Effects of vibration on the expression of mitochondrial fusion and fission genes and ultrastructure of skeletal muscle in rabbits / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

Objective: To study the effects of vibration on the expression of mitochondrial fusion and fission genes and ultrastructure of skeletal muscle in rabbits. Methods: Thirty-two 3.5-month-old New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into low-intensity group, medium-intensity group, high-intensity group and control group, with 8 rabbits in each group. The rabbits in the experimental group were subjected to hind limb vibration load test for 45 days. The vibration intensity of the high intensity group was 12.26 m/s(2), the medium intensity group was 6.13 m/s(2), and the low intensity group was 3.02 m/s(2) according to the effective value of weighted acceleration[a(hw (4))] for 4 hours of equal energy frequency. The control group was exposed to noise only in the same experimental environment as the medium-intensity group. The noise levels of each group were measured during the vibration load experiment. After the test, the mRNA expression of mitochondrial fusion gene (Mfn1/Mfn2) and fission gene (Fis1, Drp1) by RT-PCR in the skeletal muscles were measured and the ultrastructure of the skeletal muscles were observed in high intensity group. Results: The mRNA expression of mitochondrial in the skeletal muscle tissues of control group, low intensity group, medium intensity group and high intensity group were Mfn1: 3.25±1.36, 3.85±1.90, 4.53±2.31 and 11.63±7.68; Mfn2: 0.68±0.25, 1.02±0.40, 0.94±0.33 and 1.40±0.45; Fis1: 1.05±0.62, 1.15±0.59, 1.53±1.06 and 2.46±1.51 and Drp1: 3.72±1.76, 2.91±1.63, 3.27±2.01 and 4.21±2.46, respectively. Compared with the control group, the expressions of Mfn1 mRNA, Mfn2 mRNA and Fis1 mRNA in the high-intensity group increased significantly (P<0.05) , and the expressions of Mfn2 mRNA in the medium-intensity group and the low-intensity group increased significantly (P<0.05) . Compared with the control group, the ultrastructure of skeletal muscle of high intensity group showed mitochondrial focal accumulation, cristae membrane damage, vacuole-like changes; Z-line irregularity of muscle fibers, and deficiency of sarcomere. Conclusion: Vibration must be lead to the abnormal mitochondrial morphology and structure and the disorder of energy metabolism due to the expression imbalance of mitochondrial fusion and fission genes in skeletal muscles of rabbits, which may be an important target of vibration-induced skeletal muscle injury.

Rauwolfia vomitoria extract suppresses benign prostatic hyperplasia by reducing expression of androgen receptor and 5α-reductase in a rat model / 中西医结合学报

OBJECTIVE@#Herbal medicine is an important therapeutic option for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a common disease in older men that can seriously affect their quality of life. Currently, it is crucial to develop agents with strong efficacy and few side effects. Herein we investigated the effects of the extract of Rauwolfia vomitoria, a shrub grown in West Africa, on BPH.@*METHODS@#Rats with testosterone-induced BPH were treated with R. vomitoria. Prostates were histologically analyzed by Hematoxylin and eosin staining. Proliferation index and the expression levels of androgen receptor and its associated proteins were quantified through immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting. Androgen receptor target genes were examined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The sperm count and body weight of rats were also measured.@*RESULTS@#The oral administration of R. vomitoria extract significantly reduced the prostate weight and prostate weight index in BPH rats, supported by the decreased thickness of the prostate epithelial layer and increased lumen size. Similar effects were observed in the BPH rats treated with the reference drug, finasteride. R. vomitoria extract significantly reduced the testosterone-induced proliferation markers, including proliferating cell nuclear antigen and cyclin D1, in the prostate glands of BPH rats; it also reduced levels of androgen receptor, its associated protein steroid 5α-reductase 1 and its downstream target genes (FK506-binding protein 5 and matrix metalloproteinase 2). Notably, compared with the finasteride group, R. vomitoria extract did not significantly reduce sperm count.@*CONCLUSION@#R. vomitoria suppresses testosterone-induced BPH development. Due to its milder side effects, R. vomitoria could be a promising therapeutic agent for BPH.

Application Status of Properties of Surface and Interface in Research on Pharmaceutical Preparations / 中国实验方剂学杂志

The surface and interface,as the transition region between two phases,belongs to the category of physical chemistry.At present,it is widely used in materials and other scientific fields.Meanwhile,this property also plays an important role in pharmaceutical research.The interface layer involved in the progress of pharmaceutical preparations is connected with the two-phase or three-phase between gas,liquid and solid closely.The interface effect will affect the final shaping of pharmaceutical preparations and the dissolution and absorption of drugs in the human body.In this paper,the surface and interface characteristics(specific surface area,surfacial and interfacial tension and surface Gibbs free energy) were compared,and the application of interface phenomena(wetting,solubilization and emulsification) in pharmaceutical research were introduced.From the points of view of the progress control of pharmaceutical preparations and the effectiveness of their products,the article expounds the important role of properties of surface and interface in the field of pharmaceutical preparations.Therefore,it is necessary to pay attention to the properties of surface and interface,one of the key physical properties of drugs,and to apply them in the pharmaceutical research.

A new device for determination of adhesive force and its application in predicting hot-melt sticking in spray drying of traditional Chinese medicine / 中国中药杂志

A new device was designed to measure adhesive force and predict whether traditional Chinese medicine extracts would appear hot-melt sticking in spray drying process．Based on the physical property tester as fundamental test platform, the device was fixed with a camera, a temperature and humidity sensor probe and a set of equipment for hot air. This device could simulate the dry environment of spray dryer and analyze the variables of testing solutions' adhesiveness against drying time. To establish and validate a model of predicting hot-melt sticking in spray drying, data was collected by using data mining. The results of this study proved that the device could be used to predict the hot-melt sticking in spray drying based on the adhesive force of materials (testing solutions). In addition, the study also found that the adhesiveness of the hot-melt sticking materials gradually increased with the evaporation of water, while that of non-sticking materials first increased and then rapidly decreased.

Correlation between chemical compositions of traditional Chinese medicine extracts and phenomenon of wall stickiness in spray drying / 中国中药杂志

To explore the correlation between chemical compositions (organic acids, small molecule sugars, protein and others) of traditional Chinese medicine extracts and the wall stickiness in spray drying. In this study, 55 types of most common used Chinese herbs were selected to determine the content of 7 chemical components such as citric acid and fructose from plant extraction. The status of wall stickiness was observed during the drying process. The principle component analysis (PCA-X), hierarchical clustering analysis(HCA) and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were then used to evaluate the correlation between each chemical compositions and wall stickiness, so as to look for the essential chemical compositions associated with the wall stickiness. All of the above 3 statistical analysis methods showed significant results in distinguishing the two groups (sticky or non-sticky). PCA-X score chart and HCA clustering scatter plot suggested that the small molecular substance was the main factor causing wall stickiness, which was then proved by the reality where some of the traditional herb extracts were in non-sticky state after drying but in sticky state after alcohol precipitation. OPLS-DA results revealed that L-malic acid, citric acid, fructose and glucose were the difference factors for the wall stickiness of the extracts. Under small molecular components, L-malic acid, citric acid, fructose and glucose were the crucial factors that directly led to the hot melt sticky wall of the herbal extracts, and macromolecular substances might ameliorate the function of wall stickiness.

An oncosis-like cell death of pancreatic cancer Panc-1 cells induced by artesunate is related to generation of reactive oxygen species / 中国癌症杂志

50?mol/L induced markedly oncotic cell death,but no apoptosis was observed.TEM examination indicated that a form of cell death accompanied by cellular swelling,organelle swelling and vacuolization,mitochondrial swelling and cristae membrane loss,and nucleus swelling, chromatin scattering or karyolysis,which characterized as oncosis.When treated with 50,200?mol/L of ART for 5 h, the intracellular ROS level of Panc-1 cells markedly increased to 1.60 and 4.49 fold compared with that of untreated cells,respectively.Pretreatment with TCEP effectively attenuated ART-induced intracellular ROS level and decrease the oncosis in Panc-1 cells.Conclusions:ART exerts profound cytotoxic effects on Panc-1 cells and induces an oncosis- like cell death,which is quite different from apoptosis.The cellular generation of ROS and its peroxidation damage may be one of the mechanisms for its anti-tumor effect on pancreatic cancer.