[Research progress on culture technologies,chemical components,and pharmacological activities of Saussurea involucrata cells].

Saussurea involucrata,a traditional Chinese medicinal material,is effective in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with cold-dampness blockage syndrome,cold pain in lower abdomen,and menstrual irregularities. However,due to the specific habitat,low natural reproduction rate,slow growth,and overexploitation,it is at the high risk of extinction. S. involucrata cells can be obtained through callus culture,suspension culture,and hairy root culture. This study highlighted the influences of reactor type,culture system,precursor,elicitor type, and light wavelength on the suspension culture of S. involucrate cells. The chemical components of S. involucrata cells mainly include phenylpropanoids,flavonoids,lignans,and steroids,among which phenylpropanoids are the most abundant. S. involucrata cells have multiple pharmacological activities of anti-inflammation,analgesia,activating blood and resolving stasis,immunoregulation,increasing bone density,lowering blood lipids,anti-hypoxia,anti-exercise fatigue,anti-radiation,anti-obesity,and anti-oxidation. Moreover,it has the potential of treating aplastic anemia. This study reviews the cell culture technologies,chemical components,and pharmacological activities of S. involucrata cells,laying a basis for the further research,development,and utilization.

[Expression and Significance of Shh Signaling Pathway in Bone Marrow CD34+ Cells of Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Acute Myeloid Leukemia with Myelodysplasia-Related Changes].

OBJECTIVE: To study the expression of Shh singaling related gene, including Shh, Ptch1, Smo and Gli1 in bone marrow CD34+ cells of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome(MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia with myelodysplasia-related changes(AML-MRC), and to explore their clinical significance. METHODS: The count of CD34+ cells in bone marrow was detected by flow cytometry in 53 patients with MDS and 30 patients with AML-MRC. Magnetic beads were used to separate CD34+ cells. The expression of Shh, Ptch1,Smo and Gli1 on CD34+ cells was detected by qRT-PCR, the effect of the 4 gene expression on prognosis of patients in MDS and AML-MRC group was compared, 25 patients with iron-deficiency anemia were used as controls. RESULTS: The expression levels of Shh, Smo and Gli1 of patients in MDS and AML-MRC group were significantly higher than those in control group (P＜0.05), moreover increased with disease progression(P<0.05). The expression of Ptch1 was not statistically significantly different between 3 groups（P＞0.05）. In comparison of prognosis, the expression of Smo and Gli1 in the patients of relatively high risk groups and AML-MRC groups were significantly increased (P<0.05). The median overall survival time of patients in MDS and AML-MRC groups was 12（7.5，16.5） and 6（3.0，9.0） months (P=0.000) respectively. The median survival time of MDS and AML-MRC patients with high expression of Smo and Gli1 was significantly shorter than that of MDS and AML-MRC patients with low expression of Smo and Gli1(P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Shh signaling pathway in the patients with MDS is activated, which is involved in the progress and prognosis of MDS.

Slow-freezing cryopreservation of neural stem cell spheres with different diameters.

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are of great value for clinical application and scientific research. The development of efficient cryopreservation protocols could significantly facilitate the storage and transportation for clinic applications. The objective of the present study is to improve the survival rate and viability of NSCs. Neural stem cells with three states of single-cell suspension, NSC spheres with diameters of 30-50 microm and 80-100 microm, were cryopreserved by slow-freezing method with the cryoprotective agent (CPA) of dimethyl sulfoxide (Me(2)SO), respectively. Then the post-thawing NSCs were tested for the survival rate and the differentiation ability. As a result, NSC spheres with diameter of 80-100 microm and Me(2)SO concentration of 8% achieve the survival rate of 82.9%, and the NSCs still sustain the multi-differentiation potentiality. These results indicated that both the subtle interaction among NSCs and sphere diameters may affect the survival rate together.

Cryoprotectants for the vitrification of corneal endothelial cells.

The objective of this work was to select and test systematically possible cryoprotective agents (CPAs) and to obtain a suitable formula for vitrification of corneal endothelial cells (CECs). Fresh bovine CECs were isolated and tested with an optimized vitrification protocol with multi-step CPA loading and removal. Three types of CPAs components, i.e. the penetrating CPAs, sugars and macromolecular compounds, were experimentally evaluated using the viability assayed by trypan blue. Dimethyl sulfoxide, ethylene glycol (EG), 1,2-propanediol, 2,3-butanediol, acetamide and ethylene glycol monomethyl ether were chosen as the penetrating CPA components. Sugars including xylose, fructose, mannose, glucose, maltose, sucrose and trehalose were tested. Ficoll (MW 7kDa), dextran (MW 7kDa), chondroitin sulfate (CS, MW 18-30kDa), bovine serum albumin (MW 68kDa) and polyethylene glycol (MW 6kDa, 10kDa and 20kDa) were chosen as the macromolecular compounds. CECs were also preserved by slow freezing as a control. The results showed that EG was the most suitable penetrating CPA component and glucose the most suitable sugar, and CS the most suitable macromolecule. The optimized concentrations for each component in the vitrification solution were 52% (w/w) EG, 8% (w/w) glucose and 3% (w/w) CS. The CEC survival rate of 89.4+/-2.1% (mean+/-SD) was obtained using this formula and established vitrification protocol which was comparable to that by slow freezing.

Vitrification of corneal endothelial cells in a monolayer.

An in vitro model was developed for bovine natural corneal endothelia. The cells were cultured to a confluent monolayer and vitrified using 25% (w/w) 1,2-propanediol-35% (w/w) trehalose as cryoprotective agents. Approximately, 61.3% of the cells were viable using the protocol.