Soluble polyvinylpyrrolidone-based microneedles loaded with Sanguis draconis and Salvia miltiorrhiza for treatment of diabetic wound healing.

BACKGROUND: Nowadays, diabetic wound healing remains a crucial challenge due to their protracted and uncertain healing process. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has demonstrated the therapeutic value of Sanguis draconis (SD)-Salvia miltiorrhiza (SMR) Herb Pair in diabetic wound healing. However, new administration modes are urgently needed for their convenient and wide-ranging applications. OBJECTIVE: We propose a soluble polyvinylpyrrolidone-based microneedle patch containing the herbal extracts of SD and SMR (MN-SD@SMR) for diabetic wound healing. METHODS: The herbal extracts of SD and SMR are purification and concentration via traditional lyophilization. SD endowed MN-SD@SMR with functions to improve high glycemic blood environment and migration of keratinocyte and fibroblast cells. RESULTS: SMR in MN-SD@SMR could improve blood flow velocity and microcirculation in the wound area. The effectiveness of transdermal release and mechanical strengths of MN-SD@SMR were verified. CONCLUSION: Integrating the advantages of these purified herbal compositions, we demonstrated that MN-SD@SMR had a positive healing effect on the wounds in vitro and vivo. These results indicate that soluble polyvinylpyrrolidone-based microneedle patch containing the herbal extracts of SD and SMR has a promising application value due to their superior capability to promote diabetic wound healing.

Correlation Between Traditional Chinese Medicine Evidence and Lipid Metabolism-Regulating Kinase in Elderly Patients with Osteoporosis.

Objective: Previous studies have indicated that an increase in the number of fat cells is associated with a decrease in bone density and bone mass. During this process, the differentiation of fat cells is closely related to the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 signaling pathway. However, research on the characteristics of lipid metabolism-regulating kinase ERK1/2 expression in osteoporosis patients with different traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) patterns and their correlations is currently limited. Therefore, this study aims to explore the correlation between TCM patterns and lipid metabolism-regulating kinases in elderly osteoporosis patients. Methods: A total of 88 elderly osteoporosis patients with hip joint diseases who underwent total hip arthroplasty at our hospital from October 2017 to October 2022 were selected for this study, and all included patients met the complete inclusion criteria. The 88 patients were divided into groups according to TCM pattern differentiation, with 37 cases of liver and kidney deficiency pattern (Group A), 28 cases of spleen and kidney yang deficiency pattern (Group B), and 23 cases of qi stagnation and blood stasis pattern (Group C). On the second day of hospitalization, 5 ml of morning fasting venous blood was collected from patients in the three groups and used to detect and compare the differences in total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. Patients underwent 7 days of in-hospital conditioning before undergoing total hip arthroplasty. After surgery, bone specimens were collected from the femoral neck bone defect and preserved for testing. Western blot was used to detect the protein expression levels of ERK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 in bone specimens of patients with osteoporosis. Subsequently, the differences in ERK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 protein expression levels among the three groups were compared. Finally, multifactorial logistics regression analysis was used to determine the correlation between different TCM patterns and blood lipid indicators and lipid metabolism-regulating kinases. Results: There was no significant difference in TC levels among osteoporosis patients with TCM patterns in the three groups (all, P > .05). TG levels in Group B osteoporosis patients were significantly higher than those in Group A and Group C (all, P < .05). HDL-C levels in Group A osteoporosis patients were significantly higher than those in Group B and Group C (all, P < .05). LDL-C levels in Group C osteoporosis patients were significantly lower than those in Group A and Group B (all, P < .05). There was no significant difference in ERK1/GAPDH and ERK2/GAPDH levels among osteoporosis patients with TCM patterns in the three groups (all, P > .05). The levels of p-ERK1 and p-ERK2 in bone specimens of osteoporosis patients in Group C were significantly higher than those in Group A and Group B (all, P < .05). The level of p-ERK2 in bone specimens of osteoporosis patients in Group A was significantly higher than that in Group B (P < .05). There was a significant positive correlation between TCM pattern and TG levels in patients in Group B (r = 0.221, P < .05) and a significant negative correlation with p-ERK1/2 values (r=-0.547, P < .05). Conclusion: Osteoporosis patients with different TCM patterns exhibit significant differences in blood lipid indicators and lipid metabolism-regulating kinase levels. Additionally, there is a close relationship between different TCM patterns of osteoporosis and lipid metabolism-regulating kinases.

Knockdown of Cyclophilin D Gene by RNAi Protects Rat from Ischemia/ Reperfusion-Induced Renal Injury.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Mitochondrial permeability transition has a critical role in ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)-induced kidney injury. It is thought that mitochondrial permeability transition occurs after the opening of the permeability transition pore, a channel which putatively consists of a voltage-dependent anion channel, adenine nucleotide translocator and cyclophilin D (CypD). Much evidence shows that CypD plays an important role in I/R-induced injury. METHODS: To evaluate the role of CypD following I/R renal injury, we tested the hypothesis that knockdown of CypD gene by RNA interference (RNAi) protects rat from I/R-induced renal injury. RESULTS: Our data show that knockdown of CypD by RNAi protects normal rat kidney cell line from hypoxia-induced necrotic death. Infection of lentivirus expressing CypD RNAi sequence produces a significant reduction of CypD at both mRNA and protein levels. Both pathologic and biochemical analyses show that knockdown of CypD by RNAi protects rat kidney from I/R-induced renal injury. CONCLUSION: Our study provides the evidence that CypD may be a potential target for protecting I/R-induced renal injury.