Objective To observe the effects of homocysteine on the expression of estrogen receptor alpha(ER?) mRNA and the CpG island methylation of ER? gene promotor region in rats.Methods The serum level of homocysteine in rats was measured by reversed-phase HPLC.RT-PCR and methylated specific PCR(MSP) were applied to assay mRNA expression and the methylation status in promoter CpG island of ER? gene in aorta and cultured rat aortic smooth muscle cells(RASMCs).Results The homocysteine level was increased in ove and ove+H groups(P

Drug addiction is a chronic,relapsing brain disorder,which develops,in part,because of aberrant learning and memory. Accumulative studies during recent decades demonstrated that addictive drug hijacks the normal memory circuit in the brain to form a long-lasting drug reward memory,which determines relapse to addictive drug. In this review,we will describe what has been learned about drug reward memory,especially focused on one of the associative drug reward memory models,drug-induced conditioned place preference. Drug reward memory is a dynamic process,which consists of several stages,including acquisition,consolidation,maintenance,retrieval,reconsolidation and extinction. Interventions with pharmacological in these memory processes will differentially regulate drug reward memory. Furthermore , the recently developed novel pure behavioral procedure according to the hypothesis of memory processes,e.g. post-retrieval extinction,could erase drug reward memory,which shows more advantages than the pharmacological medications that used in memory studies. Finally, we discussed two major methodological issues in drug reward memory,procedure and timing,which should be carefully considered when designing the related studies and interpreting the results from related studies. So far,it is not sure whether it is feasible to develop a pharmacological medication that only erases drug reward memory without impairing normal memories,we propose that inhibition of drug reward memory would be a good strategy to limit the risk of relapse to addictive drug. Although current findings on drug reward memory benefits little for treatment of drug addiction,the ongoing studies on drug reward memory will provide a promising strategy for reducing the risk of relapse to addictive drug.

Aim To investigate metabolomic profiles of acute myocardial ischemia (AMI) in rat plasma and explore the intervention effects and its mechanism of leonurine using a metabolomics approach based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).Methods The plasma metabolomic characteristics in rats of sham group,AMI model group,and leonurine-treated group were detected by 1H NMR,and the different metabolites between AMI group and sham group or leonurine-treated group were analyzed by pattern recognition and multivariate data analysis.Results Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) demonstrated that six metabolites related to AMI were screened out,including alanine,lysine,glycine,creatine,N-acetyl glycoprotein,and O-acetyl glycoprotein and all their levels were elevated in AMI group compared to sham group.Treatment of leonurine decreased the levels of alanine,lysine,and glycine,and increased the levels of choline,phosphocholine,and scyllo-inositol compared with the model group.Conclusions Leonurine can improve amino acid metabolism disorder under AMI conditions and enhance the function of choline and inositol pathway,which may explain its cardioprotective effect.The developed metabolomics approach in this study is a powerful tool for the investigation of the cardioprotective effect of leonurine and provide a new insight to understand its pharmacological mechanism.

Objective To identify clinicopathologic characteristics and prognostic factors through a retrospective analysis of 404 colon cancer patients.Methods A total of 404 patients(209 of them were followed up with inquisition) with colon cancer were surgically treated from 1993 to 2003 and studied by univariate and multivariate analysis.Results Using univariate analysis age of patients,it was found that differentiation degree of the tumors,lymphatic invasion,abdominal and distant metastases,TNM stage and adjuvant radiotherapy were associated with outcome.(2)Multivariate analysis showed that only abdominal and distant metastases and TNM stage were associated with prognosis.Conclusion Multivariate analysis proved following list are independent prognostic factors: abdominal,distant metastases and TNM stage.

[ ABSTRACT] AIM:To determine the role of transcription factor Bach1 in the functions of human microvascular en-dothelial cells ( HMVECs ) .METHODS: Bach1 siRNA was transfected into HMVECs to knock down the expression of Bach1.In vitro endothelial cell tube formation assay in Matrigel culture was used as a surrogate assay for angiogenic poten-tial.Migration of HMVECs was determined by using Transwell chambers.Cell proliferation was measured by CCK-8 assay. Real-time PCR, Western blotting, and ELISA were employed to determine mRNA expression and protein level.Reporter as-say was performed to determine vascular endothelial growth factor ( VEGF) transcriptional activity.RESULTS:Knockdown of Bach1 expression in HMVECs led to an increase in the tube formation and increased endothelial cell migration ability, whereas it has little effect on cell proliferation.Bach1 silencing increased the mRNA and protein expression of heme oxygen-ase-1 (HO-1), and enhanced VEGF transcriptional activation, and mRNA and protein expression.CONCLUSION:Bach1 silencing increases HO-1 and VEGF expression, thus promoting the cell migration and tube formation of HMVECs, indicating that Bach1 is a repressor for angiogenesis.