OBJECTIVETo explore the relationship between aquaporin 3,4 (AQP3, AQP4) gene expression in gastric mucosa and severity of Pi-Wei damp-heat syndrome (PWDHS) in patients with chronic superficial gastritis (CSG).

METHODSGastric mucosa taken from the upper part of gastric corpus was collected under gastroscope and preserved in liquid nitrogen. The gene expression of AQP3 and AQP4 was determined quantitatively by fluorescent PCR.

RESULTSThe gene expression of AQP3 and AQP4 in patients with PWDHS of moderate and severe degree was higher than that in those of mild degree and in healthy persons respectively (P <0.05 and P <0.01); and the gene expression of AQP3 in patients with PWDHS of severe degree was higher than that in those of moderate degree (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe gene expression of AQP3 and AQP4 in gastric mucosa was correlative with the severity of PWDHS in patients with chronic superficial gastritis, the severer the syndrome, the higher the gene expression.

Adult ; Aquaporin 3 ; genetics ; Aquaporin 4 ; genetics ; Chronic Disease ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Gastric Mucosa ; metabolism ; pathology ; Gastritis ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Syndrome

Objective:To study the effect of natural antioxidant ?-carotene(?-C) combined with vitamin E and C supplement on cellular oxidative damage in aged people. Method:Three hundred subjects aged from 60 to 75y,128 males and 172 females were randomized into 5 groups:group 1(VE 200mg/d+VC 300 mg/d+?-C 16.7 mg/d) ,group 2(VE 200 mg/d+VC 300 mg/d+?-C 8.4 mg/d) ,group 3(VE 200 mg/d+VC 300 mg/d+?-C 5.6 mg/d) ,group 4(VE 200mg/d+VC 300mg/d) ,group 5(VE 5 mg/d) . The trial lasted 16 weeks. All subjects were asked to record the nutrients intake daily. The investigators followed-up and supervised the subjects irregularly. The samples of blood and urine were collected at the beginning and end of the trial. The proliferation of lymphocytes was detected by MTT and H2O2-induced erythrocyte hemolytic degrees were measured before and after the trial. Thefluidity of erythrocyte membrane was evaluated by fluorescence polarization(?) and microviscosity(?) . O6-MeG was analyzed by high performance capillary zone electrophoresis. Results:The proliferation of lymphocytes was increased and H2O2-induced erythrocyte hemolytic degrees were decreased from group 1 to group 4 at the end of trial with significant difference compared with control group 5. The ? and ? values were lower in 1 to 4 groups at the end of trial. O6-MeG was significantly lower in group 1 to 4 group at the end of trial,and group 1 lower than group 4. Conclusion:Different doses of natural antioxidant ?-carotene supplement combined with vitamin E and C could improve the function of erythrocyte and the proliferation of lymphocytes,and decrease DNA alkylating damage.

Antithrombus is one of the effective methods to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases. Based on the theory of traditional Chinese medicine,the author's previous research and relevant literature,it was found that the alkaloids in Houttuynia cordata has potential antithrombotic effect. However,the pharmacological substance basis and antithrombotic mechanism of H. cordata have not been clarified. In this study,molecular docking was used for virtual screening of antithrombotic alkaloids from H. cordata. Seventy alkaloids selected from H. cordata were screened in the docking ligand data-base with teen thrombosis targets with known crystal structures as the receptors. In addition,the small-molecule approved or to be approved drugs of targets from Drug Bank database were set as a positive reference with minimum score(S value) of each target's approved or to be approved drugs as threshold. The Dock module in Molecular Operating Environment(Version 2016) software was applied to screen the potential active compounds which their scores(S value) were lower than the minimum score of reference. At last the mechanism of antithrombotic effect was preliminarily revealed by compared the main active sites of the test alkaloids with original ligands and references. This study provided some useful information to development of antithrombus drugs.
Alkaloids ; pharmacology ; Fibrinolytic Agents ; pharmacology ; Houttuynia ; chemistry ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Phytochemicals ; pharmacology

Nelumbinis Plumula has the traditional sedative effect,but its mechanism is unclear. In this study,the relationship between traditional sedative effect and hypnotic effect of Nelumbinis Plumula was taken as the starting point to study the hypnotic mechanism of the major medicinal components in Nelumbinis Plumula by the network pharmacology method. Targets of active Nelumbinis Plumula alkaloids were screened by Swiss Target Prediction server,TCMSP and BATMAN-TCM. Targets of hypnotic drugs approved by FDA were screened from Drug Bank,OMIM,TTD databases. The common targets were screened by GO and KEGG pathways. Cytoscape 3. 7. 1 software was used to construct the network of " active component-target-pathway-disease". The results of network analysis showed that 21 active compounds were associated with 44 targets and 28 pathways. Among them,21 compounds,35 targets and 15 pathways were predicted to be related to sedative hypnosis. Nelumbinis Plumula showed the hypnotic effect by acting on neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction pathway,regulation of actin cytoskeleton pathway,calcium signaling pathway,cholinergic synapse pathway.This study preliminarily revealed the potential active compounds and possible mechanisms of traditional sedative effect of Nelumbinis Plumula,which provided a theoretical basis for further experimental studies on medicinal materials and its mechanisms.
Alkaloids ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Hypnotics and Sedatives