OBJECTIVE:To establish an HPLC method for the determination of Stillbene glycoside (THPG) in Zhipingk-ang misture.METHODS:The chromatographic column was Hypersil C18(250 mm?4.6 mm,5 ?m).The mobile phase consisted of acetonitribl-water(25∶75) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL?min-1 with detection wavelength set at 320 nm. RESULTS: There was a good linear relationship within the concentration range of 0.5～8.0 ?g for THPG. The average recovery of THPG was 100.03%(RSD=1.07, n=6).CONCLUSION: The adoptd method is accurate, reproducible and suitable for the quality con-trol of Zhipingkang misture.

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of nano-SiO2 on spatial learning and memory.

METHODSTwenty-four male rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: control group (C group), low dose group (L group) and high dose group (H group). The rats were intragastrically administrated with nanometer particles at 25 and 100 mg/kg body weight every day for 4 weeks. After exposure, the ability of learning and memory of rats was tested by Morris water maze, and electrophysiological brain stereotactic method was used to test long-tear potentiation (LTP) in dentate gyrus (DG) of the rats.

RESULTSThe increase rate of body weight in H group was reduced significantly compared with C group ( P < 0.05). In the space exploration experiment of Morris water maze test, the escape latency of H group was longer than that of C group (P < 0.05). The rats of H group spent less time in finding the target quadrant (P < 0.05) . The rate of LP induction of H group was significantly lower than that of C group (P < 0.05). After high fre quency stimulation (HFS), The changes of amplitude of population spike (PS) of L group and H group were lower than those of C group significantly (P < 0.05, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONNano-SiO₂may result in impairment of spatial learning and memory ability by reducing the rate of LTP induction and the increase of PS in hippocampus.

Animals ; Dentate Gyrus ; drug effects ; Long-Term Potentiation ; drug effects ; Male ; Maze Learning ; drug effects ; Memory ; drug effects ; Nanoparticles ; adverse effects ; Rats ; Silicon Dioxide ; adverse effects ; Spatial Learning ; drug effects

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the overexpression of β(1)-adrenoceptor (β(1)-AR) on the contractile function and cell survival of rat cardiomyocytes injured by isoprenaline (ISO). The rat cardiomyocytes were isolated using the collagenase perfusion method and then transfected with β(1)-AR gene using adenoviruses vector. Four hours after the infection, the rat cardiomyocytes were treated with ISO for 24 h to imitate the high catecholamine levels of chronic heart failure. Western blot was performed to measure the protein expression of β(1)-AR. The percentages of rod cells were measured to test cell survival. Video-based edge-detection system was used to measure the contractile function of the cardiomyocytes. The results indicated that the expression of β(1)-AR in β(1)-AR-transfected cardiomyocytes was significantly increased compared with that in control group (P<0.01). Meanwhile, β(1)-AR transfection also increased β(1)-AR protein levels in ISO-injured cardiomyocytes. The cardiomyocyte survival was significantly decreased in ISO group compared with that in control group. β(1)-AR-transfection alone had no effect on cardiomyocyte survival in β(1)-AR group, but it further decreased cardiomyocyte survival in β(1)-AR+ISO group. Contractile amplitudes of ISO-injured cardiomyocytes were significantly decreased regardless of whether they were transfected with β(1)-AR or not, although β(1)-AR-transfected cardiomyocytes showed significantly increased contractile function compared with control group (P<0.05). These results suggest that the overexpression of β(1)-AR has no significant protective effect on rat cardiomyocytes injured by ISO.
Animals ; Cell Survival ; Cells, Cultured ; Female ; Heart Failure ; metabolism ; Isoproterenol ; pharmacology ; Male ; Myocardial Contraction ; drug effects ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; cytology ; metabolism ; pathology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Receptors, Adrenergic, beta-1 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Transfection

Female ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; physiopathology ; Thoracic Neoplasms ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Thoracic Wall ; pathology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo study the effect of supplemented Danggui Shaoyao San (DSS) and its disassembled prescriptions on function of lymphocyte in aged rats.

METHODSRats aged 18 months were administered with decoction of DSS and its disassembled prescriptions separately in groups for 3 weeks to prepare drug containing serum. Samples of ConA induced rats splenic lymphocytes proliferation was treated respectively with prepared drug serum, for testing their effect on lymphocyte proliferation using methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) method, and isoprel (ISO) and propranolol were taken as the controls.

RESULTSThe A value of lymphocyte proliferation in the drug serum treated groups was significantly different from that in the control groups (P < 0.01), which could be reduced markedly after treatment with ISO, but could restore to the level before ISO treatment by adding drug serum or propranolol.

CONCLUSIONDSS and/or its disassembled prescriptions could raise the lymphocyte proliferation in aged rats significantly, it also shows antagonizing effect against the inhibition of ISO on lymphocyte proliferation.

Aging ; Animals ; Cell Division ; drug effects ; Drug Combinations ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Female ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spleen ; cytology ; T-Lymphocytes ; cytology ; drug effects

Objective To understand HFMD knowledge and behavior among parents of children with HFMD in Xuzhou,so as to provide scientific basis for effective control measures.Methods 1 125 parents of children with HFMD in Xuzhou children' s hospital from January 2010 to December 2010 were surveyed.Results Among 1 017 parents,90％ parents heard about HFMD and approved visiting a doctor immediately,but only 7.18％ to 41.89％ of them knew about the pathogen and susceptible population of HFMD.57.52％ of the children suck fingers,19.96％ of the children and parents washed hands before meals/after toilet in time,4.03％ of the families disinfected dinnerware and 3.64％ of them disinfected toys,which were all risk behaviors of HFMD infection.Awareness of HFMD among parents aged 25-40 years old(50.32％)was higher than that of parents younger than 25 years old(32.95％)and that of parents elder than 40 years old(23.70％).The difference was statistically significant(x2 =44.881,P ＜ 0.01).Awareness of HFMD was found positively correlated with education level.The difference was statistically significant(x2 =55.661,P ＜0.01).Suburban showed lower awareness(36.38％)than the citizens(57.90％).There was significant difference(x2 =47.179,P ＜ 0.01).61.32％ of the parents had needs for knowledge of HFMD prevention and control,53.75％for knowledge of living habits and 27.19％ for knowledge of HFMD treatment.Conclusions Popular and pertinent propaganda should be carried out among different population,so as to enrich the knowledge of HFMD of the parents.

MISA (MicroSAtelite) software was employed to screen SSRs in 68 787 contigs of Swertia mussotii transcriptome sequences. 5 610 SSRs were distributed in 5 099 contigs which accounted for 7.41% of 68 787 contigs. There are 220 kinds of SSR motifs existing in S. mussotii transcriptome. On average, SSRs occurred every 12.60 kb in length. In the SSRs, the tri-nucleotide repeat motif was the most abundant (45.99%), followed by the di-nucleotide (41.62%). AT/TA and AAT/TTA were the main types of motif in di-, tri-nucleotide repeats. The repeat numbers of SSRs which from S. mussotii transcriptome SSRs were mainly from 5 to 10 and motif length of them mostly ranged from 12 bp to 30 bp. A total of 30 651 contigs were annotated, and only 1 447 SSRs were occurred in protein-coding regions. In the six repeat motifs, tri-nucleotide repeats were the most abundant in coding regions (928). There are abundant SSRs in S. mussotii transcriptome with high frequency and various types, indicating their usefulness in theory. This research may lay the foundation for designing the targeted SSR primers and developing SSR molecular markers by mining the information of SSRs loci in S. mussotii transcriptome sequences data.
Data Mining ; Medicine, Tibetan Traditional ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Plants, Medicinal ; genetics ; Swertia ; genetics ; Transcriptome

OBJECTIVETo test whether tanshinone II A (Tan II A), a highly valued herb derivative to treat vascular diseases in Chinese medicine, could protect endothelial cells from bacterial endotoxin (lipopolysaccharides, LPS)-induced endothelial injury.

METHODSEndothelial cell injury was induced by treating human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) with 0.2 μg/mL LPS for 24 h. Y27632 and valsartan were used as positive controls. The effects of tanshinone II A on the LPS-induced cell viability and apoptosis rate of HUVECs were tested by flow cytometry, cell migration by transwell, adhesion by a 96-well plate pre-coated with vitronectin and cytoskeleton reorganization by immunofluorescence assay. Rho/Rho kinase (ROCK) pathway-associated gene and protein expression were examined by microarray assay; quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were used to confirm the changes observed by microarray.

RESULTSTan II A improved cell viability, suppressed apoptosis and protected cells from LPS-induced reductions in cell migration and adhesion at a comparable magnitude to that of Y27632 and valsartan. Tan II A, Y27632 and valsartan also normalized LPS-induced actomyosin contraction and vinculin protein aggregation. A microarray assay revealed increased levels of fibronectin, integrin A5 (ITG A5), Ras homolog gene family member A (RhoA), myosin light chain phosphatase, phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase (PI3K, or PIP2 in Western blotting), focal adhesion kinase, vascular endothelial growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 in the damaged HUVECs, which were attenuated to different degrees by Tan II A, Y27632 and valsartan.

CONCLUSIONTan II A exerted a strong protective effect on HUVECs, and the mechanism was caused, at least in part, by a blockade in the Rho/ROCK pathway, presumably through the down-regulation of ITG A5.

Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Adhesion ; drug effects ; Cell Movement ; drug effects ; Cell Shape ; drug effects ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Cytoprotection ; drug effects ; Cytoskeleton ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Diterpenes, Abietane ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Down-Regulation ; drug effects ; genetics ; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells ; drug effects ; enzymology ; pathology ; Humans ; Integrin alphaV ; metabolism ; Lipopolysaccharides ; Myosin Light Chains ; metabolism ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-Diphosphate ; metabolism ; Protective Agents ; pharmacology ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects ; Up-Regulation ; drug effects ; genetics ; Vinculin ; metabolism ; rho GTP-Binding Proteins ; metabolism ; rho-Associated Kinases ; metabolism

The hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT) PEGylated liposomes (HCPT-LP) were modified with RGD cyclopeptide formed the tumor-targeting liposomes (HCPT-RGD-LP). HCPT-LP and HCPT-RGD-LP were injected intravenously with single dose of 5 mg x kg(-1) to rats. The drug concentration in plasma was determined and the pharmacokinetic behaviour was compared. The HCPT distribution in heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney and plasma of mice was investigated following intravenous administration of HCPT-LP and HCPT injection. The nude mice implanted human hepatoma HepG2 cells were studied by in vivo imaging. The fluorescent probe was DiR and the nude mice were injected with DiR PEGylated liposomes (DiR-LP) and DiR-LP modified with RGD cyclopeptide (DiR-RGD-LP). The results showed that there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) of main pharmacokinetic parameters t1/2beta, CL, V(c), AUC(0-48 h), AUC(0-inifinity), MRT(0-48 h), MRT(0-infinity) between HCPT-RGD-LP and HCPT-LP. HCPT-LP had a remarkably better long-circulating effect than HCPT injection in mice and the concentration of HCPT was highest in liver. The DiR accumulation in tumors of DiR-RGD-LP was higher than that of DiR-LP by the visualized fluorescence of in vivo imaging. It indicated that such PEGylated liposomes modified with RGD cyclopeptide could improve the tumor targeting efficacy.
Animals ; Area Under Curve ; Camptothecin ; administration & dosage ; analogs & derivatives ; chemistry ; pharmacokinetics ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Drug Delivery Systems ; Female ; Fluorescent Dyes ; Hep G2 Cells ; Humans ; Liposomes ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; pharmacokinetics ; Liver Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Nude ; Neoplasm Transplantation ; Oligopeptides ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; pharmacokinetics ; Polyethylene Glycols ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; pharmacokinetics ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared ; Tissue Distribution

OBJECTIVETo study effective active constituents of Cayratia japonica,a genuine herbal medicine from Fujian.

METHODSuch chromatographic methods as Macroporous, Sephadex LH-20, ODS and normal phase silica gel column chromatography were adopted to separate the chemical components of C. japonica.

RESULTThirteen compounds were obtained, and their structures were identified by analyzing multiple spectral data as luteolin(1), apigenin(2), triethyl citrate-(3), 3-formylindole(4), esculetin(5), bis(2-ethylhexyl)-phthalate(6), calendin(7), ethyl-trans-3,4-dihydr-oxycinnamate(8), luteolin7-O-D-glucoside(9),5-hydroxy-3,4-dimethyl-5-pentyl-2(5H-furanone(10),ethyl-3,4-dihydroxybenzoate(11), eriodictyol(12) and daucosterol(13).

CONCLUSIONAmong them, compounds 3-8 and 10-12 were separated from the plant for the first time.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Vitaceae ; chemistry