OBJECTIVE:To investigate the equivalence of preparations of traditional Chinese medicines with decoction and pill as the representative dosage forms so as to lay a foundation for the evaluation of equivalence.METHODS:Taking the contents of gentiopicroside and geniposide and water soluble extractive as indexes to investigate the equivalence between decoction for Longdan xiegan tang and Longdan xiegan pills.RESULTS:Evaluated by the indexes of contents of gentiopicroside and geniposide,the current daily oral dosage of the decoction was 6.39 times superior to the pill;taking water soluble extractive as index,the decoction was 4.02 times superior to the pill.CONCLUSION:To be equivalent to the decoction,the current daily oral dosage of the pill should be increased appropriately.The degree of increase should be based on the final results of pharmacological and clinical studies.

AIM:To establish a HPLC method for determining simultaneously gentiopicroside and geniposide in Longdan Xiegan Pill(Radix et rhizoma Gentianae,Fructus Gardeniae,Radix Scutellariae,etc.).METHODS:C_ 18 column(5 ?m,4.6 mm?250 mm)was used.The mobile phase was methanol-water(23∶77).The detecting wavelength and the temperature of column were at 238 nm and at 40 ℃ respectively.RESULTS:The linear detection range of gentiopicroside was 3.03-30.30 ?g/mL(r=1.000 0),and the average recovery was 98.43%(RSD=1.08%).The linear detection range of geniposide was 9.76-97.60 ?g/mL(r=0.999 9),and the average recovery was 99.95%(RSD=0.91%).CONCLUSION:Two ingredients in Longdan Xiegan Pill could be determined simultaneously by this method which is convenient,rapid and accurate.It can be used for quality control in the production of Longdan Xiegan Pill.

OBJECTIVE: To provide reference for research & development and application of pill preparation. METHODS: Our understanding on the statement "Pill, Is Sluggish" was come up with, and the pertinetn literature and research results were analyzed and summarized. RESULTS: The statement "Pill, Is Sluggish" is not only the description of the traditional pill's dosage-form characteristic, but also contains the requirement on administration method. It is a relative description. There is also difference in speed of taking effect between different kinds of pills. Its origin contains the factor of dosage as well as the factor of dosage-form; It does not apply to some new type pills. CONCLUSION: The connotation of "Pill, Is Sluggish" is extremely rich, which should be viewed relatively, comprehensively and developmentally so as to continuously enrich and develop the dosage form theory of Chinese materia medica and make pills serve better for the clinic.

BACKGROUND:Peripheral nerve defect due to limb dysfunction has always been the difficulty faced by the medical profession. Ideal materials and processing technology for constructing a tissue engineering scaffold targeting peripheral nerve repair are stil in research stage. OBJECTIVE:To review the research progress in peripheral nerve repair using col agen/silk fibroin nerve conduits. METHODS:In this paper, the first author retrieved the PubMed and CNKI from 2003 to 2016 to search articles regarding methods of constructing artificial nerve scaffolds and selection of raw materials. Data from these articles were col ected, summarized and analyzed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Forty-six articles were included for final analysis. Col agen and its degradation products trigger no inflammatory response in the host because of high biocompatibility and biodegradability. However, its use is largely limited by its rapid degradation and poor physical performance. Silk fibroin has a high flexibility and biocompatibility, and exhibits a slow degradation in vivo. As a rapid prototyping technique, three-dimensional printing can print various forms of scaffolds within a short time, characterized as high-quality pore structure and large-scale production. Given these, the col agen/silk fibroin nerve conduit prepared using the three-dimensional printing technology can maintain the biocompatibility and even improve the mechanical properties of the raw materials. Until now, more investigations on nerve repair using col agen or silk fibroin have been done, and we have never stopped improving the production process of these scaffolds. Therefore, the col agen/silk fibroin scaffold prepared using the three-dimensional printing technology is expected to become the main candidate for the repair of peripheral nerve defects.

Objective To evaluate the correlation between MRI and X-Ray discography findings and pain response at provocative discography in patients with discogenic back pain. Methods Two hundred and fifty-six lumbar intervertebral discs in 93 patients who underwent MRI and X-Ray discography were included in this study. MR images were retrospectively evaluated regarding disc degeneration, endplate abnormalities and high intensity zone. Disc degeneration was graded according to the modified criteria of Pearce, et el. Evaluation of disc morphology was performed with X-Ray discography by using the classification of Adams, et al. Endplates and adjacent bone marrow abnormalities were classified according to Modic,et al. During discography concordant pain was regarded as positive, whereas discordant pain and no pain were regarded as negative. The data were analyzed using the Chi-squnre test. Results There were 116 discs with concordant pain and 140 discs with discordant pain or no pain. Of 256 discs on discography, 17 discs were type Ⅰ17(6.6%),type Ⅱ were 25(9.8%),type Ⅲ were 91(35.5%), type Ⅳ were 77(30.1%) and type Ⅴ were 46(18.0% ). On MR images, discs of grade Ⅰ were 23 (9.0%) ,grade Ⅱ were 34(13.3%), grade Ⅲ were 84(32.8%), grade Ⅳ were 85 (33.2%) and grade Ⅴ were 30(11.7%). There was positive correlation between Pearce graded of MRI and classification of Adams of discography (r=0.62, X2 =160.87,P <0.01).In 123 discs of type Ⅳ to type Ⅴ on discography, 104 discs were with concordant pain. There was positive correlation between type Ⅳ-Ⅴ and concordant pain( r=0.60, X2 = 144.08, P < 0.01). In 115 discs of Ⅳ-Ⅴ grade degeneration, 99 discs presented with concordant pain. There was positive correlation between Ⅳ-Ⅴ grade disc degeneration and concordant作者单位:510120 广州,中山大学附属第二医院放射科 pain(r = 0.59, X2 = 137.11, P <0.01 ). In 60 discs with high intensity zone(HIZ), 52 discs presented with concordant pain. There was positive correlation between HIZ and concordant pain ( r=0.41, X2= 51.93, P <0.01 ). In 58 discs with endplate degeneration, 51 presented with concordant pain. There was positive correlation between Modic degeneration and concordant pain ( r = 0.41, X2= 52.76, P < 0.01 ). Conclusion In patients with chronic low back pain, MR imaging may present moderate to severe disc degeneration, high intensity zone, endplates and adjacent bone marrow abnormalities. MR findings with concordant pain can raise the diagnostic possibility of discogenic lumbar pain. Typical discography findings, fissured or ruptured disc, with concordant pain are important diagnostic evidence for discogenic lumbar pain.

Objective To investigate the role of epidermal growth factor receptor 3 (ErbB3) and insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF1R) in enhancing the resistance of Herceptin in human breast cancer.Methods HRG (Heregulin,the ligand of ErbB3) or IGF2 (insulin-like growth factor2,the ligand of IGF1R) was correspondingly added into breast cancer cells SKBR3 and BT474,and then 3-(4,5-dimenthylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS) assay and were performed in these cells to evaluate the sensitivity of these cells to Herceptin.Furthermore,we used HRG or IGF2 antibodies to inhibit their joint receptors in Herceptin-resistant breast cancer cells SKBR3/POOL2 and BT474/HR20.Finally,the sensitivity of these treated cells to Herceptin was detected via MTS assay.HRG or IGF2 was added into breast cancer cell BT474,and co-IP assay was used to detect the expressions of ErbB3 and IGF1R which combined with ErbB2.Results The treatment groups used HRG or IGF2 enhanced the resistance of Herceptin in Herceptin-sensitive breast cancer cells.On the other hand,we used antibodies of HRG and IGF2 to block their combining with their receptors in Herceptin-resistant breast cancer cells,the cells became more sensitive to Herceptin.BT474 cell was treated with HRG or IGF2.The expressions of ErbB3 and IGF1R which combined with ErbB2 were increased.Conclusions The formation of heterodimers ErbB2/ErbB3 and ErbB2/IGF1R might enhance the resistance of Herceptin in ErbB2-overexpression human breast cancers.

The debitterizing effect of ternary complexes was appraised and characterization of ternary complexes was made by infrared spectrum (IR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The ternary complexes (β-CD/BH/WPI90) of berberine hydrochloride (BH),β-cyclodextrin)β-CD (and whey protein isolate (WPI90) were prepared with adopting coprecipitation preparation. The results showed that the ternary complexesβ-CD/BH/WPI90 can sig-nificantly reduced the bitterness of BH. The content of BH in the ternary complexes was 3.20%. It was concluded that the ternary complexesβ-CD/BH/WPI90 had significant effect in reducing the bitterness of BH. IR and DSC of the ternary complexesβ-CD/BH/WPI90 were different from the simple physical mixture.

AIM:This study continuously monitors the hemodynamic changes in conscious and anesthetic rats during rapid ascent to high altitude to investigate whether there is difference between the 2 conditions and discuss the rela-ted underlying mechanism.METHODS: Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into conscious group, anesthetic group, anesthetic-5000-control ( A-5000-control) group, anesthetic-5000-aminoguanidine ( A-5000-AG) group, conscious-5000-control ( C-5000-control ) group and conscious-5000-aminoguanidine ( C-5000-AG ) group.The rats in anesthetic group and conscious group were kept in a hypobaric chamber, in which the simulated altitude was increased from 2 260 m to 5 000 m at 2 m/s, and the rats in other 4 groups were at 5 000 m.The system arterial pressure ( Psa) , central venous pressure ( CVP) , heart rate ( HR) and breathing rate ( BR) were directly and continuously displayed and digitally recorded by a high-performance data acquisition (PowerLab 16/35, AD Instruments) at 200 Hz.RESULTS: The HR and BR in the conscious rats were higher and MAP was lower than those in the anesthetic rats obviously.A significant decrease in mean arterial pressure ( MAP) in conscious and anesthetic groups was observed following the increase in the altitude levels, and the net decrease in MAP in conscious group was significantly greater.Additionally, HR in the conscious rats was sig-nificantly lower at 5 000 m than that of the initial level.The rats in C-5000-AG group and A-5000-AG group showed a sig-nificant increase in the arterial pressure after the intravenous injection of AG, a selective inhibitor of inducible nitric oxide synthase ( iNOS) , and no marked change of HR and BR was found.CONCLUSION: Blood pressure and HR decrease during rapid ascent to high altitude, while the change of BR is not obvious.The mechanisms of self-safety would be trig-gered in the early stage of hypoxia, which activates iNOS and then leads to a larger number of nitric oxide.Plentiful NO di-astolizes the vessels to improve the ventilation-perfusion mismatch and lower the blood pressure.When the altitude arise to 5 000 m, even more earlier, a decompensatory stage may occur in the body, leading to decreased HR and blood pressure further more than those in the anesthetic rats.Due to the effects of pentobarbital sodium, the depression of blood pressure requires a lag period and the net decrease in MAP is less than that in the conscious rats.Therefore, hemodynamic changes during rapid ascent to high altitude in conscious rats are more comprehensive and authentic.

Recently, gut microbiota is found to be associated with human health and diseases. Environmental and genetic factors both play pivotal roles in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes, in which the gut microbiota is regarded as an important environmental factor. In addition, gut microbiota may become a novel therapeutic approach for type 2 diabetes. Present review focused on the association between the alterations of gut microbiome and type 2 diabetes, hyperglycemia, and insulin resistance;also summarized the molecular mechanisms underlying microbe-host interactions in the context of diabetes, potential contribution of the gut microbiota to the pharmacological or surgical treatment of type 2 diabetes, and the interaction of human genetics with gut microbiome. Based on the understanding of gut microbiota-host interactions, probiotic and fecal microbiota transplantation will be potential novel therapeutic approaches for type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE:To optimize the extraction technology of garlic oil. METHODS:Using extraction rate of garlic oil as index,based on single factor test,Box-Behnken response surface method was used to optimize conditions of steam distillation method for the extraction of garlic as fermentation time,solid to liquid ratio,fermentation temperature and the verification test were made for the optimized technology. RESULTS:The optimal extraction technology was as follows as fermentation time of 4.5 h,solid to liquid ratio of 1:7,fermentation temperature of 55 ℃. The average extraction rate of garlic oil in verification test was 0.32%(RSD=1.43%,n=3);the relative error between the measured value and predicted value was 0.06%. CONCLUSIONS:Box-Behnken response surface method is simple,reasonable and feasible to optimize the extraction technology of garlic oil,which can provide a scientific basis for industrial production.