The UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometer was used to explore the chemical compositions in safflower. The rapid separation of the compositions was conducted by the UHPLC, following by high resolution full scan and MS2 scan, under the positive and negative ion mode. The chemical formula of compositions were deduced by full scan data in less than 5, then the potential structures were confirmed by the MS2 data. Forty-nine compounds were detected, of which 26 was identified, and 5 compounds was validated by the standard substances.
Carthamus tinctorius ; chemistry ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Molecular Structure ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; methods

Gushukang is a compound Chinese herbal preparation. Pharmacological studies indicated that Gushukang can increase bone density, inhibit bone resorption, promote bone formation, and restore bone microstructure, as well as improve bone biomechanical parameters and promote healing of bone fracture. Clinical observations demonstrated that it has favorable efficacy in preventing and treating osteoporosis.
Bone Density ; drug effects ; Bone Resorption ; prevention & control ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Osteogenesis ; drug effects ; Osteoporosis ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Phytotherapy

To explore the prevention effect of the joint combination of Yindanxinnaotong soft capsule (YDXNT) and exercise (swimming) on atherosclerotic rats. The method of 3 x 3 factorial design, including two factors (YDXNT and swimming) and three levels (0, 1, 2 g x kg(-1) YDXNT; 0, 0.5, 1 h swimming), was mainly adopted. The atherosclerotic rat model was established by ligating their left common carotid arteries and feeding high-fat diet. After 8 weeks, blood samples were collected from their thoracic aorta to determine blood viscosity, plasma viscosity, fibrinogen (FIB), nitric oxide (NO), 6-keto-PGF(1alpha) endothelin (ET) and thromboxane B2 (TXB2). The tissues of left common carotid arteries of the rats were collected to detect the positive expression of SM22alpha and determine the semi-quantitation through the immunohistochemical staining. The result showed that the combination of YDXNT and swimming can significantly decrease the plasma viscosity (F = 3.241, P = 0.017), the high and low shear blood viscosity (F = 6.444, P = 0.001; F = 3.002, P = 0.024) and FIB (F = 4.046, P = 0.005). The increased NO and 6-keto-PGF(1alpha) and the decreased ET and TXB2 indicated a significant interaction (P < 0.05). The swimming showed an obvious main effect in the expression of up-regulated protein SM22alpha (F = 8.088, P = 0.001). The study suggested that the combined administration of YDXNT and swimming could improve the hemorheological parameters of atherosclerotic rats, protect the vascular endothelium, inhibit the vascular remodeling in atherosclerosis and positively prevent the atherosclerosis.
Animals ; Atherosclerosis ; drug therapy ; genetics ; metabolism ; prevention & control ; Blood Viscosity ; drug effects ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Exercise Therapy ; Humans ; Male ; Microfilament Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Muscle Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Swimming

AIMTo investigate the inhibitory effect of egg white lysozyme (LZM) on ceftazidime (CFT)-induced release of endotoxin from Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

METHODSP. aeruginosa PAO1 was inoculated in nutrition broth or diluted rabbit blood free of antibiotics in the presence or absence of LZM and incubated at 37 degrees C on a water bath shaker. beta-Lactam antibiotic, CFT, was added to cultures at 3.5 h (nutrition broth culture) or 5 h (diluted rabbit blood culture) after inoculation. After 3 h of CFT treatment, the supernatants from different bacterial cultures were prepared by centrifuge and the concentrations of endotoxin in the supernatants were measured. The bacterial supernatants were also added to a murine macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 or intravenously injected into carrageenin-sensitized mice. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha) and nitric oxide (NO) concentrations in RAW 264.7 supernatants or in mouse sera were tested.

RESULTSCFT treatment alone obviously inhibited the growth of P. aeruginosa PAO1 accompanied by strong and rapid bacteriolysis and released relatively high concentration of endotoxin from bacteria both in nutrition broth and in diluted rabbit blood cultures. The bacterial supernatant from CFT treatment alone yielded high concentrations of TNF alpha both in RAW 264.7 cells and in mice and high level of NO in RAW 264.7 cells. Treatment with the combination of LZM and CFT evidently blocked the lysis of bacteria and reduced the release of endotoxin without decreasing bactericidal activity of CFT. TNF alpha and NO productivity of the supernatants prepared from the LZM/CFT combinative treated bacterial cultures were significantly decreased both in RAW 264.7 cells and in mice indicating that the inflammatory activity was reduced.

CONCLUSIONLZM can effectively prevent CFT-induced bacteriolysis, endotoxin release and subsequent proinflammatory factor production but without decreasing bactericidal activity of CFT, resulting in the disassociation of bactericidal activity and bacteriolysis. Thus, LZM might be important for preventing endotoxemia in Gram-negative sepsis with the treatment of antibiotics.

Animals ; Bacteriolysis ; drug effects ; Ceftazidime ; pharmacology ; Egg White ; analysis ; Endotoxins ; metabolism ; Mice ; Muramidase ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; metabolism ; physiology ; Rabbits ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo compare therapeutic effects of traditional moxibustion and moxibustion on temperature-sensitive points for lumbar disc herniation.

METHODSOne hundred and twenty cases were randomly divided into a temperature-sensitive point group and a traditional moxibustion group, 60 cases in each group. The temperature-sensitive point group was treated with moxibustion on the temperature-sensitive points in the temperature-sensitive high incidence area such as waist and lower limbs, once each day; the traditional moxibustion group was treated with warming moxibustion at Jiaji (EX-B 2), Ciliao (BL 32), Zhibian (BL 54), Huantiao (GB 30), Weizhong (BL 40), Yanglingquan (GB 34), Kunlun (BI. 60), once each day, 7 days constituting one course. The therapeutic effect and the recurrence rate were observed after one course treatment and six months later.

RESULTSAfter treatment for one course, the cured-markedly effective rate was 65.00% in the temperature-sensitive point group, superior to 50.0% in the traditional moxibustion group, with a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05); all effective cases were followed-up for six months, the cured-markedly effective rate and the recurrence rate were 62.3% and 26.4% in the temperature-sensitive point group, and 34.2% and 46.3% in the traditional moxibustion group, the therapeutic effect of the temperature-sensitive point group being superior to the traditional moxibustion group, and the recurrence rate was lower than the traditional moxibustion group (both P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONMoxibustion on temperature-sensitive points is a effective therapy for lumbar disc herniation, with stable therapeutic effect and low recurrence rate.

Acupuncture Points ; Adult ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc Displacement ; therapy ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Moxibustion ; methods ; Temperature ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo study the relationship between the antioxidant activities and the contents of active ingredients in Radix Scutellaria.

METHODThe antioxidant activities of extracts and active ingredients of Radix Scutellaria in NADPH-dependent lipid peroxidation in rat liver microsome were assayed.

RESULTExtracts of Radix Scutellaria showed a 50% inhibition of lipid peroxidation in the concentration range of 2.72-18.27 mg x L(-1).

CONCLUSIONThe antioxidant activities of extracts of Radix Scutellaria are not only related with the contents but also the ratio of the active ingredients.

Animals ; Antioxidants ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Lipid Peroxidation ; drug effects ; Microsomes, Liver ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Scutellaria ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of prim-O-glucosylcimifugin and 4'-O-p-D-glucosyl-5-O-methylvisa-mminol con on the proliferation of smooth muscle cell stimulated by TNF-alpha.

METHODThe primary cell culture method of smooth muscle cell (SMC) was established by attachment-block. The SMC was identificated by immunochemistry method, and the growth curve was drawn by cytometry. The third generation of SMC was adopted in the experiment. The effect of prim-O-glucosylcimif-ugin and 4'-O-beta-D-glucosyl-5-O-methylvisamminol con on the proliferation and cell cycle of SMC was investigated by MTT and flow cytometry respectively.

RESULTTNF-alpha of 5 micro g x L(-1) can stimulate the proliferation of SMC and increase the proportion of G2 phase and S phase in cell cycle which has great significant difference (P < 0.01) compared with control. The three dose groups of prim-O-glucosylcimifugin and 4'-O-beta-D-glucosyl-5-O-methylvisammin-ol con can inhibit the proliferation of SMC and increase the proportion of G0/G1 phase, which has great significant difference (P < 0.01) compared with model group.

CONCLUSIONPrim-O-glucosylcimifugin and 4'-O-beta-D-glucosyl-5-O-methylvisamminol con can inhibit the proliferation of SMC stimulated by TNF-alpha.

Animals ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Cells, Cultured ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Female ; Male ; Monosaccharides ; pharmacology ; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle ; cytology ; drug effects ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; pharmacology ; Xanthenes ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVEThe aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of Chuanxiong-pathalide A on the injury of endothelial cell induced by ischemia and reperfusion in isolated rat hearts.

METHODThe isolated rat hearts were perfused under constant pressure with Chuanxiong-pathalide A at the concentrations of 0.012 5 mg x mL(-1), 0.025 mg x mL(-1) and 0.05 mg x mL(-1) within 10 min followed by a 10-min washout period before the induction of a 30-min normothermic global ischemia and 60 min reperfusion.

RESULTPretreatment with Chuanxiong-pathalide A produced a reduction in the incidence of reperfusion-induced ventricular fibrillation (VF) and ventricular tachycardia (VT). Pretreatment of the hearts with high dose of Chuanxiong-pathalide A (0.05 mg x mL(-1)) prior to the ischemia and reperfusion, reduced the incidence of reperfusion-induced VF and VT to 37.5% as compared with non-pretreated control group (P < 0.05). The duration of occurrence of VF and VT in the group pretreated with Chuanxiong-pathalide A at dosages of 0.012 5 mg x mL(-1), 0.025 mg x mL(-1) and 0.05 mg x mL(-1) were (7.50 +/- 1.61), (1.64 +/- 0.67) and (1.06 +/- 0.70) min respectively, which were significantly shorter than (23.51 +/- 3.99) min in non-pretreated control group; 0.05 mg x mL(-1) of Chuanxiong-pathalide A increased coronary flow in comparison with the control group. The content of SOD in the group pretreated with 0.05 mg x mL(-1) of Chuanxiong-pathalide A was (59.6 +/- 18.7) U x mg(-1), significant lower than (92.3 +/- 19.0) U x mg(-1) in the non-pretreated group. The contents of LDH and MDA were (2 378.0 +/- 196.3) U x g(-1) and (12.1 +/- 1.3) nmol x mg(-1) in the non-pretreated group, which were much higher than the values of (1 669.4 +/- 192.5) U x g(-1) and (6.9 +/- 0.8) nmol x mg(-1) in the group pretreated with Chuanxiong-pathalide A respectively. In addition, enzymeimmunoassays showed an decreased production of IL-1beta and the ratio of TXB2/6-Keto-PGF1alpha.

CONCLUSIONOur results show that chuanxiong-pathalide A pretreatment can protect the endothelial function from the injury caused by ischemia and reperfusion.

Animals ; Benzofurans ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Coronary Vessels ; drug effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Endothelial Cells ; drug effects ; pathology ; In Vitro Techniques ; Interleukin-1beta ; blood ; Ischemic Preconditioning, Myocardial ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; metabolism ; Ligusticum ; chemistry ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury ; complications ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Myocardium ; metabolism ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Regional Blood Flow ; drug effects ; Tachycardia, Ventricular ; prevention & control ; Ventricular Fibrillation ; prevention & control

OBJECTIVETo observe the antioxidant effects of water extract of Carthamus tinctorius on ox-LDL induced injury in rat cardiac microvascular endothelial cell and detecting oxygen derived free radicals (OFR) to explore the antioxidant mechanisms.

METHODBy using the third generation of rat cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (rCMEC), the protection of water extract of C. tinctorius was investigated after ox-LDL (100 mg x L(-1) induced damage. The supernatant was collected for detecting lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), xanthine oxidase (XOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), nitric oxide (NO), nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity, and cell suspension was collected for detecting reactive oxygen species (ROS) by electron spin resonance (ESR).

RESULTWater extract of C. tinctorius increased the rCMEC survival rate, reduced LDH, MDA and XOD levels, and improved SOD, GSH-Px and NOS activity, while in the cell suspension ROS signal decreased significantly.

CONCLUSIONWater extract of C. tinctorius has antioxidation. The mechanisms are likely related with scavenging of free radicals, enhancing its clearance, enhancing endogenous antioxidant activity.

Animals ; Carthamus tinctorius ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy ; methods ; Endothelial Cells ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Enzyme Activation ; drug effects ; Glutathione Peroxidase ; metabolism ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; metabolism ; Lipoproteins, LDL ; pharmacology ; Microvessels ; cytology ; Nitric Oxide Synthase ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; metabolism ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism ; Water ; chemistry ; Xanthine Oxidase ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo observe the protective effects of catechin morphon (GCG and EGCG) on hypoxia-reoxygenation induced injury in myocardial cells and to explore the mechanisms.

METHODIn cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes, we investigated the preconditioning protection by GCG and EGCG on the spontaneous beating, the survival rate, the release of LDH, MDA, SOD, GSH-Px and the ATP enzyme activity of cardiomyocyte cellular membrane in cultured rat cardiomyocytes treated during the reoxygenation 1h following hypoxia 3 h. The blocking agent of protien kinase C staurosporine (10 nmol x L(-1)) or the deactivator of Gi/o protein pertussis toxin (PTX, 200 microg x mL(-1)) were added before the catechin treatment.

RESULTSPreconditioning by GCG and EGCG increased the spontaneous beating and the survival rate, and decreased the release of LDH and MDA with the rise of SOD and ATP enzyme activity. Inhibition of PKC by staurosporine and Gi/o protein by PTX abolished the protection by catechin with the reduction of the beating, survival rate and activity of SOD, and the increase of the release of LDH and MDA. The results indicated that the activation of signal transduction pathway from PKC and Gi/o protein seemed to be involved in the cardioprotection of preconditioning by GCG and EGCG.

CONCLUSIONThe protection by GCG and EGCG on hypoxia-reoxygenation injury in cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes is found, which is related with scavenging of free radicals, and PKC Gi/o signal transduction pathway.

Animals ; Cardiotonic Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Catechin ; analogs & derivatives ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Female ; Free Radicals ; metabolism ; Hypoxia ; complications ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; drug effects ; metabolism ; pathology ; Oxygen ; metabolism ; Protein Kinase C ; metabolism ; Proteins ; metabolism ; Rats ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects ; Survival Rate