Diversity and tissue distribution of fungal endophytes in Alpinia officinarum: an important south-China medicinal plant / 中国中药杂志

In the present study, terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) technique was applied to assess the diversity and tissue distribution of the fungal endophyte communities of Alpinia officinarum collected from Longtang town in Xuwen county, Guangdong province, China, at which the pharmacological effect of the medicine plant is traditional considered to be the significantly higher than that in any other growth areas in China. A total of 28 distinct Terminal-Restriction Fragment (T-RFs) were detected with HhaI Mono-digestion targeted amplified fungal nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region sequences (rDNA ITS) from the root, rhizome, stem, and leaf internal tissues of A. officinarum plant, indicating that at least 28 distinct fungal species were able to colonize the internal tissue of the host plant. The rDNA ITS-T-RFLP profiles obtained from different tissues of the host plant were obvious distinct. And the numbers of total T-RFs, and the dominant T-RFs detected from various tissues were significantly different. Based on the obtained T-RFLP profiles, Shannon's diversity index and the Shannon's evenness index were calculated, which were significantly different among tissues (P < 0.05). Furthermore, two types of active chemicals, total volatile oils by water vapor distillation method and galangin by methanol extraction-HPLC method, were examined in the each tissue of the tested plant. Both of tested components were detected in all of the four tissues of the medicine plant with varying contents. And the highest was in rhizome tissue. Correlation analysis revealed there were significant negative correlations between both of the tested active components contents and calculated Shannon's diversity index, as well as the Shannon's evenness index of the fungal endophyte communities of the host plant (P = 0, Pearson correlation coefficient ≤ -0.962), and significant positive correlations between both of the tested active components contents and 325 bp dominant T-RF linkage to Pestalotiopsis (P = 0, Pearson correlation coefficient ≥ 0.975). In conclusion, A. officinarum is colonized by diverse fungal endophytes communities. The diversity of the fungal endophytes was found in the A. officinarum varied with differences of the tissue types of the host plants and was closely correlated with the accumulation of main active components, total volatile oils and galangin contents in the host plant tissue.

Clinical research on effects of shenfu injection in different dosage in preventing heart failure occurred in patients of acute myocardial infarction with elevated ST segment / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the preventive effect of Shenfu Injection (SI) in different dosage on occurrence of heart failure in patients of acute myocardial infarction (MI) with elevated ST segment.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Ninety-seven patients of MI were divided into 3 groups, all were treated with conventional therapy, but to the SI treated groups, intravenous injection of low (0.3 ml/kg) or high dose (0.6 ml/kg) of SI were given once a day additionally. After 14 days' treatment, the incidence of heart failure and its severity were observed and evaluated with Killip grading.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There was no significant difference in the incidence of heart failure among the 3 groups, but the severity of heart failure in the SI treated groups was remarkably milder than that in the control group, and the high dose SI showed the effect superior to that of low dose SI.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Based on the conventional treatment, Shenfu Injection is helpful for alleviating the severity of heart failure.</p>