Due to substantial morbidity and high complications, diabetes mellitus is considered as the third "killer" in the world. Medicinal fungal polysaccharides, as water-soluble macromolecular substances with low toxicity, exhibit diversified pharmacological actions such as immune regulation, anti-tumor, antivirus, antioxidant, anti-aging, hypoglycemic effect and improving liver and kidney function. In recent year, a number of investigators reported medicinal fungal polysaccharides showed good anti-diabetes and hypoglycemic activity, and their acting mechanisms involved in glycometabolism and β cell function, e. g. promoting glycogen synthesis, promoting glycolysis, inhibiting the activity of α-glucosidase, promoting insulin secretion, increasing insulin sensitivity, enhancing antioxidation. Therefore, the hypoglycemic activity and its mechanisms of action of medicinal fungal polysaccharides showed characteristics of multiple effects, multi-target, and multi-pathway regulation. These finding suggest that medicinal fungal polysaccharides are a promising source for the development of discovery of anti-diabetic agent.
Animals ; Carbohydrate Metabolism ; drug effects ; Fungal Polysaccharides ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; pharmacology ; Insulin Resistance ; Insulin-Secreting Cells ; drug effects ; Oxidative Stress ; drug effects

AIM:To observe the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) and neuroglobin (NGB) in piglet cortex during deep hypothermic circulatory arrest.METHODS:Wuzhishan piglets were randomly assigned to car-diopulmonary bypass group ( CPB group) , 40 min of circulatory arrest ( CA) at 18 ℃ without cerebral perfusion ( DHCA group) or with selective antegrade cerebral perfusion ( SACP group) .After 180 min of reperfusion, cortical tissue was har-vested for determining HIF-1αand NGB expression by HE staining, Western blot and real-time PCR.RESULTS:Severer cerebral injury was observed in DHCA group than that in SACP group.After 180 min of reperfusion, HIF-1αprotein and mRNA levels were significantly higher in DHCA group than those in CPB group (P<0.05).Accordingly, SACP animal had higher levels of HIF-1αprotein and mRNA than those in DHCA group (P<0.05).Simultaneously, higher NGB pro-tein and mRNA levels were found in DHCA group than those in CPB group after 180 min of reperfusion ( P<0.05) .The SACP animal had higher levels of NGB protein and mRNA than those in DHCA group (P<0.05).CONCLUSION:Up-regulation of HIF-1 and NGB are involved in the mechanism against cerebral injury resulting from DHCA in the cortex and possibly a part of cerebral protective effect of SACP.

Currently available monotherapies of oral nucleoside/nucleotide analogs or interferon are unable to achieve a sustained and effective response in most of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB). The objective of the present study was to compare the efficacy and safety of pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN) alpha-2b plus adefovir dipivoxil combination therapy versus Peg-IFN alpha-2b alone. Sixty-one HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B patients were randomized to receive Peg-IFN alpha-2b alone (1.5 μg/kg once weekly) or Peg-IFN alpha-2b plus adefovir (10 mg daily) for up to 52 weeks. Efficacy and safety analyses were performed on all participants who received at least one dose of study medication. The rate of HBeAg seroconversion and undetectable HBV-DNA were evaluated after 52 weeks of therapy. At the end of treatment, 11 of 30 (36.7%) patients receiving combination therapy achieved HBeAg seroconversion versus 8 of 31 (25.8%) in the monotherapy group (P=0.36). In contrast, the percentage of patients with undetectable serum HBV DNA was significantly higher in the combination group than in the monotherapy group (76.7% vs. 29.0%, P<0.001). Thyroid dysfunction was more frequent in the combination group than in the monotherapy group (P<0.05). In HBeAg-positive CHB, combination of Peg-IFN alpha-2b and adefovir for 52 weeks resulted, at the end of treatment, in a higher virological response but without significant impact on the rate of HBeAg seroconversion and possibly an adverse effect on thyroid function.

Objective To separate and amplify Hantaan virus(HV)in serum of hemorrhagic fever patients with renal syndrome(HFRS)in Heilongjiang,and look for its difference from intemational standard type strain(76-118strains).Methods HVs of different phase in the 8erum of 50 HFRS patients were separated and amplified by RTnested-PCR,its products were analyzed the amplified by sequencing.Results Detectable rate of HV in the patients serum was 36.36%(8/22)in 7 days after onset,it Was 13.04%(3/23)in patients having an onset 8 days to 14 days earlier,5 cases were not detectable 15 days after onset.Comparing the sequence of HV S gene fragment,sample 1,9,18,31,37,38,44 strain had a homology of 90.24%,86.72%,89.97%,89.16%,86.45%,87.26%and 89.43%to 76-118 strains,respectively.Conclusions The positive rate is the highset in 7 days after onset.Nucleotide sequence difference exists between pathogenic strain of Heilongjiang's HV and international standard strain,indicating that not only hosts but also locations can affect HV.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: CCAAT-enhancer binding protein ε (C/EBPε) is a kind of nuclear transcriptional factor expressed predominantly in myeloid cells, and may be a critical regulator of myeloid differentiation, which can activate the transcription of a subset of myeloidspecific genes. This study was to detect the cell-specific expression of C/EBPε, and to investigate the effect of C/EBPε overexpression on c-Myc expression, cell cycle distribution, and cell differentiation of human myelomonocytic leukemia cell line U-937. METHODS: The expression of C/EBPε in 5 hematopoietic cell lines (U-937, NB4, HL-60, K-562 and Jurkat T cell lines) was tested by semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). According to the RT-PCR results, human myelomonocytic leukemia cell line U-937 was selected and transfected with pcDNA3.1-C/EBPε32 expression vector by electroperforation, and screened by G418 to yield positive clones which were termed U-937-C/EBPε32. The expression of C/EBPε and c-Myc in U937-C/EBPε32 cells was detected by RT-PCR and Western blot; cell cycle and differentiation of U937-C/EBPε32 cells was analyzed by flow cytometry. RESULTS: C/EBPε overexpression obviously increased the expression of CD11b (a ceil surface marker of granulocyte maturity). The positive rate of CD11b was significantly higher in U-937-C/EBPε32 cells than in U-937 and U-937-pcDNA3.1 cells(92.56% vs.77.46% and 74.81% ), while c-Myc expression and cell cycle had no changes. CONCLUSION: C/EBPε might be an essential transcriptional regulator for U-937 cells differentiating into granulocytes.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the role of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) induced TGF-beta 1 in the transdifferentiation of human hypertrophic scar fibroblast (HSFb).

METHODSHuman hypertrophic scar fibroblasts were cultured in vitro, 5 cell samples were stimulated with TGF-beta 1 (0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5, 10.0 ng/mL, respectively) for 48 hours; other cell samples were divided into: normal control (NC) group, CTGF group (with addition of 10 ng/mL rhCTGF into culture medium), TGF-beta 1 group (with addition of 10 ng/mL TGF-beta 1 into culture medium), CTGF ASODN group (with addition of 10% FBS-DMEM after transfection of CTGF ASODN), CTGF ASODN + TGF-beta 1group (with addition of 10 ng/mL TGF-beta 1 after transfection of CTGF ASODN). Expression of CTGF was determined by Western blotting with stimulation of different concentration of TGF-beta 1. Expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) was measured by Western blotting. Positive cell rate of alpha-SMA was examined by flow cytometry.

RESULTSWith stimulation of 10.0 ng/mL TGF-beta 1, the expression of CTGF was obviously higher than that of non-stimulation (P < 0.05). Expression of alpha-SMA in the CTGF group and the TGF-beta 1 group was obviously higher than that in NC group (P < 0.01), while there was no obvious difference among NC, CTGF ASODN, CTGF ASODN + TGF-beta 1 groups (P > 0.05). The positive cell rate of alpha-SMA in NC, CTGF, TGF-beta 1, CTGF ASODN, CTGF ASODN + TGF-beta 1 groups was (10.8 +/- 2.8)%, (29.1 +/- 4.0)%, (28.7 +/- 4.8)%, (10.7 +/- 2.3)%, (14.3 +/- 2.9)%, respectively, which was similar to expression of alpha-SMA on statistic analysis.

CONCLUSIONSCTGF is one of the most important downstream efforts for TGF-beta 1 in inducing the transdifferentiation of HSFb.

Cell Differentiation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Cicatrix, Hypertrophic ; metabolism ; Connective Tissue Growth Factor ; pharmacology ; Fibroblasts ; cytology ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Humans ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinicopathological features of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and elucidate its diagnosis and differential diagnosis.

METHODSLiver biopsy tissues and clinical data of 32 patients with NASH were collected and the clinicopathological findings by HE and Masson staining were evaluated for NASH grading.

RESULTSBallooning degeneration of the liver cells and fibrosis around hepatic sinusoid was scarce in mild NASH cases and increased in moderate to severe cases. Steatotic and inflammatory cells in the liver lobes decrease in liver cirrhosis related to seatohepatitis.

CONCLUSIONBallooning degeneration of the liver cells and fibrosis around the hepatic sinusoid have important value in differential diagnosis of mild from moderate to severe NASH, and correct histological grading benefits clinical intervention and prognostic evaluation of NASH.

Adult ; Biopsy, Needle ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Fatty Liver ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; Liver ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis

A simple, sensitive, selective, and reproducible liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric method was developed for the simultaneous determination of repaglinide and metformin in human plasma using d5-repaglinide and d6-metformin as internal standards (ISs). After a simple protein precipitation using acetonitrile as the precipitation solvent, both analytes and ISs were separated on a Venusil ASB C 18 (150 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 microm) via gradient elution using acetonitrile--10 mmol x L(-1) ammonium acetate as the mobile phase. A chromatographic total run time of 7.5 min was achieved. Mass spectrometric detection was conducted with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization under positive-ion and multiple-reaction monitoring modes. The method was linear over the 0.2 to 60.0 ng x mL(-1) concentration range for repaglinide and over the 4 to 1 000 ng x mL(-1) range for metformin. For both analytes, the intra- and inter-accuracies and precisions were within the +/- 15% acceptable limit across all concentrations. The validated method was successfully applied to a clinical bioequivalence study.
Administration, Oral ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Area Under Curve ; Carbamates ; administration & dosage ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Drug Stability ; Female ; Humans ; Hypoglycemic Agents ; administration & dosage ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Male ; Metformin ; administration & dosage ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Middle Aged ; Piperidines ; administration & dosage ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Therapeutic Equivalency ; Young Adult

Objective:To discuss the topical action characteristics of the biological transmission of moxibustion heat via temperature collection and numerical modeling.Methods:Temperature of moxibustion was measured at multiple points at a distance of 3 cm to obtain the moxibustion temperature field nephograms by the high-accuracy temperature measure array.Finite element analysis was used to imitate the three-dimensional dynamic distribution of temperature in acupoint tissues.Results:Through numerical analysis,the one-dimensional,two-dimensional and three-dimensional distributions of temperature in human acupoint tissues at 5 min of moxibustion were established.The result showed that moxibustion heat mainly transmitted from the surface of the tissue to the internal,and the influence of moxibustion heat decreased with the depth of the tissue.The analysis of the nephograms of acupoint tissue temperature at 5,10,15 and 20 min of moxibustion showed that with the increase of the moxibustion time,the temperature in acupoint tissues constantly rose,and the transmission depth of moxibustion heat also further expanded inside acupoint.Conclusion:By establishing the three-dimensional dynamic model of heat transmission inside acupoint tissues with the biological parameters of human tissues and the temperature values obtained,this study used finite element analysis software ANSYS 14.0 and discovered the rules in the transmission of heat in body tissues during moxibustion,and the features in moxibustion heat transmission (from the proximal to the distant) and heat penetration (from the surface to the internal).This study provides theoretical and experimental support for the application of moxibustion in clinical practice.

To explore the clinical significance of C1q tumor necrosis factor-related protein-9 (CTRP9) in patients with cerebral infarction.Our data showed that the serum CTRP9 was significantly lower than that of control group,especially in patients with large artery atherosclerotic cerebral infarction.CTRP9 was first decreased and even lower from day 4 to day 10,then gradually elevated.Logistic regression analysis suggested that high CTRP9 level was a protective factor for cerebral infarction.Thus,CTRP9 could be a factor for further classification of cerebral infarction and provides a potential option for disease prevention and treatment.