Objective To observe the effect of diabetic retinopathy on endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs)from peripheral blood.Methods Sixty male Wistar rats were divided into control group and diabetes group.The rats in diabetes group were induced with streptozotocin(STZ)injection for diabetic retinopathy model.Flow cytometry was used to identify and count the number of EPCs from peripheral blood at 1 week.1,3 and 6 months after injection.All eyeballs were examined by hematoxylin and eosin (HE)staining,periodic acid-Schiffs(PAS)staining of trypsin-digested retinal vessels flat preparation and transmission electron microscope.EPCs count,and the relationship between DR morphological changes and EPCs count were compared and analyzed.Results The quantity of EPCs from peripheral blood at 1 week,1,3 and 6 months after STZ injection were 25±7,28±8,39±7,43±7 cells per 200 000 monocytes respectively,which decreased compared with the control group 45±4 cells per 200 000 monocytes(F=8.933,P＜0.0 1).The quantity of EPCs was gradually increased at 1 week,1,3 and 6 months after STZ injection,accompanied with responsive pathological changes of retinal structure and vessels.The thickness of retina at 1 week and 1 month after injection were reduced slightly.The number of retinal ganglion cells reduced,with the time passing by.Endothelial cells were edema,mitochondrial was swollen,capillary basement membrane was thicken,lumen was significant stenosis,lumen occlusion and retinal artery aneurysm were observed at 6 months after STZ injection.Conclusion The number of EPCs increases gradually throughout the development of DR.

Ischemia and reperfusion of rat hearts were produced by Langendorff per-fusion technique. The energy tranduction of the mitochondria isolated from the rat heartswas studied. The initial rate of proton ejection and eldectron transfering were measured.There was no significant difference of H~+/2_e ratio between the ischemic group and thecontrol group which was reduced only in the reperfusion group. The longer was the is-chemic period before reperfuaion, the smaller would be the H~+/2_e ratio. The lowering ofH~+/2_e ratio occurred earlier than that of the ADP/O ratio. RCR and ADP/O in shortperiod ischcmia group and reperfusion group were both much higher than that of the con-trol group.

Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Estrogen Antagonists ; pharmacology ; Glioma ; pathology ; Humans ; Protein Kinase C ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Tamoxifen ; pharmacology

Objective: To observe the tropism of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) to intracranial glioma and their differentiation in the brain of rats bearing glioma, and to investigate the corresponding mechanism. Methods: The in vitro tropism of cultured BMSCs to glioma cells, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), basic fibroblast growth factor(FGF), platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) were observed under microscope and detected by performing Transwell experiment. The in vivo tropism of BMSCs to intracranial glioma was observed by immunofluorescence method. The differentiation of BMSCs was induced in vitro and observed. After BMSCs were transplanted in the brain of glioma-bearing rats for 15 days, their in vivo differentiation was observed by immunofluorescence staining. Results: BMSCs displayed obvious in vitro tropism to glioma, PDGF, and EGF and in vivo tropism to intracranial glioma. They could migrate to satellite lesions of glioma in vivo. BMSCs were induced to differentiate into neural progenitor cells (8.4% ± 3.5%), neurons (53.7% ± 7.4%), and astrocytes (22.3% ± 5.2%) in vitro. After being transplanted into the brain of glioma-bearing rats, they also differentiated into neural progenitor cells (8.3% ± 3.6%), neurons (15.7% ± 4.3%) and astrocytes (32.5% ± 7.2%). There was significant difference in the differentiation ratio to neurons between in vitro and in vivo experiments (P< 0.05), but the differentiation ratios to neural progenitor cells and astrocytes had no significant difference (P>0.05). Conclusion: BMSCs display extensive tropism to glioma. The direction of the differentiation of BMSCs may be related with local microenvironment.

Autophagy is an important homeostatic cellular recycling mechanism responsible for degrading injured or dysfunctional cellular organelles and proteins in all living cells. Aging is a universal phenomenon characterized by progressive deterioration of cells and organs due to accumulation of macromolecular and organelle damage. Growing evidences indicate that the rate of autophagosome formation and maturation and the efficiency of autophagosome/lysosome fusion decline with age. Dysfunctional autophagy has also been observed in age-related diseases. Autophagy disruption resulted accumulation of mutated or misfolded proteins is the essential feature of neurodegenerative disorders. However, in cancers, fibroproliferative diseases or cardiovascular diseases, autophagy can play either a protective or destructive role in different types of disease, and even in different stages of the same disease. The review will discuss the cellular and molecular mechanisms of autophagy and its important role in the pathogenesis of aging and age-related diseases, and the ongoing drug discovery strategies for therapeutic intervention.
Aging ; Autophagy ; Drug Discovery ; Humans ; Lysosomes ; metabolism ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Phagosomes ; metabolism ; Protein Folding

Objective To study the proctective effect of heme oxygeanse-1(HO-1) on cirrhotic rats after hepatic ischemia reperfusion injury.Methods All the rats were randomly divided into 5 groups as follows: normal group(N),liver cirrhosis group(LC),sham operation group(S), ischemia reperfusion group(I/R),and I/R+hemin group.Except for N group,the other groups were injected with 40% CCl4 twice a week.After 11 weeks,the model of liver cirrhosis was formed.The segmental(70%) hepatic ischemia reperfusion operation was carried out one week later.The animals were sacrificed 6h after reperfusion.Blood was collected to measure the liver function,antioxidative ability,NF-?B and caspase-3,and HO-1 expressions were studied by immunohistochemistry method. Results Administration of hemin to induce high HO-1 expression could lessen hepatic injury,increase MnSOD enzyme level,and decrease caspase-3 and NF-?B expresssion.Conclusion HO-1 plays an important role in protecting liver cirrhosis against ischemia reperfusion injury by increasing MnSOD enzyme level and decreasing expression of caspase-3 and NF-?B.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the differences in the accumulation and biosynthesis of metabolites in different lactic acid of Pseudostellariae Radix. METHODS: 1H-NMR based metabolomic approach combined with multivariate statistical analysis was used to investigate the chemical compositions and find the different metabolites in cultivated Pseudostellariae Radix and its wild-type. RESULTS: Thirty-five metabolites were identified in the 1H-NMR spectra, and 15 of which showed remarkable differences. The multivariate statistical analysis showed that the cultivated Pseudostellariae Radix and its wild-type could be distinguished obviously. The contents of isoleucine, linolenic acid, lactic acid, alanine, lysine, glutamic acid, glutamine, acetoacetic acid, succinic acid, γ-aminobutyric acid, phenylalanine, and sucrose in cultivated Pseudostellaria heterophylla were lower than its wild-type, while the cultivated Pseudostellariae Radix contained more xylose, raffinose, and fumaric acid. CONCLUSION: This study will provide basic information for exploring the quality formation mechanism and revealing the accumulation and biosynthesis of metabolites in different ecotypes of Pseudostellariae Radix.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the gene differential expression in Pesudostellariae Radix from different habitats, isolate and evaluate associated differential genes. METHODS: cDNA-AFLP technique was applied to analyze the differential expression genes of Pesudostellariae Radix from four different habitats. RESULTS: Six primer pairs were selected and amplified. Thirty-four differentially expressed trivially distributed file system (TDFs) were obtained from Pesudostellariae Radix samples from different habitats. Then these TDFs were cloned and sequenced, and the nucleotide sequences of 21 TDFs were obtained. By BLASTX analysis, 15 of them were found to have homologous sequences in the databases, among which seven TDFs had known function. These proteins were mainly involved in the growth and development of plants and played a role in the metabolisms of defending diseases and insect pests, and improving the ability of plants to resist abiotic stress. CONCLUSION: This research evaluates differential expression genes in Pesudostellariae Radix from different habitats, providing the basic information for revealing the molecular mechanism of the property formation of Pesudostellariae Radix.

Objective To improve the understanding of tuberculosis X-ray performance at Linzhi region in the east of Tibet,in order to better guide clinical early diagnosis.Methods The X -ray image characteristics of 30 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis from Linzhi region in the east of Tibet were retrospectively analyed,Original they all took chest plain films at initial diagnosis.Results The original hairstyle tuberculosis was not found;Blood type disseminated tuberculosis in 5 cases (16%).Composition of mixed density shadow image performance,calcification and satellite stove were founded;Invasion tuberculosis were in 8 cases (26%),images showed two pulmonary diffuse distribution of nodular shadows;Hollow fiber tuberculosis were in 17 cases (58%),images showed empty,fibrosis, endobronchial spread of three characteristics,and lesions was wide,especially with effusion infiltration priority,which were distributed in the lung base and at the front.Conclusion Plateau pulmonary tuberculosis with invasion and fiber cavity is given priority to,and have a specific image characteristics,it can be used for diagnosis.And its X -ray per-formance are significantly different from that of mainland cities.

The ocean is a huge resource of organisms and about 80% of the world species live in it. Marine organisms synthesize various structurally-unique and pharmacologically-active metabolites which differ from those derived from the land organisms and serve as lead compounds for drug development. More than 15 000 new compounds have been isolated and identified from marine animals, plants and microorganisms since decades ago, and drugs like cephalosporins, ziconotide (Prialt), cytarabine (AraC) and vidarabine (AraA) were developed using these compounds as precursors.