Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology

Ginseng saponins are a type of important active substances in the ginseng genus plants. They have notable pharmacological activities of antineoplastic, neuroprotective, and hepatoprotective activities, which have been drawn more attention to obtain minor ginsenosides by all kinds of methods. In this review, we discussed the latest progress for enrichment of minor ginsenosides by biological transformation of major ginsenosides. At the same time, we have a brief outlook of the research at bioconversion of ginseng saponins.
Bacteria ; metabolism ; Biotransformation ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Ginsenosides ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Panax ; chemistry ; metabolism

To study the immunopathological characteristics and differential diagnosis of hepatic angiomyolipoma(AML).Methods:Thirty-six surgically resected hepatic AML were investigated clinicopathologically and immunohistochemically with 10 antibodies.Results:Hepatic AML occurred in 21 females and 15 males,with the mean age of 41.6 years(26-60 years old).The patients with AML often had no special symptoms even had large space-occupying lesions in the liver.The diameter of AML was 2.5 cm to 14 cm(mean 6.8 cm).Histologically,AML was composed of varying heterogeneous mixture of 3 tissue components:blood vessels,smooth muscle and adipose cells.Extramedullary hemopoiesis sometimes existed.According to tissue components,AML was subcategorized into mixed type(19.4%,n=7),lipomatous type(11.1%,n=4),myomatous type(66.7%,n=24),and angiomatous type(2.8%,n=1).The epithelioid smooth muscle cells were sensitive to HMB-45(100%),SMA(100%),and CD117(66.7%) staining.Conclusion:Hepatic AML often contains smooth muscle elements,which have varied morphological features and should be carefully differentiated from hepatocellular carcinoma,mesenchymal hamartoma，and tumors with rich fat or blood vessels.Immunohistochemical staining with HMB-45 and SMA are the best available markers for the diagnosis of hepatic AML.

Yinchenzhufu decoction (YCZFD) is a classic formula for treating Yin Huang syndrome, which can improve liver injury caused by cholestasis. However, the mechanism of action of YCZFD still remains unclear. This article used network pharmacology, molecular docking, animal experiments, and molecular biology methods to explore the mechanism of YCZFD in treating liver injury caused by cholestasis. A mouse model of acute cholestasis induced by lithocholic acid was used to investigate the effects of YCZFD on liver injury. The experimental procedures described in this paper were reviewed and approved by the Ethical Committee at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (approval NO. PZSHUTCM190823002). The results showed that YCZFD could reduce the levels of blood biochemical indicators and improve hepatocyte damage of cholestatic mice. Then, multiple databases were used to predict the corresponding targets of YCZFD active components on cholestatic liver injury. An intersection target protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks based on String database and Cytoscape software was used to demonstrate the possible core targets of YCZFD against cholestatic liver injury. The results indicated that core targets of YCZFD include tumor necrosis factor, interleukin-1β, non-receptor tyrosine kinase Src, interleukin-6, etc. GO (gene ontology) and KEGG (kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes) enrichment analysis indicated that YCZFD may regulate the tumor necrosis factor signaling pathway, nuclear factor-κB signaling pathway, bile secretion, and other related factors to ameliorate the cholestatic liver injury. AutoDockTools software was used to perform molecular docking verification on the core targets and components of YCZFD. To verify the results of network pharmacology, UPLC-MS/MS method was used to determine the effect of YCZFD on levels of bile acid profiles in mouse liver tissues. It was found that treatment with YCZFD significantly reduced the content of free bile acids, taurine bound bile acids, and total bile acids in the liver tissues of cholestatic mice. Then, results from real time PCR and Western blot also found that YCZFD can upregulate the expression of hepatic nuclear receptor farnesoid X receptor, metabolizing enzyme (UDP glucuronidase transferase 1a1), and efflux transporters (bile salt export pump, multidrug resistance-associated protein 2, multidrug resistance-associated protein 3, etc) in cholestasis mice, promote bile acid metabolism and excretion, and improve bile acid homeostasis. Moreover, YCZFD can also inhibit pyroptosis and inflammation by regulating NOD-like receptors 3 pathway, thereby inhibiting cholestatic liver injury.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of ulinastatin on renal function and ultrastructure changes after renal ischemia-reperfusion in rats.

METHODSAcute ischemic renal injury model was established (45 min of bilateral renal ischemia and reperfusion for 24 h). Thirty Male SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: sham operation group (control group or group C, without renal ischemia), renal ischemia-reperfusion group (ischemia-reperfusion group or group I, without ulinastatin), renal ischemia-reperfusion and ulinastatin intravenous injection group (ulinastatin group or group U). BUN level, serum creatinine values and renal ultrastructure were measured.

RESULTSSerum creatinine (167 +/- 39) micromol/L and BUN concentration (21 +/- 7) mmol/L in group I were significantly higher than those in group U: serum creatinine (116 +/- 13) micromol/L and BUN concentration (14.1 +/- 2.6) mmol/L (P < 0.05). The renal ultrastructure was greatly injured in group I, meanwhile, it was obviously ameliorated in group U.

CONCLUSIONUlinastatin greatly improved renal function and provides remarkable protection on renal ultrastructure after ischemia-reperfusion of kidney in rats.

Animals ; Glycoproteins ; pharmacology ; Kidney ; blood supply ; drug effects ; ultrastructure ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reperfusion Injury ; drug therapy ; pathology

Abdominal Wall ; Adenocarcinoma ; diagnosis ; Colonic Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; Female ; Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Ileal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; Ileocecal Valve ; Leiomyoma ; diagnosis ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasms, Multiple Primary ; diagnosis ; Soft Tissue Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; Uterine Neoplasms ; diagnosis

OBJECTIVETo study the features of microsatellite alterations and their association with clinicopathological characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

METHODSTen high-polymorphic microsatellite markers on chromosome 8 were selected to detect the loss of heterozygosity (LOH), microsatellite instability (MSI) and allelic imbalance (AI) in 56 HCCs using automatic capillary array electrophoresis DNA analysis system.

RESULTSLOH was found in 37 of 56 HCCs (66.1%) on at least 10 locus. The three most frequently altered loci were D8S261 (53.5%, 23/43), D8S1721 (52.5%, 21/40) and D8S1771 (52.5%, 21/40). LOH on D8S277 was significantly higher in cases with positive serum HBsAg than in those with negative HBsAg (P < 0.01). Similarly, LOH on D8S261, D8S298 and D8S1733 occurred more frequently in patients with negative HBsAg than those with positive HBsAg (P < 0.01). LOH on D8S298 and D8S1771 were more frequent in tumors larger than 3 cm in size (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01 respectively). LOH frequencies of D8S1721 were significantly higher in cases with absent or partially encapsulated tumor than in those with intact tumor capsule (P < 0.05). LOH on D8S298 and D8S1771 were more frequently detected in tumors with intrahepatic metastasis than those without (P < 0.01). MSI was found in 12.5% (7/56) cases. AI was found in 19.6% (11/56) of all cases examined.

CONCLUSIONSMicrosatellite alterations on chromosome 8 were frequent in HCC. LOH, possibly representing alterations of the tumor suppressor pathway, may play an important role in hepatocarcinogenesis. MSI, reflecting a dysfunction of the mismatch repair pathway, may also contribute to this process, but in a less significant way. LOH at some particular loci is associated with certain clinicopathological parameters of human HCC.

Adult ; Aged ; Allelic Imbalance ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; genetics ; pathology ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 8 ; Female ; Humans ; Liver ; pathology ; Liver Neoplasms ; genetics ; pathology ; Loss of Heterozygosity ; Male ; Microsatellite Repeats ; Middle Aged

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) dispensing is the final step of TCM used for clinical treatment, the stability of TCM dispensing is the guarantee of good clinical effect. Establishment of effect-constituent equivalence for Chinese herbal pieces based on clinical efficacy, can not only guarantee the stability of TCM dispensing, but also relate to the precision of clinical effect. This study chose Coptidis Rhizoma as the model, established effect-constituent equivalence of Coptidis Rhizoma, based on the effect-constituent index already established by our research group, and taking into consideration of homogeneity of clinical dosage and compliance of decoction, the uniformity of dispensing for different specification of Coptidis Rhizoma decoction pieces was studied. This research model was then applied to guide the specification-optimization of Coptidis Rhizoma and its clinical dispensing. The result indicated, effective constituent equivalence could reflect the fluctuation of specification, dosage and decoction to the fluctuation of efficacy; Optimized Coptidis Rhizoma decoction pieces had the characteristic of high homogeneity as for clinical dispensing, good compliance as for decoction, and high effective constituent equivalence. In conclusion, effective constituent equivalence could improve relevance of methods of TCM dispensing control to clinical effect. Preparated Superior-standard Decoction Pieces based on effective constituent equivalence was featured by good quality and a good practice of adjustable dosage, which could promote the development of TCM decoction pieces toward precision medicine.
Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Coptis ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Quality Control ; Rhizome ; chemistry ; Therapeutic Equivalency

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the possible association of the MTHFR C677T polymorphism with genetic susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a Chinese population.

METHODSFive hundred and eight HCC cases and 543 controls were studied. The MTHFR genotypes were determined using a PCR-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method. Odds ratios (ORs) for HCC and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from unconditional logistic regression models were used to evaluate relative risks. Potential HCC risk factors were included in the logistic regression models as covariates in the multivariate analyses on genotypes and HCC risks.

RESULTSNo overall significant difference in genotype distribution was found when comparing all HCC cases to controls (P = 0.258). However, a significantly increased risk of HCC was observed among T/T homozygotes (adjusted OR = 1.66, 95% CI = 1.08-2.54, P<0.05) compared to C-allele carriers (CC or CT). When stratified with sex, this trend was more prominent in females, but not in males. Females who were homozygous (T/T) for the C677T polymorphism were at a 2.64-fold (95% CI = 1.19-5.88, P<0.05) increased risk of developing HCC when compared to C-allele carriers. However in males, T/T homozygotes had a similar risk with C-allele carriers.

CONCLUSIONThe MTHFR C677T polymorphism may be associated with a higher HCC risk in females, but not in males in this population.

Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; genetics ; Female ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; genetics ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (NADPH2) ; genetics ; Middle Aged ; Polymorphism, Genetic

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of two fluid resuscitations on the bacterial translocation and the inflammatory factors of small intestine in rats with hemorrhagic shock.

METHODSFifty SD healthy male rats were randomly divided into 5 groups (n equal to 10 per group): Group A (Sham group), Group B (Ringer's solution for 1 h), Group C (Ringer's solution for 24 h), Group D (hydroxyethyl starch for 1 h) and Group E ((hydroxyethyl starch for 24 h). A model of rats with hemorrhagic shock was established. The bacterial translocation in liver, content of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and changes of myeloperoxidase enzyme (MPO) activities in small intestine were pathologically investigated after these two fluid resuscitations, respectively.

RESULTSThe bacterial translocation and the expression of TNF-alpha in the small intestine were detected at 1 h and 24 h after fluid resuscitation. There were significant increase in the number of translocated bacteria, TNF-alpha and MPO activities in Group C compared with Group B, significant decrease in Group E compared with Group D and in Group B compared with Group D. The number of translocated bacteria and TNF-alpha expression significantly decreased in Group E as compared with Group C.

CONCLUSIONSThe bacterial translocation and the expression of TNF-alpha in the small intestine exist 24 h after fluid resuscitation. 6% hydroxyethyl starch can improve the intestinal mucosa barrier function better than the Ringer's solution.

Animals ; Bacterial Translocation ; drug effects ; Fluid Therapy ; Hydroxyethyl Starch Derivatives ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Intestine, Small ; metabolism ; Isotonic Solutions ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Male ; Peroxidase ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Shock, Hemorrhagic ; therapy ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; metabolism