In vivo absorption, in vitro simulated digestion and fecal fermentation properties of polysaccharides from Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum Cum Alumine and their effects on human gut microbiota.

Polysaccharides from Pinelliae Rhizoma Praeparatum Cum Alumine (PPA) have various biological activities, but their properties after oral administration are not clear. In this study, the absorption, digestion and fermentation properties of PPA were studied using in vivo fluorescence tracking, in vitro simulated digestion and fecal fermentation experiments. The absorption experiment showed that fluorescence was only observed in the gastrointestinal system, indicating that PPA could not be absorbed. Simulated digestion results showed that there were no significant changes in the molecular weight, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectrum, monosaccharides and reducing sugar of PPA during the digestion process, showing that the overall structure of PPA was not damaged. However, the carbohydrate gel electrophoresis bands of PPA enzymatic hydrolysates after simulated digestion were significantly changed, indicating that simulated digestion might impact the configuration of PPA. In vitro fermentation showed that PPA could be degraded by microorganisms to produce short chain fatty acids, leading to a decrease in pH value. PPA can promote the proliferation of Bacteroideaceae, Megasphaera, Bacteroideaceae, and Bifidobacteriaceae, and inhibit the growth of Desulfobacteriota and Enterobacteriaceae. The results indicated that PPA could treat diseases by regulating gut microbiota, providing a scientific basis for the application and development of PPA.

The great potential of polysaccharides from natural resources in the treatment of asthma: A review.

Despite significant progress in diagnosis and treatment, asthma remains a serious public health challenge. The conventional therapeutic drugs for asthma often have side effects and unsatisfactory clinical efficacy. Therefore, it is very urgent to develop new drugs to overcome the shortcomings of conventional drugs. Natural polysaccharides provide enormous resources for the development of drugs or health products, and they are receiving a lot of attention from scientists around the world due to their safety, effective anti-inflammatory and immune regulatory properties. Increasing evidence shows that polysaccharides have favorable biological activities in the respiratory disease, including asthma. This review provides an overview of primary literature on the recent advances of polysaccharides from natural resources in the treatment of asthma. The mechanisms and practicability of polysaccharides, including polysaccharides from plants, fungus, bacteria, alga, animals and others are reviewed. Finally, the further research of polysaccharides in the treatment of asthma are discussed. This review can provide a basis for further study of polysaccharides in the treatment of asthma and provides guidance for the development and clinical application of novel asthma treatment drugs.

Characterization of Polysaccharides from the Pericarp of Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim by Saccharide Mapping and Their Neuroprotective Effects.

The pericarp of Zanthoxylum bungeanum maxim (PZM) is a commonly used spice and herbal medicine in China. In the present study, the structural characteristics of PPZM were investigated by saccharide mapping after enzymatic digestion by using high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) and polysaccharide analysis by using carbohydrate gel electrophoresis (PACE). The mechanisms of protective effects of PPZM on Aß25-35-induced oxidative damage were explored in PC12 cells. The results showed that PPZM contained 1,4-α-D-galactosidic, 1,4-α-D-galactosiduronic, and (1→4)-ß-D-glucosidic linkages. Pretreatment with PPZM significantly increased the cell viability of Aß25-35-injured PC12 cells. Flow cytometry and Hoechst/PI staining indicated that PPZM gradually relieved the apoptosis of the Aß25-25-treated cells. PPZM markedly decreased the ROS level of PC12 cells and suppressed Aß25-35-induced oxidative stress by increasing the SOD level, and decreasing the level of MDA and LDH. The mRNA expressions of caspase-3 and Bax were significantly downregulated, and Bcl-2 expression was upregulated by treatment with PPZM. PPZM significantly increased the mRNA expression of Nrf2 and HO-1 in Aß25-35 treated cells. The results indicated that PPZM alleviated apoptosis and oxidative stress induced by Aß25-25 through the inhibition of mitochondrial dependent apoptosis and activation of Nrf2/HO-1 pathway. PPZM can be used as a potential protective agent against Aß25-25-induced neurotoxicity.

Clinical prospective study of Gallium 68 (68Ga)-labeled fibroblast-activation protein inhibitor PET/CT in the diagnosis of biliary tract carcinoma.

PURPOSE: This study is to investigate the [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI PET/CT diagnosis performance in biliary tract carcinoma (BTC) and analyze the association between [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI PET/CT and clinical indexes. METHODS: A prospective study (NCT05264688) was performed between January 2022 and July 2022. Fifty participants were scanned using [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI and [18F]FDG PET/CT and acquired pathological tissue. We employed the Wilcoxon signed-rank test to compare the uptake of [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI and [18F]FDG, and the McNemar test was used to compare the diagnostic efficacy between the two tracers. Spearman or Pearson correlation was used to assess the association between [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI PET/CT and clinical indexes. RESULTS: In total, 47 participants (mean age 59.09 ± 10.98 [range 33-80 years]) were evaluated. The [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI detection rate was greater than [18F]FDG in primary tumors (97.62% vs. 85.71%), nodal metastases (90.05% vs. 87.06%), and distant metastases (100% vs. 83.67%). The uptake of [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI was higher than [18F]FDG in primary lesions (intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, 18.95 ± 7.47 vs. 11.86 ± 0.70, p = 0.001; extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, 14.57 ± 6.16 vs. 8.80 ± 4.74, p = 0.004), abdomen and pelvic cavity nodal metastases (6.91 ± 6.56 vs. 3.94 ± 2.83, p < 0.001), and distant metastases (pleural, peritoneum, omentum, and mesentery, 6.37 ± 4.21 vs. 4.50 ± 1.96, p = 0.01; bone, 12.15 ± 6.43 vs. 7.51 ± 4.54, p = 0.008). There was a significant correlation between [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI uptake and fibroblast-activation protein (FAP) expression (Spearman r = 0.432, p = 0.009), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) (Pearson r = 0.364, p = 0.012), and platelet (PLT) (Pearson r = 0.35, p = 0.016). Meanwhile, a significant relationship between [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI metabolic tumor volume and carbohydrate antigen199 (CA199) (Pearson r = 0.436, p = 0.002) was confirmed. CONCLUSION: [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI had a higher uptake and sensitivity than [18F]FDG in the diagnosis of BTC primary and metastatic lesions. The correlation between [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI PET/CT indexes and FAP expression, CEA, PLT, and CA199 were confirmed. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov: NCT 05,264,688.

Development of fibroblast activation protein-targeted molecular probes in non-neoplastic diseases / 中华核医学与分子影像杂志

Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) is an important molecular marker of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). FAP is selectively expressed in more than 90% of epithelial carcinomas, but barely expressed in normal tissues. In recent years, a variety of radiolabeled molecular probes based on FAP inhibitor (FAPI) have been developed and used for imaging of malignant tumors. FAP is also highly expressed in some non-neoplastic diseases related to chronic inflammation and tissue remodeling, including arthritis, atherosclerosis, fibrosis of myocardial infarction, cirrhosis, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. FAPI imaging shows a potential in these diseases. This paper reviews the current status of radionuclide labeled FAPI and the application of which in non-neoplastic diseases.

Image-guided Strategy of Intensity-modulated Radiotherapy in Helical Tomography for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma / 中山大学学报(医学科学版)

ObjectiveThis study aimed to analyze the difference in setup error before and after correction of systematic error. To determine the most appropriate image-guided strategy during HT treatment， we use different scanning ranges and image-guidance frequencies in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma （NPC） treated with helical tomotherapy （HT）. MethodsFifteen patients with NPC who received HT treatment in Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center from October 2019 to February 2020 were selected. Megavoltage computed tomography （MVCT） scanning was performed before each treatment. After five times of radiotherapy， system-error correction was performed to adjust the setup center. The setup errors before and after the correction of systematic errors， as well as the setup errors of different scanning ranges and different scanning frequencies， were collected for analysis and comparison. ResultsWhen comparing the setup errors before and after the correction of systematic error， the differences in setup errors in the left–right （LR）， superior–inferior （SI）， and anterior–posterior （AP） directions were statistically significant （P<0.05）.The different scanning ranges of "nasopharynx + neck" and "nasopharynx" were compared， and a statistically significant difference was found in yaw rotational errors （P<0.05）. In the comparison of daily and weekly scan frequency after system-error correction， a significant difference was found in AP direction （P<0.05）. ConclusionDuring radiotherapy for NPC， the systematic error can be corrected according to the first five setup errors， and then small-scale scanning was selected for image-guided radiotherapy every day.

In vivo structural characterization of the whole SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome identifies host cell target proteins vulnerable to re-purposed drugs

SUMMARYSARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus of the Coronaviridae family that is the causal pathogen of the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic. There are currently no antiviral drugs or vaccines to treat COVID-19, and the failure to identify effective interventions can be blamed on our incomplete understanding of the nature of this virus and its host cell infection process. Here, we experimentally determined structural maps of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome in infected human cells and also characterized in vitro refolded RNA structures for SARS-CoV-2 and 6 other coronaviruses. Our in vivo data confirms several structural elements predicted from theoretical analysis and goes much further in revealing many previously unknown structural features that functionally impact viral translation and discontinuous transcription in cells. Importantly, we harnessed our in vivo structure data alongside a deep-learning tool and accurately predicted several dozen functionally related host cell proteins that bind to the SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome, none of which were known previously. Thus, our in vivo structural study lays a foundation for coronavirus RNA biology and indicates promising directions for the rapid development of therapeutics to treat COVID-19.HIGHLIGHTSWe mapped the in vivo structure and built secondary structural models of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA genomeWe discovered functionally impactful structural features in the RNA genomes of multiple coronavirusesWe predicted and validated host cell proteins that bind to the SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome based on our in vivo RNA structural data using a deep-learning toolCompeting Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.View Full Text

VSD technique combined with Ointment for the treatment of foot skin defects / 中国骨伤

OBJECTIVE@#To explore the clinical effect of vacuum sealing drainage (VSD) technique and Ointment in the treatment of foot skin defect.@*METHODS@#From November 2017 to April 2019, 21 patients (21 feet) with foot skin defect were treated with VSD technique and Ointment. There were 17 males and 4 females, aged from 24 to 60 years old with an average of (37.8±11.2) years, 9 cases caused by traffic accident injury, 6 cases by heavy injury, 6 cases by falling injury. The time from injury to operation was for 3 to 36 (8.6±7.2) h, and the area of foot skin defect was for 20.35 to 83.43(47.2±19.5) cm. All patients underwent debridement or phaseⅠtemporary fixation in emergency, and three-dimensional imagingof the foot was performed by using Mimics software, and the defect area was rendered. The quality of wound healing and complications were observed, and the clinical effect was evaluated by Maryland foot function score.@*RESULTS@#All the 21 patients were followed up for 7 to 17 (10.8±2.7) months. There was no infection or nonunion in all patients. At the final follow-up, the skin margin of the healing site grew tightly, the skin was elastic, the texture was tough, the appearance was no obvious carbuncle. The time of wound healing was for 18 to 63 (41.2±13.3) days. Eight patients underwent stageⅡfixation or/and fusion, and all incisions healed by stageⅠ. According to Maryland's foot scoring, 9 cases got excellent results, 11 good, and 1 middle.@*CONCLUSION@#VSD can effectively remove the necrotic tissue of the wound, provide a smooth drainage of the wound, combine with Ointment to prevent infection and promote the rapid growth of granulation tissue, whose whole treatment cycle was short, the wound healing site was highquality, the limb function was good, and the clinical effect was satisfactory.

Effect of different anesthesia methods on perioperative volume load of lower limb joint replacement in patients with coronary heart disease / 中国医师进修杂志

Objective@#To compare the effects of general anesthesia, intraspinal anesthesia combined with general anesthesia and lumbar plexus block combined with general anesthesia on the volume load of lower limb joint replacement surgery in patients with coronary heart disease.@*Methods@#One hundred and twenty patients (ASA classification Ⅱ-Ⅲ) with coronary heart disease who underwent selective lower extremity arthroplasty in Hubei Aerospace Hospital from January 2017 to November 2018 were randomly divided into three groups: general anesthesia group (group A), spinal canal combined with superficial general anesthesia group (group B) and lumbar plexus nerve block combined with superficial general anesthesia group (group C), with 40 cases in each group. The mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), cardiac index (CI), stroke volume index (SVI) and stroke volume variation (SVV) were observed and recorded at the time of entering operation room (T0), immediate induction of anesthesia(T1), immediately after the operation (T2), 1 h after surgery (T3) and at the end of the operation (T4) in three groups. The operation time, anesthesia time and the incidence of complications of the three groups were recorded.@*Results@#At T1, HR, MAP, CI and SVV of the three groups were lower than T0, and SVV were higher than T0, and there were significant differences (P < 0.05). At T1 and T2, the MAP, CI and SVI in group B were significantly lower than those in group A and group C[T1: (76.8 ± 5.4) mmHg (1 mmHg=0.133 kPa)vs. (84.4 ± 14.9) and (86.4 ± 19.1) mmHg, (1.9 ± 0.6) L/(min·m2) vs. (2.5 ± 0.7) and (2.3 ± 0.5) L/(min·m2), (35.5 ± 11.5) ml/m2 vs.(40.5 ± 11.8) and (39.2 ± 10.3) ml/m2; T2: (74.6 ± 6.7) mmHg vs. (89.9 ± 17.8) and (82.8 ± 19.7) mmHg, (2.6 ± 0.7) L/(min·m2) vs. (2.8 ± 0.7) and (2.6 ± 0.4) L/(min·m2), (38.2 ± 13.7) ml/m2 vs. (44.9 ± 7.9) and (45.8 ± 8.3) ml/m2], and at T1, the SVV of group B was significantly higher [(15.6 ± 2.1)% vs. (13.8 ± 4.3)% and (13.9 ± 2.9)%], and there were significant differences (P < 0.05). At T2-T4, the HR and MAP of group A were significantly higher than those of the other two groups (P < 0.05). The incidence of hypertension, hypotension and unstable angina pectoris in group C was significantly lower than that in group A and group B [5.0%(2/40) vs. 20.0%(8/40) and 35.0%(14/80)](P < 0.05).@*Conclusions@#Lumbar plexus block combined with shallow general anesthesia is safer for patients with coronary heart disease because of its smaller fluctuation of volume load index, more stable hemodynamics and lower incidence of cardiovascular adverse events.

Effect of different anesthesia methods on perioperative volume load of lower limb joint replacement in patients with coronary heart disease / 中国医师进修杂志

Objective To compare the effects of general anesthesia, intraspinal anesthesia combined with general anesthesia and lumbar plexus block combined with general anesthesia on the volume load of lower limb joint replacement surgery in patients with coronary heart disease. Methods One hundred and twenty patients (ASA classificationⅡ-Ⅲ) with coronary heart disease who underwent selective lower extremity arthroplasty in Hubei Aerospace Hospital from January 2017 to November 2018 were randomly divided into three groups: general anesthesia group (group A), spinal canal combined with superficial general anesthesia group (group B) and lumbar plexus nerve block combined with superficial general anesthesia group (group C), with 40 cases in each group. The mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), cardiac index (CI), stroke volume index (SVI) and stroke volume variation (SVV) were observed and recorded at the time of entering operation room (T0), immediate induction of anesthesia(T1), immediately after the operation (T2), 1 h after surgery (T3) and at the end of the operation (T4) in three groups. The operation time, anesthesia time and the incidence of complications of the three groups were recorded. Results At T1, HR, MAP, CI and SVV of the three groups were lower than T0, and SVV were higher than T0, and there were significant differences (P<0.05). At T1 and T2, the MAP, CI and SVI in group B were significantly lower than those in group A and group C[T1: (76.8 ± 5.4) mmHg (1 mmHgi0.133 kPa)vs. (84.4 ± 14.9) and (86.4 ± 19.1) mmHg, (1.9 ± 0.6) L/(min·m2) vs. (2.5 ± 0.7) and (2.3 ± 0.5) L/(min·m2), (35.5 ± 11.5) ml/m2 vs.(40.5 ± 11.8) and (39.2 ± 10.3) ml/m2; T2: (74.6 ± 6.7) mmHg vs. (89.9 ± 17.8) and (82.8 ± 19.7) mmHg, (2.6 ± 0.7) L/(min·m2) vs. (2.8 ± 0.7) and (2.6 ± 0.4) L/(min·m2), (38.2 ± 13.7) ml/m2 vs. (44.9 ± 7.9) and (45.8 ± 8.3) ml/m2], and at T1, the SVV of group B was significantly higher [(15.6 ± 2.1)% vs. (13.8 ± 4.3)% and (13.9 ± 2.9)%], and there were significant differences (P<0.05). At T2-T4, the HR and MAP of group A were significantly higher than those of the other two groups (P<0.05). The incidence of hypertension, hypotension and unstable angina pectoris in group C was significantly lower than that in group A and group B [5.0%(2/40) vs. 20.0%(8/40) and 35.0% (14/80)] (P < 0.05). Conclusions Lumbar plexus block combined with shallow general anesthesia is safer for patients with coronary heart disease because of its smaller fluctuation of volume load index, more stable hemodynamics and lower incidence of cardiovascular adverse events.

Laparoscopic adhesiolysis versus open surgery for adhesive small bowel obstruction: A meta-analysis / 解放军医学杂志

Objective To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic adhesiolysis versus open surgery for adhesive small bowel obstruction.Methods The databases including PubMed,EMbase,The Cochrane Library (Issue 3,2017),ICTRP,CNKI,VIP,CBM and Wanfang Data were electronically searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about laparoscopic adhesiolysis versus open surgery for adhesive small bowel obstruction patients from inception to March 2017.Two reviewers independently screened literature,extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies.Then meta-analysis was conducted by RevMan 5.3 software.Results A total of 31 studies involving 3293 patients were included.The results of meta-analysis showed that,compared with the open surgery group,the laparoscopic adhesiolysis group could significantly reduce the recurrence rate (OR=0.18,95％CI 0.12-0.25,P＜0.000 01),overall complications (OR=0.17,95％CI 0.13-0.23,P＜0.000 01),wound infection (OR=0.21,95％CI 0.13-0.35,P＜0.000 01),pneumonia (OR=0.35,95％CI 0.15-0.82,P=0.02) and intestinal fistula (OR=0.32,95％CI 0.15-0.70,P=0.005).Conclusions Current evidence shows that laparoscopic adhesiolysis can reduce the recurrence rate and complications in adhesive small bowel obstruction.Due to the limited quality of included studies,more high quality studies are needed to verify the above conclusion.

Antipyretic Effect of Herba Ephedrae-Ramulus Cinnamomi Herb Pair on Yeast-Induced Pyrexia Rats: A Metabolomics Study / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the antipyretic mechanism of Herba Ephedrae (Eph)-Ramulus Cinnamomi (RC) herb pair on yeast-induced pyrexia in rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 30 qualified male SD rats were randomly assigned to the normal control (NC) group, the pyrexia model (model) group, the Eph, RC and Eph-RC treatment groups by a random digital table, 6 rats in each group. Each rat received a 20% aqueous suspension of yeast (10 mL/kg) except the NC group. The 3 treatment groups were administered 8.1, 5.4 and 13.5 g/kg Eph, RC and Eph-RC respectively at 5 and 12 h after yeast injection, the NC group and the model groups were administered equal volume of distilled water. Rectal temperatures were measured at 0, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 24 and 30 h and urine was collected prior to yeast injection and at 6, 10, 18, 24, 30, and 36 h after yeast injection. Then urine metabolomic profiling by gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, coupled with multivariate statistical analysis and pattern recognition techniques were used to explore the antipyretic effects of Eph-RC. Partial least squares discriminate analysis was used to analyze the metabolomics dataset including classification and regression in metabolomics plot profiling.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the NC group, rectal temperatures were significantly higher in the model group (P<0.01), while 3 treatment groups decreased significantly compared with the model group (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Rectal temperatures of Eph-RC-treated rats started to go down at 6 h, and markedly decreased at 8, 12, 15, 18 and 24 h (P<0.05 or P<0.01), while those of the Eph and RC groups had decreased firstly at 8 h and were markedly lower at 12 h (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Seventeen potential biomarkers related to pyrexia were confirmed and identified, including pyruvic acid, L-phenylalanine, L-tyrosine, phenylacetic acid, hippuric acid, succinic acid, citrate and so on. Eight potential alterations of metabolic pathways including phenylalanine metabolism, citrate cycle, tryptophan metabolism, biosynthesis of valine, leucine and isoleucine, were identified in relation to the antipyretic effects of Eph-RC using MetPA software.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The antipyretic effect of Eph-RC herb pair on yeast-induced pyrexia in rats involved correction of perturbed amino acid, fatty acid, and carbohydrate metabolism according to the metabolic pathway analysis with MetPA.</p>

Effects of L-borneol on chloride channel and cell volume in human umbilical vein endothelial cells / 中国药理学通报

Aim To study the effects of L-borneol on the chloride channel and cell volume of human umbili-cal vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Methods Whole-cell patch-clamp technique was used to record chloride currents. The expression of ClC-3 protein was down-regulated by siRNA interference technique. The cell volume was measured by dynamic image analysis. Results 20 nmol·L-1L-borneol significantly activa-ted chloride current in HUVEC (79.59 ± 4.90) pA/pF, which could be inhibited by chloride channel blockers,NPPB and DIDS. The outward current inhib-itory rate of NPPB was (95.57 ± 2.57)%, while that of DIDS was (97.28 ± 6.36)%. The chloride current activated by L-borneol significantly decreased after the silence of ClC-3 (27.03 ± 3.89) pA/pF. Cell volume was markedly reduced by L-borneol (14.38 ± 1.58)%,which was inhibited after NPPB appliance. Conclusion L-borneol can activate ClC-3 chloride channel in HUVECs, which induces Cl- outflow then cell volume decrease.

Curcumin ameliorates myocardial fibrosis via TGF-β/Smads signaling pathway in diabetic rats / 中国药理学通报

Aim To investigate the role of TGF-β/Smads signaling pathway in the improvement of myo-cardial fibrosis in diabetes mellitus by curcumin. Methods A model of type 2 diabetes mellitus was in-duced by intraperitoneal injection of small dose of streptozotocin (STZ) 35 mg·kg-1with a high glucose and high fat diet, and then intervened by drinking of 300 mg·kg·d-1curcumin. The expression of myo-cardial collagen in rats was detected by Sirius red stai-ning. The expressions of Collange I and Collagen III in myocardium of rats were detected by immunofluores-cence. Cardiac fibroblasts(CFs) in neonatal rats were stimulated by different concentrations of glucose(5.5, 20,25, 30, 35, 50 mmol·L-1) for 24 h to deter-mine the optimum concentration of high glucose model, and rat CFs were stimulated for 24 h by 30 mmol·L-1 high glucose plus different concentrations of curcumin (10,25,50,100,200 μmol·L-1) to determine the optimal concentration of curcumin. The expressions of type Ⅰ and Ⅲ collagen,TGF-β1,p-Smad2,Smad2, p-Smad3,Smad3 and TβR-Ⅲin CFs were detected by Western blot. Results Compared with the control rats,the collagen deposition in the myocardium of the diabetic rats was more obvious and the expression of Collagen Ⅰ and Collagen Ⅲ significantly increased. After treatment of curcumin,the collagen deposition in the myocardium and the expression of Collagen I and CollagenⅢof diabetic rats remarkably decreased. The CFs under the condition of 30 mmol·L-1high glucose and 24 h had the highest survival rate (P <0.05);10μmol·L-1curcumin could obviously inhibit the proliferation of myocardial fibroblasts induced by high glucose (P<0.05). After induced by 30 mmol·L-1 high glucose for 24 h, the expression of Collagen Ⅰand Collagen Ⅲ, TGF-β1, p-Smad2, Smad2, p-Smad3,Smad3 and TβR-Ⅲ proteins in CFs markedly increased(P <0.05), and the expression levels of these proteins were obviously reduced when treated with 25 μmol·L-1curcumin. Conclusion Curcumin could ameliorate myocardial fibrosis in diabetic rats through TGF-β/Smads signaling pathway, exerting the protective effect on myocardium in diabetic rats.

Effects of PI3K/Akt-eNOS signaling pathway on total flavones in Clematis filamentosa post-conditioning alleviated of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats / 中国中药杂志

The aim of this paper was to study the effect of total flavones of Clematis filamentosa Dunn(TFCD) post-conditioning against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) and the role of PI3K/Akt-eNOS signaling pathway. Forty male SD rats were divided randomly into five groups: Sham group, model group (I/R), TFCD post-conditioning group (TFCD), TFCD post-condition-ing+LY294002 (a PI3K/Akt signaling pathway inhibitor) group (TFCD+LY), and LY294002 group (LY). At the end of reperfusion, hemodynamic parameters were recorded, morphology changes of myocardial tissue were evaluated by using HE staining, and myocardial infarct size were observed, blood samples were obtained to determine plasma activation of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK) nitric oxide (NO), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), maleic dialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px). The expressions of Akt, p-Akt, eNOS and p-eNOS proteins were assessed by using Western blot, and eNOS and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA was measured by RT-PCR. The results showed that, compared with the model group, TFCD post-conditioning remarkably improved hemodynamics function and myocardial structure, reduced myocardial infarct size and enhanced the contents of NO, eNOS, SOD and GSH-Px, and decreased the contents of LDH, CK and MDA, increased the levels of phosphorylation of Akt and eNOS protein expression, eNOS and iNOS mRNA expression significantly(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01). These effects were inhibited by LY294002, a blocker of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. The above experiments indicated that TFCD post-conditioning could significantly reduce MIRI in rats, the mechanism of which may be associated with increasing antioxidation, scavenging oxygen free radicals, regulating NO generation and activating PI3K/Akt-eNOS signaling pathway.

Sinapic Acid Derivatives as Potential Anti-Inflammatory Agents: Synthesis and Biological Evaluation.

Transcription factor NF-κB and relevant cytokines IL-6 and IL-8 play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of inflammation. Sinapic acid is a natural product and was demonstrated to possess anti-inflammatory activity. In this paper, we synthesized a series of sinapic acid derivatives and evaluated their anti-inflammatory effects. The result suggested that all of the targets compounds 7a-j inhibit NF-κB activation and decrease IL-6 and IL-8 expression in BEAS-2B cells. By our biological assays, we found that all of the prepared compounds displayed stronger anti-inflammatory activities than their precursor sinapic acid. Especially, compounds 7g and 7i, with electron-drawing groups (nitro and fluoro moieties) in the benzimidazole ring, exhibited remarkable anti-inflammation activity, which was even stronger than the reference drug dexamethasone.

Effect of ligustrazine on cardiac inflammation in rats with type 2 diabetes mellitus / 中国病理生理杂志

AIM: To study the effect of ligustrazine on the cardiacmyocyte lesion in rats with type 2 diabetes mellitus.METHODS: Male Wistar rats were injected with STZ via tail vein under high-glucose and high-fat feeding for 4 weeks to establish the animal model of type 2 diabetes mellitus.Ligustrazine at different doses was used to treat the diabetic rats.The body weight, blood glucose and the morphology of heart tissues were observed.The myocardial levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α were detected by ELISA, and the protein expression of IKKβ and NF-κB in the myocardium was determined by Westeren blotting.RESULTS: Ligustrazine at high dose alleviated the body weight reduction and blood glucose elevation cause by diabetes, and reduced pro-inflammatory factors IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-6.Moreover, the protein expression of IKKβ and NF-κB was significant decreased by ligustrazine.CONCLUSION: Ligustrazine inhibits the myocardial inflammation caused by diabetes through anti-inflammatory pathway.

Determination of Berberine Hydrochloride and Curcumine in Shangke Dieda Paste by HPLC / 中国药师

Objective: To establish a method for the determination of curcumine and berberine hydrochloride in Shangke Dieda paste. Methods:An HPLC method was adopted to determine the content of curcumine and berberine hydrochloride in Shangke Dieda paste. For curcumine, the column was InertSutain C18 (250 mm × 4. 6 mm,5 μm); the mobile phase was acetonitrile and 4% acetic acid solution (44 ∶56);the flow rate was 1. 0 ml·min-1;the column temperature was 25℃;the detection wavelength was 430 nm;the sample size was 10μl. For berberine hydrochloride, the column was InertSutain C18 (250 mm × 4. 6 mm,5μm);the mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile-0. 1% phosphoric acid (44 ∶56, 0. 2 g dodecyl sodium sulfate was added to 100 ml solution); the flow rate was 1. 0 ml·min-1;the column temperature was 25℃ ;the detection wavelength was 345 nm;the sample size was 10 μl. Results:A good linear correlation was obtained within the range of 0.01-0.50 μg (r =0.999 3) for curcumin and 0.02-0.16 μg(r =0. 999 9) for berberine hydrochloride. The average recovery was 101. 03% with RSD of 1. 75% for curcumin and 99. 20% with RSD of 0. 64% for berberine hydrochloride (n=9). Conclusion:The established method is simple, accurate, sensitive and specific, which can be used for the quality control of Shangke Dieda paste.

Spinal fixed-point rotating reduction in treating lumbar disc herniation by three-dimensional MRI / 中国骨伤

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe three-dimensional space position change of nucleus pulposus and nerve root before and after treatment of lumbar disc herniation by spinal fixed-point rotating reduction, and explore the mechanisms.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 52 patients with L5S1 lumbar disc hernation treated by spinal fixed-point rotating reduction were collected from April 2009 to June 2011. There were 33 males and 19 females with an average age of 34.6 years old (ranged, 19 to 55). Three-dimensional MRI were performed to observe relationship between nucleus pulposus and related nerve root,configuration change of spine and pelvic on coronary MRI.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>MRI showed relationship between nucleus pulposus and related nerve root mainly located on axillary, shoulder, front and surround. Vertebral displacement disappeared, lumbocrural pain alleviated after manipulative therapy. All patients were followed up from 2 to 28 months with an average of 12 months, and no recurred. All patients recovered work. Nucleus pulposus had no change,while lumbral spinal and pelvic curve changed before and after admission.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Lumbar disc herniation combined with single (multiple) vertebral displacement,can cause biomechanical properties of nucleus puplosus and related nerve root, while spinal fixed-point rotating reduction can correct vertebral displacement, recover balance between inside and outside of spinal.</p>