The aim of this study was to fabricate biomatrix/polymer hybrid scaffolds using an electrospinning technique. Then tissue engineered heart valves were engineered by seeding mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) onto the scaffolds. The effects of the hybrid scaffolds on the proliferation of seed cells, formation of extracellular matrix and mechanical properties of tissue engineered heart valves were investigated. MSCs were obtained from rats. Porcine aortic heart valves were decellularized, coated with poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) using an electrospinning technique, and reseeded and cultured over a time period of 14 days. In control group, the decellularized valve scaffolds were reseeded and cultured over an equivalent time period. Specimens of each group were examined histologically (hematoxylin-eosin [HE] staining, immunohistostaining, and scanning electron microscopy), biochemically (DNA and 4-hydroxyproline) and mechanically. The results showed that recellularization was comparable to the specimens of hybrid scaffolds and controls. The specimens of hybrid scaffolds and controls revealed comparable amounts of cell mass and 4-hydroxyproline (P>0.05). However, the specimens of hybrid scaffolds showed a significant increase in mechanical strength, compared to the controls (P<0.05). This study demonstrated the superiority of the hybrid scaffolds to increase the mechanical strength of tissue engineered heart valves. And compared to the decellularized valve scaffolds, the hybrid scaffolds showed similar effects on the proliferation of MSCs and formation of extracellular matrix. It was believed that the hybrid scaffolds could be used for the construction of tissue engineered heart valves.

Three new compounds, including a naphthoquinone, a reduced naphthoquinone derivative naphthalenone, and a tricarboxylic acid, along with five known naphthalenone derivatives were isolated from ethyl acetate extract of rice fermentation products of the fungus Pleosporales sp. by multiple column chromatographic methods, including Sephadex LH-20 gel column chromatography, silica gel column chromatography, reversed-phase HPLC, and chiral chromatography. Their structures were elucidated by MS, NMR, and specific rotation spectroscopic analyses as well as ECD calculations. Three novel compounds were named as pleospathone A (1), pleospathone B (2), and pleosporalic acid A (3). Five known compounds were separately identified as (3S,4R)-3,4,8-trihydroxy-6-methyl-3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-one (4), (4R)-3,4-dihydro-4,6,8-trihydroxy-1(2H)-naphthalenone (5), (-)-scytalone (6), (3S,4S)-3,4-dihydro-3,4,6,8-tetrahydroxy-1(2H)-naphthalenone (7), and cis-4-hydroxyscytalone (8). Compounds 4-8 were isolated from the Pleosporales fungi for the first time. Compound 1 shows inhibitory activities against human cervical carcinoma cell line HeLa and murine leukemia cell line P388 with the IC₅₀ values of 78.93 and 98.80 μmol·L^-1, respectively.

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) received input from multiple cortical and subcortical areas, and integrated relevant information to other cortical and subcortical areas. mPFC play an important role in neuropsychiatric events such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, as well as in neuropsychiatric processes such as cognitive, social, and reward behaviors. This article reviews the role and molecular mechanism of the neural circuitry in the medial prefrontal cortex in neuropsychiatric diseases, especially the recent research progress.

The aim of this study was to improve the stability and cover the unpleasant odor of valerian oil by preparation of beta-cyclodextrin inclusion complex. The preparation method was established based on the yield of inclusion complex and entrapment efficiency of valerian volatile oil. After that, the formulation and processing parameters were optimized by uniform design table. The formations of inclusion complex were validated by DSC and X-RD method. The stability of valerian oil beta-cyclodextrin inclusion was studied under stressed conditions. In conclusion, relatively high yield of inclusion complex and entrapment efficiency were obtained by saturated solution-ultrasonication method. Inclusion complex yield and entrapment efficiency of the valerian oil were (84.78 +/- 3.23)% and (86.23 +/- 2.48)%, which were prepared under the optimized conditions, respectively. The results of DSC and X-RD were indicated the formation of inclusion complex. The stability of test showed that the valerian oil-beta-cyclodextrin inclusion complex was improved significantly.
Drug Stability ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Odorants ; Oils, Volatile ; chemistry ; Valerian ; chemistry ; beta-Cyclodextrins ; chemistry

Acute cerebral infarction(ACI)has the characteristics of onset nasty and high mortality,and thus the rapid determination of the occurrence and development of ACI plays a key role in the diagnosis,treatment and prognosis of ACI patients.It has shown that the serum level of human haptoglobin(Hp)is related to ACI.In this study,surface enhanced Raman scattering(SERS)combined with immune recognition was applied to establish a quantitative analysis method for serum Hp.Firstly,the SERS substrate of silver nanoparticles was prepared on silicon wafer,and 4-mercaptobenzoic Acid(MBA)was used as a Raman probe by forming Ag—S bond and connecting it on the surface of nanoparticles.The carboxyl group of MBA was linked to amino group of self-made high-affinity antibody through forming CO—NH structure thus forming a SERS self-assembled chip of Hp(Ag/MBA/anti-Hp).Hp in serum could be specifically captured by antibodies on SERS substrate,which caused the shift of SERS characteristic peak of MBA.The results showed that there was a good linear relationship between the logarithm of Hp concentration and the SERS characteristic peak shift of MBA.The detection range was 1-1000 ng/mL(R2=0.988).The Hp concentrations in serum of 90 ACI patients were determined by this method,and the results were consistent with those of ELISA method,which proved the practicability and accuracy of this method.This method was highly specific,simple and convenient,which could realize the specific recognition and quantitative analysis of serum Hp,so as to be an effective means for clinical detection of serum Hp,thus providing a reference for the treatment and prognosis of ACI.

Objective To explore a sensitive method and index to evaluate renal functional reserve (RFR) in patients with early diabetic nephropathy (DN) using protein loading-scintirenography.Methods Fifty subjects were studied and divided into 3 groups.Group one (G1) consisted of 14 healthy volunteers;Group two (G2) consisted of 15 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and normoalbuminuria; Group three (G3) consisted of 21 patients with type 2 DM and microalbuminuria.All subjects underwent baseline and protein loading-99 Tcm-DTPA scintirenography within one week.RFR was calculated as the difference between stimulated and baseline glomerular filtration rate (GFR), time of peak ( Tb ), time of half excretion ( C1/2 ), residual rate at 20 min ( C20/b ) .Variance analysis and t-test were used to analyze the group differences.Results ( 1 ) The RFR in terms of GFR had statistical difference between any two groups (t=14.884, 32.180, 16.042, all P＜0.01).After protein-loading, the GFR of G1, G2 and G3 increased 20.1, 10.9 and 2.2 ml·min-1·1.73 m-2 respectively.Therefore, the RFR decreased before microalbuminuria in type 2 DM patients.(2)There was statistical difference between the RFR of G1 and G2 in terms of C1/2 (t = 5.505, P＜0.05 ), and between G1 and G3 ( t = 8.914, P＜0.01 ).(3) There was statistical difference of the RFR in terms of TP between G1 and G3 (t = 5.690, P ＜ 0.01 ).(4) There was statistical difference of the RFR in terms of C20/b between G1 and G3 (t= 4.376, P＜0.05 ).Conclusions 99Tcm-DTPA protein loading-scintirenography is an effective method for measuring RFR to evaluate early DN in type 2 DM patients.

Reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is a convenient and highly efficient method for the detection of mRNA in tissues or body fluid samples.It has the characteristics of easy operation,high sensitivity and specificity,etc.With a wide application in medicine,biology and other fields,RT-qPCR technique has made some progresses in the research field of forensic pathology.This paper reviews the application value of RT-qPCR in the study of forensic pathology and current situation,as well as the research progress at home and abroad reviews.It also summarizes the notes of samples extraction,RT-qPCR experiments and data processing,which aims to provide reference for the forensic research and its application.

Objective To determine whether morphine having the ability to influence the antiviral effect of lamivudine(3TC)in vitro study.Methods MT2 cells were randomly assigned into morphine+3TC treatment group,morphine+naloxone+3TC treatment group,naloxone+3TC treatment group.Both 3TC and virus control groups were set up.The corresponding MT2 cells were treated with opiates antagonist(naloxone)for 0.5 hours before the 24-hours morphine treatment program was implemented while all of the groups were then infected with equal amounts of cell-free HIV-1 ⅢB strain and 3TC.HIV-1 p24 antigen in culture supernatants collected at days 3,4,5 and 6after infection status was tested and the inhibition of 3TC anti-HIV-1 p24 antigen of various treatment groups calculated.Results Inhibition of 3TC anti-HIV-1 p24 antigen of Morphine+3TC treatment group was the lowest when HIV-1 infected cells at 3rd and 4th day and showed significant difierence (P<0.05)when compared to the 3TC control.However,there was no statistically significant difference among them(P>0.05),when virus was infected the cells at 5th and 6th day.The difference of 3TC anti-HIV-1 p24 antigen inhibition between the morphine+naloxone+3TC treatment group and the naloxone+3TC treatment group was not significant(P>0.05).Similar results were obtained when these two groups were compared to the 3TC control group(P>0.05),respectively.The 3TC anti-HIV-1 p24 antigen inhibition of each treatment group reduced as the time of infection prolonged,showing a significant and time-course effbct.Conclusion The 3TC antiviral effect was reduced by morphine in the early stage of infection,and could be blocked by naloxone.

The effect of induction temperature on aggregation of consensus interferon-alpha expressed by Pichia pastoris was investigated. The cell growth and cIFN level were analyzed and compared when Pichia pastoris was grown at 30,25,20 degrees C during induction phase, using 5.0L fermentor. The result suggested that the cell growth was not affected much under the different induction temperature, but the protein level declined markedly with the decrease of the induction temperature. The total protein ammount induced at 20 degrees C was 67.8 percent of that at 30 degrees C. SDS-PAGE and native-PAGE as well as Western blotting analysis were further conducted. The electrophoresis results revealed that cIFN formed aggregates after secreted into media when protein was induced at 30 degrees C but this problem can be restored by decreasing the induction temperature to 20 degrees C. cIFN monomer in supernatant arrived at 570mg/L and bioactivity of fermentation broth reached 1.05 x 10(9) IU/mL at 20 degrees C of induction temperature. The amount of cIFN monomer and bioactivity in supernatant elevated 7.2 and 38.7 times, respectively, when the induction temperature was controlled at 20 degrees C instead of conventional 30 degrees C.
Fermentation ; Humans ; Interferon Type I ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Interferon-alpha ; Pichia ; genetics ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Temperature

Acupuncturists have always paid high attention to deqi (needling sensation) in clinical. However, relationship between deqi and curative effect has not been elucidated yet. In order to have a further understanding on effect of deqi on clinical effect, through study on literature associated with deqi since the establishment of People's Republic of China in 1949, it is held that various factors can influence therapeutic effect of acupuncture treatment, including whether needling sensation appears or not, the speed of deqi, the intensity of deqi, different types of sensations as well as propagated sensation along meridians (PSM). Joint launched multidisciplinary researches should be carried out to reveal the influence principle of deqi on acupuncture effect, and to lay foundations for the further studies on mechanism of deqi.
Acupuncture ; Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Humans ; Meridians ; Qi ; Treatment Outcome