Caffeine is responsible for the bloodglucose-lowering effects of green tea and Puer tea extractsin BALB/c mice / 中国天然药物

The present study was designed to determine the effects of Puer tea and green tea on blood glucose level. Male BALB/c mice were administered green tea extract (GTE) or Puer tea extract (PTE), either intragastrically or in their drinking water. The major components of these teas are epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and caffeine, respectively. Blood glucose measurement results showed that mice fed intragastrically or mice that drank GTE, PTE or caffeine showed significantly lower blood glucose levels compared to the control group. However, EGCG exhibited no influence on the blood glucose levels. When caffeine was eliminated from the GTE and PTE, the effect on the blood glucose levels was abolished, but the effect was recovered when caffeine was re-introduced into the extracts. Evaluation of hematological and biochemical indices at the time of the greatest caffeine-induced decrease in blood glucose levels showed that the effect of caffeine was specific. Microarray analyses were performed in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes and mature adipocytes treated with 0.1 mg · mL(-1) caffeine to identify factors that might be involved in the mechanisms underlying these effects. The results showed that few genes were changed after caffeine treatment in adipocytes, and of them only phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) may be ralated to blood glucose. In conclusion, this study indicates that caffeine may be the key constituent of tea that decreases blood glucose levels, and it may be used to treat type 2 diabetes.

Neurochemical Profile Quantification of Regional Adult Mice Brain Using: ex vivo 1H High-Resolution Magic Angle Spinning NMR Spectroscopy / 의학물리

The purpose of this study is to quantitate regional neurochemical profile of regional normal adult mice brain and assess regional metabolic differences by using ex vivo 1H high-resolution magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H HR-MAS NMRS). The animals were matched in sex and age. The collected brain tissue included frontal cortex, temporal cortex, thalamus, and hippocampus. Quantitative 1D spectra were acquired on 40 samples with the CPMG pulse sequence (8 kHz spectral window, TR/TE = 5500/2.2 ms, NEX = 128, scan time: 17 min 20 sec). The mass of brain tissue and D2O+TSP solvent were 8~14 mg and 7~13 mg. A total of 16 metabolites were quantified as follow: Acet, NAA, NAAG, tCr, Cr, tCho, Cho, GPC + PC, mIns, Lac, GABA, Glu, Gln, Tau and Ala. As a results, Acet, Cho, NAA, NAAG and mIns were showed significantly different aspects on frontal cortex, hippocampus, temporal cortex and thalamus respectively. The present study demonstrated that absolute metabolite concentrations were significantly different among four brain regions of adult mice. Our finding might be helpful to investigate brain metabolism of neuro-disease in animal model.

Effects of scorpion tegument protein on immune function in normal mice / 中草药

Objective To study effects of scorpion tegument protein(STP) on immunological function in normal mice and provide experimental data for searching new compounds.Methods Resazurin and MTT assay were used to detect the effects of scorpion tegument water-soluble protein,scorpion tegument keratin protein (STKP) and STP component Ⅱ(STPⅡ) on the transformation of T and B lymphocytes,and NK cell activity in normal mice.Results By ig STP and STKP,the proliferation response of T lymphocyte in murine spleen was higher than that in normal control group,while only there was significant difference between low-dose of STP group compared with the normal control group(P