Monomethyl fumarate protects cerebral hemorrhage injury in rats via activating microRNA-139/Nrf2 axis.

OBJECTIVE: Monomethyl fumarate (MF) exerts anti-inflammatory and antioxidant capacities. Whether microRNA-139 and nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) are involved in the pharmacological activity of MF remain unclear. We aim to elucidate the potential function of MF in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and its possible mechanism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-four Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomly assigned into sham group, ICH group and MF group, with 8 rats in each group. Rats in ICH and MF group were subjected to ICH procedures. Rat brain tissues were harvested at 48 h after ICH procedures. Evans blue extravasation was performed to evaluate ICH-induced rat brain damage. Content of cerebral edema and neurological deficit were examined to reflect the neuronal pathological lesions. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) content in rat brain was examined by immunofluorescence. Activities of oxidative stress indexes in rat brain homogenate were detected using relative commercial kits. MicroRNA-139 expression in rat brain was quantified by quantitative Real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Finally, protein levels of Nrf2, HO-1, NQO1 and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) in rat brain tissues were examined by Western blot. RESULTS: Compared with rats in sham group, neurological deficit scores of rats in ICH group were lower. Disruption of blood-brain barrier and brain tissue edema of rats were pronounced in ICH group. However, MF pretreatment markedly alleviated the above mentioned cerebral lesions. In addition, MF pretreatment increased activities of SOD, GSH and CAT, but decreased MDA and ROS contents in rat brain homogenate relative to those in ICH group (p<0.05). Western blot analysis found that expression levels of Nrf2, HO-1 and NQO-1 were markedly upregulated after MF pretreatment, while the expression level of NF-κB was downregulated. At the cellular level, we altered microRNA-139 expression in SH-SY5Y cells by transfection of microRNA-139 mimics or inhibitor. Overexpression of microRNA-139 remarkably increased Nrf2 expression and decreased NF-κB expression. Treatment of high-dose MF upregulated Nrf2, downregulated NF-κB and decreased ROS content in SH-SY5Y cells. CONCLUSIONS: MF protects ICH in rats by inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammatory response through activating microRNA-139/Nrf2 axis.

Rapid discrimination of pork in Halal and non-Halal Chinese ham sausages by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and chemometrics.

Rapid discrimination of pork in Halal and non-Halal Chinese ham sausages was developed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry combined with chemometrics. Transmittance spectra ranging from 400 to 4000 cm⁻¹ of 73 Halal and 78 non-Halal Chinese ham sausages were measured. Sample preparation involved finely grinding of samples and formation of KBr disks (under 10 MPa for 5 min). The influence of data preprocessing methods including smoothing, taking derivatives and standard normal variate (SNV) on partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLSDA) and least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) was investigated. The results indicate removal of spectral background and baseline plays an important role in discrimination. Taking derivatives, SNV can improve classification accuracy and reduce the complexity of PLSDA. Possibly due to the loss of detailed high-frequency spectral information, smoothing degrades the model performance. For the best models, the sensitivity and specificity was 0.913 and 0.929 for PLSDA with SNV spectra, 0.957 and 0.929 for LS-SVM with second derivative spectra, respectively.

Study on anti-metastasis of heparin derivatives as ligand antagonist of p-selectin.

Heparin has a potential value as therapeutic agents that block P-selectin-mediated cell adhesion and prevent tumor metastasis. However, the strong anticoagulant potency limits its applicability for the anti-metastasis activity. Carboxyl and sulfate groups of heparin are closely related to its anticoagulant activity, so seven kinds of heparin derivatives related to carboxyl and sulfate groups were prepared, and their effects on anti-metastasis as ligand antagonist of p-selectin were studied. The results showed that heparin, carboxyl reduction heparin, 2-O-desulfated heparin and N-desulfated- N-acetylated heparin could inhibit the adhesion of tumor cells to endothelial cells and platelets effectively as ligand antagonist of P-selectin.

[Protective mechanism of tianmacuzhi granules in brain].

OBJECTIVE: To provide pharmacological evidence for the protective effects of Tianmacuzhi Granules (TMC) in mouse brain in a ischemia--reperfusion model. METHOD: Receptor binding test of NMDA receptor and M receptor in brain, GPx activity determination in brain and liver effected by different dose of TMC were performed. RESULT: TMC could reduce the NMDA receptor activity, increase the M receptor activity and GPx activity of cerebral cortex and hippocampus tissues significantly. CONCLUSION: TMC might antagonize ischemia-reperfusion injury of brain by reducing the glutamate neurotoxicity and increasing the function of cholinergic nerve and effects of anti-peroxidization in brain.

[Protective effect of xinxin capsule on learning and memory impairment in mice].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of Xinxin Capsule on the scopolamine or ethanol induced impairment of learning and memory retention in mice. METHOD: Step-through and Morris Water-maze methods, wer used to the protective effect of Xinxin Capsule(0.4, 0.8, 1.6 g.kg-1, ig, 16 d) on the scopolamine or ethanol induced impairment of learning and memory retention in mice. RESULT: The Capsule(0.8, 1.6 g.kg-1, ig,) can turn over the Scope so as to induce the impairment of learning, and the Capsule((0.4, 0.8, 1.6 g.kg-1, ig) can improve the ethanol induced impairment of memory retention in mice. CONCLUSION: Xinxin Capsule helps regain as well as impair the learning and memory retention in mice.