Identification of marine-derived shell TCM by near infrared spectroscopy / 中国中药杂志

The identification of five marine-derived shell traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) recorded in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia were studied. Using near infrared technology (NIR) combined with principal component analysis (PCA) methods, Ostreae Concha, Haliotidis Concha, and Margaritifera Concha could be efficiently distinguished from Meretricis Concha together with Arcae Concha. In the first principal components, Ostreae Concha exhibited obvious differences with high loadings in 4 236, 5 263, 7 142 cm(-1) concerning to the contents of CaCO3 and H2O in the samples. Arcae Concha and Meretricis Concha displayed significant differences with others in the second principal components, which can be illustrated by high loadings in 5 000 -4 430 cm(-1) areas. It is indicated that the second principal components might be related to organics which contained NH and CH groups, for example proteins. Meanwhile, our data showed a correlation between the function of these shell TCM and their distribution in the PCA plot. These results suggested that organic components in marine-derived shell TCM could not be neglected for their quality control.

Detection of methylation levels of multi-genes by real-time PCR in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome / 中华血液学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the promoter methylation levels of p15, CDH1, DAPK and HICI genes of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and explore the relationship between the level of methylation and clinical features.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>DNA methylation levels of p15, CDH1, DAPK and HICI in peripheral blood (PB) or bone marrow (BM) samples from 52 MDS patients were detected by real-time quantitative PCR. The correlation of the methylation level with clinical features and hematological findings was analyzed. 38 de novo AML patients and 46 normal individuals served as controls.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The methylation levels of p15, CDH1, DAPK and HICI were 16.23 ± 21.69, 6.59 ± 9.39, 0.14 ± 0.11 and 7.81 ± 9.70 in BM, and 14.96 ± 20.16, 6.00 ± 9.26, 0.12 ± 0.14 and 6.74 ± 9.72 in PB, respectively from 18 MDS patients, and the difference between BM and PB was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). The methylation levels of p15 (14.70 ± 18.17) and CDH1 (6.61 ± 8.79) genes in high risk (RAEBI/II) MDS were significantly higher than in low risk (RCMD/RARS/5q-, p15: 1.99 ± 1.59, CDH1: 1.23 ± 1.14 and RCMD, p15: 3.02 ± 3.42, CDH1:1.53 ± 2.06) MDS or control (p15: 1.69 ± 1.82, CDH1: 1.01 ± 1.12) (P < 0.05). The methylation levels of DAPK gene had no difference among subtypes of MDS, and that of HIC1 gene only differed between RAEB I/II (9.16 ± 11.95) and control (2.49 ± 2.26) (P = 0.042). The difference of methylation levels of p15, CDH1, DAPK and HICI in BM was statistically significant among subtypes of MDS (P = 0.001, 0.003, 0.039, 0.023, respectively). And so did of p15 and DAPK in PB (P = 0.013, 0.006, respectively). The methylation level of p15 and CDH1 was significantly correlated with IPSS classification and blasts percentage in BM.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>p15 and CDH1 genes are special hypermethylation genes in MDS. Methylation level of HIC1 gene showed an upward tendency from low risk to high risk MDS.</p>

Effect of WISp39 on proliferation, cell cycle and apoptosis of U937 cells / 中国实验血液学杂志

To investigate the effect of a novel p21-modulating protein WISp39 on proliferation, apoptosis and cell cycle of leukemia cells, the plasmid pLenti6/V5-WISp39 was constructed and transfected into the human myelocytic leukemia cell line-U937 cells. The expression of WISp39 was detected by real-time PCR at 48 hours after transfection, proliferation of U937 cells assayed by CCK-8, apoptosis and cell cycle were determined by flow cytometry. The results showed that plasmid pLenti6/V5-WISp39 could readily enhance the expression of WISp39 in U937 cells. A significant growth inhibition (37.6%) was observed in cells tranfected with pLenti6/V5-WISp39, while the control plasmid pLenti6/V5-lacZ showed little effect on U937 growth. Further analysis revealed that pLenti6/V5-WISp39 did not show obvious apoptosis induction effect, but it could really regulate U937 proliferation via cell cycle modulation. Compared with pLenti6/V5-lacZ, pLenti6/V5-WISp39 resulted in increase of cells in G(0)/G(1) phase by 10% at 48 hours after transfection. It is concluded that the WISp39 gene has no significant apoptosis induction effect on leukemic cells, but it can increase cells at G(0)/G(1) phase via effect on cell cycle, thus inhibiting the U937 proliferation. This result means WISp39 gene can act as a negative modulator on tumour cells.

Effect of CCL23/myeloid progenitor inhibitory factor 1 (MPIF-1) on the proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation of U937 cells / 中国实验血液学杂志

CCL23 is a human CC chemokine with potential suppression effects on both human and murine myeloid progenitor cells both in vitro and in vivo, and only expressed and released by dendritic cells differentiated from monocytes in blood cells. However, recent study has shown that CCL23 was over-expressed in bone marrow and peripheral blood cells from pediatric patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In order to investigate the effects of CCL23 on the development, therapy and prognosis of leukemia, the U937 cells, a leukemic cell strain, were adopted and cultured with rhCCL23 for 72 hours. The cell proliferation and apoptosis rate were detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 and FITC-AnnexinV/PI respectively; the morphologic changes and the expression of CCR1 (the only receptor of CCL23 known by now) were observed during the differentiation process. The results showed that no obvious effect on the proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation of U937 was found by using CCL23 alone (P > 0.05), but cultured in combination with CCL23 and PMA, the differentiation of U937 cells were promoted remarkably, during which the CCR1 expression increased (P < 0.05). It is concluded that CCL23 alone did not inhibit the proliferation and differentiation of U937, while its use in combination with PMA may possess synergistic effect on inducting differentiation of U937 through the increase of receptor CCR1 expression.

Effects of long-term swimming exercise on iron status of rats / 中国应用生理学杂志

<p><b>AIM</b>To observe the effects of different periods of exercise on the iron status.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Female rats were randomly divided into 3-, 6-, 12-month swimming exercise groups and their corresponding sedentary groups. The hematological indices of iron status and the non-heme iron (NHI) and total NHI (TNHI) of the organs were determined at the end of the desired period.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>As compared with the corresponding sedentary groups, plasma iron and transferrin-iron saturation of three exercise groups were decreased without significant changes of blood hemoglobin and hematocrit. The NHI contents and TNHI of the liver, spleen and kidney were decreased. Although the NHI contents of the heart decreased, TNHI was not significantly changed. TNHI of the organs in both the exercised and sedentary rats were found to increase with age.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The exercise-induced low iron status with depleted iron storage is similar to the iron-deficiency status, but it could not be explained using the hypothesis of iron deficiency. Both the NHI redistribution and the maintained iron storage suggests the adaptation of low iron status to exercise. Therefore, the so-called exercise-induced iron deficiency could not exist.</p>