Brain ; metabolism ; Brain Chemistry ; Creatine ; deficiency ; Humans ; Syndrome

The nimodipine, calcium-channel blocker, is known to specific to brain tissue and effect on the ischemic stroke. To evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of nimodipine, we studied the 37 patients with Organic Brain Syndrome(OBS) who admitted to St. Mary's Hospital from January to August, 1989. We followed up for 12 weeks of their 18 items of neurologic outcome. The results and conclusion were as follows: 1) The pretreatment SCAG(Sandoz Clinical Assessment-Geriatric Scale) was used as a base-line measurement and the efficacy of the therapy was evaluated entirely in terms of changes in SCAG after 3, 6, 9 and 12 weeks of treatment. The total score was changed with meaningful improvement(p<0.01). 2) Among the 18 items of symptoms, the confusion, the level of alertness, the memory and the orientation were the area that have showed the most improvement. 3) No effect on heart, blood chemistry or other side effect was noted during medication. 4) We also found that those improvement has no specific relation to age, sex and causes of OBS. These result indicate that nimodipine has a possible therapeutic benefit in patients with OBS, especially who have the symptoms of confusion and impaired recent memory. These result should encouraged us to do further study such as double blind placebo in order to clarify the genuine pharmacological efficacy.
Brain* ; Chemistry ; Heart ; Humans ; Memory ; Nimodipine* ; Stroke

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of noise on the antioxidant capacity in different regions of brain tissue in guinea pigs.

METHODSThirty male white red-eye guinea pigs were equally and randomly divided into five groups: 1-, 3-, 7-, and 14-day groups after noise exposure and control group. The guinea pigs of the experimental groups were exposed to steady white noise with a sound pressure level at 100 dB for 8 h per day and for 2 consecutive days. The auditory brainstem response (ABR) of guinea pigs, as well as the glutathione (GSH) level, methane dicarboxylic aldehyde (MDA) level, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in the cerebrum, cerebellum, and hippocampus, was determined prior to and 1, 3, 7, and 14 days after noise exposure.

RESULTSAfter noise exposure, the shifts in ABR threshold of the experimental groups were significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). Compared with those in the control group, the SOD activity and GSH level both significantly decreased in the cerebrum tissue of each experimental group after noise exposure (P<0.05) and MDA content significantly increased in the 1-day group (P<0.05). As for cerebellum tissue, the SOD activity and GSH level in the 7-day group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05), but there was no difference in MDA level between each experimental group and the control group (P>0.05). In comparison with those in the control group, the GSH and MDA levels in the 1-day group after noise exposure were significantly higher, and the GSH and MDA levels in the 3-day group and the MDA level in the 7-day group after noise exposure were significantly lower (all P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONNoise exposure can lead to hearing loss and affect the antioxidant capacity of brain tissue, which indicates that the improvement in antioxidant levels may alleviate noise-induced damage.

Animals ; Antioxidants ; chemistry ; Brain ; metabolism ; Brain Chemistry ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem ; Glutathione ; chemistry ; Guinea Pigs ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; chemistry ; Noise ; adverse effects ; Superoxide Dismutase ; chemistry

Objective: To find the different electrophoretic profiles of prion protein in carcinous and individual pericarcinous tissues in lysates of gastric, colon, liver, lung, thyroid, and laryngeal cancers. Methods: Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blot were used to test the amounts and electrophoretic patterns of total PrP and the tolerance of PK (protease K) digestion among six various cancer tissue types. Results: A mass of PrP signals with a large molecular weight were identified in the homogenates of peripheral tissues. The amounts and electrophoretic patterns of total PrP did not differ significantly between carcinous and pericarcinous tissues. PrPs in all types of the tested cancer samples were PK sensitive but showed diversity in the tolerance of PK digestion among various tissue types. Conclusions The study revealed that the included electrophoretic patterns of carcinous and pericarcinous tissues were almost similar. Unlike PrP-specific immunohistochemical assay, evaluation of PrP electrophoretic patterns in the peripheral organs and tissues by Western blot does not reflect tumor malignancy.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Brain ; Brain Chemistry ; Cricetinae ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Humans ; Neoplasms/chemistry* ; Prion Proteins/analysis*

Kinesin is a motor protein that uses the energy from ATP hydrolysis to move along the microtubule system. To investigate how the chemical energy stored in ATP is converted to mechanical movement, the corresponding N-terminal region of rat brain kinesin was expressed in BL21-Codon Plus (DE3)-RP competent cells. After SP-cation exchange chromatography and size exclusion chromatography, the protein yield reached 10 mg/L culture with the purity above 95%. The purified protein had ATPase activity and specifically reacted with the kinesin antibody in the Western blotting analysis. The purified kinesin was crystallized under the following condition: 1.7 mol/L (NH4)2SO4, 500 mmol/L NaCl, 20% glycerol. The kinesin crystal can diffract up to 2.0 angstroms resolution.
Animals ; Brain ; enzymology ; Crystallization ; Hydrolysis ; Kinesin ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Rats

Lactoferrin (Lf) is one of the food protein belonged to the innate immune system. Apart from its main biological function of binding and transport of iron ions, lactoferrin also has many other functions and properties such as antibacterial, antiviral, antiparasitic, catalytic, anti-cancer, anti-allergic and radioprotecting. Lf is usually used as additives of food and cosmetics. The research of lactoferrin has been increasingly reported, and the application of lactoferrin as a drug carrier has drawn extensive attention over the recent year. In this paper, researches of lactoferrin as drug carriers are classified and summarized in brain targeting, liver tumor targeting, lung tumor targeting and oral delivery systems according to their different characteristics.
Administration, Oral ; Brain ; Drug Carriers ; Humans ; Lactoferrin ; chemistry ; Neoplasms

In this study, the Web of Science and China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI) were searched comprehensively for the literature about the research on Polygalae Radix. After manual screening, 1 207 Chinese articles and 263 English articles were included in this study. Excel was used to draw the line chart of the annual number of relevant publications. CiteSpace 6.1.R3 was used for the visual analysis of author cooperation, publishing institutions, keyword co-occurrence, keyword clustering, and bursts in the research on Polygalae Radix. The results showed that the number of articles published in Chinese and English increased linearly, which indicated the rising research popularity of Polygalae Radix. WANG J and LIU X were the authors publishing the most articles in Chinese and English, respectively. Shanxi University of Chinese Medicine and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences were the research institutions with the largest number of Chinese and English publications in this field, respectively. The institutions publishing the relevant articles in English formed a system with the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences as the core. According to the keywords, the research hotspots of Polygalae Radix included variety selection and breeding, quality standard, extraction and identification of active chemical components, prescription compatibility, processing, clinical medication rules, and pharmacological mechanism. The research frontiers were the molecular mechanisms of Polygalae Radix and its active components in exerting the protective effect on brain nerve, regulating receptor pathways, alleviating anxiety and Alzheimer's disease, as well as data mining and clinical medication summary. This study has reference significance for the topic selection and frontier identification of the future research on Polygalae Radix.
Plant Breeding ; China ; Plant Roots/chemistry* ; Brain ; Publications

OBJECTIVEUsing the stable isotopes as the internal standard of microdialysis technology to establish a new method to study the whole and local brain dynamics of nicotine percutaneous preparations.

METHODUsing th healthy rats as experimental animals, administrating nicotine in abdominal transdermal way, then sample in the blood and brain simultaneously by microdialysis which use deuterium nicotine (DL-nicotine) as internal standard. Detecting the samples by LC-MS/MS method.

RESULTThe configuration process in blood and brain both conforms to 2 compartments model, t1/2 is 29.38 min, t1/2beta is 208.51 min, AUC(0-infinity) is 152 127.10 microg x min x L(-1) in the blood t1/2 is 86.64 min, t1/2beta is 386.00 min, AUC(0-infinity) is 152 820.90 microg x min x L(-1) in the brain.

CONCLUSIONDl-nicotine can be used as internal standard of nicotine to correcte the recovery; Stable isotopes internal standard microdialysis technology can be used for studing the whole and the local pharmacokinetic of nicotine and also provide new ideas and methods to studing the process of new drug delivery system.

Animals ; Brain ; metabolism ; Brain Chemistry ; Deuterium ; chemistry ; Isotope Labeling ; methods ; Male ; Microdialysis ; methods ; Nicotine ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

To research the pharmacokinetic of Danshensu in brain via microdialysis method and automated blood technique. A microdialysis probe was inserted into the left lateral ventricle, and then dialysate samples and blood samples were continuously collected after iv Danshensu. LC-MS/MS was used to determinate for Danshensu in the dialysate samples. The in vivo recovery was used for the calibration of probe. WinNonlin was used for analyzing all pharmacokinetic data. Pharmacokinetic parameters of DSS in blood and in brain showed that Ke, t1/2,, AUC0-t, MRT were 0.04, 0.018 min(-1), 16.64, 58.76 min, 812.59, 51.19 min x mg x L(-1), 15.28, 79.97 min, respectively. The results were indicated that the study was successfully established LC-MS/MS detection method for Danshensu. Microdialysis combined with automated blood technique could better reflect the dynamic characteristics of Danshensu in the rat brain, and it provides a new perspective for pharmacokinetic study.
Animals ; Brain ; metabolism ; Brain Chemistry ; Lactates ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Male ; Microdialysis ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

In order to establish an amplification system in vitro with which the PrP(Sc) is able to convert PrP(C) into proteinase K-resistant isoform infinitely and whether this system is more efficient than conventional protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA), scrapie strain 263K-infected hamster's brain homogenate and homologous normal brain homogenate were prepared, respectively. A new methodology, namely serial PMCA, was utilized to reveal the continuous propagation ability of PrP(Sc). Totally 8 rounds of serial PMCA were proceeded and each round contained 48 cycles of alternative sonication and incubation. Simultaneously 144 cycles of conventional PMCA was used as a control. The results showed the PrP(Sc) from hamsters' brain tissues of scrapie agent 263K could replicate efficiently and infinitely with serial PMCA compared with finite propagation of PrP(Sc) with conventional PMCA system. The study of PrP(Sc) continuous propagation in brain homogenate with serial PMCA may further provide insight into the unsettled mechanism of prions misfolding and replication and apply to detect trace amount of PrP(Sc).
Animals ; Brain ; metabolism ; Cricetinae ; PrPC Proteins ; chemistry ; PrPSc Proteins ; chemistry ; Protein Folding