ABSTRACT
Alveolar echinococcosis is a parasitic zoonosis that severely damages human health. Currently, radical surgical resection is the first choice for hepatic alveolar echinococcosis. For the advanced hepatic echinococcosis patients with refractory radical resection, the palliative surgery combined with chemotherapy, liver transplantation, drug therapy, and radiofrequency microwave ablation may provide comprehensive tools. This article reviews the current situation and progress of comprehensive treatments for hepatic alveolar echinococcosis.
ABSTRACT
Alveolar echinococcosis is a parasitic zoonosis that severely damages human health. Currently, radical surgical resection is the first choice for hepatic alveolar echinococcosis. For the advanced hepatic echinococcosis patients with refractory radical resection, the palliative surgery combined with chemotherapy, liver transplantation, drug therapy, and radiofrequency microwave ablation may provide comprehensive tools. This article reviews the current situation and progress of comprehensive treatments for hepatic alveolar echinococcosis.
ABSTRACT
The shape and structure of granules are controlled by the granulation process, which is one of the main factors to determine the nature of the solid dosage forms. In this article, three kinds of granules of a traditional Chinese medicine for improving appetite and promoting digestion, namely, Jianwei Granules, were prepared using granulation technologies as pendular granulation, high speed stirring granulation, and fluidized bed granulation and the powder properties of them were investigated. Meanwhile, synchrotron radiation X-ray computed micro tomography (SR-µCT) was applied to quantitatively determine the irregular internal structures of the granules. The three-dimensional (3D) structure models were obtained by 3D reconstruction, which were more accurately to characterize the three-dimensional structures of the particles through the quantitative data. The models were also used to quantitatively compare the structural differences of granules prepared by different granulation processes with the same formula, so as to characterize how the production process plays a role in the pharmaceutical behaviors of the granules. To focus on the irregularity of the particle structure, the box counting method was used to calculate the fractal dimensions of the granules. The results showed that the fractal dimension is more sensitive to reflect the minor differences in the structure features than the conventional parameters, and capable to specifically distinct granules in structure. It is proved that the fractal dimension could quantitatively characterize the structural information of irregular granules. It is the first time suggested by our research that the fractal dimension difference (Df,c) between two fractal dimension parameters, namely, the volume matrix fractal dimension and the surface matrix fractal dimension, is a new index to characterize granules with irregular structures and evaluate the effects of production processes on the structures of granules as a new indicator for the granulating process control and optimization.
Subject(s)
Drugs, Chinese Herbal , Fractals , Medicine, Chinese Traditional , Powders , Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship , Synchrotrons , Technology, Pharmaceutical , Tomography, X-Ray ComputedABSTRACT
Arginine vasopressin (AVP), a neurohormone and hemodynamic factor implicated in the pathophysiology of hypertension and congestive heart failure, can also act as a growth-stimulating factor. Our previous work demonstrated that AVP is a mitogen for neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts (CFs). In the present study, we extended our investigations to adult rat CFs to explore whether AVP could induce adult rat CF proliferation and, if so, to identify the mechanism involved. Adult rat CFs were isolated, cultured and subjected to AVP treatment. DNA synthesis and cell cycle distribution were analyzed by [(3)H]-thymidine incorporation and flow cytometry. Cellular extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) activity was measured by in vitro kinase assay using myelin basic protein (MBP) as a substrate. Protein expressions of total- and phospho-ERK1/2, p27(Kip1), cyclins D1, A, E were assessed by Western blot. The results showed that AVP stimulated DNA synthesis in adult rat CFs, and the effect was abolished by a V1 receptor antagonist, d(CH(2))(5)[Tyr(2)(Me), Arg(8)]-vasopressin (0.1 μmol/L), but not by a V2 receptor antagonist, desglycinamide-[d(CH(2))(5), D-Ile(2), Ile(4), Arg8]-vasopressin (0.1 μmol/L). AVP induced an activation of ERK1/2, which could be mimicked by the protein kinase C (PKC) activator, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA, 30 nmol/L, 5 min), but abolished by depletion of PKC via chronic PMA incubation (2.5 μmol/L, 24 h). In addition, AVP down-regulated protein expression of p27(Kip1), increased protein expressions of cyclins D1, A and E, and induced cell cycle progression from G(0)/G(1) into S stage. Inhibition of ERK1/2 activation by PD98059 (30 μmol/L) abolished the effect of AVP on DNA synthesis, protein expressions of p27(Kip1), cyclins D1, A and E as well as cell cycle progression. These results suggest that AVP is also a growth factor for adult rat CFs. The mitogenic effect of AVP is mediated via V1 receptors and PKC-ERK1/2 pathway. Moreover, AVP modulates the expressions of cell cycle regulatory proteins p27(Kip1) and cyclins D1, A and E, which lie downstream of ERK1/2 activation, and induces cell cycle progression in adult rat CFs.
Subject(s)
Animals , Rats , Antidiuretic Hormone Receptor Antagonists , Pharmacology , Arginine Vasopressin , Pharmacology , Cell Cycle , Cell Cycle Proteins , Metabolism , Cell Proliferation , Fibroblasts , Cell Biology , Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 3 , Metabolism , Myocardium , Cell Biology , Phosphorylation , Protein Kinase C , Metabolism , Signal Transduction , Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate , PharmacologyABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of chymase on the proliferation of rat cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) and the role of transforming growth factor-?1 (TGF-?_1).Methods Cultured CFs of neonatal SD rats were isolated by trypsinization.Cell number and DNA synthesis were evaluated by MTT assay (A_(490) value) and [~3H]-deoxythy- midine [~3H]-TdR incorporation.The mRNA expression of TGF-?_1 in CFs was determined by RT-PCR.Results Chymase increased CFs numbers and [~3H]-TdR incorporation in a dose-dependent manner.The A_(490) value of CFs stimulated by 15,30 and 60 ng/mL chymase was 0.263?0.033,0.348?0.031 and 0.387?0.026,respectively, which were all significantly higher than that of control (0.201?0.019,P