In order to identify Aucklandiae Radix, Vladimiriae Radix, Inulae Radix, Aristolochiae Radix and Kadsurae Radix using ITS2 barcodes, genomic DNA from sixty samples was extracted and the ITS2 (internal transcribed spacer) regions were amplified and sequenced. The genetic distances were computed using MEGA 5.0 in accordance with the kimura 2-parameter (K2P) model and the neighbor-joining (NJ) phylogenetic tree was constructed. The results indicated that for Aucklandiae Radix (Aucklandia lappa), Vladimiriae Radix (Vladimiria souliei and V. souliei var. cinerea), Inulae Radix (Inula helenium), Aristolochiae Radix (Aristolochia debilis) and Kadsurae Radix (Kadsura longipedunculata), the intra-specific variation was smaller than inter-specific one. There are 162 variable sites among 272 bp after alignment of all ITS2 sequence haplotypes. For each species, the intra-specific genetic distances were also smaller than inter-specific one. Furthermore, the NJ tree strongly supported that Aucklandiae Radix, Vladimiriae Radix, Inulae Radix, Aristolochiae Radix and Kadsurae Radix can be differentiated. At the same time, V. souliei (Dolomiaea souliei) and V. souliei var. cinerea( D. souliei var. cinerea) belonging to Vladimiriae Radix were clearly identified. In conclusion, ITS2 barcode could be used to identify Aucklandiae Radix, Vladimiriae Radix, Inulae Radix, Aristolochiae Radix and Kadsurae Radix. Our study may provide a scientific foundation for clinical safe use of the traditional Chinese medicines.
Aristolochia ; classification ; genetics ; Base Sequence ; DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic ; methods ; DNA, Plant ; genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer ; genetics ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; classification ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Plants, Medicinal ; classification ; genetics ; Quality Control

Adult ; Aged ; Angiopoietin-2 ; physiology ; Female ; Glioma ; blood ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Hypoxia ; blood ; metabolism ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neovascularization, Pathologic ; physiopathology

RNA-Sequencing (RNA-Seq) is a newly-developed method in transcriptome research, it can afford more accurate transcription information and be more quickly by using Next-generation Sequencing (NGS) technology. RNA-Seq has been widely used in various biological fields. Genuine traditional Chinese medicines (TCM), with good quality and therapeutic effect, were always praised highly and used by famous physicians. The geo-herbalism formation of TCM is based on the product of the gene expression at specific space and time. So it has been a research hotspot to analyze the mechanism of biosynthesis through RNA-Seq in the study on the secondary metabolism of medicinal plant. This article mainly illustrates the RNA-Seq and its advantages, it also discusses the potential application in genuine TCM, and it can provide useful information for other researchers.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Gene Expression Profiling ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Plants, Medicinal ; genetics ; RNA ; Sequence Analysis, RNA ; Transcriptome

OBJECTIVETo compare the effect of reinforcing Shen method (RSM) and activating blood method (ABM) in treating osteoarthritis (OA) at the molecular level.

METHODSThe physical and chemical characteristics of components from respective recipes of RSM and ABM, and network features of component-target interaction network were analyzed by computer simulation methods including chemical space, molecular docking, and biological network, etc.

RESULTSThe chemical components of RSM and ABM were scarcely scattered with larger overlapping. Among established networks, the distribution of network features was partially similar in RSM and ABM. The average target number correlated with each component was 1.86 in RSM and 2.11 in ABM respectively. Each average target number was respectively correlated with 4.46 compounds and 3.93 compounds, reflecting multi-component and multi-target actions.

CONCLUSIONComputer simulation could intuitively trace out similarities and differences of two different methods and their interaction with targets, which revealed that the compatibility of RSM and ABM could have broader protein targets and potential synergism at the molecular level.

To collect small molecule drugs and their drug target data such as enzymes, ion channels, G-protein-coupled receptors and nuclear receptors from KEGG database as the training sets, in order to establish drug-target interaction models based on the random forest algorithm. The accuracies of the models were evaluated by the 10-fold cross-validation test, showing that the predicted success rates of the four drug target models were 71.34%, 67.08%, 73.17% and 67.83%, respectively. The models were adopted to predict the targets of 26 chemical components and establish the compound-target-disease network. The results were well verified by literatures. The models established in this paper are highly accurate, and can be used to discover potential targets in other traditional Chinese medicine ingredients.
Algorithms ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Gene Regulatory Networks ; drug effects ; Humans ; Ligusticum ; chemistry ; Molecular Targeted Therapy ; Rhizome ; chemistry

Objective To investigate the influence of factors related to metabolic syndrome(MS)on the outcome in subjects without diabetes mellitus in a community.Methods A two-year follow-up study was conducted in 885 subjects who were enrolled in the epidemiologic survey carried out in Pingliang Community, Shanghai in 2002.Oral glucose tolerance test,lipid prefde,blood pressure(BP),body mass index(BMI),waist and hip circumferences were measured.Results (1)The baseline of BMI,fasting plasma glucose(FPG),2h plasma glucose after glucose loading(2hPG),BP,triglyceride(TG)in the subjects with impaired glucose regulation(IGR)increased significantly as compared to those with normal glucose regulation(NGR)(all P

Objective To investigate whether the genetic variant rs10830963 of melatonin receptor 1B(MTNR1B)gene is associated with increased risk for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).Methods Eighty-seven GDM subjects(GDM group)and 91 normal pregnant women (control group)were randomly recruited form Women and Children's Hospital of Quzhou,Zhejiang Province,China.The allele and genotype frequencies of the rsi0830963 in MTNR1B gene were determined in all participants with PCR amplification and DNA sequencing.The allele and genotype frequencies of rs10830963 were compared to determine their differences between GDM subjects and normal controls.In addition,multiple linear regression was conducted to investigate the association patterns of the risk allele with fasting glucose and HbAlc levels.Results Both GG genotype and G allele frequencies of the rs10830963 loci in the GDM group were significantly higher than those in the controls,and women with G allele and GG genotype were associated with increased GDM risk(OR=1.53,95％ CI:1.005-2.324,P=0.047 and OR=2.16,95％ CI:1.052-4.434,P=0.034 respectively).After adjusting for age,body mass index before pregnancy,and family history of diabetes mellitus,women carrying GG genotype still had a higher GDM risk(OR =2.07,95％ CI:1.048-4.372,P =0.022).Multiple linear regression showed that the rs10830963 G allele was positively correlated with higher levels of fasting glucose(0.068 mmol/L,P=0.015)and HbAlc(0.073％,P=0.028).Conclusions Genetic variant rs10830963 in MTNR1B gene may contribute to the susceptibility to GDM in Chinese population and the rs10830963 G allele is a risk factor for the GDM susceptibility.

An experiment was conducted using cultivated Glycyrrhiza uralensis in age of one year to study the effects of abscisic acid (ABA) on chemical components content and color of G. uralensis. By using different concentrations of ABA spraying on leaves, the change of the chemical component content was analyzed within 45 d after ABA stimulation, and the effects on quality were studied combined with colorimetric analysis data. It turned out that in some sense the content of glycyrrhizic acid and liquiritin had increased within 45 d, especially for liquiritin. After high concentrations of ABA (3.96 mg · L(-1)) stimulating, the content of glycyrrhizic acid rose 52% while liquiritin up 392% within 30 d. Then they both showed a decline in the content of glycyrrhizic acid and liquiritin on 45 d. Color index values of a* and b* were all significantly higher than that of the control group within 45 d, which meant the color of powders turned toward red and yellow. The conclusion was that ABA (3.96 mg · L(-1)) stimulating could not only improve the quality in the traditional sense through the color of G. uralensis, but also in the modern sense by improving the content of glycyrrhizic acid and liquiritin.
Abscisic Acid ; pharmacology ; Color ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Flavanones ; analysis ; Glucosides ; analysis ; Glycyrrhiza uralensis ; chemistry ; drug effects ; growth & development ; Glycyrrhizic Acid ; analysis ; Plant Growth Regulators ; pharmacology

Objective To explore the reliability of relevant electrocardiogram(ECG) indexes in evaluating isoprenaline(ISO)-induced rat acute ischemic myocardial injury and provide reference for future scientific applications of these models. Methods Seventy male Wistar rats were randomly equally assigned to ten groups according to their body weight: 5,10,20,40,80,160,320,640, 1280 and 2560 μg/kg dose groups. All rats were tail intravenously given corresponding doses of saline diluted isoprenaline according to their body weight. Standard limb Ⅰ , Ⅱ, Ⅲ-lead ECG of all rats were recorded before, immediately after and 1,24,and 72 hour after injection, respectively.Changes of heart rate, T-wave amplitude of Ⅱ -lead and Q-T interval were measured. Results Significant differences were found in heart rates, T-wave amplitudes and Q-T intervals at different time points(F = 15.03,11.28,13.64, all P ＜ 0.01 ), while differences among the ten ISO-dose groups were statistically insignificant (F= 1.45, 1.17,1.09, all P ＞ 0.05). No interaction between observation time and ISO dose was observed on heart rates, T-wave amplitudes and Q-T intervals(F= 0.79,0.82,0.59, all P ＞ 0.05). Immediately after injection of ISO, the heart rates were significantly increased compared with that of pre-injection in all groups(all P ＜ 0.05), of which 320 and 640μg/kg dose groups increased most significantly [(550 ± 47), (521 ± 43)times/min]. T-waves decreased significantly compared with that of pre-injection (all P ＜ 0.01 ), and 20 μg/kg dose and above groups decreased particularly evident, and partly inverted. Q-T intervals of rats in each group were significantly shorter than that of pre-injection(all P ＜ 0.01 ), and 320, 640, 1280 μg/kg groups shortened more pronounced[(0.070 ± 0.006),(0.072 ± 0.005), (0.068 ± 0.005)ms]. One hour after injection, the heart rate of rats in each group decreased,except 320 and 640 μg/kg dose groups[(518 ± 43), (487 ± 36)times/min], which were still higher than that of pre-treatment[(450 ± 40), (448 ± 51 )times/min, all P ＜ 0.05], the rest groups no longer had significant differences (all P ＞ 0.05). ECG T-wave in each group was significantly recovered compared with that of instantly medication (all P＜0.05), and 40 μg/kg dose and above groups recovered more than a big margin, but there were still differences compared with that of pre-treatment (P ＜0.05), while T-waves of 40 μg/kg dose and below groups had returned to the level of pre-treatment. Q-T interval in each group had varying degrees of recovery, except 1280 and 2560 μg/kg dose groups[(0.080 ± 0.004), (0.076 ± 0.011 )ms]which were still less than that of pre-treatment[(0.086 ± 0.007),(0.085 ± 0.006)ms, all P ＜ 0.05], other groups had no significant difference compared with that of pre-treatment (all P ＞ 0.05). Twenty-four hours after injection of ISO, the heart rates of 1280 and 2560 μg/kg dose groups [(389 ± 31 ), (398 ± 23)times/min]decreased significantly compared with that of pre-treatment[(427 ± 43), (438 ±26)times/min, all P ＜ 0.05], while other groups had returned to the level of pre-treatment. Seventy-two hours after injection of ISO, the heart rates, T-wave amplitudes and Q-T intervals of all doses groups had returned to the level of pre-treatment (all P ＞ 0.05). Conclusions There has no significant ST segment in the electrocardiogram of rat.Isoprenaline has an exact effect on shortening Q-T interval. T-wave amplitude and Q-T interval can be used as reliable indexes of ECG for assessment of this animal model.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the iodine nutritional status of university students in Tianjin and analyze influencing factors affecting urinary iodine levels.MethodsStudents of Tianjin Medical University,Tianjin Nankai University,Tianjin University of Finance and Economics and Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine were selected as survey subjects,and 50 - 100 morning urinary samples were collected from each university,respectively.Urinary iodine was measured by arsenic-cerium catalytic spectrophotometry.The students were surveyed with questionnaires,which included family information,age, sex, specialty, iodine nutrition knowledge,source of drinking water,smoking or not and dietary habits.ResultsA total of 269 urine samples were collected,and the median urinary iodine was 213.68 μg/L.Urinary iodine levels(263.86 μg/L) of medical students was significantly higher than that( 168.01 μg/L,x2 =12.144,P ＜ 0.01 ) of non-medical students.There was an increasing trend of the level of urinary iodine of students with iodine nutrition knowledge scores ＞ 5 points (223.70 μg/L) over that of ≤5 points( 185.56 μg/L),but the difference was not significantly different statistically (x2 =2.297,P ＞ 0.05).Different gender and water sources had no significant effect on urinary iodine level(x2 =0.002,0.687,respectively,all P ＞ 0.05).Smokers urinary iodine levels( 154.55 μg/L) decreased compared with non-smokers(215.38 μg/L),but the difference was not statistically significant (x2 =0.515,P＞ 0.05).Vegetarian urinary iodine levels were lower than that of non-vegetarians,but the difference was not statistically significant(x2 =0.594,P ＞ 0.05).ConclusionsIodine nutritional status of students in university of Tianjin are generally at an appropriate level,but professional knowledge,habits and other factors may affect the intake of iodine,so students should develop good dietary habits to ensure a normal iodine nutrition status.