Dihydroartemisinin enhances antitumor effect of 5-fluorouracil against gastric cancer by down-regulating SIRT1 expression / 中国病理生理杂志

AIM:To investigate the effect of dihydroartemisinin ( DHA) adjuvant treatment on enhancing the antitumor effect of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) against gastric cancer .METHODS:The gastric cancer BGC-823 cells were di-vided into control group , DHA group, 5-FU group, 5-FU+DHA group and 5-FU+DHA+SIRT1 plasmid group.The via-bility of BGC-823 cells treated with DHA and 5-FU was measured by MTT assay .The expression of SIRT1 and NADPH ox-idase, activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, and phosphorylation of ASK1 and JNK in the BGC-823 cells treated with DHA and 5-FU were determined by Western blot .The production of ROS and the apoptosis of the BGC-823 cells treated with DHA and 5-FU were analyzed by flow cytometry .RESULTS:Dihydroartemisinin significantly inhibited the expression of SIRT1 and increased NADPH oxidase protein level (P<0.05).DHA increased the sensitivity of BGC-823 cells to 5-FU, thus decreasing the IC50 of 5-FU to the gastric cancer cells.However, transfection with SIRT1 plasmid decreased the cytotoxicity of DHA and 5-FU co-treatment to the BGC-823 cells.DHA promoted the production of ROS and phosphoryla-tion of ASK1 and JNK induced by 5-FU in the BGC-823 cells ( P<0.05 ) .However , ROS scavenger N-acetylcysteine ( NAC) or JNK specific inhibitor SP600125 inhibited the cell death and activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 induced by DHA and 5-FU co-treatment (P<0.05).In addition, NAC significantly inhibited the phosphorylation of JNK in the BGC-823 cells co-treated with DHA and 5-FU.However, treatment with SP600125 did not influence the ROS production in the BGC-823 cells, indicating that JNK was the downstream target of ROS pathway .CONCLUSION: Combination of DHA with 5-FU induces caspase-dependent apoptosis in gastric cancer cells through the SIRT 1/NADPH oxidase/ROS/JNK sig-naling pathway .

Efficacy of arterial duct stenting in neonatal pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of arterial duct stenting in neonates with pulmonary atresia and intact ventricular septum.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eleven neonatal pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum patients received arterial duct stenting in our hospital from December 2007 to September 2010 were involved in this study. The average age was (8.20 +/- 2.90) days (ranged from 3 to 13 days). The average weight was (3.41 +/- 0.29) kg (ranged from 3.00 to 3.88 kg). The stents were selected according to digital subtracted angiography measurements. After checking for correct position by angiography, the balloon was inflated to expand the stent to desired diameter. Oxygen saturation was monitored, echocardiography was measured and stent diameter and location were observed by chest Xray. Patients were followed up at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months post procedure.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Stents were successfully implanted in all 11 patients. The preoperative peripheral oxygen saturation was (63.27 +/- 8.47)%, while increased to (82.73 +/- 5.59)% after alprostadil application and to (86.18 +/- 3.19)% after operation (all P < 0.01). After the operation, the peripheral oxygen saturation was higher than alprostadil application (P < 0.05). The intraoperative narrowest diameter of patent ductus arteriosus was (1.69 +/- 0.37) mm, the length was (16.72 +/- 2.37) mm. The internal diameter of implant stents was 4 mm, the length was (20.18 +/- 3.40) mm. After the operation, surgical B-T shunt operation was performed in one patient due to stent shift and pulse oxygen saturation decrease. One patient died post operation with unknown reason, another patient received stent balloon dilatation due to pulse oxygen saturation decrease at 4 months after the surgery. Pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum surgeries were performed in 2 patients at 5 and 7 months after stent implantation.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The neonatal pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum arterial stent implantation was a feasible and effective procedure and this method could be used as preferred treatment in pulmonary atresia and intact ventricular septum for neonates.</p>

Soluble expression of active human beta-defensin-3 in Escherichia coli and its effects on the growth of host cells / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Human beta-defensin-3 (HBD(3)) is an epithelial peptide that has been demonstrated to have a salt-insensitive broad spectrum of potent antimicrobial activity. Expressing antimicrobial peptides in Escherichia coli (E. coli) is very difficult for it can result in death of the bacterial host cells. Our aim was to establish a prokaryotic system expressing soluble HBD(3) protein and demonstrate the antimicrobial activity of the expressed protein. We then studied whether the host cells would activate the suicide pathways.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We first cloned the complementary DNA coding for the mature chain of HBD(3), inserted it into the vector PGEX-KG then transformed E. coli BL21 (DE3) with the appropriate recombinant plasmid. After induction with 0.5 mmol/L isopropyl-1-thio-beta-D-galactopyranoside (IPTG) the transformed E. coli produced a recombinant glutathione S-transferase and HBD(3) (GST-HBD(3)) fusion protein. The fusion protein was treated with thrombin to produce pure HBD(3) protein then the antimicrobial activity of HBD(3) was evaluated in a liquid microdilution assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The fusion protein GST-HBD(3) was efficiently cleaved by thrombin and yielded HBD(3) that had anti-staphylococcus aureus activity with a minimal inhibitory concentration level of 12.5 microg/ml. The E. coli strain expressing the recombinant protein did not grow slower than the empty vector strain.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Active HBD(3) in E. coli by expressing the recombinant protein GST-HBD(3) could be produced, and suicide did not occur in the E. coli strain expressing the recombinant protein.</p>

Analysis on genetic stability in different development stages of Dendrobium huoshanense by RAPD / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To research the hereditary stability of Dendrobium huoshanense which were subcultured 7-8 times in the same tissue culture system.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Using three primers of arbitrary decamer oligonucleotide sequences from 20 primers for DNA amplification, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) were performed.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The genetic similarity coefficient was varied from 85.4% to 98.4%. The variation of protocorm, germination and monoleaf were rather more notable than that of bileaf and inflorescence.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The variation of the same pod is quite small. It is feasible to set up the rapid propagation system of D. huoshanense</p>

The progress of the concentration technology of extract of traditional Chinese medicine / 中国中药杂志

The concentration of extract of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is one of the important unit operations that affect the quality of the pharmaceutical products. However, there are some problems to be solved. The concentration process has the shortages of relatively high temperature, relatively long time or low efficient, some losses of active and volatile ingredients, more operation steps, easy fouling and emission of waste water. In order to solve these problems, many new technologies and installations have been developed in the past thirty years, including suspension freeze-concentration, progressive freeze-concentration, single- or multi-effect evaporation with an external natural circulating flow, on-line preventing fouling evaporation with vapor-liquid-solid flow, reverse osmosis concentration, membrane distillation, osmotic distillation, macro-porous resin adsorption etc. The system of the extract of TCM is very complex. The extract includes water and alcohol extracts. The composition of TCM is made of active and inactive ingredients. Hence, it is necessary to master the features of every concentration technologies and installations, including their merits and demerits, flexibilities, degree of maturations of techniques and so on to get a wise choice for the industry applications. New concentration technologies and installations of the extract of TCM developed recently are reviewed in this paper. The characteristics of each method are analyzed and discussed in order to guide the industry applications. At the same time, the further research directions of concentration techniques of extract of TCM are also given.

Effect of treatment of rosacea in females by Chibixiao Recipe in combination with minocycline and spironolactone / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the clinical efficacy of Chibixiao Recipe (CBX) in combination with minocycline and spironolactone in treating rosacea in females.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty-eight women with rosacea were randomly assigned to the treated group (48 cases) and the control group (20 cases), both of which were treated with minocycline and spironolactone taken orally, but to the treated group, the Chinese herbal recipe, CBX was given additionally. Besides, cryotherapy with liquid nitrogen was applied to those with apparent capillary dilatation. The therapeutic course for both groups was 8 weeks. The levels of serum testosterone before and after treatment were determined by radioimmunoassay (RIA), and a 4-month follow-up was conducted.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the treated group the cure-markedly effective rate was 87.5% and the recurrent rate was 6.5%, while in the control group, they were 45.0% and 41.2% respectively. Comparisons in the indexes between the two groups all showed significant difference (both P<0.01), with the cure-markedly effective rate higher, and the recurrent rate lower in the treated group. The serum level of testosterone got lowered in both groups ( P<0.05 and P<0.01), but the lowering in the treated group was more significant, showing significance when compared with that in the control group ( P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>CBX in combination with Western medicine has effect in treating rosacea superior to that of Western medicine alone, and could effectively reduce recurrent rate and the serum level of testosterone. female rosacea, testosterone, Chibixiao Recipe, minocycline, spironolactone</p>

Inhibitory effects of antisense oligonucleotides on VEGF gene expression by human hepatocellular carcinoma cells / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the inhibitory effects of antisense oligonucleotides to different sequences on VEGF gene expression by human hepatoma cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>SMMC7721 cells were cultured under normoxic or hypoxic conditions for 24 h, followed by being transfected with different antisense oligonucleotides (A06513 to cap structure, A06514 to translation initiation, A06515 to Exon-3 and A06516 to translation terminal). The total RNAs from the cells were extracted and the VEGF expression were examined with RT-PCR. The relative concentrations of VEGF transcripts in SMMC772 cells from different groups were determined using GAPDH (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) cDNA as internal standard.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In response to the hypoxic challenge, SMMC7721 cells upregulated VEGF mRNA; Comparative to the control (no oligonucleotides), A06513, A06514, A06515, and A06516 had obvious sequence-specific inhibitory effect on VEGF gene expression, with the ratio of VEGF over GAPDH of 0.49+/-0.08, 0.71+/-0.12, 0.72+/-0.11 and 0.86+/-0.12, respectively (F=12.21, P< 0.05). A06513 showed the strongest inhibitory effect (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The antisense oligonucleotides complementary to VEGF cap structure, may become a potential alternative for antisense gene therapy of HCC.</p>

An epidemiological survey of alcoholic liver disease in Zhejiang province / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To describe the brief survey of alcohol intake and the incidence of alcohol liver disease in Zhejiang province.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>18,237 requested persons aged over 18 years were selected by multi-stage stratified cluster sampling in Zhejiang province. Questionnaire about alcohol consumption, hepatic ultrasonic scan and detection of hepatic enzymes and markers of HBV and HCV were carried out. Daily alcohol intake more than 40g (including equal to 40g/d) was essential for the diagnosis of alcoholic liver disease.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the 18,237 persons (male 12,042, female 6195), the average daily alcohol intake was (17.7 +/- 27.2) g. The incidence of alcoholic liver disease in Zhejiang province was 4.34% (male 6.36%, female 0.36%) in the whole population. Four subtypes were separated as alcoholic cirrhosis, alcoholic fat liver, alcoholic hepatitis and mild alcoholic injury in liver with the corresponding incidence of 0.68%, 0.94%, 1.51% and 1.21% separately.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Alcoholic liver disease is found to be a common disease in Zhejiang province, indicating an urgent need for the public education on alcohol abuse and the treatment on related health problems</p>

Studies on improving crop nutritional quality through gene engineering / 生物工程学报

This paper summarizes the studies on improving crop nutritional quality including protein, saccharide and lipid through gene engineering in recent 10 years. Special emphasis is laid upon the improvement of protein contains and amino acid components. The food safety caused probably by gene engineering and some ways to solve the problem are introduced briefly.