Objective To investigate the protective effect of astragaloside on cardiomyocyte mitochoddria and inhibition effect on cardiomyocytes apoptosis of the rats with heart failure, and explore the treatment mechanism. Methods Sixty SD rats were randomly divided into control group, model group, astragaloside group, and trimetazidine group. The last three groups were injected subcutaneously with isoproterenol to make the heart failure model. Astragaloside group was given astragaloside 50 mg/(kg?d), and trimetazidine group was given trimetazidine 10 mg/(kg?d) orally for three consecutive weeks. At the end of the experiment, the myocardial tissue specimens of each group were made, inverted fluorescence microscope was utilized for measuring mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), immunoblotting was utilized for detecting cardiomyocyte telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) expression, and flow cytometry was untilized for detecting cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Results The MMP ratio of astragaloside group was 3.226±0.371, significantly higher than the model group and trimetazidine group (P<0.01). The cardiomyocyte apoptosis rate of astragaloside group was 8.91±2.12, significantly lower than the model group and trimetazidine group (P<0.01), and the most obvious expression of TERT was found in astragaloside group. Conclusion Astragaloside can protect damaged mitochondria, promote TERT expression, inhibit cardiomyocyte apoptosis and protect cardiomyocytes.

Objective: To study the effect of topical administration of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on healing of rabbit corneal wound caused by mustard gas. Methods: All the corneas of 8 New Zealand white rabbits were injured by liquid mustard at the concentration of 0.2%. One eye of each rabbit was treated with bFGF eye drops 6 times daily, the other eye with 0.25% chloromycetin eye drops as control. Computerized image analyzer was used to calculate the corneal epithelial healing rate. Results: The mean epithelial healing rate in bFGF-treated eyes was (1.276?0.152) mm 2/h, whereas in the control eyes it was (1.094?0.154) mm 2/h. The difference of 2 groups was statistically significant (P

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has the biological characteristics of high recurrence and metastasis. The brain is the common site of SCLC extrapulmonary metastasis. Prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) can effectively reduce the incidence of brain metastasis and prolong the overall survival of patients with limited SCLC. Nevertheless, nearly one third of patients develop brain metastases after PCI. This article reviews the risk factors of brain metastasis after PCI, aiming to determine which subgroup of patients with limited SCLC can benefit from PCI and provide reference for the clinical application of PCI.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) that exert function by posttranscriptional suppression have recently brought insight in our understanding of the role of non-protein-coding RNAs in carcinogenesis and metastasis. In this study, we described the function and molecular mechanism of miR-139-5p in colorectal cancer (CRC) and its potential clinical application in CRC. We found that miR-139-5p was significantly downregulated in 73.8% CRC samples compared with adjacent noncancerous tissues (NCTs), and decreased miR-139-5p was associated with poor prognosis. Functional analyses demonstrated that ectopic expression of miR-139-5p suppressed CRC cell migration and invasion in vitro and metastasis in vivo. Mechanistic investigations revealed that miR-139-5p suppress CRC cell invasion and metastasis by targeting AMFR and NOTCH1. Knockdown of the two genes phenocopied the inhibitory effect of miR-139-5p on CRC metastasis. Furthermore, the protein levels of the two genes were upregulated in CRC samples compared with NCTs, and inversely correlated with the miR-139-5p expression. Increased NOTCH1 protein expression was correlated with poor prognosis of CRC patients. Together, our data indicate that miR-139-5p is a potential tumor suppressor and prognostic factor for CRC, and targeting miR-139-5p may repress the metastasis of CRC and improve survival.
Animals ; Base Sequence ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Movement ; genetics ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; genetics ; pathology ; therapy ; Down-Regulation ; Female ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; HCT116 Cells ; HEK293 Cells ; Humans ; Male ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Mice, Nude ; MicroRNAs ; genetics ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; RNA Interference ; Receptor, Notch1 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Receptors, Autocrine Motility Factor ; genetics ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid ; Survival Analysis ; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays