Objective To investigate the effects of antioxidant response element (ARE) activator- 5,6-dihydrocyclopenta[ C ]-1,2-dithiole-3-thione (CPDT) on organotypic spinal cord cultures and to study whether this activation can protect motor neurons from oxidative stress.Methods Organotypic spinal cord cultures were prepared using lumbar spinal cord slices from 8-day-old rat.Threo-hydroxyaspartate (THA) was continuously added into the culture medium for 3 weeks,which caused selective motor neuron death. Thus,the in vitro model of amyotrophic Lateral sclerosis (ALS) was established.15,30 ?mol/L of CPDT were added into the culture medium respectively.Ventral motor neurons survival was evaluated by immunohistochemical staining with monoclonal antibody SMI-32,a nonphosphorylated neurofilament marker. Ultrastructure was observed with electronic microscope.Results The pretreatment of organotypic spinal cord cultures with different concentrations of CPDT significantly increase the total number of ventral motor neurons (15?mol/L:(15.81?6.97) perexplant;30?mol/L:(16.25?6.74) perexplant respectively) compared with THA group ((5.31?5.76) perexplant) and the former had plentiful neurite extensions (n= 15,P

This is to report the screening, extracting and validating antitumor components and compounds from Stellera chamaejasme L. under the case of discrete distribution of active data. In this work, different components from Stellera chamaejasme L. were collected by HPD macroporous resin and polyamide resin column, and their antitumor activity on A549 were tested by MTT assay. Activity results indicate that activity of components at 30-39 min is more potent than that of Stellera chamaejasme L. extract, and the activity of components at 33.97 min is equivalent to positive drug, cis-platinum at 100 microg x mL(-1), but with totally different mode of action. Under the case of discrete activity, the weight analysis is capable of screening active components and compounds from natural products.
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor ; Humans ; Thymelaeaceae ; chemistry

Cell Transformation, Neoplastic ; drug effects ; genetics ; Dimethyl Sulfoxide ; pharmacology ; Electroporation ; methods ; HL-60 Cells ; Humans ; Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; Neoplasm Proteins ; genetics ; RNA Interference ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; Stromal Interaction Molecule 1 ; Transfection

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of different pH on rectum permeability of chlorogenic acid and geniposide.

METHODFour kinds of Reduning suppositories of different pH were separated and put into the rectum to study the suppositories in vitro and the content of chlorogenic acid and geniposide samples was determined by HPLC to calculate the permeation in 24 hours.

RESULTWith increase of pH within 2.5-7.4, the steady state flux of chlorogenic acid was increased, but the steady state flux of geniposidesamples was steady.

CONCLUSIONAdjusted the pH can increase the rectum permeability of active ingredients in Reduning auppositories.

Animals ; Chlorogenic Acid ; pharmacokinetics ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacokinetics ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Iridoids ; pharmacokinetics ; Male ; Permeability ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rectum ; metabolism ; Suppositories ; pharmacokinetics

Inflammation plays an essential role in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis. Our study was aimed to investigate whether salvianolate, a novel water-soluble phenolic compound of Danshen, alleviates atherosclerosis via regulating the inflammation in rats. High fat diet feeding plus vitamin D3 injection was used to induce atherosclerosis in rats. Salvianolate (60, 120 or 240 mg/kg) or placebo was given to atherosclerotic rats. The plasma lipids, interleukin 6 (IL-6) and C reactive protein (CRP) were measured by ELISA. CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells were determined by flow cytometry. Histological changes were examined by hematoxylin and eosin staining. The results showed that the levels of plasma IL-6 and CRP were elevated in the rats fed on high fat diet, and the histological analysis demonstrated the successful establishment of atherosclerosis models. Treatment with salvianolate alleviated the atherosclerotic process and decreased the levels of plasma IL-6 and CRP. Also the number of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells was increased in salvianolate-treated rats. It was concluded that salvianolate could treat atherosclerosis via modulating the inflammation at cytokine and cell levels.

The theoretical basis of the alcohol precipitation process control was provided, the alcohol precipitation was optimized and the relationship equation was got. The monod glycoside, loganin and paeoniflorin were used as the evaluation indexes to determine the impact factors of alcohol precipitation techniques of Liuwei Dihuang decoction by the Plackett-Burman experimental design and the levels of non-significant factors were identified. Then, Box-Behnken response surface methodology was used to research and discuss the critical process parameters influence the effect of alcohol precipitation and draw interaction between key process parameters and the correlation equation with index components. Through the establishment and solving the quadratic regression model of composite score, the optimum preparation conditions of alcohol precipitation techniques of liuwei were as follows: stirring speed was 580 r x min(-1), standing time was 17 hours, alcohol concentration was 34%, the density of Liuwei Dihuang decoction was 1.13. The response surface methodology for optimized alcohol precipitation techniques of Liuwei Dihuang decoction is. reasonable and feasible.
Chemical Precipitation ; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Ethanol ; chemistry

Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma and Atractylodis Rhizoma were widely used in strengthening spleen under different disease conditions, and were easily and often misused each other. Therefore, DNA barcode was used to distinguish Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma and Atractylodis Rhizoma from their adulterants to ensure the safe use. The sequence lengths of ITS2 of Atractylodes macrocephala, Atractylodis Rhizoma (A. lancea, A. japonica and A. coreana) were both 229 bp. Among the ITS2 sequences of A. macrocephala, only one G/C transversion was detected at site 98, and the average GC content was 69.42%. No variable site was detected in the ITS2 sequences of A. lancea. The maximum K2P intraspecific genetic distances of both A. japonica and A. coreana were 0.013. The maximum K2P intraspecific genetic distances of A. macrocephala, A. lancea, A. japonica and A. coreana were less than the minimum interspecific genetic distance of adulterants. The ITS2 sequences in each of these polytypic species were separated into pairs of divergent clusters in the NJ tree. DNA barcoding could be used as a fast and accurate identification method to distinguish Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma, Atractylodis Rhizoma, from their adulterants to ensure its safe use.
Atractylodes ; classification ; genetics ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; methods ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Drug Contamination ; prevention & control ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; classification ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Quality Control ; Rhizome ; classification ; genetics

AIM To investigate the effect of fenofibrate and simvastatin on the serum free fatty acids of alcoholic fatty liver in rats. METHODS The rat model of alcoholic fatty liver was reproduced by chronic ethanol ingestion plus olive oil diet. The model rats were divided into three groups as follows: finofibrate treatment group(finofibrate 80 mg?kg -1 po, once a day),simvastatin treatment group (simvastatin 4 mg?kg -1 po, once a day)and control group without either above-mentioned treatment. Experimental rats were treated for four weeks and then sacrificed for blood sampling. Serum free fatty acids were analyzed by gas chromatography. RESULTS Fenofibrate significantly ameliorated the decrease in polyunsaturated fatty acids induced by ethanol [oleic acid:(38.212?7.788) ?g?L -1 vs (31.620?6.142) ?g?L -1,linoleic acid:(37.269?8.065) ?g?L -1 vs (30.254?9.063) ?g?L -1,arachidonic acid:(11.646?2.601) ?g?L -1 vs (9.012?1.236) ?g?L -1] accompanied by the improvement of the fat infiltration of the liver, but demonstrated no effect on the increase in serum saturated fatty acids by ethanol. In the contrast, simvastatin can aggravate the decrease in polyunsatrurated fatty acids and significantly increase the levels of satrurated fatty acids in serum induced by ethanol along with the pathological aggravation of alcoholic fatty liver. CONCLUSION The results of present study revealed that fenofibrate and simvastatin exerted different effect on the serum free fatty acids of alcoholic fatty liver. Polyunsatrurated fatty acids in the serum play an important role in the pathogenesis and treatment response of alcoholic fatty liver.

Objective To evaluate the clinical significance of CT angiography(CTA)in the diagnosis of arterioportal shunts(APS)associated with hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).Methods One hundred and twenty-seven consecutive HCC patients accepted both dynamic enhancement CT and DSA examinations.The interval between CT and DSA exam was from 3 to 15 days.Based on transverse CT images in hepatic artery phase,CTA was performed for all the patients.By contrast with DSA results,the capabilities of transverse CT and transverse images combined with CTA in APS diagnosis were analyzed. Results In all 127 HCC cases,52 cases with APS were confirmed by DSA(40.94%),33 with central type of APS and 19 with peripheral type.Diagnostic sensitivity of APS based on transverse CT and combined CTA with transverse CT images were both 94.23%(49/52).However,specificity was 84.00%(63/75) and 97.33%(73/75),respectively,accuracy was 88.19%(112/127)and 96.06%(122/127),the predictive value of positive cases was 80.33%(49/61)and 96.08%(49/51),and the predictive value of negative cases was 95.45%(63/66)and 96.05%(73/76).Combined with CTA,false positive cases of 4 central type of APS and 6 peripheral type of APS were excluded which were demonstrated by transverse CT images.By contrast with DSA,the coincidence rate of the type of APS diagnosed by transverse images combined with CTA was 88.46%(46/52),including 90.91%(30/33)of central type of APS and 84.21%(16/19)of peripheral type.The supplying arteries of central type of APS were intuitively displayed by CTA in 23 cases,19 from proper hepatic artery and 4 from gastro-duodenal artery.Conclusion CTA techniques based on the dynamic enhancement CT exams could effectively promote the specificity and the accuracy of APS diagnosis.

Chinese medicinal formulae (CMF) were usually used in the clinics of traditional Chinese medicines (TCM), which were critical for modernization of Chinese medicine to shed light on the interaction between CMF and biological organisms. However, correlation between system and part, macroscopic actions and microcosmic mechanism, ADME process and pharmacologic actions were usually neglected. The put-forward of integrative pharmacology provided a feasible approach to solve the problem of the fragmentation of TCM. For the past years, we applied the strategy of integrative pharmacology to study Yuanhu Zhitong prescription( YZP) systematically, and established two modes, chemical fingerprints-metabolism fingerprints-network targets and intestinal absorption-activity evaluation-data mining, to establish the interaction rule between the chemical composition and biological activity from multiple levels, such as the calculation and in vitro/vivo, which provided proof for the quality control, pharmacodynamic material basis and pharmacological action of YZP. In this paper, we summarized the related progresses of the research of YZP.
Drug Combinations ; Drug Prescriptions ; Drug Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Molecular Structure