Oxymatrine, the main active monomer composition of Sophora flavescens and Sopkoroa alopecuroides L. , has been used in clinic in China with many pharmacological effects, such as anti-inflammation, scavenging free radicals, inhibiting tumor cell proliferation and improving insulin resistance. It may have important clinical application prospects in aging related metabol-ic and cognitive degeneration. This article reviews the current research status of oxymatrine in pharmacokinetics, toxicology and pharmacology.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other aging-related diseases have become an important public health issue in China. However, current clinical drugs have failed to reverse the pathological process of AD. The holistic approach of traditional Chinese medicine offers advantages in improving cognitive function in AD through multiple molecular pathways, and may have potential for preventing AD. This paper summarizes the effects of classical traditional Chinese medicine and its active components in the improvement of AD-related cognitive dysfunction and describes the functional targets and related molecular mechanisms. This may have significance for the prevention and treatment of AD through multi-target intervention.

Blood Vessels ; physiology ; Humans ; Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors ; metabolism ; physiology

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional lev-el and then affect important physiological and pathological processes. Many microRNAs are tissue or organ-speciifc which make it possible for them to become potential biomarkers. Similarly, microRNAs are important for physiological functions of kidney and they are involved in various renal disorders. The review summarizes current information about microRNA effect on various kidney diseases, in order to provide references for the diagnosis and treatment of kidney disease in the future.

Objective To study the inhibitory effects of wild-type p53 on gastric cancer cell lines BGC-7901 and to explore the importance of wild-type p53 in gene therapy for gastric cancer. Methods Adenoviral vector with exogenous wild-type p53 gene was transfected into the gastric cancer cell line BGC-7901 which harbours a mutation in codon 204 of the p53 gene.The transfer efficiency and expression effect of p53 were examined by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. The growth of BGC-7901 cells in vitro was determined by cell counting and MTT assay. Flow cytometric analysis was used for observing cell cycle.Results Transfer efficiency reached 100% in BGC-7901 cells when adenovirus infection ability was over 100MOI. 3 days after transfection, the introduction of exogenous wild-type p53 into the tumor cells resulted in decreased expression of the protein of mutant p53 and increased level of mRNA of wild-type p53 gene. The growth of the BGC-7901 cells was significantly slower after transfection with wild-type p53 gene than that before transfection. The percentage of G 1/G 0 phase of the cells with exogenous wild-type p53 gene was much higher than that of the cells without exogenous wild-type p53 gene.It was 56 47% and 79 40% respectively(P

Acute kidney injury is a clinical common disease,but it is a dangerous illness with higher o-verall mortality.Even mild renal insufficiency carries complications.Therefore,it is very important for the early diagnosis of acute kidney injury,which is based on high sensitivity,strong specificity of biomarkers.

Objective To test whether sodium arsenite can induce in vitro reverse mutation of Salmonella typhimurium histamine-auxotroph mutant. Methods Ames test was carded out with Salmonella typhimurium strains TA97,TA98,TA100 and TA102 by standard method with or without the liver microsomal enzyme activation system (+S9,-S9). Results At concentrations of sodium arsenite from 500.00 to 5000.00 μg/plate, no colonies were seen on the plates of TA97,TA98,TA100 or TA102, with or without the presence of S9. At concentrations of sodium arsenite of 0.01,0.10,10.00 μg/plate and with the presence of S9, twice as many colonies grew on the plates of TA102 as the negative control(P<0.05). Without S9 activation,twice as many colonies grew on the plates of TA100 as the negative control(P<0.05)at concentrations of sodium arsenite of 1.00,10.00 μg/plate(P<0.05). The reverse mutation colonies induced by sodium arsenite in TA98 strain were twice as many as negative control group at concentrations of 0.01,0.10 μg/plate(P<0.05). There was no obvious increase of the strain clones in the other(P0.05). Conclusions With and without S9 activation, the doses of 500.00,5000.00 μg/plate sodium arsenite resulted in a toxic effect and a reduction of the revertants among the strain. At concentrations of 0.01～10.00 μg/plate, sodium arsenite exhibited mutngenesis effects.

Restriction endonucleases are important molecular biology tools for DNA recombination.Because of the cleavage of DNA,their recombinant expression is difficult with low yields and complicated purification processes.In commercial productions,the technology that uses specific methylases to protect host DNA from digestion of the expressed restriction enzymes was cumbersome and practically limited.For solving this problem the expression of restriction enzyme Not Ⅰ was performed by using the DNA methylase M.Sss Ⅰ derived from Spiroplasma sp.MQ1 which specifically kept CpG sequence methylated.The methylated DNA was protected from the cutting of Not Ⅰ whose recognition sequence contained CpG.The gene of methylase M.Sss Ⅰ was introduced into Escherichia coli ER2566 and constitutively expressed,resulting in the CpG methylation pattern of the host DNA.Restriction enzyme Not Ⅰ was successfully expressed in this E.coli strain.Furthermore,by adding a purification tag to one terminus of the enzyme,recombinant Not Ⅰ was prepared as a highly purified and active product through two simple Ni-affinity and anion exchange chromatography steps.This expression system can be applied for the preparation of a series of restriction enzymes with CpG in their recognition sequences.

Fomentation engineering is one of the modern biotechnologies. It has been intensively studied and widely applied in edible fungi. Based on the review of research history of liquid fermentation for edible fungi, the research status of liquid fermentation about edible fungi were summarized, and its application prospects on edible fungi production of our country were described in this paper.

Animals ; Disease Models, Animal ; Electric Stimulation ; Neurons ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; metabolism ; Parkinson Disease ; metabolism ; Rats ; Subthalamic Nucleus ; metabolism