Objective To analyze the genetic relationship among the different cultivars of Cornus officinalis and provide some foundation for heredity breeding. Methods A modified method of extracting total DNA from the leaves of C. officinalis was selected by improving the traditional method-CTAB, the total DNA was analyzed by RAPD; the genetic similarity correlation was calculated by SPSS 10.0 DICE method, cluster analyses were carried out using Between-groups linkage method, and the genetic dendrogram was established. Results Random primers (22 10-bp) were selected to be used for the PCR, a total of 133 bands were amplified by 12 samples, among which 75 bands were polymorphic, accounting for 56.39%. The cluster analysis indicated that: spindleform itself was one group, short pear-shape and short cylindericform clustered together, the rest longer types clustered together, which reflected the result of artificial selection in the course of cultivating. Conclusion The result keeps accordance with the biologic character and territorial distribution of C. officinalis cultivars; RAPD analysis is an assistant mean for seed breeding of C. officinalis.

AIM　To analyze the hydrolyzable tannins chebulinic acid (I) and chebulagic acid(II) in Fructus Chebulae and its confusion varieties by using high performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE) method. METHODS　Using a capillary (375 μm OD×50 μm ID; 81.5 cm×61.5 cm) and a power supply set at 24 kV, with phosphate-borate buffer containing 20 mmol*L-1 Na2HPO4-60 mmol*L-1 boric acid and a UV detector at 280 nm, sample solution was loaded in decompression mode at the positive end of the capillary, the loading time was 5 s. RESULTS　The linear ranges of I and II were 0.0842-0.842 and 0.0940-0.940 mg*mL-1 respectively, the correlation coefficient were 0.9966 and 0.9957, the average recoveries were 95.6% (RSD=4.0%, n=5) and 95.0% (RSD=4.4%, n=5), the RSDs (n=5) of measurement precision test were 2.2% and 1.7%, the RSDs (n=6) of reproduction test were 5.4% and 4.0% respectively. The contents of I and II were obviously interrelated with the variety and characteristics of Fructus Chebulae, the contents of I and II in the confusion varieties of Fructus Chebulae were very low. CONCLUSION　It is suitable to use I and II as the criterion in quality evaluation of Fructus Chebulae, and the HPCE method is effective for quality evaluation of the crude Fructus Chebulae.

Objective To investigate the effect of curcumin on apoptosis in hippocampal neurons and the expression of c-Jun N-terminal kinase 3 (JNK3) and postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD95) in hippocampus during cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) in rats with spontaneous hypertension (SH) .Methods One hundred and thirty-five male rats (homologous with WKY) with SH and 90 male normotensive WKY rats, weighing 275-325 g,were used in this study. The WKY rats were randomized into 2 groups ( n = 45 each) : sham operation group (WS group) and cerebral I/R group (W-I/R group) . The rats with SH were randomly divided into 3 groups ( n = 45each) : sham operation group (S-S group), cerebral I/R group (S-I/R group) and curcumin group (S-C group) .Global cerebral ischemia was produced by 4 vessel-occlusion method. The bilateral common carotid arteries were only exposed but not ligated in W-S and S-S groups. Intraperitoneal corn oil 10 ml/kg was injected at 30 min of reperfusion in W-I/R and S-I/R groups. Intraperitoneal curcumin 100 mg/kg was injected at 30 min of reperfusion in S-C group. Three animals in each group were sacrificed at 2 h, 6 h, 1 d, 3 d and 7 d of reperfusion and their brains were harvested for determination of apoptosis in hippocampal neurons and the expression of JNK3 and PSD95in hippocampus. Results The number of apoptotic neurons was significantly increased in S-S group compared with W-S group ( P < 0.05) . The number of apoptotic neurons was significantly increased and the expression of JNK3was up-regulated in S-I/R group compared with S-S group ( P < 0.05) . The number of apoptotic neurons was significantly decreased and the expression of JNK3 was down-regulated in S-C group compared with S-I/R group (P <0.05) . There was no significant difference in the expression of PSD95 among all the groups ( P > 0.05) . Conclusion Curcumin can inhibit apoptosis in hippocampal neurons and the mechanism is related to down-regulation of the expression of JNK3 in hippocampus. The mechanism by which curcumin down-regulates the expression of JNK3in hippocampus may not be related to PSD95 pathway.