Clinical Efficacy of Tongqiao Huoxuetang in Treating Blood Stasis Type Vascular Cognitive Impairment / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:This study aims to observe the clinical efficacy of Tongqiao Huoxuetang in treating blood stasis resistance type vascular cognitive impairment, and explore its mechanism of action. Method:A total of 60 patients who met the inclusion standards and were diagnosed as blood stasis resistance type vascular cognitive impairment were randomly divided into treatment group and control group, 30 patients in each group. Donepezil hydrochloride was administered orally in control group based on internal medicine treatment at an initial dose of 5 mg/day, changed to 10 mg/day 4 weeks later. Patients in treatment group additionally received Tongqiao Huoxuetang based on donepezil hydrochloride. Both groups were treated for 3 months. Changes of symptoms were assessed by syndrome scores; cognitive function was assessed by the mini-mental scale (MMSE); daily living ability was assessed by the activity of daily living scale (ADL), and changes of local blood perfusion (CBF value) was assessed by brain magnetic resonance perfusion imaging arterial spin labeling (MRI-ASL). Changes of homocysteine levels in plasma were measured by using an automated biochemical analyzer. Result:① The values of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) syndrome scores (SDSVD) were significantly improved in both groups after treatment, and the improvement was more obvious than that of control group (PPPPP P Conclusion:The combination of Tongqiao Huoxuetang combined with donepezil hydrochloride can effectively improve the cognitive ability and daily living ability of the patients with vascular dementia, improve the cerebral blood flow perfusion and decrease the level of homocysteine, so it is worth popularizing in clinical practice.

Effect of acupuncture at pericardium points of amplitude of low frequency fluctuations of healthy people in resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effect of acupuncture at the whole points of Hand Jueyin pericardium meridian on the amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) of healthy people in resting state (R1) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 16 healthy subjects received structure scan of T1 and T2. Then two fMRI scans were conducted for each participant. fMRI included the resting-state scan (R1; the scanning time was 8 min 6 s), the stimulating-acupoint scan (AP; the scanning time was 8 min 6 s). fMRI data acquisition from structure scanning and function scanning were processed with format conversion and statistical analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Under R1 state, brain regions with activated ALFF signals included bilateral superior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, precuneus, superior temporal gyrus, and cingulate gyrus. Under the AP state, brain regions with activated ALFF signals were bilateral superior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, left fusiform gyrus, precuneus, posterior cingulate, and declivis. Compared with R1 state, obvious difference of ALFF signal areas of the brain caused by acupuncture at pericardium were: bilateral cuneus, precuneus, left posterior cingulate gyrus, right middle occipital gyrus, and right occipital lingual gyrus.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Acupuncture at the whole points of Hand Jueyin pericardium meridian could significantly change inherent activity states of the cerebral cortex, especially in bilateral superior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, and precuneus.</p>

Role of asymmetric dimethylarginine in acute lung injury induced by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To determine the role of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) in acute lung injury induced by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Adult male SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups, namely the sham-operated group (S), cerebral I/R model group, ADMA+I/R group, and dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH)+I/R group. In the latter 3 groups, acute lung injury was induced by left middle cerebral artery occlusion for 120 min. After a 24-h reperfusion, the rats were sacrificed and the activities of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and contents of nitric oxide (NO) were measured using reductase and colorimetric assay. The mRNA and protein expressions of protein kinase C (PKC) and myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) in the lung tissues were detected with RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The contents of ADMA in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and blood flowing into and out of the lungs were measured by ELISA.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Cerebral I/R injury caused significantly elevated ADMA levels in the BALF and blood flowing into the lungs, and obviously lowered the NO concentration and NOS activity in the lung tissues (P<0.05). Following cerebral I/R injury, MLCK and PKC mRNA and protein expressions were significantly upregualted in the lung tissues (P<0.05). Exogenous DDAH obviously decreased the levels of ADMA in the BALF and blood flowing into the lungs, increased NO concentration and NOS activity, and down-regulated MLCK and PKC mRNA and protein expressions in lung tissues of rats with cerebral I/R injury (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>ADMA contributes to the development of acute lung injury following cerebral I/R injury in rats by upregulating MLCK and PKC expression. ADMA may serve as a novel therapeutic biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for acute lung injury induced by cerebral I/R injury.</p>

Investigation on the changes of dependent signal on the amplitude of low frequency fluctuations at blood oxygen level in brain after acupuncture Neiguan (PC 6) / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the relationship of the acupoint and its functional location in the brain.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Ten healthy participants were examined with the resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fM-RI). The scanning includes the resting state 1 (R 1), acupuncture stimulating (AP) Neiguan (PC 6) and the resting state 2 (R 2). All data were analyzed with the amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>1) During the R1, the regions with active signal on the ALFF contained bilateral superior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus and some part of cerebellum (including right declive, culme, tonsil and left uvula), as well as left precuneus, right superiour temporal gyrus. 2) As for AP, the active regions with higher ALFF were bilateral superior frontal gyrus and right cuneus, as well as left middle frontal gyrus, declivis and right semi-lunar lobule. 3) The main difference on ALFF between R1 and AP appeared within bilateral cingulated gyrus and declivis, left lingualgurus, and cuneus, as well as right precuneus, fusiform gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, medial frontal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus, etc.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>After acupuncture stimulating the left Neiguan (PC 6), the active regions on ALFF are detected on bilateral cingulated gyrus, right superior frontal gyrus and medial frontal gyrus, as well as bilateral declivis and left lingual gurus, etc. These regions have the close relationship with the mental disorder and nervous diseases, which might be the possible neural mechanism of acupuncture stimulating Neiguan (PC 6) for treating some of related mental disorder and nervous diseases.</p>