Search

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of femoral nerve resection on the progression of cartilage degeneration in an anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) and partial meniscectomy (PM) model in rabbits. To induce degeneration of articular cartilage, PM and ACLT were performed on the bilateral knees of 24 rabbits, and femoral sensory nerve selective resection (FNR) was additionally performed on the left knee. Six rabbits each were killed 6 and 10 weeks after surgery to observe early cartilage degeneration and 17 and 24 weeks after surgery to evaluate the late phase. Mankin's histological score at 10 weeks (7.5 +/- 2.7 points; mean +/- SD) after surgery in the FNR group was higher than that at 6 weeks (3.0 +/- 0.6 points) ( P < 0.05). In the control group the score at 17 weeks (7.8 +/- 2.0 points) was higher than that at 6 weeks (2.7 +/- 0.5 points) ( P < 0.05). The concentration of chondroitin sulfate in the joint fluid was quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography. The concentration of chondroitin 6-sulfate in the FNR group at 10 weeks (11.6 +/- 4.1 nmol/ml) was higher than that at the other times and that of the control group at 10 weeks (5.4 +/- 3.2 nmol/ml) after surgery ( P < 0.05). These results indicate that FNR may promote the progression of cartilage degeneration in knees with PM and ACLT.

In the present study, the adjuvant effect of zymosan on human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1)-specific DNA vaccine and the mechanism of this enhancement were studied in a murine model. We coinoculated zymosan with our candidate HIV-1 specific DNA vaccine (pCMV160IIIB) into skeletal muscles of BALB/c mice. Higher levels of both humoral immune response and HIV-specific delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response were observed when zymosan was coinoculated with pCMV160IIIB compared with that obtained using pCMV160IIIB alone. HIV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) activity was also enhanced. This enhancing activity was suppressed when coinoculated to the fifth complement (C5)-deficient DDD and AKR mice. The enhanced activity was also suppressed when anti-C3 antibody was inoculated to mice intramuscularly. There was significant induction of immunoglobulin G2a (IgG2a) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) in pCMV160IIIB vaccine with zymosan. These results suggest that zymosan-mediated DNA vaccination enhances helper T cell (Th) 1-mediated immunity. The effect is suggested to be based on the consequences of its recruitment and activation of macrophages, dendritic cells or antigen-presenting cells (APC) through complement activation, especially through the alternative pathway. Taken together, these results suggest that zymosan can be an effective immunological adjuvant in DNA vaccination against HIV-1.