Mechanism of Prunellae Spica Against Breast Diseases： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Prunellae Spica is the dry ear of the labiaceae plant Prunella vulgaris， which is a traditional medicine and food plant with many functions. Prunellae Spica can clear liver-fire， improve eyesight， disperse knot detumescence. It owns hot and bitter flavors and cold property. It goes to the liver， gallbladder meridian， and is a kind of commonly-used antifebric. Prunellae Spica has been used in the treatment of mammary gland diseases since ancient times.The mammary abscess， mammary nodules， mammary carcinoma of traditional Chinese medicine all belong to breast disease， and the liver meridian is most closely related to these diseases. With the development of social life， breast disease has gradually become the most primary health problem for women. Modern pharmacological studies show that Prunellae Spica contains terpenoids， phenolic acids， flavonoids and other biological active components， which have anti-inflammatory， antibacterial， hormone regulation， anti-tumor and other effects. Prunellae Spica inhibits the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase （p38 MAPK）/nuclear factor kappa-B （NF-κB） pathway to play an anti-mastitis role， interferes with the effects of estrogen receptors or regulates lipid levels to treat breast hyperplasia， and treats breast cancer through promoting the apoptosis of breast cancer cells， inhibiting the migration of breast cancer cells， regulating the division of breast cancer cells and other ways. While referring to the relevant literature， it was found that Prunellae Spica often exerted pharmacological effects through multi-channels and multi-target regulation， but most of the studies did not specify the specific target of its effect， which needs further study. In this review， the effects and mechanisms of Prunellae Spica in the treatment of various breast diseases were summarized， so as to provide a reference for further research on the wider clinical therapeutic effects of Prunella subtilis and its therapeutic effects on breast diseases.

Evaluation of the protection conferred by several avian infectious bronchitis attenuated vaccines against the field strain CK/CH/LDL/97 I in China / 病毒学报

The entire S1 protein gene of five infectious bronchitis (IB) vaccine strains (JAAS, IBN, Jilin, J9, H120) used in China were compared with that of the IB field isolate CK/CH/LDL/97 I present in China. The nucleotide and deduced amino acid similarities between the five IB vaccine strains and the field strain, CK/CH/LDL/97 I, were not more than 76.4% and 78.7%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on the S1 gene showed that the vaccine strains and the field strain belonged to different clusters and had larger evolutionary distances, indicating that they were of different genotypes. The five vaccine strains were used for protection test against challenge of the field isolate CK/CH/LDL/97 I. The chickens inoculated with five vaccine strains showed morbidity as high as 30%-100% after challenged with the CK/CH/ LDL/97 I strain. The organ samples at 5 days post challenge showed that the viral detection rates were 50%-90% and 10%-30% for trachea and kidney, respectively. The live attenuated vaccines only provided partial protection to the vaccinated chickens against heterologous IBV infection, CK/CH/LDL/97 I.

Isolation and identification of A reovirus from masked civet cats (Paguma Larvata) / 病毒学报

192 samples of Masked Palm Civet (Paguma Larvata) from Guangdong Province were inoculated in Vero-E6 cells. One sample which came from masked palm Civet didn't cause cytopathic effects (CPE) until fourth-passage on Vero-E6 cells. Infected cells emerged granulating, shrinking, rounding and falling off. After three times freeze-thaw, cells and culture medium were harvested for electron microscopy. Virus particles were nonenveloped, double capsid and icosahedral symmetry. This virus was designated Masked Palm Civet/China/2004 (MPC/04). Hemagglutination test indicated that the virus could agglutinate healthy human type O red cells, but not the red cells of SPF chicken, experimental common bovine, rat and guinea pig. This virus was tolerant to chloroform treatment, pH 3.0 and water bath 50 degrees C 1 h. 1 M MgCl2 treatment could enhance resistance of virus to heat and increase infectivity. In order to classify the strain on the molecular level, specific primers according to mammalian reovirus were used for Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Appropriate specific products were amplified by RT-PCR. NCBI BLAST analysis indicated that this segment shared the highest identity to mammalian reovirus serotype 1 (T1L) virus. So we can deduce this virus is a member of the Reoviridae.

Genetic variations of membrane gene of infectious bronchitis virus strains isolated in China between 1995 and 2004 / 病毒学报

Membrane (M) protein genes of 20 infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) strains isolated in China between 1995 and 2004 were sequenced and analyzed. The M genes of twenty isolates were composed of 672 to 681 nucleotides, encoding polypeptides of 223 to 226 amino acid residues. Variations of the deduced amino acids of M gene mainly occurred at positions 2 to 17 and 221 to 233, comparing with that of the IBV strain LX4. There were deletions or insertions in the M gene of Chinese isolates at amino acid position 2 to 6, leading to the loss or gain of a glycosylation site. Phylogenetic tree based on amino acid sequences of M genes from 20 Chinese isolates and 34 reference strains showed that they were classified into five distinct clusters. Most of the Chinese IBV strains were included in clusters II and IV, forming distinct groups. The isolates in cluster II showed a close evolutionary relationship with Taiwan isolates. Furthermore, recombination especially the recombination between field isolates and vaccine strains had been observed while comparing the phylogeny of M genes with those of S1 and N genes.