Explorating the mechanism of Huangqin Tang against skin lipid accumulation through network pharmacology and experimental validation.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Huangqin Tang (HQT), a famous prescription with the effect of clearing pathogenic heat and detoxifying, was first recorded in "Treatise on Typhoid and Miscellaneous Diseases". It has proved that HQT has good anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects and can improve acne symptoms clinically. However, the study on the regulation of HQT on sebum secretion which is one of the inducements of acne is not enough. AIM OF THE STUDY: This paper aimed to investigate the mechanisms of HQT in the treatment of skin lipid accumulation by network pharmacology and validating the results via in vitro experiments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Network pharmacology was employed to predict the potential targets of HQT against sebum accumulation. Then, the palmitic acid (PA)-induced SZ95 cell model was established to evaluate the effect of HQT on lipid accumulation and anti-inflammation, and the core pathways predicted by network pharmacology were verified in cell studies. RESULTS: 336 chemical compounds and 368 targets in HQT were obtained by network pharmacology, of which 65 targets were related to sebum synthesis. 12 core genes were revealed by protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment results suggested that AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway might play a crucial role in regulating lipogenesis. In vitro experiments, HQT suppressed lipid accumulation, downregulated the expressions of sterol-regulatory element binding protein-1 (SREBP-1) and fatty acid synthase (FAS), and upregulated AMPK phosphorylation. Furthermore, AMPK inhibitor reversed HQT-mediated sebosuppressive effect. CONCLUSION: The results disclosed that HQT ameliorates lipogenesis in PA-induced SZ95 sebocytes partially through the AMPK signaling pathway.

Hydrolyzed Conchiolin Protein (HCP) Extracted from Pearls Antagonizes both ET-1 and α-MSH for Skin Whitening.

Pearl powder is a famous traditional Chinese medicine that has a long history in treating palpitations, insomnia, convulsions, epilepsy, ulcers, and skin lightining. Recently, several studies have demonstrated the effects of pearl extracts on protection of ultraviolet A (UVA) induced irritation on human skin fibroblasts and inhibition of melanin genesis on B16F10 mouse melanoma cells. To further explore the effect we focused on the whitening efficacy of pearl hydrolyzed conchiolin protein (HCP) on human melanoma MNT-1 cells under the irritation of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) or endothelin 1 (ET-1) to evaluate the intracellular tyrosinase and melanin contents, as well as the expression levels of tyrosinase (TYR), tyrosinase related protein 1 (TRP-1), and dopachrome tautomerase (DCT) genes and related proteins. We found that HCP could decrease the intracellular melanin content by reducing the activity of intracellular tyrosinase and inhibiting the expression of TYR, TRP-1, DCT genes and proteins. At the same time, the effect of HCP on melanosome transfer effect was also investigated in the co-culture system of immortalized human keratinocyte HaCaT cells with MNT-1. The result indicated that HCP could promote the transfer of melanosomes in MNT-1 melanocytes to HaCaT cells, which might accelerate the skin whitening process by quickly transferring and metabolizing melanosomes during keratinocyte differentiation. Further study is needed to explore the mechanism of melanosome transfer with depigmentation.

Diagnostic Value of Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Detecting Residual or Recurrent Prostate Cancer After Radical Prostatectomy: A Pooled Analysis of 12 Individual Studies.

The objective of this study is to determine the diagnostic value of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) in patients with recurrent or residual prostate cancer (PCa) after radical prostatectomy. Studies were systematically searched in the PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, SCI, CBM, CNKI, VIP, Wan Fang, and other databases. Additional studies were manually searched using the references of the retrieved articles. The retrieved deadline was Sep. 6th, 2014. Selection of eligible studies for inclusion was based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the quality of the studies was reviewed based on the QUADAS criteria. The Meta Disc 1.4 and Stata 12.1 software were used for meta-analysis, and a summary receiver operating characteristic curve was constructed. The patient-based pooled weighted estimates of the sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odds ratio, and 95 % confidence interval were calculated. Seven articles (12 studies) were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled estimates of the sensitivity, specificity, and the area under the curve were 0.88 (95 % CI 0.84-0.91), 0.87 (95 % CI  0.81-0.92), and 0.9391, respectively. The diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) was 50.4 (95 % CI 26.0-97.6) and Q* was 0.8764. DCE-MRI has high sensitivity and specificity in the evaluation of locally recurrent or residual PCa after radical prostatectomy.