Overexpression of suppressors of cytokine signaling 1 regulate the proliferation and differentiation of rat-derived neural stem cells.

Neural stem cells are a reliable resource in various neural tissue repair and neurodegenerative diseases. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that Suppressor of cytokine signaling proteins (SOCS) was involved in the nervous system development. The universality and diversity of SOCS also suggested their important roles in neurogenesis and nerve regeneration. In this study, we employed a lentiviral vector to investigate the impacts of overexpression SOCS1 on the proliferation and differentiation of rat-derived NSCs. Cells infected with LV-EGFP-SOCS1 showed a prominent increased cell number, diameter, and metabolic activity compared with other groups. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed the proportion of cells positive for microtubule associated protein-2 (MAP2) or myelin basic protein (MBP) was significantly increased in LV-EGFP-SOCS1 group while the proportion of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive cells in LV-EGFP-SOCS1 group was significantly decreased compare to LV-EGFP and PBS group. Moreover, Western blot results were consistent with immunofluorescence results which indicated that overexpression of SOCS1 could promote neuronal and oligodendrocyte differentiations of NSCs but inhibit astrocyte differentiation of NSCs. In conclusion, our findings provided evidence that SOCS1 could promote the proliferation of NSCs and affect the differentiation of NSCs, providing a potential target for NSCs transplantation strategies.

Efficacy observation of treating early and midterm chronic renal failure patients by qi supplementing, collateral dredging, detoxifying, and turbidity descending recipe combined with basic methods of Western medicine / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe therapeutic efficacy of treating early and midterm chronic renal failure (CRF) patients by qi supplementing, collateral dredging, detoxifying, and turbidity descending recipe (QSCDDTDR) combined with basic methods of Western medicine (WM).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 160 early and midterm CRF patients were recruited from Hebei Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hebei Medical University from January 2007 to December 2011. They were randomly assigned to the treatment group and the control group, 80 in each group. On the basis of basic treatment of WM, QSCDDTDR was given to patients in the treatment group, while niaoduqing granule (NDQG) was given to those in the control group. After 12 months of treatment, the therapeutic efficacy, Chinese medicine (CM) symptom scores, serum creatinine (SCr), blood urine nitrogen (BUN), 24 h urine protein quantitation, hemoglobin (Hb), and the occurrence of end-point events were observed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The total effective rate in the treatment group was 77.6% (28/76), obviously higher than that in the control group [(58.1%, 43/74), P < 0.05]. After treatment the CM syndrome scores obviously decreased in the treatment group (18.3 +/- 5.3), obviously lower than before treatment (26.0 +/- 4.4) and the control group (22.4 +/- 4.9) (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The levels of SCr, BUN, and 24 h urine protein quantitation were (169.1 +/- 22.6) micromol/L, (10.4 +/- 2.0) mmol/L, (861.4 +/- 232.7) mg/24 h, respectively, in the treatment group after treatment, which were lower than before treatment [(204.1 +/- 27.7) micromol/L, (13.2 +/- 3.2) mmol/L, (1 287.5 +/- 442.3) mg/24 h, P < 0.01). The aforesaid indices were also improved in the control group after treatment (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The decrease in SCr, BUN, and 24 h urine protein quantitation after treatment was more obviously in the treatment group than in the control group [(185.8 +/- 23.9) micromol/L, (11.2 +/- 2.5) mmol/L, (1014.5 +/- 301.7) mg/24 h; P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The incidence rate of the end-point events was 10.53% (8/76) in the treatment group and 13.51% (10/74) in the control group, but with no statistical difference.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>QSCDDTDR combined with basic methods of WM showed better therapeutic efficacy in improving the renal function and reducing the level of urinary protein of the early and midterm CRF patients.</p>