Plasma components of Danzhi Xiaoyao Formula and its mechanism of action in treating perimenopausal depression based on UPLC-Q-TOF-MS~E integrated with network pharmacology / 中国中药杂志

In this study, ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-TOF-MS~E) was used to analyze the plasma components of Danzhi Xiaoyao Formula after oral administration. Forty-nine plasma components were found in the serum of rats by comparing the compound extract, drug-containing serum, and blank serum. Components, such as 6-hydroxycoumarin, poricoic acid F, deoxoglabrolide, 30-norhederagenin, kanzonol R, 3',6'-di-O-galloylpaeoniflorin, 16α-hydroxytrametenolic acid, 16-deoxyporicoic acid B, 3-O-acetyl-16α-hydroxytrametenolic acid, and 16α,25-dihydroxydehydroeburiconic acid, were first found in rat serum. Behavioral tests, including the tail suspension test, novel object recognition test, and novelty-suppressed feeding test, were conducted for behavioral analysis. It was confirmed that this formula had therapeutic effects on perimenopausal depression. Furthermore, in combination with the network pharmacology method, 53 core targets including MAPK1, HRAS, AKT1, EGFR, and ESR1 were screened, and these targets participated in 165 signaling pathways, including PI3K-AKT, AMPK, VEGFA, MAPK, and HIF-1. In summary, the potential effects of Danzhi Xiaoyao Formula in treating perimenopausal depression are associated with mechanisms in accelerating inflammation repair, improving neuroplasticity, affecting neurotransmitters, regulating estrogen levels, and promoting new blood vessel formation.

Exercise regulates lipid metabolism via lipophagy and its molecular mechanisms / 生理学报

Lipophagy is a kind of selective autophagy, which can selectively identify and degrade lipid droplets and plays an important role in regulating cellular lipid metabolism and maintaining intracellular lipid homeostasis. Exercise can induce lipophagy and it is also an effective means of reducing body fat. In this review, we summarized the relationship between exercise and lipophagy in the liver, pancreas, adipose tissue, and the possible molecular mechanisms to provide a new clue for the prevention and treatment of fatty liver, obesity and other related metabolic diseases by exercise.

Content of neutrophil elastase in EPS and seminal plasma: A combined predictor in the diagnosis of type IIIA prostatitis with secondary infertility / 中华男科学杂志

Objective@#To investigate the value of the content of neutrophil elastase (NE) in the expressed prostatic secretion (EPS) and seminal plasma (SP) as a combined predictor in the diagnosis of type IIIA prostatitis with secondary infertility.@*METHODS@#This study included 62 fathers (group A) and 67 infertile men (group B), all with type IIIA prostatitis, and another 57 controls with no genitourinary tract disease (group C). We measured the NE contents in the EPS and SP, obtained the results of routine semen and EPS examinations and Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (CPSI), and calculated the ratio of EPS NE/SP NE by binary logistic regression analysis.@*RESULTS@#The combined predictor of type IIIA prostatitis with secondary infertility was SP NE-2 × EPS NE. Among the 129 patients with type IIIA prostatitis, the combined predictor was correlated strongly negatively with the WBC count in the EPS (r = －0.914, P 0.05). The mean values of the combined predictor in groups A, B, and C were －2 238 (95% CI: －2 595 to －2 054), －1 511 (95% CI: －1 778 to －1 307), and －148 (95% CI: －181 to －118), respectively, with statistically significant differences between the cases and controls as well as between groups A and B (P <0.01). The area under the ROC curve of the combined predictor for the diagnosis of type IIIA prostatitis with secondary infertility was 0.71 (P <0.001).@*CONCLUSIONS@#The content of neutrophil elastase in the EPS combined with that in the seminal plasma contributes to the diagnosis of type IIIA prostatitis with secondary infertility, which is superior to either the neutrophil elastase content in the EPS or that in the seminal plasma used alone.

Interaction between SPAG6 and TAC1 proteins / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>Objective</b>To construct eukaryotic expression plasmids of the Tac1 gene and explore the interaction between TAC1 and sperm-associated antigen 6 (SPAG6).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>RNA was extracted from the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, brain, muscle, and testis of 10 Kunming male mice and, after reverse transcription into cDNA, the expression of Tac1 in the above tissues was observed by RT-PCR. Tac1/pEGFP-N2 and Tac1/pGADT7 recombinant plasmids were constructed and Tac1/pEGFP-N2 was transfected into CHO and COS-1 cells, followed by localization and detection of the protein expression of TAC1 by immunofluorescence staining and Western blot. The interaction between TAC1 and SPAG6 was determined by yeast two-hybrid experiment and Western blot.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Tac1 was expressed mainly in the testis, brain and heart. The results of restriction enzyme digestion and sequencing indicated successful construction of the recombinant plasmids, with the restriction fragment length of 390 bp. TAC1 was localized in the whole body of the CHO cells when transfected alone, but expressed in the microtubule of the cells when cotransfected with SPAG6, with the molecular weight of 40 000. Yeast two-hybrid experiment showed the colonies of TAC1 and SPAG6 on the culture plate without Leu, Trp and His, both contained in the yeast fusion protein.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The Tac1 recombinant plasmid was constructed successfully and the interaction between TAC1 and SPAG6 was confirmed with the plasmid.</p>