The chemical constituents of Vaccinium bracteatum were studied by means of macroporous resin, ODS column chromatography and preparative HPLC. Eleven compounds were isolated from this plant. By using ESI-MS and NMR, the structures of the eleven compounds were determined as 10-O-trans-p-coumaroyl-6alpha-hydroxyl-dihydromonotropein (1), 10-O-cis-p-coumaroyl -6alpha-hydroxyl-dihydromonotropein (2), vaccinoside (3), 10-O-cis-p-coumaroyl monotropein (4), isolariciresinol-9-O-beta-D-xyloside (5), tectoridin (6), vicenin-3 (7), quercetin-3-O-alpha-L-rhamnoside (8), quercetin-3-O-alpha-L-arabinopyranoside (9), quercetin-3-O-beta-D-galactopyranoside (10), and quercetin-3-O-beta-D-glucuronide (11), respectively. Compounds 1 and 2 are new, and compounds 4, 6 and 7 are isolated from the genus Vaccinium for the first time.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Molecular Structure ; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization ; Vaccinium ; chemistry

The PDB culture medium was selected to ferment the endophyte strain, and the secondary metabolites of endophytic fungi Penicillium polonicum were studied. Combined application of Sephadex LH-20, ODS and HPLC chromatographies over the ethyl acetate extract of the fermented culture led to the isolation of 6 compounds. By spectral methods, the structures were elucidated as [3, 5-dihydroxy-2-(7-hydroxy-octanoyl)]-ethylphenylacetate (1), (3, 5-dihydroxy-2- octanoyl)-ethyl phenylacetate (2), (5, 7-di- hydroxy-9-heptyl)-isobenzo pyran-3-one (3), 3-(hydroxymethyl) 4-(1E)-1- propen-1-yl-(1R, 2S, 5R, 6S)-7-oxabicyclo [4.1.0] hept-3-ene-2, 5-diol (4), (E)-2-methoxy-3-(prop-1-enyl) phenol (5) and p-hydroxylphenylethanol (6).
Biological Factors ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Endophytes ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; metabolism ; Fabaceae ; microbiology ; Fermentation ; Penicillium ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; metabolism ; Secondary Metabolism

Dried roots and rhizomes of Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen) are among the most commonly used traditional Chinese medicines in clinic. The material basis for its efficacy mainly includes hydrophobic tanshinones and hydrophilic salvianolic acids. The traditional effects of Danshen are "removing stasis and relieving pain, activating blood to promote menstruation, clearing heart fire and tranquilization". According to modern pharmacological studies, Danshen and its main components have cardiovascular and cerebrovascular protective effect. Recent studies showed that Danshen and its main components also demonstrated protective effects on liver injury models induced by carbon tetrachloride, D-galactosamine, acetaminophen and alcohol. In this paper, the hepatoprotective effect and mechanism of Danshen were summarized and studied.
Animals ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Liver ; drug effects ; Protective Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Salvia miltiorrhiza ; chemistry

Objective To study the severity of systemic inflammatory response to type B epidemic encephalitis and blood tumor necrosis factor complicated with respiratory failure.Methods Fourteen children with type B epidemic encephalitis were divided into two groups;6 cases in group one with respiratory failure were given mechanical ventilation and the other 8 cases had normal respiration.Breat-hing pattern,respiratory rate,GCS scores,daily dosage of sedatives were observed before endotracheal intubation;while heart rate,temperature,WBC,CRP,TNF were measured.Results Patients in respiratory failure group were given a small dosage of Luminal;there was no significant difference in GCS between two groups treated with compound Wintermin.The heart rate,temperature,WBC,CRP,TNF levels in respiratory failure group were significantly higher than those in normal respiratory group.Conclusions The severity of systemic inflammatory response is more severe in epidemic type B encephalitis with respiratory failure than the controls.Significant increase in blood TNF may be an important factors to cause peripheral respiratory failure.

OBJECTIVETo examine the protective effect of Ginkgo biloba leaf extract (GbE) on learning and memory deficit induced by aluminum chloride (AlCl(3)), and explore its mechanisms.

METHODSThe rat models with learning and memory deficit were induced by administering via gastrogavage and drinking of AlCl(3) solution. And the model rats were treated with GbE at the dose of 50, 100, 200 mg/kg every day for 2 months accompanied with drinking of AlCl(3) solution, respectively. Their abilities of spatial learning and memory were tested by Morris water maze, and the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in serum was assayed with chemical method, the AChE expression in hippocampus was observed by immunohistochemistry assay, and then quantitative analysis was done by BI 2000 image analysis system.

RESULTSLearning and memory deficit of rats could be induced by AlCl(3) solution (P < 0.01), and AChE expressions in rats hippocampus were increased (P < 0.01); GbE ameliorated learning and memory deficit and reduced AChE expression in rats hippocampus in a dose-dependent manner, while GbE significantly increased serum AChE activity at the dose of 200 mg/kg each day (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONGbE can ameliorate learning and memory deficit induced by AlCl(3), which may be due to its inhibition of the AChE expression in hippocampus.

Acetylcholinesterase ; metabolism ; Aluminum Compounds ; toxicity ; Animals ; Chlorides ; toxicity ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Ginkgo biloba ; Hippocampus ; enzymology ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Maze Learning ; drug effects ; Memory Disorders ; chemically induced ; prevention & control ; Neuroprotective Agents ; therapeutic use ; Phytotherapy ; Plant Extracts ; therapeutic use ; Plant Leaves ; Plant Structures ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Reaction Time

To study the effect of Wansheng Huafeng Dan (WSHFD) and mercuric chloride on renal mercury (Hg) extraction transporters (Oat1, Oct2), renal mercury excretion transporters (Mrp4, Mate2K), renal mercury accumulation and kidney injury molecule-1 (Kim-1). The ancient prescription of WSHFD containing 10-fold Hg caused much lower renal mercury accumulation and renal toxicity than HgCl2 in rats, with less effect on renal transporters than HgCl2. The above indicators had no significant difference in WSHFDO, WSHFD2 and WSHFD3 groups, indicating no effect of WSHFD with reduced or no cinnabar.
Animals ; Ardisia ; chemistry ; Biological Transport ; drug effects ; Cell Adhesion Molecules ; genetics ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; Gene Expression ; drug effects ; Kidney ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Male ; Mercuric Chloride ; metabolism ; Multidrug Resistance-Associated Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

BACKGROUNDIt is very important to search for novel anti-ischemia/reperfusion neuroprotective drugs for prevention or treatment of cerebrovascular diseases. Icariin, the major active component of traditional Chinese herb Yinyanghuo, may have a beneficial role for neurons in cerebral ischemia/reperfusion caused by accident. However, it was not clear yet. In this study, we observed the protective effects of icariin on neurons injured by ischemia/reperfusion in vitro and in vivo and investigated its protective mechanism.

METHODSCerebral cortical neurons of Wistar rats in primary culture were studied during the different periods of oxygen-glucose deprivation and reperfusion with oxygen and glucose. Cell viability was determined by methyl thiazoleterazolium (MTT) assay. The activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leaked from neurons, cell apoptosis and the concentration of intracellular free calcium were measured respectively. On the other hand, the mice model of transient cerebral ischemia/reperfusion was made by bilateral occlusion of common carotid arteries and ischemic hypotension/reperfusion. The mice were divided into several groups at random: sham operated group, model group and icariin preventive treatment group. The changes of mice behavioral, activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured, respectively.

RESULTSTreatment with icariin (final concentration 0.25, 0.5, and 1 mg/L) during ischemia/reperfusion-mimetic incubation in vitro concentration-dependently attenuated neuronal damage with characteristics of increasing injured neuronal absorbance of MTT, decreasing LDH release, decreasing cell apoptosis, and blunting elevation of intracellular calcium concentration. And in vivo the learning and memory abilities significantly decreased, activities of SOD were diminished and MDA level increased obviously in model group, compared with that in sham operated group. But pre-treatment of model mice with icariin (10, 30 and 100 mg/kg, i.g.) significantly blunted the decrease of mice learning, memory ability and SOD activity, and markedly decreased MDA level.

CONCLUSIONSIcariin has protective effects on cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injured neurons. And decreasing cell apoptosis, preventing intracellular calcium concentration elevation and enhancing anti-oxidant capacity may contribute to its protective effects.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Brain Ischemia ; drug therapy ; Calcium ; metabolism ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Flavonoids ; pharmacology ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; secretion ; Learning ; drug effects ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; analysis ; Memory ; drug effects ; Mice ; Neurons ; pathology ; Neuroprotective Agents ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Reperfusion Injury ; prevention & control

This study was aimed to select the best preparation form of Aurea Helianthus in order to provide a scientific basis for research and development of anti-myocardial ischemia drugs.The content of effective index components of preparation of Aurea Helianthus was detected using HPLC-PDA.Acute myocardial ischemia rat model introduced by injecting pituitrin was used to investigate the effect of anti-myocardial ischemia.The quality of preparation from Aurea Helianthus was characterized based on pharmacy and efficacy.And the characterized results were given correlation analysis.The results showed that the HPLC method for quantitative determination was verified by methodology.The average recoveries were in the range of 97.04％-102.44％.All three preparations of Aurea Helianthus had the efficacy of anti-myocardial ischemia in varying degrees.The enrichment had the highest effect with lowest extraction rate and the lowest dosage,which was the best form in medicinal-preparation application of Aurea Helianthus.It was concluded that the content of related drug components was higher with unique proportion in enrichment of Aurea Helianthus which was prepared based on drug system proved a high quality medicine.Therefore,the key to the improvement of efficacy was to explore the fittest proportion and improve the content of related pharmaceutical ingredients pertinently according to drug system.

Objective To investigate the effect of mice gender on the TSH receptor antibody(TRAb)titers, the levels of TT4,and the degree of thyroid hyperplasia by establishing an animal model of Graves′ disease in male and female BALB/c mice. Methods Male and female BALB/c mice were immunized with recombinant adenovirus expressing TSHRA subunit(Ad-TSHR289)to induce Graves′ disease. Animals were injected 3 times at intervals of 3 weeks. All mice were sacrificed 4 weeks after the last injection to obtain blood for measurement of TSHR antibody titers and TT4evels, and thyroid glands for histological examination. Results TRAb positive rates were 100% both in female or male mice. No significant difference was observed in titers of TRAb between them. The incidence of hyperthyroidism in female mice was higher than that in male mice, being 75.0% and 41.7% respectively. There was statistical difference in levels of TT4between females and males(P＜0.01). Mice with high TT4exihibited marked thyroid hyperplasia. Conclusion Despite TSHR antibodies were similar between female and male mice, the incidence and degree of hyperthyroidism showed sex bias in Graves′s animal model. The results indicated that it was easier to induce model in females than in males by immunizing BALB/c mice with Ad-TSHR289.

A high productive poly ?-glutamic acid(?-PGA) strain PGA-N in a culture medium containing no L-glutamine was isolated from fermentation products.With the following identifications of colony mor-phology,physiological and biochemistry experiments,and genetics,the strain PGA-N was classified as a Bacillus licheniformis.According to the product environment,the base culture medium having no L-glutamine was simulated.In order to enhance the production of the strain PGA-N,the fermentation condi-tions,such as carbon source,nitrogen source,were optimized and the ?-glutamic acid production reached 5.16 g/L after getting the optimum formulation of this culture medium.PGA-N was mutagenized with com-bination of NTG and UV.A mutant PGA-N-C10 was screened which PGA production was increased from 5.16 g/L to 8.82 g/L.The study also investigated the effects of agitation speed on the cell biomass,?-PGA production and the ?-PGA molecular weight.The ?-PGA yield of PGA-N-C10 was as high as 11.00 g/L when the agitation speed was 400 r/min.