There are 250 species of Zanthoxylum (Rutaceae) in the world. This genus distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. Alkaloids are the major and representative ingredients in these plants including quinolines, isoquinolines, and amide alkaloids, with such biological activities as anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-virus, anti-platelet aggregation, anti-bacteria and anti- oxidant. These species have been used for a long time to treat toothache, urinary and venereal diseases, lumbago and rheumatism. This review summarizes the chemical constituents and pharmacological activities from the Z. sppplants, in an effort to the systematic research and application of the alkaloids of this genus.
Alkaloids ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Molecular Structure ; Zanthoxylum ; chemistry

Survey on research and development of Fructus Gardeniae in the recent 10 years. Gardenia yellow has been used for food colorent, medicine, feedingstuff and cosmetic. Garnedia blue has been used for developing another pigment with red and yellow. Fructus Gardeniae has been used in digestive system for cholecyst constracting and gall-stone eliminating, for declining peroxide on SAP mouse and increasing immune ability, for protecting liver against cancel, anti-acetylcholinic restraining on stomach enginery, in cardiovascular system it has been used for centrally anti-hypertension, preventing atheroma and thrombus, also Fructus Gardeniae has been used for anti-inflammation, treating parenchyma injure etc. Geniposide used for increasing production in agriculture has wider perspect.
Analgesics ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal ; pharmacology ; Antihypertensive Agents ; pharmacology ; Bile ; secretion ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Food Coloring Agents ; toxicity ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Gardenia ; chemistry ; toxicity ; Gastric Acid ; secretion ; Humans ; Lipid Peroxidation ; drug effects ; Plant Extracts ; isolation & purification ; toxicity ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry

Objective To improve the knowledge and diagnostic ability of imagiology on neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS) computed radiograph(CR).Methods The doubtful patients were done to photographs bedside using the high resolution imaging plate, 50 cases of newborn with NRDS were selected whose clinical diagnosed clearly and had been treated and had the complete CR image documents.The CR change and clinical characteristics were observed dynamically.Results Nine of 50 cases were combined with aspirated pneumonia,8 cases with infective pneumonia,3 cases with intra-alveolar hemorrage,and 2 cases with pneumothorax.Accoding to X-ray manifestations,all cases were divided into four stages:Ⅰ stage(n=5), Ⅱ stage(n=20),Ⅲ stage(n=22),Ⅳstage(n=3).Typical CR signs included:the pulmonary lucency decreasd,wide-ranging net and grain shadowes of high density, and in companing with a lot of air brunchus sing.Conclusions Computed radiography is the most important imaging method in diagnosis of NRDS bedside ,and shall be improved the ability of diagnosis and differential of NRDS combined with the clinic.

Acute Disease ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; analysis ; Child ; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16 ; analysis ; Histocytochemistry ; Humans ; Leukemia ; metabolism ; pathology ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen ; analysis ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; analysis

OBJECTIVETo develop a system for automatically controlling carotid sinus pressure in the study on baroreceptors.

METHODSThe preparation containing carotid sinus with parts of the connected vessels and carotid sinus nerve (CS-CSN) were isolated and perfused. A critical pressure controlling component (PRE-U, Hoerbiger, Deutschland) dictated by a computer was integrated into the system to clamp the intrasinus pressure. The pressure command and the relevant intrasinus pressure were compared to evaluate the validity of the pressure controlling system.

RESULTSA variety of sinus pressure-controlling patterns, including pulsation, ramp and step pressures, could be achieved accurately by using the system, and the pressure-dependent discharge activities of sinus nerve were confirmed.

CONCLUSIONThis system for clamping carotid sinus pressure could realize multiple pressure-controlling patterns and is a useful and flexible pressure controlling method that could applied in the study on mechano-electric transduction of baroreceptors.

Animals ; Blood Pressure ; Carotid Sinus ; innervation ; physiology ; Nerve Fibers ; physiology ; Pressoreceptors ; physiology ; Rabbits

Objective To explore the effect of phillyrin(KD-1)on lung injury in rats with influenza virus pneumonia and its regulatory mechanism on the sphingosine kinases 1(SphK1)/sphingosine 1-phosphate(S1P)/S1P receptors 1(S1PR1)signal pathway.Methods Wistar male rats were divided into control group(gavage with equal amount of 0.9％NaCl),model group(gavage with equal amount of 0.9％NaCl),positive drug group(gavage with 0.02 g·kg-1 ribaverin),PF-543 group(gavage with 10 mg·kg-1 SphK1 inhibitor PF-543 Citrate)and experimental-L,-H groups(gavage with 6.5,13 mg·kg-1 KD-1,respectively).Except the control group,the other rats were treated with influenza virus nasal drip to establish influenza virus infection pneumonia model.The lung index of rats was measured;Hematoxylin-eosin(HE)staining was applied to observe the pathological damage of lung tissue in rats;the contents of interleukin 1β(IL-1β),tumor necrosis factor α(TNF-α)and IL-6 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF)were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA);Western blot was applied to detect the expression levels of SphK1,S1P and S1PR1 proteins in rat lung tissue.Results The lung indices of experimental-L,-H groups,PF-543 group,positive drug group,model group and control group were(7.62±0.51),(5.34±0.46),(6.53±0.52),(5.48±0.43),(12.46±0.87)and(4.41±0.32)mg·g-1;IL-1β content were(47.26±2.05),(25.18±1.58),(35.75±1.50),(27.31±1.67),(62.37±2.51)and(13.28±1.04)ng·L-1;the contents of TNF-α were(76.58±4.73),(51.82±3.90),(64.81±4.15),(53.06±3.86),(98.47±4.92)and(42.71±3.52)ng·L-1;IL-6 content were(57.62±4.29),(39.06±3.86),(48.75±3.83),(41.23±3.61),(76.92±5.24)and(28.56±3.17)ng·L-1;SphK1 protein expression were 1.07±0.08,0.51±0.04,0.65±0.05,0.53±0.04,1.28±0.09 and 0.36±0.03;S1P protein expression were 1.21±0.10,0.57±0.05,0.73±0.06,0.58±0.05,1.39±0.11 and 0.39±0.03;S1PR1 protein expression were 0.45±0.03,0.83±0.07,0.64±0.05,0.81±0.07,0.28±0.02 and 1.03±0.07,respectively.Compared with the control group,the above indexes in the model group had statistical significance(all P＜0.05);compared with the model group,the above indexes in experimental-L,-H groups,PF-543 group and positive drug group had statistical significance(all P＜0.05).Conclusion KD-1 may alleviate lung injury in rats with influenza virus pneumonia by inhibiting the SphK1/S1 P/S1 PR1 signal pathway.

To study the chemical constituents of the fruits of Psoralea corylifolia L., the constituents were isolated and purified by chromatography. Two new compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate-soluble fraction of the ethanol extract. On the basis of chemical and spectroscopic data 1D and 2D NMR, they were identified as 2-(3, 4-dihydroxyphenyl)-8, 8-dimethyl-8H-pyrano[2, 3-h]chromen-4-one (1) and 5-(2-hydroxyl-1-methyl)-ethyl-4, 5-dihydrofurano[2, 3-h](4'-hydroxyl-3', 5'-dimethoxy)-isoflavone (2), and named as coryfolia D and bavarigenin separately.
Chromones ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Isoflavones ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Molecular Conformation ; Molecular Structure ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Psoralea ; chemistry

Objective To investigate the epidemiology of allergic rhinitis(AR) and the distribution of allergens in villagers who lived in Hebei Province( Hebei villagers) and the citizens who lived in the city of Tianjin (Tianjin citizens).Methods From April 2007 to May 2010,face to face investigation and serum specific IgE (sIgE) examination were conducted among Hebei villagers and Tianjin citizens by randomly multi-stage and cluster sampling,and the results were analyzed. Results A total of 1524 cases were investigated,among them,1024 cases in Hebei and 500 cases in Tianjin,the prevalence of the sIgE test was 27.2％ (279/1024) and 21.2％ (106/500),and the difference was of statistical significance ( x2 =7.13,P ＜0.01 ).The prevalence of AR was 9.2％ (94/1024) and 9.0％ (45/500),the difference was of no statistical significance(x2 =0.01,P ＞ 0.05 ).The most common allergens were dog epithelium and cat epithelium,the next were dust mites,house dust mites,birch and forage grasses in rural areas of Hebei Province.The most common allergens in Tianjin city were dust mites and house dust mites,the next were dog epithelium,cat epithelium,birch and forage grasses. The prevalence of allergens between Hebei villagers and Tianjin citizens had significant difference,which from high to low were house dust mites,dust mites and dog epithelium(x2 value were 11.36,9.14,5.28,all P ＜ 0.05).The incidence of AR caused by dog epithelium in Hebei was higher than that in Tianjin,however,the dust mites in Tianjin was higher than that in Hebei.Conclusions Allergen plays an important role in the prevalence of AR.The allergens have differences not only in areas but also in urban and village. The key factor is contact with allergens frequently.

This study was aimed to investigate the efficiency of modified methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction i.e. nested methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction, used to detect the promoter methylation of p16 gene in six hematological malignant cell lines, and to explore the application in selection of hematological malignant cell lines with promoter hypermethylation, and make them to be an idel cell models for studying the relationship between gene methylation and expression. DNAs were denatured by NaOH and then were subjected to bisulfite modification and a nested-MSP was used to amplify the promoter region, nested MSP product of p16 gene promoter was analyzed and sequenced. The results showed that the hypermethylation of p16 gene was detected in CA46 and U266, however, Molt4, K562, HL-60 and Jurkat cell lines were unmethylated. In conclusion, p16 gene methylation in hematological malignant cell lines can be perfectly detected by nested-MSP method, which is simple, sensitive and specific for screening all kinds of hematological malignant cell lines with p16 gene methylated.
Base Sequence ; Cell Line, Tumor ; DNA Methylation ; Genes, p16 ; HL-60 Cells ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; genetics ; pathology ; Humans ; K562 Cells ; Lymphoma ; genetics ; pathology ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; genetics ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression level of inhibitor of apoptosis protein survivin gene in human brain glioma and its role in malignant proliferation and antiapoptosis of brain glioma.

METHODSEighty-three cases of brain glioma specimen was chosen, protein expression of survivin and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was investigated by immunohistochemistry streptavidin-biotin complex (SABC) method, the immunoreactivity score (IRS) of survivin and the proliferative index (PI) were counted. Apoptotic cells were screened by TdT-mediated dUTP-biotin nick-end labeling (TUNEL) method, and the apoptotic index (AI) of brain glioma was calculated.

RESULTSThe survivin IRS, PI and AI of brain glioma were 3.8 +/- 3.9, (28.4 +/- 19.5)% and (1.0 +/- 0.8)% respectively, and all of them were elevated with the increase of pathological grade of brain glioma (P < 0.01 for all). PI in survivin positive group was significantly higher than that in survivin negative group (P < 0.01), and PI was positively correlated with survivin IRS (r = 0.740, P < 0.01). There was no significant difference between AI in survivin positive group and that in survivin negative group (P > 0.05), however, AI was negatively correlated with survivin IRS (r = -0.307, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSSurvivin is overexpressed in brain glioma, and which may play important roles in malignant proliferation and antiapoptosis of brain glioma.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Apoptosis ; Brain Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Proliferation ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Glioma ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins ; Male ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen ; biosynthesis