Protective effect and mechanism of total lignans from Tibetan medicinal Herpetospermum seeds on carbon tetrachloride-induced liver fibrosis in rats / 中国中药杂志

This experiment was aimed to discuss the protective effect and mechanism of total lignans from Tibetan medicinal Herpetospermum seeds on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver fibrosis in rats. Forty-eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the blank control group (G1), model group (G2), total lignans high, middle and low dose groups (400,200, and 100 mg•kg⁻¹•d⁻¹)(G3/4/5) and the glycyrrhizin positive control group (25 mg•kg⁻¹•d⁻¹)(G6), n=8 in each group. The rats in blank group received normal feeding; the rats in model group, total lignans low, middle and high dose groups and glycyrrhizic group were subcutaneously in jected with 3 mL•kg⁻¹ olive oilsolution containing 40%CCl4 every two or three days for Eight weeks. During the course, the rats inblank group and model group were orally administered with 2 mL normal saline, and the rats in total lignans groups and the glycyrrhizin positive control group received corresponding doses of drugs by intragastric administration. Eight weeks later, after the the last time modeling, the rats were sacrificed. Then the biochemical analysis was used to determine alanine aminotransferase(ALT), aspartate aminotransferase(AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels in serum while enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay(ELISA) was applied for detecting transforming growth factor β1(TGF-β1), hyaluronic acid(HA), hydroxy-proline(HYP) and superoxide dismutase(SOD) levels in serum. HE and Masson's trichrome stainings were conducted in liver tissues to observe the pathological variations and grades of hepatic fibrosis. The results showed that as compared with the model group, the levels of ALT, AST, ALP, TGF-β1, HA, HYP and SOD in serum of total lignans groups were significantly decreased (P<0.05, P<0.01); levels of SOD in the liver tissue homogenate were increased(P<0.05, P<0.01); the pathological damage of the liver tissues were relieved (P<0.05, P<0.01), and liver fibrosis scores were decreased(P<0.05, P<0.01). The above experimentsindicated that total lignans from Tibetan medicinal Herpetospermum seeds can effectively reduce carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatic injury of rat liver fibrosis, reduce the degree of liver fibrosis, and its mechanism maybe associated with down-regulating TGF-β1 expression.

Clinical analysis of 22 cases community-acquired Pseudomonas aeruginosa urinary tract infection / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the characteristics of community-acquired urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) in children, analyze the risk factors and the susceptibility of antibiotics, thus to provide references to the diagnosis and medication of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA)-CAUTIs. Mothod Totally 22 cases of PA-CAUTIs were selected in one hospital from Jan, 2006 to Jan, 2012, their clinical information, laboratory results and radiological images were collected, and were compared with the CAUTIs cased by E. coli of those randomly selected over the same period.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>In those 22 cases with PA-CAUTIs, the mean value of protein level was (32.25 ± 13.81) mg/ml, 19 of them were hospitalized, 6 had urinary operation history, 7 of them had long-term usage of glucocorticoids or immunosuppressive agents, and 20 had underlying diseases. A total of 22 children with 26 PA-CAUTIs episodes were compared to E. coli-CAUTIs. Compared with E. coli-CAUTIs patients, children with PA-CAUTIs more often presented with a lower albumin (P = 0.017), a history of urinary operation(P = 0.03), more cases had a history of urinary operation (P = 0.03), a long-term usage of glucocorticoids or immunosuppressive medication (P = 0.044). Through multivariate logistic regression of variables that were significant in univariate analysis (with hospitalizations, long-term usage of glucocorticoids or immunosuppressive, albumin, underlying disease and urinary operation histories), and it turned out that underlying diseases (odds ratio 8.500, 95% CI 1.513 - 47.761, P = 0.037) and with urinary operation histories (odds ratio 6.196, 95% CI 1.120 - 34.273, P = 0.037) were proved as the independent risk factors for PA-CAUTIs. Those PA bacterial strains had a 36.36% resistance rate to piperacillin, aztreonam and gentamicin, a 31.82% resistance rate to cefepime and ceftazidime, while the resistance rate (4.55%) to carbapenem antibiotics was relatively low, only to bacillosporin all the strains were sensitive.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Underlying diseases and the urinary operation histories are the independent risk factors of the occurrence of PA-CAUTIs, carbapenem antibiotics and bacillosporin can be considered as the drugs of choice for its treatment.</p>

PPARγ up-regulates TGFβ/smad signal pathway repressor c-Ski / 生理学报

TGFβ/smad pathway is recognized as an important signal pathway to promote the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis (AS). Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) activation is considered to be important in modulating AS. Herein, we investigated the regulation of PPARγ on c-Ski, the repressor of TGFβ/smad pathway, in rat AS model and cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). c-Ski mRNA and protein expression were detected by real-time PCR and Western blot, respectively, in vivo and in vitro with treatment of PPARγ agonist rosiglitazone and antagonist GW9662. The proliferation and collagen secretion of VSMCs after c-Ski transfection were investigated. The underlying mechanism was further investigated by online program NUBIScan and luciferase reporter gene analysis. Results showed that both mRNA and protein expressions of c-Ski in the AS lesions was down-regulated in vivo, while in cultured VSMCs, c-Ski transfection significantly suppressed the proliferation and collagen secretion of rat VSMCs. Rosiglitazone significantly up-regulated mRNA and protein levels of c-Ski in VSMCs, which could be blocked by GW9662. Online NUBIScan analysis suggested possible PPARγ binding sites in the promoter region of c-Ski. In addition, luciferase activity of c-Ski reporter gene was also increased obviously in the presence of rosiglitazone. These results indicate that c-Ski is one of the newly found target genes of PPARγ and thus involved in the anti-AS effect of PPARγ.