Objective To investigate the correlation between the degree of liver fibrosis and Aspartate aminotransferase-to-Platelet Ratio Index ( APRI ) in children with biliary atresia ( BA ) , and evaluate the clinical significance of liver fibrosis in biliary atresia.Methods A total of 97 patients with diagnosed BA were recruited between January 2010 and June 2013.AST, PLT and APRI were determined one week before laparotomy.The severity of hepatic tibrosis was.Judged by Metavir system the correlation among AST, PLT, APRI and severity of liver fibrosis were evaluated, and their diagnostic value for degree of liver fibrosis was analyzed by ROC.Results Sera AST levels and PLT counts of BA patients were found to be positively(r=0.367, P<0.01) and negatively(r=-0.403, P<0.01) correlated with Metavir scores of liver fibrosis, respectively.There existed positive correlation between APRI and the severity of hepatic fibrosis (r=0.541, P<0.01).The area under ROC curve of APRI to diagnose none or mild fibrosis and moderately severe fibrosis was 0.78, with sensitivity of 77.9%and specificity of 62.1%at the optimal cut-off value of 0.75; the area under ROC curve of APRI to diagnose moderately severe fibrosis with liver cirrhosis arrived 0.85, with sensitivity of 75.0% and specificity of 89.4% at the optimal cut-off value of 1.77.The accuracy of none or mild fibrosis, moderate fibrosis and cirrhosis diagnosed by APRI were 73.2%, 64.9%, 87.6%, respectively.Conclusion APRI can be used as a non-invasive parameter to assess the severity of hepatic fibrosis with BA.

OBJECTIVETo investigate mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) immunosuppressive activity in the presence of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) to reveal synergistic immunomodulatory effects of IFN-γ and MSCs.

METHODS① MSCs were cultured in the presence or absence of IFN-γ（100 ng/ml）, the supernatants were collected for measurements of PGE2、HGF and TGF-β1 by ELISA kits. ② MSCs were cultured in the presence or absence of IFN-γ （100 ng/ml）for 48 h. The cDNA was analysed for the expression of human indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase（IDO）mRNA by semiquantitative RT-PCR. ③ Mononuclear cells (MNCs) were extracted from peripheral blood of healthy donors. The T cell proliferation was tested in the co-culture system added with MSCs, recombinant human IFN-γ (100 ng/ml) and anti-IFN-γ mAb (5 μg/ml) by BrdU ELISA kit.

RESULTS①The immunosuppressive cytokines PGE2、HGF and TGF-β1 were detectable within 24-48 h in the supernatants. Their expressions were significantly up-regulated in the presence of IFN-γ. Concentrations of these cytokines were as of (1715.5±628.6) pg/ml vs (1344.5±709.4) pg/ml (P=0.001);(4031.8±1496.8) pg/ml vs (2452.4±1375.3) pg/ml（P=0.011）;(1753.5±413.8) pg/ml vs (1026.6±450.5) pg/ml（P<0.001）,respectively. ②The expression of IDO mRNA was undetectable when MSCs were cultured alone. In contrast, The IDO mRNA expression was remarkably enhanced in the presence of IFN-γ. ③Bone marrow-derived MSCs remarkably suppressed allogeneic T cell proliferation in vitro. Addition of exogenous IFN-γ had no significant effect on the inhibitory capacity of MSCs, the inhibitory ratios of T cell proliferation were （40.4±10.9）% vs（36.7±7.4）% (P=0.272). By contrast, the inhibitory ratio of T cell proliferation was significantly decreased in the presence of anti-IFN-γ mAb[(40.4±10.9)% vs (23.9±7.6)%,P=0.002].

CONCLUSION①Human MSCs constitutively expressed immunosuppressive concentrations of PGE2, HGF and TGF-β1, and their expressions were significantly up-regulated by IFN-γ. ②IFN-γ-induced expression of IDO on MSCs involved in tryptophan catabolism. ③MSCs notably suppressed allogeneic T cell proliferation in vitro. IFN-γ promoted the immunosuppressive capacity of human MSCs, indicating the synergistic immunomodulatory effect of IFN-γ and MSCs.

Bone Marrow Cells ; immunology ; Cell Proliferation ; Cells, Cultured ; Coculture Techniques ; Cytokines ; immunology ; Humans ; Immune Tolerance ; Interferon-gamma ; pharmacology ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; immunology ; T-Lymphocytes ; cytology

Objective To establish a ultra performance liquid chroma-tography-mass spectrometry to determine the content of cyclosporine in mice.Methods Mobile phase was methanol -water (90∶10), chroma-tographic column was: Hypersill C18column (100 mm×2.1 mm, 1.9 μm) and internal standard substance : Cyclosporine A, ion mode of ESI +was applied to determine cyclosporine and multi -response monitoring mode was used (MRM, cyclosporine m/z: 1224.9 ).Results Working solution over the concentration range of 10 ～200 ng · mL-1 (R＝0.9986) worked well for the determination of cyclosporine in mice cornea homogenate.The lowest concentration was 3.3 ng· mL-1.The average extraction recovery rate of cyclosporine in mice cornea reached almost 80%(n＝6), and RSD was less than 12%.The intra-precision was less than 10.12%and the inter -precision was less than 11.75%. Conclusion The established method was sensitivity , specific, repea-table for cyclosporine determination in mice cornea .

This study aims to investigate the network pharmacology of Chinese medicinal formulae for treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Machine learning algorithms were applied to construct classifiers in predicting the active molecules against 25 key targets toward Alzheimer's disease (AD). By extensive data profiling, we compiled 13 classical traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulas with clinical efficacy for AD. There were 7 Chinese herbs with a frequency of 5 or higher in our study. Based on the predicted results, we built constituent-target, and further construct target-target interaction network by STRING (Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins) and target-disease network by DAVID (Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery) and gene disease database to study the synergistic mechanism of the herbal constituents in the Chinese traditional patent medicine. By prediction of blood-brain penetration and validation by TCMsp (traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology) and Drugbank, we found 7 typical multi-target constituents which have diverse structure. The mechanism uncovered by this study may offer a deep insight into the action mechanism of TCMs for AD. The predicted inhibitors for the AD-related targets may provide a good source of new lead constituents against AD.

Ten fractions(A-J) were prepared by separation of Longxue Tongluo Capsules(LTC) by using silica gel column chromatography and orthogonal experimental design,showing similar chemical profiles with different abundances of peaks.These ten samples were assessed with UHPLC-QE OrbitrapHRMS for 97 common peaks.For the pharmacological activity experiment,three kinds of in vitro cell models including lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-induced BV-2 microglial cells NO release model,oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation(OGD/R)-treated HUVEC vascular endothelial cells injury model,and OGD/R-treated PC-12 nerve cells injury model were employed to evaluated the bioactivity of each fraction.Based on the contribution of each identified component,grey relation analysis and partial least squares(PLS) analysis were performed to establish component-activity relationship of LTC,identify the potential active components.After that,validation of the potential active components in LTC was carried out by using the same models.The results indicated that 4 phenolic compounds including 7,4'-dihydroxyhomoisoflavanone,loureirin C,4,4'-dihydroxy-2,6-dimethoxydihydrochalcone,and homoisosocotrin-4'-ol,might be the active components for anti-neuroinflammation effect;five phenolic compounds such as 3,5,7,4'-tetrahydroxyhomoisoflavanone,loureirin D,7,4'-dihydroxyhomoisoflavane,and 5,7-dihydroxy-4'-methoxy-8-methyflavane,might have positive effects on the vascular endothelial injury;three phenolic compounds including 5,7,4'-trihydroxyflavanone,7,4'-dihydroxy-5-methoxyhomoisoflavane,and loureirin D,might be the active components in LTC against neuronal injury.
Brain Ischemia ; drug therapy ; Capsules ; Cell Line ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Glucose ; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells ; drug effects ; Humans ; Microglia ; drug effects ; Oxygen

As an important integral part of traditional Chinese medicine chemical biology( TCMCB),it is of great importance to rapid isolate,and reliably identify the chemical components in herbal medicines. Phytochemical studies on the anti-inflammatory active part of Chinese dragon's blood,the red resin of Dracaena cochinchinensis,resulted in the isolation of two compounds,nordracophane( 1) and dracophane( 2),using LC-MS and chromatographic techniques( Silica gel,ODS and preparative HPLC). The structures,cyclic dihydrochalcane trimers,were elucidated on the basis of 1 D and 2 D NMR,MS,IR and UV spectral analysis. Compound 1 is a new compound,and 2 is isolated from D. cochinchinensis for the first time. Both compounds exhibited significant inhibition of nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharides( LPS)-stimulated RAW264. 7 cells with IC50 values of( 14. 9±4. 50) and( 9. 0±0. 7) μmol·L-1.
Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; isolation & purification ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Dracaena ; Mass Spectrometry ; Mice ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Plant Extracts ; isolation & purification ; RAW 264.7 Cells