In traditional clinical application, Coptidis Rhizome and Evodiae Fructus have been combined to treat various stomach heat and cold syndromes, gastritis, gastric ulcer and the like. With the application of modem instruments and the development of molecular pharmacologic theory, their chemical constituents and pharmacological effects have been sufficiently studied. In this paper, literatures from Pubmed were adopted, with particular emphasis on findings of international counterparts and studies on compatibility of main chemical components in Coptidis Rhizoma and Evodiae Fructus, in order to elaborate on the scientific comparability of Coptidis Rhizoma and Evodiae Fructus through chemical analysis, and pharmacological and biopharmaceutics studies and introduce the future development trend of the studies.
Animals ; Drug Interactions ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; pharmacology ; Evodia ; chemistry ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Humans ; Ranunculaceae ; chemistry ; Rhizome ; chemistry

OBJECTIVE:To establish the quality standard for Tongmai pill. METHODS:TLC was used for the qualitative iden-tification of Salvia miltiorrhiza,Angelica sinensis and Carthamus tinctorius. HPLC was used for the content determination of feru-lic acid. The column was Diamonsil C18 with mobile phase of acetonitrile-0.1% aqueous phosphoric acid (17∶83,V/V) at a flow rate of 1 ml/min,the detection wavelength was 316 nm,the column temperature was 30 ℃,and the injection volume was 10 μl.. RESULTS:The TLC of S. miltiorrhiza,A. sinensis and C. tinctorius showed clear spots and good separation. The linear range of ferulic acid was 8-80 μg/ml(r=0.999 8);RSDs of precision,stability and reproducibility tests were lower than 2%;recovery was 97.2%-99.6%(RSD=1.2%,n=6). CONCLUSIONS:The standard can be used for the quality control of Tongmai pill.

OBJECTIVETo assess the values of serum fatty acid-binding protein (FABP) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) in pneumonia complicated by acute congestive heart failure (CHF) in children.

METHODSSerum levels of FABP and BNP were determined using ELISA in 36 children with pneumonia complicated by CHF (pneumonia group) and 28 healthy children (control group).

RESULTSSerum levels of FABP and BNP in the pneumonia group at the acute stage were significantly higher than those in the control group and those at the recovery stage (P<0.01). Compared with the control group, serum levels of FABP and BNP in the pneumonia group at the recovery stage increased significantly (P<0.01). At the acute stage, 35 patients (97.2%) showed increased serum FABP level but 28 (77.8%) showed increased serum BNP level (P<0.05) in the pneumonia group. At the recovery stage, the incidence of abnormal serum FABP (72.2%) was significantly higher than that of BNP (44.4%) in the pneumonia group (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSSerum levels of FABP and BNP can be regarded as biochemical markers of myocardial damage in children with pneumonia complicated by CHF and serum FABP appears to be a more sensitive one. Serum FABP and BNP remained at higher levels through the recovery stage, suggesting that myocardial damage existed though the clinical symptoms were improved at the stage.

Acute Disease ; Child, Preschool ; Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins ; blood ; Female ; Heart Failure ; blood ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain ; blood ; Pneumonia ; complications

Adult ; Aged ; Antigens, CD ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; B7-H1 Antigen ; CD28 Antigens ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Female ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; immunology ; Humans ; Leukocytes, Mononuclear ; immunology ; Male ; Middle Aged

OBJECTIVETo explore the effects of retinol acid (RA) and triiodothyronine (T3) on alleviating the impairment of cognitive function by sleep deprivation (SD).

METHODSMale Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups: control group (C group), sleep deprivation group (SD group), sleep deprivation + RA group (SD + RA group) and sleep deprivation + T3 group (SD + T3 group). Open field test (OFT) was used to observe the nervous behavior of the rats after SD and electrophysiological brain stereotactic method was used to test long-term potentiation (LTP) in dentate gyrus (DG) of the rats. Ng protein expression was determined by Western blot.

RESULTSCompared with the SD group, the number of crossing in OFT, the changes of amplitude of population spike (PS) and the expression of Ng protein in hippocampus were higher significantly in the SD + RA and SD + T3 groups. All of these had not significant difference comparing with the C group.

CONCLUSIONRA and T3 may alleviate the restrain state of neural system after SD by augmenting the expression of Ng protein in hippocampus.

Animals ; Cognition ; drug effects ; Dentate Gyrus ; metabolism ; Long-Term Potentiation ; Male ; Neurogranin ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Sleep Deprivation ; metabolism ; psychology ; Triiodothyronine ; pharmacology ; Vitamin A ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of S-allyl-L-cysteine (SAC) on isolated rat heart subject to ischemia/reperfusion(I/R) injury and the mechanisms.

METHODSThe isolated perfused rat hearts on a Langendorff apparatus were subjected to global ischemia for 30 min and followed by 120 min of reperfusion. Hemodynamic index, the production of formazan and the level of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the coronary effluent were determined. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in myocardial homogenates were measured.

RESULTSCompared with I/R group, the hemodynamics were greatly improved, the production of formazan was increased, and LDH level in effluent was reduced in SAC group. SAC improved the SOD activity and significantly decreased the level of ROS. In addition, threonine (Thr) attenuated the protective effect of SAC significantly.

CONCLUSIONSAC has protective effect against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury on rats. The possible mechanism is that SAC be transported into the cell through alanine-serine-cysteine-transporter 1 (ASCT-1) improves SOD activity and reduces the level of ROS.

Animals ; Cysteine ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; In Vitro Techniques ; Male ; Myocardial Ischemia ; physiopathology ; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury ; physiopathology ; prevention & control ; Protective Agents ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; metabolism ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism

BACKGROUNDBoth ischemic preconditioning (IPC) and limb remote ischemic postconditioning (LRIPOC) have been shown to possess significantly different cardioprotective effects against the myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI), but no study has compared the anti-inflammatory effects of IPC and LRIPOC during myocardial IRI process. We hypothesized that IPC and LRIPOC would produce different anti-inflammatory effects in an in vivo rat model with myocardial IRI.

METHODSEighty rats were randomly allocated into four equal groups: sham group, IRI group, IPC group and LRIPOC group. In 10 rats randomly selected from each group, serum levels of TNF-α, HMGB1, ICAM1, IL-1, IL-6 and IL-10 were assessed, and infarct size was determined. In another 10 rats of each group, myocardial levels of TNF-α, HMGB1, ICAM1, IL-1, IL-6 and IL-10 in both ischemic and non-ischemic regions were measured.

RESULTSThe infarct size was significantly lower in IPC and LRIPOC groups than in IRI group. The serum and myocardial levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α, HMGB1, ICAM1, IL-1 and IL-6 during reperfusion were significantly reduced in IPC and LRIPOC groups compared to IRI group. As compared to the IPC group, infarct size, serum level of TNF-α at 60 minutes of reperfusion, serum levels of HMGB1 and ICAM1 at 120 minutes of reperfusion, myocardial levels of TNF-α, ICAM1, IL-1 and IL-6 in the ischemic region, myocardial levels of ICAM1, IL-1 and IL-6 in the non-ischemic region were significantly increased in the LRIPOC group.

CONCLUSIONSIn the rats with myocardial IRI, IPC produces more powerful inhibitory effects on local myocardial and systemic inflammatory responses than LRIPOC. This may be partly attributed to more potent cardioprotection produced by IPC.

Animals ; HMGB1 Protein ; metabolism ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; metabolism ; Interleukin-1 ; metabolism ; Interleukin-10 ; metabolism ; Interleukin-6 ; metabolism ; Ischemic Postconditioning ; methods ; Ischemic Preconditioning ; methods ; Male ; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury ; immunology ; metabolism ; therapy ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo compare the correlation of prognosis with UICC or JGCA lymph node staging criteria for gastric cancer and evaluate the value of application of those two TNM staging systems in prognosis prediction.

METHODSFrom January 1996 to December 2005, 395 gastric cancer patients who underwent D2 or D2 plus radical gastrectomy with > or = 15 lymph nodes removed were enrolled into this study. The data were analyzed by both UICC and JGCA lymph node staging criteria, respectively. Kaplan-Meier method was applied to analyze the survival rates, and Log-rank test was performed to assess the statistical significance among groups.

RESULTSCompared with the survival curve based on JGCA lymph node staging criteria, UICC lymph node staging system showed a much more significant difference among N subgroups, and similar result was also found in the patients with T3 disease. The N subgroups stratified by UICC criteria were re-staged with JGCA, while the N subgroups by JGCA criteria with UICC. Though the difference among subgroups were not statistically significant in either group, it was greater based on UICC criteria than that based on JGCA. No significant difference was found in the 5-year survival rates of stage I , II, III and IV based on either UICC or JGCA TNM staging criteria.

CONCLUSIONOur results show that UICC staging system is more predictive and relevant to prognosis than JGCA staging system for gastric cancer, and D2 or D2 plus radical gastrectomy with at least or more than 15 lymph nodes removed is required when UICC-TNM gastric cancer staging criteria is applied.

Adenocarcinoma ; pathology ; surgery ; Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous ; pathology ; surgery ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastrectomy ; methods ; Humans ; International Agencies ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes ; pathology ; surgery ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; methods ; Prognosis ; Stomach Neoplasms ; pathology ; surgery ; Survival Rate

OBJECTIVETo assess the safety, feasibility and clinical outcome of laparoscopic radical resection for low rectal cancer with telescopic anastomosis or with colostomy by stapler through transanal resection without abdominal incisions.

METHODSFrom January 2010 to September 2014, 37 patients underwent laparoscopic radical resection for low rectal cancer through transanal resection without abdominal incisions. The tumors were 4-7 cm above the anal verge. On preoperative assessment, 26 cases were T1N0M0 and 11 were T2N0M0.

RESULTSFor all cases, successful surgery was performed. In telescopic anastomosis group, the mean operative time was (178±21) min, with average blood loss of (76±11) ml and (13±7) lymph nodes harvested. Return of bowel function was (3.0±1.2) d and the hospital stay was (12.0±4.2) d without postoperative complications. Patients were followed up for 3-45 months. Twelve months after surgery, 94.6%(35/37) patients achieved anal function Kirwan grade 1, indicating that their anal function returned to normal.

CONCLUSIONSLaparoscopic radical resection for low rectal cancer with telescopic anastomosis or colostomy by stapler through transanal resection without abdominal incisions is safe and feasible. Satisfactory clinical outcome can be achieved mini-invasively.

Anal Canal ; Anastomosis, Surgical ; Colostomy ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Lymph Nodes ; Operative Time ; Postoperative Complications ; Rectal Neoplasms ; Safety

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the proteome of hepatocyte transformation by hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural protein 3 (NS3). METHODS: Human hepatocyte line QSG7701 stably expressing HCV NS3 C-terminal deleted protein was constructed, which was named pRcHCNS3/QSG. Two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) was used to separate the total protein of pRcHCNS3/QSG and pRcCMV transfected cells (pRcCMV/QSG) respectively. Differentially expressed protein spots were identified by mass spectrometry. Western blot confirmed the differentially expressed proteins. RESULTS: 2-DE profiles with high resolution and reproducibility were obtained. The average spots of pRcHCNS3/QSG and pRcCMV/QSG were (1183+/-77) and (1095+/-82) respectively, and (920+/-60) spots were matched. Twenty-one differentially expressed protein spots were chosen randomly and 15 were identified by mass spectrometry. Some proteins such as Ras, P38 and HD53 which were involved in signal transduction were increased in pRcHCNS3/QSG cells. Western blot also showed strong expression of phosphorylated P44/42 and P38 in pRcHCNS3/QSG cells. Other differentially expressed proteins were related to cell cycle regulation, immunoreaction, tumor invasion and metastasis, and liver metabolizability. CONCLUSION HCV NS3 might be involved in cell malignant transformation through affecting protein expression and signal transduction such as MAPK cascade. Further study on the signal transductions and their relationship would not only be helpful to explore the mechanism of HCV related HCC, but also provide a new idea for the molecular treatment of HCC.
Cell Line ; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional ; methods ; Hepatocytes ; metabolism ; pathology ; Humans ; Mass Spectrometry ; methods ; Proteome ; analysis ; Proteomics ; methods ; Transfection ; Viral Nonstructural Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics