Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs), which are activated by extracelluar H+, are H+-gated cation channels. At present, seven subunits of ASICs family have been identified. Numerous studies revealed that ASIC1a plays important roles in synaptic transmission and plasticity,spatial learning and memory, nociception, as well as cerebral ischemia under physiological and pathological conditions. This review concerns the latest research about ASIC1a to promote the understanding of its physiological and pathological functions.

Objective To study and evaluate the diagnostic procedures and the treatment strategy of adrenal tumors. Methods The accurate rate of localization and qualitative diagnosis of various imaging procedures for 117 cases of adrenal tumors were analyzed and the treatment efficacy studied. Results The accurate localization rate of the tumors was 84.6% for B ultrasonography,90.6% for CT,98.1% for MRI and the accurate qualitative diagnosis rate 39.2%,69.6% and 79.6% respectively.107 of the 117 cases were surgically cured,of which 30 were considered as large tumors with a volume exceeding 10 cm?5 cm?4 cm,the largest being 20 cm?15 cm?10 cm.9 patients underwent intervention therapy and no surgical procedure has been undertaken in 1. Conclusions Imaging procedures are very helpful for the localization and qualitative diagnosis of adrenal tumors.B ultrasonography can be used as a screening procedure.CT and MRI are high in accurate localization rate.As to the accurate qualitative diagnosis rate MRI is a little higher than CT.Accurate surgical incision is of prime importance for a surgical success.Adequate perioperative preparation can minimize complications to occur.Laparoscopic ultrasonography should be on schedule whenever laparoscopic adrenalectomy is contemplated.

Five non-anesthetized dogs were intravenously infused with 4% pyrithione at a constant rate of 2 ml per minute for 5 min.During the course of treatment,experimental animals had salivation, nausea, vomiting, urination and defecation. In according with the accumulation of infused drug,the symptoms got worse and worse progressively. Finally, convulsion and respiratory failure appeared and death occured due to heart arrest. One hour after infusion and just before death, the concentration of pyrithione in the blood was 341? 180?g/ml and 657?158?g/ml respectively.The average accumulative lethal dose of pyrithione by intravenous infusion was 0.77?0.07 g/kg for dogs.

Despite the important properties of GPCRs as drug targets,improving the subtype selectivity and efficiency of new drugs targeting at GPCRs is a predominant challenge.The study of GPCRs allosterism shows there exist great complexity and diversity in allosterism and allosteric sites,and it also provides a new opportunity for exploring new drugs with subtype selectivity and efficiency.This review summaries the development of GPCRs allosterism in recent years and shows GPCRs allosterism and its biological significance.

ASICs are H+-gated novel cation ion channels, which belong to the epithelial sodium channels (NaC/DEG) superfamily. As recent studies focus, ASICs are expected to be pharmacological targets on protecting the neuron from ischemia and damage, improving the ability of memory and study, curing epilepsy and analgesia. It is not until the most recentness that the subunits of ASICs have been cloned. Now, researchers have paid more attention to the distribution, expression, function and modulation of ASICs in the organism.

Objective To investigate the guidance of the endoscopic ultrasonography for the surgery selec-tion of patients with low rectal cancerthrough analyzing the accuracy of endoscopic ultrasonography in preoperative TN staging. Methods Eighty-seven cases with low rectal cancer received preoperative endoscopic ultrasonography examination,the preoperative staging and the postoperative pathologic comparison. The EUS accuracy of preopera-tive staging of rectal cancer was evaluated. Results The preoperative staging with endoscopic ultrasonography for patients with low rectal cancer,100% in T1 stage,96.0% in T2 stage,85.7% inT3 stage,and 100% in T4 stage. The preoperative staging and the postoperative pathologic comparison in T stage were consistent(Kappa = 0.903, P < 0.05). The preoperative staging with endoscopic ultrasonography for patients with low rectal cancer ,87.0% in N0 stage,78.6% in N1 stage,and 100% in N2. The preoperative and the postoperative pathologic comparisons in N stage were consistent(Kappa = 0.768,P < 0.05). Conclusion The endoscopic ultrasonography had a certain advantage in the clinical preoperative evaluation for patients with low rectal cancer ,especially for invasion depth and the judgment of lymph node metastasis ,with a higher accuracy.

AIM:To investigate the inhibitory effect of dihydro-?-erythroidine on nicotine induced-current in cultured superior cervical ganglion of neonatal rats.METHODS:Pneumatic pressure administration of drug and whole-cell recording techniques were performed to compare induced-current amplitude.RESULTS:Dihydro-?-erythroidine competitively antagonized nicotinic effect,and EC50 was about 0.015mmol/L.CONCLUSION:Dihydro-?-erythroidine is a competitive antagonist of nicotinic receptors in sympathetic neurons.

Object In order to identify the resources of official and unofficial plants in Rheum L.at molecular level, a random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was performed. Methods The amplification program of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was optimized. Arbitrary decamer primers of 121 based on the individual selecting method, and 64 based on the BSA method were screened. Results Four primers among all screened primers were found to be useful to amplify specific strips to the official plants of Rheum L. Conclusion This method is reliable, accurate, quick and reproducible for authenticating the official and unofficial plants of Rheum L. at molecular level. Moreover, the experiment results indicate that it is more effective to screen the primers using BSA method than using individual selecting method.

The fifth muscarinic receptor (M5), the last one of the mus ca rinic receptor family to be cloned, has the same basic formation characterizatio n as G-protein coupled receptor family. M5 transduces signals by coupling with G-proteins, which then modulate the activities of a number of effector enzymes and ion channels. As M5 also plays a variety of prominent physiological roles by regulating central transmitters NO and DA, it has been considered as a novel dr ug therapy target for drug addiction, dysfunction of dopamine-ergic nervous sys tem, Alzheimers disease and cerebral ischemia.

Aim ToconstructHEK293cellsstablyex-pressing corticotropin releasing factor receptor 1 ( CRFR1 ) , and evaluate its function by the cAMP as-say.Methods CulturedHEK293cellsweretransfect-ed with CRFR1-expressing vector by Lipofectamine 2000 and were selected by using G418 . CRFR1 ex-pression was detected by Western blot, RT-PCR and immunofluorescence.Results Westernblot,RT-PCR and immunofluorescence data revealed that the HEK293 cells expressed CRFR1 protein stably. The dose-responsive relationship experiment revealed that CRF induced a CRFR1-mediated cAMP production in HEK293 cells with EC50 =(5. 64 ± 0. 05) × 10 -10 mol ·L-1.Conclusion HEK293celllinesstablyex-pressing CRFR1 were constructed successfully, which would provide a cellular model to facilitate the research on the biological function of CRFR1 and CRFR1-targe-ted drug screening.