Combination of paeoniflorin and calycosin-7-glucoside alleviates ischaemic stroke injury via the PI3K/AKT signalling pathway.

CONTEXT: Paeoniflorin (PF) and calycosin-7-glucoside (CG, Paeonia lactiflora Pall. extract) have demonstrated protective effects in ischaemic stroke. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the synergistic effects of PF + CG on ischaemia/reperfusion injury in vivo and in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to the middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R). After MCAO/R for 24 h, rats were randomly subdivided into 5 groups: sham, model (MCAO/R), study treatment (PF + CG, 40 + 20 mg/kg), LY294002 (20 mg/kg), and study treatment + LY294002. Males were given via intragastric administration; the duration of the in vivo experiment was 8 days. Neurologic deficits, cerebral infarction, brain edoema, and protein levels were assessed in vivo. Hippocampal neurons (HT22) were refreshed with glucose-free DMEM and placed in an anaerobic chamber for 8 h. Subsequently, HT22 cells were reoxygenated in a 37 °C incubator with 5% CO2 for 6 h. SOD, MDA, ROS, LDH and protein levels were measured in vitro. RESULTS: PF + CG significantly reduced neurobehavioral outcomes (21%), cerebral infarct volume (44%), brain edoema (1.6%) compared with the MCAO/R group. Moreover, PF + CG increased p-PI3K/PI3K (4.69%, 7.4%), p-AKT/AKT (6.25%, 60.6%) and Bcl-2/BAX (33%, 49%) expression in vivo and in vitro, and reduced GSK-3ß (10.5%, 9.6%) expression. In vitro, PF + CG suppressed apoptosis in HT22 cells and decreased ROS and MDA levels (20%, 50%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: PF + CG showed a synergistic protective effect against ischaemic brain injury, potentially being a future treatment for ischaemic stroke.

Pharmacokinetic Analysis of Huangqi Guizhi Wuwu Decoction on Blood and Brain Tissue in Rats with Normal and Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury by Microdialysis with HPLC-MS/MS.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of our research was to analyze and compare the pharmacokinetics of paeoniflorin, calycosin, calycosin-7-o-ß-d-6-glucoside, and 6-gingerol in the blood and brain tissue of normal and cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury rats by HPLC-MS/MS method. METHODS: The blood and brain tissue samples of normal and middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) rats were compared. The blood and brain tissue samples were collected by using microdialysis technique. The concentrations of paeoniflorin, calycosin, calycosin-7-o-ß-d-6-glucoside, and 6-gingerol in blood and brain tissues were determined by the HPLC-MS/MS internal standard method. RESULTS: Compared with the normal group, the model group after the administration of the Huangqi Guizhi Wuwu Decoction showed that Cmax blood, AUC0-t blood, and AUC0-inf blood of paeoniflorin were increased, CLblood, t1/2 brain, and Vbrain of paeoniflorin were decreased; Cmaxblood, AUC0-tblood, AUC0-infblood, and average residence time (MRTbrain) of calycosin-7-o-ß-d-6-glucoside were decreased and the CLblood and Cmax brain of calycosin-7-o-ß-d-6-glucoside were increased; Cmax blood of calycosin was decreased, Vblood and Vbrain of calycosin were increased; Cmax blood, AUC0-t blood, AUC0-inf blood, and MRTbrain of 6-gingerol were decreased, CLblood of 6-gingerol was increased. CONCLUSION: This method is simple, rapid, and sensitive. It is suitable for the pharmacokinetic study of Huangqi Guizhi Wuwu Decoction in the blood and brain tissue of rats. Cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury increased the content of paeoniflorin, calycosin, calycosin-7-o-ß-d-6-glucoside, and 6-gingerol in the blood, affecting the clearance rate of paeoniflorin in the brain, the detention time of calycosin-7-o-ß-d-6-glucoside and the 6-gingerol in the brain. In normal and cerebral ischemia-reperfusion rats, the content of paeoniflorin and 6-gingerol in the blood was higher than that in brain tissue, while the content of calycosin, calycosin-7-o-ß-d-6-glucoside in the brain tissue was higher than that in blood, suggesting that calycosin and calycosin-7-o-ß-d-6-glucoside have brain targeting properties.

A cross-sectional study of anxiety disorders in people aged 18 and over in Chifeng City / 中国心理卫生杂志

Objective:To describe the prevalence of anxiety disorders and distribution in Chifeng City,and explore the related risk factors and health service seeking.Methods:Individuals aged 18 years and over were sampled by stratified,probability-proportional-to-size sampling,randomized cluster sampling in Chifeng City through November,2010 to April,2011.All respondents were interviewed by trained interviewers face-to-face.The Composite International Diagnostic Interview-3.0 Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CIDI-3.0-CAPI) was used to diagnose anxiety disorders according to the criteria and definition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,Fourth Edition (DSM-Ⅳ).Single and multivariate analysis were applied to explore risk factors of anxiety disorder.Results:Totally 4528 subjects were interviewed with CIDI-3.0-CAPI.The 12-month prevalence rate of anxiety disorders was significantly higher in rural area than in urban area (4.62％ vs.2.61％,P ＜0.01).The rate was significantly higher in female than in male (4.92％ vs.2.82％,P ＜0.01).The rate was significantly higher in the unmarried,the divorced and the widowed than in the married (5.91％ vs.3.70％,P ＜0.01).Logistic regression analysis indicated that dwelling in urban areas and education level of 7-9 years were the protective factors of anxiety disorders,while being female,unmarried,divorced or widowed were the risk factors of anxiety disorders.It was found that only 3.1％ of the patients with anxiety disorders reported to seek help from psychiatrists.Conclusion:The anxiety disorder is a common mental disorder in Chifeng City,while few people with anxiety disorders seek mental health professionals.Therefore,it should be paid attentions to anxiety disorder,especially in rural area,women,and low educated people for enhancing mental health service and knowledge popularization.

Efficacy of glycyrrhizin combined with cyclosporine in the treatment of non-severe aplastic anemia / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Cyclosporine A (CsA) has been widely used in the treatment of aplastic anemia (AA), but the application of CsA was limited in patients who had liver diseases or abnormal liver function due to its liver toxicity. Glycyrrhizin has long been used in China in the treatment of various liver diseases to lower transaminases. In this study, we observed the efficacy and safety of glycyrrhizic acid combined with CsA in the treatment of newly diagnosed patients with non-severe AA (NSAA).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total number of 76 patients with newly diagnosed NSAA were enrolled into the study at our hospital between July 2005 and June 2010. The patients were divided randomly into two groups: the glycyrrhizin-treatment group (group A) and the control group (group B) with 38 patients in each group. All patients received 3 - 5 mg×kg(-1)×d(-1) CsA for at least 4 months and were treated either with or without glycyrrhizin for 4 months.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>sixty-eight patients were eligible for evaluation. In the control group, 9.09% patients (n = 3) achieved a complete response while 51.52% (n = 17) attained a partial response. The overall response rate was 60.61% (n = 20). The remaining 13 patients (39.39%) did not have any response. In the glycyrrhizin-treatment group, complete response rate was 20% (n = 7) and partial response rate was 62.86% (n = 22). The overall response rate was 82.86% (n = 29) and the non-response rate was 17.14% (n = 6). Response rate was significantly increased with the addition of glycyrrhizin to CsA compared with CsA alone (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The combination of glycyrrhizin and cyclosporine regimen was an effective treatment for NSAA in terms of improvement of response rate, reduction in CsA-related liver injury, and attenuation of severity of nausea and other adverse events in the treatment of patients with NSAA.</p>

EDM1: a novel point mutation in cartilage oligomeric matrix protein gene in a Chinese family with multiple epiphyseal dysplasia / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Multiple epiphysis dysplasia (MED) is a common skeletal dysplasia with a significant locus heterogeneity. In the majority of clinically defined cases, mutations have been identified in the gene encoding cartilage algometric matrix protein (COMP).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Five patients were included in the study. Linkage analysis and mutation analysis of the COMP gene were conducted in the patients and their family members.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>We have identified a novel mutation in axon 14 of COMP gene in the family.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>This mutation produced a severe MED phenotype with marked short stature, early onset osteoarthritis, and remarkable radiographic changes. Our results extended the range of disease-causing mutations in COMP gene and contributed more information about relationship between mutations and phenotype.</p>

Short reaction of C-peptide, glucagon-like peptide-1, ghrelin and endomorphin-1 for different style diet in type 2 diabetic patients / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Food composition and style is changing dramatically now, which causes inappropriate secretion of hormones from brain, gastrointestinal and endo-pancreas, may be related to unbalance of glucose in blood. The aim of this study was to explore the fast response of C-peptide, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), ghrelin and endomorphin-1 (EM-1) to the eastern and western style meals in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The study enrolled 57 patients with type 2 diabetes (20 men and 37 women, mean age (67.05 ± 8.26) years). Eastern style meal (meal A) and western style meal (meal B) were designed to produce the fullness effect. C-peptide, GLP-1, ghrelin and EM-1 were assessed before (0 hour) and after (2 hours) each diet.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The delta (2h - 0h) of C- peptide in meal A was significantly lower than that in meal B (P = 0.0004). C-peptide, GLP-1, ghrelin and EM-1 were obviously higher before meal B than those before meal A (P < 0.0001, < 0.0001, = 0.001, = 0.0004 respectively). Blood glucose 2 hours and 3 hours after meal B were higher than those after meal A (P = 0.0005, 0.0079 respectively). Correlations between GLP-1 and ghrelin were strongly positive before both meals and 2 hours after both meals and also in relation to the delta of meal A and meal B (r(A0h) = 0.7836, r(B0h) = 0.9368, r(A2h) = 0.7615, r(B2h) = 0.9409, r(A(2h-0h)) = 0.7531, r((2h-0h))B = 0.9980, respectively, P < 0.0001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Western style meal (high fat and protein food) could make more response of C-peptide than eastern style meal, and could stimulate more gut hormones (GLP-1, ghrelin) and brain peptide (EM-1) at the first phase of digestion.</p>