Danhong injection is a compound preparation of traditional Chinese medicine Salvia miltiorrhiza and Carthamus tinctorius, and has been widely applied in treating coronary heart diseases and ischemic encephalopathy in clinic. Despite the complexity of its chemical compounds and the diversity of targets, especially in system biology, there have not a report for its action mechanism as a whole regulatory biological network. In this study, protein data of S. miltiorrhiza and C. tinctorius were searched in TCMGeneDIT database and agilent literature search (ALS) system to establish the multi-component protein network of S. miltiorrhiza, C. tinctorius and Danhong injection. Besides, the protein interaction network was built based on the protein-protein interaction in Genecards, BIND, BioGRID, IntAct, MINT and other databases. According to the findings, 10 compounds of S. miltiorrhiza and 14 compounds of C. tinctorius were correlated with proteins. The 24 common compounds had interactions with 81 proteins, and formed a protein interaction network with 60 none-isolated nodes. The Cluster ONE module was applied to make an enrichment analysis on the protein interaction network and extract one sub-network with significant difference P <0.05. The sub-network contains 23 key proteins, which involved five signaling pathways, namely Nod-like receptor signaling pathway, epithelial cell signaling in helicobacter pylori infection, Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, RIG-I-like receptor signaling pathway and neurotrophin signaling pathway through KEGG signaling pathway mapping. In this study, the computational system biology approach was adopted to preliminarily explain the molecular mechanism of main compounds of Danhong injection in preventing and treating diseases and provide reference for systematic studies on traditional Chinese medicine compounds.
Computational Biology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Injections ; Protein Interaction Maps ; Signal Transduction

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of tacrolimus on cell proliferation and osteoblastic differentiation of primary human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs). METHODS hBMSCs were cultured with tacrolimus 0.001-5 μmol·L-1. BrdU incorporation was used to assess the cell proliferation while cellular alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and calcium deposition were measured to evaluate the osteoblastic differentiation of hBMSCs cultures. The calcineurin (CaN) activity was also examined using commercial CaN assay kit, and core binding factor 1 alpha subunit (Cbfα1) protein level was determined by Western blotting. RESULTSTacrolimus 0.001-0.1 μmol·L-1 promoted BrdU incorporation but had no effect on ALP activity and calcium deposition, whereas tacrolimus 0.5-5 μmol·L-1 resulted in significant decrease in both cell proliferation and osteoblastic maturation, by reducing BrdU incorporation, ALP activity, and calcium deposition of hBMSCs cultures in a concentration-dependent manner. In addition, tacrolimus 0.5-5 μmol·L-1 led to concentration-dependent decrement in CaN activity, which was consistent with down-regulated Cbfα1 protein in the tacrolimus treated cells. CONCLUSION High concentration of tacrolimus might inhibit the cell proliferation and osteoblastic differentiation of hBMSCs cultures through a CaN/Cbfα1 pathway.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the characters of cervical lymph node metastases of primary tumors beyond head and neck.

METHODSAmong 466 cases of malignant tumor with cervical lymph node metastases treated in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 1989 to June 2004, 77 cases of tumor which sites primarily beyond head and neck were studied. Retrospective analysis of their clinical characters was done by LEVEL system.

RESULTSThe primary sites of these 77 cases of malignant tumor consisted of lung, stomach, esophagus, galactophore, colon, mediastinum, ovary, uterus, pancreas, liver, mesentery, adrenal gland and rectum. The frequency of cervical lymph node metastases was 81.8% (63/77) in LEVEL V (50 in the left), 11.7% (9/77) in LEVEL IV, 5.2% (4/77) in LEVEL III, 1.3% (1/77) in LEVEL I separately. The proportion of the metastases of malignant tumor from primary site beyond head and neck in each region was 2.1% in LEVEL I, 3.7% in LEVEL III, 14.3% in LEVEL IV, 70.8% in LEVEL V. Among the cervical lymph node metastases of primary tumor beyond head and neck, 51.9% were low-grade adenocarcinoma, 15.6% were medial-grade adenocarcinoma, 11.7% were low-grade squamous cell carcinoma, 10.4% were medial-grade squamous carcinoma.

CONCLUSIONSThe cervical lymph node metastases of malignant tumor might be seen from many organs beyond head and neck. The metastases from primary sites beyond head and neck usually focus on LEVEL V (81.8%), especially in the left. And the primary tumors beyond head and neck metastasis in this region were more than the tumors from head and neck locally. The histological type of the primary tumors were frequently low-medial grade carcinomas.

Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; pathology ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Neoplasms, Unknown Primary ; pathology ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

This study was aimed to establish a separation method for neochlorogenic acid reference substances from Lonicera japonica. Refined neochlorogenic acid inL. japonica water extract was separated and concentrated by HPD200A macroporous resin, which was isolated and purified by medium-low-pressure preparative chromatography and determined by HPLC. The structure was identified by various spectroscopic data including ESI-MS,1H-NMR and13C-NMR. The results showed that the optimal purification technology conditions were as follows: washed with 5BV of water, collected elution, concentration, drying; neochlorogenic acid crude products were eluted with acetonitrile-0.5% formic acid solution (10:90) with the flow rate of 20 mL·min-1; and the detection wavelength was 326 nm. The contents of the prepared neochlorogenic acid reached to 98.86% and the yield was 89.1%. It was concluded that the method was effective for the preparation of neochlorogenic acid with high purity. It can be used to prepare the reference substances for quantitative analysis and content determination of Chinese materia medica.

AlM: To evaluate the effect of rigid gas permeable contact lens ( RGP ) in correcting high myopia and astigmatism.METHODS: Forty-one patients ( 65 eyes ) with myopia (-9. 03 ± 6. 19DS, maximum -23. 00DS) and astigmatism (-1. 41 ± 1. 32DC, maximum -5. 50DC) were fitted with RGP after strict routine ophthalmological examination, objective refraction and subjective refraction. All these patients were followed after 1wk, 1, 3mo and half one year.RESULTS:Sixty-five eyes were fitted with RGP (-9. 92± 5. 96DS). RGP base curve ( BC) was majorly located within the range 7. 20 ~8. 25mm. 46. 2% eyes with RGP achieved 1. 0 ( BCVA ) and 80. 1% achieved above 0. 6 ( BCVA) . However, with spectacles, the percent was 28%(1. 0) and 60% (>0. 6), respectively. BCVA of RGP was 0. 81 ± 0. 22, but BCVA with spectacles was 0. 66 ± 0. 28, there was statistical significance (P<0. 01). There were 40 eyes (62%) fitted with RGP whose vision were enhanced more than 1 line, 24 eyes ( 37%) whose vision were not changed and 1 eye (2%) whose vision were dropped 1 line.CONCLUSlON:RGP effectively improves visual acuity of high myopia and astigmatism compared with spectacles.

Objective To study the protective effect and its mechanism of anti-tumor necrosis factor-?antibody (TNF-? Ab) on lung injury after cardiopulmanary bypass(CPB).Methods Twenty-eight healthy rabbits were selected and randomly divided into four groups:group Ⅰ only received open chest operation;groups Ⅱ-Ⅳ underwent CPB.In the group Ⅳ,rabbit TNF-? Ab (2 400 pg/kg) was dropped into the intracheal tube before operation and just after releasing the aortic clamp.Saline was given to the group Ⅲ in- stead.Blood neutrophils count,TNF-?,MDA from the right and left atrium in the four groups were determined perioperatively.Water volume,TNF-? mRNA,TNF-? protein,apoptosis and pathomorphological changes were measured in the lung tissues.Results TNF- ? Ab can restrain leukocyte accumulation,reduce releasing of TNF-? and MDA in the lung.It can also reduce the occurrence of apop- tosis and attenuate pathomorphological changes in the lung tissue.However,it cannot reduce the secretion of TNF-? at the transcrip- tion level and protein level.Conclusion Intratracheal TNF-? Ab administration has markedly protective effect on lung injury after CPB.

The changes of interstitial cells of Cajal(ICC)distribution and connexin 43(Cx43)expression in gastric muscle layers were assayed in gastroparesis models of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.The results showed that gastric emptying was significantly delayed,the contraction frequency and amplitude of gastric muscle segments were greatly decreased,Cx43 gray values were significantly increased and Cx43 distributed homogeneously with ICC immunopositivity in the model rats.These changes appear to be related to the pathogenesis of diabetic gastroparesis.

Objective To study a histopathological classification system for hippocampal cell loss in patients suffering from mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.Methods Fifty-one surgically resected specimens were microscopically examined with respect to neuronal cell loss in hippocampal subfields CA1—CA4.Clinical data including age at first seizure,with or without initial precipitating injuries (IPIs),latecy,epilepsy duration,Engel score of half and one year after surgery were collected to analyse the clinical characteristics between different pathological types.Eight additional hippocampal specimens obtained from neurologically healthy autopsies served as controls.Results (1)Five distinct patterns were recognized within a consecutive cohort of anatomically well-preserved surgical specimens.Type 1 a (21/51,41.18 ％):severe cell loss in CA1 and moderate neuronal loss in all other subfields excluding CA2; Type 1b(18/51,35.2％):severe cell loss in all sectors; Type 2(9/51,17.65％):severe neuronal loss restricted to sector CA1 ;Type 3 (1/51,1.96％):severe neuronal loss restricted to the hilar region; no mesial temporal sclerosis (2/51,3.92％):a group comprised hippocampi with neuronal cell densities not significantly different from age matched autopsy controls.(2)The patients of type 1 a and 1 b had younger age of first onset,longer latency and duration,more frequency of IPIs,the proportion of ourrence of febrile seizures in type 1a was 10/19,type 1b was 7/16,type 2 was 4/7,type 3 was 0 (x2 =11.790,P =0.019).(3) The patients of type 1a and 1 b had better postsurgical outcome.Conclusion Type 1 is the most common type of mesial temporal sclerosis,which have better postsurgical outcome than the other 3 types.

Child ; Humans ; Juglans ; Moxibustion

OBJECTIVETo investigate the chemical constituents of dried whole plants of Artemisia annua.

METHODThe chemical constituents were isolated by repeated silica gel chromatography, medium pressure column chromatography, and semi-preparative HPLC, and their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analyses and comparison of NMR data with those reported in literature.

RESULT15 compounds were isolated and identified to be 5-O-[(E)-Caffeoyl] quinic acid(l), 1,3-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid(2), 4 5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid(3), 3, 5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid (4), 3, 4-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid (5), methyl-3,4-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid(6), methyl-3,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid(7), 3,6'-O-diferuloylsucrose(8), 5'-β-D-glucopyranosyloxyjasmonic acid(9), Scopoletin(10), scoparone (11), 4-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-2-hydroxyl-6-methoxyacetophenone (12), chrysosplenol D (13), casticin (14), chrysosplenetin(15).

CONCLUSIONCompounds 2, 6, 8 and 9 are obtained from the Artemisia genus for the first time. Compounds 7 and 15 are obtained from this plant for the first time.

Artemisia annua ; chemistry ; Chromatography, Gel ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Flavonoids ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Plants, Medicinal ; Quinic Acid ; analogs & derivatives ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Silica Gel