[Studies on the changes of chemical constituent in Inula nervosa during the processing].

OBJECTIVE: To research the changes of chemical constituent in Inula nervosa during the processing. METHOD: Inula nervosa processed with different conditions was determined by HPLC,with acetonitrile--water as a mobile phase using gradient elution, and the detective wavelength was 280 nm. The emerging compounds 1 was extracted by 50% ethanol, isolated and purified using chromatography, and identified according to the physicochemical properties and spectral analysis. RESULTS: The HPLC chromatogram of lnula nervosa changes before and after processing. A monomer compounds was isolated from processed Inula nervosa. It was Identified as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural. CONCLUSION: The chemical constituent of Inula nervosa changes during the processing. It is the first time that compound 1 were isolated from Inula.

[Evaluation on cardio-ankle vascular index derived from ultrasound].

OBJECTIVE: The cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) could be obtained by measuring pulse wave velocity (PWV) and blood pressure (BP). This method is associated with various technical drawbacks. We evaluated the accuracy and usefulness of CAVI measured by ultrasound via detecting the aortic and ankle flow directly by ultrasonic probe. METHODS: CAVI was determined in 96 subjects [64 male, mean age (41.2 +/- 8.9) years] who took part in the annual check up program in our department by means of the professional equipment (BP-203RPEII, VP-1000, Japan, CAVIp), the M-mode (CAVIm) and color Doppler flow imaging (CAVId). Measurement reproducibility on was obtained by repeat the measurements in 20 subjects choose randomly from the 96 subjects. Carotid ultrasound (CU) was performed to obtain intima-media thickness (IMT) and beta index in all subjects. RESULTS: CAVI obtained by various methods were similar and comparable (CAVIm 7.74 +/- 1.62, CAVId 7.77 +/- 1.59, CAVIp 8.74 +/- 1.57, all P > 0.05). Inter-group and inter-observer variance was negligible (r1 = 0.98, r2 = 0.97). There were also significant correlations between CAVIm and IMT, CAVIm and beta (r1 = 0.824, r2 = 0.812, all P < 0.01), and between CAVId and IMT, CAVId and beta (r1 = 0.815, r2 = 0.813, all P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: CAVI could be correctly measured by ultrasound technique.

[Effects of hepatocyte growth factor gene transfer in combination with echocardiographic destruction of microbubbles in a rat model of experimental myocardial infarction.].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether ultrasonic microbubble destruction (US/MB) could enhance the therapeutic effects of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene transfer for acute myocardial infarction (MI). METHODS: MI was induced by left anterior descending artery ligation in male SD rats. Two to 4 hours thereafter, MI rats were randomly treated with tail vein infusing pc-DNA3.1-HGF plasmid mixed with microbubbles (US/MB-HGF group, n = 18); tail vein infusing pc-DNA3.1-HGF plasmid mixed with saline (US-HGF group, n = 18); tail vein infusing empty plasmid mixed with microbubbles (US/MB-P group, n = 18). All rats were exposed to ultrasound treatment thereafter till contrast imaging disappeared in cardiac region. Rats were sacrificed at 24 hours, 7 days or 14 days, respectively (n = 6 each) and myocardial protein expression of bcl-2 and HGF as well as microvascular density (MVD) were determined. RESULTS: The myocardial protein expressions of bcl-2 and HGF in US/MB-HGF group were significantly higher than those in US-HGF and US/MB-P groups at 7 days post MI (all P < 0.01) and MVD was significantly higher in US/MB-HGF group (367.6 +/- 17.6) than that in US-HGF (268.9 +/- 0.8) and US/MB-P (186.8 +/- 11.8) groups (all P < 0.05) at 14 days post MI. CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound-mediated microbubble destruction could enhance systemic HGF administration induced myocardial angiogenesis and reduce systemic HGF administration induced myocardial apoptosis in rats with acute MI.