Hashizume Makoto

孤立性胃底部静脈瘤出血の管理におけるバルーン下逆行性経静脈的塞栓術の効果(Impact of balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration on management of isolated fundal gastric variceal bleeding)

Aim:  Although endoscopic injection of cyanoacrylate (CA) is the only effective method for treating isolated fundal gastric variceal bleeding, the rebleeding rate is relatively high. This study investigated the efficacy of balloon‐occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (B‐RTO) for management of isolated fundal gastric variceal bleeding.

脾臓由来のエンドセリン-1は続発性胆汁性肝硬変のラットにおいてRhoキナーゼ経路を活性化した(Endothelin-1 derived from spleen-activated Rho-kinase pathway in rats with secondary biliary cirrhosis)

Aim:  Splenectomy or partial splenic embolism has been reported to improve liver function in patients with hypersplenism and liver dysfunction. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of improvement after splenectomy.

Molecular imaging contrast media for visualization of liver function

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Diagnosis of liver disease has improved because of progress in imaging technology. Among the imaging methods, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the advantage of a lack of radiation exposure, but the basis of the method (imaging of hydrogen atoms in water molecules) makes it hard to detect changes in tissue or the location of the diseased tissue in the liver. The aims of this study are to develop new contrast media for visualization of functional changes in the liver and to check the effectiveness of the media. METHODS We developed a new molecular imaging contrast media that targets the asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGP-R), a membrane protein that is specific to hepatocytes. We first checked the contrast media diameter and the cytotoxicity. Next, we examined the interaction of the media with ASGP-R through observation of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled molecular imaging contrast media bound to normal hepatocellular ASGP-R using confocal laser scanning microscopy. Finally, we used MRI to observe hepatocyte interactions with the molecular imaging contrast media. RESULTS The contrast media forms a nanoparticle of about 30 nm diameter in aqueous solution and the cytotoxicity is low. In vitro, the media has high specificity for ASGP-R in normal rat hepatocyte RLN-8 cells and this interaction was blocked by lactose (which has a similar molecular structure to that of galactose) and by an anti-ASGP-R antibody. The contrast media markedly enhanced T1-weighted images in MRI of normal rat hepatocytes compared to the signal strength for rat liver cancer cells. CONCLUSIONS We have shown that our new contrast media for molecular imaging of hepatocytes by MRI is effective in vitro.