Ginseng has long been used as a tonic and agent for prolonging life span in chinese traditional medicine． Using morden technology，ginsenoside Rgl and Rbl were proved to be main active principles of ginseng．Both conpounds showed the same effect in improving learning and memory， increasing Bmax of M-cholinergic receptors and accelerating cerebral protein and acetylcholine biosynthesis．However，Rgl but not Rbl had immunoregulatory action in aged rats and anti-osteoporosis effect in ovariectomized rats as well as enhanced basic synaptic transmission and magnitude of LTP induced by HFS． On the other hand，Rbl had anti-stress effects in antagonizing acute,chronic and repeated stress induced reduction of sexual behaviour and decrease of plasma andogen or estrogen．Rgl showed no such effect even aggravate stress induced damage．Rhl possessed anti-oxidant activity and prolong survival time of mice in cold(－10℃) condition．There was no any anti-cold effect with Rgl .These diference of biological activities between Rgl and Rbl may be arributed to their structures containing different number of glucoses．

Ganoderma lucidum(Leyss．Ex fr．)Karst．(Lingzhi) is a medicinal fungus with a long history in China as a valuable tonic remedy．Modern Pharmacological and clinical investigation demonstrated that Lingzhi had anti-tumor activities．Recently the antitumor effects of extract of Ganoderma lucidum(GLE) and Ganoderma polysaccharides B(GL-B) and its mechanism were investigated．The results demonstrated that GLE and GL-B significantly inhibited growth of implanted sarcoma 180 in vivo．GL-B also promoted anti-tumor activity induced by cyclophosphamide in mice in vivo．GLE and GL-B directly adding to tumor cells-cultured medium neither suppressed sarcoma 180 and HL-60 proliferation nor induced apoptosis of both tumor cells in vitro．However the serum from GLE and GL-B treated mice can suppress S-180 and HL-60 cells proliferation and induced its apoptosis in vitro．Furthermore splenocytes conditioned medium with GL-B (GL-B-S-CM) and peritoneal macrophages conditional medium with GL-B (GL-B-PM-CM) also significantly inhibited HL-60 proliferation and induced its apoptosis in vitro．Further study indicated that GLE and GL-B could promote TNFa production from murine peritoneal macrophages and IFNg production from murine spleen cells in vitro．Finally GLE and GL-B could promote TNFa mRNA expression in murine peritoneal macrophages and IFNg mRNA expression in murine spleen cells．The results suggest that the anti-tumor effect of Ganoderma lucidum relates to activating macrophage and spleen cell，then promoting TNFa mRNA expression and IFNg mRNA expression，finally resulting TNFa and IFNg release．

Danshen-Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae，is one of the common traditional Chinese medicines，which has been used clinically in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases more than 20 centuries.The active ingredients of Danshen has been researched 5 decades by the modern methods.Many researchers investigated the pharmacological effects of water soluble ingredients of Danshen-salvianolic acids in vivo and in vitro.The results demonstrated that salvianolic acids have different pharmacological effects such as potent antioxidative effects，scavenging free radicals，protect neural cells against injuries caused by anoxia， etc.In present paper，the pharmacological effects of salvianolic acids and the mechanisms of their actions are reviewed based on the research results obtained in our laboratory and other authors.

Liuwei Dihuang decoction（LW），a classical traditional Chinese medicinal prescription with the effect of “nourishing Kidney-Yin”，consists of six herbs including Rehmannia glutinosa (Shudi),Cornus officinalis(Shauzhuyu)，Dioscorea opposita(Shanyao)，Alisma orientale(Zexie)，Porie cocos（Fuling）and Paeonia suffruticosa（Mudanpi）．It has long been used clinically in the treatments of many kinds of diseases with the sign of “Kidney-Yin deficiency”，such as cancer，diabetes，autoimmue diseases，menopausal syndrome in traditional Chinese medical treatments．The effectiveness of it has been well documented during the long-term clinical practices．In our study，the effects and the possible active mechanisms of LW on learning and memory ，neuroendocrine and immune functions were studies from the angle of neuroendocrine immunomodulation（NIM）network ．In chemical fractionation and purification of the immunoactive fractions or components contained in LW，the method of a close collaboration between pharmacological and chemical studies was employed．The chemical fractionation was begun from the decoction and guided by pharmacological activity evaluation．The results showed that oral administration of LW significantly improved learning and memory abilities in several kinds of model animals such as senescence accelerated mice (SAM)，chronic hanging stress-loaded mice and corticosterone-treated mice and the mechanism studies suggested that the effects were achieved through several ways．LW significantly decreased the plasma level of corticosterone in SAM-prone/8 (SAMP8) ，a substrain of SAM．SAMP8 showed a marked elevation of plasma level of corticosterone with advancing age in comparison with SAMR1 ，a substrain of senescence resistant of SAM．LW also significantly improved the secretion of testosterone by primary cultured testis cells from SAMP8．The immunopharmacological studies showed that oral administration of LW not only improved the immune functions in several immunodeficient model animals such as cyclophospharmide-treated mice and SAMP8，but also modulated or corrected the imbalance of immune functions manifested in autoimmune model animals includig adjuvant arthritis rats and campylobacter jejuni primed mice．Under the guidance of activity evaluation，several immunoactive fractions and pure compounds were obtained from the decoction．The effects of some fractions and compounds were studied and the results showed that they possessed potential immunopharmacological effects．The preliminary study suggested that LW possessed wide pharmacological effects and the basic effect of LW，we postulate，is modulation the balance of NIM network disturbed in many pathological conditions．It is also suggested that our method employed in the study of LW is an effective and practicable way in modern studies of tradltional Chinese medicinal prescriptions．

The content of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and lipid peroxide (LPO) of blood serum in 120 ulcerative colitis (UC) patient were tested by means of xanthine oxidation method and colorimeter on the reactive product of thio-barbituric acid.The content of SOD in the UC Patients was lower than that in the normal control group (P＜0.001),and the content of LPO in the UC patients was obviously higher than that the control group (P＜0.001).The content of SOD in the UC patients which accompanied the types of simple retention of damp-heat in the interior or weakness of the spleen and the stomach or the stagnancy of qi and blood stasis or deficiency of yin and stagnancy of qi and blood stasis was distinctly lower tban the one in the normal control groups (P＜0.001).The content of LPO in them is distinctly higher than the content of LPO in normal control group (P＜0.001).Conclusion: These results suggested that the content of SOD of protecting cell factor in the body of ulcerative colitis patients who were mostly the type of retention of damp-heat in the interior decreased and the content of LPO of damaging cell factor increased.When the patients accompanied with the deficiency,the content of the SOD in them reduced remarkably and the content of LPO enhanceed remarkably,especially in those who are the type of weekness of the spleen and the stomach or insufficiency of the spleen and the stagnancy of qi and blood stasis.

The fatty acid components and microviscosity of erythrocyte membrane in 39 type 2 diabetic patients with and without coronary heart disease(CHD) were examined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and fluorescence polarization teachnique,and their relationship with insulin sensitivity index (ISI) and CHD were analyzed.The results showed that contents and composition of erythrocyte membrane arachidonic acid (AA,C20:4)were significantly lower in type 2 diabetic patients with or without CHD than those in control subjects (P＜0.01 and P＜0.05).The total fatty acids contents were also significantly lower in patients with CHD than those in normal subjects (P＜0.05).In patients with or without CHD,erythrocyte membrane microviscosity was significantly increased as compared with the controls (P＜0.01 and P＜0.05),and it was higher in diabetics with CHD than those without CHD (P＜0.05).AA contents of erythrocyte membrane was negatively correlated with microviscosity and positively correlated with insulin sensitivity index (ISI),while the microviscosities were negatively correlated with ISI in diabetics.AA,linoleic acid contents,microviscosity of erythrocyte membrane and ISI were all correlated with the incidence of CHD in diabetics.In diabetic patients,the fatty acid metabolic abnormality could cause the alterations of functions,structures and fluidity of erythrocyte membrane,thus may contributing to increased IRS and might be related to the incidence of CHD.

In this study,the relationship between the advanced glycation end products(AGEs) and the expressions of receptor for AGEs(RAGE),intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1(ICAM-1) was investigated.The diabetic rat model was reconstructed and the fluorescence method,RT-PCR and in-situ hybridization techniques were used to detect AGEs content and the expressions of RAGE and ICAM-1 gene in the aorta and cardiac tissues.The results showed that AGEs content in aortic and cardiac tissues increased(P＜0.01) in diabetic rats; The expressions of RAGE and ICAM-1 enhanced (P＜0.05～0.01) and were positively correlated with the quantity of AGEs accumulation(P＜0.01) in the aorta and cardiac tissue.These parameters change in the diabetic rats can be improved with aminoglumine(AG) treatment.Suggesting that AGEs might induce RAGE and ICAM-1 expression.It's postulated that AGEs binding to RAGE play an important role to result in diabetic endothelial cells dysfunction and lesion.

Percutaneous myocardial revascularization (PMR)，building on the succeeds of transmyocardial laser revascularization (TMR)，has developed that allows TMR-like channels to be cradated via a percutaneous approach.This catheter based approach avoids the morbidity associated with general anesthesia and thoractomy or thoracoscopy.It also avoids transmural treatment of the myocardium by the laser.Although its mechanism remains unclear,many patients with intractable angina and non-bypassable coronary artery disease have benefited from the new system.It is hoped that PMR will mimic the clinical benefit of TMR，and will gradually become a main method in treating end-staged coronary artery disease.

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is a very effective approach to treat coronary artery disease.However,restenosis after PTCA affects 40% to 60% of patients in the months after an initially successful intervention.Although a number of new techniques and pharmacological approaches have been tried to reduce the rate of restenosis,only a few have shown even preliminary efficacy.Radiation therapy seems to provide an interesting,nonpharmacological approach to prevent the restenosis after PTCA during recent years.The experiments and clinical data of this new approach are reviewed in this paper.

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) has become one of the most important treatment method in coronary artery disease along with coronary bypass operation and medicine in recent years.Restenosis after intervention becomes the Achili's heel in our daily treatment.In some degree stenting can reduce restenosis,but the restenosis after stenting is still over 20%.The focus of the treatment of restenosis over the last 2 decades has been through the application of pharmacologically active agents and mechanical approaches using a host of different devices.But this frequent and costly complication of percutaneous revascularization techniques has proved refractory to all such therapies.This review will focus on the studies that have been done during recent years,it will cover the mechanism of restenosis after PTCA and stenting,the risk factors involved in the restenosis,and the prevention and treatment of restenosis.