OBJECTIVETo study the effect of panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) in treating hemorrhagic apoplexy at super-early stage in rats.

METHODSRat model of hypertension with cerebral hemorrhage was induced by collagenase method. Sixty rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: the sham operated group, model group, PNS high, middle, and low dose group, 12 in each; 4 h after modeling, PNS or normal saline was intraperitoneally injected into the rats every 12 h, the total is 5 times. Contents of water, sodium and potassium ion in brain, and the diameter of hematoma in rats of different groups were measured 24 h and 72 h after modeling.

RESULTSCompared with the model rats, nerve defect symptoms aggravated, the contents of water and sodium ion in ipsilateral cortex and basal ganglia were significantly higher, the content of potassium ion was lower and the hematoma diameter was obviously less in the PNS-treated rats (all P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONPNS may worsen the brain edema and increase the nerve defect score when it was applied at the early stage of cerebral hemorrhage, but could promote the absorption of hematoma, indicating PNS should be used cautiously in treating patients with large amount of cerebral hemorrhage at super-early stage.

Animals ; Brain Edema ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Cerebral Hemorrhage ; complications ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Male ; Panax notoginseng ; chemistry ; Phytotherapy ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Saponins ; administration & dosage ; therapeutic use ; Time Factors

ObjectiveTo explore the effects of the serum of traditional Chinese medicine Nao Yi An on glutamate induced cell death in cultured hippocampal neurons of rat and the underlying mechanisms. MethodsHippocampal neurons were cultured. The excitatory amino acid induced toxicity on cultured neurons was investigated. The viability of injured neurons was determined with the measurement of Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity. Mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) were determined by immunoprecipitation /kinase assays /western blot detection.ResultsThe serum of Nao Yi-An raised cell viability. The serum of Nao Yi-An upregulated the expression of extracellular regulated protein kinases(ERK) and downregulated the expression of c-Jun N terminal kinase/stress activited protein kinase(JNK) in cultured neurons. The serum of Nao Yi-An induced upregulation of ERK and its anti death action were prevented with the specific ERKs inhibitor PD98059. Conclusions Activation of ERK signaling together with inhibition of JNK signaling by Chinese medicine Nao Yi-An appears to be an important mechanism for its survival effects on cultured hippocampal neurons.

OBJECTIVETo establish the reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) methods for on-site HIV-1 detection.

METHODSAs for the real-time fluorescent RT-LAMP, we firstly tested the specificity and sensitivity, then explored its quantitative determination, and finally applied the method to the detection of 35 HIV-1 positive samples. For colorimetric judgment, after choosing different ameliorates to modify Hydroxynaphthol blue (HNB), we tested their real effects on coloration, and then picked out the modified dyes with obvious color change to test the sensitivity and the detection of the 35 HIV-1-positive samples.

RESULTSThe real-time fluorescent RT-LAMP showed great specificity of HIV-1, and the sensitivity to detect HIV-1 RNA was between 10 and 100 copies per reaction. On testing 35 HIV-1-positive samples, the method could reach 100 percent detection rate. However, for the quantitative determination, the quantitative relation was not observed regarding the HIV-1 RNA of below 10(3) copies per reaction. Three modified HNB dyes with clear color variation between the reaction tubes of the negative and the positive were got in the study, and their sensitivities equaled to the level of agarose gel electrophoresis. Similarly, 100% (35/35) detection rate was reached when the colorimetric RT-LAMP with the modified dyes was applied to detect 35 HIV-1-positive samples.

CONCLUSIONThe established real-time fluorescence method and the modified color judgment of RT-LAMP could be helpful for truly achieving rapid, accurate, and sensitive on-site detection of HIV-1.

HIV-1 ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques ; methods ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction