Efficacy of Modified Bushen Huoxuetang on Kidney Deficiency and Blood Stasis Type Early Unexplained Recurrent Abortion and Its Effect on Intestinal Flora / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective::To explore the clinical efficacy of modified Bushen Huoxuetang on kidney deficiency and blood stasis type early unexplained recurrent abortion and its effect on intestinal flora. Method::Totally 90 patients with kidney deficiency and blood stasis type early unexplained recurrent abortion were selected from March 2017 to October 2018.According to the random number table, they were divided into control group and observation group, with 45 cases in each group. The control group was given Bushen Huoxue capsule, while the observation group was given modified Bushen Huoxuetang. After treatment, the clinical efficacy, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome scores and adverse reactions of two groups were compared, and the changes of serum inflammatory factors, coagulation function and intestinal flora were detected before and after treatment. Result::After treatment, the total effective rate of the observation group was 91.11%, which was higher than 77.78%of the control group (P<0.05). The scores of TCM syndromes in observation group were significantly lower than that in control group (P<0.05). The levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in the observation group were significantly lower than those in control group (P<0.05). The thromboplastin time (APTT), thrombin time (TT) and prothrombin time (PT) in observation group were significantly higher than those in control group, while fibrinogen (FIB) was significantly lower than that in control group (P<0.05). The numbers of enterococcus, yeast and Enterobacter in observation group were significantly lower than those of control group, while the numbers of bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus in observation group were significantly higher than those of control group (P<0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions in observation group was 11.11%, which was lower than 28.89%of the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion::Modified Bushen Huoxuetang has a good clinical efficacy in treating kidney deficiency and blood stasis type early unexplained recurrent abortion, and can reduce the TCM syndrome score. Its mechanism may be related to the reduction of inflammation, and improvement of coagulation function and intestinal flora, with a good safety.

Wnt/β-catenin pathway might underlie the MET in trans- differentiation from MSC to MSC-derived neuron / 中国应用生理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe MET-associated alteration during the trans-differentiation from MSCs to neuron-like cells, and to explore the possible molecular mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Bone marrow MSCs were isolated from rat femur and purified in continuous cell culture. After induced differentiation to neuron-like cells by the combination of butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), cells were tested by comparative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the relative expression of MET biomarkers and transcription factors, and for cell cycle by flow cytometry. Meanwhile, target genes of Wnt/β-catenin pathway were also analyzed by comparative PCR to determine the possible involvement.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In MSC-induced neuron-like cells, MET-associated transcription factors such as Snail, Slug, ZEB1, ZEB2, and Twist were significantly attenuated in expression level. The Mesenchymal marker Vimentin expression level was increased. Membrane protein E-cad was slightly down-regulated, while N-cad level was marginally elevated. Percentage of proliferating cells (S phase in cell cycle) markedly shrank from 40.42% for MSCs to 6.76% for MSC-derived neuron. Additionally, Wnt/β-catenin target genes β-catenin and c-myc were decreasingly expressed.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Chemically induced trans-differentiation from MSC to neuron caused similar MET-featured alteration in gene expression and proliferation to known MET, which might be underlied by deactivation of Wnt/β-catenin pathway.</p>

Abnormalities of meiotic recombination in Han Chinese azoospermic patients / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze defective homologous chromosomal recombination in Han Chinese azoospermic patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Testicular biopsy samples from 7 healthy controls and 7 Han Chinese azoospermic patients including 2 obstructive azoospermia (OA group) and 5 non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA group) were analyzed. Immunofluorescence staining was performed to categorize early stage cells at meiosis prophase and to analyze chromosome pairing and recombination of pachytene spermatocyte. Newly developed meiotic proteins antibodies (anti-SCP3, anti-synaptonemal complex proteins 3, anti-MLH1, anti-Mut-L Homolog 1, anti-CREST, chromosome centromere antibody) were used to identify synaptonemal complex (anti-SCP3), recombination sites (anti-MLH1) and centromere (anti-CREST), respectively. Staging of spermatocyte was determined according to SCP3 formation progression. Qualitative data were compared by a Chi-square test, and ANOVA was used to analyze quantitative data.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Respectively, 2346 and 2932 spermatocytes were categorized in the controls and azoospermic patients. The proportions of zygotene cells in both OA group and NOA group were significantly higher than that of the control group. Investigation of 1967 pachytene cells from the controls and 354 pachytene cells from azoospermic patients indicated that the mean MLH1 foci per pachytene cell of NOA group was statistically lower than that of the controls. Compared with the controls, incomplete synaptonemal complexes cells (containing gap and/or split) were significantly increased in the NOA group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Delayed meiosis prophase is relatively common in azoospermic patients, and changes in quantity and distribution of recombination foci may be the cause for spermatogenesis arrest in Han Chinese population.</p>