Objective The experiment compared the chemical components in the roots,stems,and leaves of Dracaena cochinchinensis with those in the raw material of Dragon's blood,in order to find the possible raw material of Dragon's blood.Methods Technology of thin layer chromatography(TLC) and high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC).Results The results showed that the roots,stems,and leaves of D.cochinchinensis just contained small amount of loureirin A,the contents of loureirin A of the three samples are: 58,53,and 15 ?g/g,respectively.Loureirin B was only detected in the leaves with content of 2 ?g/g.Conclusion From the analysis of peak areas and the retention time,there are only slight correlations among the components of the four samples and the chemical components among the roots,stem,and leaves are different.Moreover,there is too low content of loureirins in the roots,stem,and leaves to be raw material of Dragon's blood.

0 05). The forelimb functional tests demonstrated that, the number of food pellets eaten by PD rats with the contralateral side of 6 OHDA lesion (17 71?4 82) was significantly reduced compared with the controls (34 43?3 55)( P

AIM: To investigate the changes of neuronal glutamate transporter (EAAC1) at different ischemic times in the rat hippocampus in early stage. METHODS: Brain microinjection of EAAC1 antisense oligodeoxyneucleotide (EAAC1 antisense) was adopted and focal transient ischemia was produced by the filament method of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Western blotting and TTC staining analysis were adopted for observing EAAC1 expression and infarction volume in ischemic region .The expression of EAAC1 mRNA and protein at different ischemic times in the rat ischemic hippocampus was assessed by RT-PCR and Western blotting analysis. RESULTS: Compared with EAAC1 sense group, the volume of brain ischemic infarction [(105.67?8.70) mm~3] was reduced after brain microinjection of EAAC1 antisense. Compared with the sham-operated control, EAAC1 mRNA was significantly higher at 6 h and at (24 h) in the hippocampal regions during ischemia, while protein expression was higher at 24 h only. EAAC1 mRNA and protein expression were unchanged at other ischemic times. CONCLUSION: EAAC1 is associated with ischemic injury and its expression is increased in the hippocampal regions after focal cerebral ischemia.

Objective To investigate the role of Castleman′s disease in the pathogenesis of paraneoplastic pemphigus (PNP). Methods In six PNP patients associated with Castleman′s disease, routine immunohistochemistry was performed on tumor tissue. Reverse transcription - PCR, DNA sequencing of cloned PCR product and in situ hybridization (ISH) were used to estimate the clonality of the B-cells in the tumors. The expression of the specific tumor B-cell clones was evaluated by Northern blot. Six patients with Castleman′s disease without mucocutaneous lesion and 3 patients with reactive lymphadenopathy were used as the controls. Results Immunohistochemistry showed that CD20-positive B-cells in high density located in lymphoid follicles. The PCR produced one discrete band of about 128 bp in every paraneoplastic pemphigus patients. After sequencing the cloned PCR product, only two kinds of highly homologous sequences were found in all of the PNP patients. The 128 bp sequences were the major clones seen in all patients, and the 122 bp sequences were the relatively minor one seen in 4 patients. Anti-sense RNA probe transcribed from a clone of 128 bp was used in ISH. Signals of ISH located in cytoplasm of the cells in follicles of the tumors. Furthermore, this probe was also used for Northern blot and showed a strong signal in PNP patients. Conclusions Castleman′s disease associated with PNP share a major B-cell clone. The B-cell clone is expressed and maybe produces functional antibody initiating the mucocutaneous immune injury.

Objective To identify features of antibodies in the supernatants of cultured Castleman's disease cells.Methods Lymphocytes of Castleman's disease were isolated and cultured.Immunofluorescence and immunoblot assays were performed with IgG extracted from culture supernatants.The immunoglobulin heavy chaingene of cultured tumor B cells was analyzed by RT-PCR,cloning and sequencing.ResultsIg Gextracted from culture supernatant scouldattachtotheepithelialcellsurfacesofmousebladdertissues.Theantibodycouldalsoidentifytwoantigencomponents,210000and190000,ofnormalhumanepidermaltis-sues.ThesequencesimilaritywasfoundinimmunoglobulinheavychaingeneofculturedtumorBcellscom-paredwiththatof6patientswithCastleman'sdiseasepreviouslyreported.Conclusions Castleman's tumor associated with paraneoplastic pemphigus can secret autoantibody with similar features to that found in patients'sera.

AIM:To investigate the integrative treatment of both coenzyme Q 10 ( CoQ10 ) and minocycline in the rats intranigrally intoxicated with 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ( MPP+) .METHODS:The rat model of Parkinson disease ( PD) was established by intranigral microinjection of MPP +.The degree of microglial activation was measured by immuno-fluorescent density of OX-42 ( a microglia marker ) in the substantia nigra ( SN) .The number of viable dopaminergic neurons was determined by counting the tyrosine hydroxylase ( TH) positive neurons in the SN .The behavioral performances were re-vealed with the number of apomorphine-induced rotations , score of forelimb akinesia and vibrissae-elicited forelimb placing a-symmetry.RESULTS:Pretreatment with CoQ10 or intracerebroventricular (icv) posttreatment with minocycline alone pro-vided partial attenuation against MPP +-induced locomotor defects .Integrative therapy provided enhanced beneficial effects , and resulted in a significant attenuation of locomotor disability than any single therapy (all P<0.01).The results of immu-nohistological analysis showed that the TH positive neurons were maximally protected by integrative therapy compared with minocycline group and CoQ 10 group (P<0.01) .CONCLUSION:The integrative therapy of CoQ 10 combined with minocy-cline may offer additional therapeutic benefit to MPP +-induced hemiparkinson rat model .Such neuroprotective strategy of tar-geting different aspect of the neurodegenerative phenotypes may highlight a new therapeutic strategy for future management of PD.

Objective: To investigate the effect of muscone on infarction volume and neuronal glutamate transporter EAAC1 mRNA expression in rats. Methods: Rats were divided randomly, focal ischemic models of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) were achieved by inserting nylon surgical thread through the internal carotid artery(ICA) into the anterior cerebral artery(ACA). The rats were sacrificed, the brain was stained by TTC and the area of infarcton was measured. The expression of EAACl mRNA in the hippocampal regions was assessed by RT PCR. Results: Muscone could remarkably reduce tbe infarction volume and expression of EAAC1 mRNA. Conclusion: Muscone plays a significant role in against local cerebral ischemia, the mechanism may be related to reducing EEACl mRNA expression.

AIM: To explore the effect of brain ischemia injury on cell proliferation and nestin expression in cortex and subependymal zone (SEZ). METHODS: Using a local brain ischemia model(MCAO), BrdU positive cells of cortex and subependymal zone (SEZ), also nestin positive cells, were observed by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: BrdU and nestin positive cells in SEZ of MCAO rats were obviously increased. In cortex, only nestin positive cells were observed. CONCLUSION: Neural stem cells in SEZ and cortex were activated after brain ischemia, it may be related with neural recovery after brain ischemia injury.

Objective To investigate the immunofluoresce nt and immunoblotting features of paraneoplastic pemphigus(PNP).Methods Sera were tested by indirect immunofluorecence(IIF)and immunoblotting(IB)in four patients with PNP.Results Binding of IgGand C3to the intercell ular spaces of epidermis was found in IIF with rat bladder as substrate.The titers decreased after the excision of tumo rs.The autoantibodies also bound to sub-strates of the epithelia of human ski n,rat tongue and esophagus in those p atients.The patients' sera recogni zed 210kD and 190kD antigens from human kera tinocyte extracts with IB analysis.Conclusions IIF with rat bladder as substrate can be used a screening test for PNP.PNP tends to involve epithelia of mucosa.The results of IB test m ay confirm the diagnosis of PNP of the 4p atients.[

Objective To identify the mutation of DKC1 gene and its inheritance in a pedigree with dyskeratosis congenita (DKC). Methods The mutation was detected by polymerase chain reaction(PCR)and DNA sequencing, and restriction endonuclease digestion was performed to confirm the mutation. Results A transition mutation of C to T (1058C-T) in DKC1 gene was found in the proband and his brother. This mutation results in an amino acid change from alanine to valine (A353V) in dyskerin protein. The proband′s mother and sister were carriers of this mutation gene with no phenotype of DKC. Conclusion This pedigree is an X-linked form of DKC with 1058C-T mutation in DKC1 gene.