Nicotinic acid could increase high density lipoprotein and reduce serum total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides in human bodies, thus is frequently applied in treating low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and hypertriglyceridemia in clinic. However, according to the findings, nicotinic acid could also cause adverse effects, such as skin flush, beside its curative effects. In this study, bioisosterism, fragment-based search and Lipinski's Rule of Five were used to preliminarily screen out potential TCM ingredients that may have similar pharmacological effects with nicotinic acid from Traditional Chinese medicine database (TCMD). Afterwards, homology modeling and flexible docking were used to further screen out potential nicotinic acid receptor agonists. As a result, eleven candidate compounds were derived from eight commonly used traditional Chinese medicines. Specifically, all of the candidate compounds' interaction with nicotinic acid receptor was similar to nicotinic acid, and their docking scores were all higher than that of nicotinic acid, but their druggability remained to be further studied. Some of the eight source traditional Chinese medicines were used to lower lipid according to literature studies, implying that they may show effect through above means. In summary, this study provides basis and reference for extracting new nicotinic acid receptor agonists from traditional Chinese medicines and improving the medication status of hyperlipidemia.
Drug Evaluation, Preclinical ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Humans ; Models, Molecular ; Molecular Structure ; Nicotinic Acids ; chemistry ; Nicotinic Agonists ; chemistry ; Protein Binding ; Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled ; agonists ; chemistry ; Receptors, Nicotinic ; chemistry

In this study, based on web database, 324 neurotoxic compounds and 234 non-neurotoxic compounds were selected as a data set for neurotoxicity discriminative model. 6 122 molecular descriptors, including charge distribution, physicochemical and geometrical descriptors,were calculated to characterize the molecular structure of neurotoxic compounds. The combination of Cfs Subset Evaluation and Best First-D1-N5 searching was used to select molecular descriptors. A discrimination model with high accuracy was built based on the support vector machine (SVM) approach. Meanwhile, the model accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were all above 80%. Besides, 30 traditional Chinese medicine compositions with neurotoxicity were set as external validation to further verify the model accuracy,with anaccuracy of 73.333%. Using the model, 13 potential neurotoxic compounds were screened from Sophorae subprostrate Radix,4 of them were verified by literatures. The results demonstrated that the discrimination model can be applied to screen neurotoxic compounds from Chinese medicinal materials.
Computer Simulation ; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical ; methods ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Models, Theoretical ; Neurotoxins ; analysis ; chemistry ; Reproducibility of Results ; Support Vector Machine

On the basis of web databases, 111 compounds with nephrotoxicity and 90 compounds without nephrotoxicity were collected as data set of nephrotoxicity discrimination model, 39 compounds with tubular necrosis and 39 compounds without tubular necrosis were collected as data set of tubular necrosis discrimination model. The 6 122 molecular descriptors, including physicochemical, charge distribution and geometrical descriptors were calculated to characterize the molecular structure of the above-mentioned compounds. CfsSubsetEval valuation method and BestFirst-D1-N5 searching method were used to select molecular descriptors. Two models with high accuracy were built based on the support vector machine (SVM) approach, respectively. Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and matthew's correlation coefficient of the two models were all above 70%. By using 22 nephrotoxicity compounds of Chinese medicine, the nephrotoxicity discrimination model was further verified with an accuracy of 72.73%. Using the tubular necrosis discrimination model, 10 potential compounds which can cause tubular necrosis were screened from the positive results of nephrotoxicity discrimination model, 6 of them have been verified by literatures. The results demonstrated that the discrimination models can be applied to screen nephrotoxic compounds from Chinese medicinal materials, and they also offer a new research idea for the further studies on the mechanism of nephrotoxicity.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; toxicity ; Nephrons ; drug effects ; Support Vector Machine ; Toxicity Tests ; instrumentation ; methods

Objective To investigate the expression levels and the roles of heme oxygenase-1(HO-1) in rat kidney after interruption of blood flow and the following ischemia-reperfusion(IR)injury.Methods Rats were divided into 3 groups: interruptions(5,15,30 min),IR group(2,5,8,24,48,72 h),and control group.They were killed at different time points.Kidney tissue samples were studied by immuneohistochemical method.Results The expressions of HO-1 raised significantly in both ischemia group of 30 min((P

Objective To illustrate the expressional distribution of heat shock protein 70(HSP 70) in the kidney of acute renal injury rats caused by gentamicin.Methods One hundred and fifty rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: group A (normal group), group B [80 mg/(kg?d) gentamicin to be injected], group C [160 mg/(kg?d) gentamicin to be given]. The variations of renal pathology were observed at different time phasess by light scope and electromicroscope. Simultaneously, the expression of HSP 70 in kidney was evaluated by immunohistochemistry.Results HSP 70 distributed in epithelial cells of renal tubular in acute injury rats. The expression of HSP 70 increased markedly from the 6th hour after injection, peaked at the 12th hour and lasted for 48 hours. The expression of HSP 70 in group C was higher than that in group B(P

Equipment Design ; Facial Injuries ; therapy ; First Aid ; instrumentation

Objective To evaluate left ventricular(LV) systolic synchrony and sequence in patients with premature ventricular complexes(PVCs) from right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT).Methods Thirty patients with frequent isolated PVCs from RVOT and 30 healthy subjects as control were included.Speckle tracking imaging (STI) was performed to assess the time-to-peak segmental systolic strain in longit udinal(TsL), circumferential (TsC) and radial (TsR) direction.The standard deviation (SD) of TsL,TsC and TsR of 18 LV segments were calculated respectively.All values of patients with PVCs were recorded during sinus beats(PVC-S) and PVC beats(PVC-V) respectively.LV systolic sequence in PVC-V was analyzed.Results Significant differences were observed in the SD values between the PVC-V and control subjects in three directions,as well as between the PVC-S and control subjects in circumferential and radial direction.In PVC-V significance difference was seen in TsL and TsR from apical to basal level,as well as in TsL and TsC in different walls.Conclusions LV systolic synchrony was demonstrated in patients with PVCs from RVOT during both sinus beats and PVC beats.Systolic sequence in PVC beats from RVOT exhibit certain rules.

AIM: To assess the relative agreement of GAT and NCT in IOP measurement by comparing the differences between Goldmann applanation tonometer (GAT) and non-contact tonometer (NCT) in intraocular pressure (IOP) detection.METHODS: IOP of 529 eyes of 265 volunteers were measured with both NCT and GAT, respectively.RESULTS: The measurement results of NCT were lower than that of GAT, there was significant difference between the IOP measured with NCT and GAT (19.13 vs23.43, t=22.644, P＜0.05). With the increasing of IOP values, the difference magnitude was greater, especially in IOP group that was more than 30mmHg, but the correlation coefficient became lower.CONCLUSION: The measurement results with NCT are lower than that of GAT. When the IOP with the NCT is in borderline value, it need be corrected with GAT, in order to discover the pathologically elevated IOP and avoid the misdiagnosis and mistreatment of glaucoma.

Objective To study expressions of heme oxygenase-1 mRNA and protein in rat hippocampus after hypoxic-ischemia brain damage(HIBD) as well as the relationship with apoptosis in brain.Methods Seven-day-old SD rats were randomly divided into hypoxic-ischemia brain damage group and sham control group.Expressions of HO-1 protein and mRNA as welll as the relationship with apoptosis after HIBD in neonatal rat were determined by immunohisochemistry and in situs hybridizaion as well as terminal deoxynucleotidy transferase mediated UTP-biotin nick end labeling(TUNEL).Results 1.In the right hippocampus,expression of HO-1 gene increased sharply at 4 h (P

Objective To investigate the correlation between ankle-brachial index and ultrasonography in lower ex- tremities vascular in type 2 diabetic patients.Methods 218 type 2 diabetic patients were enrolled,and ankle-brachial index(ABI)measurements and uhrasonography in lower extremities vascular were performed in all patients.Lower extremi- ties vascular disease(LEVD)were divided into six species according to the uhrasonography results and scored in accord- ante with its serious degree,then investigate the correlation between ABI and uhrasonography results score.All patients were divided into deferent groups according to uhrasonography results and ABI range,and then compared their deference. Results The lower the ABI,the more serious of the LEVD showed by ultrasonography.ABI and ultrasonic inspection score was significantly negatively correlated(r=-0.65,P