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Objective: To determine the changes of serum Tau protein, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and malonaldehyde (MDA) in rats after blast-related traumatic brain injury (BTBI) and to provide relative information for further studies on BTBI mechanism and seek specific biomarkers for BTBI.Methods: Ninety male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned into three groups: control group, moderate blast injury group, and severe blast injury group (n=30 for each). Rats in the moderate and severe blast injury groups were respectively exposed to corresponding levels of BTBI. After explosion, serum levels of Tau, GFAP, TNF-α, and MDA in each group were determined by Elisa assay at different time points after injury (8 h, 24 h, 3 d, and 6 d). The extent of brain damage was detected by Nissl staining and TUNEL assay.Results: Serum levels of Tau and GFAP rapidly increased and reached the peak at 24 h after either moderate or severe blast injury. All the values were significantly higher than control group at all time points (P<0.05). Serum TNF-α level of both injury groups peaked at 8 h after BTBI and stayed significantly higher than control group at all time points (P<0.05). Serum MDA of two injury groups began to significantly increase at 3 d and the level stayed significantly higher than control group until 6 d (P<0.05). Moreover, unlike the other biomarkers, serum MDA of severe blast injury group was significantly higher than moderate blast injury group at 6 d (P<0.05).Conclusion: The changes of serum Tau, GFAP, and TNF-α showed a good sensitivity at the acute phase after BTBI (within 24 h). However, their specificity and correlation with the extent of injury were limited in this experiment. Moreover, although the change of serum MDA showed a poor sensitivity and specificity to the diagnosis of BTBI during the first few days, it can reflect the injury degree at 6 d after injury. Therefore, further studies are needed to improve the methods of detecting more serum markers and investigate the significance of multiple markers in diagnosing BTBI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the cytotoxicity of new root canal filling material-composite oyster shell paste., Methods: According to the evaluated criteria of medical materials, biology and animal trials recommended in ISO 10993,the extracts of powder part and the mixture of the new material were prepared separately and selected as the experimental. The RPMI1640 subject was used as the negative control and the V79 cell as the experimental cell. The cells were cultured in extract of different thickness compound for 2,4,7 days respectively and the changes of the cells were observed under microscope.The proliferation of the cells were examined and the optical density(OD)was obtained using MTT assay. SPSS12.0 software was used for statistical analyses., Results: During all culture periods, the V79 cells showed normal morphology and proliferation increased with culture time. The OD of the experimental groups were not significantly different from that of the negative groups(P>0.05)and the OD increased as time goes on., Conclusion: The new root canal filling material shows no detected cytotoxic effect from this study.