Objective To study the pharmacokinetic features of silibinin from Jiqi Injection(JI) in Beagle dogs,and to observe the effect of Panax notoginseng saponins,another active component in JI,on pharmacokinetics of silibinin. Methods The Beagle dogs received intravenous injection of JI and silibinin,and then its plasma sample was collected in different time. The plasma samples of Beagle were prepared by hydrolysis with sulfatase-? glucuronidase complex enzyme and liquid-liquid extraction with aether. A high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed to determine the plasma concentration of silibinin,and the pharmacokinetic parameters were performed by BAPP2.3 program. Results The pharmacokinetics of two tested preparations met with two-compartment model. There were not significant differences between pharmacokinetic parameters of JI and that of Silibinin Injection. Conclusion The silibinin in Jiqi Injection has a fast in-vivo clearance rate after intravenous injection,and Panax notoginseng saponins have no effect on its pharmacokinetic parameters.

Objective To understand the incidence and clinical characteristics of scabies-associated glomerulonephritis and to investigate its pathogenesis.Methods The patients with scabies from Qijiang District People's Hospital.were collected from the outpatient department and divided into the simple scabies group (A) and glomerulonephritis group (B) according to whether complicating glomerulonephritis.The general clinical indicators and serum C-reactive protein(CRP),complement components C3 and C4,immunoglobulin,TNF-α,IL-6,IL-1β and IL-18 in the early stage of the disease were determined and compared between the two groups.The differences of above indicators were collected and compared between before and after clinical cure in the patients with scabies-associated glomerulonephritis.Results Among 376 cases of scabies,16 cases developed glomerulonephritis.The clinical manifestations included glomerular hematuria and/or mild-moderate proteinuria.The kidney injury manifestations in 12 cases were completely disappeared at 2-6 months after scabies cure.The levels of serum CRP,IgG,TNF-α,IL-6,and IL-18 in the group B were significantly increased and the serum C3 level was significantly decreased compared with the group A,the differences were statistically significant(P＜0.05).The levels of serum IgG,hs-CRP,TNF-α,IL-6 and IL-18 after cure in 12 cases of clinically cured scabies-associated glomerulonephritis were significantly decreased and the serum C3 level was significantly increased,and the difference was statistically significant compared with the early onset stage(P＜0.05).Conclusion The majority of prognosis in scabies-associated glomerulonephritis is good.Its occurrence is closely correlated with immune and inflammatory reactions induced by sarcoptes mites irffection.

OBJECTIVE Toexploretheantidepressanteffectsofalbiflorinandtheinvolvementof hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis function in its antidepressant potency.METHODS Two weeks after the olfactory bulbectomized (OB)surgery,albiflorin (2.5 ,5.0 ,10.0 mg·kg -1 ,ig) and imipramine 5.0 mg·kg -1 (ig)were given to rats twice a day for 14 d.The open-field test was con-ducted to evaluate the move ment distance,move ment ti me and velocity of olfactory bulbecto mized rats and sham-operated rats.The serum levels of corticosterone(CORT)and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)in rats were measured by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.The expression levels of glucocorticoids receptor (GR)in the hippocampus of the rats were analyzed using Western blot proce-dures.RESULTS Comparedwithsham-operatedrats,movementdistance,movementtimeandveloci-ty of the OB rats were significantly increased (P<0.01 ).Albiflorin 1 0.0 mg·kg -1 significantly reduced the movement distance,movement time and velocity of OB rats (P<0.05)after being given for 7 d. The movement properties were significantly reduced by albiflorin 5.0 and 10.0 mg·kg -1 when given for 14 d (P<0.05).The OB rats demonstrated significantly increased levels of serum CORT and ACTH (P<0.01 )and decreased GR expression in the hippocampus (P<0.01 ).Albiflorin 2.5,5.0 and 10.0 mg·kg -1 significantly reduced the serum CORT and ACTH levels (P<0.05),while albiflorin 5.0 and10.0mg·kg-1increasedtheexpressionofhippocampalGR(P<0.05).CONCLUSION Albiflorin may have re markable behavioral antidepressant effects on olfactory rats and one of the related mecha-nis ms may be its regulation of the hyperactivity of HPA axis function.

This study examined the current changes of human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) mutation derived from a LQT2 Chinese family with a highly penetrating phenotype. Mutation was identified and site-directed mutagenesis was performed to induce the mutation in wild-type (WT) hERG. WT hERG and mutated V535M were cloned and transiently expressed in HEK293 cells. At the 48th and 72nd h after transfection, membrane currents were recorded using whole cell patch-clamp procedures. An A>G transition at 1605 resulting in replacement of V535M was identified. Compared to WT, V535M mutation significantly decreased tail currents of hERG. At test potential of -40 mV after depolarizing at +50 mV, tail current densities were 83.35±7.06 pA/pF in WT and 50.38±7.74 pA/pF in V535M respectively (n=20, P<0.01). Gating kinetics of hERG revealed that V (1/2) of steady-state inactivation shifted to negative potential in the mutant (V (1/2,V535M): -61.81±1.7 mV vs. V (1/2, WT): -43.1±0.71 mV). The time constant of recovery from inactivation was markedly prolonged in the mutant compared to WT among test potentials. V535M hERG mutation demonstrated markedly decreased tail current densities, which suggests that V535M is a new loss-of-function mutation of hERG channel responsible for LQT2.

Objective Previous studies showed that hypoxia preconditioning could protect cardiac function against subsequent myo-cardial infarction injury. However, the effect of hypoxia on left ventricular after myocardial infarction is still unclear. This study therefore aims to investigate the effects of hypoxia training on left ventricular remodeling in rabbits post myocardial infarction. Methods Adult male rabbits were randomly divided into three groups: group SO (sham operated), group MI (myocardial infarc-tion only) and group MI-HT (myocardial infarction plus hypoxia training). Myocardial infarction was induced by left ventricular branch ligation. Hypoxia training was performed in a hypobaric chamber (having equivalent condition at an altitude of 4000 m, FiO214.9%) for 1 h/day, 5 days/week for four weeks. At the endpoints, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the plasma was measured. Infarct size and capillary density were detected by histology. Left ventricular remodeling and function were as-sessed by echocardiography.Results After the 4-week experiment, compared with the group SO, plasma VEGF levels in groups MI (130.27 ± 18.58 pg/mL,P< 0.01) and MI-HT (181.93 ± 20.29 pg/mL,P< 0.01) were significantly increased. Infarct size in Group MI-HT (29.67% ± 7.73%) was deceased remarkably, while its capillary density (816.0 ± 122.2/mm2) was significantly increased. For both groups MI and MI-HT, left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic dimensions were increased whereas left ventricular ejection fraction was decreased. However, compared with group MI, group MI-HT diminished left ventricular end-diastolic (15.86 ± 1.09 mm,P< 0.05) and end-systolic dimensions (12.10 ± 1.20 mm,P< 0.01) significantly and im-proved left ventricular ejection fraction (54.39 ± 12.74 mm,P< 0.05).ConclusionHypoxia training may improve left ven-tricular function and reduce remodeling via angiogenesis in rabbits with MI.

Objectives This study aimed at investigating the cellular mechanism of isoproterenol (ISO) on delayed afterdepolarizations (DADs) and triggered activity (TA) of the noninfarcted myocardium in the myocardial infarcted rabbit model.Methods Rabbits with the left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion were prepared and recovered for 8 wk (healed myocardial infarction, HMI). Myocytes were isolated from regions of the noninfarcted left ventricular free wall. ISO was added to cellular surface by perfusion way. Action potentials and ion currents were recorded with whole-cell patch clamp. Results The results showed that treatment with ISO induced more DADs and TA events in HMI myocytes. Iti and ICa-L of myocytes treated with ISO were increased significantly compared with HMI cells, which contributed to DADs-related triggered arrhythmia. Conclusions The results suggested that more arrhythmia events of DADs and TA developed in myocytes with ISO treatment. The underlying mechanism was associated with the augment of Iu and calcium influxing.

Aim To investigate the protective effect of astragaloside IV (AS-Ⅳ) on human retinal pigment epithelium injury induced by methylglyoxal (MGO), and explore its molecular mechanism.Methods The injury of ARPE-19 cells was induced by MGO and the cell viability was measured by CCK-8 method.The morphology of cell nucleus was analyzed by Hoechst 33342 staining and the cell apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry to detect labbled Annexin V-FITC/PI.JC-1 staining and fluorescence probe DCFH-DA were employed to evaluate the change of mitochondrial membrane potential and reactive oxygen species (ROS).The levels of SOD, MDA, caspase-9 and caspase-3 were determined by respective kits.Western blot was used to analyse the expression of Bcl-2, Bax and PARP.Results AS-Ⅳ could significantly inhibit the decrease of cell viability induced by MGO, improve the morphology of cell nucleus, reduce the ARPE-19 cell apoptosis rate and the level of ROS and MDA, and increase the activity of SOD.Furthermore, AS-Ⅳ could enhance mitochondrial membrane potential, the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax and the expression of PARP, and inhibit the activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3.Conclusion AS-Ⅳ may protect ARPE-19 cells from the injury induced by MGO by increasing the antioxidant ability of ARPE-19 cells and inhibiting cell apoptosis.

This article reports the investigation of the effect of carvedilol (Car) on T-type calcium current (I(Ca,T)) of noninfarcted ventricular myocytes in rabbit models of healed myocardial infarction (HMI). Rabbits with left anterior descending artery ligation were prepared and allowed to recover for 8 weeks, as HMI group. Animals undergoing an identical surgical procedure without coronary ligation were served as the sham-operated group (sham group). Whole cell voltage-clamp techniques were used to measure and compare currents in cells from the different groups. Noting that I(Ca,T) density in HMI cells increased markedly to -2.36 +/- 0.12 pA/pF (at -30 mV) compared with cells of sham, where little I(Ca,T) (-0.35 +/- 0.02 pA/pF) was observed. Meanwhile, further analysis revealed a significant hyperpolarizing shift of steady-state activation curve of I(Ca,T) in HMI cells, where the time constants of deactivation were prolonged and the time of recovery from inactivation was shortened. Finally, the amplitude of I(Ca,T) was increased. Carvedilol (1 micromol x L(-1)) was found to decrease the amplitude of I(Ca,T) to -1.38 +/- 0.07 pA/pF through inhibiting process of I(Ca,T) activation. Furthermore, carvedilol delayed recovery from inactivation of I(Ca,T) and shortened the time constants of deactivation in HMI cells. This study suggested that the application of carvedilol in HMI cells contributes to the dynamic changes in I(Ca,T) and may account for reduction of incidence of arrhythmia after myocardial infarction.

This study examined the current changes of human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) mutation derived from a LQT2 Chinese family with a highly penetrating phenotype.Mutation was identified and site-directed mutagenesis was performed to induce the mutation in wild-type (WT) hERG.WT　hERG and mutated V535M were cloned and transiently expressed in HEK293 cells.At the 48th and 72nd h after transfection,membrane currents were recorded using whole cell patch-clamp procedures.An A＞G transition at 1605 resulting in replacement of V535M was identified.Compared to WT,V535M mutation significantly decreased tail currents of hERG.At test potential of-40 mV after depolarizing at +50 mV,tail current densities were 83.35±7.06 pA/pF in WT and 50.38±7.74 pA/pF in V535M respectively (n=20,P＜0.01).Gating kinetics of hERG revealed that V1/2 of steady-state inactivation shifted to negative potential in the mutant (V1/2,V535M:-61.81±1.7 mV vs.V1/2,WT:-43.1±0.71mV).The time constant of recovery from inactivation was markedly prolonged in the mutant compared to WT among test potentials.V535M hERG mutation demonstrated markedly decreased tail current densities,which suggests that V535M is a new loss-of-function mutation of bERG channel responsible for LQT2.

OBJECTIVETo study the relationship between mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations and hypertension.

METHODSClinical data of two pedigrees with maternally transmitted hypertension was collected. Whole mtDNA sequence was analyzed.

RESULTSThe family members on the maternal side presented with various levels of hypertension, with the onset age ranging from 44 to 55 years old. Analysis of the mtDNA sequence of the two families members showed all patients have carried a matrilineal 4329C> G mutation of the tRNA(Ile) and tRNA(Gln) genes. The same mutation was not found in 366 healthy controls. The 4329C site of mtDNA is highly conserved across species, and has been associated with the fidelity of amino acid accept arm of the tRNAs, as well as functionality and stability in the formation of tRNAs.

CONCLUSIONThe 4329C> G point mutation in tRNA(Ile) and tRNA(Gln) probably has contributed to the pathogenesis of hypertension, possibly in association with other modifying factors.

Adult ; Base Sequence ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; DNA, Mitochondrial ; chemistry ; genetics ; Family Health ; Female ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; genetics ; Humans ; Hypertension ; genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Pedigree ; Point Mutation ; RNA, Transfer, Gln ; genetics ; RNA, Transfer, Ile ; genetics ; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid