OBJECTIVE: To investigate the activation characteristics of microglia (MG) in the rats striatum with MA-induced neurotoxicity. METHODS: Male Wistar rats were divided randomly into control group (n=24) and experimental group (n=24). The rats of experimental group were injected intraperitoneally with MA (15 mg/kg x 8 injections, at 12 hours interval). The rats of control group were administrated with saline. The tissues of striatum of two rat groups were harvested at 0.5 d, 1 d, 2 d, 3 d, 4 d, 5 d, 6 d and 7 d post initial administrations of MA or saline. The structure changes were observed by transmission electron microscopy and CD-11b immunohistochemistry. The ratio of activated MG was calculated and statistically analyzed. RESULTS: In the control group, the morphological characteristics of the MG showed that the cell bodies were small with slender processes, high electronic density nucleus, and fewer organelles known as the "fork-type". In contrast, the MG in the MA-induced neurotoxicity group displayed larger cell body, shorter cell processes or disappeared, lower electronic density nucleus and rich organelles, resembling "bush-like" or "amoeba-like". The ratio of activated MG in control group was below 0.15 at all timepoints, whereas in the experimental group, the ratio of activated MG increased significantly from day 1 to day 7 (P<0.001). CONCLUSION The continuous MA stimulation of the CNS results in prominent MG activation.
Animals ; Corpus Striatum/pathology* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Methamphetamine/toxicity* ; Microglia/ultrastructure* ; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Staining and Labeling ; Time Factors

Aged ; Bacterial Infections ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Female ; Hepatitis, Chronic ; complications ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis ; complications ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Peritonitis ; drug therapy ; etiology

OBJECTIVETo establish an HPLC method for the determination of three kind of diester diterpenoid alkaloids (DDAs) in Aconitum carmichaeli and its processed products namely mesaconitine, aconitine and hypaconitine.

METHODA Zorbax Eclipse XDB C18 column was used, and ammonium acetate solution-acetonitrile as the mobile phase, with a flow rate of 1.0 mL x min(-1) and a detection wavelength of 230 nm.

RESULTMesaconitine, aconitine and hypaconitine, were separated, and the calibration curves of them were in good linearity over the range of 0.035 7-1.784 microg (r = 0.9999), 0.0126-0.632 microg (r = 0.9997) and 0.0334-1.672 microg (r = 0.9997) respectively.

CONCLUSIONThis method is simple and accurate. It can be used in the identification and quality control of A. carmichaeli.

Aconitine ; analogs & derivatives ; analysis ; Aconitum ; chemistry ; Alkaloids ; analysis ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Hot Temperature ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Quality Control ; Reproducibility of Results ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; methods

OBJECTIVETo identify antiviral activity of Toddalia asiatica against influenza virus type A in vitro.

METHODMore than two hundred Chinese medicinal herb extracts were screened for antiviral activities against influenza A/PR/8/34 (H1N1) virus using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS) assay for virus induced cytopathic effect (CPE) in a primary screening. Positive samples were picked up and were subjected to quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to quantify reduction of H1N1 virus genomic RNA.

RESULTToddalia asiatica showed potent antiviral activities against H1N1 virus, with 50% effective concentration (EC50) value of 4.7 mg x L(-1) in MTS assay and 0.9 mg x L(-1) in quantitative PCR assay respectively. The cytotoxicity test of Toddalia asiatica generated a CC50 value of 187.2 mg x L(-1) and a selective index (SI) larger than 206 in quantitative PCR. Although the best antiviral activity of Toddalia asiatica was observed with co-treatment of influenza virus infection, it remained effective even when administrated 24 h before and after the initiation of infection.

CONCLUSIONThe results suggested that Toddalia asiatica compound extract could be a candidate for anti-H1N1 virus agent in the treatment of influenza.

Animals ; Antiviral Agents ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Cells, Cultured ; Dogs ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; toxicity ; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype ; drug effects ; genetics ; Kidney ; cytology ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; RNA, Viral ; drug effects ; Rutaceae ; chemistry ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVETo compare the clinical characteristics, treatment methods and outcomes in Chinese non ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) patients from two large clinical trials in different time periods.

METHODSAll Chinese NSTE-ACS patients from two large International clinical trials (OASIS Registry and TIMACS) underwent coronary artery angiography after first admission were recruited in our analysis. The follow-up time was 180 days. A total of 1 473 NSTE-ACS patients were recruited in this analysis, in which 749 from Organization to Assess Strategies for Ischemic Syndromes (OASIS REISTRY) that completed in 38 centers in China from April 1999 to December 2000, and the rest 724 patients from The Timing of Intervention in Acute Coronary Syndromes (TIMACS) trial in 24 centers in China performed from April 2007 to June 2008.

RESULTSCompared to OASIS patients, TIMACS group were older ((64.2 ± 10.1) years old vs. (58.7 ± 10.2) years old) , and fewer male patients (66.3% (480/724) vs. 74.4% (557/749)) , lower blood pressure at admission, and more histories of previous PCI (9.4% (68/724 vs. 6.4% (48/749)), stroke (8.8% (64/724) vs. 5.1% (38/749)) , hypertension (62.8% (455/724) vs. 56.6% (424/749)) and diabetes (23.3% (169/724) vs. 16.2% (121/749)), lower histories of coronary artery disease (37.4% (271/724) vs. 59.1% (443/749)) and myocardial infarction (12.0% (87/724) vs. 27.6% (207/749)) (all P < 0.05). After admission, comparing to OASIS group, TIMACS patients had significant higher PCI proportion (74.9% (524/724) vs. 49.3% (369/749), P < 0.001). In addition, for secondary prevention, TIMACS patients had significant higher standard medication treatment proportion during hospitalization, at discharge and at 180 days follow up than OASIS group (P < 0.05 for β-blocker, ACEI/ARB and lipid lowering drugs) and higher compliance rate. The combined primary outcome event rate at 180 days was much lower in TIMACS than in OASIS patients (13.3% (96/724) vs. 25.2% (189/749), P < 0.001) mostly due to the reduction on the refractory angina (5.2% (38/724) vs. 22.6% (169/749), P < 0.001) .

RESULTSof COX regression model adjusted for baseline levels and treatment during hospitalization showed that the incidence rate of combination endpoint (HR = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.29-0.53, P < 0.001) and refractory ischemia/angina rehospitalization (HR = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.11-0.25, P < 0.001) were both lower in TIMACS patients than in OASIS patients.

CONCLUSIONPCI procedure and secondary prevention medication administration are more often applied in TIMACS patients than in OASIS group, which is related to less integrated incidence of primary outcomes reflecting progress in Chinese medical care for non ST elevated acute coronary syndrome patients according to the updated guidelines.

Acute Coronary Syndrome ; prevention & control ; therapy ; Adrenergic beta-Antagonists ; Aged ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Brugada Syndrome ; Cardiac Conduction System Disease ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; China ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Disease ; Female ; Heart Conduction System ; abnormalities ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction ; Prognosis ; Registries ; Secondary Prevention ; Time Factors

This study was aimed to establish ELISA for recombinant bovine IFN-gamma (BovIFN-gamma) detection and provide a new method for diagnosis of pathogenic infection. The total RNA was isolated from peripheral blood leucocytes cultured with PHA mitogen stimulation. Then bovine IFN-gamma (BovIFN-gamma) gene cDNA was amplified by RT-PCR and cloned into pET28a to obtain the expression plasmid designated as pETBovIFN-gamma. The pETBovlFN-gamma was further transformed into competent E. coli BL21 cells and a 18kD His-tagged protein as expected was expressed after IPTG induction. By using purified recombinant BovIFN-gamma as antigen and lymphocyte-hybridoma technique, four hybridoma cell lines which stably secreted monoclonal antibodies against rBovIFN-gamma were generated, designated as A7, A10, G6, and G10. The immunoglobin subset was identified as IgG1 . Western-blotting analysis and ELISA demonstrated that the monoclonal antibodies secreted by all the four hybridoma cell lines could react specifically to the recombinant BovIFN-gamma, but not irrelative proteins such as Ag85B, ESAT-6-CFP-10 and GM-CSF, suggesting that the four hybridoma cell lines were rBovIFN-gamma specific monoclonal antibodies. A sandwich ELISA was established by using A10 secreted monoclonal antibody and rabbit polyclonal antibodies against BovIFN-gamma, HRP labeled goat anti-rabbit IgG. The results indicated that the sensitivity was 2ng/mL. This sandwich ELISA to detect BovIFN-gamma paved the way to develop a sensitive method for specific infection detection such as bovine tuberculosis diagnosis.
Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; biosynthesis ; immunology ; Antibody Specificity ; immunology ; Blotting, Western ; Cattle ; Cells, Cultured ; DNA, Complementary ; genetics ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; methods ; Female ; Hybridomas ; Interferon-gamma ; genetics ; immunology ; metabolism ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Plasmids ; genetics ; Rabbits ; Recombinant Proteins ; immunology ; metabolism ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

Objective To investigate the cause of differences in confluent growth between hepatic(L02) and hepatoma carcinoma(HCCLM3) cells by comparing responses of the two cells to different substrate stiffness (0.5, 4 kPa and glass). MethodsThe real-time photomicrography, immunofluorescence staining, flow cytometry, and Western Blotting techniques were respectively employed to observe the morphological characteristics, the cytoskeleton conformation and the distribution of E-cad of confluent L02 and HCCLM3 cells on different substrates, and test the changes in expression of E-cad, Integrinβ1 and p-Src. Results (1) Confluent L02 cells displayed a round or cubic shape, while HCCLM3 cells showed a polygon shape. The morphology of HCCLM3 cells were spread and polarized more obviously than that of L02 cells. With the increase of substrate stiffness, the variation of L02 cells with time was smaller than that of HCCLM3 cells. (2) The cytoskeleton of confluent L02 cells showed a ring-like conformation under the cortex, and E-cad was located at the cell-cell contact sites. However, the ring-like cytoskeleton of HCCLM3 cells was incomplete and distributed radially along the basement, while E-cad was dispersed in cytoplasm. (3) As the substrate stiffness increased, expression of E-cadherin in both L02 and HCCLM3 cells was significantly decreased (P<0.01), while the level of p-Src and integrinβ1 was increased significantly, with greater changes in HCCLM3 cells than in L02 cells. Conclusions The assembling of cortical ring-like cytoskeleton was positively correlated with the location of E-cad at the cell-cell contact sites. The substrate stiffness showed a more obvious impact on the balanced regulation between cadherin and integrin mediated adhesion system of hepatocarcinoma cells than that of hepatic cells.

Aged ; Blood Glucose ; metabolism ; Diabetes Mellitus ; diagnosis ; Female ; Glucose Tolerance Test ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; ROC Curve

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ASODN) on proliferation and apoptosis in gastric cancer cell line BGC-823 cells and the molecular mechanisms induced by ASODN.

METHODSsurvivin ASODN-1, survivin ASODN-2 and survivin ASODN-3 were transfected into BGC-823 cells by Lipofectamine(TM) 2000 transfection reagent. The growth activity of BGC-823 cells was detected by MTT assay. Apoptosis index (AI), proliferation index (PI), cell cycle and expressions of survivin, VEGF and Smac/DIABLO proteins were detected by flow cytometry (FCM). The changes of survivin mRNA, VEGF mRNA and Smac/DIABLO mRNA were detected by RT-PCR.

RESULTSThe expression of survivin was down-regulated by the three ASODN sequences, especially the ASODN-2 was best. At 48 hours after transfection with 600 nmol/L survivin ASODN-2, the cells in G(1)/G(0) phase were significantly increased [(72.25 ± 2.95)%], apoptotic index increased [(11.31 ± 0.38)%], proliferation index decreased [(27.77 ± 2.97)%], compared with those in the control group [(56.25 ± 0.75)%, (1.62 ± 0.36)%, (43.80 ± 0.80)%, all P < 0.05]. The survivin mRNA and protein levels (0.523 ± 0.091, 0.733 ± 0.009) were down-regulated compared with those in the control group (0.861 ± 0.047, 0.997 ± 0.233), VEGF (0.519 ± 0.076, 0.75 ± 0.006) were down-regulated compared with those in the control group (0.779 ± 0.059, 1.000 ± 0.01), while those of Smac/DIABLO(0.899 ± 0.113, 1.637 ± 0.023)were up-regulated compared with those in the control group (0.558 ± 0.041, 1.000 ± 0.049, all P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSSurvivin ASODN can induce apoptosis and inhibit the proliferation of gastric cancer cell line BGC-823 cells. Those effects are induced through up-regulation of Smac/DIABLO and down-regulation of survivin and VEGF expression simultaneously.

Apoptosis ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Down-Regulation ; Humans ; Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Mitochondrial Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Oligodeoxyribonucleotides, Antisense ; genetics ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; Stomach Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Transfection ; Up-Regulation ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; genetics ; metabolism

Objective To investigate the cause of tumor cell migration by comparing the effect of substrate stiffness on hepatic and hepatoma carcinoma cell migration so as to understand the invasive characteristics of tumor cells. Methods Immunofluorescence staining, morphological analysis and transwell were employed to observe the morphological characteristics of HCCLM3 and L02 cells on different substrates and test their migration characteristics with the quantitative analysis. Results (1) The migration rate and net translocation of HCCLM3 and L02 cells on 4 kPa substrate was higher than those both on 0.5 kPa(most soft one) and on glass (the hardest one) substrates, and L02 cells also displayed higher migration efficiency than HCCLM3 cells on such substrates. (2) The mean squared displacement of HCCLM3 and L02 cells on different substrates showed consistent tendency, and the directional persistence of L02 cells on the softer substrate was significantly higher than that of HCCLM3 cells. (3) In 0.5 and 1 mg/mL three dimensional collagen environment, the number of invasive cells of HCCLM3 was remarkably more than that of L02 cells. After adding MMPs inhibitor GM6001 (40 μg/mL), the number of invasive cells was notably increased in HCCLM3 cells, but notably decreased in L02 cells. Conclusions (1) In two dimensional comparatively soft environment, L02 cells displayed an efficient migration due to its higher directional persistence. (2) In three-dimensional collagen environment, the invasion efficiency of HCCLM3 cells was significantly higher due to the various modes of migration adaptation to the microenvironment.