AIM:To investigate the protective ef-fect of osthole(Ost)on APAP-induced liver injury in mice and its molecular mechanism.METHODS:We established the APAP-induced liver injury model in mice,and Ost was used to intervene.The expres-sion of AST,ALT,SOD,ROS,MDA,LDH,GSH-PX in mice plasma were detected by biochemical meth-od.HE staining was used to observe the changes of liver tissue structure.Immunofluorescence assay was used to detect the expression of Tif1γ and Smad4 in liver tissue.The mRNA expression of IL-1β,IL-6,TNF-α,Smad4,and Tif1γ were detected by qRT-PCR.Western blot was applied to assess the protein expression of Smad2/3 and pSmad2/3 in liver tissue.RESULTS:Compared with the control group,the liver structure destruction and hepato-cyte death was increased,ALT,AST,ROS,MDA and LDH were increased,while SOD and GSH-PX were decreased,and the mRNA expressions of IL-1β,IL-6 and TNF-α were increased in the model group.Compared with the model group,the Ost interven-tion group had improved liver structure and de-creased liver cell death;decreased ALT,AST,ROS,MDA and LDH,increased SOD and GSH-PX,and de-creased expression of IL-1β,IL-6 and TNF-α mRNA.Compared with the control group,liver tissues of model mice showed increased expression of pS-mad2/3,Smad4 protein and Smad4 mRNA,and de-creased Tif1γ protein and mRNA.Compared with the model group,the liver tissues of the Ost inter-vention group showed decreased expression of pS-mad2/3,Smad4 protein and Smad4 mRNA,and in-creased expression of Tif1γ protein and mRNA.CONCLUSION:Ost can improve liver function,re-duce oxidative stress and inflammatory reaction,and protect hepatocyte damage induced by APAP in mice,which may be related to the up-regulation of Tif1γ and inhibition of TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway.

AIM:To investigate the mechanism of action of Tamarix chinensis Lour.on streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM)through network pharmacology,molecular docking and ex-perimental validation.METHODS:Using the TCSMP database and Swiss Target Prediction tools screen the active components and predict potential tar-gets in Tamarix chinensis Lour..Retrieving potential disease targets associated with T2DM from data-bases such as GeneCards,OMIM,and DisGeNET.The intersection targets of Tamarix chinensis Lour.and T2DM disease was obtained through Venny platform.The STRING database was used to con-structed PPI network,and Cytoscape 3.8.0 soft-ware was use to visualized.GO function enrich-ment and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were performed through the Metascape database.Dock-ing of important target proteins and compounds was carried out by AutoDock software.SPF grade male rats were randomly divided into normal group,model group,MET group(88.5 mg/kg),TE high-dose(800 mg/kg)group,TE medium-dose(400 mg/kg)group and TE low-dose(200 mg/kg)group(n=10).High-fat and high sugar feed com-bined with low dose STZ(45 mg/kg)was used to in-duce T2DM rat model,and the rats were adminis-tered orally for 5 weeks.Fasting blood glucose(FBG),insulin(FINS)level and HOMA-IR index,bio-chemical indicators[superoxide dismutase(SOD),malondialdehyde(MDA),glycosylated hemoglobin A1c(HbA1c)and inflammatory factor[interleukin-1β(IL-1β),tumor necrosis factor α(TNF-α),vascu-lar cell adhesion molecular(VCAM-1)levels of the rats were also observed;morphological changes of renal tissue was observe by HE staining.RESULTS:Based on the screening conditions of oral bioavail-ability(OB)≥ 30％and drug like properties(DL)≥0.18,a total of 19 main active ingredients with po-tential therapeutic effects on T2DM were screened from Tamarix chinensis Lour.,including ergosta-5,24(28)-dien-3,7,16-triol,quercetin-3,3'-dimethyl ether,kaempferol,quercetin,and others.By analyz-ing the potential targets of Tamarix chinensis Lour.for treating T2DM,a total of 185 potential target genes were screened,including SRC,EGFR,HSP90AA1,AKT1,ESR1,H1F1A,TNF,PIK3R1,etc,in-volving cancer signaling pathways,insulin resis-tance,MAPK signaling pathways,PI3K Akt signaling pathways,etc.Molecular docking results showed that the binding energies were all less than-5.0 kcal/mol,indicating that a strong binding abili-ty between the active ingredients screened by Tam-arix chinensis Lour.and the potential targets for the treatment of T2DM.The animal experiment re-sults showed that compared with the model group,the weight loss of rats in the MET and TE groups was slowed down,and the levels of FBG,FINS,MDA,HbA1c,IL-1β,TNF-α,VCAM-1,HOMA-IR in-dex were reduced,the SOD level was increased,and the differences were statistically significant(P＜0.05,P＜0.01),Renal tissue cellular morphology also showed notable improvement.Most importantly,all these results demonstrating dose-dependent ef-fects.CONCLUSION:Tamarix chinensis Lour.dis-plays a significant therapeutic effect on T2DM through multi-component,multi-target,and multi-pathway synergistic actions to improve blood glu-cose levels.The findings of this study provide a the-oretical basis for the clinical application of Tamarix chinensis Lour.in the treatment of T2DM.

AIM:To observe the effect of dexme-detomidine(DEX)on cerebral ischemia and reperfu-sion(I/R)injury and investigate the possible mecha-nism of nuclear factor erythroid derived 2-like 2(Nrf2)mediated ferroptosis on hippocampal neu-rons.METHODS:The oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation(OGD/R)model in rat primary cul-tured hippocampal neurons was simulated,DEX(50 μmol/L)and Nrf inhibitor BRU(100 nmol/L)were used to observe the changes of ROS levels by DHE fluorescence probe.The middle cerebral ar-tery occlusion model in male SD rats were estab-lished,the degree of neurological impairment was detected by Longa score,and cerebral infarct size was detected by TTC staining.The Fe2+concentra-tion and levels of oxidative stress related factors were detected,oxidative stress and ferroptosis re-lated protein expressions were detected by West-ern blot.RESULTS:The fluorescence intensity of DHE in OGD/R+Dex Group was lower than that in CON group,and the fluorescence intensity of DHE in OGD/R+DEX+BRU group was higher than that in OGD/R+Dex group.Compared with Sham group,the Longa score and cerebral infarct size in I/R group were significantly increased(P＜0.01),the lev-els of SOD,CAT,GSH and GSH-PX were significantly decreased.MDA and Fe2+concentrations were in-creased,the protein expressions of Nrf2,HO-1,GPX4,FTH1 and FPN1 were decreased,and TFR1 protein expression was increased.Compared with I/R group,in DEX+I/R group,the Longa score and ce-rebral infarct size were decreased(P＜0.01),the lev-els of SOD,CAT,GSH and GSH-PX were increased.MDA and Fe2+concentrations were decreased,the protein expressions of Nrf2,HO-1,GPX4,FTH1 and FPN1 were increased,and TFR1 protein expression was decreased.The Nrf2 inhibitor Bru reversed the role of DEX.CONCLUSION:DEX protects against ce-rebral I/R injury through activating Nrf2 signaling pathway and inhibiting ferroptosis in hippocampal neurons.

AIM:To study the efficacy and molecu-lar mechanism of PX-478 in enhancing radiotherapy effect of lung cancer.METHODS:H460,A549 cells were divided into blank group,radiation group and radiation combined PX-478 group.In addition to the blank group,the radiation group and the PX-478 group were given 2Gy X-ray irradiation to estab-lish the radiation model,and the radiation com-bined with the PX-478 group was given 20 μmol/L PX-478 intervention after modeling,and cultured for 24 h.Inverted microscope was used to observe cell growth and cell number,CCK-8 method was used to detect cell viability,cloning was used to ob-serve cell proliferation,flow cytometry was used to detect cell apoptosis,and Western blot was used to detect HIF-1α,GLUT1,HK2,PFK1,PKM2,LDHA pro-tein expression.RESULTS:Compared with blank group,the number of H460,A549 cells in radiation group decreased,cell viability and proliferation abil-ity decreased,cell apoptosis rate increased,HIF-1α,GLUT1,HK2,PFK1,PKM2,LDHA protein expression increased(P＜0.01).Compared with the radiation group,the number of H460,A549 cells in the radia-tion combined PX-478 group was significantly de-creased,the cell viability and proliferation ability were significantly weakened,the apoptosis rate was significantly increased,and the protein expres-sions of HIF-1α,GLUT1,HK2,PFK1,PKM2 and LDHA were significantly decreased(P＜0.01).CONCLU-SION:PX-478 can regulate the HIF-1α-mediated gly-colysis in A549,H460 cells after radiation,regulate the energy metabolism,increase the apoptosis of tumor cells,and improve the effect of radiotherapy.

Breast cancer is a common clinical gy-necological tumor.According to the 2022 global cancer data statistics,breast cancer ranks second in terms of incidence among newly diagnosed cancer cases worldwide.Modern medicine often adopts surgical operation,chemotherapy,and other meth-ods,which have certain efficacy but also many problems such as high drug resistance rates and sig-nificant adverse reactions.Chinese patent medi-cines exhibit extensive anticancer effects.The study found that Shenyi Capsule,Pingxiao Capsule,and Zhenqi Fuzheng Granules were widely used in the treatment of breast cancer,exerting therapeu-tic effects on breast cancer by inhibiting cell prolif-eration,invasion,and metastasis,suppressing an-giogenesis,reversing cellular drug resistance,and inhibiting precancerous lesions.Meanwhile,the oral administration of Chinese patent medicines in combination with other traditional Chinese medi-cine(TCM)compounds,TCM decoctions,or mod-ern medical treatments can improve patients' quali-ty of life and reduce adverse reactions.Currently,there are numerous studies on the treatment of breast cancer with Chinese patent medicines,but a systematic summary is lacking.Therefore,this study conducted a systematic review of the mecha-nisms of action and clinical applications of Chinese patent medicines as adjuvant therapy for breast cancer,aiming to provide guidance for clinical medi-cation.

Cardiovascular disease(CVD),as one of the diseases with the highest morbidity and mor-tality rates globally,has always been a focus of med-ical research.In recent years,with a deeper under-standing of the pathogenesis of CVD,novel metabol-ic drugs have demonstrated great potential in its treatment.These novel drugs regulate multiple as-pects of cardiovascular metabolism,including reduc-ing blood glucose and lipid levels,inhibiting inflam-matory responses,and protecting vascular endothe-lial cells,thereby providing new strategies for the prevention and treatment of CVD.In terms of lower-ing blood glucose levels,SGLT2 inhibitors,GLP-1 re-ceptor agonists,DPP-4 inhibitors,and Metformin,as clinically commonly used drugs,have been prov-en to be beneficial for the prevention and treat-ment of CVD,regardless of the presence or absence of diabetes.For lipid regulation,PCSK9 inhibitors and Ezetimibe,as newly developed lipid-lowering drugs,not only reduce serum low-density lipopro-tein cholesterol levels but also directly protect the cardiovascular system from damage.The develop-ment and application of these drugs have not only improved the treatment outcomes of CVD but also provided patients with more therapeutic options.

The treatment of multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacterial infections has become a challenge in today's healthcare field,and time-to-event data analysis has shown significant value in clinical prognostic studies of critically ill patients.This study comprehensively reviewed the results of the application of time-to-event analysis in clinical studies of anti-multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacterial drugs,aiming to provide a scientific basis for the optimization of therapeutic strategies and prognostic assessment of multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacterial infections,and to promote the widespread application of time-to-event analysis methods in similar studies.

AIM:To explore the potential mecha-nism of arecoline in promoting oral submucous fi-brosis based on key factors of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase(PI3K)/protein kinase B(Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR)pathway.METHODS:SD rats were randomly divided into arecoline low-dose group,arecoline medium-dose group,and are-coline high-dose group(5,10,and 15 mg/mL).The oral buccal mucosa was injected with the corre-sponding concentration of arecoline(ANE)solution to induce the establishment of oral submucous fi-brosis(OSF)models,with 8 rats in each group.An-other 8 unmodeled rats were selected as the blank group,and the changes in mouth opening of the rats were detected after 8 weeks of grouping and intervention.HE and Masson staining were used to observe the pathological changes of oral buccal mucosa,measure the length of epithelial staple process and calculate collagen volume fraction.Western blot and qRT-PCR were used to detect the expression of collagen-Ⅰ(COL-Ⅰ),E-cadherin,fibro-nectin(FN)and PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway-related proteins and mRNA in rat oral buccal muco-sa.The levels of tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α,in-terleukin(IL)-1β and transforming growth factor(TGF)-β1 in rat serum were detected by ELISA.Hu-man immortalized keratinocytes(HaCaT cell line)were cultured in vitro,and the effects of different concentrations of arecoline,PI3K activator,and PI3K inhibitor on the survival rate of HaCaT cells were investigated by CCK-8 method.According to the results of CCK-8,the concentration of arecoline 75 μg/mL,the concentration of PI3K activator 10μmol/L,and the concentration of PI3K inhibitor 2μmol/L were selected as the subsequent experi-mental concentrations.The cells were set as blank group,arecoline group,PI3K activator group,PI3K inhibitor group,and arecoline+PI3K inhibitor group.The mRNA expression levels of COL-Ⅰ,E-cad-herin,FN,PI3K,Akt,and mTOR in each group of cells were detected by qRT-PCR.The levels of TNF-α,IL-1β and TGF-β1 in each group of cells were de-tected by ELISA.RESULTS:Compared with the blank group,the arecoline low-dose group,the are-coline medium-dose group,and the arecoline high-dose group significantly reduced the mouth open-ing,significantly shortened the length of the epi-thelial staple process,significantly increased the collagen volume fraction,inflammatory cell infiltra-tion,and severe pathological damage.The protein expression levels of COL-Ⅰ,FN,p-PI3K,p-Akt,and p-mTOR were up-regulated,and the protein expres-sion levels of E-cadherin were down-regulated.The mRNA expressions of COL-Ⅰ,FN,PI3K,Akt,and mTOR were significantly increased.The mRNA ex-pression of E-cadherin was significantly reduced,and the levels of TNF-α,IL-1β,and TGF-β1 were sig-nificantly increased(all P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).Com-pared with the blank group,the mRNA expression levels of COL-Ⅰ,FN,PI3K,Akt,and mTOR in the cells of the arecoline group and the PI3K activator group were up-regulated,and the mRNA expression lev-els of E-cadherin were down-regulated.Compared with the blank group,the mRNA expression levels of COL-Ⅰ,FN,PI3K,Akt,and mTOR in the cells of the PI3K inhibitor group were down-regulated,and the mRNA expression levels of E-cadherin were up-regulated.Compared with the PI3K inhibitor group,the mRNA expression levels of COL-Ⅰ,FN,PI3K,Akt,and mTOR in the cells of the arecoline+PI3K inhibi-tor group were up-regulated,the mRNA expression levels of E-cadherin were down-regulated,and the levels of TNF-α,IL-1β,and TGF-β1 were significant-ly increased(all P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).CONCLUSION:Arecoline can significantly promote oral submucous fibrosis,which may play a pro-fibrotic role by up-regulating the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.

AIM:To investigate the preventive and therapeutic effects of sesamin(SES)on fatty liver disease in rats with hypertension combined with dyslipidemia,and to explore the potential mecha-nisms based on mRNA-seq.METHODS:Spontane-ously hypertensive rats(SHRs)were fed a high-fat,high-cholesterol diet to establish a rat model of hy-pertension combined with dyslipidemia,and then treated with SES for 16 weeks continuously.The ex-periment was divided into four groups:WKY,SHR,Model,and Model+SES(160 mg·kg-1·d-1).Blood pressure was measured using the tail-cuff method.Body weight was monitored,and body mass index was calculated.Liver morphology was detected by ultrasound,and liver thickness was measured.Liver wet weight was weighed,and liver index was calcu-lated.Liver volume was detected by the water dis-placement method.Serum triglycerides(TG),total cholesterol(TC),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C),high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C),alanine aminotransferase(ALT),aspartate amino-transferase(AST),and total bile acids(TBA)were de-tected by ELISA.Liver sequencing analysis was per-formed using mRNA-seq.Liver histomorphological changes were observed by HE staining.The degree of hepatic steatosis was observed by Oil Red O stain-ing,and the degree of hepatic fibrosis was observed by MASSON staining.The mRNA expression of Al-dh1a7,Nnmt,Irs2,Pltp,and Scd was detected by q-PCR.The protein expression of Scd,Nnmt,AMPK,p-AMPK,PPARα,and PPARγ was detected by Western blotting.RESULTS:After 16 weeks of continuous SES administration to rats with hypertension combined with dyslipidemia,blood pressure was significantly reduced(P＜0.01),and body weight was decreased.Serum TG,TC,and LDL-C levels were decreased,while HDL-C levels were increased.Serum ALT and AST levels were decreased.Liver weight,organ in-dex,liver thickness,and liver volume were de-creased.The degree of hepatic steatosis and hepat-ic fibrosis was improved.A total of 545 differentially expressed mRNAs were identified in the livers of rats in each group,of which 278 were upregulated and 267 were downregulated.Among the 27 com-monly differentially expressed mRNAs,five mRNAs related to lipid metabolism were screened,namely Aldh1a7,Nnmt,Irs2,Pltp,and Scd.KEGG enrich-ment analysis showed that the enriched pathways were AMPK and PPAR.Further validation revealed that in the SES-treated group,the mRNA expression of Scd in the liver was decreased,while the mRNA expression of Nnmt was increased.The protein ex-pression of Scd was decreased,while the protein ex-pression of Nnmt,AMPK,p-AMPK,PPARα,and PPARγ was increased.CONCLUSION:SES has preven-tive and therapeutic effects on fatty liver disease in rats with hypertension combined with dyslipidemia,and its mechanism of action may be related to the reduction of Scd expression levels in the liver and the increase in the expression of Nnmt,AMPK,p-AMPK,PPARα,and PPARγ.

AIM:To investigate the therapeutic ef-fect of crocetin on diabetic lower limb ischemia and explore its underlying mechanism.METHODS:Male C57BL/6J mice aged 8 weeks were used to es-tablish a diabetic mouse model through intraperito-neal injection of streptozotocin(STZ).Following successful induction of diabetes,femoral artery li-gation(FAL)surgery was performed to create a model of diabetic lower limb ischemia.Fourteen days after STZ injection,the mice were treated with crocetin(3 mg/kg and 6 mg/kg)by gavage for 21 consecutive days.Post-FAL surgery,Doppler flowmetry was employed to assess blood flow in the mice of each group.Immunofluorescence stain-ing techniques were utilized to observe the expres-sion levels of platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule(CD31),α-smooth muscle actin(α-SMA),and inflammatory-related factors including tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),interleukin-1β(IL-1β),in-terleukin-6(IL-6),and transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β)in the gastrocnemius muscle of diabetic mice with lower limb ischemia.RESULTS:Com-pared to the normal group,the model group exhib-ited significantly elevated blood glucose levels and significantly reduced lower limb blood flow(P＜0.05).While CD31 and α-SMA expression showed no significant change,the expression levels of TNF-α,IL-1β,IL-6,and TGF-β were significantly in-creased(P＜0.05,P＜0.01,P＜0.05,P＜0.05).Com-pared to the model group,crocetin-treated groups showed no significant change in blood glucose lev-els but demonstrated significantly increased lower limb blood flow(P＜0.05).The high-dose crocetin group(6 mg/kg)significantly enhanced CD31 andα-SMA expression(P＜0.0001,P＜0.05)and signifi-cantly reduced the expression levels of IL-1β,IL-6,and TGF-β(P＜0.001,P＜0.05,P＜0.05).CONCLU-SION:Crocetin may exert its beneficial effects on diabetic lower limb ischemia through anti-inflam-matory and angiogenic mechanisms.