Advances in relationship between pyroptosis and pulmonary arterial hypertension and therapeutic drugs / 中国药理学通报

Pyroptosis is the programmed death of cells accompanied by an inflammatory response and is widely involved in the development of a variety of diseases, such as infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodegeneration. It has been shown that cellular scorching is involved in the pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension ( PAH) in cardiovascular diseases. Patients with PAH have perivascular inflammatory infiltrates in lungs, pulmonary vasculopathy exists in an extremely inflam-matory microenvironment, and pro-inflammatory factors in cellular scorching drive pulmonary vascular remodelling in PAH patients. This article reviews the role of cellular scorch in the pathogenesis of PAH and the related research on drugs for the treatment of PAH, with the aim of providing new ideas for clinical treatment of PAH.

Progress on the neuroprotective effects of ginsenoside Rg1 / 药学学报

Ginsenoside Rg1 is one of the most important saponins in ginseng. It has a wide range of pharmacological activities. It is considered to be a powerful neuroprotective agent. It has neuroprotective effects such as anti-neuroinflammation, anti-oxidative stress, anti-neuronal apoptosis, and enhancing memory. Rg1 shows a good application prospect in the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke, and mental diseases such as depression. This paper reviews the research on the neuroprotective mechanism of Rg1 at home and abroad in recent years, in order to provide new research ideas for the clinical treatment of nervous system diseases.

An attention-guided network for bilateral ventricular segmentation in pediatric echocardiography / 生物医学工程学杂志

Accurate segmentation of pediatric echocardiograms is a challenging task, because significant heart-size changes with age and faster heart rate lead to more blurred boundaries on cardiac ultrasound images compared with adults. To address these problems, a dual decoder network model combining channel attention and scale attention is proposed in this paper. Firstly, an attention-guided decoder with deep supervision strategy is used to obtain attention maps for the ventricular regions. Then, the generated ventricular attention is fed back to multiple layers of the network through skip connections to adjust the feature weights generated by the encoder and highlight the left and right ventricular areas. Finally, a scale attention module and a channel attention module are utilized to enhance the edge features of the left and right ventricles. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method in this paper achieves an average Dice coefficient of 90.63% in acquired bilateral ventricular segmentation dataset, which is better than some conventional and state-of-the-art methods in the field of medical image segmentation. More importantly, the method has a more accurate effect in segmenting the edge of the ventricle. The results of this paper can provide a new solution for pediatric echocardiographic bilateral ventricular segmentation and subsequent auxiliary diagnosis of congenital heart disease.

Advances in neuroprotective effects of dihydromyricetin / 中国药理学通报

Dihydromyricetin is a dihydroflavone compound which widely exists in ampelopsis of grapevine family. It has many pharmacological effects, such as anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anti-tumor, antioxidant, regulating blood glucose, reducing blood lipid, liver protection and so on. In recent years, it has been found that dihydromyricetin has a good neuroprotective effect and can play a certain pharmacological role in a variety of neurological diseases, including Alzheimer' s disease, depression, Parkinson's disease and stroke. The purpose of this paper is to review the research on the neuroprotective effect of dihydromyricetin in the past decade.

Effect of Liuwei Dihuang decoction on β-catenin and EMT in kidney tissue of UUO rats / 中国药理学通报

Aim To explore the effect of Liuwei Dihuang decoction ( LWDHD) on the expression of β-catenin, E-cadherin,α-SMA, the pathological changes of renal tissue, and the changes of an epithelial-mesen-chymal transformation ( EMT) in renal tissue of rats with unilateral ureteral obstruction ( UUO ) . Methods Forty-eight SPF grade SD rats were randomly divided into sham group ( Sham), model group ( UUO), Liuwei Dihuang decoction low, medium, and high groups ( LWDHD 3. 375, 6. 75, 13. 5 g · kg

Advances in pharmacological effects of ginsenoside on Alzheimer's disease / 中国药理学通报

Alzheimer's disease (AD) has become one of the major diseases that plague human health and seriously affect the quality of life of patients. Up to present there is no specific treatment drug for Alzheimer' s disease, which still needs research and development. Ginseng is an important traditional Chinese medicine in the prescription for treating of Alzheimer's disease, which contains saponins, polysaccharides, volatile components, proteins, vitamins, amino acids and other compounds. Saponins are the main active components, which have a good effect on improving learning and memory ability and preventing AD. In this paper, the effect and the mechanism of ginsenosides for treating AD are reviewed in order to provide ideas for developing ginsenosides into drugs with better clinical compliance and more effective treatment of AD.

Advances in studies on steroidal saponins and their pharmacological activities in genus Lilium / 中国中药杂志

Genus Lilium plants contain a variety of steroidal saponins, so far at least 82 steroidal saponins have been found in the bulbs of Lilium species, including 13 spirostanol saponins (1-13), 39 isospirostanol saponins (14-52), 7 pseudospirostanol saponins (53-59), and 23 furostanol saponins (60-82). Studies have showed that these steroidal saponins exhibit a wide range of pharmacological activities, including antitumor, antibacterial, antiinflammatory, antioxidant, antidepressant, hepatoprotective, hypoglycemic, sedative-hypnotic effect, and inhibition of cAMP phosphodiesterase and Na⁺-K⁺ ATP, et al. This paper has classified and summarized the 82 steroidal saponins isolated and identified from the bulbs of Lilium species and their correlative biological activities. Also, their structural characteristics and structure-activities relationship have been discussed, which could provide references for further research and application development of Lilium plants.

Study on effects of total saponins from Lilii Bulbus on proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and metastasis of lung cancer cells and its preliminary mechanism / 中国中药杂志

The potential role of total saponins extracted from Lilium lancifolium bulbs (TSLL) on the proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion of human lung cancer A549 cells and its possible mechanism were discussed. Effect of TSLL on proliferation of A549 cells were detected by CCK-8, clone formation assay and EdU staining. Effect of TSLL on apoptosis morphology of A549 cells was observed by fluorescence microscope using Annexin V/PI double staining and Hoechst 33342 staining. Effect of TSLL on cell migration and invasion was detected by Transwell migration test and Transwell invasion test, respectively. Western blot was used to detect TSLL on the expression change of intracellular associated proteins. Results showed that TSLL intervention in A549 cells within 24, 48 or 72 h significantly inhibited cell growth, and its IC₅₀values were about 229, 173 and 71 mg·L⁻¹, respectively. TSLL significantly reduced the clone formation rate of A549 cells and decreased the DNA synthesis rate of A549 cells in a concentration dependent manner. TSLL induced A549 cells apoptosis and reduced the migratory behavior of A549 cells. TSLL decreased invasion of A549 cells to the artificial basement membrane. The expression level of intracellular PCNA and the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax protein were down-regulated and procaspase 3 was activated. In addition, TSLL had no obvious effect on epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) related marker proteins E-cadherin and vimentin expression. The above results indicated that TSLL possess inhibitory effects against proliferation, migration and invasion of lung cancer A549 cells and apoptosis-induced effect. The anti-proliferation effect of TSLL is very likely by inhibiting intracellular DNA synthesis through reducing the expression of PCNA in lung cancer cells. And the apoptosis induction of TSLL on lung cancer cells is associated with the regulation of Bcl-2 and Bax proteins expression. Nevertheless, there is no incontestable correlation between anti-invasion and metastasis effects of TSLL and EMT in lung cancer cells.

Study on Anti-lung Cancer Efficiency of Centipede Extracts in Vitro and Vivo Experiments / 中国中医药信息杂志

Objective To investigate efficiency of centipede extracts on apoptosis induction, proliferation inhibition to Human A549 cell line and growth suppression of subcutaneous transplanted sarcoma in nude mice. Methods Centipede extracts prepared by enzymolysis and acetone precipitation methods were used to treat human lung cancer A549 cell line. Proliferation inhibition was evaluated by MTT assay and half inhibit concentration (IC50) was calculated. Cell morphological change and apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry and Hoechst stain. The subcutaneous transplanted sarcoma models were prepared with nude mice and randomly divided into model group, control group and centipede extracts group, with 10 mice in each group. Changes of tumor volume, quality and anti-tumor rate were observed.Results In vitro experiment, proliferation of A549 cells was inhibited with dose-dependency and IC50 value was 0.603 mg/mL. The G0/G1 phase of cells was down regulated and G2/M and S phase cells were up-regulated. The apoptotic character cells were been found by Hoechst stain. In vivo experiment, the tumor weight and volume decreased significantly compared with model control group, with statistical significance (P<0.01).Conclusion The centipede extracts shows dose-dependent anti-proliferative effect on A549 cells, which can induce apoptosis by arresting A549 cells at G2/M phase and suppressing growth of subcutaneous transplanted sarcoma of lung cancer in nude mice.

Experimental study on efficiency of Spanishneedles Herb eye drops in treating perimenopausal xerophthalmia in rabbits / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the efficiency of Spanishneedles Herb eye drops in treating perimenopausal xerophthalmia in rabbits.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Totally 36 rabbits (36 right eyes) were ovariectomized, and 2 months later divided into three groups: the experimental group (group A, n = 12) given Spanishneedles Herb eye drops, the control group (group B, n = 12) given PBS and the model group (group C, n = 12) given no drug. The Schirmer I test (SIT), fluorescent (FL), total tear protein, diastase activity, lactoferrin and lysozyme contents and confocal scanning microscopy were performed at before the treatment and at 1 w, 2 w, 1 mo, 2 mo after the treatment.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Before the treatment, There was no significant difference in SIT, FL, total tear protein, lysozyme, lactoferrin and amylase activity between two groups. Two months later after the treatment, both the group B and the group A showed differences degrees of changes in SIT, FL, total tear protein, lysozyme, lactoferrin and amylase activity compared with that before the treatment, with statistical differences (P < 0.05); At each time point, both groups revealed statistical differences in SIT, FL, total tear protein, lysozyme, lactoferrin and amylase activity (1 < 0.05). Two months later alter the treatment, densities of basal epithelial cells and inflammatory cells in the group A were (4 122 ±416) cells/mm2 and (339 ± 131) cells/mm2, while that in the group B were (3 343 ± 424) cells/mm2 and (49 ± 17) cells/mm2, with statistical differences between them (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Spanishneedles Herb eye drops could effectively treat perimenopausal xerophthalmia in rabbit caused by sex hormones decline.</p>

Risk factors and outcomes of acute kidney injury after intracoronary stent implantation / 世界急诊医学杂志（英文）

@#BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is associated with a worse outcome. However, the risk factors and outcomes of acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients after intracoronary stent implantation are still unknown. METHODS: A retrospective case control study was done in 325 patients who underwent intracoronary stent implantation from January 2010 to March 2011 at the Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University School of Medicine. Those were excluded from the study if they had incomplete clinical data. The patients were divided into a normal group and a AKI group according to the standard of post-operation day 7 to identify AKI. The parameters of the patients included: 1) pre-operative ones: age, gender, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cerebrovascular disease, left ventricular insufficiency, peripheral angiopathy, creatinine, urea nitrogen, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), hyperuricemia, proteinuria, emergency operation, hydration, medications (ACEI/ARBs, statins); 2) intraoperative ones: dose of contrast media, operative time, hypotension; and 3) postoperative one: hypotension. The parameters were analyzed with univariate analysis and multivariate logistical regression analysis. RESULTS: Of the 325 patients, 51(15.7％) developed AKI. Hospital day and in-hospital mortality were increased significantly in the AKI-group. Univariate analysis showed that age, pre-operative parameters (left ventricular insufficiency, peripheral angiopathy, creatinine, urea nitrogen, estimated glomerular filtration rate, hyperuricemia, proteinuria, hydration), emergency operation, intraoperative parameters (operative time, hypotension) and postoperative hypotension were significantly different. However, multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that increased age (OR=0.253, 95％CI=0.088–0.727), pre-operative proteinuria (OR=5.351, 95％CI=2.128–13.459), pre-operative left ventricular insufficiency (OR=8.704, 95％CI=3.170–23.898), eGFR≤60 ml/min/1.73 m2 (OR=6.677, 95％CI=1.167–38.193), prolonged operative time, intraoperative hypotension (OR=25.245, 95％CI=1.001–1.034) were independent risk factors of AKI. CONCLUSIONS: AKI is a common complication and associated with ominous outcome following intracoronary stent implantation. Increased age, pre-operative proteinuria, pre-operative left ventricular insufficiency, pre-operative low estimated glomerular filtration rate, prolonged operative time, intraoperative hypotension were the significant risk factors of AKI.

Clinical study on spanishneedles leaves in treatment of middle and severe xerophthalmia of menopausal females / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the clinical effect of spanishneedles leaves on middle and severe xerophthalmia of menopausal females.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>This study was a prospective random controlled trial. Ninty-six menopausal females diagnosed with xerophthalmnia (aged from 40 to 50) were randomly divided into in two groups: group A' the spanishneedles leaves group (n=48) and group B' the control group (n=48). Both groups were treated with Forte eye drops. All patients were detected at 3, 7, 28 h before and after treatment to evaluate subjective symptoms, OSDI and four tear film indicators. Variance analysis and differential analysis on sample average or median were made on both groups before and after treatment.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>There were no significant difference in symptom and diction indicators between both groups before treatment. For 28 d after treatment, among middle and severe xerophthalmia samples of the spanishneedles leaves group, the mean differences showed significant improvement compared with that before treatment , OSDI and four tear film indicators also showed improvement to varying degrees. For 28 d after treatment, among middle and severe xerophthalmia samples of the vitamin C group, the mean differences showed no significant improvement compared with that before treatment , OSDI and four tear film indicators also showed no remarkable improvement. There were significant differences in OSDI, BUT, SIT, height of tear meniscus and FL between both groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Spanishneedles leaves can effectively improve symposiums and signs of middle and severe xerophthalmia among menopausal females and thus showing clinical significance to some extent.</p>

Interaction of δ-opioid Receptor with Membrane Transporters: Possible Mechanisms in Pain Suppression by Acupuncture / 针灸推拿医学（英文版）

Objective: To investigate the possible mechanisms in acupuncture analgesia by interaction of &opioid receptor with neurotransmitter transport proteins or the Na+-K+pump. Methods: Microinjection of respective heterologous cRNA into the Xenopus oocytes as a model system, and measurement of steady-state currents under two-electrode voltage clamp. Results: The co-expression of the δ-opioid receptor with GAT1, EAAC1 or the sodium pump resulted in reducing activity of the respective transporter. Opioid receptor activation affected transporter activity in different ways: 1) GAT1 was further inhibited; 2) EAAC1 was stimulated; 3) Na+-K+ pump activity interfered with agonist sensitivity of DOR. Pump inhibition led to higher sensitivity for DPDPE. Conclusion: GABA transporter inhibition and glutamate transporter stimulation may counteract pain sensation by affecting the neurotransmitter concentration in the synaptic cleft and, therefore, may contribute synergistically to pain suppression by acupuncture. Sodium pump inhibition by endogenous ouabain may amplify these effects. These synergistic effects may be the molecular mechanism of inhibiting pain sense and/or acupuncture analgesia.

An experiment study on the prevention of scar formation of the filtering bleb by the application of anterior lens capsule in trabeculectomy with cataract surgery in rabbit eyes / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

· AIM: This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of anterior lens capsule inclusion in combined trabeculectomy and cataract surgery in preventing scar formation of the filtering bleb in rabbit model.· METHODS: Twerty-Four eyes (12 rabbits) with glaucoma model were studied, anterior lens capsule inclusion in trabeculectomy with the small-incision cataract surgery were performed on all right eyes (experimental group) and no implants were applicator in trabeculectomy with the small-incision cataract surgery on all left eyes (control group). These operated eyes were followed up from day 1 to 6 months postoperatively. Intraocular pressure (IOP) was measured and filtering blebs were observed after surgery. Other main outcome measures: cornea、conjunctiva、formation of the anterior chamber, anterior chamber depth、inflammatory reaction、achievement ratio of operation and complications were analyzed. On week 1, 2, 4, 12 and 24 after surgery the animal were killed in batch. Tissue was harvested from the bleb area and was made pathological section. HE staining、light microscope and micro photo analysis technique were applied to observe the cytological and histopathologic characteristics of the filtering tunnels.· RESULTS: There were significant differences between the two groups on IOP (1, 2, 4 weeks)、filtration bleb, achievement ratio of operation and complications. In experimental group, at the first month postoperatively, anterior lens capsule absorption started with inflammatory characteristics. The peak of inflammatory reaction occurred 1 week after operation and all the cells in the filtrating tunnel disappeared 6month after surgery. The fibroblast proliferation in control group occurred at I week and the filtrating tunnel closed with angiogenesis at 1 month after surgery. Fibroblast proliferation started 1week after surgery with no statistical difference during the time course (P ＞0.05). Significant statistical differences were observed by comparing the fibro blasts numbers per unit area in the filtrating tunnel in experimental group and those in control groups (P＜0.05).· CONCLUSION: Anterior lens capsule was totally absorbed at 6 months postoperatively. Anterior lens capsule inclusion in trabeculectomy with cataract surgery can possibly control intraocular pressure effectively, long-term sustainability of functional filtration bleb, inhibition of the proliferation of fibroblasts and opening of the filtrating pathway in the experimental animal models were satisfied. Compared to the control group, anterior lens capsule application has less complication.

Effects of ginsenosides on the actions of morphine / 中国中药杂志

The effects of ginsenosides on the actions of morphine are summarized. It mainly focuses on the antagonistic effects of ginsenosides on morphine-induced changes of animal behaviors, neural system functions and cell signaling transduction.

Studies on the effect of dihydromyricetin on antilipid-peroxidation / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effects of Dihydromyricetin (DMY) on antilipid-peroxidation.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The antilipid-peroxidation of DMY on heart, liver, brain tissue homogenate and mitochondria was measured by the determination of malondiadehyde (MDA) induced by Fe2+ -Vit C, Fe2+ -H2O2, Fe-Cys with TBA spectrometric method.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>DMY could inhibit the lipid peroxidation of homogenate and mitochondria. The inhibition exhibited concentration-dependent manner.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>DMY has good antilipid-peroxidation effect, which is worth studing further.</p>

Determination of dihydromyricetin in different parts of Ampelopsis grossedentata in different seasons by HPLC / 中成药

AIM: To establish the determination of dihydromyricetin in stem,leaf of Ampelopsis grossedentata in different seasons from different habitat. METHODS : Novapak C_ 18 column (150mm?4.6mm,5?m) was selected as separation column at 25 ?C . Methanol-water-phosphoric acid (27∶73∶0.1) was used as a mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0mL?min -1 . The peak of dihydromyricetin was detected at UV 290nm. RESULTS : The linearity of this method was good. The average recovery was 99.47%,RSD was 1.68%. The content of dihydromyricetin in leaf of Ampelopsis grossedentata collected in May was the highest and was three ～ four times the size of that in stem. CONCLUSIONS :The method is convient with a good separating degree and is useful basis for the develoment and utilization of Ampelopsis grossedentata.

Effect of Processing of Radix et Rhizoma Rhei with Salt on Its Anthraquinones / 中成药

Objective: To investigate the effect of processing Radix et Rhizoma Rhei with Salt on its anthraquinones component, so then the mechanism of processing with salt can be pointed out. Methods: Anthraquinones contents of crude Radix et Rhizoma Rhei, its processed products with dilute brine and strong brine were determined by spectrophotometry respectively. Results: There were no significant differences in anthraquinones contents among three kinds of Radix et Rhizoma Rhei. Conclusion: The processing of Radix et Rhizoma Rhei with salt doesn't affect its anthraquinones content, which suggests that the mechanism of processing with salt be worthy of discussing.