Exploring the molecular mechanism of Artemisia rupestris L. for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma via PI3K/AKT pathway.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common gastrointestinal malignancy in China. Most tumors develop from chronic inflammation. Artemisia rupestris L. (ARL) has been found to have a significant effect on viral influenza and hepatitis, but the mechanism of action of ARL against liver cancer is unclear. AIM OF THE STUDY: The study objective was to explore the mechanism of action of ARL for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by ethanol extract and in vitro experimental design. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Interactions between ARL and cellular target proteins against HCC were analyzed through network pharmacology and network topology with the utilization of the DAVID database. The rate of HepG2 cells' growth inhibition was assessed using the MTT assay in vitro cellular assay; hoechst33342 detects apoptosis of cells; the ability of HepG2 cells to migrate and invade was assessed using the transwell assay and the cell scratch experiment; and the levels of protein expression in HepG2 cells were assessed using the western blot assay. RESULTS: Network pharmacology prediction results demonstrated that 22 active ingredients were tested, 176 possible action targets were discovered, and the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway was found to be the most pertinent action pathway for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. In vitro results showed that it can effectively restrict HepG2 cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion as well as the regulation of protein expressions. CONCLUSION: Conclusively, Quercetin, Linarin, and Kaempferol were found most essential active ingredients from ARL that regulate the antitumor effects against HCC through the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. The study provides a fundamental basis for further comprehensive evaluation of ARL to treat tumor diseases in general and its therapeutic potential against hepatocellular carcinoma in particular.

An 18.3 MJ charging and discharging pulsed power supply system for the Space Plasma Environment Research Facility (SPERF): The integrated control subsystem.

The Space Plasma Environment Research Facility uses a coil system with the corresponding pulsed power supply (PPS) system to generate a very flexible magnetosphere-like magnetic configuration. Its purpose is to investigate the 3D asymmetric reconnection and the processes of trapping, acceleration, and transport of energetic charged particles restrained in a dipole magnetic field configuration, as well as the physical mechanism of the dipolarization front in the magnetotail. The control and monitoring function of the PPS system is realized by the integrated control subsystem, which adopts a two-layer network structure of the control layer and device layer and is developed based on the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System framework. The control layer includes a remote control system that consists of an engineer station and an operator station and the data storage system. Both the engineer station and operator station are developed by Control System Studio. The data storage system is based on the combination of the Hierarchical Data Format 5 database and MySQL database, and the data management software of the data storage system is developed based on LabVIEW. The synchronous trigger device, the safety interlocking device, the local controller of each set of PPS, and the module controller of each discharge module are the device layer. Their hardware is designed and developed based on the Field Programmable Gate Array, and their software is based on the Quartus II platform and programmed with the Verilog Hardware Description Language language. The function of the integrated control subsystem is verified by the discharge test of the PPS system.