To investigate the effects of Caulis Sargentodoxae Granule (CSG), a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine for treating endometriosis, on expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptor-2 fetal liver kinase-1 (Flk-1) in rats with endometriosis.

Aim To investigate the proliferative effect and the apoptosis of rat epididymal epithelial cells induced by podophyllotoxin and its underlying mechanisms.Methods Primary epididymal epithelial cells were cultured in vitro.CCK-8 assay was used to analyze proliferation of epididymal epithelial cells induced by podophyllotoxin on 24, 48 and 72 h.The ultra structural changes of the epididymal epithelial cells were observed by transmission electron microscope.AnnexinV-FITC/PI staining was used to quantify the percentages of apoptosis in the total cell population.The TdTmediated dUTP nick end labeling(TUNEL) technique was applied to observe the morphological changes of apoptotic cells.The expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha(TNF-α) mRNA was investigated by real-time RT-PCR.The level of TNF-α in cell culture supernatant was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) technology.Western blot was per-formed to determine the protein expression of cytochrome C, caspase-3, caspase-8, caspase-9.Results Podophyllotoxin significantly inhibited the activity of proliferation and induced apoptosis of epididymal epithelial cells in a dose-and time-dependent manner(P<0.05), with a 50％ inhibitory concentration(IC50) value and corresponding 95％ confidence intervals(CI) of 59.36(15.50～227.41), 0.37(0.080～1.70), 0.077(0.017～0.35) μmol·L-1 at 24, 48 and 72 h, respectively.Podophyllotoxin induced cell volume turned round and cell nuclear fragmentation and mitochondrial vacuolation.RT-PCR and ELISA results showed that podophyllotoxin improved the expression of TNF-α mRNA and protein.Western blot results demonstrated that podophyllotoxin activated the protein expression of cytochrome C, caspase-3, caspase-8 and caspase-9.Conclusion Podophyllotoxin can induce rat epididymal epithelial cell apoptosis through both the mitochondria-regulated intrinsic pathway and the TNF receptor-mediated extrinsic pathway.

Objective:To explore the role of endothelial biomarkers in predicting damp-heat syndrome in diabetic kidney disease (DKD).Methods:A total of 183 patients with DKD were divided into 3 groups:the early DKD group,established DKD group,and advanced DKD group.All patients were classified according to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome type,and clinical indexes were collected for statistical analysis.Results:A total of 183 DKD patients were included in this study.Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23),chitinase-3-like protein 1 (CHI3L1),endocan,tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1),secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI),and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) were increased in advanced DKD.FGF23,CHI3L1,endocan,SLPI,and TNFR1 showed a negative correlation with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR),while they had a positive correlation with 24 h urine protein.After adjusting for age,gender,diabetes duration,body mass index (BMI),hemoglobin,glucose,uric acid,24 h urine protein,cholesterol,triglyceride,low-density lipoprotein,and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c),the multiple regression analysis showed that FGF23,endocan,TNFR1,and SLPI significantly correlated with eGFR.Conclusions:FGF23,endocan,TNFR1,and SLPI are elevated in advanced DKD compared with early stage,and they may take part in the pathogenesis and progression of DKD.Our study provides useful bio-markers for predicting the appearance of damp-heat syndrome,including FGF23,endocan,TNFR1,and SLPI.

Objective To understand the serotype, drug resistance and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing of Salmonella isolated from meat products in Hengyang from 2020 to 2022, so as to provide scientific data for the prevention and control of food-borne Salmonella infection in our city. Methods All 101 Salmonella isolated from meat products were serotyped, drug sensitivity tests were performed with micro broth dilution method, molecular typing was performed using PFGE, clustering analysis was performed with BioNumerics software, and statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 18.0 software. Results The total detection rate of Salmonella from meat sources in Hengyang City from 2020 to 2022 was 38.55% (101/262). Totally 23 different serotypes were detected in the 101 strains of Salmonella among which S. London (21.78%, 22/101),was the dominant serotypes. Seventy nine Salmonella strains showed different levels of drug resistance, with a multi drug resistance rate of 42.57% (43/101). Eighty nine different PFGE bands were found in the 101 strains of Salmonella, with a similarity of approximately 55% to 100%. Conclusion Different Salmonella Serotype are widely distributed, and the antibiotic resistance rate is very high. The PFGE map are polymorphic, and the homology of PFGE bands in Salmonella from different sources is relatively low.