Astragaloside Ⅳ Induces Autophagy and Apoptosis in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Cells via PI3K/Akt/mTOR Pathway / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect and underlying molecular mechanism of astragaloside-Ⅳ （AS-Ⅳ） on autophagy and apoptosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. MethodIn experiments in vitro， the effect of AS-Ⅳ on the autophagy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells was observed by monodansylcadaverine （MDC） staining and transmission electron microscopy （TEM）. In experiments in vivo， immunofluorescence （IF） and Western blot were used to detect the changes in autophagy and apoptosis and the expression of key proteins in the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin （PI3K/Akt/mTOR） signaling pathway after the establishment of a xenograft tumor model in nude mice. ResultAfter 5-8F cells were treated with AS-Ⅳ of different doses （5， 10， 20 μmol·L-1）， the fluorescence intensity of autophagy in AS-Ⅳ groups significantly increased as compared with that in the blank group. The fluorescence expression of autophagy in AS-Ⅳ groups was the strongest after intervention for 24 hours， and the fluorescence expression in the 10 μmol·L-1 AS-Ⅳ group was the most obvious. The autophagy activator rapamycin （RAPA） induced more autophagosomes in 5-8F cells under the transmission electron microscope， and 3-methyladenine （3-MA）， an autophagy inhibitor， did not induce autophagosome formation in 5-8F cells under the transmission electron microscope as compared with the results in the blank group. In the 10 μmol·L-1 AS-Ⅳ group， the intracellular structure and cell membrane were intact and clear， and autophagosome formation was observed. Compared with the blank group， the AS-Ⅳ groups showed inhibited tumor volume （P<0.05， P<0.01）， potentiated fluorescence signals of microtubule-associated protein l light chain 3 type Ⅱ/microtubule-associated protein l light chain 3 type Ⅰ （LC3 Ⅱ/Ⅰ） and cleaved Caspase-3 （P<0.05， P<0.01）， increased expression levels of the mammalian homolog of yeast ATG6 （Beclin-1）， LC3 Ⅱ/Ⅰ， cleaved Caspase-3， and cleaved PARP （P<0.05， P<0.01）， down-regulated expression of ubiquitin-binding protein （p62） （P<0.05， P<0.01）， and reduced protein expression levels of phosphorylated PI3K （p-PI3K）， phosphorylated Akt （p-Akt）， and phosphorylated mTOR （p-mTOR） （P<0.05， P<0.01）. ConclusionAS-Ⅳ can induce autophagy and apoptosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells， and the mechanism is presumably attributed to the activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.

Study on applicability of microbial limit test methods for three kinds of hospital preparations / 国际中医中药杂志

Objective:To establish microbial limit test methods for three Hospital Preparations: the Jianer Granule, Anti-inflammatory and anti-itching Liquor and Baicao Lotion. Methods:According to the four general principles of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (edition 2015), to test the applicability for three kinds of hospital preparations with microbial count method using outine method, medium dilution method, membrane filtration method and neutralizer combined membrane filtration method. The applicability test of control bacteria test for three kinds hospital preparations was carried out by routine method, membrane filtration method and neutralizer combined with membrane filtration method. Results:The microbial limit test of Jianer Granule was tested by routine method. The microbial limit test of Anti-inflammatory and anti-itching Liquor was tested by membrane filtration method. The microbial limit test of Baicao Lotion was tested by neutralizer combined with membrane filtration method. Conclusions:Established the methods of microbial limit test for three kinds hospital preparations which are accurate and reliable.

Evaluation of right ventricular systolic function using real time three-dimensional right ventricular quantitative analysis in coronary disease patients with left heart failure / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective To assess right ventricular systolic function using real-time three-dimensional right ventricular quantitative analysis (RT-3DRVQ) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) complicating left heart failure. Methods Sixty-eight patients diagnosed with CAD and left heart failure were selected as the case group.Among them,38 individuals were associated with pulmonary hypertension (PH) and 30 were without. Another 30 healthy people were recruited as control group. Conventional echocardiographic parameters,as well free wall and septum longitudinal strains of right ventricle were evaluated in all subjects. Results Patients with left heart failure had significant lower strain values than control group( P <0.001).In case group,three-dimensional derived right ventricular free wall longitudinal strain (3D-FWLS) had strongly correlation with right ventricular ejection fraction ( r = -0.877, P <0.001). The patients with PH had also significantly reduced 3D-FWLS values compared with patients without PH ( P < 0.01),and the area under the curve was 0.726 using ROC method to predict patients with PH.Conclusions RT-3DRVQ could be recognized as a good technology to evaluate right ventricular systolic function,which would provide valuable information for clinical decision-making.