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Objective To evaluate the role of calcineurin ( CaN)/nuclear factor of activated T cell cytoplasmic 4 protein ( NFATc4) signaling pathway in inflammatory responses in lung tissues of rats with ventilator-induced lung injury ( VILI) . Methods Twenty-four clean-grade healthy male Wistar rats, aged 5-8 weeks, weighing 220-250 g, were divided into 3 groups ( n=8 each) using a random number table method: control C (group C), VILI group and cyclosporine A plus VILI group (group CsA+VILI). The animals were anesthetized with pentobarbital and tracheostomized. The rats were mechanically ventilated for 6 h with the tidal volume set at 40 ml/kg and respiratory rate at 40 breaths/min to establish the model of VI-LI. The rats kept spontaneous breathing in group C. CaN specific inhibitor cyclosporine A 10 mg/kg was in-traperitoneally injected at 1 h before ventilation in group CsA+VILI. Rats were sacrificed immediately after ventilation, lung tissues were obtained and stained with hematoxylin and eosin to evaluate lung injury, broncho-alveolar lavage fluid was collected for determination of tumor necrosis factor-alpha ( TNF-α) , inter-leukin-1beta ( IL-1β) and IL-6 concentrations by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the lungs were removed for determination of the wet to dry weight ratio ( W/D ratio) , expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 ( ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 ( VCAM-1) ( by real-time polymerase chain reaction) , and expression of calcineurin and NFATc4 in lung tissues ( using Western blot ) . Results Compared with group C, the W/D ratio, lung injury scores and concentrations of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-αin BALF were significantly increased, and the expression of CaN, NFATc4, ICAM-1 mRNA and VCAM-1 mRNA was up-regulated in group VILI ( P＜0. 05) . Compared with group VILI, the W/D ratio, lung injury scores and concentrations of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-αin BALF were significantly decreased, and the expres-sion of CaN, NFATc4, ICAM-1 mRNA and VCAM-1 mRNA was down-regulated in group CsA+VILI ( P＜0. 05) . Conclusion CaN/NFATc4 signaling pathway mediates inflammatory responses in lung tissues of rats with VILI.
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Objective To explore the effect of dexmedetomidine on blood coagulation following radical gastrectomy.Methods ASA Ⅰ or Ⅱ patients aged 51-70 years weighing 53-75 kg scheduled for radical gastrectomy were randomly allocated to two groups:dexmedetomidine group (group D)and control group (group C).Dexmedetomidine 0.5 μg/kg was intravenously infused over 10 minutes before anesthesia induction,followed by a rate of 0.5 μg·kg-1 ·h-1 until peritoneal closure in group D and volume-matched normal saline was administrated in group C.Radical gastrectomy was performed under total intravenous anesthesia with propofol and remffentanil.A series of warming measures were implemented and artificial colloid and heparin flushing fluid were not used.Postoperative patient-controlled intravenous analgesia was performed to maintain visual analogue scale≤3.The blood samples were collected for TEG and standard coagulation monitoring before dexmedetomidine and saline administration and 3 h after surgery.Results The temperature and hematocrit in the postoperative period were significantly less than the preoperative period in two groups (P＜0.01).In both groups,the activity of plasma antithrombin Ⅲ was significantly decreased and the concentration of plasma FDP was significantly increased in the postoperative period when compared with the preoperative period (P ＜0.01).In group D,the R time was significantly shortened and MA value was significantly increased in the postoperative period when compared with the preoperative period (P＜0.05) and there were no significant differences in the K time and α angle between the preoperative and postoperative period.In group C,the R and K time were significantly shortened and the value for MA and α angle were significantly increased in the postoperative period compared with the preoperative period (P＜0.01).The platelet counts,PT,APTT,and plasma fibrinogen concentration were comparable between the preoperative and postoperative period in both groups.The requirements of propofol and remifentanil in group D were significantly less than group C (P＜0.05).In the preoperative period,the plasma antithrombin Ⅲ activity,FDP concentration,and the values for all TEG variables were similar in both groups.In the postoperative period,the value for MA and the concentration of plasma FDP in group D were less than that in group C and the value for R and the activity of plasma AT Ⅲ in group D were more than group C (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01) and there were no significant differences in the K time and α angle in both groups.There were no significant differences in the temperature,hematocrit,platelet counts,PT,APTT,and plasma fibrinogen concentration in the preoperative and postoperative periods between the two study groups.Conclusion Adjunctive dexmedetomidine in general anesthesia could inhibit the decrease of R time and raise of the value for MA,inhibit the decrease of plasma an tithrombin Ⅲ activity and raise of FDP concentration,which indicated that dexmedetomidine can improve blood coagulation state after radical gastrectomy.
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Curcumin, the medically active component from Curcuma longa (Turmeric), is widely used to treat inflammatory diseases. Protein interaction network (PIN) analysis was used to predict its mechanisms of molecular action. Targets of curcumin were obtained based on ChEMBL and STITCH databases. Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) were extracted from the String database. The PIN of curcumin was constructed by Cytoscape and the function modules identified by gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis based on molecular complex detection (MCODE). A PIN of curcumin with 482 nodes and 1688 interactions was constructed, which has scale-free, small world and modular properties. Based on analysis of these function modules, the mechanism of curcumin is proposed. Two modules were found to be intimately associated with inflammation. With function modules analysis, the anti-inflammatory effects of curcumin were related to SMAD, ERG and mediation by the TLR family. TLR9 may be a potential target of curcumin to treat inflammation.
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This study was aimed to reveal the species characteristics of Chinese patent medicines for antitussive ef-fect and provide references for developing new drugs. This research targeted Chinese patent medicines for antitussive effect which were included in the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China and the New National Chinese Patent Medicines as well as those characterized by keywords such as cough cure, cough alleviating, antitussive effect, cough, persistent cough. The analysis was made on the species characteristics, such as the number of Chinese patent medicines for antitussive effect, license number, ethnomedicine patent medicines, drugs for children use, protection of varieties of traditional Chinese medicine, the number of drugs, the generic names of drug, and drug forms. The results showed that 684 Chinese patent medicines for antitussive effect collected in this research had ac-counted for 8.60% of the total 7 260 of Chinese patent medicines. A total of 7 450 license numbers were approved, and 33% of the Chinese patent medicines shares one license number. One Chinese patent medicine owns 16.6 li-cense numbers on average. Ethnomedicine patent medicines had 3 Tibetan prescriptions such as the Shiwuwei Chenxiang pill and 4 Mongolian prescriptions, such as the Siwei Tumuxiang powder. Drugs for children accounted for 14%, including 9 forms. The type of the generic names of drug reached 16 and most of them originate from abbrevia-tions of the main drug in prescription. The number of drugs in prescription ranges from 8 to 16. Chinese patent medicines for antitussive effect involved 16 forms, of which the proportion of the use of solid preparation was higher than the liquid preparation. It was concluded that Chinese patent medicines for antitussive effect were characterized by such advantages such as a variety of species, various forms, the reasonable number of drugs, considerable medicine retail market share and drug for children use which can meet the clinical needs, and meanwhile some prob-lems, such as a lack of criteria for the generic names of drug, the homogenization of fierce competition, and inade-quacy of ethnomedicine patent medicines.