Objective To observe the effect of modified Qinghao Biejia Decoction ( QBD) on Th17 cells and renal pathology of MRL/lpr mice with spontaneous systemic lupus erythematosus. Methods Thirty-two female MRL/lpr mice aged 8 to 10 weeks were divided into 4 groups: model group, Chinese medicine group, prednisone group, and combination group, 8 mice in each group. Eight female C57BL/6 mice aged 8 to 10 weeks served as normal control. Mice in Chinese medicine group were given concentrated solution of modified QBD (19.25 g·kg-1·d-1), mice in the prednisone group were given water solution of prednisone acetate (8.75 mg·kg-1·d-1) , mice in the combination group were given the above two kinds of medicine, and mice in the model group and normal control group were given physiological saline. After medication for 7 weeks, spleens and kidneys in all of the groups were taken out for the experiment. Th17 cells in splenic mononuclear cell suspension were detected by flow cytometry, the pathological changes of renal tissue were observed under light microscope, and activity index (AI) of renal tissue in lupus nephritis mice was scored. Results The proportion of Th17 cells in the model group was significantly higher than that of normal control group ( P<0.05) . The proportion of Th17 cells in Chinese medicine group and combination group was lower than that of the model group ( P<0.05) , and prednisone group had higher proportion of Th17 cells than Chinese medicine group ( P<0.05) . Compared with the model group, pathological changes of renal tissue were relieved, and AI scores were decreased in Chinese medicine group, the prednisone group and the combination group ( P<0.05) . Except for the normal control group , AI scores in all groups were positively correlated with the proportion of Th17 cells ( r=0.77, P<0.01) . Conclusion Modified QBD can inhibit the expression of Th17 cells and improve the pathological changes of MRL/lpr mice with lupus nephritis.

To analyze and compare the protective effects of active components in different ethyl acetate extracts (EAEEPs) from Eclipta prostrate, in order to study the comparison of materials bases protecting normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells. The MTT assay was taken to compare the protective effect of different EAEEPs on cigarette smoke extracts (CSE) -induced NHBE cells. The ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) was applied to analyze the content of phenolic acid, coumaric grass ether and flavonoid in EAEEPs. According to the results, all of the eight EAEEPs (0-200 mg x L(-1)) showed certain protective effect on NHBE cells, with statistical difference. Specifically, the total mass of EAEEP VII (89.15 mg x L(-1)) and EAEEP VIII (57.44 mg x L(-1)), which showed the strongest activity, was not the highest, while EAEEP III (132.25 mg x L(-1)) displayed the highest total mass. In the combination with the "component structure" theory, the analysis showed a significant difference in the mass structure among phenolic acid, coumaric grass ether and flavonoid in EAEEP VIII and EAEEP VIII, which were 1.0: 1. 0: 0.5 and 1.0: 1.9: 0.8, respectively. The results suggested a specific optimal "component structure" relationship may exist in EAEEP, which could provide reference for the material base study and quality control.
Bronchi ; cytology ; drug effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Eclipta ; chemistry ; Epithelial Cells ; cytology ; drug effects ; Humans ; Protective Agents ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Tobacco Smoke Pollution ; adverse effects

ood long-term efficacy for cirrhosis patients with portal hypertension was a useful treatment for these patients.

OBJECTIVETo explore the correlation of the gene polymorphisms of Toll-like receptor 2 ( TLR2) and TLR4 with the susceptibility and recurrence of condyloma acuminatum (CA).

METHODSUsing Snapshot, we detected the gene polymorphisms of TLR2 597(T/C), 1350(T/C), 15607(A/G), and 2258(G/A) and TLR4 896(A/G) and 1196(C/T) in the peripheral blood of 140 CA patients and 105 HPV-negative controls. We made comparisons between the CA patients and controls as well as between the cases of recurrent CA and those of non-recurrence at 6 months after treatment.

RESULTSThere were 72, 48, and 20 cases of genotype TT, TC, and CC of TLR2 597 (T/C), respectively, in the CA patients, as compared with 71, 31, and 3 cases in the controls. The gene frequency of mutant C was 31. 43% in the patients, significantly higher than 17.62% in the controls (χ2 = 12.04, P < 0.01), and it was 38.68% in the recurrent cases, remarkably higher than 27.01% in the non-recurrent cases (χ2 = 4.16, P < 0.05). There were 74, 49, and 17 cases of genotype TT, TC, and CC of TLR2 1350( T/C), respectively, in the CA patients, as compared with 73, 29, and 3 cases in the controls. The gene frequency of mutant C was 29. 64% in the patients, significantly higher than 16. 67% in the controls (χ2 =11.05, P < 0.01), and it was 36.79% in the recurrent cases, markedly higher than 25. 29% in the non-recurrent cases (χ2 = 4.18, P < 0.05). There were 44, 66, and 30 cases of genotype AA, AG, and GG of TLR2 15607(A/G), respectively, in the CA patients, as compared with 26, 58, and 21 cases in the controls. There was no significant difference in the gene frequencies of mutant G between the two groups (χ2 = 0.33, P > 0.05). No mutant genes of TLR2 2508 (G/A) or TLR4 896(A/G) and 1196(C/ T) were detected in either the CA patients or the controls. Linkage disequilibrium analysis showed a tight linkage between TLR2 597 (T/C) and 1350(T/C) (D' = 1, r2 = 0.93).

CONCLUSIONTLR2 597(T/C) is tightly linked to 1350(T/C), which is correlated with both the susceptibility and the recurrence of condyloma acuminatum.

Aged ; Case-Control Studies ; Condylomata Acuminata ; genetics ; Gene Frequency ; Genetic Linkage ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genotype ; Humans ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Recurrence ; Toll-Like Receptor 2 ; genetics ; Toll-Like Receptor 4 ; genetics

Objective To assess the diagnosis and treatment of enterovesical fistula.Methods The clinical data of 12 cases (10 men and 2 women;mean age,57 years) of enterovesical fistula were retro- spectively analyzed.Of the 12 cases,7 (58%) had colovesical fistula,3 (25%) had ileovesical fistula,and 2 (17%) had rectovesical fistula.The etiology of fistula was intestinal malignancy in 7 cases,Crohn disease in 3 ,and bladder cancer in 1,and intestinal diverticulitis in 1.The clinical features included fecaluria in 10 cases,recurrent urinary tract infection (UTI) in 6,abdominal pain in 4,and pneumaturia in 3.Five patients (5/9) had a definite diagnosis by CT;3 (3/6),by cystoseopy;2 (2/5),by cystography;and 1 (1/5),by barium enema.Among the 10 patients undergoing surgical intervention,resection of the involved bowl with one-stage anastomosis and partial cystectomy was performed in 4;resection of the bowl with one-stage anasto- mosis and repair of the fistula or single bladder drainage in each of 2;one-stage transverse colostomy and two- stage radical colectomy with partial cystectomy in 1;palliative proximal colostomy in 3;and conservative ther- apy in 2.Results One patient died of septic shock 10 d after admission.Nine patients were followed for 3 months to 16 years (mean,6.5 years).One patient had intestinal fistula recurrence and was cured with re- operation;1 patient with conservative therapy and 1 with palliative surgery died of tumor metastasis;and 1 died of cerebrovascular accident 2 years later without fistula recurrence previously.Five patients undergoing surgery had a better survival with no complication.Conclusions The major cause of enterovesical fistula is intestinal malignancy.Fecaluria and recurrent UTI are the most common symptoms.CT and cystoscopy are the preferred adjunctive examinations.Surgical intervention is the major therapeutic choice.

AIM: To gain cdcSTBX25A-fas chimeric gene bearing the regulative fragment cdcSTBX25A and opening read frame of fas in order to construct and identify eukaryotic expression vectors, pAdTrack-CMV-cdcSTBX25A-fas and pAdTrack-cdcSTBX25A-fas, which have the potential to transfer the tumor proliferative signal to promoting-apoptosis signal through up-regulate the fas expression by c-myc. METHODS: A pair of primers were designed according to the known sequences of cdcSTBX25A and fas. The cdcSTBX25A-fas chimeric gene was obtained by PCR reaction and inserted into the two plasmids pAdTrack-CMV and pAdTrack, respectively. The two recombinant plasmids were transferred into E. coli DH5?. The positive clones were screened in LB media with 50 mg/L kanamycin and identified by agarose gel electrophoresis, endonuclease digestion and PCR. The nucleotide sequence of inserted cdcSTBX25A-fas was determined by dideoxy chain termination method. Using software, BLAST was conducted to analyze the structure and sequence of the target fragments and compared with GenBank. RESULTS: The chimeric target gene, cdcSTBX25A-fas, of 1 603 bp was obtained. The positive host bacteria E. coli DH5? of recombinant plasmids were screened and amplified. The double-enzyme digestion showed the pAdTrack-CMV-cdcSTBX25A-fas and pAdTrack-cdcSTBX25A-fas presenting 9.2 kb, 1.6 kb bands, and 8.3 kb, 1.6 kb bands respectively. The sequence analysis confirmed that the two shuttle plasmids containing 1 597 bp cdcSTBX25A-fas with the ORF of fas. CONCLUSION: The eukaryotic expression plasmids pAd-Track-CMV-cdcSTBX25A-fas and pAdTrack-cdcSTBX25A-fas were successfully constructed.

AIMTo study the effect of genistein (GEN) on contractility of isolated right ventricular muscles in guinea pig and its mechanisms.

METHODSIsolated guinea pig ventricular muscles were suspended in organ baths containing K-H solution.After an equilibration period, the effect of GEN on contraction of myocardium was observed.

RESULTSGEN and isoprenaline hydrochloride had the positive inotropic effects on contractity of myocardium. Meanwhile, the effect of GEN (1-100 micromol x L(-1)) was in dose-dependent manner. Propranolol (1 micromol x L(-1)) and verapamil hydrochloride (0.5 micromol x L(-1)) attenuated the positive inotropic effect of isoprenaline hydrochloride (1 micromol x L(-1)), but did not change the effect of GEN (50 micromol x L(-1)). Further more, the enhancement of the contraction induced by elevation of extracellular Ca2+ concentration in ventricular muscles had no change after pretreatment with GEN (1.10 micromol x L(-1)). In addition,the positive inotropic effect of GEN was inhibited partially by tamoxifen (1 micromol x L(-1)) and SQ22536 (1 micromol x L(-1)), also, could be attenuated by bpV (1 micromol x L(-1)).

CONCLUSIONGEN has the positive inotropic effect on guinea pig ventricular muscles, which is not related to the activation of beta adrenoceptor, Ca2+ channel on cell membrane,but may involve in cAMP of intracellular signal transduction and tyrosine kinase pathway.

Animals ; Cardiotonic Agents ; pharmacology ; Cyclic AMP ; metabolism ; Genistein ; pharmacology ; Guinea Pigs ; Heart Ventricles ; drug effects ; In Vitro Techniques ; Male ; Myocardial Contraction ; drug effects ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo explore the correlation between serum levels of growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) and Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) risk scores in patients with unstable angina pectoris (UA).

METHODSThe serum levels of GDF-15 in 97 patients with UA and 30 healthy volunteers were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and compared between 3 patient groups with different TIMI scores to analyze relationship between serum GDF-15 levels and TIMI risk scores.

RESULTSThe serum levels of GDF-15 in UA patients were significantly higher than those in the healthy volunteers (P<0.01). GDF-15 levels also differed significantly between patients with different TIMI scores (P<0.01), and showed a significant positive correlation to TIMI risk scores.

CONCLUSIONSerum levels of GDF-15 can be used as an index for evaluating the severity of UA.

Aged ; Angina, Unstable ; blood ; drug therapy ; Female ; Growth Differentiation Factor 15 ; blood ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Risk Assessment ; Severity of Illness Index ; Thrombolytic Therapy ; adverse effects

Adult ; Case-Control Studies ; Humans ; Interleukin-12 ; blood ; Liver Diseases, Alcoholic ; blood ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; blood

BACKGROUND:Large numbers of experimental data have confirmed that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s have a positive therapeutic effect on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, but there are few reports about intravenous administration of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel conditioned medium in the treatment of stroke.
OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effects of the conditioned medium of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s on the recovery of neurological function in rats after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.
METHODS:The bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s were isolated from rat bone marrow. When cel s at passage 2 or 3 reached 90%confluence, the original culture medium was removed. Then the cel s were cultured in serum-free DMEM for 18 hours. After that, the culture solution was col ected as the conditioned medium of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s. Adult rats were subjected to 2 hours of right middle cerebral artery occlusion. Ischemia-reperfusion injury rats were randomly assigned to three groups:control group, simple culture medium group and conditioned medium group, and respectively given injection of normal saline, DMEM, conditioned medium (10 mL/kg) via the tail vein at 2, 24, 48 hours after operation.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:There was no difference in the behavioral tests among the three groups at postoperative 2 hours (P>0.05). Compared with the control and simple culture medium group, neurological impairment was significantly improved in the conditioned medium group at postoperative 1, 3, 5 days (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between the control and simple culture medium groups. At postoperative 5 days, brain edema was significantly eased in the conditioned medium group in comparison to the control and simple culture medium groups (P<0.05), and there was also no difference between the latter two groups (P>0.05). These results suggest that rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cel s-conditioned medium via intravenous administration can significantly ease brain edema and improve the neurologic function after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.