[Effect of adjuvant therapy with Dingguier umbilical paste on intestinal flora of diarrhea infants and its action characteristics].

The applicator therapy is a unique method to treat infant diarrhea in traditional Chinese medicines and widely applied in clinical practice. Currently, many researchers have proved the rationality of the therapy based on the traditional Chinese medicine mechanism and on the data from clinical practice, but its action mechanism is uncertain at present. In this study, with the assistance of pediatric practitioners, the automated ribosomal intergenic-spacer analysis (ARISA) was adopted to study the effect of the adjuvant therapy with Dingguier umbilical paste on intestinal flora of diarrhea infants, in which Dingguier umbilical paste served as the adjuvant therapy in oral traditional Chinese medicines and fecal samples of infants with different diarrhea symptoms were collected and used as the study materials. The results showed that the adjuvant therapy had a significant effect on the shift of intestinal flora, which was associated with the decrease in the similarity difference to the normal control group and the increase in the number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) shared with the normal control group. Additionally, adjuvant therapy with Dingguier umbilical paste also showed long action duration and increased OTUs number. These results indicated that Dingguier umbilical paste has the effect in restoring the micro-ecosystem of unbalanced intestinal bacteria. Intestinal flora may be one of major targets for the applicator therapy for the infant diarrhea, but not for the single oral traditional Chinese medicine for infant diarrhea.

Up-regulation of USP2a and FASN in gliomas correlates strongly with glioma grade.

Gliomas are the most common neoplasms in the central nervous system. The lack of efficacy of glioma therapies necessitates in-depth studies of glioma pathology, especially of the underlying molecular mechanisms that transform normal glial cells into tumor cells. Here we report that a deubiquitinating enzyme, ubiquitin-specific protease 2a (USP2a), and its substrate, fatty acid synthase (FASN), are over-expressed in glioma tissue. Using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Western blot and immunohistochemistry, we examined the expression and cellular distribution of USP2a and FASN in human glioma tissues. The expression patterns of USP2a and FASN correlated with the pathologic and clinical characteristics of the patients. Real-time PCR analysis showed that the expression levels of USP2a and its substrate FASN were higher in high-grade (World Health Organization [WHO] grades III and IV) glioma tissues than in low-grade (WHO grades I and II) glioma tissues. Western blot analysis indicated that the average optical densitometry ratio of USP2a and its substrate FASN in high-grade gliomas was higher than in low-grade gliomas. Moreover, statistical analysis of grade-classified glioma samples showed that the level of USP2a and FASN expression increased with the elevation of the WHO grade of glioma. USP2a protein expression was detected in the nucleus of glioma tissues and an increase in expression was significantly associated with the elevation of the WHO grade of glioma by immunohistochemistry. These findings expand our understanding of the molecular profiling of glioma and could shed light on new diagnostic criteria for gliomas.

Combination of HPLC chromatogram and hypoglycemic effect identifies isoflavones as the principal active fraction of Belamcanda chinensis leaf extract in diabetes treatment.

In previous study, we demonstrated the hypoglycemic effect of aqueous extract of Belamcanda chinensis leaves in rats. Here, we separated the aqueous extract of B. chinensis leaves and investigated the spectrum-effect relationships between HPLC chromatograms and hypoglycemic activities of different isolates from B. chinensis leaf extract. Sequential solvent extraction with petroleum ether, chloroform, acetic ester and n-butanol provided several isolates showing similar hypoglycemic activities, making it difficult to discriminate the active fractions. Stepwise elution through HP20 macroporous resin by water, 40% and 95% ethanol provided isolates with distinct hypoglycemic activities, representing a simple, rapid and efficient preparative separation method. Combination of HPLC chromatogram and pharmacological effect targeted a hypoglycemic activity-related region in HPLC chromatogram. Each peak in this region was analyzed by UV spectrum scan. Most of them were flavonoids in which tectoridin and swertisin were known flavonoids with anti-diabetic activities. In together, this work provides a general model of combination of HPLC chromatography and pharmacological effect to study the spectrum-effect relationships of aqueous extract from B. chinensis leaves, which can be used to find principle components of B. chinensis on pharmacological activity.

Antiinflammatory and analgesic activities of Thesium chinense Turcz extracts and its major flavonoids, kaempferol and kaempferol-3-O-glucoside.

The ethyl acetate, chloroform extracts, and the two flavonoids kaempferol 1 and kaempferol-3-O-glucoside 2 isolated from whole plants of Thesium chinense Turcz were investigated for their antiinflammatory and analgesic activities. For the antiinflammatory activity, carrageenan-induced hind paw edema and xylene-induced mouse ear edema models, and for the analgesic activity, the acetic acid-induced abdominal constriction test was used. The ethyl acetate extract and two flavonoids showed significant (p<0.05 and p<0.01) and dose-dependent antiinflammatory and analgesic activity. The chloroform extract was inactive in the assay.

Antihyperglycemic effect of Cephalotaxus sinensis leaves and GLUT-4 translocation facilitating activity of its flavonoid constituents.

The objectives of this study were to investigate the antihyperglycemic effect of Cephalotaxus sinensis leaves and to identify the active components. The antihyperglycemic effect of various fractions (FA, FB, FC, FD) of the 80% ethanol extract of the leaves was evaluated in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Among the tested fractions, FC was the most active. FC (0.48 g/kg) given orally for 10 d reduced significantly (p<0.001) the blood glucose of STZ-induced diabetic rats. The food and water intakes of FC (0.48 g/kg)-treated diabetic rats were reduced significantly (p<0.001) when compared to the 0.5% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)-treated diabetic rats. The activity-guided fractionation of the ethanol extract of C. sinensis leaves furnished three flavonoid compounds, apigenin-5-O-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->4)-6-O-beta-D-acetylglucopyranoside] (1), apigenin (2), and apigenin-5-O-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->4)-6-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside] (3). The elevation of GLUT-4 protein level in membrane preparations from mice adipocytes was detected by Western blot analysis after adipocytes were pre-incubated with FC (0.1, 1, 10 mg/ml), apigenin (0.1, 2 mg/ml) and apigenin-5-O-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->4)-6-O-beta-D-acetylglucopyranoside] (0.1, 2 mg/ml), respectively. Phytochemical investigation and HPLC-DAD analysis of FC indicated that the flavonoids were the major constituents in this fraction. These results suggest that the fraction from C. sinensis leaves is a promising drug for the treatment of diabetes, and that the flavonoids from this plant are the active constituents.

[Determination of astragulin in Thesium chinese by RP-HPLC].

OBJECTIVE: To establish a determination method of astragulin in Thesium chinese. METHOD: RP-HPLC analytical method was established using a Polaris C18 column and acetonitrile-water (23:77) as the mobile phase, with a flow rate of 10 mL x min(-1), detected at 346 nm. The method of sample is refluxing exation by 50% alcohol for 2 times. RESULT: The content of astragulin was from 0. 120% to 0. 155%, in different groups of T. chinese collected from the same location. CONCLUSION: The method was validated to show convenient and reliable.

Association of Fas-670 gene polymorphism with inflammatory bowel disease in Chinese patients.

AIM: Recent studies suggest that Fas-mediated apoptosis is involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It has been hypothesized that either increased apoptosis of intestinal epithelium or decreased apoptosis of lamina propria lymphocytes may induce inflammation of gut. The aim of this study was to determine whether the Fas gene promoter polymorphism at position-670 was associated with IBD in Chinese patients. METHODS: Fifty unrelated Chinese patients with IBD (38 patients with ulcerative colitis and 12 with Crohn's disease) and 124 healthy controls were genotyped for the Fas-670 polymorphism by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. The PCR product was digested by Mva I restriction enzyme. RESULTS: Distribution of the Fas-670 gene polymorphism was 33% for the AA genotype, 52% for the AG genotype and 15% for the GG genotype in 124 healthy subjects. In patients with IBD, 30% was for the AA genotype, 42% for the AG genotype and 28% for the GG genotype respectively. However, there was no significant difference in the genotype (P = 0.1498), allele frequencies (P = 0.3198) and carriage frequencies (P = 0.4133) between healthy controls and IBD patients. Furthermore, we did not find any difference between the left-sided colitis and total colitis (P = 0.8242). CONCLUSION: Fas-670 polymorphism is not associated with IBD in Chinese patients.

[Study on liposome preparation technique of Bupleurum chinense volatile oil for injection].

OBJECTIVE: To study the preparation technique of the liposome of Bupleurum chinense volatile oil. METHOD: The composition, entrapment ratio of volatile oil, availability of freeze-drying and the changes of finger prints were studied. RESULT: Entrapment ratio reached 81.9%. After freeze-dried, the remaining ratio of the oil entrapped in the liposome reached 88.6%. CONCLUSION: It is practicable to make B. chinense injection into freeze-dried liposome powder.