Abnormal cell signal transduction is associated with the occurrence and development of human diseases. Some virus pathogenicity and infection mechanism are due to virus antigen protein acting on the host cell signal transduction pathway, leading to host cell signal transduction disorder. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major pathogen of chronic hepatitis C, which causes cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. But the pathogenesis of HCV and persistent infection mechanism remain far from clear. HCV pathogenesis may be related to the HCV protein expression interfering host cell signal transduction pathways. The studies of hepatitis C virus proteins acting on host cell signal transduction pathways, not only help to clarify the impact of its pathogenic mechanisms, but also benefit to new drug design and development for new treatment methods. This article summarizes the recent progress in research on the effect of hepatitis C virus protein in cell signal transduction pathways in the past few years.

To set up a new method of detecting bacterial number in situ,NADH fluorescence method based on the fluorescent characteristic of NADH was used.When the concentration of NADH ranged from 10 nmol/L to 0.2 mmol/L,its concentration had a good line relationship to the fluorescence intensity(R2= 0.9905).Separating bacterial cells by centrifugation and extracting NADH with hot Tris-HCl buffer,the re-sult of bacterial count detected with NADH standard plot was 1?104 CFU/mL in an hour.In summary,NADH fluorescence method is rapid,sensitive,simple and reliable to detect total bacterial number.There-fore,the method can be widely applied in the field of food sanitation and safety,environment detection and so on.

To determine the optimum conditions of supercritical CO2 extraction of Xiaoyaosan, and establish its fingerprint by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), the yield of extract were investigated, an orthogonal test was used to quantify the effects of extraction temperature, pressure, CO2 flow rate and time, and fingerprint analysis of different batches of extracts were by GC-MS. The optimal extraction conditions were determined as follows: extraction pressure 20 MPa, extraction temperature 50 degrees C, CO2 flow rate 25 kg x h(-1), extraction time 3 h, and average yield 2.2%. The GC-MS fingerprint was established and 27 common peaks were found, whose contents add up to 81.89% of the total peak area. Among them, 21 compounds were identified, accounting for 53.20% of the total extract. The extraction process is reasonable and favorable for industrial production. The GC-MS method is accurate, reliable, reproducible, and can be used for quality control of supercritical CO2 extract from Xiaoyaosan.
Carbon Dioxide ; chemistry ; Chromatography, Supercritical Fluid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; methods

In recent years, root rot diseases of Chinese herbal medicine have been posing grave threat to the development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry. This article presents a review on the occurring situation of the root rot disease, including the occurrence of the disease, the diversity of the pathogens, the regional difference in dominant pathogens,and the complexity of symptoms and a survey of the progress in bio-control of the disease using antagonistic microorganisms. The paper also discusses the existing problems and future prospects in the research.
Animals ; Antibiosis ; Bacteria ; growth & development ; Fungi ; physiology ; Nematoda ; growth & development ; Pest Control, Biological ; methods ; Plant Diseases ; microbiology ; parasitology ; prevention & control ; Plant Roots ; microbiology ; parasitology ; Plants, Medicinal ; microbiology ; parasitology

Objective To investigate the loss of heterozygosity at 17 microsatellites of 10 chromosome arms in 68 resected specimens of esophageal cancer, and the relationship to the clinicopathological phenotypes of patients. Methods 68 tumor specimens (20 well-differentiated squamous carcinomas, 30 moderately differentiated carcinomas and 18 poorly differentiated carcinomas) and their matched blood samples were analyzed for LOH at 17 microsatellites by using PCR and fluorescence-based DNA sequencing technology, and the association of LOH with the clinicopathological phenotypes of patients was compared statistically. Results The lowest detection frequency of LOH in our subjects was observed at D8S261 with 33. 3%, and the highest frequency was at D9S125 with 85. 2%. There were 12 markers with the frequency of LOH higher than 50.0%, and 3 markers (D3S1597, D3S1285 and D9S125) with the frequency higher than 75. 0%. There was a significant difference in the frequency of LOH at D9S111 and D13S153 between tumors with different histological grades. LOH at D9S111 was observed in 2 of 12 tumors with well differentiation in 14 of 20 tumors with moderate differentiation, and in 14 of 16 tumors with poor differentiation. LOH at DI3S153 was observed in 2 of 8 tumors with well differentiation, in 12 of 28 tumors with moderate differentiation, and in 11 of 12 tumors with poor differentiation. There was a significant difference in the frequency of LOH at D8S261 between tumors with lymph node metastasis and without lymph node metastasis. LOH at D8S261 was found in 1 of 14 tumors with lymph node metastasis, and in 12 of 22 tumors without lymph node metastasis. Conclusions The widespread and frequent loss of heterozygosity may exist in esophageal cancer, and the candidate genes located in the site of frequent LOH may be involved in the development of this cancer; LOH at D9S11 and D13S153 are more commonly observed in the patients with higher histological grades, the tumors with LOH at D8S261 may have a low tendency to lymph node involvement.

The present study aims to predict the action targets of antidepressant active ingredients of Xiaoyaosan to understand the "multi-components, multi-targets and multi-pathways" mechanism. Using network pharmacology, the reported antidepressant active ingredients in Xiaoyaosan (saikosaponin A, saikosaponin C, saikosaponin D, ferulic acid, Z-ligustilide, atractylenolide I, atractylenolide II, atractylenolide III, paeoniflorin, albiflorin, liquiritin, glycyrrhizic acid and pachymic acid), were used to predict the targets of main active ingredients of Xiaoyaosan according to reversed pharmacophore matching method. The prediction was made via screening of the antidepressive drug targets approved by FDA in the DrugBank database and annotating the information of targets with the aid of MAS 3.0 biological molecular function software. The Cytoscape software was used to construct the Xiaoyaosan ingredients-targets-pathways network. The network analysis indicates that the active ingredients in Xiaoyaosan involve 25 targets in the energy metabolism-immune-signal transmutation relevant biological processes. The antidepressant effect of Xiaoyaosan reflects the features of traditional Chinese medicine in multi-components, multi-targets and multi-pathways. This research provides a scientific basis for elucidation of the antidepressant pharmacological mechanism of Xiaoyaosan.
Antidepressive Agents ; pharmacology ; Benzoates ; Bridged-Ring Compounds ; Coumaric Acids ; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Flavanones ; Glucosides ; Glycyrrhizic Acid ; Lactones ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Monoterpenes ; Sesquiterpenes ; Software

OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of Bushen Huoxue Compound (BHC) on lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage, expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and VEGF mRNA in retinal Muller cells under high glucose condition or advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs) condition by using serum pharmacological method.

METHODSThe retinal Müller cells of 5-7 days post-natal Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were cultured with modified enzyme-digestion method. Purified retinal Muller cells were cultured in normal conditions, high glucose condition (50 mmol/L) or AGEs (50 mg/L and 100 mg/L) conditions, and BHC-containing serum was added to culture medium. The LDH leakage and VEGF expressions were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In addition, the relative expression of VEGF mRNA was tested by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).

RESULTSCompared with the normal control group, expressions of VEGF and VEGF mRNA were significantly increased in the high glucose group, the low dose AGEs group and the high dose AGEs group (all P < 0.01). The LDH leakage was obviously increased in the high dose AGEs group, when compared with the normal control group and the high glucose group (P < 0.01). The LDH leakage, expressions of VEGF and VEGF mRNA were obviously decreased by BHC-containing serum both in high glucose and AGEs conditions (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). BHC-containing serum had no significant effect on the LDH leakage and expressions of VEGF and VEGF mRNA in normal conditions (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSAGEs intervention could obviously lower the stability of Müller cell membrane. Up-regulated expressions of VEGF and VEGF mRNA in cultured Müller cells could be induced by AGEs or high glucose. BHC-containing serum could stabilize the stability of Müller cell membrane, inhibit the transcription of VEGF mRNA and decrease the protein expression of VEGF, which might be one of important mechanisms for preventing and treating diabetic retinopathy.

Animals ; Cells, Cultured ; Diabetic Retinopathy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Ependymoglial Cells ; Glucose ; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase ; RNA, Messenger ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A

Objective To compare the sensitivity of fluorescent quantitation polymerase chain reaction (fluorescent quantitation method) and gene‐chips typing method(gene‐chips method) in the detection of human papillomavirus(HPV) ,and to analyse differ‐ences and clinical significance .Methods A total of 246 women were selected as subjects ,among them ,111 cases of cervical exfolia‐ted cells and 135 cases of cervical tissues were collected and detected .15 kinds of high‐risk HPV genetypes were detected in all sub‐jects by using fluorescent quantitation method and gene‐chips method respectively ,and the detection results were compared . Results The sensitivity of the fluorescent quantitation method in detecting HPV was 55 .28% and that of the gene‐chips method was 55 .69% ,there was no statistically significant difference in sensitivity between the two methods (P>0 .05) .The two methods had relative high conformance(κ=0 .745) .The positive rate of HPV infection was increased with the progression of cervical dis‐ease .Conclusion The fluorescent quantitation method and the gene‐chips method have a relative high conformance ,and both with high sensitivity in detecting HPV .The severity degree of cervical cytological and histological changes may be positively correlated with HPV infection .

Objective To study the distribution status and clinical significance of human papillomavirus(HPV) infection geno‐types in condyloma acuminate(CA) tissues of vulva ,vagina and cervix .Methods The gene‐chips combined with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology were utilized for detecting 23 kinds of HPV genotypes in tissue specimens from 63 cases of vulval CA , 61 cases of vaginal CA and 65 cases of cervical CA .Their clinical pathological data were analyzed .Results In 63 cases of vulval CA ,56 cases were HPV positive with the HPV infection rate of 88 .89% (56/63) ,in 61 cases of vaginal CA ,55 cases were HPV positive with the HPV infection rate of 90 .16% (55/61) ,and in 65 cases of cervical CA ,62 cases were HPV positive with the HPV infection rate of 95 .39% (62/65) .Conclusion HPV infection is closely related to the CA pathgenesis in vulva ,vagina and cervix . HPV6 and HPV 11 are main stream genotypes ,in which vulval CA is most common .The gene‐chips combined with PCR technology is a method suitable for HPV typing diagnosis ,and has the characteristics of good sensitivity and high specificity ,which has an im‐portant significance for clinical diagnosis ,treatment and vaccine study of CA in femal vulva ,vagina and cervix .

Objective To identify and characterize uveal melanoma associated protein variants with two-dimensional electrophore- sis and mass spectrometry.Design Experiment study.Participants 4 cases of specimens of uveal melanoma and 4 cases of normal con- tributed uveal tissue.Methods Proteins from uveal melanoma and normal urea were separated with two-dimensional eleetrophoresis (2-DE)and visualized with Coomassie G-250.Gels were analyzed by Image Master 5.0 software.The mass spectra were measured by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionizatian time-of-flight mass spectrometry(MALDI-TOF MS)and searched against NCBI database using Mascot software.Main Outcome Measures Differential proteins.Results A set of 30 proteins were differentially expressed in uveal melanoma compared to nomal urea.Twenty-four types of protein only expressed in uveal melanoma.Five types of protein were up-regu- lated and 1 type of one down-regulated.These proteins can be subdivided into groups according to cellular function,such as enzyme, signal transduction,signal regulation,cytoskehton,immune,etc.Conclusions There is significant difference in protein profilings be- tween uveal melanoma and normal uvea.The differentially expressed proteins may be associated with the development of uveal melanoma.