A series of study of Dracocephalum heterophyllum Benth on the tolerance of acute hypoxia in animals is hereby summarized. Dracocephalum significantly increased the tolerance of acute hypoxia and promoted the process of adaptation. This effect may be due to the character of Dracocephalum to maintain normal energy metabolism through its action on the metabolism regulators. Different facetspertaining to the mechanisms of action of the drug have been studied: (1)Nerve mediators——CA. Ach.5-HT, histamine. GABA. GA; (2) Hormones——corticosteroid. corticosterone, aldosterone. thyroxine.triiodothyronine; (3) CAMP; (4) Enzymes activity——cytochromase. succino-dehydrogenase and SOD.The results suggested that this plant had modulating effects on the above mentioned mediators. It obviously ameliorated the symptoms of acute hypoxia in Rhesus monkey under decompression. In field observation, it seemed also to have the effect of reducing the incidence and ameliorating the symptoms. of acute mountain sickness in man

The thiamine and nicotinic acid content of the husked rice (whole rice) samples from 9 representative varieties of paddy collected from Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces were analyzed, and the effect of degree of milling on the content of these two vitamins were studied. The paddy samples were husked with wooden mill and the husked rice samples were milled with laboratory rice mill to 5 grades, namely, "96", "94", "92", "90" and "88" percent extraction (by 96% extraction we mean 96 grams of finished rice were derived from 100 grams of husked rice), and the thiamine and nicotinic acid content of each sample were determined. It is found that the thiamine and nicotinic acid content of the rice of different variety may vary considerably, and both were decreased with the increase of degree of milling. Generally, above the "94" grade, the loss of thiamine is higher than that of nicotinic acid, while down from the "92" grade, less thiamine and more nicotinic acid were lost. The rate of decrease in nicotinic acid content is relatively irregular as compared with that of thiamine, and different varieties are affected differently by the milling process.

Objective To investigate the effect of highly expressed β-catenin on the proliferative activity of and expressions of two apoptosis-related genes Bcl-2 and Bax by human skin fibroblasts induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).Methods Normal human skin fibroblasts (HSFs) from child foreskin were divided into three groups:empty vector group transfected with the empty vector pcDNA3.1,H2O2 group transfected with the empty vector pcDNA3.1 followed by treatment with H2O2 (150 μ mol/L) for 2 hours,β-catenin group transfected with pcDNA3.1-β-catenin followed by treatment with H2O2 (150 μ mol/L) for 2 hours.Subsequently,methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay was conducted to estimate proliferative activity of fibroblasts,flow cytometry to detect cell apoptosis,and reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and Western blot were performed to measure the mRNA and protein expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax respectively.The relative expression levels of genes were expressed as the ratios between the targets and GAPDH.Results Significant differences were found between the empty vector group,H2O2 group and β-catenin group in cellular proliferative activity (expressed as absorbance value at 570 nm:0.792 ± 0.012 vs.0.462 ± 0.012 vs.0.521 ± 0.015,P＜ 0.01) and apoptosis rate (3.407％ ± 0.217％ vs.24.555％ ± 1.793％ vs.15.360％ ± 0.755％,P＜ 0.01).Both mRNA and protein expression levels of Bcl-2 were significantly lower in the H2O2 group (0.333 ± 0.003 and 0.336 ± 0.004 respectively) than in the empty vector group (0.507 ± 0.013 and 0.514 ± 0.021,respectively,both P ＜ 0.01) and β-catenin group (0.404 ± 0.006 and 0.411 ± 0.005,respectively,both P ＜ 0.01).Increased expression levels of Bax mRNA and protein were observed in the H2O2 group compared with the empty vector group and β-catenin group (mRNA:0.451 ± 0.002 vs.0.303 ± 0.005 and 0.339 ± 0.012,protein:0.460 ± 0.008 vs.0.320 ± 0.013 and 0.346 ± 0.013,all P＜ 0.01).Conclusion High expression of β-catenin can raise proliferative activity of aging HSFs.

Objective To investigate the role of cyclophilin A (CypA) and CD147 in the process of skin aging. Methods Twenty cases of tissue samples from junior group(＜15 years old), middle age group(30-40 years old)or old age group (＞65 years old) were collected from photophobic and exposal parts of skin, respectively. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and in situ hybridization (ISH) were carried out to semi-quantitatively detect the expression level of CyPA and CD147. Results IHC demonstrated that both CyPA and CD147 were expressed in both photophobic and exposal parts of normal human skin in all 3 groups. The expression levels of both CyPA and CD147 were increased with increase in age. There were significant differences in both CyPA and CD147 expression among 3 groups (P<0.05). CyPA and CD147 were also positively correlated in all 3 groups. Similar results were achieved by ISH. Conclusion The interaction between CD147 and CyPA might play an important role in the process of skin aging.

Objective To observe the effect of high expression of β-catenin on senescent phenotypes in normal human skin fibroblasts (NHSFs) induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).Methods Cultured NHSFs were classified into three groups: β-catenin + H2O2 group transfected with a recombinant plasmid pcDNA3.1-β-catenin and treated with H2O2 of 150 μ mol/L for two hours,H2O2 group transfected with the empty vector pcDNA3.1 and treated by H2O2 of 150 μmol/L for two hours,and vector group transfected with the empty vector pcDNA3.1 and receiving no treatment.Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and Western blot were performed to quantify the mRNA and protein expressions of β-catenin in these cells,microscopy to observe the morphological changes of cells.The activity of senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-Gal) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) as well as the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were detected by using commercial kits.Data were processed with the software SPSS 13.0,and analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted for multiple group comparisons.Results The expression of β-catenin was significantly upregulated in NHSFs transfected with the recombinant plasmid pcDNA3.1-β-catenin.Both the mRNA and protein expression levels of β-catenin described as β-catenin/ glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) ratio were significantly lower in the H2O2 group compared with the vector group (0.2900 ± 0.0195 vs.0.5963 ± 0.0400,0.3130 ± 0.0171 vs.0.6190 ± 0.0090,both P ＜0.05),while the protein expression level of β-catenin was statistically higher in the β-catenin + H2O2 group than in the H2O2 group (0.7953 ± 0.0074 vs.0.3130 ± 0.0171,P ＜0.05).Significant differences were observed between the vector group,H2O2 group and β-catenin+ H2O2 group in the percentage of SA-β-gal-positive cells ((2.9667 ± 0.2517)％ vs.(37.70 ± 0.9539)％ vs.(29.330 ± 0.6359)％,P ＜0.05),ROS activity ((50.9963 ±9.2688)％ vs.(109.9190 ± 11.5215)％ vs.(75.1063 ± 3.0138)％,P ＜0.05),and SOD levels ((88.0856 ±3.9181) vs.(35.5585 ± 3.4438) vs.(61.7029 ± 3.1716) U/mg,P ＜0.05).Conclusion The overexpression of β-catenin can downr_egulate the activity of SA-β-Gal and ROS level,but enhance the activity of SOD.