PK2/PKR1 signaling pathway participates in geniposide protection against diabetic nephropathy in mice / 中国中药杂志

This study aimed to investigate the effects of geniposide(GP) on the expression of prokineticin(PK2) and prokineticin receptor 1(PKR1) in db/db mice with diabetic nephropathy(DN), so as to explore how the PK2 signaling pathway participated in the pathological changes of DN and whether GP exerted the therapeutic effect through this signaling pathway. Male mice were randomly divided into four groups, namely db/m, db/db, db/db+GP, and db/m+GP groups, with five in each group. The mice in the db/db+GP and db/m+GP groups were gavaged with 150 mg·kg~(-1) GP for eight successive weeks. Afterwards, all the mice were sacrificed and the renal tissues were embedded. The morphological changes in glomerulus and renal tubules were observed by Masson and PAS staining. The expression levels of PK2, PKR1, and Wilm's Tumor Protein 1(WT_1) in podocytes were detected by immunohistochemistry, and the protein expression levels of PK2 and PKR1 in mouse kidney by Western blot. The morphological results showed serious glomerular and tubular fibrosis(Masson), high glomerular and tubular injury score(PAS), increased glomerular mesangial matrix, thickened basement membrane, exfoliated brush border of renal tubules, decreased WT_1 in glomerular podocytes, and massive loss of podocytes in the db/db group. After administration with GP, the glomerular and tubular fibrosis was alleviated, accompanied by improved glomerular basement membrane and renal tubule brush edge, and up-regulated WT_1. As revealed by further protein detection, in the db/db group, the expression levels of PK2 and PKR1 and p-Akt/Akt ratio declined, whereas the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 rose. Ho-wever, PKR2 and p-ERK/ERK ratio did not change significantly. After administration with GP, the PK2 and PKR1 expression was elevated, and p-Akt/Akt ratio was increased. There was no obvious change in PKR2, Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, or p-ERK/ERK ratio. All these have demonstrated that GP improves the renal damage in DN mice, and PK2/PKR1 signaling pathway may be involved in such protection, which has provided reference for clinical treatment of DN with GP.

Synthesis of hydrogel polymer coated ZnO nanoparticles and their decontaminating effect against soman in vitro / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the decontamination capability of hydrogel polymer coated ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NP-gel) against soman. METHODS ZnO NP was synthetized using chemical precipitation method and modified with 4-pentenoic acid,and then polymerized with comonomers to obtain ZnO NP-gel. The transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and particle size instrument were used to observe the internal structure,micromorphology,particle size and zeta potential of these materials. An infrared spectroscope (IR) was used to analyze their chemical bond structure,while X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to analyze the diffraction pattern.The content of soman was determined by benzidine chromogenic reaction. ZnO NP(1 g·L-1), ZnO NP-gel (1 g·L-1) and distilled water were mixed with soman(52.2 mg·L-1),stood for 30 min,and then filtered before filtrate was subcutaneously injected into mice (40 μL·g-1) to observe the symptoms of poisoning and death. RESULTS SEM and TEM showed that ZnO NP-gel had a block structure, the zeta potential of which was (-7.89 ± 0.04) mV. The results of IR indlicated that ZnO NP-gel had stronger absorption peaks at 754 and 618 cm-1, and XRD revealed that these materials had a sharp peak at 2θ=8.06738°. The decontamination efficiency of ZnO NP-gel was higher than that of ZnO NP group at the same concen?tration (n=3, P<0.05), and the time for decontamination of 50% soman was shortened by four times. The mice were injected subcutaneously with the soman solution treated with ZnO NP-gel, which caused no convulsion or death. CONCLUSION ZnO NP-gel can perform the double function of fast adsorption and catalysis of soman,and the decontamination ability of which could be improved through polymer modification.

Progress of prokineticin 2 in cardiovascular diseases / 中国药理学通报

Cardiovascular diseases are characterized by cardiac and vascular dysfunction. Prokineticin 2 ( PK2 ) is a newly found secretory peptide which plays a key role in the physiology homeostasis via prokineticin receptor 1 and 2 ( PKR1 and 2). Furthermore, PK2/PKR1 signaling pathway plays an important role in protecting cardiovascular diseases. Here we discuss the effect of PK2/PKR1 signaling in myocardial infarction, conges-tive heart failure and vascular endothelial dysfunction.

System for chiral antidepressant evaluation and related application / 中国药理学通报

Currently, most commercially available antidepres-sants have one or more chiral centers,and development of chiral antidepressants are of great interest for researchers. Thalidomide induced tragedy promotes drug evaluation centers from various countries to reevaluate their current guidelines and recommend single enantiomer application when developing a chiral antide-pressant. Unfortunately,as far to our knowledge,traditional en-antiomers comparison and active enantiomer selection are real-ized by simple comparison using in vitro targets data. Our team established an integrated system for chiral antidepressant evalua-tion and active enantiomer screening based on four modules,in-cluding pharmacodynamic comparison,pharmacokinetic compar-ison, toxicological comparison, and comprehensive factors. Here,we review this integrated system and make a detailed a-nalysis taking ammoxetine as a realistic example.

Design, synthesis and antidepressive activity of duloxetine derivatives / 药学学报

In this paper, duloxetine was chosen as the lead compound. The pharmacophores with 5-HT(1A) antagonism activity were used to replace the naphthyl of duloxetine. A series of duloxetine derivatives had been designed and synthesized and whose structures were confirmed with elemental analysis, MS and H NMR. All synthesized compounds were tested by tail suspension test and forced swimming test in vivo. The test results revealed that most of the compounds have shown better activity than duloxetine at the same dosage. Some of them are worth to be studied further.

Neonatal fluoxetine exposure induced depression-like behaviors in adult Kunming mice and the antidepressant-like effect of agmatine / 药学学报

This study is to explore a behavioral and pathological model for depression in mice, and evaluate the anti-depressant-like effect of agmatine. Neonatal Kunming mice were treated with fluoxetine (10 mg x kg(-1), ip, qd) for 17 d (between day 4 and 21 after birth), and then the mice were normally housed till being adult (about 10 weeks after birth). The behaviors of the mice were measured by using open-field test, novelty suppressed feeding test and tail-suspension test. Hippocampal adenylate cyclase (AC) activity was measured by radioimmunoassay. Neonatal exposure to fluoxetine induced a "depression-like" behaviors in the adult mice, shown as the decreased locomotor activity, increased feeding latency and immobility time in the open-field test, novelty suppressed feeding test, and tail-suspension test, respectively. Chronic agmatine treatment (10 mg x kg(-1), ig, bid) for 3 weeks significantly increased the locomotor activity, and decreased the feeding latency in the neonatal fluoxetine exposed mice. Furthermore, single treatment with agmatine (40 mg x kg(-1), ig) also decreased the immobility time in the tail-suspension test, and increased the hippocampal AC activity in the mice. These results indicate that neonatal exposure to fluoxetine induces depressive-like behaviors in the adult mice. Agmatine reverses these behaviors, which may be closely related to the enhancement of the hippocampal AC activity.

5-HT1A/1B receptors, alpha2-adrenoceptors and the post-receptor adenylate cyclase activation in the mice brain are involved in the antidepressant-like action of agmatine / 药学学报

This study is to explore the possible mechanisms of the antidepressant-like effect of agmatine. By using two traditional "behavior despair" model, tail suspension test and forced swimming test, we examined the effects of some monoamine receptor antagonists (including beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist propranolol, beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist/5-HT1A/1B receptor antagonist pindolol, alpha2-adrenergic receptor antagonists yohimbine and idazoxan and 5-HT3 receptor antagonist tropisetron) on the antidepressant-like action of agmatine in mice. Activity of adenylate cyclase (AC) in the synapse membrane from rat frontal cortex was determined by radioimmunoassay. Single dose of agmatine (5-40 mg x kg(-1), ig) dose-dependently decrease the immobility time in tail suspension test in mice, indicating an antidepressant-like effect. The effect of agmatine (40 mg x kg(-1), ig) was antagonized by co-administration of beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist/5-HT1A/1B receptor antagonist pindolol (20 mg x kg(-1), ip), alpha2-adrenergic receptor antagonists yohimbine (5-10 mg x kg(-1), ip) or idazoxan (4 mg x kg(-1), ip), but not beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist propranolol (5-20 mg x kg(-1), ip) and 5-HT3 receptor antagonist tropisetron (5-40 mg x kg(-1), ip). Agmatine (5-40 mg x kg(-1), ig) also dose-dependently decrease the immobility time in forced swimming test in mice. The effect of agmatine (40 mg x kg(-1), ig) was also antagonized by pindolol (20 mg x kg(-1), ip), yohimbine (5-10 mg x kg(-1), ip), or idazoxan (4 mg x kg(-1), ip). Incubation of agmatine (0.1-6.4 micromol x L(-1)) with the synaptic membrane extracted from rat frontal cortex activated the AC in a dose-dependent manner in vitro. While the effect of agmatine (6.4 micromol x L(-1)) was dose-dependently antagonized by pindolol (1 micromol x L(-1)) or yohimbine (0.25-1 micromol x L(-1)). Chronic treatment with agmatine (10 mg x kg(-1), ig, bid, 2 w) or fluoxetine (10 mg x kg(-1), ig, bid, 2 w) increased the basic activity, as well as the Gpp (NH)p (1-100 micromol x L(-1)) stimulated AC activity in rat prefrontal cortex. These results indicate that regulation on 5-HT1A/1B and alpha2 receptors, and activation AC in the frontal cortex is one of the important mechanisms involving in agmatine's antidepressant-like action.

Antidepressant-like effects of the ethanolic extract of Xiaobuxin-Tang, a traditional Chinese herbal prescription in animal models of depression / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Xiaobuxin-Tang, a traditional Chinese herbal prescription recorded in a silk scroll unearthed from Mogao Caves of Dunhuang has been indicated that it can remit depressive disorder. The present study was designed to investigate its antidepressant effects in various animal depression models.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Xiaobuxin-Tang was extracted by 70% alcohol, and then three behavioral despair models and 5-Hydroxytryptophan (HTP)-induced head twitch response model were adopted to assess the antidepressant effects of the ethanolic extract of Xiaobuxin-Tang with the study on spontaneous motor activity. Groups of mice and rats received oral treatment with Xiaobuxin-Tang (150 - 1200 mg/kg) only once acutely in all tests. The duration of immobility was measured during the last 4 minutes of the 6-minutes test period in mice forced swimming test, rats forced swimming test and mice tail suspension test. In 5-HTP-induced head twitch response, the mice were intraperitoneally administered with 120 mg/kg of L-5-HTP, and then the cumulative number of head twitches was counted in 20 minutes. Spontaneous motor activities of mice were recorded automatically in 10 minutes by VIDEOMEX-V image analytic system.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The extract at doses of 300 mg/kg (p.o.) and 600 mg/kg (p.o.) significantly decreased the duration of immobility time in a dose dependent manner in mice forced swimming test; also, the extract at dose of 1200 mg/kg (p.o.) significantly decreased the duration of immobility time in rat forced swimming test. Furthermore, the extract at a dose of 600 mg/kg had the same effect in mice tail suspension test. Meanwhile, the extract at the effective doses for behavioral despair models, had no effect on spontaneous motor activity in mice. The extract (300 - 1200 mg/kg, p.o.) also increased the accumulative number of the 5-HTP-induced head twitch response in mice in 20 minutes.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Our results suggested that the ethanolic extract of Xiaobuxin-Tang exerts antidepressant-like effect.</p>