AIM To assess antidiabetic and insulin sensitizing effect of a novel thiazolidinedione,neoglitazone, in different animal models of type 2 diabetes. METHODS Neoglitazone combined with low-dose insulin(0.2U·d-1 per mouse,sc)were given in streptozotiocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice for 7 d to inspect its insulin-sensitive improvement. The antidiabetic effect of chronic oral treatment (8 wk) with neoglitazone on spontaneous diabetes mice (DB/DB mice) was examined. The levels of blood glucose were measured by a One-Touch blood glucose meter and pathology of heart, kidney, and pancreas tissues were observed under a light microscope. The hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic clamp technique was applied to measure the increase of glucose infusion rate (GIR) of neoglitazone on the immune insulin-resistant rats induced by Bacillus Calmette-Guerin therapy decreased ( 14±s4)%, (55±24)%,and (28±7)% of blood glucose levels compared with CMC-Na+insulin group, respectively (P < 0.01) . In DB/DB mice, neoglitazone showed better reduction in blood glucose levels than those of model animals (P < 0.01) , and pathological studies indicated that neoglitazone attenuated the diabetic kidney and pancreas lesions. During a hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic clamp,neoglitaxone(10,30,and 100mg·kg-1·d-1,ig for 2 wk )-treated groups required significantly higher GIR to maintain basal glucose concentrations than model group (P < 0.01 ). CONCLUSION Neoglitazone could directly enhance insulin sensitivity and ameliorate insulin resistance in different diabetic animal models.

AIM To inVestigate the positiVe transcription elongation factor b(P-TEFb)expressjon and the effect of berberine on diabetic retina of the rat.METHODS Type 2 diabetes mellitus rat models were diabetic control rats(group A)that neither received STZ nor the high-carbohydrate/high-fat diet;16-wk diabetic rats without any drug treatment(group B);diabetic rats treated with berberine at a dose of 75,150 or staining and P-TEFb(cyclin-dependent kinases 9(CDK9)and cyclin T1)protein expression was detected by immunohistochemjstry.RESULTS The retinas of control group were thicker than those of other 6 groups.After thickness but no difference in retinal structure among all groups.Middle-.high-dose berberine and rosiglitazone fenofibrate showed no effect on CDK9 and cyclin T1 expression.CONCLUSION Berberine modulating P-TEFb level in diabetic retina may probably be one of the mechanisms to ameliorate retinopatby induced by STZ and the high-carbohydrate/high-fat diet.

AIM To study the pharmacokinetics of arbidol capsule in Chinese healthy volunteers.METHODS A single oral dose of arbidol capsule 200 mg was given to 20 healthy volunteers respectively.Plasma samples were prepared based on a simple liquid-liquid extraction.The extracted samples were analyzed by HPLC equipped with UV detection.Pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by 3P87 software. RESULTS The main pharmacokinetic parameters of arbidol were as follows:c(max)(418±s 241)μg·L-1,t(max)(1.3±1.2)h,t(1/2α)(1.9±2.3)h,t1/2β(14±5),hAU0-t(2 633±1 071)μg·L-1,Vc/F(0.7±0.6)L,CL(0.08±0.03)L·h-1,CONLUSION The pharmacokinetics of arbidol capsule in human body accord with two-compartmetn open model.The study will offer the pharmacokinetic parameters for the clinical application of arbidol.

AIM: To study the pharmacokinetics of loratadine in healthy volunteers after single and multiple oral administrations of loratadine, paracetamol and pseudoephedrine (LPP) sustained-release tablets.METHODS: Twenty-four volunteers were randomized into two groups which included six men and six women in each group. In the single dose design, volunteers received either one or two tablet (s) of LPP. After 1 wk wash out period, volunteers of one tablet group participated in multiple dose design in which each volunteer received one tablet of LPP twice per day for six consecutive days. The concentrations of loratadine in plasma were determined by HPLC-MS method and the pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated. RESULTS: In the single dose design, main pharmacokinetic parameters of one and two tablet group were as follow: cmax were ( 1.5 ±groups were similar to each other. The obtained multi-dose pharmacokinetic parameters were as follows: AUCssrespectively. D (F) was (3.3 ± 0.8) %. The pharmacokinetics of loratadine was linear. There were no significant difference in pharmacokinetics between single-dose and multi-dose. CONCLUSION: The release and absorption of loratadine in experimental tablet are close to those in loratadine tablet and not affected by the other two components, pseudoephedrine and paracetamol, in LPP sustained release tablet.

AIM: To develop a simple and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for the quantification of zidovudine and to study the pharmacokinetics of two kinds of zidovudine capsules in Chinese healthy volunteers. METHODS :The concentrations of zidovudine in plasma were determined by a validated HPLC method with UV detection. A randomized two-way crossover study was conducted in 18 fasting volunteers to compare plasma pharmacokinetic profile and single-dose tolerability of a new zidovudine capsules. RESULTS: The main pharmacokinetic parameters of two formulations, reference and test capsules, were as follows: cmax were (2 252±s 837) μg·L-1 and (2 300±1 099) μg·L-1; tmax were (0.49±0.19) h and (0.5±0.3) h;t1/2 ke were (0.93±0.19) h and (0.99±0.24) h; AUC0-t were (2 530±452) μg·h·L-1 and (2 467±605) μg·h·L-1;AUC0-∞ were(2 689 ± 414) μg·h·L-1 and (2 583±575) μg·h·L-1. The results of ANOVA and two one-side t test statistical analysis for lg AUC0-t, lg AUC0-∞ and lg cmax showed that two formulations were bioequivalent. CONCLUSION:The method is convenient, sensitive, accurate and reproducible, and could be applied to determining the plasma zidovudine concentration and studying on pharmacokinetics. Two zidovudine capsules are bioequivalent in Chinese healthy volunteers.

AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of neurotropin in the treatment of neuropathic pain.METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed in biomedical database including MEDLINE,EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, CBM and CNKI. All studies focused on the clinical controlled trials, especially randomized controlled trials (RCTs) . The outcome measures included efficacy,life quality, cost of the treatment and adverse reactions. Quality assessments of clinical trials were evaluated with Jadad Score. Meta-analysis of included studies was performed with Revman software. RESULTS: Twenty-six clinical trials were included. Jadad Score of 24 trials was less than 3, which indicated the poor quality of the trials. None of the clinical trials evaluated the changes in life quality and cost related to neurotropin treatment.Meta analysis of 11 trials indicated neurotropin was more effective than placebo or blank, and the odds ratio of efficacy was 3.84 [2.68, 5.50] . The combining effect of 6 RCTs showed that neurotropin decreased the pain scores measured by Visual Analog Scale significantly compared with placebo or blank, the weighted mean difference (WMD) was -1.76 [-2.31, -1.21] . The pooled effects of the trials comparing neurotropin with other pain relieving drugs such as earbamazepine or NSAIDs also showed positive effect favored neurotropin.Neurotropin had no more adverse reactions than placebo, carbamazepine or NSAIDs, and the pooled risk difference was -0.01 [-0.04, 0.02] . CONCLUSION: According to present evidence, neurotropin may be effective and safe in the treatment of neuropathic pain. However, the poor quality of the studies decreases the persuasion of the results. Large-scale and well-designed RCTs with enough follow-ups should be carried out to provide further evidence for the use of neurotropin in neuropathie pain.

AIM: To investigate the effects of metallothionein (MT) induced by zinc on doxorubicin (DOX)-treated mice and to explore the potential mechanisms. METHODS: Male C57BL/6J mice were divided randomly into 4 groups (n = 6) following control, DOX, Zn and Zn plus DOX. Mice were pretreated with eikg-1, ip) or equal volume of saline, and were killed on d 4 after the last injection. Serum and hearts were collected for examination. RESULTS: Zinc pretreatment elevated cardiac MT levels significantly while other antioxidants in heart including glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GSHpx) , superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) were not altered. Severe oxidative injury occurred in the mice treated with DOX as myocardial lipid peroxidation and morphological changes manifested by myocardial fibers swelling and vacuolization and nuclear condensation or dissolution, with increased activities of serum creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase and depletion of GSH, GSHpx, and SOD while CAT activity was increased in compensation. However, pre-induction of MT with zinc attenuated all of these toxic changes significantly. Furthermore, DOX induced elevation of hydrogen peroxide in heart tissues was greatly inhibited by zinc pretreatment. CONCLUSION: Preinduction of MT by zinc protects the heart from DOX-induced cardiotoxicity, and this effect is possibly correlated with the property of MT on scavenging free radicals in vivo.

AIM: To examine the pharmacodynamics of a self-developed oral colon-specific delivery coated tablets of 4-aminosalicylic acid (4-ASA) on rats. METHODS: Ulcerative colitis rat model was developed by intrarectal administration of 2, 4, 6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) in alcohol. Rats were divided randomly into healthy control group, TNBS control group, TNBS + lower dose (coated tablets) group, TNBS +medium dose (coated tablets) group, TNBS + higher dose (coated tablets) group, TNBS + sulfasalazine (SASP) group, TNBS + medium dose non-coated tablet group. Several indices including macroscopic change,histological damage, and tissue myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity were examined after 5 consecutive oral drug administration to assess pharmacodynamics of the coated tablets. RESULTS: An experimental ulcerative colitis in rats was induced by TNBS. Compared with 4-ASA non-coated tablet group, decreased macroscopic and histological damage score and lower MPO activity were observed after the oral administration of 4-ASA coated tablets or SASP. There was no significant difference between the effects on the indices of higher dose of coated tablets and SASP (P ＞ 0.05) CONCLUSION: The self-made 4-ASA oral colon-specific delivery coated tablet showes higher effect than non-coated tablets to treat ulcerative colitis in rats.

AIM: To access the difference of the efficacy between terbinafine and itraconazole in the treatment of dermatophyte onychomycosis. METHODS: The Medline, Science Direct On Site (SDOS), and Springer database were searched in detail on the data of the mycological cure rates of the two antifungal agents for treatment of dermaphyte onychomycosis occourring in patients aged from 18 a to 60 a with the published double blind randomized clinical trials and then pooled. The odds ratio (OR) and its 95 % confidence interval (CI) were calculated. RESULTS: Six treatises of double blind randomized clinical trials were selected for this analysis according to the screening criteria. The mycological cure rate of continuous terbinafine 250 mg per day was higher than that of either therapeutic effect of itraconazole pulse 400 mg per day (OR = 5.01, 95 % CI (3.42 - 7.33)) or continuous itraconazole 200 mg per day (OR = 2.58, 95 % CI (1.91 - 3.49)) . CONCLUSION: Terbinafine is more effective than itraconazole in the treatment of dermatophyte onychomycosis.

AIM: A new HPLC-MS method was developed to determine finasteride in human plasma. METHODS: Two formulations of finasteride tablets were given to 20 healthy male volunteers according to a randomized 2-way cross-over design. The samples were extracted by ethyl acetate under basic conditions, then were separated by C18 column and determined by mass detector. RESULTS: The calibration curve of finasteride was linear and intra-day and inter-day RSD were less than 10 %. The pharmacokinetics parameters of the two formulations (4.5 ± 0.5) h for t1/2; (3.0 ± 0.7) and (2.8 ± 0.9) h for tmax, respectively. The results indicated that there was no significant difference on cmax, A UC0-24, t1/2 or tmax values between the two formulations. CONCLUTION: The relative bioavailability of tablets I with respect to tablets Ⅱ is (99.3 ± 9.2) % by the A UC0-24 measurement, and bioe quivalence is observed between the two tablets.