ABSTRACT
The international cooperated research projects of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) and Metagenomics of The Human Intestinal Tract (MetaHIT) were officially launched in 2007, which indicated the era of metagenomics research of microorganisms in human gastrointestinal tract had been coming. Each human body is a superorganism which is composed of 90% commensal microorganisms, especially the intestinal microorganisms. The intestinal microorganisms play an important role on health maintenance since they are involved in the absorption and metabolism of nutrients in the human bodies. Herein, we review the research progress in the mechanism of intestinal microorganisms in human diseases. Our purpose is to provide novel ideas on human health and therapeutic targets of diseases.
ABSTRACT
A large number and wide varieties of microorganisms colonize in the human gastrointestinal tract. They construct an intestinal microecological system in the intestinal environment. The intestinal symbiotic flora regulates a series of life actions, including digestion and absorption of nutrient, immune response, biological antagonism, and is closely associated with the occurrence and development of many diseases. Therefore, it is greatly essential for the host's health status to maintain the equilibrium of intestinal microecological environment. After effective compositions of traditional Chinese medicines are metabolized or biotransformed by human intestinal bacteria, their metabolites can be absorbed more easily, and can even decrease or increase toxicity and then exhibit significant different biological effects. Meanwhile, traditional Chinese medicines can also regulate the composition of the intestinal flora and protect the function of intestinal mucosal barrier to restore the homeostasis of intestinal microecology. The relevant literatures in recent 15 years about the interactive relationship between traditional Chinese medicines and gut microbiota have been collected in this review, in order to study the classification of gut microflora, the relationship between intestinal dysbacteriosis and diseases, the important roles of gut microflora in intestinal bacterial metabolism in effective ingredients of traditional Chinese medicines and bioactivities, as well as the modulation effects of Chinese medicine on intestinal dysbacteriosis. In addition, it also makes a future prospect for the research strategies to study the mechanism of action of traditional Chinese medicines based on multi-omics techniques.
ABSTRACT
In the post-genomic era, biological studies are characterized by the rapid development and wide application of a series of "omics" technologies, including genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, lipidomics, cytomics, metallomics, ionomics, interactomics, and phenomics. These "omics" are often based on global analyses of biological samples using high through-put analytical approaches and bioinformatics and may provide new insights into biological phenomena. In this paper, the development and advances in these omics made in the past decades are reviewed, especially genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics; the applications of omics technologies in pharmaceutical research are then summarized in the fields of drug target discovery, toxicity evaluation, personalized medicine, and traditional Chinese medicine; and finally, the limitations of omics are discussed, along with the future challenges associated with the multi-omics data processing, dynamics omics analysis, and analytical approaches, as well as amenable solutions and future prospects.
Subject(s)
Biomedical Research , Methods , Gene Expression Profiling , Genomics , Metabolomics , Pharmacology , ProteomicsABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To investigate the stability and repeatability of electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) for beta-hCG detection in embryo spent culture media. To evaluate the correlation between the viability of preimplantation embryo and beta-hCG profile by the new assay. METHODS: In a retrospective study, a total of 357 spent culture media from day1 to day5 were individually collected and quantified by ECLIA. The blank controls and reliability test were performed with normal saline/pure culture media. RESULTS: 1) There was no detectable amount of beta-hCG in blank controls. A high degree of linearity (R(2) = 0.995) was found in this study; intra-assay and inter-assay coefficient of variation were 4.87 % and 6.25 %. 2) A significantly higher concentration of beta-hCG was found at day5 group than it at day3 group, both in total samples (1.47 ± 0.68mIU/ml vs 0.55 ± 0.32mIU/ml) and in homologous embryo samples (1.43 ± 0.91mIU/ml vs 0.52 ± 0.23mIU/ml). 3) There was a positive correlation between beta-hCG concentration and implantation rate (r = 0.559 at day3 and 0.535 at day5) or blastocyst morphological grading (r = 0.411). CONCLUSIONS: ECLIA may be an optimal choice for detecting beta-hCG in spent culture media to assess embryo viability, indicating secreted beta-hCG as a useful biomarker for embryo selection in IVF-ET procedure.
