Adipocytes are classified into three types, including white, brown, and “beige/brite” adipocytes. There exist differences in origin of adipocytes, gene expressions, morphology, and functions among three kinds of adipocytes. Multiple factors such as physical and chemical factors, neurohormonal and immunological factors, transcriptional factors have been shown to regulate and control the browning process and lipolysis of white adipose tissue. Thus, they may become new targets for anti-obesity intervention. In the process of obesity, chronic inflammation reaction, adipose tissue remodeling and abnormal angiogenesis occurring in the adipose tissue cause pathological fat expansion and reduce lipid storage in adipocytes. Understanding adipocytes biology is important to decipher how the aberrant adipose tissue contributes to obesity and metabolic disorders, and provides guidance for treating obesity.

Studies on promoting thermogenesis of brown and beige adipose tissue have become a hot topic in various metabolic conditions, which based on the conclusions that brown and beige adipose tissue are able to facilitate weight loss and improve metabolic health.However, recent studies showed that there were several problems for the anti-obesity application via promoting brown/beige adipose tissue thermogenesis.In obese individuals, classical brown adipose tissue presents thermogenesis dysfunction.Moreover, the beige adipose tissue has significantly lower thermogenesis capability compared with brown adipose tissue.On such conditions, excessively excited sympathetic innervation is essential to increase energy consumption in obesity via increasing classic brown adipose thermogenesis and inducing white adipose tissue browning.However, excessive excited sympathetic nerve results in cardiovascular side effects.Additionally, excessive induction of white adipose tissue browning might disrupt the white adipose tissue homeostasis and aggravate the intrinsic metabolic disorders.Therefore, solving these practical application problems of brown/beige adipose tissue is a new research area for improving metabolic disorders.

The role of chronic inflammation and autonomic neuropathy in the crucial underlying process con -tributing to the initiation and the progression of various cardiovascular diseases is well established .It is well known that the immune system is innervated by the autonomic nervous system , and the inflammatory reaction and immune reaction are re-gulated by the autonomic nerve system .Vagus nerve depresses inflammatory reaction via cholinergic anti-inflammatory path-way (CAP), while sympathetic nervous system has bidirectional regulation of pro-inflammation and anti-inflammation, which are affected by several factors such as the concentration of neurotransmitters or types of receptors .In this paper , we reviewed different effects of CAP and sympathetic nervous system on cardiovascular inflammatory reaction .Activation of CAP and regaining normal sympathetic function will improve the chronic inflammation in the process of cardiovascular disea -ses.Low-toxic and selective α7nAchR agonist is expected to be applied in cardiovascular diseases to alleviate chronic in -flammation .

BACKGROUND: Salvianolic acid B can ease nerve injury and promote neurogenesis, but its effects on proliferation,apoptosis and differentiation of neural stem cells in the hippocampus remain unclear.OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of salvianolic acid B on proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation of rat hippocampal neural stem cells following oxygen-glucose deprivation.METHODS: Hippocampal neural stem cells were isolated from newborn Sprague-Dawley rats, and divided into six groups, five of which were cultured in an incubator containing anaerobic mixtures (1% O2, 5% CO2 and 94% N2) for 150minutes followed by treatment with different concentrations of salvianolic acid B (0, 5, 10, 20, 40 mg/L), respectively.After 4 days of intervention, MTT was used to detect cell proliferation. After 48 hours of intervention, flow cytometry was used to detect cell apoptosis in the hippocampus. After 5 days of culture, flow cytometry was performed to evaluate the percentage of cells positive for neuron-specific enolase and glial fibrillary acidic protein. Normally cultured cells acted as controls (normoxic group).RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with the normoxic group, the proliferation of neural stem cells was decreased significantly (P < 0.01) and the rate of apoptosis was increased in the oxygen-glucose deprivation group (P <0.01). After treatment with different concentrations of salvianolic acid B, the cell viability and the ratio of neurons in total cells were increased, and the ratio of astrocytes was decreased, especially in 20 and 40 mg/L groups (P < 0.01). In conclusion, these results suggest that salvianolic acid B alleviates adverse effects of oxygen-glucose deprivation on neural stem cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis.

[ ABSTRACT] AIM:To investigate the preventive effect of Guizhi decoction on myocardial injury after chemical sympathectomy induced by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA).METHODS:Wistar rats (n=54) were randomly divided in-to 6 groups.Methycobal and Guizhi decoction ( with different proportions between Ramulus Cinnamomi and Radix paeoniae Alba at 2∶1, 1∶2 or 1∶1) were pre-administered to the rats.Immunohistochemical method was used to observe the cardiac sympathetic nerve distribution.The contents of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), choline acetylaminotransferase (ChAT) and growth-associated protein 43 (GAP-43) in the left ventricle were measured by ELISA.The serum levels of myocardial en-zymes and morphology of myocardial tissues were also observed.RESULTS:6-OHDA successfully induced cardiac sympa-thetic denervation as the contents of TH and GAP-43 in the left ventricle declined significantly.Compared with model group, the content of TH was elevated in both methycobal group and Guizhi decoction groups, while the content of GAP-43 was elevated only in Guizhi decoction groups.The serum levels of myocardial enzymes and the histopathological changes of the cardiac tissues were deteriorated after injection of 6-OHDA, indicating that the myocardial injury was established. Methycobal and Guizhi decoction normalized the abnormal change.Guizhi decoctions at 2∶1 and 1∶1 showed the best effi-cacy.CONCLUSION:6-OHDA-induced sympathetic denervation causes myocardial injury.Guizhi decoction with the proportions between Ranulus Cinnamomi and Radix paeoniae Alba at 2∶1 and 1∶1 effectively alleviate the myocardial injury after cardiac sympathetic denervation induced by 6-OHDA.

Aim To investigate the preventive effect of Guizhi decoction on cardiac sympathetic sprouting induced by 4-Methylcatechol (4-MC) . Methods The rat models of cardiac sympathetic sprouting were in-duced by 10 mg · L-1 4-MC ( 10μg · kg-1 body weight, i. p. ) . Guizhi decoctions ( with different pro-portion between Ramulus Cinnamomi and Radix Paeon-iae Alba, 1 : 1, 1 : 2 and 2 : 1) and metoprolol were administered to the rats. Heart rate and electrocardio-gram ( ECG ) were observed, the content of norepi-nephrine (NE), growth associated protein (GAP-43), tyrosine hydroxylase ( TH ) and acetylcholine transfer-ase enzyme ( CHAT) in myocardial homogenate of left ventricular and right atrial were determined by ELISA method, and immunofluorescence assay was used to observe cardiac nerve sprouting and sympathetic distri-bution. Results 4-MC caused cardiac sympathetic sprouting and parasympathetic was not influenced. Heart rate of the model group was improved significant-ly and higher than that of the other groups . Compared with the model group, the content of NE, GAP-43 and TH in left ventricle and right atrium of the metoprolol group and Guizhi decoction group were decreased( P<0.05 ) , and the immunofluorescence result showed that the distribution of TH positive nerve was reduced sig-nificantly(P<0.05). It was demonstrated that Guizhi decoction of the proportion between Ramulus Cinnamo-mi and Radix Paeoniae Alba 1 : 1 and 1 : 2 had the best efficacy, which was similar to the efficacy of meto-prolol. Conclusion Guizhi decoction ( with the pro-portion between Ramulus Cinnamomi and Radix Paeon-iae Alba 1 : 1 and 1 : 2 ) effectively inhibits the cardi-ac sympathetic sprouting induced by 4-MC.