Search

One of the most important and useful pieces of information in the preoperative evaluation of a large petroclival meningioma is the running course of the abducens nerve. The abducens nerve is small and has a long intracranial course, making it prone to compression by the tumor at various anatomical points. In relatively large tumors, it is difficult to confirm the entire course of the abducens nerve, even by heavy T2-thin slice imaging. We report a case of successful preoperative estimation of the course of the abducens nerve that aided in its complete preservation during the resection of a large petroclival tumor.

Cellular therapies represent a new frontier in the treatment of neurological diseases. Accumulating evidence from preclinical studies of animal models suggests that mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), also known as mesenchymal stem cells, are an effective therapy for neurological diseases. In this study, we established human MSC lines from both cranial bone marrow (cBMMSCs) and iliac crest bone marrow (iBMMSCs) from the same donors and found that cBMMSCs show higher expression of neural crest-associated genes than iBMMSCs. Moreover, as observed in both mRNA and protein assays, neurogenic-induced cells from cBMMSCs expressed significantly higher levels of neural markers, such as NESTIN, SLUG, SOX9, and TWIST, than those from iBMMSCs. Thus, cBMMSCs showed a greater tendency than iBMMSCs to differentiate into neuron-like cells.

Tenascin-C, a matricellular protein, is involved in brain injury. However, change of tenascin-C concentrations in peripheral blood remains unknown after traumatic brain injury (TBI).Serum tenascin-C concentrations were measured in 100 healthy controls, 108 severe TBI patients, 79 moderate TBI patients and 32 mild TBI patients.Serum tenascin-C concentrations of patients were significantly higher than those of controls. Tenascin-C concentrations negatively correlated with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores in all patients (r=-0.658, P0.001). In severe TBI patients, tenascin-C in serum significantly discriminated patients at risk of 6-month mortality (area under curve, 0.821; 95% confidence interval, 0.735-0.888) and poor outcome (Glasgow Outcome Scale score of 1-3) (area under curve, 0.833; 95% confidence interval, 0.749-0.898) and emerged as an independent predictor for 6-month mortality (odds ratio, 1.114; 95% confidence interval, 1.008-1.233; P=0.005), overall survival (hazard ratio, 1.085; 95% confidence interval, 1.010-1.166; P=0.003) and unfavorable outcome (odds ratio, 1.049; 95% confidence interval, 1.014-1.076; P=0.001). By receiver-operating characteristic analysis, serum tenascin-C concentrations had similar prognostic value compared with GCS scores.Enhanced serum tenascin-C concentrations are closely related to trauma severity and clinical outcomes, substantializing tenascin-C as a potential prognostic biomarker after TBI.