OBJECTIVETo study the scientific evidence of the traditional preparation of Dachengqi: "Boiling Aurantii Immaturus and Magnoliae Officinalis first, and then adding Rhei to decoct together. Discarding the dregs, adding Natrii Sulfas into the decoction and drinking the upper solution when the Natrii Sulfas has dissolved completely".

METHODThe concentrations of free and combined anthraquinonoids(emodin, rhein, chrysophanol, physcion) in different decoctions were determined with HPLC method respectively.

RESULTWhen Natrii Sulfas, Aurantii Immaturus and Magnolias Officinalis are decocted with Rhei in different schemes, the concentrations of anthraquinonoids were changed regularly.

CONCLUSIONThe scientific evidence of traditional preparation method greatly increased the concentrations of the active components in Dachengqi.

Anthraquinones ; analysis ; Citrus ; chemistry ; Drug Combinations ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Emodin ; analogs & derivatives ; analysis ; Hot Temperature ; Magnolia ; chemistry ; Materia Medica ; chemistry ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Rheum ; chemistry ; Sulfates ; Time Factors

To determine the content of isopsoralen in Gushuling Capsule. High performance liquid chromatography was performed on C 18 column. The chromatographic conditions were as follows: methanol-water (48∶52) as mobile phase, flow rate being 1.1?mL/min and the detecting wavelength at 245?nm. A good linearity of isopsoralen was shown in the range of 0.0342～0.2736??g, r=0.9998. The average recovery is 92.11%, RSD=1.89% (n=5). The method is with good reproducibility,RSD=2.05%.[Conclusion]This method can supply evidence for the quality control of Gushuling Capsule.

This study was purposed to investigate the mechanism of thrombocytopenia in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) through detecting anti-megakaryocyte antibodies in SLE patients. The serum anti-megakaryocyte antibodies in 36 SLE cases with thrombocytopenia were detected by using indirect immunofluorescence, the detected results were compared with detected results of 30 SLE cases without thrombocytopenia and 30 healthy persons. The results showed that the positive incidences of anti-megakaryocyte antibody in serum of 36 SLE cases with thrombocytopenia, 30 SLE cases without thrombocytopenia and 30 healthy persons were 19.4% (7/36), 6.7% (2/30) and 3.3% (1/30) respectively. As compared with SLE patients without thrombocytopenia and healthy persons, SLE patients with thrombocytopenia had higher incidence of anti-megakaryocyte antibodies, moreover there was significant difference between SLE patients with thrombocytopenia and healthy persons (p < 0.05), while there was no significant difference between SLE patients with or without thrombocytopenia (p > 0.05). It is concluded that autoantibodies against megakaryocytes exist in SLE patients and may partially contribute to the incidence of thrombocytopenia in SLE patients. The detection of anti-megakaryocyte antibodies with a enough case number is needed to make a final conclusion on thrombocytopenia pathogenesis in SLE.
Adult ; Autoantibodies ; blood ; Female ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect ; Humans ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; blood ; immunology ; Male ; Megakaryocytes ; immunology ; Middle Aged

The potential application of dendritic cells (DC) sensitized with cytosine-phosphoric acid-guanine (CpG) oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) and tumor antigen as a vaccine against murine melanoma was investigated with freshly isolated mouse bone marrow-derived dendritic cells. For the DC vaccine preparation, DC were sensitized with the B16 tumor antigen and CpG ODN was used to promote further maturation of the DC. The immunogenic activity of the vaccine was evaluated in vitro by determining the proliferation of T lymphocytes and the killing effect of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) on B16 tumor cells. The DC vaccine was injected intraperitoneally and tumor inhibition in mice bearing B16 xenografts was examined. All mice were cared for under an approved SIMM Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) protocol. In vitro, this DC vaccine promoted the proliferation of T lymphocytes and showed a potent killing effect on the target B16 cells. In vivo experiments showed that after treatment or pre-immunization both the tumor volume and weight were significantly decreased. The DC vaccine with CpG ODN and tumor antigen exhibited an inhibitory effect against melanoma, providing a potential method for melanoma cancer treatment.