Objective To investigate the effects of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) on the chronic peripheral nerve compression injury and explore the function of CTGF in peripheral nerve compression injury and repair. Methods From July 2010 to September 2010, fifty aduh male SD rats were randomly divided into group A and B: group A (sham-operated group): only exposed the sciatic nerve; group B (compression group): undergone sciatic nerve entrapment operation on the right hind leg according to the method which Mackinnon adopted when he established the model of chronic sciatic nerve compression.Electron microscopy,immunohistochemistry,RT-PCR and Western-blot were performed to observe the morphological changes of the compressed nerve tissue and to determine the level of CTGF,collagen- Ⅰ,Ⅲ (COL- Ⅰ,Ⅲ),2,4,6,8,10 weeks after the surgery,respectively. Results After sciatic nerve compression,the collagen in nerve increased ; The expression of CTGF and COL- Ⅰ, Ⅲ in sciatic nerve of compressed group increased, which was statistically different compared with the sham-operation group (P ＜ 0.05); In the meanwhile,the contents of CTGF and COL- Ⅰ,Ⅲ were positively correlated in a certain period. Conclusion Peripheral nerve fibrosis can be caused by chronic nerve compression.The expression of COL- Ⅰ,Ⅲ in sciatic nerve increased and CTGF get involved in the pathophysiological process, which suggests that CTGF plays an important role in the process of neural injury and fibrosis.

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) antibody on peripheral neural fibrosis after chronic entrapment.MethodsA total of 75 rats were randomly divided into three groups, ie, Group A (sham operation, only the sciatic nerve exposed), Group B (compression only, treated with sciatic nerve entrapment) and Group C (compression plus antibody injection).Electron microscopy, immunohistoehemistry, RT-PCR and Western blot were performed to observe the morphological changes of the compressed nerve tissue and to determine the level of TGF-β1 , collagen Ⅰ and collagen Ⅲ at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 weeks after sciatic nerve compression, respectively.Results The levels of TGF-β1 , types Ⅰ and Ⅲ collagen protein were increased significantly in the Group B compared with that in the Group A, when the expression of TGF-β1 was increased in the early phase of the compression, reached the peak at the 4th week, and then decreased slowly.The expressions of collagenⅠand collagen Ⅲ were increased after compression, reached a peak at the 6th week and then maintained a relatively high level.The number of the fibrous tissues was decreased significantly and the content of types Ⅰ and Ⅲ collagen protein declined in the Group C, with statistical difference compared with the Group B (P ＜ 0.05).ConclusionsPeripheral nerve fibrosis can be caused by chronic nerve compression.TGF-β1 plays an important role in effectively inhibiting the collagen synthesis and ameliorating the nervous fibrosis of the protein following peripheral nervous entrapment.

Alcoholism ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; physiopathology ; Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Hippocampus ; metabolism ; Learning ; drug effects ; physiology ; Male ; Memory ; drug effects ; physiology ; Phytotherapy ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate ; genetics ; metabolism ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism

Objective To investigate on the gender and age distribution characteristics of serum lipid levels among apparently healthy adult population in Beijing and analyse its related risk factors .Methods This is a prospective study.1 712 healthy individuals between 18 and 79 years old were recruited from medical examination center of Peking University Third Hospital .By strict exclusion criteria , 951 healthy individuals (429 males and 522 females) were included in our study.A calibrated automatic biochemical analyzer was used to measure TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, ApoA1, ApoB concentrations in serum.Test results were stratified by gender , age, related risk factors, and statistically analysed.Two groups of normally disthibuted data were compared using t test;multiple groups of data were compared using variance analysis . Results Results for TC (t=4.013, P<0.050), HDL-C(t=9.162, P<0.05) and ApoA1( t=8.225, P<0.05) appear generally higher in women than in men .On the contrary, males had greater levels of TG (Z=3.119, P<0.05) compared to females.There was an obvious increasing trend in TC ( F=47.984, P<0.05), TG(Chi square =146.616, P<0.05), LDL-C(F=46.024, P <0.05), non-HDL-C(F =45.027, P<0.05) and ApoB levels(F=52.020, P<0.05), as well as peaked in the 60-69 age group, decreased in 70-70 years old.The population of beneath the bachelor-degree had greater levels of ApoB ( t=5.989, P<0.05), LDL-C(t=4.445, P<0.05), TC(t=2.885, P<0.05), non-HDL-C(t=4.332, P<0.05) and TG(Z=3.346, P<0.05) compared to the group of bachelor degree or above .Meanwhile, The levels of TC(t=8.273, P<0.05), HDL-C(t=3.346, P<0.05), LDL-C(t=5.768, P<0.05), non-HDL-C(t=7.213, P<0.05), ApoA1(t=3.683, P<0.05), ApoB(t=6.267, P<0.05), TG(Z=5.626, P<0.05) of the population lived in urban area were higher than rural areas .Interestingly, the concentration of ApoA1(t=3.238, P<0.05), HDL-C( t=6.011, P<0.05) and TC(t=2.712, P<0.05) were much higher in the population of mental worker than the manual worker .BMI and waistline positively correlated with serum TG(rs=0.379, 0.443, P<0.01), TC(rs =0.160, 0.176, P<0.01), LDL-C(rs =0.238, 0.263, P <0.01), ApoB (rs =0.326, 0.371, P <0.01) and non-HDL-C(rs =0.304, 0.336, P<0.01) respectively, but negatively correlated with HDL-C(rs =-0.358, -0.386, P<0.01) and ApoA1 ( rs =-0.203, -0.209, P <0.01 ) .Conclusions The study obtained the distribution of lipid levels among apparently healthy a dult population in Beijing .It may offer objective basis for clinical risk assessment of ASCVD , and guid the clinician to choose the optimal individualized treatment .

Epilepsy is a complications of brain injury or stroke,and is a common diseases in reha-bilitation or neurology department.Transcranial magnetic stimulation as a classical treatment means for stroke or brain injury,but also can promote the recovery of epilepsy.However,there is no clear clinical re-port for safety of epilepsy patients use both donepezil and transcranial magnetic stimulation .The article re-views the literature.Clinicians maybe provided some help.

The quality markers (Q-markers) of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have become a topic of interest in TCM research in recent years. Nonetheless, there is still no consensus on how to scientifically characterize TCM Q-markers. Our study establishes an identification method for TCM Q-markers based on the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and the entropy weight comprehensive method. By constructing an evaluation system encompassing the target layer, the factor layer and the control layer, AHP can be used to analyze the weight of three core TCM quality attributes, including effectiveness, testability and specificity. Following that, the entropy weight method is employed to analyze the specific indicators for each attribute based on the literature and experimental data. Finally, the comprehensive weight of each index is obtained by combining the two weights, and the comprehensive weight and the specific value of each component is multiplied and summed to obtain the integrated score ranking, and thereby identify the TCM Q-markers. Taking Shaoyao Gancao decoction as an example, the analysis revealed that the top 8 components are as follows: paeoniflorin > quercetin > albiflorin > glycyrrhizic acid > naringenin > liquiritin > oxypaeoniflorin > benzoylpaeoniflorin, and can be identified as Q-markers of Shaoyao Gancao decoction. This study not only provides support for the establishment of quality standards and process quality control of TCM formulae, but also provides innovative ideas and methods for quantitative evaluation and accurate identification of TCM Q-markers.

Pregnane X receptor (PXR), a member of nuclear receptor superfamily, plays an important role in xenobiotic and endogenous metabolism, endocrine balance, and cell proliferation, etc. Previous study has shown that pregnenolone 16α-carbonitrile (PCN), a mouse PXR agonist, could induce liver enlargement. And we found that the change in hepatocytes exhibits regional distribution characteristics: hepatocyte enlargement occurs around the central vein (CV) area, while hepatocyte proliferation occurs around the portal vein (PV) area. In this study, the dynamic changes of hepatocytes during PXR-induced liver enlargement were determined. Serum and liver samples from male C57BL/6 mice were collected for biochemical and pathological analysis after PCN treatment for 1, 2, 3, 5 days, respectively. The animal experiment was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Sun Yat-Sen University. The results showed that with the increase in the PCN treatment days, the feature of this regional change of hepatocyte around the CV and PV areas became more and more obvious. At the same time, the factors related to hepatocyte enlargement, such as the expression of PXR downstream genes and the hepatic content of triglyceride (TG), has gradually increased. The upregulation of proliferation-related proteins and downregulation of cyclin-dependent kinases inhibitor proteins were observed in the early stage of PCN treatment, suggesting that hepatocyte proliferation occurs earlier than hepatocyte enlargement during PXR-induced liver enlargement. This study reveals the dynamic change of hepatocytes during PXR-induced liver enlargement and provides a new insight in liver enlargement promoted via PXR activation.

Development of the disease is the result of several factors involved in biological network changes. The nature of drug intervention is to regulate these pathological changes to the normal range. Advantages of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are to integrally and systematically regulate this biological networks and systematic pathology through multi-targets, multi-levels, multi-channels. Structural components TCM provides the controlled and precise basis "substance" for this regulation and also to clarify the "truth" of the nature of the regulation by the network pharmacology. Network pharmacology provides new strategy for the research on mechanism of structural components TCM. This study not only reflects the overall characteristics of the development of the disease, but also fully embodies the essence of TCM for preventing and treating diseases through changing traditional model on "one drug, one gene, one disease". This paper explores systematically the integration essence, features and research strategies of structural components TCM and the network pharmacology, understand the interaction of structural components TCM and body from the perspective of the overall concept of improving or restoring the balance of.biological networks. It is effective measure to reveal the structure of a multi-component for regulating biological networks mechanisms, and also provide new ideas and methods for further scientific research and innovation of structural component TCM.
Drug Interactions ; Drug Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Gene Regulatory Networks ; drug effects ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

Alisma orientalis is a traditional herb medicine commonly used in clinical. With the increasing report of its toxicity in clinical, the renal toxicity of Alisma orientalis has got gradually attention. This paper systematically reviews the research on the chemical material basis of Alisma orientalis including its chemical composition and toxicity of ingredients; and also declares its toxic ingredients and targets according to Network toxicology. Based on the controversy on renal toxicity of Alisma orientalis, we analyzed the possible reasons that may be associated with renal toxicity. It might be associated with the differences of the material basis composition and regulatory toxicology network, differences in employed processing technology, the metabolic function leading to accumulation of compounds, dosage and duration of the experiment and compatibility. The review provides possible reference and ideas for the quality control and rational use of Alisma orientalis.
Alisma ; chemistry ; toxicity ; Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; toxicity ; Humans ; Molecular Structure

Objective: To understand the trend of cardiovascular diseases death and disease burden caused by early death from 2009 to 2018 in Ningbo, so as to provide evidence for the prevention and control of cardiovascular disease. Methods: The monitoring data of cardiovascular diseases death from 2009 to 2018 was collected from Ningbo death cause surveillance system. The mortality rate, early death probability, years of life lost ( YLL ) and working years of potential life lost ( WYPLL ) were calculated, and the mortality rate and YLL rate were standardized by 2010 national standard population. The annual percentage change ( APC ) was used to measure the time trend. Results: From 2009 to 2018, there were 42 961 deaths from cardiovascular diseases in Ningbo, with a mortality rate of 7.35/104, a standardized mortality rate of 4.25/104, and an early death probability of 0.84%. The APC of cardiovascular disease mortality and standardized mortality were 57.488% and 6.004%, both showing an upward trend ( P<0.05 ); the APC of the probability of early death was -1.253%, showing a downward trend ( P<0.05 ). The male mortality rate was 4.16×104, which was lower than the female's 4.36/104 ( P<0.05 ). The YLL, standardized YLL rate, and WYPLL for cardiovascular diseases were 329 266.65 person-years, 3.82‰, and 18 355.63 person-years, respectively. The overall APC of YLL is 1.700%, showing an upward trend ( P<0.05 ). The standardized YLL rate of cardiovascular diseases increased with age ( P<0.05 ). with the APC of 1.503%. Ischemic heart disease and hypertensive heart disease were dominant, their YLLs were 105 949.75 and 46 015.68 person-years, respectively. Conclusion From 2009 to 2018, the mortality of cardiovascular diseases show an increasing trend, while the burden caused by early death in Ningbo reverses. Women and the elderly are high-risk groups, and ischemic heart disease and hypertensive heart disease are high-risk diseases.