italic>Anoectochilus roxburghii (Wall.) Lindl. is a medicinal species belonging to the Orchidaceae, whose whole plant can be used as a medicinal herb, known as "JinXianLian". It has antidiabetic, liver-protecting, anti-inflammatory, etc. A. roxburghii has long been used as food and medicine in Guangdong and Fujian provinces. With the wide recognition of the concept of "medicine and food homology" and the surge of market demand, wild A. roxburghii has been far from meeting the supply. It is important to establish an artificial propagation system. Resource characteristics are the key basis for optimizing germplasm and propagation systems. Therefore, this paper summarizes the germplasm resource characteristics and propagation technologies of A. roxburghii in China to provide a reference for sustainable development and subsequent mechanistic research.

Objective To evaluate the olfactory functions in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) with a smell identification test developed for the Chinese population and to examine possible factors contributing to PD patients' olfactory performance.Methods Fifty-five patients with idiopathic and nondementia PD and 55 demographically matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited and their olfactory identification tested using the Chinese Smell Identification Test developed by the Institute of Psychology at Chinese Academy of Sciences.Results Olfactory identification score was significantly lower (t =-6.827,P＜0.01) in the PD group (19.3 ±5.4) as compared with the HC group (26.5 ±5.7).Of all PD patients,63.6％ scored over 1 SD below the age norm.In particular,of those with Hoehn-Yahr ratings between 2 to 3,77.8％ scored over 1 SD below the age norm.Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated that a cut-off score of 22.5 on the Chinese Smell Identification Test distinguished between PD patients and HC with a sensitivity of 74.6％ and specificity of 70.9％.Within the PD group,age,education,Hoehn-Yahr rating and Mini-Mental State Examination score were not found to correlate with olfactory performance (all P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion PD patients in China show significant impairment of olfactory identification,which is effectively captured by the Chinese Smell Identification Test.

Objective To observe the learning and memory ability of rats after injection of Aβ25-35 protein in different concentrations into the lateral ventricle assessed by Morris water maze test, and to explore the optimal concentration of Aβ25-35 in the preparation of AD model rats.Methods Male SD rats were randomly divided into sham operated group and model group.The rats of model group received Aβ25-35 injection in concentrations of 2 μg/μL, 4 μg/μL and 8 μg/μL, respectively.According to the Rat Brain Stereotaxic Atlas, 5 μL of aggregation of Aβ25-35 was injected into the right lateral ventricle to establish the AD rat model.7 days after successful modeling, Morris water maze was used to test thechanges of learning and memory ability of the rats.Results There was no significant difference in the average swimming speed between the two groups (P > 0.05).The escape latency time of rats in the model group was significantly increasedcompared with the sham group (P < 0.05).In the model group, the escape latency time of rats treated with 4 μg/μL and 8 μg/μL Aβ25-35 was significantly increased compared with the rats injected with 2 μg/μL (P < 0.05), while there was no significant difference between rats treated with 4 μg/μL and 8 μg/μL Aβ25-35 (P > 0.05).The activity time and distance of target quadrant of the rats injected with different concentration of Aβ25-35in the model group were significantly reduced compared with the sham group (P < 0.05), but no significant difference amongthe rats treated with different Aβ25-35 concentrations (P > 0.05).Compared with the sham-operated group, the number of platform-crossing of rats injected with different doses of Aβ25-35in the model group were significantly reduced (P < 0.05).In the model group, the rats treated with 4 μg/μL and 8 μg/μL was significantly reduced compared with the group with 2 μg/μL injection (P < 0.05).There was no significant difference between the rats injected with 4 μg/μL and 8 μg/μL (P > 0.05).Conclusions The recommended dose and concentration of Aβ25-35 to be injected into the unilateral ventricle to establisha rat model of Alzheimer's disease is 4 μg/μL in a volume of 5 μL.

A new method for the determination of organic acids from mainstream cigarette smoke using ultra low temperature solvent extraction-comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry(GC×GC-TOF/MS)was established. The mainstream smoke was directly trapped by ethyl ether with ultra low temperature solvent extraction device, and cleaned up with liquid-liquid extraction. The concentrated extracts were further derived by N,O-bis(trimethylsily)trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA). The good separation of silanized product was achieved by the column set of DB-1 (30 m × 0. 25 mm, 1. 0 μm) as the 1st column and DB-wax (1. 5 m × 0. 1 mm, 0. 1 μm) as the 2nd column with modulation period of 6 s and scan range of m/z 45-450 . The results showed that linearity correlation coefficients were larger than 0 . 99 , and the average recoveries were between 80. 17% and 107. 81% with the relative standard deviations (RSD) in the range of 0 . 4%-12 . 1% ( n=5 ) . The detection limit and the quantitation limit were 1 . 3-24 . 5 μg/kg and 4. 1-77. 1 μg/kg, respectively.

OBJECTIVETo study the influence of different drying methods on the quality of Schisandrae Chinensis Fructus and thus provide useful reference for its proper drying methods.

METHODSchisandrae Chinensis Fructus was processed by eight drying methods including vacuum freeze drying, natural drying in the shade, drying in the sun, oven drying and vacuum drying under different temperature. The contents of the functional ingredients includes chisandrin, gomisin D, gomisin J, schisandrol B, angeloylgomisin H, angeloylgomisin Q, gomisin G, schisantherin A, deoxyschisandrin, schisandrin B, schisandrin C, 5-HMF, total aids and total sugars. The main components change after drying were analyzed by HPLC, ultraviolet spectrophotometry and potentiometric titration. Principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out by SPSS software to evaluate the quality of different processed products from Schisandrae Chinensis Fructus.

RESULTAll these results are in accordance with the requirements of Chinese Pharmacopoeia published in 2010, the contents of schisandrin and total eleven lignans were the highest using vacuum drying, and 5-HMF were the lower, oven drying made little difference but with lower schisandrin and higher 5-HMF as the heat increased.

CONCLUSIONDifferent drying methods have significant influence on the quality of Schisandrae Chinensis Fructus. Oven drying under 5°C should be adopted to substitute drying in the sun according to the China Pharmacopoeia published in 2010 for Schisandrae Chinensis Fructus by comprehensive analysis of the cost, content and practicality.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the expression pattern of caspase-3 and HCLS1-associated protein X-1 (HAX-1) at different time after cerebral contusion in rat, and explore the new method for estimating the injury interval. METHODS: The cerebral contusion model was established using adult SD male rats. Then the rats were randomly allocated into 8 groups: 2 h, 6 h, 12 h, 1 d, 3 d, and 7 d after cerebral contusion, sham-operation and normal control. Expression of caspase-3 and HAX-1 protein after cerebral contusion in rat was detected by Western blotting. Laser scanning confocal microscope was used to observe the number of HAX-1 positive cells and TUNEL-stained cells after cerebral contusion. RESULTS: The expression of caspase-3 increased parallelly with the time after cerebral contusion and reached the peak value on 3 d. The expression of caspase-3 decreased gradually and still maintained a high level expression on 7 d (P < 0.05). The expression of HAX-1 positive cell went up after injury, and reached the peak value at 6 h (P < 0.05), then turned down gradually after 12 h and went out of detection after 3 d. The number of TUNEL-stained cells increased obviously at 2 h and reached the peak value on 3 d. The number of TUNEL-stained apoptotic cells decreased gradually and still maintained a high level expression on 7 d (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION The expression of caspase-3 and HAX-1 after cerebral contusion has time sequential regularity, which may provide new evidence for forensic diagnosis of cerebral contusion interval.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Brain Injuries/pathology* ; Carrier Proteins/metabolism* ; Caspase 3/metabolism* ; Cerebellum/pathology* ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Based on ultra high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS), a rapid and simultaneous quantitative method for the measurement of seven components (kinsenoside; rutin; kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside; quercimeritrin; narcissin; isorhamnetin-3-O-glucoside; quercetin) of A. roxburghii was established. The separation was performed over 8.0 minutes on a Waters Acquity UPLC BEH Shield RP18 (2.1 mm × 100 mm; 1.7 μm) with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile (A) and 0.1% formic acid water solution (B) with gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.2 mL·min^-1; the column temperature was 30 ℃ and the injection volume was 2 μL. Electrospray spray ionization source (ESI source) was used for mass spectrometry, and positive and negative ion modes were detected at the same time. The results showed good linearity (R² ≥ 0.998 0), with good precision, repeatability and stability, and the average recovery was 97.71%-103.33%. Through cluster heat map and redundancy analysis, we found that kinsenoside was mainly distributed in stems, followed by leaves, and the lowest content in roots. The content of kinsenoside increased significantly in the stems of plants 6 months, but less change was evident in the roots and leaves. Flavonoids and flavonoid glycosides were mainly distributed in leaves. The UHPLC-MS/MS method established in this paper can be used for the quality control of A. roxburghii and provides a reference for establishing a more comprehensive quality detection method for this medicinal.

Nutritional support, an important measure for critical patients subject to monitoring, is widely used in clinical practice now. Nutrients have been used early in the Chinese medicine therapy. A number of Chinese medicine prescriptions show nutritional improvement and immune function enhancing effects on critical and/or postoperative patients, and some Chinese herbs are nutrient substances. Although the theoretical bases of Chinese medicine and Western medicine are different, they could work together in the clinical nutritional treatment to form a therapeutic measure with Chinese characteristics, which could promote the heritage and development of Chinese medicine. A discussion regarding the relationship between Chinese medicine drug-therapy, acupuncture and nutrition was also given.
Humans ; Integrative Medicine ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Nutrition Therapy

Antibiotics, Antineoplastic ; pharmacology ; Breast Neoplasms ; enzymology ; pathology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Doxorubicin ; pharmacology ; Drug Resistance, Multiple ; drug effects ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; drug effects ; Female ; Glucosyltransferases ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Humans ; Oligodeoxyribonucleotides, Antisense ; genetics ; RNA, Messenger ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Transfection