ROCK1 inhibition improves wound healing in diabetes via RIPK4/AMPK pathway.

Refractory wounds are a severe complication of diabetes mellitus that often leads to amputation because of the lack of effective treatments and therapeutic targets. The pathogenesis of refractory wounds is complex, involving many types of cells. Rho-associated protein kinase-1 (ROCK1) phosphorylates a series of substrates that trigger downstream signaling pathways, affecting multiple cellular processes, including cell migration, communication, and proliferation. The present study investigated the role of ROCK1 in diabetic wound healing and molecular mechanisms. Our results showed that ROCK1 expression significantly increased in wound granulation tissues in diabetic patients, streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice, and db/db diabetic mice. Wound healing and blood perfusion were dose-dependently improved by the ROCK1 inhibitor fasudil in diabetic mice. In endothelial cells, fasudil and ROCK1 siRNA significantly elevated the phosphorylation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase at Thr172 (pThr172-AMPKα), the activity of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and suppressed the levels of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS) and nitrotyrosine formation. Experiments using integrated bioinformatics analysis and coimmunoprecipitation established that ROCK1 inhibited pThr172-AMPKα by binding to receptor-interacting serine/threonine kinase 4 (RIPK4). These results suggest that fasudil accelerated wound repair and improved angiogenesis at least partially through the ROCK1/RIPK4/AMPK pathway. Fasudil may be a potential treatment for refractory wounds in diabetic patients.

[Cardiovascular complications in malaria: a review].

Malaria, one of the major global public health events, is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity among children and adults in tropical and subtropical regions(mainly in sub-Saharan Africa), threatening human health. It is well known that malaria can cause various complications including anemia, blackwater fever, cerebral malaria, and kidney damage. Conventionally, cardiac involvement has not been listed as a common reason affecting morbidity and mortality of malaria, which may be related to ignored cases or insufficient diagnosis. However, the serious clinical consequences such as acute coronary syndrome, heart failure, and malignant arrhythmia caused by malaria have aroused great concern. At present, antimalarials are commonly used for treating malaria in clinical practice. However, inappropriate medication can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cause severe consequences. This review summarized the research advances in the cardiovascular complications including acute myocardial infarction, arrhythmia, hypertension, heart failure, and myocarditis in malaria. The possible mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases caused by malaria were systematically expounded from the hypotheses of cell adhesion, inflammation and cytokines, myocardial apoptosis induced by plasmodium toxin, cardiac injury secondary to acute renal failure, and thrombosis. Furthermore, the effects of quinolines, nucleoprotein synthesis inhibitors, and artemisinin and its derivatives on cardiac structure and function were summarized. Compared with the cardiac toxicity of quinolines in antimalarial therapy, the adverse effects of artemisinin-derived drugs on heart have not been reported in clinical studies. More importantly, the artemisinin-derived drugs demonstrate favorable application prospects in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, and are expected to play a role in the treatment of malaria patients with cardiovascular diseases. This review provides reference for the prevention and treatment of malaria-related cardiovascular complications as well as the safe application of antimalarials.

[Method for rapid synchronization of different growth cycles of Plasmodium falciparum in vitro and application in differential gene expression profile of 3D7 after dihydroartemisinin treatment].

Plasmodium culture in vitro is often used as an antimalarial drug evaluation model, but the lifecycle of P. falciparum culture in vitro tends to be disordered, which affects the research and evaluation of antimalarial drug mechanism in vitro. By combining magnetic bead separation method with sorbitol synchronization method, a synchronization method was constructed to quickly acquire different lifecycles of P. falciparum and obtain large amounts of parasite with a narrow synchronization window in a short period. Furthermore, the dihydroartemisinin(DHA) was used to treat the early trophozoite phase of P. falciparum 3 D7 for 4 h. Then mRNA was extracted and RNA-seq was conducted to analyze the differential expression of mRNA after drug treatment and obtain the differential gene expression profile. Differential expression of up-regulated genes and down-regulated genes was analyzed according to the screening criteria of |log_2FC|>1 and P<0.05. There, 262 genes were up-regulated and 77 genes were down-regulated. GO functional enrichment analysis of all the differentially expressed genes showed that the enrichment items mainly included cell membrane components, transporter activity, serine/threonine kinase activity, Maurer's clefts(MCs), rhoptry, antigen variation and immune evasion. The enrichment of KEGG pathway included malaria, fatty acid metabolism and peroxisome. Protein-protein interaction(PPI) analysis showed that the down-regulated genes in the modules with high degree of association included rhoptry, myosin complex, transporter and other genes related to the important life activities of malaria invasion and immune escape; the up-regulated genes were mainly related to various toxic exportins of malaria, such as PfSBP1 of MCs. qRT-PCR was used to verify the expression level of some genes, and most of the results were the same as the sequencing results. SBP1 was significantly up-regulated, while some antigenic protein expression levels were down-regulated. Above all, key molecules of DHA therapy were mainly involved in the parasites' rhoptry, transporter, antigenic variation, plasmodium exportin. These results offer us many hints to guide the further studies on mechanism of artemisinin and provide a new way for development of new antimalarial drugs.

[Protective effects of artesunate combination on experimental cerebral malaria and nerve injury].

Cerebral malaria (CM) is the leading cause of death in children under 5 years in Africa, severe neurological sequelae may occur in surviving children. Although artesunate has made breakthrough progress in the clinical treatment of CM, the clinical problems of high mortality and high morbidity have not yet been completely resolved. In this study, an experimental cerebral malaria (ECM) model was established by infecting C57BL/6 mice with Pb ANKA (Plasmodium berghei ANKA) to compare parasitemia level, survival rates, and rapid murine coma behavior scale scores, cerebral microvascular obstruction, haemozoin deposition in the liver, body temperature and weight to investigate the anti-cerebral malaria effect of the artesunate compound combination. The results showed that the artesunate compound combination could improve the survival rate of Pb ANKA-infected mice, reduce the level of parasitemia, effectively improve the symptoms of ECM neurological injury, reduce cerebrovascular obstruction and haemozoin deposition in the liver, and also significantly improve body temperature, weight and other basic indicators. The results showed that the artesunate compound combination improved the pathological changes and neurological damage caused by CM. It is expected to provide a theoretical basis for human cerebral malaria patients in clinical adjuvant therapy.

[Effect of dihydroartemisinin at low concentration on intervention of Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 strain].

Malaria is still the most severe strain of the human malaria parasites, and malaria disease is life-threatening which can result in severe anemia and cerebral malaria, especially in children in tropical Africa. Previous studies have shown that artemisinin and its derivatives could selectively kill erythrocytic stage of malaria and have a greater impact on the ring period. In recent years, there have been new findings of its mechanism continually. However, the concentration of artemisinin and its derivatives used in these studies can reach 50 to 80 times the half-inhibitory concentration in vitro. In this study, the international standard strain 3D7 of Plasmodium falciparum was used to culture in vitro. After half-inhibitory concentration of dihydroartemisinin was treated, the morphological changes of P. falciparum intraerythrocytic stage were observed, and then the 3D7 life cycle and effects of different developmental stages after dosing was explored. The 3D7 strain of P. falciparum was continuously synchronised more than 3 times. And dihydroartemisinin (DHA) at half maximal inhibitory concentration (10 nmol·L⁻¹) was administered for 6 hours after the last synchronization, and 3 life cycles were continuously observed (132 h). The results showed that compared with the parasites untreated by DHA, there was a noticeable delay in the life cycle of at least 36 h, indicating that the growth of 3D7 was significantly inhibited by DHA (P<0.001), and the rate of ring formation was significantly reduced (P<0.05). The trophozoites were abnormal in shape, such as shrink in size, and the number of merozoites in schizonts was significantly decreased (P<0.05). These results suggested that non-killing concentrations of DHA (meaning parasites can be inhibited but not killed) can significantly inhibit the growth of P. falciparum, which may not only affect the ring stage, but also have an impact on other stages of the P. falciparum.

Meta-analysis on elemene injection combined with cisplatin chemotherapeutics in treatment of non-small cell lung cancer / 中国中药杂志

To research databases of Cochrane library, Web of Science, PubMed, FMJS, CBM, VIP, CNKI and Wanfang Data Konwledge Service Platform by computers as at July 5, 2012, which was supplemented with other search results. The findings were included into randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of elemene injection combined with cisplatin chemotherapeuties in treating small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Data was separately collected by two researchers for literature quality evaluation, and a Meta analysis was made with RevMan 5. 2 software, in order to assess the efficacy and safety of elemene injection combined with cisplatin chemotherapeutics in treating NSCLC. Totally 11 RCTs or 844 cases were included. Meta analysis results suggested that compared with cisplatin chemotherapy alone, the combination of elemene injection and cisplatin chemotherapeutics showed a higher clinical benefit rate ( OR = 2. 03, 95% CI:1.43-2. 88, P <0. 000 1) and a better quality of life (OR = 3.23, 95% CI:2. 20-4. 74, P <0. 000 01). Besides,the combination could also reduce leucopenia (OR =0. 50, 95% CI:0. 33-0. 76, P <0. 001) , and thrombocytopenia (OR =0. 38, 95% CI:0. 16-0. 85, P <0. 02), increase CD4 (MD = 3.32, 95% C1:2. 94-3.70, P <0. 000 01), and CD4/CD8 (MD = 0. 36, 95% CI:0. 28-0. 44, P < 0. 000 01) , and relieve gastrointestinal reactions such as nausea and vomiting (OR = 0. 37, 95% CI: 0. 19-0. 71, P = 0. 003). The analysis indicates that elemene can enhance the chemotherapeutic effect on NSCLC, improve the quality of life, and reduce adverse effect of platinum-contained chemotherapeutics, thereby being worth promoting in clinic.

Intervention of tianwang buxin decoction combined with dormancy hygiene education for treatment of sub-healthy insomnia patients of yin deficiency fire excess syndrome / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To assess the clinical efficacy, safety and compliance of tianwang buxin decoction (TWBXD) combined with dormancy hygiene education (DHE) and TWBXD alone in treatment of sub-healthy insomnia patients of yin deficiency fire excess syndrome.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The multi-centered, single blinded randomized clinical trial design was adopted. One hundred and one sub-healthy insomnia subjects of yin deficiency fire excess syndrome were randomly assigned to two groups. The 50 in the treatment group were treated by combined treatment with TWBXD and DHE, while the 51 in the control group were treated with TWBXD alone. The therapeutic efficacy, Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) score, clinical global impression-improvement (CGI) score, quality of life made by WHO (WHOQOL-BREF) score, and safety in the two groups were compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The effective rate in the treatment group was 68.08%, lower than that in the control group (75.00%), but the difference between them was statistically insignificant. The PSQI score in the treatment group were reduced from 12.00 +/- 2.25 to 7.55 +/- 2.91 (P < 0.01). It was reduced from 11.68 +/- 2.21 to 7.16 +/- 3.13 in the control group (P < 0.01). The improvement of CGI score and WHOQOL-BREF score was also shown in the two groups after treatment (P < 0.01). No significant difference was shown in each index between the two groups. There was no significant difference in CGI between two weeks after drug withdrawal and by the end of the therapeutic course in the same group (P > 0.05). There was no statistical significance in inter-group comparison (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Significant effect was achieved by TWBXD combined with DHE and by TWBXD alone. Their efficacies were equivalent, with high compliance and safety.</p>

Analysis of symptom compositions in sub-health insomnia patients of Yin deficiency fire hyperactivity syndrome and Xin-Pi deficiency syndrome / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study Chinese medicine syndrome features in sub-health insomnia patients, and to make clear the symptom compositions of each syndrome, thus providing references for main and minor symptoms selection, and establishing a syndrome differentiation system in clinical testing.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Chinese medicine syndrome information was collected by multi-centered large-sample clinical data. The information was statistically managed to get common syndrome types, symptoms compositions, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores of sub-health insomnia patients.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The most common symptoms of sub-health insomnia patients of yin deficiency fire hyperactivity syndrome and Xin-Pi deficiency syndrome cover difficulties in falling asleep, early awakening, dreaminess, sometimes sleeping sometimes awake, failing in falling into sleep when wake up, failing in sleep all night. There was insignificant difference between the two syndrome types (P>0.05). Some unique symptoms occurred in the two syndrome types as minor symptoms. Fatigue, abdominal distension after eating occurred in patients of Xin-Pi deficiency syndrome. Burning sensation of five centers, irritability, etc. occurred in patients of yin deficiency fire hyperactivity syndrome. Significant difference was shown in minor symptoms (except irritability, vexation, frequent urine) (P<0.05, P<0.01). No significant difference was shown in PSQI score between the two syndrome types (P>0.05). But significant difference was shown in sleep disturbance factors (P<0.05). Patients of yin deficiency fire hyperactivity syndrome had severe sleep disturbance factors.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There was no significant difference in main symptoms between the two syndrome types. Some unique symptoms occurred in the two syndrome types as minor symptoms. There was difference in sleep quality compositions.</p>

Effect of effective components of Huanglian Jiedu decocting on NF-kappaB in cultured rat cerebral microvascular endothelial cells injury induced by hypoxia and reoxygenation / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the protective mechanism of geniposide, baicalin and berberine on hypoxia and reoxygenation injury in cultured rat cerebral microvascular endothelial cells.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>To establish a model of hypoxia four hours and reoxygenation twelve hours injury in rat cerebral microvascular endothelial cells in vitro. The injured cells were treated with geniposide (0. 128, 0.064, 0.032 micromol mL(-1), baicalin (0.028, 0.014, 0.007 micromol mL(- 1)) and berberine (0.024, 0.012, 0.006 micromol mL(-1)). The expression of p65 subunit of NF-kappaB was detected by immunocytochemical assay and techniques of image quantitative analysis. The protein expression of NF-kappaB was calculated with the mean optical density and mean area. The nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB was calculated with the percentage of positive cells and ratios of light transmittance of cytoplasm and cell nucleus.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Compared with the normal group, both the protein expression and the nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB of model group were significant increased (P <0.01). Compared with the model group, the mean optical density of all treated groups was decreased ,but these was no significant difference between them. As compared with model group, the mean area of all treated groups was significant decreased (P < 0.01). The percentage of nuclear translocation of all treated groups is not only lower than that of the model group but higher than that of the normal group (P <0.01). Compared with the model group, the ratios of light transmittance of cytoplasm and cell nucleus of all treated groups was significantly elevated (P <0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results suggesed that geniposide, baicalin and berberine could protect hypoxia/reoxygenation injuried rat cerebral microvascular endothelial cells injury. One of the mechanism may lie in inhibiting both the protein expression and the nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB.</p>

Effect of effective components of huanglian jiedu decoction on hypoxia, reoxygenation injury and the expression of VCAM in cultured rat cerebral microvascular endothelial cells / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the protective mechanism of geniposide, baicalin and berberine on hypoxia and reoxygenation injury in cultured rat cerebral microvascular endothelial cells.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>A model of four hours hypoxia and twelve hours reoxygenation injury in rat cerebral microvascular endothelial cells in vitro was established. The injured cells were treated with geniposide (0.128, 0.064, 0.032 mmol x L(-1)), baicalin (0.028, 0.014, 0.007 mmol L(-1)) and berberine (0.024, 0.012, 0.006 mmol L(-1)), respectively. The immunocytochemical method and techniques of image quantitative analysis were used to detect the mean optical density and mean area in order to match the protein expression of VCAM-1. The method of RT-PCR was adopted to observe and match the mRNA expression of VCAM-1.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>As compared with the normal group, the mean optical density, the mean area and the mRNA expression of VCAM-1 of model group were significant increased (P < 0.01, P < 0.01, P < 0.01). As compared with the model group, both the mean optical density and the mean area of all treated groups were decreased, and there was significant difference between them (P < 0.01, P < 0.01). As compared with normal group, the mean optical density of baicalin (0.007 mmol x L(-1)) and berberine (0.012, 0.006 mmol x L(-1)) were significant decreased (P < 0.05, P < 0.01, P < 0.01), but there was no significant difference between the other groups and the normal group. As compared with normal group, the mean area of baicalin (0.0014 mmol x L(-1)) was significant decreased (P < 0.05), but there was significant difference between the other groups and the normal group. The mRNA expression of all treated groups was not only lower than that of the model group but also higher than that of the normal group (P < 0.05, P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results suggest that geniposide, baicalin and berberine, which are effective compositions of huanglian jiedu decoting, can protect hypoxia-reoxygenation injuried rat cerebral microvascular endothelial cells. One of the protected mechanisms is that they can inhibit the expression of VCAM-1.</p>

Protective action of effective components of Huanglian Jiedu decoction on hypoxia and reoxygenation injury in cultured rat cerebral microvascular endothelial cells / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the protective effect of geniposide, baicalin and berberine for the rat cerebral microvascular endothelial cell.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The model of hypoxia and reoxygenation injury in rat cerebral microvascular endothelial cells in vitro was established. Both normal and model cells were treated with geniposide (1.024, 0.512, 0.256, 0.128, 0.064, 0.032, 0.016, 0.008 micromol x mL(-1)), baicalin (0.224, 0.112, 0.056, 0.028, 0.014, 0.007, 0.003 micromol x mL(-1)) and berberine (0.192, 0.096, 0.048, 0.024, 0.012, 0.006, 0.003 micromol x mL(-1)). Cell activity was measured by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) test.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>After hypoxia/hypoglycemia cultures for 4 hour and reoxygenation for 12 hour, geniposide (0.128, 0.064, 0.032 micromol x mL(-1)), baicalin (0.028, 0.014, 0.007 micromol x mL(-1)) and berberine (0.024, 0.012, 0.006 micromol x microL(-1) could protect the injuried cerebral microvascular endothelial cells.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Appropriate concentration of geniposide, baicalin and berberine, which are effective components of Huanglian Jiedu decoction, could protect the injuried cerebral microvascular endothelial cells.</p>

The protective effect of cholic acid on an in vitro injury model of ischemia-reperfusion in cerebral microvascular endothelial cells / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To establish an in vitro injury model of ischemia-reperfusion in cerebral microvascular endothelial cells of rats and observe the protective effect of cholic acid.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Cultured rat microvascular endothelial cells were subjected to the oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) (Krebs solution) and recovery of oxygen-glucose, which simulated in vitro ischemia and reperfusion injury, and treated with cholic acid. The A value was measured with MIT chromatometry.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Cultured cells were impaired after OGD for 4 hours and recovery of oxygen-glucose for 12 hours, the A value of the cells treated with cholic acid was significantly higher than that of the cells without treatment (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Cholic acid could obviously protect rat cerebral microvascular endothelial cells from injury induced by an in vitro ischemia-reperfusion.</p>