Gut microbiota mediates the absorption of FLZ, a new drug for Parkinson's disease treatment

The gut microbiota plays an important role in regulating the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of many drugs. FLZ, a novel squamosamide derivative, has been shown to have neuroprotective effects on experimental Parkinson's disease (PD) models. FLZ is under phase Ⅰ clinical trial now, while the underlying mechanisms contributing to the absorption of FLZ are still not fully elucidated. Due to the main metabolite of FLZ was abundant in feces but rare in urine and bile of mice, we focused on the gut microbiota to address how FLZ was metabolized and absorbed.

Genome mining combined metabolic shunting and OSMAC strategy of an endophytic fungus leads to the production of diverse natural products

Endophytic fungi are promising producers of bioactive small molecules. Bioinformatic analysis of the genome of an endophytic fungus

Study on acute and long-term toxicity of GJ-4 extracted from Gardenia jasminoides J.Ellis / 国际中医中药杂志

Objective:To investigate the acute and long-term toxicity of GJ-4 extracted from Gardenia jasminoides J.Ellis, and to provide safety basis for its development as a new drug for the treatment of dementia. Methods:In the acute toxicity experiment, 30 ICR mice were randomly divided into control group, gardenia extract 2.5 g/kg group and gardenia extract 5.0 g/kg group, 10 mice in each group. The mice in the 2.5 g/kg and 5.0 g/kg gardenia extract groups were administrated with GJ-4 suspension. The control group was given 0.5% sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC-Na) by gavage. The mice were given continuous gavage for 7 days. The mortality, body weight and general condition of mice were recorded. The levels of ALT, ALP, BUN and creatinine (CRE) in serum were measured by automatic biochemical detector. In the long-term toxicity experiment, 75 ICR mice were divided into control group and gardenia extract 100, 250, 500, 1 000 mg/kg group according to the random number table method, 15 mice in each group. The GJ-4 suspension of Gardenia extract 100, 250, 500 and 1 000 mg/kg were administrated to the stomach respectively in the gardenia extract 100, 250, 500 and 1 000 mg/kg groups, and 0.5% CMC-Na of the same volume was administrated to the stomach in the control group once a day for 30 days. The mortality, weight and mental state of mice were recorded. The organ index and the levels of ALT, ALP and BUN in serum were observed.Results:In the acute toxicity experiment, the mental state and diet of mice in each group were good, and there was no death within 7 days. Compared with the control group, there was no significant differences in body weight, heart index, liver index and kidney index between the two groups ( P>0.05). Compared with the control group, the level of BUN (10.17 ± 0.82 mmol/L vs. 11.25 ± 0.47 mmol/L) in the gardenia extract 2.5 g/kg group significantly decreased ( P<0.05), and the level of ALP (116.0 ± 10.75 U/L vs. 148.0 ± 25.73 U/L) in the gardenia extract 5.0 g/kg group significantly decreased ( P<0.05). In the long-term toxicity experiment, the mice were in good mental state and had good diet, and no death occurred. Compared with the control group, there was no significant differences in body weight, heart index, kidney index, spleen index and serum ALT, ALP and BUN levels between the two groups ( P>0.05). The liver index (4.9 ± 0.56 vs. 4.38 ± 0.49) in the 250 mg/kg gardenia extract group significantly increased ( P<0.01), and the thymus index (0.09 ± 0.02 vs. 0.14 ± 0.04) significantly decreased ( P<0.05). Conclusions:The Gardenia jasminoides extract GJ-4 has no obvious toxicity in acute and long-term toxicity experiment, indicating that GJ-4 is safe.

Establishment of a new acute-on-chronic liver failure model

To establish an animal model of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) that would replicate the pathological process of ACLF in humans, rats were administered porcine serum (PS) for 11 weeks. Liver fibrosis was determined by pathological and biochemical assessments. The animals then were injected with d-galactosamine (d-gal) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The survival times of animals with cirrhosis and ACLF were determined over 48 h. Other animals were killed at 0, 4, 8 and 12 h after administration of d-gal/LPS. Liver injury was assessed by histopathological analysis and biochemical indices, and apoptosis was detected by Western blot and TUNEL analysis. After PS administration for 11 weeks the serum levels of hyaluronic acid and N-procollagen type III peptide increased significantly, and serious fibrosis and cirrhosis was observed at weeks 10 and 11. Cirrhotic rats were injected with d-gal/LPS to induced ACLF; the rate of mortality over 48 h was 80%. ALT and AST levels increased markedly at 4 h, but decreased significantly at 8 and 12 h post-treatment. The total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, and total bile acids levels increased markedly at 8 and 12 h. Clotting times, TNF-and IL-6 levels increased significantly, except for 12 h post-treatment. Apoptosis, inflammation and necrosis were elevated as determined by hematoxylin-eosin staining and TUNEL assays. BCL-2 levels decreased significantly, While BAX levels increased significantly. Cytochromeexpression peaked at 8 h post-d-gal/LPS treatment. In conclusion, an ACLF model induced by PS and d-gal/LPS was established and the underlying mechanisms of ACLF development were explored.

The anti-neuroinflammatory effects of dehydromiltirone and related mechanisms / 中国药理学通报

Aim To investigate the anti-neuroinflam-matory activities of dehydromiltirone and the underlying mechanisms in LPS-stimulated microglial cell line BV2 cells. Methods BV2 cells were pre-treated with de-hydromiltirone, then stimulated by LPS. The levels of nitric oxide( NO) were measured by Griess assay, and the concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines were measured by ELISA assay. Confocal fluorescence mi-croscopy was used to measure the expression of MAC-1, the biomarker of activated BV2 cells. The levels of-inducible nitric oxide synthase ( iNOS ) , cyclooxygen-ase-2 ( COX-2 ) , NF-κB and PI3 K/Akt were deter-mined by Western blot analysis. Results The treat-ment of dehydromiltirone significantly inhibited the pro-duction of NO, TNF-α and IL-6, attenuated the ex-pression of iNOS and COX-2 protein, and dampened the microglial activation in LPS-stimulated BV2 cells. The mechanistic study revealed that dehydromiltirone inhibited the phosphorylation of PI3 K and Akt in LPS-stimulated BV2 cells, and decreased NF-κB activation by suppressing the degradation of IκB. Conclusion dehydromiltirone shows significant anti-neuroinflamma-tory effects through inhibiting PI3 K/Akt phosphoryla-tion and then inhibiting NF-κB signaling pathway.

The role of heat shock protein 70 in regulating neuroinflammation / 药学学报

Neurodegenerative disease is characterized by progressive loss of neurons in specific brain regions that results in neuronal dysfunction of the central nervous system. Although the pathological mechanism is not fully established, the activation of glial cells mediated neuroinflammation appears to be involved. Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) is originally described as intracellular chaperone, which plays an important role in protein quality control in cells. However, recent study showed that up-regulation of HSP70 had anti-inflammatory effects in the brain. HSP70 protected neurons from damage and improved neurological function by decreasing inflammatory response as indicated by inactivation of glial cells and inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokine release. So it is of great significance to find new compounds targeting at HSP70 as neuroprotective agents to delay the progress of neurodegenerative disease. This review will focus on the role of HSP70 in neuroinflammation and the recent advances in using HSP70 as a target for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease.

Research progress in the study of protective effect of tanshinone IIA on cerebral ischemic stroke / 药学学报

Danshen is one of the traditional Chinese herbal medicines and nas a long history or being used clinically in the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular conditions such as coronary heart disease and angina pectoris. Tanshinone IIA is a derivative of phenanthrene-quinone isolated from Danshen. It has been reported to be the major bioactive compound of Danshen and has diverse biological effects. Recent studies demonstrated that tanshinone IIA had neuroprotective effects on experimental ischemic stroke through its antiinflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-apoptosis effects and its inhibitory effect on excitatory amino acid toxicity. In this review, we summarized all the recent progresses on the protective effect of tanshinone IIA on cerebral ischemic stroke. Hopefully, this article will throw some light on further study and application of tanshinone IIA.

Recent advances in study of sphingolipids on liver diseases / 药学学报

Sphingolipids, especially ceramide and S1P, are structural components of biological membranes and bioactive molecules which participate in diverse cellular activities such as cell division, differentiation, gene expression and apoptosis. Emerging evidence demonstrates the role of sphingolipids in hepatocellular death, which contributes to the progression of several liver diseases including ischaemia-reperfusion liver injury, steatohepatitis or hepatocarcinogenesis. Furthermore, some data indicate that the accumulation of some sphingolipids contributes to the hepatic dysfunctions. Hence, understanding of sphingolipid may open up a novel therapeutic avenue to liver diseases. This review focuses on the progress in the sphingolipid metabolic pathway with a focus on hepatic diseases and drugs targeting the sphingolipid pathway.

Therapeutic effect of a natural squamosamide derivative FLZ on Parkinson's disease model mice induced by LPS plus MPTP / 药学学报

The aim of this study is to investigate the protective effect of N-[2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethyl]-2-(2, 5-dimethoxyphenyl)-3-(3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl)acrylamide (FLZ), a novel synthetic squamosamide cyclic derivative, against Parkinson's disease (PD) model mice induced by the inflammatory bacterial endotoxin, lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and the neurotoxin 1-methy-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). C57/BL mice were ip injected LPS (5 mg x kg(-1)) once. One week following the LPS injection, mice received a subcutaneous injection of MPTP (25 mg x kg(-1)) once daily for 2 days. Eight weeks later, FLZ (25, 50 and 75 mg x kg(-1)) was orally administered to mice once daily for 60 days. The motor ability of the mice was evaluated by rod climbing test and footprint test. The dopamine (DA) levels in mouse striatum were determined by high performance liquid chromatography system. The tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive cells were showed by immunohistochemical analysis. FLZ treatment significantly improved motor dysfunction of mice challenged by LPS plus MPTP. The increase of TH-positive cell numbers and elevation of DA levels may be contributed to the beneficial effects of FLZ on motor behavior. This study showed FLZ has significant therapeutic effect on LPS plus MPTP induced chronic PD model, which indicates its potential as a new candidate drug to treat PD.

Research progress of the relationship between microglia and cerebral ischemia / 药学学报

Microglia are the principal immune effectors in brain and participate in a series ofneurodegenerative diseases. The microglial shapes are highly plastic. The morphology is closely related with their activation status and biological functions. Cerebral ischemia could induce microglial activation, and microglial activation is subjected to precise regulation. Microglia could play either protective or neurotoxic roles in cerebral ischemia. Therefore, regulating the expression of receptors or protein molecules on microglia, inhibiting the excessive activation of microglia and production of pro-inflammatory factors, promoting the release of neuroprotective substances might be beneficial to the treatment of cerebral ischemia. The study about relationship between microglia and cerebral ischemia will shed a light on the treatment of cerebral ischemia. This paper is a review of microglial activation and regulation during cerebral ischemia as well as related therapeutic methods.

Neurodegenerative conformational disease and heat shock proteins / 药学学报

Many major neurodegenerative diseases are associated with proteins misfolding and aggregation, which are also called "neurodegenerative conformational disease". The interaction of gene mutation and environmental factors are probably primary events resulting in oligomer and aggregate formations of proteins. Moreover, the dysfunctions of protein control systems, i.e. the ubiquitin-proteasome system and autophagy-lysosomal system, also contribute to the neurodegenerative process. The present review mainly summarizes protein misfolding and aggregation in the development of neurodegenerative conformational disease and the underling mechanisms, as well as upregulation of heatshock proteins as a promising treatment method for this kind of disease.

Clinical study of relationship between diameter of early gastric cancer as well as lymph node metastasis and expression of VEGF and MMP-7 / 中国医师进修杂志

Objective To investigate the relationship between diameter of early gastric cancer as well as lymph node metastasis and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) and Matrix metalloproteinases-7(MMP-7)in gastric cancer. Method VEGF and MMP-7 expressions of gastric cancer tissue in 55 cases were examined by immumohistochemical assay. The diagnosis was confirmed by mucous stain and pathology. Results The level of VEGF and MMP-7 expression in group of early gastric cancer with diameter ≤ 10 mm was significantly lower than that of diameter ≥ 10 mm and ≤ 20 mm (P0.05). Conclusion It is significant that relation of the diameter of early gastric cancer with VEGF and MMP-7 expression, the cases of strongly positive over-expression of both VEGF and MMP-7 in tissue of patients with early gastric cancer are accompanied by more likelihood of lymph node metastasis.