Polymyxin B as an inhibitor of lipopolysaccharides contamination of herb crude polysaccharides in mononuclear cells / 中国天然药物

Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) contamination in herbal crude polysaccharides is inevitable. The present study was performed to explore the effect of polymyxin B on abolishing the influence of LPS contamination in mononuclear cells. LPS was pretreated with polymyxin B sulfate (PB) at different concentrations for 1, 5 or 24 h, and then used to stimulate RAW264.7 and mouse peritoneal macrophages (MPMs). The nitric oxide (NO) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in cell culture supernatant, as the indications of cell response, were assayed. Bupleurum chinensis polysaccharides (BCPs) with trace amount contamination of LPS was treated with PB. 30 μg·mL of PB, treating LPS (10 and 1 000 ng·mL in stimulating RAW264.7 and MPMs respectively) at 37 °C for 24 h, successfully abolished the stimulating effect of LPS on the cells. When the cells were stimulated with LPS, BCPs further promoted NO production. However, pretreated with PB, BCPs showed a suppression of NO production in MPMs and no change in RAW264.7. In the in vitro experiments, LPS contamination in polysaccharide might bring a great interference in assessing the activity of drug. Pretreatment with PB (30 μg·mL) at 37 °C for 24 h was sufficient to abolish the effects of LPS contamination (10 and 1 000 ng·mL).

Light propagation along the pericardium meridian at human wrist as evidenced by the optical experiment and Monte Carlo method / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the characteristics of light propagation along the Pericardium Meridian and its surrounding areas at human wrist by using optical experiment and Monte Carlo method.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>An experiment was carried out to obtain the distribution of diffuse light on Pericardium Meridian line and its surrounding areas at the wrist, and then a simplified model based on the anatomical structure was proposed to simulate the light transportation within the same area by using Monte Carlo method.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The experimental results showed strong accordance with the Monte Carlo simulation that the light propagation along the Pericardium Meridian had an advantage over its surrounding areas at the wrist.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The advantage of light transport along Pericardium Merdian line was related to components and structure of tissue, also the anatomical structure of the area that the Pericardium Meridian line runs.</p>

Study on targeted separation of atractylenolide IQ from traditional Chinese herbs by molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction / 中国药学杂志

OBJECTIVE: To establish a novel and efficient method for enriching low content active components from traditional Chinese herbs. METHODS: The enrichment of atractylenolide III was taken as an example. First, molecular imprinting polymers (MIPs) of atractylenolide III were prepared by precipitation polymerization using 1-Vinylimidazole as functional monomer. Second, the atractylenolide III MIPs were packed into solid-phase column to separate atractylenolide III and its analogues from the exracts of Herba Atractylodes Macrocephaia and Codonopsis pilosula. Moreover, the adsorption performance of MIPs for the target components was also investigated. RESULTS: Enrichment factor (EF) of MIP-SPE and C18-SPE column were 78.90 and 51.56 μg · g-1 respectively, suggesting that MIPs had better adsorption property than C18; the precision and accuracy of the developed method were satisfactory with recoveries of 102.2% and LOD of 0.36 μg · mL-1. CONCLUSION These results demonstrate the feasibility of molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction for enriching low content active components in traditional Chinese herbs.