Berberine ameliorates renal injury in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats by suppression of both oxidative stress and aldose reductase / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Berberine is one of the main constituents of Coptidis rhizoma (CR) and Cortex phellodendri. In this study, we investigated the beneficial effects of berberine on renal function and its possible mechanisms in rats with diabetic nephropathy (DN).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Male Wistar rats were divided into three groups: normal, diabetic model, and berberine treatment groups. Rats in the diabetic model and berberine treatment groups were induced to diabetes by intraperitonal injection with streptozotocin (STZ). Glomerular area, glomerular volume, fasting blood glucose (FBG), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine (Cr) and urine protein for 24 hours (UP24h) were measured using commercially available kits. Meanwhile, the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in serum, activity of aldose reductase (AR) and the expression of AR mRNA and protein in kidney were detected by different methods.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The results showed that oral administration of berberine (200 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)) significantly ameliorated the ratio of kidney weight to body weight. Glomerular area, glomerular volume, FBG, BUN, Cr and UP24h were significantly decreased in the berberine treatment group compared with the diabetic model group (P < 0.05). Berberine treatment significantly increased serum SOD activity and decreased the content of MDA compared with diabetic model group (P < 0.05). AR activity as well as the expression of AR mRNA and protein in the kidney was markedly decreased in the berberine treatment group compared with diabetic model group (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>These results suggested that berberine could ameliorate renal dysfunction in DN rats through controlling blood glucose, reduction of oxidative stress and inhibition of the activation of the polyol pathway.</p>

Experimental study on promoting the engraftment of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell by all-trans retinoic acid / 中华血液学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the effect of all-trans retinoic acid (RA) on the engraftment of unrelated umbilical cord blood stem/progenitor cell transplantation (UCBT) in murine model.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>1 x 10(6) and 0.5 x 10(6) nucleated cells (NC) from C57BL/6 (H-2(b)) fetal and neonatal peripheral blood (FNPB) were separately transfused into lethally cyclophosphamide (380 mg/kg, ip) treated BALB/C (H-2(d)) recipients, 15 mg.kg(-1).d(-1) and 5 mg.kg(-1).d(-1) RA (15 mg and 5 mg RA) were administrated respectively 2 days before and after UCBT. Hematopoiesis and immune recovery, graft versus host disease (GVHD), engraftment and survival rates were then observed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Hematopoiesis and immune recovery occurred faster in RA treated than in untreated mice (P < 0.05). Acute GVHD was absent. The levels of engraftment were higher in both 15 mg and 5 mg RA treated mice than those in untreated controls (P < 0.05). In 1 x 10(6) NC transfused mice, 15 mg and 5 mg RA could significantly increased the 30 and 60 days survival rates from 41.67% (without RA) to 72.23% and 70.83%, respectively (P < 0.05). In 0.5 x 10(6) cells transfused mice, 15 mg and 5 mg RA increased the survival rate from 14.29% (without RA) to 42.86% and 43.48%, respectively (P < 0.05), which were comparable to that of being transfused 1 x 10(6) cells without RA treatment (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>RA enhances the engraftment of umbilical cord blood stem/progenitor cells in murine model for UCBT. This might provide an experimental evidence of RA in clinical UCBT.</p>

Establishment of a murine model for allogeneic umbilical cord blood transplantation / 中国实验血液学杂志

This study was undertaken to establish a murine model for unrelated allogeneic umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT). The characteristics and percentage of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells between near-term fetal and neonatal murine peripheral blood (FNPB) and bone marrow (BM) were evaluated by flow cytometry and semisolid methylcellulose culture. BABL/c (H-2(d)) recipient mice conditioned with high dose CTX were transplanted with FNPB form C57BL/6 (H-2(b)) mice and the survival rate, hematopoietic and immunological reconstruction, graft versus host disease (GVHD) and engraftment level were observed. The results showed that the numbers of day 14 CFU-GM and CFU-GEMM in FNPB (176.40 +/- 78.39)% and (141.40 +/- 56.57)%, respectively were much higher than those in BM (75.20 +/- 26.41)% and (68.80 +/- 23.95)%, respectively. Moreover the percentage of Sca-1(+) CD34(+) cell subsets in FNPB (3.63 +/- 1.13)% was also higher than that in BM (1.41 +/- 0.8 7)%. FNPB transplantation improved survival rate and reconstituted hematopoietic and immune function in recipients. There was no evidence of GVHD. Chimeric analysis showed that the proportion of donor cells in BM of recipients was 27.94% at 21 days after transplantation. It was concluded that FNPB contains more hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells with high expansion ability and weak allogeneic immunity, which was similar to human UCB. The murine model for allogeneic UCBT (C57BL/6-->BALB/c) was established successfully.