Tripterygium wilfordii has exihibited multiple pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, immune modulation, anti-tumor and anti-fertility. T. wilfordii have been used for the therapy of inflammation and autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, immune complex nephritis and systemic lupus erythematosus clinically. However, it is well known that T. wilfordii has small margin between the therapeutic and toxic doses and could cause serious injury on digestive, reproductive and urogenital systems. Among all the organs, liver is one of the most remarkable targets of T. wilfordii-induced toxicities, and the damage is more serious than others. It is generally accepted that T. wilfordii-induced liver injury is a result of the combined effects of toxic elements of T. wilfordii. It is reported in several studies that the mechanism of T. wilfordii-induced liver injury may be related to lipid peroxidation, cell apoptosis and immune damage, and so on. Licorice is one of the most commonly used Chinese herbal medicine, with effects of heat- clearing and detoxicating, anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective, reconciling various drugs, and so on. Licorice often accompany T. wilfordii in clinical application which can significantly reduce the liver injury induced by T. wilfordii. The attenuated effect is exact, but the mechanism is still a lack of in-depth study. This paper reviews the studies on T. wilfordii-induced liver injury and the related mechanism as well as licorice and other traditional Chinese medicine accompany T. wilfordii to reduce the injury in recent years, so as to provide reference for related research in the future.
Animals ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury ; etiology ; prevention & control ; Glycyrrhiza ; Humans ; Inactivation, Metabolic ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Tripterygium

To analyze the composition regularity of prescriptions containing Scutellaria baicalensis in Drug Standard of Ministry of Public Health of the Peoples Republic of China--Chinese Patent Medicines and Preparations on the basis of the traditional Chinese medicine inheritance support system (TCMISS), in order to provide reference for new drug R&D. the platform's software V2.0 was applied to establish a database of prescriptions containing S. baicalensis. The software's statistical statement module, association rules and improved mutual information method and other data mining technologies were adopted to analyze commonly used drugs, combination rules and core combination of S. baicalensis prescriptions. Having analyzed 477 prescriptions containing S. baicalensis, the researchers summarized 45 most commonly used drug combinations, whose ingredients mostly had functions of heat-clearing and damp-drying, purging fire for removing toxin and hemostasis. Drugs adopted in core combinations were relatively concentrated and selected according to definite composition methods. There were 23 diseases that S. baicalensis were most frequently applied in the treatment. Having compared three highly frequent diseases--cold, cough and dizziness, the researchers concluded that S. baicalensis could show different therapeutic effects through different combination ratios. Therefore, TCMISS (V2.0) is an important tool in analyzing the composition regularity of traditional Chinese medicines. The longitudinal and parallel comparison method is an effective method for studying the clinical composition regularity of S. baicalensis, while providing reference for new drug R&D.
China ; Drug Compounding ; statistics & numerical data ; Drug Therapy ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Plant Extracts ; analysis ; therapeutic use ; Scutellaria baicalensis ; chemistry

In this study, the rat type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) model was established through tail vein injection with low dose of streptozotocin (STZ) and high fat diet for 8 weeks, and then treated with Jiaotai Pill. The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), fasting serum insulin (FINS), free fatty acid(FFA) levels and blood lipid were assayed. HOMA-IR was calculated. Pancreatic pathology was performed. And pancreatic triglyceride (TG) content was examined by the lipid extraction method. Pancreatic islet cell apoptosis were detected by terminal dexynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). According to the results, the model group showed abnormal OGTT, increased FINS, HOMA-IR, FFA, lipid disorder, obvious fat accumulation and significantly increased TG content in pancreatic tissues, and enhanced pancreatic islet cell apoptosis. Compared with the model group, the Jiaotai Pill group displayed improved OGTT, reduced FINS, HOMA-IR, FFA, recovered lipid disorder, decreased fat accumulation and significantly declined TG content in pancreatic tissues, and lowered pancreatic islet cell apoptosis. In summary, Jiaotai pill could effectively treat type 2 diabetes in rats. Its mechanism may be related to the reduction in pancreatic fat accumulation and islet cell apoptosis.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Fats ; metabolism ; Glucose Tolerance Test ; Humans ; Islets of Langerhans ; cytology ; drug effects ; Male ; Pancreas ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

Objective To determine the clinical features,neurophysiological characteristics and cervical magnetic resonance imaging of sensory neumnopathy,and to describe the pathology of skin nerve, sural nerve and spinal dorsal columns.Methods Two patients who died from sensory neuron disease (SND)after infection of digestive tract were discussed including clinical features and ancillary tests which included neurophysiology and pathology of peripheral nerve and spinal dorsal columns.Associated documents are reviewed.Results Early ataxia,widespread sensory symptoms and global loss of deep tendon reflex were the distinctive signs of SND,which was characterized by non-length-dependent abnormalities of sensory nerve action potentials,a hallmark of ganglionopathies.The second patient showed normal cervical magnetic resonance imaging possibly because of short course of disease,while diffuse hyperintensity in the spinal posterior columns of SND was reported.Demyelination of spinal posterior columns and loss of mostly large diameter nerve fibers without regeneration clusters were the main pathological features.Conclusions The distinctive clinical features and neurophysiological characteristics of SND indicate that peripheral sensory nerve fibers are widely damaged.Pathology of spinal posterior columns confirm that central sensory pathway are impaired which allow the localization of the pathologic site to the dorsal root ganglion neurons.Cervical spinal MRI of SND are possibly normal at early phase.

Taking the genome DNA of Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis Virus (IBRV) as the template, the gG gene was amplified with PCR and cloned into the T cloning vector pMD18-T. After being identified by restriction digestion and DNA sequencing, the insert was subcloned into the expression vector pGEX-KG. Sodium docecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blot assay showed that this gene was expressed as both soluble form and inclusion body by the transformed E. coli BL21 strain (DE3). The fusion protein was purified and used as the coating antigen to develop the indirect Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Comparison between this gG-ELISA and commercial IBRV gB-ELISA Kit (IDEXX) was made in the detection of 380 cow serum samples. The results demonstrated an agreement of 92%. By using this novel gG-ELISA, 1248 cow serum samples were tested and the average positive rate of IBRV antibodies for imported cows is 21.7%, while the positive rate ranged greatly from 0.0%-41.5% for Hubei local Chinese Black and White Dairy Cows.
Animals ; Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; immunology ; Antigens, Viral ; genetics ; immunology ; Cattle ; Cloning, Molecular ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; methods ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Female ; Herpesvirus 1, Bovine ; genetics ; immunology ; Male ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Viral Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology

AIMTo identify the cytochrome P450 (CYP) isoform (s) involved in daidzein mono-hydroxylated metabolites using human liver microsomes.

METHODSKinetic analysis of the rates of formation of mono-hydroxylated metabolites of daidzein, including 7,8,4'-trihydroxyisoflavone (7,8,4'-THI), 7,3',4'-trihydroxyisoflavone (7,3',4'-THI) and 6,7,4'-trihydroxyisoflavone (6,7,4'-THI), was performed using human liver microsomes (HLM) and recombinant enzymes at substrate concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 400 micromol x L(-1). Nine selective inhibitors or substrate probes specific for different CYP isoforms were applied for screening the isoform(s) responsible for mono-hydroxylated metabolism of daidzein.

RESULTSMichaelis-Menten kinetic parameters were best fitted to one-component enzyme kinetic model. The mean Km (micromol x L(-1) ) and V(max) (micromol x g(-1) x min(-1)) values were 27 +/- 10 and 4. 8 +/- 2.1, 54 +/- 22 and 2.3 +/- 1.0, 51 +/- 29 and 2.2 +/- 0.8, for the formation rates of 7,8,4'-THI, 7,3',4'-THI, and 6,7,4'-THI, respectively. Furafylline, the CYP1A2 specific inhibitor, estrogen, and monoclonal antibody raised against human CYP1A2 (MAB-1A2) apparently inhibited the formation of mono-hydroxylated metabolites, The IC50 of Fur for the formation of 7,3',4'-THI, 6,7,4'-THI and 7,8,4'-THI was 1.0, 0.9 and 0. 8 mol x L(-1), respectively. The IC50 of estrogen for the formation of 7,3',4'-THI, 6,7,4'-THI and 7,8,4'-THI were 51, 60 and 64 mol x L(-1) respectively. The IC50 of MAB-1A2 for the formation of the mono-hydroxylated products was 1 mol x L(-1), but neither other selective inhibitor nor substrate probes, including coumarin (CYP2D6), sulphaphenzole ( CYP2C9/10), omeprazole ( CYP2C19), quinidine (CYP2D6), diethyldithiocarbamate (CYP2E1), troleandomycin (CYP3A4) and keteconazole (CYP3A4), did so with human liver microsomes.

CONCLUSIONThe in vitro studies indicated that daidzein mono-hydroxylated products were principally metabolized by CYP1A2 in human.

Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A2 ; metabolism ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A2 Inhibitors ; Estrogens ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Hydroxylation ; Isoflavones ; metabolism ; Microsomes, Liver ; metabolism ; Theophylline ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology

AIMTo establish an HPLC-MS method for determination of octreotide in plasma and study the relative bioavailability of domestic and imported octreotide injections.

METHODSOctreotide in plasma samples were extracted with a Waters solid-phase extraction mini column. HPLC-MS was carried out using a Waters Xetrra C18 column and a mobile phase consisting of CH3 OH-1% HAc (80 : 20), the flow rate was 0.2 mL x min(-1), and the internal standard was 6, 7, 4'-OH-isoflavone, the SIR ions for quantification were m/z 1 014.4 for octreotide and m/z 317.6 for internal standard. A single dose of 200 microg of domestic or imported preparations was intramuscularly given to 18 healthy volunteers in a randomized crossover study. Octreotide concentration in plasma was determined by LC-MS method. The pharmacokinetics and bioavailability were studied.

RESULTSThe regressive curve was linear (r = 0.9997) within the range of 0.5 - 40 microg x L(-1) for octreotide. The pharmacokinetics parameters of domestic and imported injection were reply to one compartment model. The mean C(max) were (19 +/- 10) microg x L(-1) and (19 +/- 11) microg x L(-1), T(max) were (0.50 +/- 0.15) h and (0.52 +/- 0.20) h, T1/2 were (1.5 +/- 0.8) h and (1.5 +/- 0.8) h, AUC(0-7 h) were (50 +/- 25) h x microg x L(-1) and (50 +/- 25) h x microg x L(-1), respectively. The relative bioavailability of domestic to imported injection was 101% +/- 10%.

CONCLUSIONThe method is accurat and sensible for assay of plasma octreotide concentration. The results of statistics showed the two preparations were bioequivalent.

Area Under Curve ; Biological Availability ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Cross-Over Studies ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Humans ; Injections, Intramuscular ; Octreotide ; administration & dosage ; blood ; pharmacokinetics

OBJECTIVEStudying the metabolic pharmacokinetic of baicalin of Qingkailing injection in rat, to search for effector substance of Qingkailing injection in vivo.

METHODQingkailing sterile injection powder was given by caudal vein, then blood, liver and lung were collected in various time, the concentration of baicalin from samples were determined by HPLC-MS. Pharmacokinetic evaluation was carried out using the 3P87.

RESULTAfter Qingkailing injection, Baicalin was consistent with two-compartment model in rat. 45 min, the concentration of baicalin in hepatic tissue reached maximum, followeded by decrease sharply, 120 min began to rise slowly, present double hump phenomenon. In lung, baicalin concentration was far more than in liver, was eliminated more slowly, but they have the same t(max).

CONCLUSIONAfter Qingkailing injection, baicalin distributed quickly to liver and lung, baicalin is one of effector substance of qingkailing injection in vivo. Baicalin might have hepatoenteral circulation.

Animals ; Area Under Curve ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drug Combinations ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Female ; Flavonoids ; administration & dosage ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Injections, Intravenous ; Liver ; metabolism ; Lung ; metabolism ; Male ; Mass Spectrometry ; Materia Medica ; chemistry ; Metabolic Clearance Rate ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Powders ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Scutellaria baicalensis ; chemistry

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; therapy ; United States

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression of NF-kappaB in peripheral blood polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) of acute pancreatitis (AP) and to assess the preventive effectiveness of pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) on NF-kappaB in vitro.

METHODSNineteen patients and 16 healthy individuals as control were enrolled in this study. The expression of NF-kappaB in PMNs was determined by gel electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). Routine clinical examination results and computed tomography findings of AP were recorded in all patients.

RESULTSThe PMNs from the patients with AP showed higher levels of NF-kappaB activities than those from control subjects (P < 0.01), severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) group showed much higher than mild acute pancreatitis (MAP) group (P < 0.05). In vitro, PDTC could reduce the NF-kappaB activity in PMNs of patients with AP, and its effectiveness at 2 mmol/L was stronger than at 1 mmol/L (P < 0.05). The PMNs from control subjects pretreated with 2 mmol/L PDTC before stimulation with the plasma from patients with SAP showed lower levels of NF-kappaB activities than did those untreated (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe NF-kappaB activation in peripheral blood PMNs participate in the course of acute pancreatitis and can be inhibited by PDTC in vitro.

Acute Disease ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; NF-kappa B ; biosynthesis ; blood ; Neutrophils ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Pancreatitis ; metabolism ; Pyrrolidines ; pharmacology ; Thiocarbamates ; pharmacology