BACKGROUND:Studies have shown that astrocytes participate not only in the passive metabolic and structural support, but also actively in the central nervous system information processing. OBJECTIVE:By observing the directionality and specificity of astrocyte fiber growth and synapse formation, to explore the possible mechanisms of astrocytes and neurons in the interaction. METHODS: Primary cels from the hippocampi of green fluorescent protein transgenic newborn mice were isolated and cultured, glial fibrilary acidic protein was used as specific marker for astrocytes in immunofluorescence staining, and then the results were observed and scanned by confocal microscope. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The elongation of astrocyte fibers was directional and specific, and terminated to the pyramidal cels nearby. The end of astrocyte fibers and pyramidal cels contributed to the synapse formation. However, not al the projections were toward the adjacent cels, and synapse-like structure was not only formed nearby. The results implicated that both astrocytes fiber elongation and synapse formation have the directionality and specificity, providing evidence for further studies on signal transduction between astrocytes and pyramidal cels.

Objective To understand the drug resistance and changes of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospita and to explore the relationship between the drug resistance and the dosage of antimicrobial agents, so as to provide the basis for clinical rational drug use.MethodsUsage of antibiotics in our hospital during 2012 to 2016 were analyzed retrospectively, and the drug resistance of pseudomonas aeruginosa were calculated respectively.SPSS 22.0 software was used to analyze the drug resistance and the frequency of use of antimicrobial agents (DDDs).ResultsResistance rate of pseudomonas aeruginosa to aztreonam, ceftazidime and meropenem were decreased gradually.Resistance rate of pseudomonas aeruginosa to gentamicin increased gradually.The resistance of pseudomonas aeruginosa to piperacillin, imipenem, cefepime, evil ciprofloxacin, piperacillin/tazobactam tazobactam and cefempidone/sulbactam is in a state of fluctuation.Piperacillin DDDs were significantly negatively correlated with gentamicin resistance.There was a significant positive correlation between imipenem DDDs and gentamicin resistance and there was a significant negative correlation between imipenem DDDs and drug resistance rates of piperacillin, imipenem, ceftazidime, meropenem, levofloxacin and cefoperazone/sulbactam.There was a significant positive correlation between aztreonam DDDs and ceftazidime, meropenem, ciprofloxacin and cefoperazone/sulbactam, There was a significant negative correlation between cephalosporin DDDs and gentamicin resistance rates.There was a significant positive correlation between the DDDs of piperacillin/tazobactam and the resistance rate of piperacillin/tazobactam;the resistance rates of cefoperazone/sulbactam DDDs to aztreonam and meropenem were Significant negative correlation.ConclusionDrug resistance of pseudomonas aeruginosa and the dosage of clinical antibacterial drug is closely related, suggesting that clinicians should use antibiotics for clinical rationally, in order to reduce the number of drug resistance of pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Objective To evaluate the role of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (NADPH oxidase) in the spinal cord in the maintenance of diabetic neuropathic pain in rats.Methods Pathogenfree male Sprague-Dawley rats,aged 2 months,weighing 180-220 g,were used in the study.Diabetes mellitus was induced by intraperitoneal streptozotocin (STZ) 60mg/kg and confirmed by blood glucose ＞ 16.7 mmol/L at 72 h after STZ injection.Twenty diabetic rats were randomly allocated to diabetic neuropathic pain group (DN group,n =10) and apocynin (specific NADPH oxidase inhibitor) group (A group,n =10).Another 10 agematched normal rats served as control group (C group,n =10).Twenty-eight days after STZ injection,apyconin 5 mg/kg was injected intraperitoneally once a day for 7 consecutive days in A group.Paw withdrawal threshold to yon Frey filament stimulation (PWT) was measured before STZ injection (T1) and at 7,14,21,28 and 35 days after STZ injection (T2-6).The rats were sacrificed after PWT was measured at T6 and L4.5 segments of the spinal cord were removed for determination of NADPH oxidase subunits gp91phox and p47phox expression,MAD content and SOD activity.Results Compared with C group,PWT was significantly decreased at T3-5,gp91phox and p47phox expression was up-regulated,MAD content was increased,and SOD activity was decreased in DN and A groups.Compared with DN group,PWT was significantly increased at T6,gp91phox and p47phox expression was downregulated,MAD content was decreased,and SOD activity was increased in A group.Conclusion NADPH oxidase in the spinal cord is involved in the maintenance of diabetic neuropathic pain in rats.

The fruit of Ziziphus jujuba was known as fine quality in the Shennong's Herbal. It is sweet in taste and mild in property with the effect of regulating the middle, invigorating the spleen, assisting twelve meridians, harmonizing stomach-qi, unclogging nine orifices, and moderating hundreds of herbs. In recent years, the efficacies of Ziziphus jujuba have been widely studied with considerable meaningful achievements. In this article, main research progresses in recent ten years were reviewed, which included resources, chemical components and pharmacological effects of Ziziphus jujuba. The research and development of medication, health care product and food with Ziziphus jujuba as its main ingredient were summarized for further references in related studies.

Neurodegenerative diseases are threating our health seriously.Inflammation plays an important role in the initiation and development of neurodegenerative diseases, and its primary characteristics are the activation of microglia and the increasing level of inflammation cytokines.This review describes the relationship between neuroinflammation and several neurodegenerative diseases, and the models in vivo and in vitro.In addition, combining with traditional Chinese medicines knowledge of encephalopathy, we summarizes pharmacological effects and mechanisms of multiple herb extracts and monomer compounds in preventing the activation of microglia and inhibiting neuroinflammation, thus, to provide the basis for gradually revealing the related rules and characteristics of treating encephalopathy by traditional Chinese medicine, and improving the accuracy of the clinical drugs, as well as developing new drugs for the prevention and control of encephalopathy.

0.05)in the main pharmacokinetic parameters between the domestic preparation and the imported preparation,which suggests they are bioequivalent.

OBJECTIVE:To study the pharmacokinetics of prulifloxacin capsules in Chinese healthy volunteers after single and multiple oral administration of prulifloxacin capsules.METHODS:A total of 12 healthy adult subjects were randomly grouped by 3? 3 Latin square,who were assigned to receive oral single dose of 132,264 and 528mg prulifloxacin capsules and multiple doses of 264mg prulifloxacin capsule for 6 days in succession.The blood concentration of NM394-the metabolite of Prulifloxacin was determined by HPLC at different time after oral administration of Prulifloxacin.The simulation and fitting,and computation of parameters were performed using DAS ver1.0 software.RESULTS:All 12 subjects had completed single oral administration test,with no adverse drug reactions appeared during the test.No prulifloxacin but its metabolite-NM394 was identified in the blood sample of subjects.The high,medium and low dosage groups were all fitted two-compartment model.The pharmacokinetics fitted first order kinetics process without gender difference.There was no accumulation and pharmacokinetic parameters change after multiple oral administration of prulifloxacin,suggesting prulifloxacin had no self-enzyme inhibition or induction.CONCLUSION:The established method is sensitive,accurate,reliable and specific,and it can meet the requirement of clinical pharmacokinetic trial.Its parameters are in line with literature reported abroad,with no gender difference among Chinese adults.

Objective: PS128 is a novel psycho biotic strain, it has been reported to play an important role in neuropsychiatric disorders. This study investigated the clinical effect of PS128 supplementation on patients with anxiety. Methods: A total of 200 patients with anxiety were recruited, and divided into two groups (n = 100/group). The control group received oral treatment with citalopram, and the PS128 group received PS128 capsules based on citalopram treatment. Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) were used to evaluate the anxiety levels.After 2 months of continuous administration, clinical efficacy was evaluated according to HAMA score. Results: There was no significant difference in HAMA and SAS scores between the two groups before treatment. With the treatment prolonged, the HAMA and SAS score decreased gradually in both control and PS128 groups, and the decrease rate of PS128 group was significantly greater than that of the control group. The clinical effective rates of PS128 group were higher than those in the control group, high levels of clinical cure rate were also detected in the PS128 group. Compared with the control group (22%), the incidence of adverse reactions was significantly reduced for patients in the PS128 group (4%). Conclusion The treatment effect of citalopram combined with PS128 against anxiety is satisfactory clinically. It can greatly improve the anxiety symptoms of patients, increase the cure rate, reduce adverse reactions.

BACKGROUND:The studies have shown that the mesenchymal stem cel s derived from bone marrow and umbilical cord can be continuously cultured in vitro, and maintain the characteristics of stem cel s. The mesenchymal stem cel s can differentiate into hepatocyte-like cel s after“cocktail”induction by various cytokines. OBJECTIVE:To further identify whether umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s in vitro co-cultured with normal hepatocytes can differentiate into hepatocyte-like cel s, and to investigate the differentiation method. METHODS:Mesenchymal stem cel s were isolated from human umbilical cord with adherent method, and the surface markers of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s were detected with flow cytometry. The umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s were co-cultured with liver LO2 cel s without adding exogenous inducers. The expressions of alpha-fetoprotein, albumin and human cytokeratin 19 mRNA of hepatocyte specific markers were detected with reverse transcription PCR at 7, 14 and 21 days after culture, and periodic acid-Schiff staining was used to identify the functions. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Mesenchymal stem cel s could isolated from human umbilical cord successful y, showing fibroblastic morphology and adherent cel characterization. Among these cel s, 96.02%cel s were CD29 positive cel s and 96.6%cel s were CD105 positive cel s. The percentage of CD34 negative cel s was 99.65%. The percentage of CD105+CD29+double positive cel s was 94.84%. The mRNA of alpha-fetoprotein was found on the 7th day after co-cultured with LO2 cel s, and the mRNA of albumin and human cytokeratin 19 were found on the 14th day. After co-cultured for 21 days, the alpha-fetoprotein mRNA could not be observed in the co-culture group. The expressions of albumin and human cytokeratin 19 were increased at 14 days. After co-cultured for 21 days, the glycogen staining was positive. Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cel s can differentiate into hepatocyte-like cel s after co-cultured with normal hepatocytes.

Atherosclerosis (As) is an important pathological basis of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The pathogenesis studies of As have been a hot topic in the field of vascular biology research. The inflammation is known as a major participant in the development process of As. And monocyte-macrophage plays a central role in inflam-mation. In recent years, with the deepening research on inflammatory mechanisms, the As macrophage polarization is attracting researchers' attention. Under different environmental inductions, macrophages develop into M1 and M2 phenotypes. M1 macrophages (classical type), which can stimulate the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, is generally considered as pro-inflammatory subtypes and can facilitate the progress of As. Whereas, M2 macrophages (alternative type), which can inhibit pro-inflammatory factor production, function as anti-inflammatory subtypes and likely to inhibit the progression of As. The mechanisms of As, macrophage polarization in As, and opportunities for herbal medicines will be summarized in this review.