Promoting effect of the Maillard reaction products produced during the stir-frying process of Hordei Fructus Germinatus on the intestinal absorption of active ingredients in Hordei Fructus Germinatus.

This study was designed to evaluate the absorption promoting capacity of Maillard Reaction Products (MRPs) produced during the stir-frying process of Hordei Fructus Germinatus on catechin, ferulic acid, quercetin and kaempferol by the ex vivo rat everted gut sac model, in situ single-pass intestinal perfusion model and the whole animal model. Moreover, verapamil, EDTA and mannitol were used for determining the transport mechanism of catechin, ferulic acid, quercetin and kaempferol. The tight junction (TJ) proteins including zonula occudens-1(ZO-1) and claudin-1 were chosen to investigate the promoting mechanism of MRPs by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blot analyses. The results showed that the MRPs produced during the stir-frying process of Hordei Fructus Germinatus could improve the intestinal absorption of catechin, ferulic acid, quercetin and kaempferol. And the absorption-promoting effect of MRPs was related to chelating effect and the reduced expression of claudin-1 and ZO-1. Our results suggested that MRPs could be promising oral absorption promoters, which might be another processing mechanism of Hordei Fructus Germinatus.

[Establishment of near-infrared on-line monitoring model and determination of endpoint in frying process of Hordei Fructus Germinatus].

Hordei Fructus Germinatus has been always used by "stir-frying" as a traditional medicine and the endpoint judgment of "fragrant" and "yellow" has been the focus and difficulty in frying process research. In this study, a quantitative calibration model between index components and NIRS was established in order to rapidly detect the contents of reducing sugar, total amino acids, total flavonoids, A420 and moisture; besides, an endpoint judgment method of frying process was put forward based on the "component change rate". Near-infrared spectra of samples with different frying time were collected, and a quantitative analysis model based on near-infrared spectroscopy was established to optimize the parameters such as spectral pretreatment and modeling band. HCA and PLS-DA were used to study the relationship between component and "stir-frying", and the endpoint of frying process was determined. The established calibration model had a good performance that the correlation coefficients between the predicted results and the actual measured values were both more than 0.9, with predicted relative deviations less than 10%. Hordei Fructus Germinatus with different frying time was divided into 4 categories by HCA analysis. PLS-DA analysis showed that total reducing sugar had a significant contribution to distinguishing the Hordei Fructus Germinatus of different frying time. When the change rate of total reducing sugar was 80%, it could judge that the endpoint of frying had been obtained. Results showed that NIRS could not only quickly and accurately determine the contents of reducing sugar, total amino acid, total flavonoid, A420 and moisture in Hordei Fructus Germinatus samples of different frying time, but also judge the endpoint of frying in the process. This study provided a new method for the evaluation and endpoint judgment of "stir-frying" process in research of traditional Chinese medicine.

Uterine Leiomyomas: Safety and Efficacy of US-guided Suprapubic Transvaginal Radiofrequency Ablation at 1-year Follow-up.

Purpose To assess the safety and efficacy of ultrasonography (US)-guided suprapubic transvaginal (ST) radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in the treatment of symptomatic uterine leiomyomas at 1-year follow-up. Materials and Methods The institutional review board approved this prospective study, and all patients provided informed consent. ST RFA was performed as an outpatient procedure 3 days after menstruation in 51 women (age range, 32-52 years; mean age, 42.2 years) with 62 leiomyomas. The leiomyomas were assessed with conventional and contrast material-enhanced US before and after ST RFA for leiomyoma size, location, and blood flow. All patients were evaluated for postoperative complications, including abdominal pain, injury to surrounding tissues and organs, vaginal bleeding, increased vaginal discharge, fever, dyspnea, and menorrhagia, after ST RFA and at follow-up visits. The leiomyoma volumes, improvement in leiomyoma-related symptoms, effect on quality of life (QOL), and patient satisfaction were assessed and compared before and after ST RFA and at follow-up visits by using statistical analyses. Results Sixty-two leiomyomas were successfully treated with ST RFA until 90% of the leiomyoma was echogenic. At 1-month follow-up, 46 (74%) leiomyomas had no contrast enhancement, five (8%) had peripheral enhancement, eight (13%) had focal enhancement, and three (5%) had scattered enhancement at contrast-enhanced US. At 6-month follow-up, the number of leiomyomas that had no enhancement, peripheral enhancement, focal enhancement, or scattered enhancement was 43 (69%), seven (11%), nine (15%), and three (5%), respectively. The leiomyoma volumes were significantly (P < .05) reduced at 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up (from 33.0 cm(3) ± 25.1 [standard deviation] before treatment to 6.8 cm(3) ± 7.7 at 12-month follow-up). The mean percentage volume reduction at 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up was 28%, 57%, 63%, and 78%, respectively. The scores for symptoms and QOL were all significantly improved (P < .05) at follow-up, going from 45 ± 14 and 65 ± 41, respectively, before treatment to 0 and 100, respectively, at 12-month follow-up. No complications were reported during the periprocedural period or throughout follow-up. Most patients (41 of 45) were satisfied. Conclusion ST RFA may be an effective and safe alternative in the treatment of uterine leiomyomas. (©) RSNA, 2015 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

[Dynamic change rules of active ingredients and inactive ingredients from Fructus Hordei Germinatus with frying process].

It is not scientific to explain that fried Fructus Hordei Germinatus is more effective than row Fructus Hordei Germinatus in resolving food stagnation from the aspects of amylase, tricine and other "active ingredients". In the present experiment, the contents of active ingredients including quercetin, tricine, kaempferol, catechin, ferulic acid and inactive ingredients including 5-hydroxymethyl furfural, acrylamide in frying process were determined by HPLC. The dynamic change rules of active ingredient and inactive ingredients in the frying process were investigated by HCA, PCA and PLS-DA analysis. The results showed that the Fructus Hordei Germinatus samples with different frying temperatures were classified into 4 groups by HCA and PCA analysis. PLS-DA analysis showed that frying temperature mainly impacted the contents of inactive ingredients including 5-hydroxymethyl furfural and acrylamide, with less effects on the contents of active ingredients. Simultaneously, with the increase of time in frying process, the content of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural was significantly increased from 2 min and became stable at 16 min, while the content of acrylamide was increased continuously from 18 min. Based on the variation of the contents of various ingredients, samples at different frying time were classified into 5 groups. The results showed that the content changes of "inactive ingredients" were closely related to the duration and degree of frying process, and the dynamic change rules of "inactive ingredients" can provide scientific basis for evaluating the frying process and elucidating the efficacy mechanism of Fructus Hordei Germinatus.