Rapid involution of the thymus was induced in SD rats after administration of high-dose estradiol benzoate. The prominent histological changes observed were as follows: (1) the thymic cortex was become thinner; (2) the corticomedullary ratio was decreased; and (3) a substantial loss of cortical lymphocytes occurred. As a consequence, marked reduction in thymus weight was caused. Under electron microscope, the epithelial reticular cells (ERCs) were found, to be a heterogenous cell group. Their responses to high-dose estradiol were different from each other, and the distinctive changes observed were: (1) cell degeneration changes in some pale ERCs were observed; (2) the other pale ERCs were found to be filled with lower density vacuoles which were very similar to secretory vacuoles; and (3) the dark ERCs were inereased obviously, and many collagen fibril bundles were seen in the vicinity of their perikarya or wrapped by their cytoplasmic processes. There were no striking ultrastructural changes in thymocytes. However, the number of ANAE positive cells in the experimental group was lower than that of the controls evidently. In addition, a large number of plasma cells were observed in the cortex of the experimental group. Based on the above mentioned observations, the possible mechanism of the estradiol effect on the thymus involution was discussed.

Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Glomerulonephritis ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Humans ; Kidney Glomerulus ; pathology ; Phytotherapy ; Podocytes ; pathology

Differences in theories, application forms and evaluation standards about curative effect between traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine lead to not only question safty and effectiveness but also hinder development and internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine. Combination of common problems in traditional Chinese new drug registration with experiences in research on traditional Chinese new drugs of prevention and treatment of coronary heart disease elucidate application value about theory of disease-syndrome combination and multi-objective optimization in several ways such as the indications positioning, preparation process optimization, preclinical efficacy evaluating and clinical assessmenting of efficacy and analysis development prospect.
Animals ; Biomedical Research ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; prevention & control ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drug Discovery ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Humans

Sleep deprivation (SD) has been taken as an independent predictor for cardiovascular risks, which was closely related to the increased morbidity and mortality in coronary heart disease (CHD). In this article, after reviewing the impact of modern medical method sleep deprivation on CHD and studies on principle method recipe medicines for preventing and treating CHD, the authors observed the autonomic nerve dysfunction, hormonal metabolism dysfunction, endothelial dysfunction and inflammatory responses after sleep deprivation, which can cause or aggravate CHD. On the basis of the traditional Chinese medicine theories of "heart dominating the blood and vessels and the mind", the authors considered that traditional Chinese medicines can tonify heart and soothe the nerves, reducing all of the risk factors through multi-target and multi-pathway, and improve sleep and decrease the risk factors caused by sleep deprivation, which provides a new idea for the prevention and treatment of CHD.
Animals ; Coronary Disease ; drug therapy ; etiology ; prevention & control ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Humans ; Sleep Deprivation ; complications

P-glycoprotein (P-gp) belongs to the member of the super-family of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters. It is the 170KD glycoprotein which is the product of the MDR1 gene, located in chromosome 7q21. It is an ATP-dependent exported and oriented transporter and involved in various physiological functions as well as the transport process of many types of drugs in the body. The physiological function of P-gp is to pump the toxic metabolites out of the cell in order to reduce the accumulation of toxic products so as to protect the cells from the poison. However, in pathological condition, the drug which used to treat the disease may be pumped out of the cells by the P-gp. Therefore,the P-gp is the main cause of the multidrug resistance in clinical disease such as tumor and some neurologic diseases. The cross-resistance phenomenon is leading to poor efficacy for these diseases treatment.Panax notoginseng as the characteristic Chinese herbal medicine in Yunnan province, it has many significant effects in the treatment and prevention of many diseases such as cerebrovascular diseases. It can improve the blood hemorrheology,prevent the produce of the peroxy radical, alleviate intracellular calcium overload,treat inflammation,as well as improve the immune system function. Meanwhile, some research recently reported that it also has a considerable prospect with its multi-target and multi-channel regulation in the reversal of the MDR1 and the P-gp genes expression. This paper reviews the progress of the down-regulated expression of P-gp and MDR1 genes through different pathways, and the mechanism of Panax notoginseng and its monomer compositions on down-regulated the expression of the P-gp and MDR1 genes.

Qi in TCM is the most essential substance that makes up the body and maintains life activities. All vital substances in the body are transformed by constant motion and changes of qi. Qi in TCM mainly means full of functions. What is the basic material attribute of qi? We don't have a systematic study on it. Therefore, we combined the achievement of modern medicine, and explored further from the origin, functions, pathogeneses, and therapies of mitochondria and qi. Surprisingly, we found out that the origin of mitochondria was similar to that of qi. They are tiny substance constituting the human body. Secondly, the function of mitochondria is similar to that of qi. When the disorder of qi and mitochondria occurs, similar vital signs occur or the same reactions occur. These results suggested that the basic material attribute of qi might be mitochondria.
Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Mitochondria ; physiology ; Qi

OBJECTIVE To investigate the carbapenemase genotype of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolated from Beijing Tiantan Hospital. METHODS Twenty strains of carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii were collected from Beijing Tiantan Hospital. OXA-23,OXA-24,IMP and VIM genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA sequencing method. RESULTS All strains produced OXA-23 carbapenemases by PCR and sequencing,and OXA-24,IMP and VIM genes were not found. CONCLUSIONS OXA-23 Carbapenemase is a main type of carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii in Beijing Tiantan Hospital.

Objective:To identify potential risk factors of suicide among schizophrenic inpatients,in order to provide basis of how to prevent suicide in psychiatric inpatients.Method:A retrospective analysis among inpatients with mental disorders in Guangzhou psychiatric hospital from 1956 to 2005,the first psychiatric hospital,in China.Using a case-control design,sixty four schizophrenic inpatients(suicide group) who committed suicide in psychiatric hospital and the same number of randomly selected control subjects(control group) who had no incident of suicide were selected and their psychiatric records were compared.Results:The rate of suicide was 133.1(95% CI 103.4-62.9) per 100 000 admissions.Sixty four cases(83.1%) were diagnosed as schizophrenia,fifty nine(76.6%) were hung by themselves,and fifty two(67.5%) happened in wards.The numbers of hospitalization and the suicide attempts before and duration of hospitalization were significantly higher in suicide group than that in control group(P=0.001,0.017,0.003),and guilty thoughts,depressive mood were significantly higher in suicide group than that in control group(P=0.006,0.004).Both suicidal ideation and suicide attempts one month before and during hospitalization were significantly higher in suicide group than that in control group(P

Background Oxidative damage is a major cause of age-related cataracts,and the ubiquitinproteasome system is involved in lens differentiation and development.Ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCHL1),one of key enzymes of ubiquitin-proteasome system,was discovered to participate in the age related diseases and oxidative stress damage. Objective This study was to investigate the effects of UCHL1 on the formation and development of age-related cataract. Methods Lens capsule were collected from 24 patients with age-related cataract(including 12 cases of cortical cataract and 12 cases of nuclear cataract) during the surgery.Five normal lens capsule membranes were obtained from eye bank of Tongji University.Human lens epithelial cells (LECs) line (SRA01/04) was also collected in this study.Expression of UCHL1 in the lens epithelial layer of different samples was assayed using immunofluorescence technology.UCHL1 eukaryotic expressing vector was constructed and transfected into cultured SRA01/04 by liposome,and green fluorescent protein (GFP) eukaryotic expressing vector was transfected at the same method as the control group.UCHL1 over-expressing cells were then exposed to different concentrations (0.2,0.3,0.4 and 0.5 mol/L) of tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) for 24 hours and subsequently monitored for cell viability evaluation by MTT assay. Results Immunofluorescence showed that UCHL1 was expressed in human lens epithelial layer,but significantly different expressing levels were seen among normal lens capsular membrane,cortical cataract and nuclear cataract ( F =13.411,P =0.000),and UCHL1 expressing levels were lower in cortical cataract and nuclear cataract than the normal lens (P =0.000,P =0.000).No significant difference was found in UCHL1 expressing level between cortical cataract and nuclear cataract ( P =0.164).Western blot analysis verified that UCHL1 exhibited a stranger expression in the UCHL1 transfected group compared with the GFP transfected group,illuminating a successful transfection of UCHL1 in SRA01/04 cells.MMT assay revealed that the A570/630 value in UCHL1 transfected cells was significantly elevated in comparison with GFP transfected cells following the treatment of 0.3 mol/L TBHP. Conclusions UCHL1 has an antioxidative ability,and it might plays an important role in the progress of age-related cataract.

Objetive: To observe the reversal effects of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ? and interferon (IFN) ? on multidrug resistance (MDR) in K562 cell line resistant to adriamycin (ADR) (K562/A02). Methods: After treatment with TNF-? and IFN-? respectively, K562/A02 sensitivity to ADR was investigated using tetrazolium dye assay. MDR1 gene expression was assayed by semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immunocytochemistry staining. Intracellular ADR concentration was also observed with flow cytometry. Results: The reversal activity after treatment with TNF-? or IFN-? was found to be increased up to 6 and 5-fold respectively at 24 h, and the peak with the increase of 10 and 8-fold respectively was seen at the 48 h (both P