Characterization and identification of chemical components in traditional Chinese medicine Psoraleae Fructus based on UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS / 中国中药杂志

This study was designed to comprehensively characterize and identify the chemical components in traditional Chinese medicine Psoraleae Fructus by establishing an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry(UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS) method in combination with in-house library. The chromatographic separation conditions(stationary phase, column temperature, mobile phase, and elution gradient) and key MS monitoring parameters(capillary voltage, nozzle voltage, and fragmentor) were sequentially optimized via single-factor experiments. A BEH C_(18) column(2.1 mm×100 mm, 1.7 μm) was finally adopted, with the mobile phase consisting of 0.1% formic acid in water(A) and acetonitrile(B) at the flow rate of 0.4 mL·min~(-1) and column temperature of 30 ℃. Auto MS/MS was utilized for data acquisition in both positive and negative ion modes. By comparison with reference compounds, analysis of the MS~2 fragments, in-house library retrieval and literature research, 83 compounds were identified or tentatively characterized from Psoraleae Fructus, including 58 flavonoids, 11 coumarins, 4 terpenoid phenols, and 10 others. Sixteen of them were identified by comparison with reference compounds, and ten compounds may have not been reported from Psoraleae Fructus. This study achieved a rapid qualitative analysis on the chemical components in Psoraleae Fructus, which provided useful reference for elucidating its material basis and promoting the quality control.

Baicalein Mediated FAK Protein Regulates PI3K/Akt Signaling Pathway to Inhibit Proliferation and Migration of Gastric Cancer HGC-27 Cells / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ObjectiveTo study the possible molecular mechanism of baicalein （BAI）-mediated focal adhesion kinase （FAK） in the regulation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B （PI3K/Akt） signaling pathway to inhibit the proliferation and migration of gastric cancer HGC-27 cells. MethodThe gastric epithelial GES-1 cells and gastric cancer HGC-27 cells were respectively treated with BAI （0， 5， 15， 25， and 50 μmol·L-1） for 48 h， and then methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium （MTT） assay was adopted to detect effect of BAI on cell proliferation. Western blot （WB） was employed to detect the expression of FAK and the proteins related to epithelial-mesenchymal transition （EMT） and PI3K signaling pathway after intervention with different concentrations of BAI. The HGC-27 cells stably overexpressing FAK were constructed with lentivirus-mediated transfection technique， and the transfection of FAK was detected through WB and green fluorescent protein （GFP）. The cells were divided into empty vector （NC） group， BAI group， FAK overexpression group， and BAI-treated FAK overexpression group， and cell proliferation activity was detected by MTT assay. The colony formation and cell migration were observed via colony formation assay and Transwell migration assay， respectively. The expression of proteins involved in EMT and PI3K signaling pathways were detected by Western blot. ResultCompared with the NC group， BAI （15， 25 and 50 μmol·L-1） inhibited the proliferation of HGC-27 cells in a dose-dependent manner （P<0.05， P<0.01） while did not affect that of GES-1 cells. BAI （5， 15 and 25 μmol·L-1） down-regulated the expression level of p-FAK （P<0.05， P<0.01）. Compared with NC group， FAK overexpression group showed up-regulated expression level of FAK in HGC-27 cells. The HGC-27 cells in both NC group and FAK overexpression group had green fluorescence. Compared with NC group， BAI inhibited the growth， colony formation， and migration， while FAK overexpression promoted those of HGC-27 cells. The treatment of FAK overexpression group with BAI inhibited the enhancement of cell proliferation and migration （P<0.05）. WB showed that compared with NC group， BAI （15， 25 μmol·L-1） significantly up-regulated the expression of E-cadherin protein and down-regulated that of Vimentin， Snail， p-PI3K， and p-Akt protein in HGC-27 cells （P<0.05， P<0.01）. Compared with NC group， FAK overexpression group showed down-regulated expression of E-cadherin， up-regulated expression of p-FAK， Vimentin， and Snail， and increased ratios of p-FAK/FAK， p-PI3K/PI3K and p-Akt/Akt （P<0.05）. This phenomenon would be reversed after BAI treatment. ConclusionBAI can affect the proliferation and migration of gastric cancer HGC-27 cells by mediating FAK to regulate PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Clinical Efficacy of Modified Shengyutang in Treatment of Active Stage Psoriasis Vulgaris due to Qi and Blood Deficiency / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:To study the clinical efficacy of modified Shengyutang on patients with active stage psoriasis vulgaris due to Qi and blood deficiency. Method:The 134 cases were randomly divided into control group and observation group， with 67 cases in each group. The control group was given avic a capsule + Danggui Buxuewan， while the observation group was given avic a capsule + modified Shengyutang for 4 weeks， respectively. The psoriasis area and severity index （PASI）， dermatological life quality index （DLQI） and psoriasis vulgaris due to Qi and blood deficiency syndrome were observed before and after treatment. The serum growth factor ［endothelial cell specific molecule-1 （ESM-1）， transforming growth factor-<italic>β</italic>₁（TGF-<italic>β</italic>₁）， vascular endothelial cell growth factor （VEGF）］， hemorheological indicators ［high cut blood viscosity （HBV）， low cut blood viscosity （LBV）， erythrocyte sedimentation rate （ESR）］， CC cphenotype receptor（CCR）6， CC cphenotype ligand 20 （CCL20）， monocyte chemotactic protein-4 （MCP-4） in serum and tissue fluid of lesions were detected. Clinical efficacy and recurrence follow-up for 12 months were compared. The safety was evaluated between two groups. Result:Three cases in control group and one case in observation group fell off during the study period. The total effective rate was 96.97% （64/66） in observation group， which was higher than 81.25% （52/64） in control group （<italic>χ</italic>²=5.064， <italic>P</italic><0.05）. During the 12-month follow-up， the recurrence rate was 20.31% （13/64） in observation group， which was lower than 51.92% （27/52） in control group （<italic>χ</italic>²=6.038， <italic>P</italic><0.05）. Compared with control group after treatment， PASI， DLQI， TCM syndromes， ESM-1， TGF-<italic>β</italic>₁， VEGF， HBV， LBV， ESR， CCR6， CCL20 and MCP-4 in observation group were significantly reduced （<italic>P</italic><0.05）. No obvious blood and urine routine， or heart， liver and renal dysfunction was observed in the two groups. The incidence of adverse reactions was 3.03% （2/66） in observation group， which was lower than 26.56% （17/64） in control group （<italic>χ</italic>²=5.764， <italic>P</italic><0.05）. Conclusion:Modified Shengyutang can significantly improve the clinical symptoms of patients with active stage psoriasis vulgaris due to Qi and blood deficiency， with a low recurrence rate and the incidence of adverse reactions.

Dynamic multi-detector computer tomography with volume helical shuttle technique for diagnosis of congenital heart disease with tracheomalacia in children / 第二军医大学学报

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of dynamic multi-detector computer tomography (MDCT) with volume helical shuttle (VHS) technique in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) combined with tracheomalacia. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the imaging and clinical data of 26 patients (16 males, 10 females) with CHD who underwent both MDCT with VHS technique and fiber bronchoscope between Oct 2014 and Aug. 2016. According to the results of fiber bronchoscope, the patients were divided into tracheomalacia (n = 7) and non­tracheomalacia (n=19) groups. The intracardiac structures and the anatomy of the great arteries were demonstrated by maximum intensity projection (MIP) and volume render (VR) reconstruction. The patterns of the tracheobronchial tree were demonstrated using minimum intensity projection (MinIP) reconstruction. The Mimics 17. 0 software was employed to automatically segment the CT images of different respiratory phases of each patient and to measure the cross sectional area of the airway. According to the golden-standard of fiber bronchoscopic findings and operative results, we calculated the diagnostic accuracy of VHS for CHD and the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for tracheomalacia Results Compared with nontracheomalacia group, the patients in tracheomalacia group showed significantly greater cross-sectional area change of the trachea (34.23%-74. 95% vs 13. 73%-78. 87%, P= 0. 02). The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of VHS technique for tracheomalacia were 85.71%(6/7), 84. 21%(16/19) and 84. 62%(22/26), respectively. VHS showed accuracies of 100%(12/12) and 91. 67%(11/12) in diagnosing extracardiac and intracardiac defects, respectively. Conclusion Dynamic MDCT with VHS technique can provide a one-step diagnosis of tracheomalacia with CHI) in children.

Differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into male germ cells: An update / 中华男科学杂志

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), including embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), have the potential of differentiating into all types of adult cells. Today, mature functional sperm can be derived from mouse PSCs in vitro, and meanwhile primordial germ cells (PGCs) and meiotic prophase sperm cells can be generated from human ESCs/iPSCs (hESCs/hiPSCs). It is proposed that non-genetic azoospermia might be cured if functional sperm could be obtained from human PSCs (hPSCs) in vitro. It is also possible that healthy functional sperm could be derived from the patient with genetic factor-induced azoospermia by combining iPSCs and gene editing technology. IPSC-derived functional sperm have a higher clinical value for the avoidance of the sperm source and the issue of medical ethics. This article summarizes recent advances in the differentiation of PSCs into male germ cells in vitro, aiming to provide some reference for the treatment of male infertility with PSCs.

Screening of Poly-?-lysine-producing Strain and its Fermentation Technology / 微生物学通报

A strain with 2 g/L yield of poly-?-lysine was firstly screened from soil on an agar plate containing methylene blue and then further selected by a flask experiment. The strain was preliminarily identified as Streptomyces albulus. The experiment about medium optimization showed that glucose was the best carbon sources and yeast extract and (NH_4)_2SO_4 were the best compound nitrogen sources. The yield of ?-PL reached 3.9 g/L with optimal medium.