ON-CHIP PLANER WAVEGUIDES FOR SUPERCONTINUUM GENERATION IN THE MID-IR REGION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM: A REVIEW

On-chip planer optical waveguide-based sources for supercontinuum (SC) generation have become highly attractive devices in the twenty-first century. Mid-IR SC sources in the 2-20 ?m wavelength region are advantageously used for gas sensing, high-sensitivity molecular detection, security, and industrial applications. These integrated photonic devices are cost-effective, scalable, and robust, and also offer more flexibility in tailoring the dispersion characteristics relative to other SC generation techniques. This article reviews the evolution of SC sources from fiber-based devices to optical waveguide-based devices and presents a historical as well as recent progress in various types of on-chip optical waveguides with physical mechanisms involved in generating coherent SC sources.

Application progress of microfluidic chip in isolation and capture of circulating tumor cells / 中华检验医学杂志

The amount of circulating tumor cells(CTC) in peripheral blood is very small, which is difficult to isolate. Microfluidic chips are becoming a hot area in recent years because of their portability, high sensitivity, high capture,and low cost. Microfluidic devices have been shown to maintain optimal performance for CTC isolation capture, including flux, purity, recovery, and clinical relevance. However, microfluidic technology is still unable to recover CTC with high recovery and purity.

Ultrasensitive quantification of trace amines based on N-phosphorylation labeling chip 2D LC-QQQ/MS / 药物分析学报

Trace amines(TAs)are metabolically related to catecholamine and associated with cancer and neuro-logical disorders.Comprehensive measurement of TAs is essential for understanding pathological pro-cesses and providing proper drug intervention.However,the trace amounts and chemical instability of TAs challenge quantification.Here,diisopropyl phosphite coupled with chip two-dimensional(2D)liquid chromatography tandem triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry(LC-QQQ/MS)was developed to simul-taneously determine TAs and associated metabolites.The results showed that the sensitivities of TAs increased up to 5520 times compared with those using nonderivatized LC-QQQ/MS.This sensitive method was utilized to investigate their alterations in hepatoma cells after treatment with sorafenib.The significantly altered TAs and associated metabolites suggested that phenylalanine and tyrosine metabolic pathways were related to sorafenib treatment in Hep3B cells.This sensitive method has great potential to elucidate the mechanism and diagnose diseases considering that an increasing number of physiological functions of TAs have been discovered in recent decades.

Neurotoxicity mechanism of aconitine in HT22 cells studied by microfluidic chip-mass spectrometry / 药物分析学报

Aconitine,a common and main toxic component of Aconitum,is toxic to the central nervous system.However,the mechanism of aconitine neurotoxicity is not yet clear.In this work,we had the hypothesis that excitatory amino acids can trigger excitotoxicity as a pointcut to explore the mechanism of neurotoxicity induced by aconitine.HT22 cells were simulated by aconitine and the changes of target cell metabolites were real-time online investigated based on a microfluidic chip-mass spectrometry system.Meanwhile,to confirm the metabolic mechanism of aconitine toxicity on HT22 cells,the levels of lactate dehydrogenase,intracellular Ca2+,reactive oxygen species,glutathione and superoxide dismutase,and ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 protein were detected by molecular biotechnology.Integration of the detected results revealed that neurotoxicity induced by aconitine was associated with the process of excitotoxicity caused by glutamic acid and aspartic acid,which was followed by the accumulation of lactic acid and reduction of glucose.The surge of extracellular glutamic acid could further lead to a series of cascade reactions including intracellular Ca2+overload and oxidative stress,and eventually result in cell apoptosis.In general,we illustrated a new mechanism of aconitine neurotoxicity and presented a novel analysis strategy that real-time online monitoring of cell metabolites can provide a new approach to mechanism analysis.

Detection of aqueous humor cytokines in diabetic retinopathy and its clinical significance / 中华实验眼科杂志

Objective:To detect the concentration of various cytokines in aqueous humor of patients with diabetes retinopathy (DR) with Luminex liquid chip, and analyze the relationship between the cytokines and the occurrence and development of DR.Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted.Sixty-three DR patients (97 eyes) treated with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs in the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from March 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019 were enrolled as DR group, including 38 nonproliferative DR (NPDR) eyes in NPDR group and 59 proliferative DR (PDR) eyes in PDR group, 39 eyes in photocoagulation group and 58 eyes in non-photocoagulation group.Twenty-seven patients (31 eyes) hospitalized for cataract surgery at the same time were collected as the control group.Aqueous humor was extracted during the operation, and Luminex liquid chip was used to detect the concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A), placental growth factor (PLGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-AA, PDGF-BB, angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPTL4), interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, IL-1β, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in aqueous humor.The concentrations of various cytokines of different groups were compared, and the correlation among various aqueous humor cytokines was analyzed by Spearman rank correlation analysis.This study adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki.The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (No.Y[2019]230). Written informed consent was obtained from each patient.Results:The concentrations of VEGF-A, PLGF, PDGF-AA, ANGPTL4, IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1 and ICAM-1 in DR group were significantly higher and the concentration of IL-1β was significantly lower than those of control group ( Z=-4.747, -5.164, -3.373, -8.062, -4.535, -5.954, -5.098, -3.228, -5.954, all at P<0.01). The concentrations of VEGF-A, PLGF, PDGF-AA, ANGPTL4, IL-6, IL-8 and MCP-1 of the photocoagulation and non-photocoagulation groups were higher and the concentration of IL-1β was significantly lower than those in the control group (all at P<0.017). The concentration of ICAM-1 in the photocoagulation group was significantly higher than that in the control group ( P<0.017). The concentrations of PLGF, PDGF-AA and ANGPTL4 of PDR group were higher than those of NPDR group, and the differences were statistically significant ( Z=-2.291, -3.396, -2.276, all at P<0.05). VEGF-A was positively correlated with the other cytokines except ICAM-1 ( rs=0.237-0.540, all at P<0.05). ANGPTL4 was positively correlated with the other cytokines except IL-1β ( rs=0.361-0.733, all at P<0.01). Conclusions:The occurrence and development of DR are closely related to VEGF family, PDGF family, ANGPTL family and inflammatory factors.The concentrations of PLGF, PDGF-AA and ANGPTL4 are higher in PDR eyes.There are close and complex relationships among a variety of cytokines in the eyes of DR patients.

Construction and analysis of a predictive model for chemotherapy response of patients with colorectal cancer based on tissue chip technology / 中华内分泌外科杂志

Objective:To explore the prediction model of tissue chip technology for the chemotherapy response of patients with colorectal cancer.Methods:217 patients with colorectal cancer who had received standardized chemotherapy in the Affiliated People’s Hospital of Ningbo University from Jan. 2017 to Dec. 2019 were prospectively selected. The patients were randomly divided into training set (152 cases) and test set (65 cases) according to the ratio of 7:3, and were followed up for 6 months. The clinical data of the patients in the training set were compared, the expression levels of Ang-2, caspase-3 and CD147 in the patients were analyzed by tissue microarray technology, and the related factors affecting the responsiveness of colorectal cancer chemotherapy were analyzed by the Logistic regression model. R software was used based on the training set. A nomogram prediction model was built and model performance on the test set was evaluated.Results:One case was excluded from the training center, and 151 cases were finally included, including 93 cases in the chemotherapy response group and 58 cases in the chemotherapy response group. The tumor diameter, serum carcinoembryonic antigen, caspase3, Ang2 expression level, and the proportion of clinical stage IV in the poor chemotherapy group were significantly higher than those in the good chemotherapy group (all P<0.05) ; Logistic regression showed tumor diameter ( OR=2.394), serum carcinoembryonic antigen ( OR=1.878), caspase-3 ( OR=4.261), Ang-2 expression level ( OR=5.457), and clinical stage IV ( OR=5.954) were independent risk factors for adverse drug reactions in patients with colorectal cancer (all P<0.05). The consistency index (C-index) for predicting the factors related to adverse chemotherapy reactions in patients with colorectal cancer was 0.915. External verification showed that the sensitivity was 86.96%, the specificity was 92.50%, and the accuracy was 90.48% (42/65) . Conclusion:The expression levels of Ang-2 and caspase-3 are correlated with the responsiveness of colorectal cancer to chemotherapy, and can be used as predictive indicators to evaluate the responsiveness of colorectal cancer to chemotherapy.

Analysis on mechanism of Kaixin San in the treatment of Alzheimer disease based on integrated pharmacology and GEO chip technology / 国际中医中药杂志

Objective:To analyze the mechanism of Kaixin San in treating Alzheimer disease (AD) based on the TCM integrated pharmacology platform combined with GEO chip differential gene analysis method.Methods:By searching TCMIP and Drugbank database, the active components and related molecular targets of Kaixin San were obtained. GSE4757 chip data was obtained through GEO database, and its differential genes were obtained using R language to draw heat map and volcano map. Molecular target map of differentially expressed genes between Kaixin San and AD was constructed through Cytoscape 3.7.2. Bisogenet and CytoNCA were used to draw the target topological network, and GO enrichment analysis and KEGG enrichment analysis of Kaixin San and AD gene were carried out.Results:86 active components of Kaixin San were obtained to treat AD, and 29 differential genes shared with GEO were obtained. PPI topological network was constructed. 6 core candidate genes were screened, and were merged with KEGG pathway enriched genes to obtain important genes for disease treatment, such as CHRM1, CHRM2, ACHE, CHRM3, CASP8, PTGS2, DRD1, CACN1S, ADRB1. 375 GO entries were obtained, mainly involving biological processes such as vasoconstriction, postsynaptic membrane plasticity, neurotransmitter transmission, etc. KEGG enrichment analysis mainly involved cholinergic synaptic signal pathway, cAMP signal pathway, calcium signal pathway, nerve ligand receptor interaction signal pathway, etc.Conclusions:Kaixin San shows the features of multi-component, multi-target and multi-channel in treating AD. It can play a role in the treatment of AD by inhibiting inflammatory reaction, reducing the activity of acetylcholinesterase and regulating the concentration of calciumion.

Establishment of Digital PCR Detection Method for Copy Number Variation of LAPTM4B Gene in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer / 中国生物化学与分子生物学报

We aim to establish a chip-based digital PCR (dPCR) method for detecting copy number variation of the LAPTM4B gene in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and preliminarily evaluate its basic performance and clinical feasibility. The LAPTM4B gene primers and specific probes were designed to establish a dPCR reaction system. The detection limit, precision, and linearity of the method were verified according to the prepared target DNA samples of different concentrations. The reaction system of dPCR for LAPTM4B gene copy number detection was established and optimized for the first time. The results showed that 12. 5% of LAPTM4B gene copy number deletion could be detected at the lowest level. The coefficient of variation of inter-batch precision was less than 10%, and the linearity of deletion ratio was good in the range of 12. 5%-100% (R

Study on "Spectrum-material-effect" relationship of Compound Muji Granules against liver tumor based on microfluidic chip / 中国药理学通报

Aim To explore the material basis of anti-tumor effect of Compound Muji Granules. Methods The anti-tumor pharmacodynamics of Compound Muji Granules in vitro was studied by microfluidic chip technology. The fingerprint of Compound Muji Granules was established by HPLC. The "Spectrum-Material-Effect" of Compound Muji Granules was analyzed by grey correlation analysis,partial least squares regression analysis and network pharmacology approach. Results Seven batches of Compound Muji Granules with different extraction methods were successfully established. The results of grey correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between Compound Muji Granules and 7 of the 14 components with pharmacodynamic correlation coefficient >0.80. The contribution of anti liver tumor was peak number 48(luteolin)>6(gallic acid)>19(chlorogenic acid)>59(quercetin)>67(kaempferol)>65(naringin)>38(ellagic acid),in that order. Conclusions Through the establishment of "Spectrum-Material-Effect" research method,it is clear that the above seven active monomers may be the anti-tumor material basis of Compound Muji Granules.

Differential expression profiles analysis of DNA methylation between “disease” and “syndrome” in coronary heart disease-induced unstable angina patientswith Qi deficiency and blood stasis syndrome / 数字中医药（英文）

Objective@#To explore the differential expression profiles of DNA methylation sites/regions and potential molecular mechanisms in the peripheral blood of coronary heart disease (CHD)-induced unstable angina pectoris patients with or without Qi deficiency and blood stasis syndrome, and to provide scientific evidence for the conbination of disease and syndrome.@*Methods@#According to the pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria, the study subjects were enrolled and divided into two groups namely CHD-induced unstable angina group (G group) and healthy control group (J group) to conduct “disease” analysis, while G group was further divided into Qi deficiency and blood stasis syndrome group (case group) and non-Qi deficiency blood stasis syndrome group (control group) to perform “syndrome” analysis. The general data and clinical information of the study subjects were collected. The peripheral venous blood was extracted on an empty stomach, and the Illumina Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip (850K methylation chip) was used to detect the differential expressionprofiles of DNA methylation in each group, ChAMP software (V 2.14.0) was used for the differential methylation data analysis, with a threshold of the adjusted P value (adj.P.val) < 0.01. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genomes (KEGG) were employed for the functional and pathway enrichment analyses of related mapped genes.@*Results@#A total of 263 differentially methylated CpG positions (DMPs) were screened out between G and J groups, including 191 hypermethylated positions such as cg05845204 and cg08906898, and 72 hypomethylated positions such as cg26919182 and cg13149459. These positions were mainly mapped to 148 genes encompassing RNA binding motif protein 39 (RBM39), acetyl-CoA acyltransferase 2 (ACAA2), protein phosphatase 1 regulatory subunit 12B (PPP1R12B), and the dual-specificity tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated kinase 2 (DYRK2). GO functional enrichment analysis revealed that the genes of the DMPs were primarily enriched in protein localization to chromosomes, regulation of cell morphogenesis, negative regulation of calcium-mediated signals, etc. KEGG pathway analysis suggested that the genes were mainly enriched in fatty acid metabolism and endocytosis pathways. In addition, a total of 23 differential methylation regions (DMRs) were identified, with overlapping genes such as transmembrane protein 232 (TMEM232), ribosomal protein large P1 (RPLP1), peroxisomal biogenesis factor 10 (PEX10), and forkhead box N3 (FOXN3) recognized. It was found that GO functions were mainly enriched in the negative regulation of Ras protein signal transduction, small GTPase-mediated signal transduction, negative regulation, etc. A total of 1 703 differential methylation sites were screened out between case and control groups, including 444 increased methylation positions such as cg05573767 and 1 259 decreased methylationpositions such as cg19938535, and cg03893872. These positions were mapped to 1 108 genes such as ribosomal protein S6 kinase A2 (RPS6KA2), leucine rich repeat containing 16A (LRRC16A), and hedgehog acyltransferase (HHAT). According to the GO functional enrichment analysis, the genes relating to the DMPs were mainly enriched in biological functions such as transmembrane receptor protein serine/threonine kinase signaling pathway and axonogenesis. The KEGG pathway enrichment analysis suggested the involvement of Rap1 signaling pathway, adenosine 5’-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway, etc. A total of 21 DMRs were identified, including 22 overlapping genes such as mucin 4 (MUC4), three prime repair exonuclease 1 (TREX1), and LIM homeobox 6 (LHX6). GO analysis demonstrated that the genes primarily participated in molecular functions such as positive regulation of transmembrane transport, regulation of fatty acid metabolism, and copper ion binding.@*Conclusion@#This study reveals the methylation patterns of DMPs and DMRs in patients with Qi deficiency and blood stasis syndrome caused by CHD-induced unstable angina pectoris. Potential epigenetic regulation of fatty acid metabolism, Rap1 signaling, and other molecular functions are involved in the development of CHD between the "disease" and "syndrome".

A biomimetic liver cancer on-a-chip reveals a critical role of LIPOCALIN-2 in promoting hepatocellular carcinoma progression

Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) represent a significant component of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) microenvironments which play a critical role in tumor progression and drug resistance. Tumor-on-a-chip technology has provided a powerful in vitro platform to investigate the crosstalk between activated HSCs and HCC cells by mimicking physiological architecture with precise spatiotemporal control. Here we developed a tri-cell culture microfluidic chip to evaluate the impact of HSCs on HCC progression. On-chip analysis revealed activated HSCs contributed to endothelial invasion, HCC drug resistance and natural killer (NK) cell exhaustion. Cytokine array and RNA sequencing analysis were combined to indicate the iron-binding protein LIPOCALIN-2 (LCN-2) as a key factor in remodeling tumor microenvironments in the HCC-on-a-chip. LCN-2 targeted therapy demonstrated robust anti-tumor effects both in vitro 3D biomimetic chip and in vivo mouse model, including angiogenesis inhibition, sorafenib sensitivity promotion and NK-cell cytotoxicity enhancement. Taken together, the microfluidic platform exhibited obvious advantages in mimicking functional characteristics of tumor microenvironments and developing targeted therapies.

Microfluidic Chip and Flow Cytometry for Examination of the Antiplatelet Effect of Ticagrelor / 中国医学科学院学报

Objective To examine the antiplatelet effect of ticagrelor by microfluidic chip and flow cytometry under shear stress in vitro. Methods Microfluidic chip was used to examine the effect of ticagrelor on platelet aggregation at the shear rates of 300/s and 1500/s.We adopted the surface coverage of platelet aggregation to calculate the half inhibition rate of ticagrelor.The inhibitory effect of ticagrelor on ADP-induced platelet aggregation was verified by optical turbidimetry.Microfluidic chip was used to construct an in vitro vascular stenosis model,with which the platelet reactivity under high shear rate was determined.Furthermore,the effect of ticagrelor on the expression of fibrinogen receptor (PAC-1) and P-selectin (CD62P) on platelet membrane activated by high shear rate was analyzed by flow cytometry. Results At the shear rates of 300/s and 1500/s,ticagrelor inhibited platelet aggregation in a concentration-dependent manner,and the inhibition at 300/s was stronger than that at 1500/s (both P<0.001).Ticagrelor at a concentration ≥4 μmol/L almost completely inhibited platelet aggregation.The inhibition of ADP-induced platelet aggregation by ticagrelor was similar to the results under flow conditions and also in a concentration-dependent manner.Ticagrelor inhibited the expression of PAC-1 and CD62P. Conclusion We employed microfluidic chip to analyze platelet aggregation and flow cytometry to detect platelet activation,which can reveal the responses of different patients to ticagrelor.

Development and characteristics of automatic ash-removal heat-sensitive moxibustion device / 中国针灸

An automatic ash-removal heat-sensitive moxibustion device was developed, which could keep relatively constant temperature of heat-sensitive moxibustion, and realize the automatic ignition and automatic ash removal of moxa sticks during heat-sensitive moxibustion. The automatic ash-removal heat-sensitive moxibustion device comprises a bracket and a moxibustion box fixed on the top of the bracket; the bracket is composed of a base and a movable telescopic arm. This device can solve the problems of temperature instability, moxa ash blocking heat transfer and moxa ash falling during heat-sensitive moxibustion, avoiding the scalding caused by moxa ash falling, and reduce the workload of medical staff.

Advances in research of heart organoid and its application in drug discovery / 药学学报

Cardiovascular diseases are fatal threats to human health and also important fields in drug discovery. Organoid is a miniature with the structure and function similar to the organ, which is formed by the self-updating and specific differentiation of stem cells during the in vitro culture. Considering its characteristics of human origin, physical features, self-assembling and genetic stability, heart organoid has attracted much attention in the study of cardiogenesis, cardiovascular diseases modeling and related drug research. Hence, this article will review the development of heart organoids and its construction strategies, highlighting its application and prospects in drug discovery.

Recent progress on detection techniques for human hormones / 药学学报

Human hormones at trace levels play a vital role in the regulation of a variety of functions and systems in the body, and an imbalance in hormone levels can lead to the emergence and development of diverse diseases. Therefore, the development of reliable sample pretreatment methods and sensitive and accurate analytical techniques for human hormone detection could contribute to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, providing significant improvement for human health. Human samples which are usually used to detecting hormones, such as blood, saliva, urine and other matrix are more complex, so sample pretreatment is an important step to ensure the accuracy and reliability in the detection of hormones. In this review three common sample pretreatment methods including solid phase extraction (SPE), liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and protein precipitation (PP) methods are discussed. Then, recent research progress in conventional techniques like liquid/gas chromatography and liquid/gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/GC-MS/MS), as well as some novel strategies, such as immunoassay including chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA), lateral-flow immunoassay (LFIA) and time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay (TRFIA), and sensor technology including electrochemical (EC), fluorescent (FL) and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors, and microfluidic chip analysis are discussed for human hormone detection. Finally, the future perspective on the use of these methods for hormone detection is considered. It is hoped to provide powerful insights to researchers for the relevant researches.

Application of Microfluidic Liver and Kidney Chips in Toxicology Research of Chinese Medicine / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Microfluidic liver and kidney chips have become preferred model carriers in recent years for new drug development， pharmacological and toxicological research， mechanism exploration， and disease model construction. In the context of the USA. Food and Drug Administration allowing the use of in vitro model data as a substitute for animal model data in new drug applications when animal disease models are difficult to construct， microfluidic chips have received widespread attention due to their high throughput， ability to highly mimic biological characteristics of living organisms， convenient evaluation of drug toxicity in normal or pathological states with repeated dosing， real-time induction and monitoring of culture processes， and real-time data acquisition and analysis. In toxicology research， liver and kidney chips can construct in vitro models suitable for the pharmacological and toxicological detection of different substances by combining 2D monocultures and co-cultures from different species sources， 3D cultures， spheroids/organoid cells， precision-cut liver and kidney slices， immortalized cell lines， or sandwich-cultured cell lines. This model maximally simulates or retains the organ function and in vivo microenvironment of the liver and kidney， including specific physiological tissue structures， multicellular interactions/crosstalk， and multi-organ coordination/feedback， to obtain results similar to or the same as in vivo experimental data， reducing interspecies differences. At the same time， it greatly reduces the use of experimental animals and lowers costs. Microfluidic technology provides necessary shear force microenvironments for the cultivation of contents and solves problems encountered in the cultivation process of liver and kidney chips， such as insufficient tissue oxygen supply， nutrient deficiencies， and accumulation of metabolites， leading to cell apoptosis and even tissue necrosis fibrosis， which make it difficult to maintain long-term structure and function. This article reviewed the application of microfluidic technology combined with liver and kidney chips in Chinese medicine toxicology research. By summarizing the development of microfluidic technology， liver chips， kidney chips， and providing application examples of microfluidic liver and kidney chips in Chinese medicine toxicology research， combined with the characteristics of Chinese medicine administration， the article explored the advantages and future development directions of their application in the field of Chinese medicine toxicology research.

Evaluation of toxin-induced injury and protective effect of triptolide based on a cardiovascular chip model / 药学实践杂志

Objective To construct a cardiovascular chip model for evaluating the damage of vascular glycocalyx induced by four marine toxins: okadaic acid (OA), conotoxin (CTX), tetrodotoxin (TTX) and gymnodimine (GYM), and explore the protective effect of triptolide on toxin-induced injury. Methods Human umbilical vein endothelial cells（HUVEC) were inoculated into a three-channel microfluidic chip. CCK-8 method and immunofluorescence staining were used to analyze the damage of cell viability and glycocalyx tissue induced by low, middle and high concentrations of marine toxin, as well as the protective effect of triptolide on toxin-induced injury. Results The cells in the cardiovascular chip grew well and had structurally intact glycocalyx. Compared with the control group, the activity of HUVEC cells were inhibited in group of the medium and high concentration of OA and high concentration of GYM (P<0.05). The activity of cells had not been inhibited by CTX and TTX significantly , but all the four toxins caused serious damage to the glycocalyx tissue (P<0.01). After pre-protection with triptolide, the toxicity of the four toxins to HUVEC cells and the damage rate of glycocalyx decreased significantly. Conclusion The four marine biotoxins could damage the activity and glycocalyx of HUVEC cells in a dose-dependent manner, while triptolide has a protective effect on HUVEC cells injured by toxin.

Emerging trends in organ-on-a-chip systems for drug screening

New drug discovery is under growing pressure to satisfy the demand from a wide range of domains, especially from the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare services. Assessment of drug efficacy and safety prior to human clinical trials is a crucial part of drug development, which deserves greater emphasis to reduce the cost and time in drug discovery. Recent advances in microfabrication and tissue engineering have given rise to organ-on-a-chip, an in vitro model capable of recapitulating human organ functions in vivo and providing insight into disease pathophysiology, which offers a potential alternative to animal models for more efficient pre-clinical screening of drug candidates. In this review, we first give a snapshot of general considerations for organ-on-a-chip device design. Then, we comprehensively review the recent advances in organ-on-a-chip for drug screening. Finally, we summarize some key challenges of the progress in this field and discuss future prospects of organ-on-a-chip development. Overall, this review highlights the new avenue that organ-on-a-chip opens for drug development, therapeutic innovation, and precision medicine.

Study on Platelet Adhesion and Aggregation Induced by Gradient Shear Stress Using Microfluidic Chip Technology / 中国实验血液学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To study the effect of gradient shear stress on platelet aggregation by microfluidic chip Technology.@*METHODS@#Microfluidic chip was used to simulate 80% fixed stenotic microchannel, and the hydrodynamic behavior of the stenotic microchannel model was analyzed by the finite element analysis module of sollidwork software. Microfluidic chip was used to analyze the adhesion and aggregation behavior of platelets in patients with different diseases, and flow cytometry was used to detect expression of the platelet activation marker CD62p. Aspirin, Tirofiban and protocatechuic acid were used to treat the blood, and the adhesion and aggregation of platelets were observed by fluorescence microscope.@*RESULTS@#The gradient fluid shear rate produced by the stenosis model of microfluidic chip could induce platelet aggregation, and the degree of platelet adhesion and aggregation increased with the increase of shear rate within a certain range of shear rate. The effect of platelet aggregation in patients with arterial thrombotic diseases were significantly higher than normal group (P<0.05), and the effect of platelet aggregation in patients with myelodysplastic disease was lower than normal group (P<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#The microfluidic chip analysis technology can accurately analyze and evaluate the platelet adhesion and aggregation effects of various thrombotic diseases unde the environment of the shear rate, and is helpful for auxiliary diagnosis of clinical thrombotic diseases.

Postmortem Interval Estimation Using Protein Chip Technology Combined with Multivariate Analysis Methods / 法医学杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To estimate postmortem interval (PMI) by analyzing the protein changes in skeletal muscle tissues with the protein chip technology combined with multivariate analysis methods.@*METHODS@#Rats were sacrificed for cervical dislocation and placed at 16 ℃. Water-soluble proteins in skeletal muscles were extracted at 10 time points (0 d, 1 d, 2 d, 3 d, 4 d, 5 d, 6 d, 7 d, 8 d and 9 d) after death. Protein expression profile data with relative molecular mass of 14 000-230 000 were obtained. Principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares (OPLS) were used for data analysis. Fisher discriminant model and back propagation (BP) neural network model were constructed to classify and preliminarily estimate the PMI. In addition, the protein expression profiles data of human skeletal muscles at different time points after death were collected, and the relationship between them and PMI was analyzed by heat map and cluster analysis.@*RESULTS@#The protein peak of rat skeletal muscle changed with PMI. The result of PCA combined with OPLS discriminant analysis showed statistical significance in groups with different time points (P<0.05) except 6 d, 7 d and 8 d after death. By Fisher discriminant analysis, the accuracy of internal cross-validation was 71.4% and the accuracy of external validation was 66.7%. The BP neural network model classification and preliminary estimation results showed the accuracy of internal cross-validation was 98.2%, and the accuracy of external validation was 95.8%. There was a significant difference in protein expression between 4 d and 25 h after death by the cluster analysis of the human skeletal muscle samples.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The protein chip technology can quickly, accurately and repeatedly obtain water-soluble protein expression profiles in rats' and human skeletal muscles with the relative molecular mass of 14 000-230 000 at different time points postmortem. The establishment of multiple PMI estimation models based on multivariate analysis can provide a new idea and method for PMI estimation.