Female ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Kidney Neoplasms ; Twins, Monozygotic ; Wilms Tumor

Brain Neoplasms ; pathology ; Glioma ; pathology ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Male

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of resveratrol on the proliferation, apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential and cell morphology of human liver cancer cell line HepG2.

METHODSThe changes in HepG2 cell growth and proliferation in response to resveratrol treatment were evaluated by MTT assay, and resveratrol-induced apoptosis of HepG2 cells was investigated by flow cytometry. Inverted microscope and electron microscope were employed for observing morphological changes of the treated cells. The whole-cell mitochondrial membrane potential was measured in separate experiments using two fluorimetric probes, rhodamine123 and TMRE, respectively. HepG2 cells treated with rhodamine123 were analyzed by flow cytometry and cells treated with TMRE by confocal microscope.

RESULTSMTT assay showed that low concentrations of resveratrol produced no significant effect on the growth of HepG2 cells, whereas at high concentrations, resveratrol could obviously inhibit the cell growth in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Resveratrol also induced apoptosis of HepG2 cells, and after a 24-hour treatment, resveratrol caused sharp increment of the mitochondria membrane potential.

CONCLUSIONResveratrol is capable of inhibiting the proliferation of HepG2 cells and inducing cell apoptosis by depolarizing mitochondrial membrane potential.

Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; pathology ; Membrane Potentials ; drug effects ; Mitochondrial Membranes ; drug effects ; Stilbenes ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo explore the mechanism of the eye-acupuncture for treatment of acute cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.

METHODSThirty-two healthy SD rats were randomly divided into a normal group, a sham operation group, a model group and an eye-acupuncture group, 8 rats in each group. The rat model of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion was established with thread occlusion method in the model group and the eye-acupuncture group. The eye-acupuncture group was treated by eye-acupuncture at "liver region", "upper energizer area", "lower energizer area" and "kidney region" for 20 min immediately after reperfusion and at 30 min before sampling. No treatment was done in the normal group and the sham operation group, and no thread occlusion was performed in the sham operation group. The Neurologic impairment was scored and the methods of immunohistochemistry staining, western-blotting and real-time fluorescent quantitation polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR) were taken to detect the expression of the aquaporin protein 4 (AQP4) and its mRNA in cerebral cortex after reperfusion for 3 hours.

RESULTSThe neurologic impairment score of 1.50 +/- 0.54 in the eye-acupuncture group was significant lower than 2.63 +/- 0.92 in the model group (P < 0.01). The expression of the AQP4 protein by immunohistochemistry and western-blot respectively were 116.33 +/- 10.24 and 0.53 +/- 0.04 in the normal group, 118.97 +/- 12.72 and 0.55 +/- 0.07 in the sham operation group, and 129.30 +/- 18.36 and 0.67 +/- 0.08 in the eye-acupuncture group, with statistical significance compared to 150.88 +/- 15.82 and 0.94 +/- 0.04 in the model group (all P < 0.01), and there were significant differences between the eye-acupuncture group and the normal group (both P < 0.01). The tendency in the expression of AQP4 protein and its mRNA in all the group were almost the same.

CONCLUSIONThe eye-acupuncture therapy can relieve the cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury and the protective mechanism is related to the downregulation of the cerebral AQP4 expression.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Animals ; Aquaporin 4 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Brain ; metabolism ; Brain Ischemia ; complications ; genetics ; metabolism ; surgery ; Disease Models, Animal ; Eye ; anatomy & histology ; Female ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reperfusion Injury ; etiology ; genetics ; metabolism ; therapy

Anti-Bacterial Agents ; therapeutic use ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; Humans ; Mycoplasma pneumoniae ; drug effects ; pathogenicity ; Pneumonia ; drug therapy ; microbiology

Nine triterpenes compounds were isolated from the male flowers of Eucommia ulmoides by recrystallization and chromatographic techniques over silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, and RP-18 gel. Their chemical structures were identified on the basis of spectral analysis and as 3-oxo-12-en-ursane-28-O-α-L-arabinofuranosyl (1 --> 6) -β-D-glucopyranoside (1), 2α, 3β-dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid(28 --> 1) -β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (2), ursolic acid (3), α-amyrin (4), uvaol (5), ursolic acid acetate (6), 3-O-acetate oleanoic acid (7), betulinic acid (8), and betulinol (9). Compound 1 was a new compound, and compounds 2, 4-7 were isolated from the Eucommiu genus for the first time. Cytotoxic activity was tested for all the compounds against K562 and HepG2 cells. The results showed that only compound 3, exhibited cytotoxic activity.
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; Eucommiaceae ; chemistry ; Hep G2 Cells ; Humans ; K562 Cells ; Triterpenes ; analysis ; pharmacology

Atrial Fibrillation ; etiology ; Humans ; Recurrence ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; complications

Catheter Ablation ; Child ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial ; surgery ; Humans ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Male ; Tachycardia, Supraventricular ; surgery ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of phenyl-hexyl isothiocyanate (PHI) on acetylation and methylation of histone in acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell line Molt4.

METHODSThe inhibition of cell proliferation was observed by MTT method and clone suppression test. Apoptosis and cell cycle arrest were measured by flow cytometry. The alterations in histone acetyltransferase and acetylation and methylation of histones were detected by Western blot.

RESULTSPHI could up-regulate the expression of acetyltransferase (P300/CBP), markedly induced the accumulation of acetylated histone H3, H4 and methylated histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4), and inhibited methylation on lysine 9 of H3 (H3K9). The epigenetic regulation resulted in cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase, and induction of apoptosis.

CONCLUSIONSPHI can modulate both histone methylation and acetylation. It may serve as a histone deacetylase inhibitor, and might be a potential novel anti-leukemia agent.

Acetylation ; drug effects ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Cycle ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Epigenesis, Genetic ; Histone Deacetylases ; metabolism ; Histones ; metabolism ; Humans ; Isothiocyanates ; pharmacology ; Methylation ; drug effects

AIMThrough studying local regulatory mechanisms in pulmonary arteries (PA) and thoracic aortae (TA) under simulated microgravity (SM), to collect some data for the researches of adaptive mechanisms in pulmonary and systemic arteries and for the mechanisms accounting for orthostatic intolerance after SM.

METHODSCardiopulmonary circulatory function during 7-day 6 degrees head down bed rest (HDT) in male young volunteers was measured with a XXH-2000 pulmonary circulation and cardiac function instrument. - 30 degrees C tail suspended (TS) rats were used as the model to simulate the physiological effects of M. The PA and TA changes of vasoreactivity were respectively observed by vitro vessel rings perfusion.

RESULTSThe changes in volume of PA and pulmonary vein during a cardiac cycle and the preload in left cardiac ventricle in men increased significantly in the initial HDT. The super-regulatory phenomena appeared in both pulmonary and systemic circulation, but earlier and more obviously in pulmonary circulation than systemic circulation during 96-144 h. The dilatory reactivity in TS7 PA increased significantly, tended to decrease in TS14. The dilatory reactivity of TA in TS7 had a significant increase, had a slight increase in TS14. The contractile reactivity of PA decreased slightly in TS7 from CON, and were attenuated significantly in TS14. The contractile reactivity of TA in TS14 decreased significantly. The responsiveness to KCl, phenylephrine and sodium nitroprusside in VEC- removed PA had no differences among all groups.

CONCLUSIONThe differences in changes between pulmonary and systemic arteries under SM could be an important sign of depressed local regulatory function, which might be mainly due to dilatory function in VEC and contribute to the occurrence of orthostatic intolerance after SM.

Animals ; Aorta, Thoracic ; physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Pulmonary Artery ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Vascular Resistance ; Weightlessness ; Weightlessness Simulation ; Young Adult