For natural products are one of the important sources for drug discovery, libraries and databases of natural products are significant for the development and research of natural products. At present, most of compound libraries at abroad are synthetic or combinatorial synthetic molecules, resulting to access natural products difficult; for information of natural products are scattered with different standards, it is difficult to construct convenient, comprehensive and large-scale databases for natural products. This paper reviewed the status of current accessing libraries and databases for natural products at abroad and provided some important information for the development of libraries and database for natural products.
Animals ; Biological Products ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Databases, Factual ; Drug Design ; Humans ; Internet

The development of the genetic transformation systems in extremely halophilic Archaea was reviewed in this paper. Included are the screening of selectable markers for resistance to antibiotics, the development of gene cloning and expression vectors, and the modifications of the host organisms.
Archaea ; genetics ; Cloning, Molecular ; Genetic Vectors ; Transformation, Genetic

Background The construction of tissue-engineered corneal endothelium needs the functional seeding cells,so how to culture a large amount of functional corneal endothelial cells (CECs) is an urgent problem to be solved.Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of aqueous humor on bovine CECs in vitro.Methods Aqueous humor of 1.2 ml was collected from the anterior chamber of bovine and sterilized,and the liquid supernatant was obtained.The bovine CECs were isolated from bovine cornea and then cultured in low glucose Dulbecco Modified Eagle Medium with 10％ fetal bovine serum (FBS) in vitro.Aqueous humor was added into the medium with the final concentration of 2.5％,5.0％,l0.0％,15.0％ and 20.0％,respectively,and no aqueous humor was added in the control group.Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was used to detect the absorbency value of CECs for the evaluation of cell proliferation.Progression of the cell cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry (FCM).After confluence of the cells was reached,1 ml plastic spear tip was used to scratch the cell single layer,and the cells were incubated consequently in medium with 10％ FBS and with or without aqueous humor for 24 hours.Healing area of the cell single layer was measured.The cells were incubated at a density of 6 × 105 cells/ml and cultured using medium with or without 10.0％ aqueous human for 5 days,and the number of the cells was analyzed by DAPI fluorescence technique.Results Under the phase-contrast microscopy,the confluent CECs showed a slabstone-like and hexagonal appearance.CCK-8 assay revealed that the absorbance values of CECs was significantly different among the various culture groups (F=4.051,P =0.007),and the absorbance value in different concentrations of aqueous human culture groups was significantly higher than that in the control group (P ＜ 0.01).FCM showed that the percentage of the cells in S-G2 phases was (34.80-±3.13)％ in the 10.0％ aqueous humors group and (23.06±1.13)％ in the control group,showing a significant difference (t =-5.729,P=0.005).The scratch test showed that the healing area of the cell signal layer was (0.116±0.019) mm2 in the 10.0％ aqueous humors group and (0.358 ±0.049) mm2 in the control group,showing a significant difference (t =13.842,P =0.000).The density of cells in the 10.0％ aqueous humor group was (1439± 1 10)/field,which was more than (1162±45)/field in the control group (t =-11.020,P=0.000).Conclusions Aqueous humor at the concentration of 10.0％ promote the growth and proliferation of bovine CECs.The result suggests that 10.0％ aqueous humor can be used as a promoting agent during the culture of CECs.

The metabolic characteristics of ligustrazin (TMPz) in liver microsomes were investigated in the present study. The reaction phenotyping of TMPz metabolism was also identified by in vitro assessment using recombinant human cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP) and UDP glucuronosyltransferases (UGT). TMPz was incubated at 37 degrees C with human (HLM) and rat liver microsomes (RLM) in the presence of different co-factors. The metabolic stability and enzyme kinetics of TMPz were studied by determining its remaining concentrations with a LC-MS/MS method. TMPz was only metabolically eliminated in the microsomes with NADPH or NADPH+UDPGA. In the HLM and RLM with NADPH+UDPGA, t1/2, K(m) and V(max) of TMPz were 94.24 +/- 4.53 and 105.07 +/- 9.44 min, 22.74 +/- 1.89 and 33.09 +/- 2.74 micromol x L(-1), 253.50 +/- 10.06 and 190.40 +/- 8.35 nmol x min(-1) x mg(-1) (protein), respectively. TMPz showed a slightly higher metabolic rate in HLM than that in RLM. Its primary oxidative metabolites, 2-hydroxymethyl-3, 5, 6-trimethylpyrazine (HTMP), could undergo glucuronide conjugation. The CYP reaction phenotyping of TMPz metabolism was identified using a panel of recombinant CYP isoforms (rCYP) and specific CYP inhibitors in HLM. CYP1A2, 2C9 and 3A4 were found to be the major CYP isoforms involved in TMPz metabolism. Their individual contributions were assessed b) using the method of the total normalized rate to be 19.32%, 27.79% and 52.90%, respectively. It was observed that these CYP isoforms mediated the formation of HTMP in rCYP incubation. The UGT reaction phenotyping of HTMP glucuronidation was also investigated preliminarily by using a panel of 6 UGT isoforms (rUGT). UGT1A1, 1A4 and 1A6 were the predominant isoforms mediated the HTMP glucuronidation. The results above indicate that the metabolism of TMPz involves multiple enzymes mediated phase I and phase II reactions.
Animals ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A2 ; metabolism ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP2C9 ; metabolism ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A ; metabolism ; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme Inhibitors ; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System ; metabolism ; Drug Interactions ; Glucuronosyltransferase ; metabolism ; Humans ; Ligusticum ; chemistry ; Microsomes, Liver ; enzymology ; NADP ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Pyrazines ; metabolism ; pharmacokinetics ; Rats ; Uridine Diphosphate Glucuronic Acid ; metabolism ; pharmacology

Five flavone C-glycosides were isolated from the methanol extract of the degrease seeds of Ziziphus jujuba var. spinosa though various column chromatography methods including silica gel, MPLC, and HPLC. The structures were elucidated as 6"-feruloyl- 6'''-vanillylspinosin(1), 6",6'"-diferuloylspinosin(2), spinosin(3), swertisin(4) and isoswertisin(5) based on the NMR and MS spectral data. 1 is a new compound.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Flavones ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Glycosides ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Mass Spectrometry ; Molecular Structure ; Seeds ; chemistry ; Ziziphus ; chemistry

Culture environment is the key factor in the construction of dermal skin.It was investigated that the effects of the culture methods,including the static culture and spinner flask culture,and stir speeds on the cells proliferation,metabolism and distribution within collagenchitosan sponges.A higher cell density and specific growth rate was obtained with spinner flask culture versus static culture,especially,the 80 r/min spinner flask culture.The cell distribution in dermal substitutes from stirred culture system was more uniform than static culture,as well as that with increase of stir speeds in spinner flask.In summary,the spinner flasks culture with proper stir speed shows promise for the construction of dermal substitutes in vitro.

Background Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)can differentiate into various types of somatic cells without causing ethical controversy and immune rejection in clinical activity,which is similar to differentiation ability of embryonic stem cells.So,iPSCs may be used as seed cells for tissue engineering corneal endothelial reconstruction.Objective The present study was to survey the morphologic change of iPSCs after coculture with corneal endothelium cells(CECs) under the atomic force microscopy(AFM).Methods Rabbit CECs and human MMC-iPSCs were isolated and cultured respectively.The iPSCs were identified with the marker by immunochemistry.iPSCs passaged for 7 days were then cultured with 60％ confluent CECs to establish the co-culture model.The surface morphology and cellular membrane ultrastructure of differentiated iPSCs after induced by CECs were examined by AFM combination with inverted microscope,and compared with CECs and undifferentiated iPSCs.Results Thelengthand width were(66.93±10.48)μm and (44.85 ± 8.14) μm in CECs,(12.51±1.40)μm and (10.93 ±1.69) μm in uninduced iPSCs,and(36.12±10.29) μm and(31.53±9.65)μm in CECs-induced iPSCs.Both the length and width values of CECs-induced iPSCs were statistically bigger than those uninduced iPSCs,with significant differences between them (P＜0.05),but no significant difference was seen in the width valne of CECs-induced iPSCs in comparison with CECs(P＞0.05).The convex structure of CECs cytomembrane surface showed the digitation in shape with the size and height(2.11 ± 1.03) μm and (115.68±92.08) nm respectively,and the concave structure of cytomembrane surface of CECs was fenestrae-like depression and the size was (1.49 ± 0.65) μm.The numerical valuc of mean square root roughness (Rq)and average roughness (Ra)of cytomembrane surface of CECs were(39.20±7.82)nm and (30.37±5.32)nm respectively.The convex surface of cytomembrane of iPSCs was granular-like in shape with size and height(0.39±0.22)μm and(13.11±9.18)nm respectively.The concave surface of cytomembrane of iPSCs was worm-eaten-like concave with the size(0.34±0.18)μm.The numerical value of Rq and Ra of geometrical parameters of cytomembrane surface of iPSCs were (26.60 ± 4.93)nm and (9.97 ± 3.78) nm respectively.The convex surface of cytomembrane of induced iPSCs was digital-like in shape with the size and height (1.91±0.76) μm and(106.55±77.27) nm respectively.The concave surface of cytomembrane of induced iPSCs was fenestrae-like depression and the size of concave was(1.6l±1.25) μm.The numerical value of Rq and Ra on surface of cytomembrane of induced iPSCs was (57.33± 12.80) nm and (43.63± 11.17) nm respectively.The numerical values of the size and height of convex,the size of concave,Rq and Ra on surface of cytomembrane in induced iPSCs were statistically bigger than in iPSCs(P＜0.05)and were not significant differences in comparison with CECs (P＞0.05).Conclusions Morphology of iPSCs translate toward the CECs after induce for 7 days under the AFM.This outcome lays the foundation for further study on iPSCs.

Adult ; Cosmetics ; adverse effects ; chemistry ; Female ; Humans ; Hypothyroidism ; chemically induced ; Mercuric Chloride ; adverse effects ; analysis ; Mercury ; adverse effects ; analysis

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Delivery of Health Care ; Family Characteristics ; Female ; Home Care Services ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Rural Population ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVETo investigate the optimal extraction process of polysaccharides from S. fusiforme by enzymatic treatment.

METHODThe optimum extraction conditions were obtained by the experiment with the orthogonal design. The content of polysaccharides of S. fusiforme was determined by spectraphotometry.

RESULTThe amount of enzyme and temperature significantly affected total polysaccharides of S. fusiforme.

CONCLUSIONThe optimum extraction conditions include the addition of 1. 2 x 10 (4) U x 100 g(-1) enzyme into water at pH 4. 5, and the subsequent treatment for 10 min while the temperature is maintained at 45 degrees C.

Cellulase ; metabolism ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Polysaccharides ; analysis ; isolation & purification ; metabolism ; Sargassum ; chemistry ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Temperature