Salvianolic acid B protects against acute and chronic liver injury by inhibiting Smad2C/L phosphorylation.

Salvianolic acid B (Sal B) has strong antioxidant and anti-fibrosis effects, which are related to the transforming growth factor ß/Smad signaling pathway. However, how Sal B affects this antioxidant pathway and the phosphorylation (p-) of Smad2 at both the COOH-terminal (pSmad2C) and linker region (pSmad2L) are unknown. The aims of the present study were to investigate the underlying mechanisms of Sal B on acute and chronic liver injury induced by CCl4 and H2O2, and its effects on p-Smad2C/L. In in vivo experiments, acute and chronic liver injury models were induced by CCl4, and the oxidative damage cell model was established in vitro with H2O2. Liver histopathology was assessed using hematoxylin and eosin and Van Gieson's staining. Moreover, serum biochemical indicators were analyzed using specific assay kits. Furthermore, the present study evaluated the oxidant/antioxidant status in acute and chronic liver injury models by oxidative stress parameters such as malondialdehyde, glutathione and superoxide dismutase. In addition, western blot analysis was performed to analyze the protein expression levels of pSmad2C, pSmad2L, nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). It was found that Sal B improved liver histology, decreased the levels of aminotransferase and attenuated oxidative stress in acute and chronic liver injury models. Additionally, the protein expression levels of pSmad2C and pSmad2L were decreased, but Nrf2 and HO-1 expression levels were increased both in vivo and in vitro. Collectively, the present results suggested that Sal B may protect against acute and chronic liver injury via inhibition of Smad2C/L phosphorylation, and the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway may play an important role in this process.

Raman Spectroscopic Study of the Structure of CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-Based Flux.

Due to the [Al] reaction with the CaO-SiO2-based mold flux used in the high-Al steels continuous casting processes, decreasing the SiO2 content is decreased and the Al2O3 content in mold flux is increased, thus converting the original CaO-SiO2-based mold flux into a CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-based mold flux. This conversion of the mold fluxes can cause the problem of high-Al steels continuous casting. Hence, study on the structural characteristics of the CaO-SiO2-Al2O3- based mold flux can provide fundamental data to design optimum fluxes for high Al-containing steels. In this paper, the structural characteristics of the CaO-SiO2-based and CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-based flux were studied by Raman spectroscopy. The results have shown that, the CaO-SiO2-based flux was the silicate structure whose main micro-structure units were Q0, Q1, Q2 and Q3. The network breakers prefer to depolymerize the silicate network in CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-based flux. While the CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-based flux with low SiO2 content, the [AlO4] tetrahedron was entered the silicate network and the melt converted into the aluminosilicates structure, the formation of Al-O-Al linkages and Si-O-Al linkages increased the degree of disorder of network. The results of Li2O replace Na2O and CaO replace MgO have shown that the ions will influence the formation of [AlO4] tetrahedron linkages. CaF2 replace CaO shown that the polymerization degree of mold slag decreased first, and then increased with the content of CaF2 more than 13 mol%. So, the influences of the ions type and the ions content on the structure were both need considered while designing the CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-based flux.

[Standard uptake value of 18F-fluorine-2-deoxyglucose is correlated with the expression of estrogen receptor in duct carcinoma of breast].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between the standard uptake value (SUV) of 18F-fluorine-2-deoxyglucose (18F-FDG) and the expression of estrogen receptor (ER) in duct carcinoma of breast, as well as their correlation. METHODS: From March 2004 to November 2006, PET/CT scans were performed to 41 patients (female, mean age (55.2 +/- 9.55) years) with duct carcinoma of breast. All of the diagnoses were proved by pathology and immunohistochemical ER assays. The SUVs were calculated. RESULTS: ER positive patients comprised 43.9% of the 41 patients. The mean age of ER positive patients was (60.20 +/- 9.34) years, older than the ER negative patients ((50.32 +/- 9.33) years, P = 0.012). The SUV in the ER positive patients (2.76 +/- 1.34) was significantly less than in the ER negative patients (5.84 +/- 2.90, P = 0 004). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) by FDG SUV for ER demonstrated that the area under curves reached 0.801 +/- 0.075, with significant implications on the expression of estrogen receptor (P = 0.002); The cut point of FDG SUV for ER was 3.135, with sensitivity of 72.2% and specificity of 73.9%. CONCLUSION: 18F-FDG SUV is significantly correlated with the expression of ER. We propose 3.135 as a threshold of SUV for the indication of expression of ER in duct carcinoma of breast.

[Preliminarily experimental study on biological properties of 153Sm-citrate-nano-Hydroxyapatite].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the biological character of new agent 153Sm-citrate-nano-Hydroxyapatite (nano-HA) in vitro and in vivo, and to explore a new radiopharmaceutical for the target therapy of bone metastasis cancer. METHODS: The nano-HA was synthesized by collosol-gelatum method, and evaluated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). 153Sm was produced at a high specific activity and excellent radionuclidic purity, with which nano-HA was labeled by citrate transfer ligands in the best environment. By adopting the independent variable method, we also studied the optimally labeled condition and stability of 153Sm-citrate-nano-HA in vitro. And 153Sm-citrate-nano-HA was injected into normal rabbits for radio scanning performed. The cancer cell SMMC-7721 and MCF-7 cell lines were divided into two groups, and treated with nano-HA, 153Sm-citrate and 153Sm-citrate-nano-HA in vitro respectively, of which the cell survival rate was measured by MTT methods. RESULTS: Through the detections of TEM, XRD showed that nano-HA consisted of needle-like microcrystals. The label rate of 153Sm-citrate-nano-HA was more than 95%, and extremely stable in vitro. The radio scanning of normal rabbits showed the skeletal system to be clear, and other systems, for example liver, spleen and kidney, could also be seen. The cell culture experiments in vitro indicated that 153Sm-citrate-nano-HA strongly inhibited the proliferation of SMMC-7721 and MCF-7 cells. 153Sm-citrate-nano-HA's half effective inhibition concentrations were 1.89 mg/L and 0.094 mg/L respectively; nano-HA's half effective inhibition concentrations were 3. 31 mg/L and 0.52 mg/L respectively; 153Sm-citrate's half effective inhibition concentrations were 4. 32 mg/L and 0. 67 mg/L respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Sm-citrate-nano-HA shows fine biological properties, and is well worth for further researched and prepared as a promising potential radiopharmaceutical in nuclidic treatment for cancer bone metastases.