Objective To investigate whether leukotriene D4 (LTD4) regulates eotaxin-3 (Eot-3) expression in bronchial epithelial cells, and study effect of pranlukst on the regulation.Methods BEAS-2B cells and normal human bronchial epithelia cells were pre- treated with LTD4 for 1 hour,stimulated with interleukin-4, the cells were incubated for 24 hours. Eot-3 protein in supernatant were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). The cells were pretreated with pranlukast in different concentration, then the above procedure was repeated. Results The untreated bronchial epithelial cell expressed Eot-3 protein on a very low level. After stimulating with IL-4 and incubating for 24 hours, Eot-3 production increased significantly. Pretreating the cells with LTD4 enhanced the inducing effect of IL-4. Pranlukast inverted the upregulation of LTD4. Conclusions Upregulating the expression of Eot-3 induced by IL-4 on bronchial epithelial cells may explain partially the mechanism of leukotrienes involving airway allergic inflammation of asthma. The invertion impact on upregulation of LTD4 by pranlukast may be one of mechanisms that leukotrienes receptor antagonist cure asthma.

The contents of adenosine, gastrodin, 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, parishin and sulfur dioxide residue were compared in differently-processed Gastrodiae Rhizoma to provide the basis for a reasonable processing method of Gastrodiae Rhizoma. The analysis was performed on a Merck Purospher STAR column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 μm) with a mobile phase consisting of methanol and water (containing 0.1% formic acid) under gradient elution at a flow rate of 1.0 mL x min(-1). The eluates were detected at 270 nm, and the column temperature was 35°C. The content of adenosin, gastrodin, 4-hydroxybenzyl alcohol, 4-hydroxy-benzaldehyde and parishin in processing of boiling or sulfur-fumigated were lower than that of in processing of steaming. Furthermore, the sulfur dioxide residue of sulphur-fumigated groups exceed 400 mg x kg(-1). This stable and reliable method will contribute to the quality control of different processed Gastrodiae Rhizoma.
Drug Contamination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Gastrodia ; chemistry ; Sulfur Dioxide ; analysis ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods

Objective: To explore the patterns of Syndrome Differentiation (SD) of coronary heart disease (CHD) patients in peri-operative stage of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Methods: One week after operation, thirty-seven CHD patients, who received CABG of internal mammary artery or great saphena vein under conventional general anesthesia with low or middle temperature extracorporeal circulation were differentiated as various syndromes, with the pre- or post-operational EKG, color Doppler echocardiography were done during and after operation. The hemodynamic parameters were monitored. Results: In the CHD patients, 64.9% were differentiated as Qi-Yin deficiency, 67.6% were complicated with phlegm syndrome and 62.2% with blood stasis, suggesting that Qi-deficiency, phlegm and stasis are the basic pathogenetic factors in patients with CABG. Moreover, the peri-operative syndrome was correlated with the condition of coronary artery lesion, heart and lung functions before operation, and the extracorporeal circulation time during the operation. Conclusion: TCM SD conducting in peri-operative stage might be useful in exploring the patterns of syndrome alteration which provided a basis for preventing peri-operative complications and elevating success rate of operation.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, recurrent, and inflammatory skin disease. It usually occurs in children with a clinical manifestation of severe itching. In recent years the incidence of AD is slowly increasing, which severely impacts the physical and mental health of children. This article summarizes the epidemiology, influencing factors, and management of this diseases.
Dermatitis, Atopic ; epidemiology ; etiology ; therapy ; Humans ; Prognosis

Objective To investigate the effects of IL-12 coexpression level on antigen expression and immune responses induced by HBsAg DNA vaccination. Methods DNA vaccine plasmid pHBV carrying codon-optimized preS2-S gene of reference sequence CHN-HBV07-C in China was constructed. Three DNA vaccine plasmids pHBV-12i, pHBV-12l and pHBV-12h were also constructed by subcloning three different IL-12 expression cassettes with various expression strengths to plasmid pHBV, respectively. Expression levels of IL-12 and HBsAg in vaccine plasmid-tranfected 293T cells were measured by quantitative ELISA. DNA vaccines were administered intramuscularly to BALB/c mice and HBsAg-specific cellular immune responses were determined by IFN-γ ELISPOT. HBsAg-specific antibodies were tested by Chemiluminescence Quantitative Immunoassay. Results The HBsAg expression level in 293T cells was 70 ng/ml when transfected by plasmid pHBV without IL-12 expression cassette, and the HBsAg level was 18 ng/ml when transfected by plasmid pHBV-12l carrying low-level IL-12 expression cassette, whereas the HBsAg level was only 6 ng/ml when transfected by plasmid pHBV-12h carrying high-level IL-12 expression cassette.Results of DNA vaccination revealed that HBsAg-specific humoral and cellular immune responses were significantly decreased in mice administering vaccine pHBV-12h carrying high-level IL-12 expression cassette. Although HBsAg-specific antibody responses in mice inoculated with pHBV-12l were also decreased when compared with those in pHBV-vaccinated mice without IL-12 expression, the HBsAg-specific cellular immune responses were significantly increased. Conclusion High-level coexpression of IL-12 may suppress the expression of HBsAg, Whereas modest coexpression of IL-12 significantly enhanced the HBsAg-specific T cell responses induced by DNA vaccination. Therefore, it is so important to balance the expression between adjuvant and antigen to enhance the immune response.

Animals ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury ; drug therapy ; Liver ; drug effects ; pathology ; Mice ; Silymarin ; pharmacology ; Ursodeoxycholic Acid ; pharmacology

Administration, Sublingual ; Bacterial Vaccines ; administration & dosage ; immunology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Double-Blind Method ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; blood ; Immunoglobulin A, Secretory ; analysis ; Male ; Pseudomonas Vaccines ; Recurrence ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; immunology ; prevention & control ; Treatment Outcome

Objective To investigate the protective effect and the underlying mechanism of water soluble coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)against rotenone induced injury on PC12 cells model.Methods PC12 cells were cultured with rotenone,water-soluble CoQ1 0 was added to the culture media 3 hours prior to the rotenone incubation.We determined cell viability by CCK8;reactive oxygen species (ROS)was detected by spectrophotometer;and Bcl-2, Bax,active Caspase-3,Caspase-9 and apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF)were measured by Western blotting after 24-hour rotenone incubation.Results After the treatment by rotenone,cell viability decreased significantly (P＜0.01)and ROS level increased (P＜0.01).CoQ10 could improve PC12 cell viability (P＜0.01)and reduce the level of ROS (P＜0.01).Western blotting experiments showed that CoQ10 could reduce rotenone-induced Caspase-9 (P＜0.05),active Caspase-3 (P＜0.05)and Bax (P＜0.01)expressions,increase the expression of Bcl-2 (P＜0.01),and prevent nuclear translocation of AIF (P＜0.05).Conclusion CoQ10 has a protective effect on rotenone-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells,the mechanism of which may be through scavenging ROS in cells;decreasing caspase-9 ,active caspase-3 and Bax expressions;and increasing the expression of Bcl-2 ;and preventing AIF nuclear translocation.

Taking the genome DNA of Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis Virus (IBRV) as the template, the gG gene was amplified with PCR and cloned into the T cloning vector pMD18-T. After being identified by restriction digestion and DNA sequencing, the insert was subcloned into the expression vector pGEX-KG. Sodium docecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blot assay showed that this gene was expressed as both soluble form and inclusion body by the transformed E. coli BL21 strain (DE3). The fusion protein was purified and used as the coating antigen to develop the indirect Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Comparison between this gG-ELISA and commercial IBRV gB-ELISA Kit (IDEXX) was made in the detection of 380 cow serum samples. The results demonstrated an agreement of 92%. By using this novel gG-ELISA, 1248 cow serum samples were tested and the average positive rate of IBRV antibodies for imported cows is 21.7%, while the positive rate ranged greatly from 0.0%-41.5% for Hubei local Chinese Black and White Dairy Cows.
Animals ; Antibodies, Viral ; blood ; immunology ; Antigens, Viral ; genetics ; immunology ; Cattle ; Cloning, Molecular ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; methods ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Female ; Herpesvirus 1, Bovine ; genetics ; immunology ; Male ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Viral Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; immunology

Spiramycin (SP) belongs to the 16-member macrolide antibiotics. It contains three components,namely SP I, SP II and SP III, which differ structurally in the acylation moieties on the C3 of the lactone. The SP I component contains a hydroxyl group at C3. SP II, and SP III are formed by further acetylation or propionylation of the C3 of SP I, by the same 3-O-acyltransferase (3-O-AT) . The study focused on simplifying spiramycin components. Theoretically, disruption/deletion of the 3-O-AT gene will reduce/stop the acylation of SP I to SP II and SP III. In this study, degenerated primers were designed according to the conserved regions of 3-O-acyltransferase, MdmB and AcyA in the medicamycin and carbomycin producers of S. mycarofaciens and S. thermotolerans, respectively, and an 878bp DNA fragment was amplified from the spiramycin-producer of S. spiramyceticus F21. Blast analysis of the 878bp DNA fragment suggested that it encoded the 3-O-acyltransferase (3-0-AT, sspA) gene for spiramycin biosynthesis. The flanking regions of this 878bp DNA fragment were then amplified by single-oligonucleotide-nested PCR, and a total of 4.3 kb DNA was obtained (3457nt among the 4.3kb fragment was sequenced, and deposited in GenBank DQ642742),covering the whole putative 3-O-acyltransferase gene, sspA. The sspA was then deleted from the S. spiramyceticus F21 genome by double cross-over homologous recombination, mediated by temperature-sensitive plasmid pKC1139. A comparison was done of the components of spiramycins produced by the sspA-deleted mutant strain with that of the parent strain by HPLC analysis, which showed that sspA-deleted mutant produced SP I (72%), SP II (18%), and SP III (9.6%), whereas parent strain produced SP I (7.8%), SP II (67%), and SP III (25%), respectively, demonstrating the role of ssp A in the acylation of SP I into SP II and SP III. The ssp A-deleted mutant strain obtained in this study may be used for the production of SP I, or may serve as a good starter for the construction of spiramycin derivatives.
Acyltransferases ; genetics ; Aminoglycosides ; biosynthesis ; Gene Deletion ; Genes, Bacterial ; genetics ; Genetic Engineering ; methods ; Streptomyces ; enzymology ; genetics