Objective To investigate effect of emodin on mice immune function and its hemolysis toxicity.Methods The mouse specific immune cells of T, B lymphocytes and nonspecific immune cell of macrophages and NK cells were prepared and incubated in vitro.The different immune cells were treated by emodin with different concentrations of 5,10,15 and 20μM, and DMSO as control group.The effect of emodin on immune cells function was detected by neutral red assay and MTT assay.The hemolysis test in vitro was conducted by emodin with different concentrations of 20, 40, 60 and 80μM, physiological saline as blank control group and sterile distilled water as positive control group, then the hemolysis toxicity of emodin was observed. Results There were no significant difference of T and B lymphocyte proliferation among control group, 5, 10, 15 and 20 μM group(F=0.009,P=1.000;F=0.003,P=1.000), the phagocytic ability of macrophages enhanced in each dose group and was concentration dependent(F=665.525,P=0.000), the proliferation rate of macrophages enhanced and was concentration dependent(F=134.812,P=0.000), the activity of NK cells enhanced and was concentration dependent(F=200.190,P=0.000).Hemolysis test results showed the hemolysis rate was less than 5% in the range of 20 to 80μM emodin.Conclusion Emodin could significantly promote the nonspecific immune cells activity.Within the concentration of experiment, emodin has no hemolysis toxicity.

Objective To investigate the applicability of zebra fish thrombosis model in antithrombotic activity screening of Chinese materia medica.Methods The living zebra fish thrombosis model was induced by adrenaline hydrochloride. Zebra fish were randomly divided into blank control group, model group, positive medicine group and medication group. Each group was given the corresponding medicine or embryo culture water. O-anisidine staining solution was used to stain and calculate the staining intensity of erythrocytes in zebra fish heart, and quantitative analysis was carried out. The platelet aggregation of transgenic zebra fish was observed and under qualitative analysis. Results Compared with the model group, 100μg/mL salvianolic acid B, 300, 900μg/mL aqueous extract of Salvia miltiorrhiza, 45μg/mL 95% ethanol extract and 400, 1200μg/mL hypothalamus could significantly inhibited the formation of zebra fish thrombosis (P<0.01).ConclusionZebra fish thrombosis model has good applicability in antithrombotic activity screening of Chinese materia medica.

Objectives To develop a multi-stage and multi-epitope vaccine, which consists of epitopes from the early secretory and latency-associated antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Methods The B-cell, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) and helper T-lymphocyte (HTL) epitopes of 12 proteins were predicted using an immunoinformatics. The epitopes with antigenicity, without cytotoxicity and sensitization, were further screened to construct the multi-epitope vaccine. Furthermore, the proposed vaccine underwent physicochemical properties analysis and secondary structure prediction as well as 3D structure modeling, refinement and validation. Then the refined model was docked with TLR4. Finally, an immune simulation of the vaccine was carried out. Results The proposed vaccine, which consists of 12 B-cell, 11 CTL and 12 HTL epitopes, had a flexible and stable globular conformation as well as a thermostable and hydrophilic structure. A stable interaction of the vaccine with TLR4 was confirmed by molecular docking. The efficiency of the candidate vaccine to trigger effective cellular and humoral immune responses was assessed by immune simulation. Conclusion A multi-stage multi-epitope MTB vaccine construction strategy based on immunoinformatics is proposed, which is expected to prevent both active and latent MTB infection.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis/metabolism* ; Molecular Docking Simulation ; Toll-Like Receptor 4 ; Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte/chemistry* ; Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte/chemistry* ; Vaccines, Subunit/chemistry* ; Computational Biology/methods*