Pharmacology is a bridge discipline between medicine and pharmacy,betmeen basic medicine and clinical medicine,between life sciences and chemistry as well as material science. Phar?macology is closely related to many subjects,and is an indispensable subject in medical sciences. It plays an important role in the development of medical sciences. The main tasks of pharmacology development involve rational drug use,new drug research and development,and promotion of medical sciences and life sciences. During the whole process of new drug development,the development of pharmacolo?gy has played a positive role. As such,new drug research and development depends on the develop?ment of pharmacology. Pharmacology plays an important role in the development of new drugs and is involved in the whole process of research and development. Thus,it is a support subject for new drug development. Strengthening pharmacological research and improving the overall level of pharmacologi?cal in China are of great significance for promoting new drug research and development and ensuring ra?tional drug use.

Neurodegenerative diseases are complex nervous system disorders as a result of myelin damage,synapses loss and/ or neuron loss. The pathogenesis of these diseases is still not completely clear. Protein kinases play an important role in both normal nerve cells and neurodegenerative disorders. lnhibitors of protein kinases can effectively regulate the physiological function of nerve cells and prevent the development and progression of the disease. This article reviews protein kinases and their inhibitors involved in Alzheimer disease,Parkinson disease,Huntington disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Danshen-Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae，is one of the common traditional Chinese medicines，which has been used clinically in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases more than 20 centuries.The active ingredients of Danshen has been researched 5 decades by the modern methods.Many researchers investigated the pharmacological effects of water soluble ingredients of Danshen-salvianolic acids in vivo and in vitro.The results demonstrated that salvianolic acids have different pharmacological effects such as potent antioxidative effects，scavenging free radicals，protect neural cells against injuries caused by anoxia， etc.In present paper，the pharmacological effects of salvianolic acids and the mechanisms of their actions are reviewed based on the research results obtained in our laboratory and other authors.

The development of new drug is not only the main driving force for the development of pharmaceutical industry, but also plays a very important role in the social development. However, with the increasing demands, new drug development is facing great difficulties in recent years. The hypothesis of highly selective single-target is meeting the challenges because of its limitations. Network pharmacology has been one of the new strategies for new drug discovery based on single-target drug research in recent years. This paper focused on the basis of network pharmacology and its research progress, discussed its development direction and application prospects, and analyzed its limitations and problems as well. The application of network pharmacology in new drug development is discussed by comparing its guidelines with those of traditional Chinese medicine theory and Effective Components Group hypothesis of Chinese medicines.

Aging is a complex pathological and physiological phenomenon characterized by the decline of many functions in human. Several lines of experimentation showed that the defect of the mitochondria function is one of the driving forces for the progress of aging. During the development of aging, the alteration of biology of mitochondria, the accumulation of the generation of "free radical"in mitochondria, the mutation in mitochondria genomes and the control of the progress of death by mitochondria were suggested to be a number of novel mechanisms for mitochondria in aging. The experiment data focused on the role of mitochondria in aging are reviewed.

AIM The aim of our study was to establish drug screening models which can evaluate samples' effects on cytokines related with inflammtion, capable of fast and efficient screening of anti-inflammatory lead compounds on the release of inflammtory cytokines. METHODS Heparinized human blood leukocytes was evaluated as a model to study the effects of various classes of anti-inflammatory lead compounds on cytokine release/biosynthesis from leukocytes. Human blood leukocytes was stimulated with LPS (final concentration 0.5～50 mg?L -1), with or without test drugs (diclofenac, a cytooxygenase inhibitor, nordihydroguaiaretic acid NDGA, a 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor) for 1～4 h to induce cytokine release. RESULTS Human blood leukocytes stimulated with LPS could product IL-1, IL-8 and TNF-? in a dose-dependent manner. Human blood leukocytes was stimulated with LPS(5 mg?L -1) for 4h to induce cytokine release. TNF-?, IL-1 and IL-8 time-course profiles were determined in culture media, using bioassays and ELISA. LPS-mediated release of IL-1 and TNF-? was significantly suppressed by NDGA and Diclofenac. In LPS stimulated blood, NDGA and Diclofenac inhibited the release of TNF-?(IC 50 of 149 ?mol?L -1 and 23.88 ?mol?L -1) or IL-1 (IC 50 of 222.57 ?mol?L -1 and 126 ?mol?L -1). CONCLUSION This human blood leukocytes screening system in vitro has the potential to screen new cytokine release inhibitors and sites of action of new anti-inflammatory lead compounds, and increases the screening efficiency.

Tau is a microtubule-associated protein th at can promote micortubulbe polymerization in vitro and can stabilize the asse mbled microtubules. Hyperphosphorylated form of tau comprises the main component of the paired helical filaments and neurofibrillary tangles found in Alzheimer s desease (AD). This paper reviews the functions and the prospects of tau in Al zheimers disease.

Aim To search for small molecule NGF mimetic s using a primary screening model.Methods Both rapid quantitati ve bioassay for NGF(-like) activity by measurement of neurite extension in NGF -induced PC12 cells and a following MTT technique to monitor cells alive were u sed.Results More than 1 600 compounds were tested using the se methods and several effective samples with lower cytotoxicity were found. One of them, the compound B,was in good dose-and time-effect relationship. Conclusion All above studies provide a useful model and chemical info rmation for further screen of neurotrophic mimetics and neural cell tumor induce rs.