A rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method for determination of actinoside E in rat plasma and application to a pharmacokinetic study / 中国天然药物

A highly sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method was developed for the determination of actinoside E in rat plasma. The analytes were extracted by ethyl acetate and an analogue of actinoside F was used as the internal standard. The mobile phase consisted of methanol-water (50: 50, V/V) containing 0.1% formic acid was delivered at a flow rate of 0.3 mL·min(-1) to a Zorbax SB-C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 3.5 μm). The detection was performed by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry in the negative multiple reaction monitoring mode with a chromatograph run time of 3.0 min. Calibration curves of actinoside E were linear in the range of 0.5-2 500 ng·mL(-1). In this range, intra- and inter-day precision ranged from 1.7% to 7.5% and 2.0% to 8.9%, respectively. The accuracy ranged from 95.7% to 108.6%, and extraction recovery from 83.2% to 85.5%. This method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study of actinoside E in rats after intravenous (5 mg·kg(-1)) and oral (100 mg·kg(-1)) administration, and the results showed that actinoside E was poorly absorbed with an absolute bioavailability being approximately 0.27%.

The investigation of the correlation between metabolic syndrome and Chinese medicine constitution types in senior retired military personnel of the People's Liberation Army / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the incidence of metabolic syndrome (MS) and the distribution of constitutional pattern in elderly retired personnel of the People's Liberation Army.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Adopting the method of cross-sectional field investigation, from June to December in 2008, the investigation questionnaires were completed by the aged over 60 and collected from 69 military retired residences in the 4 cities of Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Qingdao. Other data, including demographic characteristics, physiological characteristics, life style and former medical history, were collected and analyzed. The statistical analysis for the database was drawn up by the software Epidata 3.0.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 4,502 people were included in this study, and 35.3% of them were diagnosed with MS. There was no obvious difference in mobility among ages (60 to 69, 70 to 79 and over 80, P>0.05). Referring to the MS patients in the 70s age group, both the phlegm-dampness and dampness-heat constitutional types were evidently higher than those in the 60s age group (P=0.019, P=0.008); while MS patients in 80s and older showed a significantly lower incidence of dampness-heat constitution than those in the 60s (P=0.00); and ql-deficiency constitution was obviously higher in the 80s age group than those in the other two groups (P=0.00). The top 3 constitutions in MS people were, respectively, phlegm-dampness, dampness-heat and qi-deficiency constitution; while in non-MS people, the top 3 constitutions were gentleness, qi-deficiency and phlegm-dampness. When the patient's body mass index (BMI) was more than 25 kg/m(2), the rate of phlegm-dampness and dampness-heat constitution significantly increased, while the rate of qi-deficiency constitution declined; the discrepancy was significant (P=0.00).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The prevalence rate of MS in military senior people was 35.3%, which did not vary among the three age groups. Phlegm-dampness, dampness-heat and qi-deficiency constitution were the three dominant constitutional types seen in the MS patients. The distribution of constitution formation was different in MS people and non-MS people. For different dimensions of BMI, the proportion of each kind of constitutions was varied.</p>

Total saponin from root of Actinidia valvata Dunn prevents the metastasis of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To extract the active component from the root of Actinidia valvata Dunn and to investigate the effects on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells in vitro.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Total saponin was extracted from the root of A. valvata (TSAVD). HCC cells, such as BEL-7402, HepG2, PLC, SMMC-7721, MHCC-97-H, and MHCC-97-L, were treated with TSAVD in 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenytetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. BEL-7402 and MHCC-97-H cells were also treated respectively with TSAVD at different concentrations for 24 h in wound healing and adhesion assays, and the effects of TSAVD on BEL-7402 and MHCC-97-H cells mobility and adhesion abilities were observed. Meanwhile, the effects of TSAVD on invasion and migration of BEL-7402 and MHCC-97-H cells were also investigated by transwell chamber in invasion and migration assays.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>TSAVD at 1.5 mg/mL inhibited BEL-7402 cell proliferation with inhibition ratios (IRs) of 61.08%, 74.12%, 84.55% at 24, 48, and 72 h, respectively. Meanwhile, TSAVD inhibited MHCC-97-H proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner from 1.5 to 0.5 mg/mL, with the IR of 36% at 1.5 mg/mL at 24 h. For SMMC-7721, PLC, and HepG2, the IR was lower than 30% at 1.5 mg/mL at 24 h. In the wound healing assay, mobility abilities of BEL-7402 and MHCC-97-H cells in TSAVD treated groups were significantly weaker than those of the control group. After pretreatment for 24 h with TSAVD, adhesion abilities were reduced in both MHCC-97-H and BEL-7402 cells, with IRs of 48.50%±4.86% and 49.85%±5.25% at 200 μg/mL. The IRs of MHCC-97-H and BEL-7402 cells in the migration assay were 49.13%±2.91% and 79.37%±0.09% at 200 μg/mL. In the invasion assay, IRs were 69.78%±4.88% and 82.48%±0.25% at 200 μg/mL.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Of all HCC cells, the highest inhibition by TSAVD was seen for BEL-7402 proliferation. TSAVD could restrain adhesion, invasion, mobility, and migration abilities of BEL-7402 and MHCC-97-H cells in vitro.</p>