Objective: To investigate the therapeutic effect of patchouli alcohol on mice with lung-heat syndrome based on the phosphoinositide 3-kinase(PI3K)/protein kinase B(Akt)/nuclear factor-kappa B(NF-κB) signaling pathway. Methods: First, network pharmacology was used to predict the potential targets of patchouli alcohol in the treatment of lung-heat syndrome, and a "component-disease-key target" network was constructed for pathway analysis. Then, 40 BALB/c mice were assigned to the normal, lung-heat model, honeysuckle, and low-dose and high-dose patchouli alcohol groups. All groups, except the blank group, were intranasally infected with 50 μL (103 TCID50) of influenza virus solution. After two hours of infection, mice were treated once a day for seven consecutive days. The therapeutic mechanism of patchouli alcohol was explored by measuring pulmonary inflammatory factors, the PI3K/Akt/NF-κB pathway, hypothalamic fever markers (PGE2, cAMP, cGMP levels), rectal temperature, and tissue energy metabolism. Results: Network pharmacology identified 135 target genes related to patchouli alcohol and lung-heat syndrome, with the key targets being STAT3, H1F1A, and NF-κB1. In animal experiments, patchouli alcohol significantly alleviated influenza virus-induced lung inflammatory damage in mice with lung-heat syndrome, inhibited the expression of TNF-α and IL-6 in lung tissues(P<0.01), and suppressed the activation of the PI3K/Akt/NF-κB pathway. It also reduced hypothalamic levels of PGE2 and cAMP(P<0.01), suppressed the increase in rectal temperature, significantly decreased liver glycogen and pyruvate levels(P<0.01), and increased the activities of SDH, LDH, and Na+ -K+ -ATPase in the liver(P<0.01) Conclusion Patchouli alcohol improves the symptoms of lung-heat syndrome in mice by inhibiting the activation of the PI3K/Akt/NF-κB pathway, reducing proinflammatory cytokines and inflammatory damage, and regulating hypothalamic fever markers and energy metabolism.

Plant protein-protein interaction networks have not been identified by large-scale experiments.In order to better understand the protein interactions in rice,the Predicted Rice Interactome Network (PRIN; http://bis.zju.edu.cn/prin/) presented 76,585 predicted interactions involving 5,049 rice proteins.After mapping genomic features of rice (GO annotation,subcellular localization prediction,and gene expression),we found that a well-annotated and biologically significant network is rich enough to capture many significant functional linkages within higher-order biological systems,such as pathways and biological processes.Furthermore,we took MADS-box domain-containing proteins and circadian rhythm signaling pathways as examples to demonstrate that functional protein complexes and biological pathways could be effectively expanded in our predicted network.The expanded molecular network in PRIN has considerably improved the capability of these analyses to integrate existing knowledge and provide novel insights into the function and coordination of genes and gene networks.

Objective To observe the effect of Xingnao Kaiqiao(Brain-resuscitating)Acupuncture plus language rehabilitation training for motor aphasia caused by cerebral infarction.Methods Totally 90 patients with motor aphasia were randomized into acupuncture plus language training group,single acupuncture group,and language training group(control group),with 30 in each.The Western Aphasia Battery(WAB)was adopted to evaluate the speaking functions of the patients.The aphasia quotient(AQ)of the patients,four basic speaking functions including spontaneous talk,spoken language understanding,retelling,and naming,and communicative ability in daily life(CADL)were observed.Results After treatment,AQ,CADL and score of spontaneous talk,spoken language understanding,retelling,and naming of the three groups were all significantly improved(P0.05).Conclusion Xingnao Kaiqiao Acupuncture plus language rehabilitation training for motor aphasia caused by cerebral infarction is effective with the superiority in improving the ability of spontaneous talk,retelling,naming and CADL.