A body of evidence suggests that ethanol can lead to damage of neuronal cel s. However, the me-chanism underlying the ethanol-induced damage of neuronal cel s remains unclear. The role of mi-togen-activated protein kinases in ethanol-induced damage was investigated in SK-N-SH neurob-lastoma cel s. 3-[4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide cel viability assay, DNA fragmentation detection, and flow cytometric analysis showed that ethanol induced apoptotic cel death and cel cycle arrest, characterized by increased caspase-3 activity, DNA fragmentation, nuclear disruption, and G 1 arrest of cel cycle of the SK-N-SH neuroblastoma cel s. In addition, western blot analysis indicated that ethanol induced a lasting increase in c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase activity and a transient increase in p38 kinase activity of the neuroblastoma cel s. c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase or p38 kinase inhibitors significantly reduced the ethanol-induced cel death. Ethanol also increased p53 phosphorylation, fol owed by an increase in p21 tumor sup-pressor protein and a decrease in phospho-Rb (retinoblastoma) protein, leading to alterations in the expressions and activity of cyclin dependent protein kinases. Our results suggest that ethanol me-diates apoptosis of SK-N-SH neuroblastoma cel s by activating p53-related cel cycle arrest possibly through activation of the c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase-related cel death pathway.

Spastic cerebral palsy is general y considered to result from cerebral cortical or pyramidal tract damage. Here, we precisely targeted the left pyramidal tract of 2-month-old Sprague-Dawley rats placed on a stereotaxic instrument under intraperitoneal anesthesia. Based on the rat brain ste-reotaxic map, a 1-mm hole was made 10 mm posterior to bregma and 0.8 mm left of sagittal suture. A microsyringe was inserted perpendicularly to the surface of the brain to a depth of 9.7 mm, and 15μL of ethanol was slowly injected to establish a rat model of spastic cerebral palsy. After modeling, the rats appeared to have necrotic voids in the pyramidal tract and exhibited typical signs and symptoms of flexion spasms that lasted for a long period of time. These findings indicate that this is an effective and easy method of establishing a rat model of spastic cerebral palsy with good re-producibility. Ethanol as a chemical ablation agent specifical y and thoroughly damages the pyra-midal tract, and therefore, the animals display flexion spasms, which are a typical symptom of the disease.

Venous malformations (VMs) are problematic common vascular malformations that are challenging even for experienced physicians. Several treatments are available including sclerotherapy, surgery, laser or combinations of these procedures. As none of these is specific, we still need therapies that would allow to cure these patients without complications. Hopefully, the unraveling of the causative defects of VMs will give us new tools for the management of this difficult condition.