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Age-related macular degeneration(ARMD)is the primary cause of severe visual impairment and blindness in people over 60 years old. With the aging of the global population, the incidence of the disease is also rising year by year. However, the pathogenesis and treatment strategy of ARMD need to be further explored. As a cutting-edge science and technology, microfluidic chips can build a comprehensive microsystem that simulates the condition and function of human tissues and organs, which has the advantages of less sample consumption and short analysis time. In recent years, many studies have confirmed that microfluidic chips can bring brand new technology solutions to the basic and clinical research of ARMD. This article will discuss and review the application progress of microfluidic chips in the areas of ARMD mechanism research, drug evaluation and clinical translation, providing a theoretical reference for further research on the diagnosis and treatment of ARMD.
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Patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) offen shows Gastrointestinal symptoms. The composition of gastrointestinal flora and the abundance of some flora always changes in FMS, and the metabolic activities of flora may be related to the symptoms of FMS. The treatment of FMS by regulating liver and spleen with Traditional Chinese Medicine and regulating qi movement with traditional exercises can achieve better efficacy, and its efficacy mechanism may be related to the improvement of intestinal flora metabolism.
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The pathological changes of the heart after myocardial infarction （MI） are complex， involving multiple molecular mechanisms and various cells， such as myocardial cells， endothelial cells， fibroblasts， and macrophages. With multiple targets， Chinese medicine demonstrates ideal cardioprotective effect. However， the complex mechanism of multi-component Chinese medicine formulas has not been elucidated， thus limiting the further application. The high-throughput single-cell RNA sequencing （scRNA-seq） technology offers single-cell transcriptome analysis of hundreds of drugs under different processing conditions in a single experiment and identifies the differences in the response of different cells and cell subtypes to drug treatment. scRNA-seq technology helps us to understand the exact cellular and molecular mechanisms of cardiac remodeling from acute ischemic events to chronic cardiac scarring. The application of scRNA-seq to studying the cardioprotective mechanism of Chinese medicine after MI can boost the development of Chinese medicine， help obtain richer， more accurate and comprehensive information. It can give us a clear insight into the mechanism of Chinese medicine based on complex network. In this study， we summarized the research on cardioprotective mechanism of Chinese medicine and introduced the development of scRNA-seq technology and the application to MI research. Finally， we explored the possible application prospects of scRNA-seq in the research on cardioprotective mechanism of Chinese medicine after MI， hoping to provide ideas for the modernization of Chinese medicine.
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【Objective】 To explore the research status, hotspots, development trend and frontier of RBC storage lesion. 【Methods】 The Web of Science core collection database (http: //webofscience.com) was used to retrieve the documents related to " red blood cell storage lesion" from 2005 to 2021. After the exclusion of unrelated documents, CiteSpace (CiteSpace.5.7.R2) was used for bibliometric analysis, including author (all signatories of the article), institution and country (to which the article is affiliated), journal, key words and cited literatures. 【Results】 A total of 508 literatures were included, accounting for 91.86% (508/553) of all publication concerning " RBC storage lesion" in this period. The annual growth rate of publications was 14.38%. There were 1 868 authors totally, and 39.76% (202/508) of them published more than 3 papers. D ′Alessandro A from the United States ranked first [7.68% (39/508)], Univ Colorado System and Univ Pittsburgh were the top two institutions [7.28% (37/508) and 7.09% (36/508), respectively]. The United States [53.35% (271/508)], Canada [13.19% (67/508)], the United Kingdom [6.50% (33/508)] and Switzerland [6.10% (31/508)] were the top 4 countries. Keywords co-occurrence network, emergent atlas and literature co-citation cluster atlas mainly focused on mechanism research, clinical trials, improvement of RBC storage conditions and reduction of RBC storage lesion. 【Conclusion】 The most important researchers and institutions in the field of RBC storage lesion in the past 17 years were mainly from the United States and Europe. The application of metabolomics and other technologies, the mechanism of RBC storage lesion, the selection of donor diversity, and the research and development of new preservation solutions or additives are the hotspots and frontiers in this field.
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Psoraleae Fructus is the dried and mature fruit of the legume Psoralea corylifolia. It is warm in nature， pungent and bitter in flavor， and attributive to the kidney and spleen meridians. Its main effect include warming the kidney and assisting Yang， absorbing Qi and relieving asthma， warming the spleen and relieving diarrhea， etc.， and it also can for external use of eliminating wind and freckle. Clinically， Psoraleae Fructus is mainly used for the treatment of impotence due to kidney deficiency， soreness of waist and knees， vitiligo， etc. The existing studies have shown that Psoraleae Fructus has a variety of pharmacological effect， such as anti-tumor， anti-oxidant， anti-bacterial， anti-inflammatory， promoting bone growth and protecting cardiovascular. But at the same time， many studies at home and abroad have found that taking Psoraleae Fructus and its compounds for a long time or in large doses can cause liver toxicity， phototoxicity， nephrotoxicity， etc. The most common is liver toxicity， most of the clinical reports on the toxicity of psoralen are caused by drug-induced liver injury events， which limits the clinical use of Psoraleae Fructus and can't exert its proper therapeutic effect. Therefore， it is particularly important to fully understand the toxicological mechanism of liver injury caused by Psoraleae Fructus and its attenuation methods. In this paper， by consulting the domestic and foreign related literatures in recent years that reported the hepatotoxicity of Psoraleae Fructus， the four aspects of clinical report on liver injury， hepatotoxic components， toxicological mechanisms and attenuation methods of Psoraleae Fructus were reviewed， including bile acid stasis and oxidative stress. The hepatotoxicity of Psoraleae Fructus was discussed in terms of reaction， mitochondrial damage， liver fat deformation， etc.， and the attenuation methods of Psoraleae Fructus were summarized from the aspects of compatibility attenuation and processing attenuation， aiming to comprehensively and objectively clarify Psoraleae Fructus. The potential toxicological mechanism of lipid-induced hepatotoxicity and research progress in attenuation were expected to provide a theoretical basis for further study of Psoraleae Fructus hepatotoxicity and clinical rational use of drugs.
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Objective:To screen the active components of sovereign medicinal Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix in Rongjin Niantong formula based on bioinformatics and network pharmacology and observe their effects on therapeutic targets of osteoarthritis （OA） in <italic>in vivo</italic> and <italic>in vitro</italic> animal experiments. Method:The main active components and therapeutic targets of Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix were retrieved from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform （TCMSP）， and the differentially expressed genes relevant to OA from the Gene Expression Omnibus （GEO） database for cross analysis. The effects of main active components in Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix on enriched therapeutic targets of rats with OA <italic>in vivo </italic>and <italic>in vitro</italic> were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction （Real-time PCR） and Western blot. Result:There were 20 active components for Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix against OA， with quercetin being an important one. Among the three target genes， osteopontin （OPN） and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1（PAI-1） were the key ones in the network. Gene Ontology （GO） analysis yielded 227 related terms， involving the regulation of physiological response to trauma （GO： 1903034）， negative regulation of trauma response （GO： 1903035）， etc. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes （KEGG） pathway analysis revealed 12 related pathways， involving extracellular matrix receptor interaction （hsa04512） and so on. In animal experiments， compared with the normal group， the model group exhibited increased gene and protein expression of OPN and PAI-1. Compared with the model group， the quercetin group displayed decreased gene and protein expression of OPN and PAI-1 （<italic>P</italic><0.05）. In cell experiments， the OPN and PAI-1 protein expression levels in the model group were increased as compared with those in the normal group， while the Collagen Ⅱ protein expression was decreased. The OPN and PAI-1 protein expression levels in the quercetin group and the inhibitor group were down-regulated in contrast to those in the model group， whereas the Collagen Ⅱ protein expression levels were up-regulated significantly （<italic>P<</italic>0.05）. Conclusion:Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix<italic> </italic>inhibits cartilage degeneration and exerts the preventive and therapeutic effects against OA， which is possibly due to the efficacy of its active component quercetin in down-regulating the expression of OPN and PAI-1 in chondrocytes and up-regulating the Collagen Ⅱ protein expression.
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Alzheimer's disease (AD), a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by amyloid deposits and neurofibrillary degeneration, is the most common type of dementia and has no incurable therapies at the moment. Electroacupuncture (EA) therapy has been widely used in clinical treatment of AD, and has attained approving effects. This article reviews the development of researches on the mechanisms of EA underlying improving AD by diminishing β amyloid protein （Aβ） neurotoxicity, from 1) up-regulating hippocampal cellular autophagy, 2) improving cerebral energy metabolism by activating oxidation stress-related factors peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1 alpha and sirtuin 1 in the hippocampus and frontal cerebral cortex, 3) relieving inflammatory reaction by lowering expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and high-mobility group box 1 and increasing expression of Interleukin 10, and 4) promoting degradation of Aβ1-42 by down-regulating expression of insulin degeneration enzyme, lipoprotein, transthyretin, apolipoprotein and α2 mcroglobulin. Meanwhile, a comprehensive clinical therapy of AD is proposed.
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Dysosmia affects not only odour identification, but also memory, appetite, immunity and affection. Moreover, it suggests the occurrence of some diseases. The etiology of dysosmia is various and the treatment with western medicine is limited. In this paper, by analyzing the relevant research articles on olfactory disorders treatment with acupuncture and moxibustion, the clinical application of acupuncture and moxibustion, the thought of its diagnosis and treatment as well as relevant effect mechanism were explored. It is anticipated to provide the clinical physicians with the references to the treatment of dysosmia.
Subject(s)
Humans , Acupuncture Therapy , Moxibustion , Olfaction Disorders , TherapeuticsABSTRACT
The research progress of acupuncture analgesia in recent years is analyzed to summarize the analgesic mechanism of acupuncture on neuropathic pain. The analgesic mechanism of acupuncture on neuropathic pain is discussed from peripheral level and central level, including peripheral sensitization and immune inflammatory response, changes of ion channel, central sensitization, regulation of cell signal pathway, activation of spinal glial cells, etc. It is suggested that the focus of future research should include conducting in-vitro studies with the help of multi-omics technology to detect the changes of metabolic substances and signal pathway molecules in patients with neuropathic pain before and after acupuncture to further clarify the mechanism of acupuncture analgesia.
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The relationship between adenosine receptor (AdoR) and myocardial ischemia (MI), effect of acupuncture for MI and action mechanism of acupuncture improving MI by regulating AdoR are summarized. The existing researches have preliminarily reflected that the improvement of MI treated with acupuncture may be achieved by influencing the expression of AdoR. However, there are still some limitations, e.g. most of the research regimens are single-acupoint, the research results are not entirely consistent and the interaction of AdoRs are ignored, all these need to be further verified and supplemented.
Subject(s)
Humans , Acupuncture , Acupuncture Points , Acupuncture Therapy , Myocardial Ischemia/therapy , Receptors, Purinergic P1ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To explore the mechanism of chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) and screen the potential biomarkers. METHODS: CAG model was established in rats by using sodium deoxycholate solution and aqueous ammonia solution in combination with hunger and satiety method. After 10 weeks, the plasma and gastric tissues of model rats and control rats were collected to detect plasma biochemical parameters and pathological conditions of gastric tissues. The urine of model rats at 0, 4, 6, 8, and 10 weeks was collected during modeling, and 1H-NMR technique was used to monitor the metabolic profile of urine in different modeling periods of CAG rats. Multivariate statistical analysis method and relative distance formula were used to describe the dynamic changes of its metabolic profile. RESULTS: Significant differences in urine metabolism were found between the control group and the model group at the 8th week. Eighteen potential biomarkers of CAG were screened out, which participated in the biosynthesis of valine, leucine and isoleucine, TCA cycle, gut flora metabolism, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, purine metabolism, and urea cycle. MetPA analysis demonstrated that glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, TCA cycle, valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis are the most important metabolic pathway for CAG development. CONCLUSION: The pathogenesis of chronic atrophic gastritis may be related to the changes of glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, TCA cycle and the biosynthesis of valine, leucine and isoleucine. This finding laid the foundation for the study of the pathogenesis of CAG.
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The clinical and experimental researches of acupuncture and moxibustion on endometriosis during past 15 years were collected. The research progress underling the mechanism of acupuncture and moxibustion on endometriosis was summarized. By taken Chinese characters, i.e. "acupuncture-moxibustion" and "endometriosis" as well as the English words, i.e. "acupuncture therapy" and "endometriosis" as the searching words, the relevant articles were retrieved from Pubmed, Embase, Chinese China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database, Chongqing VIP and the China Biology Medicine Disc etc. The retrieval time was from January 2003 to October 2018. As a result, 41 articles of clinical studies and 18 articles of animal experiments were screened. Of them, 20 articles (including 18 articles of animal experiments and 2 articles of clinical trial) are related to the mechanism underling acupuncture and moxibustion on endometriosis. In term of the impacts on growth factors, enzymes and enzyme inhibitors, the mechanism of acupuncture and moxibustion was explored on the analgesia for endometriosis, the inhibition of ectopic tissue angiogenesis and invasive adhesion, as well as the regulation of immune function and endocrine. Moreover, the limitation and prospect on the current researches were proposed so as to provide the more reliable evidence for clinical treatment of endometriosis with acupuncture and moxibustion.
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Objective To investigate the effects of astaxanthin on the proliferation and invasion of SKOV3 human ovarian cancer cells and to explore its mechanism. Methods MTT colorimetry was used to investigate the inhibition effect of astaxanthin on SKOV3 cells. Transwell assay was used to investigate the effect of astaxanthin on the invasion of SKOV3 cells. Flow cytometry was used to investigate the cell cycle of astaxanthin on SKOV3 cells. The effect of astaxanthin on cell cycle and invasion-related protein expression was investigated by Western Blot method. Results Astaxanthin had a significant inhibitory effect on cell proliferation and was concentration dependent. The invasive ability of SKOV3 cells was significantly decreased under the treatment of astaxanthin(P<0.05). Compared with control group, the proportion of SKOV3 cells in G1 phase in the astaxanthin-treated group was significantly increased. The protein expression of matrix metallo proteinase 2(MMP-2), matrix metallo proteinase 9 (MMP-9), and cyclin-dependent protein kinase 6(CDK6) and Cyclin A were significantly decreased in astaxanthin-treated SKOV3 cells compared with the control group ( all P<0 . 05 ) . Conclusions Astaxanthin can significantly inhibit the growth of SKOV3 cells and arrest the SKOV3 cell cycle in G1 phase, and can inhibit the growth and invasion of SKOV3 by regulating cell cycle and invasion-related proteins.
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Aim To investigate the anticancer activity of DY386 in a variety of cancer cells and the molecular mechanism of DY386 on cell cycle arrest in DU145 cells. Methods MTT assay was used to determine the inhibitory effect of DY386 on the growth of tumor cells including prostate tumor cell lines DU145, PC-3 ; glioblastoma cell line U87, non-small cell lung cancer cell lines H1975, HCC827, breast cancer cell line MCF-7, hepatoma cell line Hep3B and colon carcinoma cell line SW620. Colony formation assay and BrdU staining assay were performed to check the suppressive activity of DY386 to DU145 cell proliferation. Flow cytometry was conducted to evaluate the cell cycle distribution of DU145. Western blot was performed to detect the pro-tein level of cyclinBl, cyclinEi, CDK2, p27. Results DY386 inhibited cell growth in previous described tumor cell lines, especially in DU145 cells with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC) value of 11.86 (imol • Flow cytometry analysis indicated that DY386 induced S phase arrest in DU145 cells. Furthermore, Western blot results revealed that DY386 decreased the expression of cyclinEi and cyclinBl and increased the expression of p27 in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusions DY386 reveals certain antitumor effect, and its mechanism may be related to inhibiting cell proliferation by blocking cell cycle.
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Although acupuncture, especially electroacupuncture (EA) is widely used to treat pain, its mechanisms have not been completely understood. In the present paper, we review the development of researches on the underlying mechanisms of EA in relieving inflammatory pain in recent years from a)peripheral inflammation-mediated immune response and neuro-immune interaction of receptors on primary nociceptors, b) crosstalk of neurotransmitters or neuromodulators, cellular signaling pathways, other related bioactive molecules, as well as glial activation in the dorsal horns of spinal cord, and c) supraspinal modulation of both sensory and affective components of pain. Inflammatory pain involves complex neuro-immune networks of neurons and non-neurons, various inflammatory mediators, neurotransmitters, neuromodulators and cellular signaling molecules in the peripheral and central nervous systems. Therefore, the analgesic mechanism of acupuncture still needs to be studied in depth at multi-levels and multi-targets, for instance, the reciprocal actions of peripheral opioid peptide, adenosine and TRPV 1 (which have been demonstrated to be involved in EA analgesia individually), the roles of spinal cord adenosine A 1 receptor (A 1 R) and A 2 R (for which fewer studies have been conducted), the interactions of classical neurotransmitters/neuromodulators/neuropeptides and their receptors, changes of intracellular molecules at transcriptional and translation levels, etc. during acupuncture analgesia. Furthermore, the mechanisms underlying reciprocal actions of neurotransmitters, neuromodulators and their receptors complicated in acupuncture-induced relief of pain affection in the higher brain regions also need to be explored further.
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Brain plasticity is referred to the ability of the brain to change in structure and functional activities from microscopic aspects (synapses) in individual neurons to larger-scale aspects such as cortical remapping, neuronal remodeling, etc. in response to injury. Acupuncture has a positive effect in the treatment of cerebral diseases, thus leading to an increasing research on its underlying mechanisms in regulating brain plasticity. The present paper reviewed recent development of studies on acupuncture treatment of Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, cerebral ischemia, bone cancer pain, autism, etc. from 1) regulating synaptic plasticity (up-regulating the proportion of hippocampal synapses, increasing synaptic curvature, post-synaptic density, and numerical density, areal density, and lowering synaptic cleft); 2) increasing hippocampal post-synaptic potential slop, peak and peak area of population spikes to evoke long-term potentiation (LTP) by regulating the expression of glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and alpha amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionic acid (AMPA) receptors, and growth associated protein (GAP-43); 3) down-regulating the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) to suppress the activity of astrocytes in the ischemic cerebral area and hippocampus in cerebral ischemia rats, and in the spinal cord dorsal horns of bone cancer rats, etc. and promoting vimentin and connexin 43 expression; and 4) promoting neuronal remodeling, and repair and regeneration of the injured nerve in the central nervous system via regulating neuron-glia network, expression of nerve growth factor, brain derived neurotrophic factor, etc. The future studies should pay more attention to 1) the contribution of acupuncture intervention to the correlation between the initiation of the endogenous protective effect and the brain plasticity during the onset of nerve injury and repair of the injured nerve, and 2) standarization of stimulating quantity, manipulation and duration of acupuncture treatment, as well as the relationship between the stimulating quantity and efficacy.
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Colorectal cancer is a malignant disease of digestive system, with increasing morbidity. As a risk factor of colorectal cancer, high fat diet changes the secretory form of hepatic bile acids and stimulates its secretion. As a result, it increases the concentration of bile acids in the large intestine. Deoxycholic acid promotes the initiation and progression of colorectal cancer through affecting various intracellular signals, modulating expression of multiple genes and influencing the balance of the gut microbiota. The article reviewes the mechanisms of deoxycholic acid to promote the initiation and progression of colorectal cancer.
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Excessive exposure to fluoride in the environment leads to a variety of health hazards,especially in the nervous system damage.Great number of experimental and clinical data have confirmed that excessive intake of fluoride can cause neurotoxicity,and produce a series of symptoms of central nervous system dysfunction.This review summarizes the mechanisms of neurotoxicity induced by fluorosis in recent years,including oxidative stress,neurotransmitters and receptors,central nervous system signaling molecules,neuronal energy metabolism,and glycosylation end products.This paper analyzes the effects of fluorine exposure on nervous system,thus providing a reliable basis for further prevention and treatment of fluorosis.
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Tubulo-epithelial-mesenchymal transition refers to the renal tubular epithelial cells transfor-mation into stromal cells through some regulatory factors,causing tissue pathological changes.More and more scholars believe that EMT plays a crucial role in the development and metastasis of renal interstitial fibrosis.As an important small RNA related to gene transcription regulation,miRNA has a close relationship with EMT-relat-ed gene expression and plays an important role in EMT,and has become a hotspot in EMT.The research progress of recent years is reviewed in this passage.
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Semen Ziziphi spinosae ( SZS) , as a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine in clinic for insomnia therapy, is rich in pharmacological active ingredients such as saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids, oil and the other chemical compounds. The recent stud-ies indicated that some active ingredients in SZS exhibited a variety of activities including sedative hypnotics, antianxiety and anti-de-pression by regulating particular neurotransmitters such as 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), norepi-nephrine, dopamine and glutamate. In accordance with the previous studies on pharmacological activities of SZS, this paper summa-rized and reviewed the applications of SZS in the treatment of central nervous system diseases, myocardial diseases and hepatic disea-ses, which might provide solid evidence for the application development of SZS.