ABSTRACT
Parkinson's disease(PD)is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the world;however,it lacks effective and safe treatments.Ginkgo biloba dropping pill(GBDP),a unique Chinese G.biloba leaf extract preparation,exhibits antioxidant and neuroprotective effects and has a potential as an alternative therapy for PD.Thus,the aims of this study were to evaluate the effects of GBDP in in vitro and in vivo PD models and to compare the chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of GBDP and the G.biloba extract EGb 761.Using liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry,46 GBDP constitu-ents were identified.Principal component analysis identified differences in the chemical profiles of GBDP and EGb 761.A quantitative analysis of 12 constituents showed that GBDP had higher levels of several flavonoids and terpene trilactones than EGb 761,whereas EGb 761 had higher levels of organic acids.Moreover,we found that GBDP prevented 6-hydroxydopamine-induced dopaminergic neuron loss in zebrafish and improved cognitive impairment and neuronal damage in methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine-induced PD mice.Although similar effects were observed after EGb 761 treatment,the neuroprotective effects were greater after GBDP treatment on several endpoints.In addition,in vitro results suggested that the Akt/GSK3β pathway may be involved in the neuroprotective effects of GBDP.These findings demonstrated that GBDP have potential neuroprotective effects in the treatment of PD.
ABSTRACT
@#To investigate the hypolipidemic effects of gypenosides granules and its combination with lipitor, a model of hyperlipidaemia C57BL/6J mice was established by high-fat diet feeding for 4 weeks. The mice were randomly divided into blank group, model group, lipitor group(10 mg/kg of lipitor), low dose group(90 mg/kg of gypenosides granules), medium dose group(120 mg/kg of gypenosides granules), high dose group(180 mg/kg of gypenosides granules)and the combination group(180 mg/kg of gypenosides granules and 10 mg/kg of lipitor). After 4 weeks of continuous administration, the contents of serum lipid indexes, serum ALT, AST and apolipoprotein B(ApoB)were measured. The liver tissues of mice were observed by H&E staining. The expression levels of key factors involved in hepatic cholesterol metabolism were observed by RT-PCR and Western blot methods, such as adenosine triphosphate combined box transporter A1(ABCA1), liver X receptor(LXRα), cholesterol 7 alpha hydroxylase(CYP7A1)and type BΙ scavenger receptor(SR-BΙ). The results revealed that gypenosides granules significantly decreased the mice body weight, total abdominal fat area and the level of serum total cholesterol(TC). The combination group showed a more significant reduction in TC level than the other administration groups. Moreover, gypenosides granules treatment remarkably increased the protein expression of ABCA1 and up-regulated the mRNA expression of ABCA1, CYP7A1 and SR-BI. The above results suggest that gypenosides granules can significantly reduce blood lipid contents, and the combination therapy with lipitor show better the lipid-lowering effect. Meanwhile, gypenosides granules can decrease the level of serum transaminase. Preliminary exploration suggests the lipid-lowering mechanism of gypenosides granules may be involved in cholesterol reversal to regulate the level of TC.
ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the features of activation mapping induced by olfactory stimulation with functional magnetic imaging (fMRI), which will help to reveal the neural mechanism of olfactory dysfunction and contribute to the earlier diagnosis and treatment of neural degenerative disorders.Methods In this prospective study, 21 healthy volunteers were recruited in the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College from March to October 2015.Olfactory function was evaluated by using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS).During the fMRI scanning, all subjects received olfactory stimulation of rose and lavender odor.The brain activation was obtained by using softwares matlab2008a and SPM8.Results All subjects had normal olfactory function evaluated by VAS score (4.86±0.07).The activated brain areas included: bilateral inferior parietal lobule, bilateral inferior frontal gyrus-orbitofrontal gyrus, left insula, bilateral inferior temporal gyrus, left putamen, bilateral hippocampus, bilateral cingulate cortex, bilateral piriform cortex, bilateral amygdale, left lingual gyrus, bilateral cerebellum (t=2.62, P<0.01).Conclusions Olfactory is associated with multiple brain regions.The combination of olfactory event-related design and fMRI, as an objective measurement of olfactory, can be applied to investigate the olfactory cortical brain mapping.
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Objective To study the changes of cognitive function and brain microstructure of patients with benign epilepsy of childhood with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) from neuropsychological test and voxel-based morphometry.Methods Sixteen patients with BECTS and 16 healthy volunteers,who were matched in gender,age and education,were enrolled in this study from May 2014 to May 2015 in the Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College.The cognitive function and morphometry of the subjects were evaluated by neuropsychological test (full scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ),verbal intelligence quotient (VIQ) and performance intelligence quotient (PIQ)) and high-resolution T1-weighted imaging scanning.Thereafter,these data were analyzed with Student's t test,Chi-squared test and correlation analysis.Results (1) FSIQ(79.3±13.3),VIQ(82.3±12.1) andPIQ(81.3±10.3)ofBECTS group were significantly lower than the control group (107.0 ± 6.4,101.6 ± 6.5,114.8 ± 6.2;t =9.511,7.521,16.360,all P ＜0.01).(2) Patients with BECTS showed significantly increased gray matter volume in the bilateral putamen,paracentral lobule and right supplementary motor area (P ＜ 0.05,FDR-corrected).(3) A significant negative correlation was found between the gray matter volume of the left putamen and age of epilepsy onset (r=-0.586,P=0.017).Conclusions (1) There is a certain degree of cognitive impairment in patients with BECTS.(2) Patients with BECTS have some changes in brain microstructure.Genetic factors could indirectly influence the children's brain developmental trajectory,and the age of onset may be associated with the changes on the brain microstructure.
ABSTRACT
Objective Aδ and C fiber nociceptors can be excited when people received contact heat stimulation(CHS) and this excitation may be reflected by functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI).The aim of this study was to observe the different fMRI characteristics in CHS with distinct temperatures in healthy people and to explore the pain related functional network.Depending on the fMRI results,we can evaluate the values of CHS-fMRI during the research of brain functional connectivity.Methods Twenty-two healthy volunteers were recruited to this study.During the acquisition of fMRI,the right dorsal forearm received two different CHS in 41 and 51 degree respectively(41 ℃ CHS-fMRI group and 51 ℃ CHS-fMRI group),and two series of fMRI data were obtained for each subject.The brain activation was obtained by using one sample t test for the 41 ℃CHS-fMRI group and 51 ℃CHS-fMRI group separately.The difference between 41 ℃ CHS-fMRI group and 51 ℃ CHS-fMRI group was analyzed by paired-sample t-test.Result These activated brain areas in 41 ℃ CHS-fMRI group included bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG),contralateral transverse temporal gyrus,contralateral amygdala,bilateral insula,bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG),contralateral hippocampus,bilateral putamen,contralateral supramarginal,ipsilateral postcentral,ipsilateral inferior parietal lobule,ipsilateral middle temporal gyrus (MTG),bilateral cerebelum,bilateral middle cingulate cortex and bilateral posterior cingulate cortex.These activated brain areas in 51 ℃ CHS-fMRI group included bilateral STG,bilateral amygdala,contralateral hippocampus,bilateral thalamus,contralateral putamen,bilateral insula,bilateral IFG,bilateral cerebellum,contralateral postcentral,contralateral superior parietal lobule,bilateral MTG,bilateral precuneus,and contralateral cuneus.Compared with 41 ℃ CHS-fMRI group,the 51 ℃ CHS-fMRI group showed higher brain activation in bilateral cerebellum (right:4.455,left:3.891),ipsilateral precuneus (4.150),contralateral insula (3.530),contralateral IFG (3.530),and contralateral postcentral (3.530; t =2.83,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions There are common brain activated areas and specific areas for each group,which suggested that existence of two central pathways activated by Aδ and C fiber which have different effects in perception of pain and have their brain network responsively.It may become one of the ideal pain stimulation methods with CHS-fMRI,which warrant worth further research.