Objective To investigate the relationship of nitric oxide with nitric oxide synthase system in fetal rat kidney and the mechanism of renal injury after acute intrauterine ischemia(hypoxia)/reperfusion ischemia(hypoxia)/reperfusion. Methods Wistar rats of 21 gestational days were selected and divided into seven groups according to the different ischemia(hypoxia)/reperfusion time. The level of nitric oxide and the expression of nitric oxide synthase system were detected by biochemistry, immunohistochemistry and RT PCR. Results The NO level was decreased gradually with extension of ischemia, which was significantly different from sham group ( P

The purpose of this study is to obtain effective and stable bacteriocin-like substance from lactic acid bacteria. Lactobacillus buchneri KLDS1.0364,which was isolated from fermented cream,a traditional dairy product in Inner Mongolia,could produce bacteriocin-like substance. The bacteriocin-like substance produced by KLDS1.0364 was partially purified and the characteristics were studied. The bacteriocin-like substance was purified by SP-Sepharose fast flow cation exchange chromatography. The molecular weight of the bacteriocin-like substance was 21.6kD,as determined by tricine-SDS-PAGE. The bacteriocin-like substance remained stable after 30 min at 121℃ and after 2 h of incubation during pH 2～10. Complete inactivation of antimicrobial activity was observed after treatment of the bacteriocin-like substance with several proteinases. Treatment with catalase and ?-amylase did not result in any changes of antimicrobial activity. The mode of action of the bacteriocin-like substance is bactericidal. It exhibited a broad spectrum of antagonistic activity against various species of Gram-positive bacteria,Gram-negative bacteria and fungi.

Objective To observe the effects of chronic arsenic exposure on estrogen receptor-binding fragment-associated gene 9 (Ebag9) and estrogen-responsive finger protein (efp) mRNA expression in female rat' s myocardium.Methods Fifty female Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups according to arsenic (As2O3) concentrations in drinking-water:0.00(control),0.05,0.10,0.20,0.40 mg/L groups and RT-PCR was used to detect Ebag9 and efp mRNA expression of myocardium at the 32 weeks of experiment.Results Ebag9 and efp mRNA expression levels in 0.00,0.05,0.10,0.20,0.40 mg/L groups were respectively as follows:0.54 ±0.14,0.52 ± 0.10,0.48 ± 0.24,0.58 ± 0.13,0.45 ± 0.19 and 0.85 ± 0.14,0.86 ± 0.12,0.87 ± 0.09,0.99 ±0.10,0.86 ± 0.19.Compared to the control group,Ebag9 mRNA level of the 0.20 mg/L group was increased,and decreased in other groups,but the difference between two groups was not significant(all P ＞ 0.05).Compared to control group,the efp mRNA level of 0.20 mg/L group increased significantly(P ＜ 0.05),and showed increased tendency in other arsenic groups,but the difference between two groups was not significant (all P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Ebag9 and efp mRNA expression have changed in myocardium of rats exposed to chronic arsenic.Arsenic may has endocrine disruptor effect to female rat's myocardium.

Objective To study the effects of nuclear factor-?B(NF-?B)decoy oligodeoxynucleotide(ODN)on the preeclamptic umbilical serum induced expression of precollagen Ⅰ,Ⅲ mRNA and tumor necrosis factor-?(TNF-?)in cultured human umbilical artery smooth muscle cells (HUASMC).Methods Primary cultured HUASMC of normal pregnancy were divided into four groups: group A(HUASMC were incubated with umbilical serum of normal pregnancy);group B(HUASMC were incubated with umbilical serum of preeclampsia);group C(HUASMC were transfected with NF-?B cis decoy ODN 48 h before incubation with umbilical serum of preeclampsia);group D(HUASMC were transfected with NF-?B scramble ODN 24 h before incubation with umbilical serum of preeclampsia).NF-?B cis decoy ODN and NF-?B scramble ODN were transfected with cationic lipofectamine to the latter two groups,respectively.The proliferation of human umbilical artery smooth muscle cells was evaluated by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium and the apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry.The expression levels of precollagen Ⅰ,Ⅲ mRNA were detected by RT-PCR,the expression levels of TNF-? were detected by western blot.Results(1)The proliferation of group B(0.19?0.02)and group D(0.18?0.03)was significantly increased as compared with those of group A(0.11?0.02)and group C(0.14?20.02)(P0.05).(5)The expression of TNF-? of group B(0.74?0.11),group C(0.36?0.09)and group D(0.79?0.12)were significantly higher than that of group A(0.15?0.03)(P0.05).Conclusions NF-?B cis decoy ODN could down-regulate the proliferation,as well as the expression levels of precollagen and TNF-? of HUASMC induced by umbilical serum of preeclampsia.NF-?B may play an important role in the pathogenesis of placental artery abnormalities in preeclampsia.

To investigate the absorption kinetics of Cu B-SDC/PLC-MMs in rat different intestinal segments and compared with the absorption of Cu B suspension. The in vitro everted gut sacs model was established to study the absorption characteristics of Cu B-SDC/ PLC-MMs in rat duodenum, jejunum, ileum and colon, and the content of cucurbitacin B was detected by HPLC method, and the effects of concentrations on intestinal absorption were evaluated as well. The results showed that the absorption of Cu B-SDC/PLC-MMs was linearity at different intestine segment and different concentrations (R2 > 0.9), which was consistent with zero order rate process. The Ka of different intestine segments showed a concentration-dependent increasing along with the raised concentration of Cu B-SDC/ PLC-MMs, indicating that it was likely to be a mechanism of passive absorption. The best absorption site of Cu B-SDC/PLC-MMs was ileum, and its absorptions in different intestinal segments were superior to cucurbitacin B suspension. SDC/PLC-MMs could significantly enhance the intestinal absorption of cucurbitacin B, and the study of intestinal absorption kinetics of Cu B-SDC/PLC-MMs had gave a support to its further reasonable solidfication.
Animals ; Deoxycholic Acid ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Intestinal Absorption ; Kinetics ; Male ; Micelles ; Nanoparticles ; Phospholipids ; administration & dosage ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Triterpenes ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics

Objective To study the influence of arsenic exposure on menstruation.Methods A cluster sampling method was applied to select the subjects of women aged 10 to 65 from Linhe,Hangjinhouqi and Wuyuan counties in Inner Mongolia in 2004.Drinking water samples were collected to detect arsenic levels,and menstrual related situation was surveyed.The subjects were divided into four groups according to drinking water arsenic concentration:control(≤0.01 mg/L),low(＞ 0.01-0.10 mg/L),moderate(＞ 0.10-0.20 mg/L) and high(＞ 0.20mag/L).Results A total of 602 women were surveyed.There were 83 subjects exposed to arsenic before menarche and their menarche age was (14.37 ± 1.54) years old.There were 90 people exposed to arsenic before menopause and the menopause age was (48.13-0.41) years old.The age of menarche and menopause were positively related to the years of arsenic exposure,and correlation coefficients were 0.268 and 0.278 (all P ＜ 0.05).Compared to control group(14.0％,16/112),menstrual abnormality rate decreased in low(12.1％,21/173) and high dose groups(10.2％,19/186),while increased in the moderate dose group(18.2％,16/88),but the differences were not statistically significant(x2 =3.664,P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Long-term arsenic exposure delays the menarche and menopause age,suggesting that arsenic has certain endocrine disruption or estrogen-like effects.

A sesquiterpene synthase (AsSS4) full-length open reading frame (ORF) cDNA was cloned from wounded stems of Aquilaria sinensis by RT-PCR method. The result showed that the ORF of AsSS4 was 1,698 bp encoding 565 amino acids. Prokaryotic expression vector pET28a-AsSS4 was constructed and transformed into E. coli BL21 (DE3) pLysS. Recombinant AsSS4 protein was obtained after induction by IPTG and SDS-PAGE analysis with a MW of 64 kD. Enzymatic reactions using farnesyl pyrophosphate showed that recombinant AsSS4 protein purified by Ni-agarose gel yielded five sesquiterpene compounds, cyclohexane, 1-ethenyl-1-methyl-2, 4-bis(1-methylethenyl)-, β-elemene, α-guaiene, α-caryophyllene and δ-guaiene. This paper reported the first cloning and functional characterization of AsSS4 gene from A. sinensis, which will establish a foundation for future studies on the molecular mechanisms of wound-induce agarwood formation in A. sinensis
Alkyl and Aryl Transferases ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Azulenes ; Cloning, Molecular ; DNA, Complementary ; Escherichia coli ; Open Reading Frames ; Polyisoprenyl Phosphates ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; Sesquiterpenes ; metabolism ; Sesquiterpenes, Guaiane ; Thymelaeaceae ; enzymology ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo explore the therapeutic effect of Chinese medicinal massage with nourishing-Shen and activating-blood manipulation in treating women with climacteric syndrome and its influence on endocrinal function.

METHODSSixty patients were assigned to two groups, the 40 patients in the treated group were treated by Chinese medicinal massage for 20 min once every other day; the 20 patients in the control group were treated by hormone replacement therapy with Premarin 0.625 g, once daily by oral taking. The therapeutic efficacy was evaluated after two-month treatment by changes of serum levels of estradiol (E2), follicular stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and Kupperman index before and after treatment.

RESULTSKupperman index showed that the total symptom score in the treated group was improved from 30.71 +/- 8.43 scores before treatment to 8.21 +/- 5.14 scores after treatment, with a decrement of 22.50 +/- 8.14 scores, which was higher than that in the control group, from 24.32 +/- 5.44 scores to 5.92 +/- 3.58 scores, with a decrement of 18.40 +/- 4.50 scores, the difference between them was statistically significant (t = 2.52, P = 0.014). The serum level of E2 increased in both groups significantly after treatment, from 20.23 +/- 20.78 ng/L to 54.34 +/- 24.26 ng/L in the treated group (t= -2.73, P = 0.006), and from 16.15 +/- 24.40 ng/L to 40.61 +/- 81.54 ng/L in the control group (t = -1.72, P = 0.086), but the difference between groups was statistical insignificant (t= -1.120, P = 0.263). As for levels of FSH and LH, their decrements in the control group (13.16 +/- 11.29 mlU/mL and 10.37 +/- 9.21 mlU/mL) were larger than those in the treated group (4.92 +/- 4.26 mlU/mL and 0.17 +/- 2.42 mlU/mL), respectively (t = - 2.49, P = 0.013; t = - 2.38, P = 0.017).

CONCLUSIONChinese medicinal massage manipulation could improve the Kupperman index of all the 13 symptoms in women with climacteric syndrome, and increase the E2 level in serum.

Adult ; Estradiol ; blood ; Estrogens, Conjugated (USP) ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Follicle Stimulating Hormone ; blood ; Humans ; Luteinizing Hormone ; blood ; Massage ; Menopause ; Middle Aged

The epidemic of Zika virus (ZIKV) raises critical public health and safety problems. However, there are currently no vaccines or drugs that are clinically approved for ZIKV infections. Since RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) plays an important role in replication and transcription of ZIKV and is absent in human beings, it is a potential drug screening target of anti-ZIKV agents. According to the fluorescence-based alkaline phosphatase-coupled polymerase assay method, we established the NS5 RdRp inhibitor screening model. Through screening from an anti-infection compound library, we found a compound octenidine dihydrochloride (OCT) that could inhibit ZIKV RdRp activity with a half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of 5.43 μmol·L^-1. Biolayer interferometry (BLI) assay showed that OCT could bind to ZIKV RdRp and had a strong affinity. Moreover, OCT exhibited an inhibitory effect on ZIKV replication with a half maximal effective concentration (EC₅₀) of 29.94 μmol·L^-1. All these results indicated that OCT had the anti-ZIKV activity by targeting ZIKV RdRp, and it is likely to be a promising lead compound against ZIKV.

Objective To investigate the immediate therapeutic effect of medicated thread moxibustion on cervical spondylosis.Methods Seventy patients with cervical spondylosis meeting the inclusion criteria were randomly allocated to treatment and control groups by using random number table method, 35 cases each. The treatment group received medicated thread moxibustion and the control group, percutaneous superficial needling. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score and the Clinical Assessment Scale for Cervical Spondylosis (CASCS) score were recorded in the two groups before treatment and at 30 min and 24 hrs after treatment. The clinical therapeutic effects were compared between the two groups. Results The VAS and the CASCS scores decreased significantly in the two groups at 30 min and 24 hrs after treatment compared with before treatment (P<0.05,P<0.01). There was no significantly statistical difference in comparing the VAS score between the two groups after the treatment (P>0.05). The CASCS score was lower in the treatment group than in the control group at 30 min after treatment (P<0.01) and lower in the control group than in the treatment group at 24 hrs after treatment (P<0.05). At 30 min after treatment, the clinical therapeutic effect in the treatment group was superior to that in the control group (P<0.01); at 24 hrs after the treatment, the clinical therapeutic effect in the control group was superior to that in the treatment group (P<0.05).Conclusions Medicated thread moxibustion has a definite immediate therapeutic effect on cervical spondylosis.