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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of exercise on muscle weight and Type I and II fiber cross-sectional area of affected and unaffected hindlimb muscles in rats with neuropathic pain induced by unilateral peripheral nerve injury. Methods: Neuropathic pain was induced by ligation and cutting of the left L5 spinal nerve. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to one of two groups: The Pain+Exercise (PE) group (n=21) and the Sham+ Exercise (SE) group (n=20). All rats had 28 sessions of treadmill exercise at grade 10 for 30 minutes, twice/day at 10 m/min for 14 days. Body weight, food intake and activity were measured every day. At 15 days all rats were anesthetized and soleus, plantaris and gastrocnemius muscles were dissected. Muscle weight and Type I, II fiber cross-sectional area of the dissected muscles were measured. Results: The PE group showed significant increases (p<.05), as compared to the SE group for body weight and total diet intake, muscle weight of the unaffected soleus and plantaris, and in Type I and II fiber cross-sectional area of unaffected three muscles and affected plantaris. Conclusion: Exercise for 14 days attenuates unaffected soleus, plantaris and gastrocnemius muscle atrophy in neuropathic pain model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ankle is the most commonly injured joint in the lower limb, the anterior talo-fibular ligament (the classic sprained ankle) is a relatively simple ligamentous injury but as the severity of inversion injury increases, the sub-talar joint and the mortice of the true ankle joint can be disrupted which can be as severe as any knee injury. We will consider the ankle, sub-talar joint and foot in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the assessment and diagnosis of knee joint injuries. It states that establishing the method of injury is important to conduct a correct knee pain diagnosis which involve asking questions such as the activity at the time of injury, what happened to the knee, and when the knee swelling was observed. It also discusses several examination techniques which include anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), and collateral ligament tests.

Abstract: Bradykinin (BK) is an active peptide that binds to the kinin B2 receptor and induces biological events during the development and adult life. In this study we aimed to investigate the effect of kinin B2 receptor ablation in the postnatal skeletal muscle development and body composition in adult life. For studies of skeletal muscle development, control (C57Bl6 – WT) and B2 receptor knockout mice () were sacrificed at 15, 30 and 90days after birth, the gastrocnemius skeletal muscle was weighed and myostatin gene expression evaluated by real time PCR. For energy balance determination, data from control and at 90 and 120days were collected by calorimetric method. Body composition at 120days was determined by chloroform–methanol (total body fat) and Lowry-modified method (total body protein). The results show that have significantly increased total body weight at 15, 30 and 90days of life, when compared to WT. The weight of the gastrocnemius skeletal muscle was also significantly increased at 30 and 90days of life. Body composition analyses revealed that mice exhibit more total corporal protein and less total corporal fat. Energy balance revealed that have increased metabolizable energy intake and energy expenditure when compared to control mice, resulting in a lower energy gain. Interestingly, myostatin mRNA expression was significantly decreased in 15 and 30days old mice and after icatibant treatment of WT adult mice for 5days. In conclusion, together our results show that kinin B2 receptor deletion increases lean mass, reduces fat mass and improves metabolism efficiency in mice. The mechanism involved in this phenotype could be related to the reduction of myostatin gene expression during postnatal life. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background: A craniocaudal transition from smooth to striated muscle occurs in the fetal mouse esophagus muscularis propria, until finally the entire muscle component becomes striated. Although no such investigation has been conducted using human fetuses, the transition appears to be incomplete. Methods: In horizontal sections of 10 human fetuses between 9 and 16 weeks of gestation, we identified immunoreactivity for smooth muscle actin (SMA), striated muscle myosin heavy chain (MyH), desmin, PGP9.5, S100 protein, c-kit, and CD68 in the thoracic esophagus. The TUNEL method was used to identify apoptosis. For comparison, the same immunohistochemistry was conducted using 10 adult esophaguses. Results: In fetuses at all stages examined, a transition zone was found in the upper thoracic esophagus that was attached to the middle one-third of the trachea. In the transition zone, the MyH-positive longitudinal muscle fibers were surrounded by flat, SMA-positive cells, whereas the MyH-positive circular fibers were sometimes located adjacent to the SMA-positive fibers. However, in adults, smooth muscle tended to be clearly separated from striated muscle. The distribution of cells showing immunoreactivity for PGP9.5, S100 or c-kit did not differ between the oral and anal sides of the transition zone. Desmin was positive in the muscularis propria, but negative in the muscularis mucosae. Neither CD68-positive macrophages nor TUNEL-positive cells were present in the esophagus. Conclusions: In the human esophagus, the smooth-to-striated muscle transition appears to stop at the mid-thoracic level. Cell death or transdifferentiation of smooth muscle appears unlikely, but phenotypic transformation into desmin-positive myofibroblasts is a possibility. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]