OBJECTIVETo study the effect of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) against lactacystin induced PC12 cell injury.

METHODSThe inoculated rat PC12 cells were cultured for 24 h, followed by intervention. The cells were divided into 5 groups, i.e., the normal control group, 10 micromol/L lactacystin injury group, and the EGCG pretreated groups (at the final concentration of 5, 10, and 50 micromol/L, respectively). The cytoactive was detected by MTT colorimetry. Morphological changes of the cell nucleus were observed by Hoechst 33,258 staining, and the apoptosis ratio was detected by flow cytometry (FCM).

RESULTSEGCG at different doses showed protective effect on lactacystin-induced PC12 cell injury. Compared with the lactacystin injury group [(61.22 +/- 1.02)%], the cytoactive in EGCG pretreated groups at the final concentration of 5, 10, and 50 micromol/L, respectively increased obviously to (66.99 +/- 1.30)%, (66.67 +/- 0.65)%, and (73.4 +/- 0.67)%, respectively. Hoechst 33 258 staining found that more nuclear pyknosis and aggregation occurred in the lactacystin injury group, but less occurred in EGCG pretreated groups. FCM indicated that the apoptosis ratio was reduced by EGCG pretreatment. It was 3.0%, 60.4%, 59.8%, 57.5%, and 38.6%, respectively in the normal control group, the lactacystin injury group, and EGCG pretreated groups (at the final concentration of 5, 10, and 50 micromol/L, respectively).

CONCLUSIONEGCG could attenuate lactacystin induced PC 12 cell injury.

Acetylcysteine ; adverse effects ; analogs & derivatives ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Catechin ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Flow Cytometry ; PC12 Cells ; Rats

OBJECTIVETo investigate the etiology of 1977 patients from northern China with acute (ALF), sub-acute (SALF) or acute-on-chronic liver (ACLF) failures.

METHODThe age, gender, etiology, pathogenesis, and prognosis of the 1977 patients with liver failures were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTSOf the 1977 cases, the three most common causes of ALF were HEV (33.96%) or HBV (13.21%) infections or those caused by medicines (9.43%). The three predominant causes of SALF were medicines (31.53%), HEV (16.22%) or HBV (9.91%) infections, but those of the ACLF were HBV (90.29%) infection, alcoholic hepatopathy (2.65%), and HBV super infected with HEV (2.26%) infections. 90.09% (1781) patients were infected by hepatotropic viruses. Of these 1781 patients, the most common cause of their liver failures was HBV infection (92.93%). In these HBV infected patients, 77.10% were from 26 to 55 years old. From 2005 to 2007, there were 39 patients with alcoholic liver failure. In the past two years, there were 23 patients with drug induced liver failure. The improvement rate of the 1977 patients after their treatments was 35.56%. The improvement rate of HEV infected liver failure was higher than drug induced liver failure (P less than 0.05); no statistical significance was found between other groups (P more than 0.05).

CONCLUSIONDifferent types of liver failure have different predominant causes. HBV infection is the most common cause in our 1977 patients. In the past two years, the number of drug induced liver failures and alcoholic liver failures have been increasing.

Acute Disease ; Adult ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury, Chronic ; etiology ; Chronic Disease ; Female ; Hepatitis B ; complications ; Hepatitis E ; complications ; Humans ; Liver Diseases, Alcoholic ; etiology ; Liver Failure ; chemically induced ; classification ; etiology ; virology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effects of puerarin with aspirin on the markers of damaged vascular endothelial cells, as von Willebrand factor (vWF), and thrombomodulin (TM) in patients with acute cerebral infarction (ACI).

METHODForty-five patients with ACI were included in this study and divided into basic treatment and puerarin groups, meanwhile 26 healthy persons selected as control group. The serum vWF and sTM concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) and national institute health stroke scale (NIHSS) score was evaluated at admission and 14 days later after treatment.

RESULTThe level of serum vWF significantly increased in patients with ACI compared to control and major stroke had higher vWF level than minor stroke (P < 0.01), but the serum level of sTM had no obviously differences respectively. Correlation analysis showed that there is a positive correlation between the level of vWF and NIHSS score (P < 0.05, r = 0.368), while the significant correlations between the level of vWF and sTM, sTM and NIHSS score were not observed. After 14 days treatment, the level of serum vWF and NIHSS score were obviously decreased in patients treated with puerarin and aspirin, not in basic treated patients. The level of sTM was increased in patients after 14 d, while puerarin treated patient has lower sTM level than patients with basic treatment (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONPatients with ACI cotreated with puerarin and aspirin improved the neurological function, decreased the levels of serum vWF and sTM, indicating puerarin with aspirin had the protective effects on the damaged vascular endothelial cells.

Acute Disease ; Aged ; Aspirin ; administration & dosage ; Cerebral Infarction ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Endothelial Cells ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Female ; Humans ; Isoflavones ; adverse effects ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Thrombomodulin ; metabolism ; von Willebrand Factor ; metabolism

A phytochemical investigation on the stems of Garcinia bracteata collected from Xishuangbanna resulted in the isolation of a new flavone. By analysis of the HRESIMS, IR, UV, 1D and 2D NMR spectra, the structure of the new compound was determined as 7-methoxy-4',6-dihydroxy-8-isobutyryl-flavone(1). Compound 1 was also tested for its anti-tobacco mosaic virus(TMV) activity. Results suggested the 1 possessed remarkable anti-TMV activity, with an inhibition rate of 28.2%.
Antiviral Agents ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Flavones ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Garcinia ; chemistry ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; Tobacco Mosaic Virus ; drug effects ; growth & development

OBJECTIVETo study the combined damage-effects of low-intensity 2,450 MHz microwave (MW) with three chemical mutagens on human lymphocyte DNA.

METHODSDNA damage of lymphocytes exposed to microwave and(or) with chemical mutagens were observed at different incubation time (0 h or 21 h) with comet assay in vitro. Three combination-exposure ways of MW with chemicals were used: MW irradiation before chemical exposures, simultaneously exposed to MW and chemicals and MW irradiation after chemical exposures. The three chemical mutagens were mitomycin C (MMC, DNA crosslinker), bleomycin (BLM, radiometric agent), methyl methanesulfonate (MMS, alkylating agent). The exposure time of MW and chemical mutagens were 2 h and 3 h respectively.

RESULTSThe differences of comet tail length between MW group and control group were not significant when lymphocytes were incubated for 0 h or 21 h (P > 0.05). However, when lymphocytes were incubated for 21 h with 30.00 micro mol/L of MMC, the comet tail lengths of MW + MMC group, MW-MMC group and MMC + MW group were (18.00 +/- 5.96), (21.79 +/- 11.47) and (22.32 +/- 8.10) micro m respectively; while with 3.00 micro mol/L of MMC, the comet tail lengths were (8.99 +/- 3.75), (12.40 +/- 5.35) and (14.00 +/- 5.38) micro m respectively, which were significantly higher than those of corresponding MMC groups [(9.42 +/- 3.34) and (6.50 +/- 2.89) micro m, P < 0.01 or P < 0.05]. The DNA damage of MW plus BLM groups and MW plus MMS groups were not significantly different from the corresponding BLM and MMS groups (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION2 450 MHz MW (5 mW/cm(2)) did not induce DNA damage directly, but could enhance the DNA damage effects induced by MMC. The synergistic effects of 2 450 MHz MW with BLM and MMS were not obvious.

Bleomycin ; pharmacology ; Comet Assay ; DNA ; drug effects ; genetics ; radiation effects ; DNA Damage ; Humans ; Lymphocytes ; drug effects ; metabolism ; radiation effects ; Methyl Methanesulfonate ; pharmacology ; Microwaves ; adverse effects ; Mitomycin ; pharmacology ; Mutagens ; pharmacology ; Time Factors

A new phenylpropanoid (1), together with seven known ones (2-8), has been isolated from the flowers of Rosa rugosa collected from Shanxi province by using various chromatographic techniques. Compound 1 is a new compound, and it displayed cytotoxicity against NB4, SH-SY5Y, PC3, A549 and MCF7 cell lines with IC₅₀ values of 8.2, 6.2, 4.3, 2.8, and 9.6 µmol · L⁻¹ respectively.
Cell Line ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Flowers ; chemistry ; Humans ; Molecular Structure ; Phenylethyl Alcohol ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Rosa ; chemistry ; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization

To prepare the derivatives of salicylic acid-g-chitosan and study their synergistic and complementary actions, the synergism of anti-inflammatory action of the derivatives was investigated with the experiments of xylene-induces mice ear edema, the analgesic activities by the tartaric emetic-induced mice twist test and the hot-plate test, and the complementary effects between salicylic acid and chitosan through morphological changes of stomach mucous membrane of rat, separately. The anti-inflammatory activities of salicylic acid-g-chitosan derivatives for anti-inflammatory activities were more potent than that of salicylic acid and chitosan and dexamethasone cream in external use, and more potent than that of aspirin orally. However, immediate analgesic activity of the derivatives was lower than that of aspirin and persistent activity was similar as that of aspirin. And the stomach mucous membrane morphology change of the derivatives was much milder than that of aspirin. The salicylic acid grafted chitosan derivatives showed synergistic and complementary effect on the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities and so on.
Analgesics ; adverse effects ; chemical synthesis ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; adverse effects ; chemical synthesis ; pharmacology ; Chitosan ; adverse effects ; analogs & derivatives ; chemical synthesis ; pharmacology ; Drug Synergism ; Edema ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Female ; Gastric Mucosa ; drug effects ; Male ; Mice ; Pain Measurement ; Pain Threshold ; drug effects ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Salicylates ; adverse effects ; chemical synthesis ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of low-dose chlorpyrifos (CPF) exposure on dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the midbrain substantia nigra and neural behavioral development in neonatal rats.

METHODSPostnatal 11 day old Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned into CPF, menstruum dimethysulfoxide (DMSO) and normal saline (NS) groups. The rats in the CPF group were injected with low-dose CPF (5 mg/kg?d) on postnatal days 11-14. The two control groups were injected with DMSO or NS respectively. The rats were sacrificed on postnatal days 15, 20, 30, and 60. Body weight gain, outward appearance of brain tissue, the coefficient of brain and the water content of brain tissue were measured. Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) expression in DA neurons in the midbrain substantial nigra was examined by immunohistochemical straining. Immune electron microscopy was used to examine the subcellular structure of DA neurons. Open field test, grip strength test, slope test and Morris water maze test were used to examine the neurobehavioral changes.

RESULTSThe outward appearance of brain tissue was normal in the three groups. There were no significant differences in the absolute value of body weight gain, the coefficient of brain and the water content of brain tissue among the three groups. CPF exposure decreased the level of TH immunoreactivity (P<0.05) in the substantia nigra of CPF group since postnatal day 30 compared with the DMSO and NS groups. The subcellular structures of some DA neurons in the CPF group were impaired. Decreased motor activity and learning and memory impairments were observed in the CPF group compared with those in the DMSO and NS groups (P<0.05) since postnatal day 30.

CONCLUSIONSCPF exposure during the neonatal period can cause long-term motor activity and learning and memory impairments in accompany with DA neurons damage in the midbrain substantia nigra.

Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Behavior, Animal ; drug effects ; Chlorpyrifos ; toxicity ; Dopaminergic Neurons ; drug effects ; Female ; Insecticides ; toxicity ; Learning ; drug effects ; Male ; Motor Activity ; drug effects ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Substantia Nigra ; drug effects

The ubiquitin-proteasome pathway is the principal mechanism for the degradation of short-lived proteins in eukaryotic cells. Recently, proteasome inhibitors have been shown to induce apoptosis in many kinds of human malignant cells. In this study, the mechanism of apoptosis induced by proteasome inhibitor in leukemic cells was examined. Evaluated by MTT assay, treatment of leukemic cells with Z-LLL-CHO, a reversible proteasome inhibitor, induced cell death in a dose-dependent manner. Appearance of the sub G(0)/G(1) fraction of cell cycle observed in flow cytometry assay suggested the induction of apoptosis, which was further proved by typical DNA ladder and morphological study. Western blot displayed the cleavage of bcl-2 into a shortened 22 kD fragment and the decrease in the levels of caspase-3 precursor. A highly sensitive colorimetric assay was employed and the elevation of caspase-3 activity was detected in both cell lines after treatment with Z-LLL-CHO. By comparison, these results showed that the leukemic cell line M-07e and KG-1a, which both express bcl-2 at a relative high level, had different susceptibility to undergo apoptosis induced by Z-LLL-CHO, which possibly due to their different levels of expression and activation of caspase-3 precursor, as well as their different degree of bcl-2 cleavage after treated by Z-LLL-CHO.

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of recombinant human epithelial growth factor (rhEGF) in promoting the healing of cervical erosion.

METHODSForty-eight patients with cervical erosion were treated with rhEGF and 30 with 500 kHz high-frequency electromagnetic wave, and the effects of the therapies were compared in terms of healing of the cervical wound, healing time, volume of vaginal discharge and bleeding and the lasting time.

RESULTSIn comparison with radiofrequency therapy, the healing of the lesion took significantly shorter time with rhEGF therapy, which also resulted in less vaginal discharge that lasted for shorter time without causing vaginal bleeding.

CONCLUSIONrhEGF can obviously accelerate the healing of cervical erosion.

Adult ; Electromagnetic Phenomena ; Epidermal Growth Factor ; genetics ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Recombinant Proteins ; therapeutic use ; Treatment Outcome ; Uterine Cervical Erosion ; drug therapy ; pathology ; therapy ; Wound Healing ; drug effects