To control the quality of Maca, the quality standard was established in this study. According to the methods recorded in the Appendix of Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2010 Edition), the water, extract, total ash, acid insoluble substance, and heavy metals inspections in Lepidium meyenii were carried out. N-benzyl-9Z, 12Z-octadecadienamide in L. meyenii was identified by TLC, and it was determined by HPLC. The results showed that the N-benzyl-9Z, 12Z-octadecadienamide identification of TLC was a strong mark and specificity. In content determination experiment, the linearity of N-benzyl-9Z, 12Z-octadecadienamide was in the range of 0.01-2 microg (r = 0.9998), and the average recovery (n=9) was 99.27% (RSD 2.0%). The methods were simple, accurate, with good reproducibility. It is suitable for quality control L. meyenii.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Chromatography, Thin Layer ; methods ; Lepidium ; chemistry ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo verify the pharmacological hypothesis of prescriptions by studying the targeted distribution of major components in stewed rhubarb in the rat model with acute pancreatitis (AP).

METHODNormal SD rats (control group, n = 5) and the AP model induced with intraperitoneal cerulein (model group, n = 5) were taken as the experimental objects. Rats of the two groups were orally administered with stewed rhubarb granules (20 g x kg(-1)). Their heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney and pancreas were collected two hours after the administration. Such constituents as emodin, chrysophanol, physcion, rhein and aloe-emodin and their concentrations in each tissue homogenate were detected by high performance liquid chromatography-mass-mass.

RESULTAloe-emodin and physcion in stewed rhubarb whose concentrations in liver and kidney of normal rats were higher than that in pancreatic tissues, while the distribution spectrums and concentrations of the remaining components in pancreatic tissues had no significant difference with that of other organs. The concentrations of emodin, aloe-emodin, rhein and chrysophanol in stewed rhubarb in pancreatic tissues of the AP model group were higher than that in other tissues and organs, while their concentrations in pancreatic, renal and splenic tissues were notably higher than that in the normal group.

CONCLUSIONIn the conditions of AP, effective components in stewed rhubarb show a targeted distribution feature in pancreas, which provides experimental basis for the pharmacological hypothesis of prescriptions.

Acute Disease ; Animals ; Anthraquinones ; pharmacokinetics ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacokinetics ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Male ; Organ Specificity ; Pancreatitis ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rheum ; chemistry

Objective To modify the methods of operation and establishment of cerebral ischemia rat models made by thread occlusion. Method We randomly divided 120 male SD rats into a common group (n = 50), an improvement group (n = 60) and a sham-operated group (n - 10). Rats in the common and improvement groups were made into models using the common and improvement methods separately. All models were evaluated on the basis of physical sign indices and 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining. The TTC staining results were taken as gold standards. Then, we compared the achievement ratios of the two groups, and computed the sensitivity and specificity of every physical sign index based on these standards. The χ~2 or correction χ~2 test was used to compare the ratios. Results (1) The achievement ratio in the improvement group was significantly higher than that in the common group (71.67% vs. 52.00%, P = 0.034). (2) The sensitivity of evaluation for both common and improvement methods was 98.55%. However, the specificity of evaluation for the improvement method was significantly higher than that for the common method (100.00% vs. 40.00%, P =0.000). Conclusions The establishment achievement ratio and evaluation correctness of models are obviously elevated by modification of the operation and establishment methods.

OBJECTIVETo analyze the isoforms of IKAROS in the bone marrow samples from children with acute B-lineage lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) and to investigate the relationship between frequency of dominant-negative (DN) IKAROS isoforms and prognosis of B-ALL, and to preliminarily study the relevant mechanism.

METHODSA total of 137 children with newly diagnosed B-ALL, who sequentially entered the Department of Hematology and Oncology, Shanghai Children's Medical Center between January 2005 and September 2010, were included in the study. Nest-PCR, Sanger sequencing, and TA cloning were used to analyze the expression of IKAROS isoforms in these children. The relationship between frequency of DN IKAROS isoforms and prognosis of B-ALL was investigated.

RESULTSOf the 137 children with newly diagnosed B-ALL, 16 had expression of IK6, 14 had expression of IK4, and 2 had expression of IK7. There was significant difference in 2.5-year event-free survival between the cohorts of DN IKAROS and non-DN IKAROS (P=0.01). Analysis of the 10 paired of diagnosis/relapse samples from 10 patients with recurrence showed that 8 of 10 paired diagnosis and relapse samples had inconsistent expression of IKAROS isoforms. The rate of IK6 expression in relapse samples from 21 relapse ALL patients was significantly higher than in the 137 children with newly diagnosed ALL (62% vs 12%, P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONSExpression of DN IKAROS isoforms can be a poor prognostic factor in B-ALL and is closely associated with recurrence of B-ALL.

Adolescent ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Humans ; Ikaros Transcription Factor ; genetics ; Infant ; Male ; Precursor B-Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; metabolism ; mortality ; Prognosis ; Protein Isoforms ; genetics

Adult ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; metabolism ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lung Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Male ; MyoD Protein ; metabolism ; Pneumonectomy ; Pulmonary Veins ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; S100 Proteins ; metabolism ; Sarcoma, Alveolar Soft Part ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Vascular Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery

UNLABELLEDOBJECTIVE To observe the clinical efficacy by Qingying Huoxue Decoction (QHD) combined ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) in treating patients with early and mid-term primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). METHODS Totally 78 patients were randomly assigned to the treatment group and the control group, 39 in each group. All patients received basic treatment and took UDCA (at the daily dose of 13-15 mg/kg). Patients in the treatment group took QHD, one dose per day. The treatment course for all was 6 weeks. Clinical efficacy, gamma-glutamyl transferase (γ-GGT), alkaline phospatase (ALP), TBIL, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate transaminase (AST) were observed before and after treatment. RESULTS Totally 21 (53. 8%) patients obtained complete response in the treatment group, with statistical difference when compared with that of the control group (11 cases, 30. 8%). Levels of GGT, ALP, ALT, AST, and TBIL decreased in the two groups after treatment (P < 0.01). Levels of ALP, GGT, and TBIL were obviously lower in the treatment group than in the control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSQHD combined UDCA in treating early and mid-term PBC patients was superior to the effect of using UDCA alone. It also could improve patients' liver function.

Alanine Transaminase ; metabolism ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; metabolism ; Drug Combinations ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary ; drug therapy ; Ursodeoxycholic Acid ; therapeutic use ; gamma-Glutamyltransferase ; metabolism

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the common and serious microvascular complications of diabetes. In foreign countries, DR is the leading cause of blindness in the working age group (20 - 64 years). In China, the incidence of DR and the rate of blindness increase year by year, which seriously affects the patients' quality of life. Previous studies on the pathogenesis and treatment of diabetic retinopathy were mainly focused on the microvascular; in recent years, with the deepening of researches, more and more scholars believe that DR is no longer simply a kind of microangiopathy, but is also accompanied by retinal neurodegeneration. However, studies on the pathogenesis of microvascular disease and neurodegenerative changes of diabetic retinopathy in the literature domestic and abroad are mostly single. This article reviews the relationship between microvascular disease and neurodegenerative changes in diabetic retinopathy.

Aim To study the effect of genistein on apoptosis in human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells and the underlying mechanisms. Methods MTT as-say was used to observe the inhibitory rate on human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells treated with genistein. Colony assay was used to determine the cell colony formation rate on human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells treated with genistein. Western blot was used to detect the expression of Bcl-2, Bax, caspase-3,NF-κB, ERK, p-ERK, JNK and p-JNK in human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells treated with genistein. Results The results of MTT assay showed that genistein inhibited the viability of breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells in a time- and concentration-de-pendent manner. Colony assay suggested that genistein had an antiproliferative effect on MDA-MB-231 cells. The expression levels of Bcl-2, NF-κB and p-ERK were significantly down-regulated compared with con-trol(P < 0.01). However, the expression of Bax, caspase-3 and p-JNK was significantly up-regulated(P<0.01). Conclusions Genistein could inhibit the growth of human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells and induce apoptosis,and the mechanism may be related to the inhibition of NF-κB, ERK/MAPK signaling path-ways and the activation of JNK/MAPK signaling path-way.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the diversity of germplasm resources of Artemisia annua and provide the basis for improving utilization of germplasm resources, the agronomic traits of germplasm resources of A. annua were studied in Yun-Gui plateau.

METHODThe agronomic traits of 67 A. annua germplasm resources were measured by the visual observation and measurement methods. And the germplasm resources were clustered using flexible-beta method to analysis their genetic background.

RESULTThe result showed that 67 germplasm resources had a relatively wide variation on the 22 agronomic traits. Among 22 agronomic traits, the dry weight of branch had the greatest coefficient of variation, which was 53. 63, and the next were the dry weight of leaf, total plant weight, the length of pinnules and the length of leaflet, which were 42.74, 41.61, 39.54 and 39.22 respectively. The smallest coefficient of variation was the leaf corlor. Based the result of cluster analysis, these 67 germplasm resources were classed into 5 groups, and each group had its respective character. The first group showed early-maturing resources, dwarf stalk, slender rod, long bipinnata, high leaf-stem ratio and moderate leaf weight The third group showed late-maturing resources, tall and thick stalk, much-branch, bushy accessory pinna, high leaf weight and yield. The fifth group showed very late-maturing resources, strong lateral shoot, high leaf yield.

CONCLUSIONThere were significant genetic difference and diversity in the germplasm resources of A. annua. The result of cluster analysis showed that the resources of group 1, group 3 and group 5 were suitable as breeding material of A. annua.

Artemisia annua ; classification ; genetics ; growth & development ; Biodiversity ; Biomass ; China ; Cluster Analysis

OBJECTIVETo provide the basis for improving utilization of Artemisia annua germplasm resources and breeding variety, the interrelations between artemisinin content, artemisinin yield and agronomic traits of A. annua were studied.

METHODThe artemisinin content and each agronomic trait of 63 A. annua germplasm resources were measured by the visual observation and measurement methods. And the correlation analysis, regression analysis and path analysis were adopted.

RESULTThe result showed that there were significant differences in the artemisinin content and yield of 63 germplasm resources from the main production region of A. annua. Correlation analysis showed that there were significantly positive correlation between leaf weight and artemisinin yield with stem and branch characters, but there were negative correlation between artemisinin content with leaf characters of A. annua plant. The artemisinin content of A. annua increased with the increasing of primary branch number, bottom secondary branch number, and bottom stem diameter, etc. On the other hand, it decreased with the increasing of top secondary branch number, secondary leaf axis length, and bottom branch diameter, etc. The artemisinin yield of A. annua increased with the increasing of artemisinin content, leaf weight, and bottom secondary branch number, etc., and decreased with the increasing of bottom branch diameter, middle secondary branch number, and stem weight, etc. Path analysis showed that the primary branch number and bottom secondary branch number had a direct positive effect on the artemisinin content of A. annua. But the top secondary branch number had a direct negative effect on the artemisinin content of A. annua. The leaf weight and artemisinin content had a direct positive effect on the artemisinin yield and the ratio of leaf/stem, branch weight and stem weight had a direct negative effect.

CONCLUSIONOn the breeding A. annua variety, it can take into account both high leaf yield and high artemisinin content. And it was strongly recommend that the plant with moderate plant height and crown, shortness pinnae and secondary leaf axis, less middle and top secondary branch, strong stem, higher primary branch number and bottom secondary branch number, and higher ratio leaf/stem could be selected for breeding new varieties with high leaf yield and high artemisinin content.

Artemisia annua ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Artemisinins ; analysis ; Biomass ; Plant Extracts ; analysis ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Plant Stems ; chemistry ; growth & development