Objective To observe the effect of Jianpi Yangrong Tablets (JYT) on mice with cyclophosphamide-induced low immunity. Methods Sixty NIH mice were equally randomized into 6 groups: low-, middle-and high-dose JYT groups (4、8 and 16gkg-1d-1 respectively), batyl alcohol group (0.055gkg-1d-1), model group and normal group. The mice received gastric gavage of the corresponding drug according to the experimental design. On the 5th day of medication, the mice received intraperitoneal injection of cyclophosphamide 200mg/kg to induce the models of low immunity. On the 9th day of medication, peripheral white blood cell (WBC) count, carbon clearance test, bone marrow nucleated cells count, spleen index and proliferative reaction of spleen lymphocyteswere observed.Results The number of WBC in middle-and high-dose JYT groups and batyl alcohol group was higher than that in the model group (P

Studies have shown that liver fibrosis and some cases of early liver cirrhosis can be reversed,and thus a timely,accurate judg-ment of fibrosis degree has important clinical significance in prevention/treatment and prognostic evaluation of chronic liver diseases. In re-cent years,great achievements have been made in the application of serum markers and transient elastography for the evaluation of liver fibro-sis. This article introduces the value of serological markers and related models in evaluating liver fibrosis,including CHI3L1,GP model, Forns,APRI,and FIB-4 index,and reviews the advances in the application of transient elastography in determining fibrosis stage in pa-tients with chronic liver diseases. It is pointed out that a combination of these two methods has a high value in evaluating fibrosis degree.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) therapy has the advantage of regulating cytokines associated with liver fibrosis and is a candidate for the treatment of liver fibrosis in the future. This article summarizes the research advances in the role of TCM in regulating cytokines associated with liver fibrosis and points out that TCM has certain significance in blocking and reversing liver fibrosis by regulating related cytokines.

The research on human hepatobiliary development and disorders has been constrained by minimal access to human fetal tissue, and low accuracy of animal models. To overcome this problem, we have established a system for the differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into functional hepatobiliary organoids (HBOs). We have previously reported that our 45-d approach closely mimics key stages of hepatobiliary development, starting with the differentiation of hiPSC into endoderm and a small part of mesoderm, and subsequently into hepatoblast-like cells, followed by the parallel generation of hepatocyte-like cells and cholangiocyte-like cells, formation of immature HBO expressing early hepatic and biliary markers, and mature HBO displaying hepatobiliary functionality. In this study, we present an updated version of our previous protocol, which only needs 35 days to achieve maturation in vitro. Furthermore, a hepatobiliary culture medium is developed to functionally maintain the HBOs for more than 1.5 months. The capacity of this approach for producing large amounts of functional HBOs and enabling long-term culture in vitro holds promise for applications on developmental research, disease modeling, as well as screening of therapeutic agents.

Objective:To understand the clinical features and outcomes of chronic liver diseases overlapping with CMV infection.Methods:Clinical characteristics, treatment and outcome of patients of chronic liver diseases overlapping with CMV infection were analyzed retrospectively. T-test was used for measurement data and χ2 test was used for count data. All measurement data were expressed by ( ± s). P > 0.05 was not determined as significant. P < 0.05 was regarded as statistically significant. Results:Chronic liver diseases overlapping with CMV infections had similar clinical features. Etiopathogenic treatment + symptomatic supportive treatment + CMV overlapping infection treatment (including antiviral therapy, corticosteroids consideration, clearing heat and traditional Chinese choleretic medicine, etc) were the primary principles of therapy. The incidence of cytomegalovirus infection accounted for 4.125% during the corresponding hospitalization period. Cytomegalovirus infection had relatively caused liver function damage in patients with milder clinical symptoms and signs. Biochemical indicators before and after treatment showed that there was no significant difference in total bilirubin (TBil) before (262.93 ± 178.944) μmol/L and after one week of treatment (245.08 ± 179.332) μmol/L ( P > 0.05). However, when TBIL was compared with three (156.58 ± 147.461) μmol/L and four weeks (103.39 ± 102.218) μmol/L) of treatment, the decrease was significant ( P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) after one week (293.57 ± 467.438) U/L ( P < 0.01) of treatment was significantly lower than before treatment (782.34 ± 828.801) U/L. Gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) after treatment (202.52 ± 155.174)U/L was significantly lower than before treatment(280.69 ± 205.619)U/L). Total bile acid (TBA) was increased after treatment (198.04 ± 155.174)μmol/L, when compared with that of before treatment (62.93 ± 178.944)μmol/L. Biochemical indicators of liver diseases had shown typical features of cholestasis, and the slow and reduced flow of bile acid was tracked and observed. Compared with the advanced group (182.45 ± 214.169) umol/L, the total bilirubin in inflammation group (50.36 ± 26.282) umol/L was decreased ( P < 0.05). Moreover, advanced group (122.18 ± 106.780) umol/L ( P < 0.05) had elevated total bile acid normalization rate than that of bile acid group (54.82 ± 56.123) umol/L, and the inflammatory phase had significantly better outcome than those with advanced-stage. Conclusion:Chronic liver diseases overlapping with cytomegalovirus infection has a good therapeutic outcome in the inflammatory phase, but in the advanced-stage; the therapeutic efficacy and outcome is poor and perilous.