ABSTRACT
Cardiotoxicity is one of the main causes of failure in new drug development or drug withdrawal from the market. However, current methods for evaluation of drug cardiotoxicity suffer the shortcomings such as low clinical relevance, low reproducibility and lack of high throughput screening capacity. Therefore, there is an urgent need for establishing more accurate and reliable methods for cardiotoxicity evaluation of drugs. As a new generation of drug cardiotoxicity evaluation, cardiac organs in culture retain the biological characteristics and functions of heart cells in the body, and can realistically and accurately respond to the effects of drugs. This article reviews recent progress of in vitro culture of cardiac organs and 3D-cell models, with focuses on application and development potential of cardiac organs for evaluation of cardiotoxicity of traditional Chinese medicine. The advantage and future prospective of such cell- and organ-based models for unique challenges in evaluation of cardiotoxicity of traditional Chinese medicine have been discussed.
ABSTRACT
The research and development (R & D) of novel Chinese materia medica (CMM) have made a great progress in recent years.But problems still exist in druggability evaluation of novel CMM,such as uncertain evaluation content and lack of key technology.Druggability evaluation is the key to the success or failure for R & D of novel CMM.Observation on the effect and safety of novel CMM is the core of druggability evaluation.The important pharmacological problems include the choice of evaluation indicator,clinical indication,analysis of material basis,investigation of mechanism,research on pharmacokinetics and safety evaluation.Modem technologies should be used in druggability evaluation.We should have a correct understanding of the concept of novel CMM.The grasp of the meaning of novel drugs and the essence of CMM theory will be helpful for R & D of novel CMM.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To establish the system of the quality evaluation technology for the seeds of Cynomorium songaricum and to draw up the quality grading standard for the seeds of C. songaricum. Methods: A stereomicroscope, electronic balance, and the method of in vitro embryo culture were used to measure the morphology, grain, and embryo rate and viability for the seeds of C. songaricum. The method of mathematical statistics were adopted to analyze the main index and reference index of dividing grades of seed; The method of standard deviation was applied in developing the seed quality grading standard. Results: Seeds were 1.03-1.63 mm long and 0.69-1.23 mm wide, kernel was about 0.61-1.05 mm long and 0.50-0.50 mm wide. There was a significant correlation among seed morphological indexes (P 0.05) and there was no correlation among the thousand-grain weight, viability, and embryo rate (P > 0.05), while there was a significant correlation between the viability and embryo rate (P < 0.01); the viability was the main index in the quality grading for the seeds of C. songaricum; while the clarity, grain, and water were the reference indicators of quality grading of the seeds. Conclusion: The seed quality of each grade should reach the following requirements. For the first grade seeds: seed viability is not less than 98%, purity is not less than 93%, housand-grain weight is not less than 0.8 g, water content is not higher than 8.0%; for the second grade seeds, the seed viability is not less than 95%-98%, the purity is not less than 86%, the thousand-grain weight is not less than 0.7 g, water content is not higher than 8.0%; for the third grade seeds, seed viability is not less than 90%-95%, purity is not less than 80%, thousand-grain weight is not less than 0.5 g, water content is not higher than 8.0%; seeds that do not reach the standard of the third level are unqualified ones.