Objective To study the mechanism of NS1619 on airway remodeling in asthmatic mice. Methods A total of 24 healthy female BALB/c mice were randomly divided into 3 groups:the control group, the oval albumin (OVA) group (the asthma group) and the NS1619 group (the intervention group), 8 mice in each group. Asthma group was induced with OVA, chal-lenged by continuous inhalation with 5%OVA from day 19 to 23, then changed to 3 times per week from day 24 to 55. Interven-tion group was inhaled with NS1619 (30μmol/L) before OVA. Control group was given with normal saline. The thickness of air-way smooth muscle and the area of collagen deposition in lung tissue slices were observed by HE and Masson staining, measured by a computer assisted image analysis system. The concentration ofα-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) in cells was detected by immunohistochemistry. The expression of platelet derived grouth factor-BB, PDGF-BB (PDGF-BB) in serum was measured by immunosorbent assay. Results Compared with the asthma group, the pathologic changes of lung tissue, the thickness of airway smooth muscle and collagen deposition in the group treated with NS1619 were signiifcantly decreased (P<0.05). Compared with the asthma group, the levels ofα-SMA in cells and PDGF-BB in serum in NS1619 treated group were signiifcantly decreased (P<0.05). Conclusions NS1619 partly inhibited airway remodeling in asthmatic mice, partially by down-regulating the expres-sion level ofα-SMA and PDGF-BB.

Objective To explore the mechanism of the reversibility of chronic cyclosporine (CsA) nephrotoxicity in rats after long-term drug withdrawal. Methods Chronic CsA nephrotoxicity was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats by administering CsA(15 mg . kg-1. d-1) for 5 weeks,and then the effect of drug withdraw for 5 and 10 weeks was observed. Body weight,systolic blood pressure,and renal function were monitored. In addition,renal histopathology(arteriolopathy,ED-1-positive cells,and tubulointerstitial fibrosis) and expression of osteopontin(OPN) and transforming growth factor(TGF) -?1 mRNA was examined. Results Compared with the control rats,CsA-treated rats showed loss of body weight,deterioration in renal function and development of typical histopathology. All of these above parameters were significantly reversed,meanwhile,the upregulation of OPN and TGF-?1 mRNA expression decreased significantly at 5th and 10th week after CsA withdrawal. Of note,the decreased OPN and TGF-?1 mRNA expression was positively correlated with the reduction in the tubulointerstitial fibrosis score. Conclusion The established chronic CsA nephrotoxicity is reversible after long-term CsA discontinuation,and the mechanism may be associated with the down-regulation of OPN and TGF-?1 mRNA expression.

Objective:To establish a method for determining the immunological activity of ribonucleic acid. Methods: Leucocyte adherence inhibition test ( LAI) was applied, and the important parameters of LAI including the mouse strain, drug concentration, treatment time, content of buffer solution and cell density were researched. The immunological activity of RNAⅠ, Ⅱand Ⅲ was re-spectively determined by the method. Results:Stable and reliable parameters were obtained: the sample concentration was 10 mg· ml-1 , the treatment time was 2 hours, Ca2+ and Mg2+ were necessary for the buffer solution, and the cell density was about 4 × 107 cell·ml-1 . The strain of mouse showed no effect on the results. As a result, the determination method for immunological activity was established. Using the method, the immunological activity of RNA Ⅰ,Ⅱand Ⅲ was determined 3 times, and the results met the re-quirements with RSD below 20%. Conclusion:The method is suitable for determining the immunological activity of RNA.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, the incidence of non-traumatic femoral head necrosis has increased gradually. It has the characteristics of insidious onset, rapid development of disease and high disability rate, bringing a great burden to patients, their families and society. Confirming its pathogenesis is of great significance for the early effective treatment of non-traumatic femoral head necrosis. OBJECTIVE: To review the relevant literature worldwide and to summarize the research progress of osteogenic signaling pathways in the pathogenesis of non-traumatic femoral head necrosis. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, Medline, CNKI, VIP and WanFang databases were retrieved with the keywords of “non-traumatic osteonecrosis of femoral head, osteogenesis, signaling pathways, pathogenesis, Wnt/β-catenin, PPARy, TGF-β/Smad, PI3K/AKT, MAPK, Notch” in English and Chinese, respectively. The articles concerning mechanism and application of osteogenic signaling pathways associated with avascular necrosis of the femoral head were included. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Recently, the role of osteogenic signaling pathways in non-traumatic femoral head necrosis has received increasing attentions. The abnormal differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in the development of non-traumatic femoral head necrosis has also become an issue of concern. Abnormal differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, inhibition of osteogenic differentiation, increased bone destruction, and imbalance of bone metabolism may be the main cause of non-traumatic femoral head necrosis, and Wnt/β-catenin, PPARy, TGF-β/Smad, PI3K/AKT, MAPK, Notch and other osteogenic signaling pathways may be a viable approach to intervention for non-traumatic femoral head necrosis. Although a large number of in vitro and animal studies have confirmed that osteogenic signaling pathway may have the potential to regulate bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell differentiation and reverse femoral head necrosis, its specific mechanism of action remains unclear and little is reported on its clinical applications. Therefore, exploring the mechanism of signaling pathways and accelerating its clinical use are the directions of the future research.

Nature is abundant in protein scaffolds.By selecting suitable protein scaffold,display and screening methods,the rational and constrained random peptide library(RPL)can be constructed.Compared with the non-constrained RPL,it offered more opportunities for obtaining novel protein structures and more higher affinity ligands against the target molecules.At present,the protein scaffold constrained RPLs have been shown great potential in applications such as target selection,basic research,clinical diagnosis,medical therapy and so on.It is systematically introduced the structure bases,classification and construction of constrained RPL based on scaffolds,as well the recent great advances of application in selection against target molecules with S-S constrained scaffolds,antibodies,Zinc finger protein,Z domain,FN3 domain as important examples.

Objective To investigate the role of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) on transforming growth factor - ?1 (TGF - ?1 )of asthmatic remodeling model Methods One hundred and eight guinea pigs were divided into 3 groups randomly and equally: asthmatic group( A), therapeutic group(B), control group(C) Three groups were treated by ovalbumin, budesonide, normal saline respectively The lung tissue specimens were collected after the guinea pigs were killed; the expression of TGF- ?1 was determined Results The expressions of TGF-?1 in A, K and C groups were(41 83 ? 10. 45) %, (27. 22 ? 8. 09)% , (15. 36 ? 2. 64)% respectively at 12 weeks. It was statistically significant( P

Objective:To explore the effects of Shenqi Compound Recipe on the expression of Cycloxygenase-2 (COX-2)mRNA in aorta in GK rats.There were five groups:GK group,model group,atorvastatin group,Shenqi Compound Recipe group and normal control group.During the experiment periods,each group was administrated correspondent substance respectively for 35 days.Serum concentrations of C reactive protein(CRP)were determined by ELISA.The mRNA expressions of COX-2 in aorta were detemined by reverse transcriptase PCR(RT-PCR).Results:Compared with model group,concentrations of CRP in serum and the mRNA expression of COX-2 all decreased in atorvastatin group and Shenqi Compound Recipe group(P

Cisplatin is effective in the treatment of various solid tumors. However, its clinical application is limited because of the severe side-effects such as nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, ototoxicity and so on. Drug combination is advocated in clinics for synergism and detoxication. In order to provide some referencs for the research of drug combination and clinical treatment regimen, the research advances in the synergism and detoxication of drug combination of cisplatin with chemicals/ traditional Chinese medicines in recent years are reviewed in the paper.

WRKY transcription factors are novel transcriptional regulatory factors, which play an important role in regulating plant development, metabolism and other physiological processes. In this study, a new Dendrobium officinale WRKY transcription factor, designated as DoWRKY1 was cloned by using RT-PCR and RACE (GenBank Accession No. KF953910). Bioinformatic analysis demonstrated that, the full-length cDNA of DoWRKY1 was 1,704 bp. And DoWRKY1 contained a 1,629 bp open reading frame (ORF) that encoding a peptide of 542 amino acid residues. The putative DoWRKY1 protein contained two conserved WRKY domains and it belonged to the group I WRKY family protein. Yeast one-hybrid experiment showed that DoWRKY1 had transcriptional activation ability in yeast, and it could activate the expression of downstream report genes (His3 and Ade2). Semi-quantitative RT-PCR experiment showed that DoWRKY1 expressed in roots, stems, leaves and protocorm-like bodies. Real-time qRT-PCR proved that DoWRKY1 could be induced by methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and chitosan (Chitosan), and the expression level of this gene can reach the expression peak at 2 h and 1 h, respectively. These results are useful for further determination of the regulation function of this gene in secondary metabolism of D. officinale.
Cloning, Molecular ; Dendrobium ; genetics ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Plant Proteins ; genetics ; Transcription Factors ; genetics

This study was aimed to explore the change of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI) and its correlation of 2 sites (505a/g, 1040c/t) in its gene-coding region with venous thromboembolism (VTE). The genotype distribution of TAFI in 80 patients with VTE and 80 normal controls was detected by allele-specific PCR. The results showed that the distribution of each genotype of 505a/g polymorphism was not significantly different between the VTE and control groups (P > 0.05). However, t allele frequency of 1040c/t in VTE group decreased significantly as compared with the control group (40% vs 53.75%, P < 0.05), mainly due to the decrease of the proportion of tt homozygous in VTE group. It is concluded that obvious relationship is found between the polymorphism of 1040c/t in TAFI gene and VTE patients. t allele genotype may paly a protective role in VTE. The polymorphism of TAFI 505a/g may be not associated with VTE.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Carboxypeptidase B2 ; genetics ; Case-Control Studies ; Female ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Venous Thromboembolism ; genetics