibular disorders (TMD) using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Methods: One hundred forty-six TMD patients ［age (36.8±15.8) years, male/female=44/102］ and 193 normal controls (NC) ［age (43.3±15.6) years, male/female = 92/101］ were performed with 3 dimensional brain structural images at 3.0 T MR scanner from November 2011 to December 2019 in Department of Radiology, Hainan Hospital and General Hospital of Chinese PLA. The brain structural images were segmented into gray matter, white matter and cerebrospinal fluid, and the gray matter images were performed with two-samples t-test with total intracranial volume, age and gender as covariates. Results: The gray matter volume (GMV) presented significantly higher in TMD group ［(632.4±65.4) ml］ than that in NC group ［(596.1±76.3) ml］ (t=4.70, P<0.05). The brain regions with increased GMV for TMD located in left inferior temporal gyrus, bilateral fusiform gyrus, bilateral middle temporal gyrus and right lingual gyrus compared with NC. Conclusions: The temporal lobe was the targeting brain region for TMD patients with increased GMV, which should further be investigated to elucidate the neuromechanism.

[To evaluate the disk position of the temporomandibular joint using calcium suppressed spectral-based CT images in the patients with temporomandibular disorder]

Objective: To evaluate the application of calcium suppressed (CaSupp) spectral CT technique in evaluating disk position and measuring the thickness of the posterior band of temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Methods: The twenty-three temporomandibular disorder patients [mean age 23(12~62) years, male/female=14/9] were performed with oblique sagittal and coronal proton density weighted imaging (PDWI) and spectral CT scans from February to July, 2019 in Department of Radiology, Hainan Hospital of General Hospital of Chinese PLA, and 45 TMJ joints were evaluated. The subjects were classified into two groups according to the scanning modalities: MRI measurement group and CaSupp spectral-based CT group. The CaSupp technique were applied with the spectral-based CT images and CaSupp images were generated. The oblique sagittal and coronal CaSupp imaged were reformatted by perpendicular to the long axis of the condyle. The TMJ disk positions were evaluated on oblique sagittal and coronal images, and the maximal disk thickness were measured on the oblique sagittal images. Results: The joint position was basically consistent on MRI and CaSupp images for the 45 TMJ joints. The intra-class coefficient value was 0.843 (0.712, 0.914) for the measurement of the posterior band of the TMJ disk between MRI and CaSupp images. Bland-Altman presented that the [95.6% (43/45)] points with the difference located in the 95% agreement interval. Wilcoxon paired text demonstrated that there was no significant different for the thickness of the posterior band between MRI [2.57 (1.76, 3.65) mm] and CaSupp images [2.67 (1.74, 4.56) mm] (P=0.07). Conclusions: The CaSupp spectral-based CT could be used to evaluated the TMJ disk position and the thickness of the posterior band.

[MRI observation of condylar location and morphology in the patients with temporomandibular disc displacement]

Objective: To evaluate the mandibular condylar location and morphology in the temporomandibular joint disorders. Methods: One hundred thirty-seven TMD patients (age 37.5±16.1 years, male/female=39/98) were performed with MRI scan for temporomandibular joint (TMJ) from November, 2011 to April, 2019 in Department of Radiology,Hainan Hospital of General Hospital of Chinese PLA and General Hospital of Chinese PLA. The patients were classified into 3 groups according the disc displacement: disc without displacement (DWoD) (185 TMJ), disc displacement with reduction (DDWR) (17 TMJ) and disc displacement without reduction (DDWoR) (72 TMJ). The location (anterior position, central position and posterior position) and morphology (oval shape, flat shape and beaklike shape) of the condylar head were observed on the sagittal PDWI, and the long and short axes were measured on the axial T2WI. Another groups were classified into 3 subgroups according to the disc displacement of bilateral TMJ: bilateral normal disc location (biND) (74 cases), unilateral disc displacement (uniDD) (40 cases) and bilateral disc displacement (23 cases). The inter-condyle angle was measured on the axial T2WI. Results: There was no significant difference for the location of condylar head among DWoD, DDWR and DDwoR groups (χ(2)=7.435, P=0.115). The rate for flat condylar shape was significantly higher in DWoD group [83.9%(115/137)] than that in DDWoR group [50.7%(34/67)], and the rate for beaklike condylar shape was significantly lower in DWoD group [16.1%(22/137)] than that in DDWoR group [49.3%(33/67)] (χ(2)=23.521, P<0.001). The length of long axis presented significantly longer in DWoD group [(17.2±2.4) mm] than that in DDWR group [(15.4±2.0) mm] and that in DDWoR group [(14.7±2.7) mm] (P<0.05). The length of short axis presented significantly longer in DWoD group [(7.3±1.2) mm] than that in DDWR group [(6.5±1.3) mm] and that in DDWoR group [(6.1±1.4) mm] (P<0.05). The inter-condyle angle presented significantly larger in biND group (136°±13°) and uniDD group (132°±14°) than that inbiDD group (124°±17°) (P<0.05). Conclusions: The mandibular condylar morphology changes significantly presented in the patients with temporomandibular disc displacement for the temporomandibular disorders.