Rat large intestine is an established model to study the effect of
carcinogens. There are several distinctive features among mammalian gastrointestinal
tracts in gross anatomy but they share some basic similar structures. The variety in
digestive system relies on its physiology. Rats rarely eat high fatty diets, thus the
function of gall bladder become less significant in their digestive system and this is
justified by the fact that rats have none. Rats have large caecum designated for their
fermentation chamber to digest cellulose. Another notable difference is the size and
length of colon itself, in which human colon is significantly bigger and longer. We aimed
to demonstrate the gross anatomy and histology of rat digestive system particularly the
large intestine. (Copied from article).
Introduction: Hypercholesterolemia has been proven as a main pathogenic trigger for pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis characterised by chronic inflammatory process and increased expression of inflammatory markers. In this study; Trihoney (a combination of three types of natural honey namely: Trigona, mellifera, and Dorsata)
was investigated for its anti-inflammatory effect in hypercholesterolemic atherosclerotic rabbits. Methods: Thirty
male New Zealand white rabbits (NZW) were grouped into: normal diet (C), normal diet with 0.6g/kg/day of Trihoney (C+H), 1% cholesterol diet (HCD), 1% cholesterol diet with 0.6g/kg/day of Trihoney (HCD+H), and 1%
cholesterol diet with 2mg/kg/day of atorvastatin (HCD+At.). After 12 weeks of starting the experiment, animals were
sacrificed and serum analysed for homocysteine and pro-atherogenic inflammatory markers such as: interleukin-1β
(IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Fasting serum glucose was analysed to assess glycaemic status. Results: Trihoney treated group showed significantly lower (p
Sacral chordomas are rare, low-grade and slow growing malignant bone tumours arising from the sacral bone. They are locally aggressive with the tendency to metastasize to the lungs. Surgical resection remains the mainstay of treatment of sacral chordomas. However, most patients presented late with large tumours and intra-abdominal extension making en bloc resection highly challenging. Besides that, surgical resection poses risk of injury to the surrounding structures such as major blood vessels, bladder, ureters and rectum due to their proximity to the tumour. Therefore, multidisciplinary team approach is vital in ancipitating possible complications and preventing surgical morbidity. We present a case of advanced sacral chordoma which has been successfully resected with the assistance of pre-operative selective arterial embolization as a pre-emptive therapy. Case report: A 58-year-old lady presented with a large sacral chordoma (17.17 cm x 27.3 cm x 30.5 cm) with sacral erosion, infiltration to gluteus maximus, medius and minimus muscles and lung metastasis. A decision to perform a surgical resection was made to alleviate the pain secondary to sacral nerve compression. Anticipating massive bleeding intra-operatively, pre-operative arterial embolization was performed involving one branch of right internal iliac artery as well as five branches of left internal and external iliac arteries using endovascular coils. The tumour was resected with partial sacrectomy from S2 and below. Intra-operatively, 6 pints of packed cells were transfused with estimated blood loss of 4 litres. The patient recovered well after the surgery. She was pain-free post-operatively with no lower limb neurological deficit. Conclusion: Surgical resection remains the treatment of choice for sacral chordoma. Pre-operative selective arterial embolization can reduce intra-operative bleeding and avoid a potentially convoluted surgery.