Objective To study the influence of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) on development of alveolar epithelial cell Ⅱ (AECⅡ) and expression of pulmonary surfactant protein B(SP-B) in premature rats.Methods Wistar rats at 19 days gestation were paunched to get embryo and primary AECⅡculture.The rats were divided into 4 groups ,VEGF-165 group,Dexamethasone group,VEGF and Dexamethason group,control group. AECⅡ and SP-B expression were measured by immunology histochemistry.Results SP-B had positive expression in VEGF group, Dexamethason group, VEGF and Dexamethason group. SP-B had negative expression in control group.Conclusion VEGF-165 can increase SP-B positive expression and secret of AECⅡ.VEGF promotes lung maturity.

Objective To study the effects of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)on production of pulmonary surfactants.Method Fetal rat lungs were obtained at 19-day gestation.Primary culture of typeⅡalveolar epithelial cells(AECⅡ)was performed using IgG panning technique.The rats was divided into groups: VEGF,Dexamethasone,VEGF plus Dexamethasone and a control.Total phospholipids,phosphatidylcholine (PC),phosphatidyl glycerol(PG)and sphingornyelin(SM)were determined.Results expressed as mean?SEM. Comparison between groups were made with LSD-t test and one -way ANOVA.Result VEGF,Dexamethasone and VEGF plus Dexamethasone groups showed increased amount of total phospholipids and its compositions on the first day of culture.Conclusions VEGF-165 promotes the production and secretion of pulmonary surfactant. VEGF and Dexamethason may go through different mechanism for enhancement of synthesis of pulmonary surfactant,thereby improve biological function of AECⅡ.

Objective To observe the expression changes of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ(PPARγ) following the secondary injuries in rats with spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods Seventy-two male SD rats were equally randomized into control group and SCI group. Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (FQ-PCR) was performed to detect the mRNA expression changes of PPARγ on the 1st, 3nd, 7th 14th, 28th and 56th d of SCI. Western blotting wasemployed to detect the protein expression changes of PPARγ Results Compared with those in the control group, the mRNA and protein expressions of PPARγ in the SCI group on the 1st, 3rd, 7th, 14th and 28th d of SCI were significantly increased (P＜0.05), reaching its peak level 14 d after SCI; on the 56th d of SCI, their expression levels in the SCI group were still higher than those in the control group, but no significant differences were noted (P＞0.05). Conclusion The expressions of PPARγare significantly increased following secondary injuries in rats with spinal cord injury, reaching its peak level 14 d after SCI.

The aim of this paper is to develop and validate a rapid and sensitive LC-APCI/MS method for the determination of triptolide (TP) in plasma and to study the pharmacokinetic properties of TP in Beagle dogs. Sample preparation consisted of liquid-liquid extraction of interests. with ethyl acetate from dog plasma. The analytes and internal standard prednisolone were well separated on a Zorbax Extend-C18 analytical column. Plasma TP was detected by selected-ion monitoring (SIM) of LC-APCI/MS as its deprotonated molecular ions [M - H] - at m/z 358.9. Pharmacokinetic studies were undertaken in dogs following an iv dose of 0.05 mg x kg(-1) of TP or an ig dose of 0.05, 0.08, 0.1 mg x kg(-1), separately. The pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by DAS software. Calibration curves were linear over the concentration range of 1 - 200 ng x mL(-1) of TP with the within- and between-batch precisions less than 10%. The within and between-batch accuracy was 95.0% to 105.0%. Recovery of LC-MS method for TP in plasma was over 75%. The T1/2beta was (2.5 +/- 0.8) h after intravenous administration of TP at the dose of 0.05 mg x kg(-1). There were no significant differences in T(max), T1/2 alpha and T1/2 beta among the three ig dosage groups. AUC and C(max) increased proportionally with doses. The absolute bioavailability of TP after ig administration of 0.05 mg x kg(-1) was (75 +/- 17)%. The LC-MS method for determination of triptolide in dog plasma was sensitive and rapid. It was showed that the elimination of triptolide was rapid. The absolute bioavailability of triptolide given orally was high.
Administration, Oral ; Animals ; Area Under Curve ; Biological Availability ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Diterpenes ; administration & dosage ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Dogs ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Epoxy Compounds ; administration & dosage ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Female ; Injections, Intravenous ; Male ; Mass Spectrometry ; Phenanthrenes ; administration & dosage ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Random Allocation ; Tripterygium ; chemistry

This study was aimed to investigate the effects of flavonoids of puerarin (PR) on apoptosis of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cell line NB4 cells and its mechanism. The NB4 were treated with PR in vitro, the MTT assay was used to detect the inhibitory effect of PR on cell proliferation. The apoptosis of NB4 cells were detected by flow cytometry labelled with Annexin V/PI. The expressions of pml/rar alpha, bcl-2 and survivin were detected by real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (real time RT-PCR), the expressions of JNK, p38 MAPK, FasL, caspase 3, caspase 8 were detected by Western blot. The results showed that with the increasing of PR concentrations, the apoptosis rates of NB4 cells were gradually elevated. Simultaneously, the mRNA expression of pml/rar alpha, bcl-2 and survivin decreased, while the protein expression of JNK, FasL, caspase 3 and caspase 8 increased, which presented the positive correlation to PR concentrations. When PR combined with arsenic trioxide (ATO), the expression levels of above mentioned mRNA and protein decreased or increased more significantly. It is concluded that PR can effectively induce the apoptosis of NB4 cells. PR combined with ATO displays synergistic effect. It may be triggered by the activation of JNK signal pathway.
Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Humans ; Isoflavones ; pharmacology ; JNK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; metabolism ; Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects and the molecular mechanism of puerariae radix flavones (PRF) on acute myeloid leukemia cell line Kasumi-1 cells in vitro.

METHODSKasumi-1 cells treated by PRF for 48 hours were observed with Wright's and Hoechst 33258 dying. The apoptotic cells were analyzed by flow cytometry with AnnexinV/PI staining. The expression levels of bcl-2, Bim and Caspase-3/-8/-9 protein were assayed by Western blot and the AML1-ETO fusion gene was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTSPRF could induce Kasumi-1 cells to apoptosis effectively. The proportion of apoptotic cells in 50, 200 and 500 µg/ml PRF treatment groups were (14.1 ± 0.8)%, (17.7 ± 1.3)% and (32.4 ± 1.4)%, respectively, and significantly higher than that of control \[(7.8 ± 0.7)%\]. The relative expression levels of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein were 0.85 ± 0.05, 0.62 ± 0.07 and 0.43 ± 0.05; the apoptotic Bim protein were 0.21 ± 0.06, 0.39 ± 0.04 and 0.75 ± 0.05; the caspase-3 and caspase-9 were 0.92 ± 0.04, 1.21 ± 0.07, 1.33 ± 0.04 and 0.35 ± 0.05, 0.53 ± 0.03, 0.69 ± 0.07, respectively. Compared to the blank control group, all these changes were significant (P < 0.01). Nevertheless, nearly no changes could be observed on the expression level of AML1-ETO fusion gene and caspase-8 protein.

CONCLUSIONApoptosis of Kasumi-1 cells induced by PRF might correlate to the down-regulation of Bcl-2 protein expression and the activation of caspase-3 and caspase-8 protein in the cells. It seemed that all these effects had no relationship with the AML1-ETO fusion gene.

Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Caspase 8 ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Core Binding Factor Alpha 2 Subunit ; genetics ; metabolism ; Flavones ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Oncogene Proteins, Fusion ; genetics ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Pueraria ; RUNX1 Translocation Partner 1 Protein

OBJECTIVETo determine whether human metapneumovirus (hMPV) was circulating in Suzhou area and the epidemiology and clinical features associated with hMPV infection.

METHODSamples were collected from January 2006 to December 2007; respiratory specimens were tested for the presence of hMPV by reverse-transcription polymerase Chain reaction (RT-PCR). PCR products of hMPV N gene from some patients were randomly selected for sequencing analysis, and the sequences of the nucleotides and deduced amino acids were compared with those in the GenBank.

RESULTOf the 4702 patients screened, 8% had evidence of hMPV infection. The positive rate in 2006 and 2007 was 8.4% and 7.6%, respectively. The positive rates detected during January to March, November and December were higher. The median age of patients was 22. 56 months. The infected children were diagnosed as having upper respiratory tract infection (3.2%), laryngitis (2.1%), bronchiolitis (27.1%), pneumonia (55.9%), and asthma exacerbation (11.7%). Sequence analysis of these hMPV N genes showed 99%-100% homology with the registered sequence in GenBank.

CONCLUSION(1) hMPV accounted for a significant proportion of respiratory tract infection in infants and children. (2) hMPV prevailed predominantly in the winter and spring time. (3) Clinically, hMPV infection can not be discriminated from the infection with other respiratory tract viruses.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Metapneumovirus ; Prevalence ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; epidemiology ; virology

This study was aimed to investigate the relationship between cytogenetic evolution and disease progression in patient with MDS-RAEB. By a long term (6 years) follow-up of a patient with MDS-RAEB, peripheral blood cell count, bone marrow cell morphology and conventional cytogenetics were monitored regularly. In addition, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was applied to confirm the aberrant karyotype. The results indicated that this patient was failed with conventional chemotherapy of AML, but had response to ATRA and 6-MP in the 72 months follow-up. At initial diagnosis, the cytogenetics analysis showed normal karyotype, whereas 46, XY, 2q+[1]/46, XY[19] was found at 48 months, 46, XY, dup(1q)[3]/46, XY[7] at 56 months, and dup (1) as well as der (11) with complex karyotype at 68 months, which was accompanied by progressive decrease of platelet count. It is concluded that karyotype evolution is perhaps associated with progression of MDS.
Adult ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 1 ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 11 ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Karyotyping ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo study the indoor environmental factors associated with the prevalence of asthma and related allergies among school children.

METHODSA cluster sampling method was used and the ISAAC questionnaire was conducted. A total of 4612 elementary students under Grade Five of 7 schools were enrolled in the survey for the impact of indoor environmental factors on the prevalence of asthma and related allergies in several urban and suburban schools of Beijing.

RESULTSA total of 4060 sample were finally analyzed including 1992 urban and 2068 suburban. The prevalence of wheeze, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and atopic eczema in the past 12 months was 3.1% (61/1992), 5.3% (106/1992), 1.1% (22/1992) among urban children while 1.3% (27/2068), 3.1% (65/2068), 1.0% (22/2068) among suburban children respectively. The prevalence of wheeze and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis of the past 12 months in urban were both significantly higher than that in suburban (χ(2) = 14.77, 11.93, P < 0.01). The incidences of having asthma and eczema ever among urban children (5.3% (105/1992), 29.4% (586/1992)) were significantly (χ(2) = 39.03, 147.22, P < 0.01) higher than that among suburban (1.7% (35/2068), 13.8% (285/2068)). Although the distributions of indoor environmental factors were similar in both areas, passive smoking and interior decoration had different influence on the prevalence of asthma and related allergies among school children in the two areas. The significant impact of passive smoking on having asthma ever among suburban children was observed (OR = 2.70, 95%CI = 1.17 - 6.23) while no significant result in urban (OR = 1.06, 95%CI = 0.71 - 1.58); the percentage of interior decoration was 84.0% (1673/1992) among urban children and 80.0% (1655/2068) among suburban children, there was significant impact of interior decoration on the prevalence of having eczema ever among urban children (OR = 1.57, 95%CI = 1.17 - 2.10) but no significant results were found in suburban sample (OR = 1.06, 95%CI = 0.76 - 1.48).

CONCLUSIONThe prevalence of asthma and related allergies among school children is much higher in urban areas than that in suburban areas and the indoor environmental factors such as passive smoking and interior decoration may differently explain the prevalence of asthma and related allergies in the two areas.

Adolescent ; Air Pollution, Indoor ; analysis ; Asthma ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Cities ; Environmental Exposure ; Female ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; epidemiology ; etiology ; Male ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors ; Students ; Suburban Population ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Urban Population