Objective To evaluate the effect of tranilast on chronic cyclosporin A(CsA)nephrotoxicity rats and the possible mechanisms of protective effect of it.Methods Rats were on low salt diet and CsA was administered by gastric gavage at a dose of 20 mg/(kg?d)for 28 days,and tranilast was gave to these rats in a dose of 400 mg/(kg?d).The renal function and renal morphology were observed at1,2 and 4 weeks after administration of tranilast.Results CsA induced the corruption of normal condition and weight lost were markedly delayed after administration of tranilast.On histopathology tranilast attenuated tubular cells vacuolations as well as interstitial damage including interstitial ED1+ macrophages infiltration and focal interstitial fibrosis.Meanwhile,tranilast down-regulated the protein of OPN in kidney.Conclusion Tranilast can attenuate the structural changes of kidney in chronic CsA nephrotoxicity rats.Decreased CsA-related ED1+ macrophages,OPN up-regulation expression in the kidney may be related to mechanisms of protective effect of tranilast in the treatment of CsA induced chronic nephrotoxicity.

Objective To sum up operative experience and prevention of complications while resecting the hepatic hilar tumor. Methods 14 cases with hepatic hilar tumor were analyzed in respect of operative method,complications, experience and prevention of complications. Results Some peri-operative complications happened. such as massive hemorrhage in 2 cases,billiary fistula in 1 case,hepatic failure in 1 case and tumor remained at resection edge in 1 case. No patients died during the operation. Conclusion The resection of hepatic hilar tumor is very difficult and risky,safety of surgery can be improved by paying attention to pre-operative evaluation and preparation,as well as carefulness during operation.

To study the effect of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) on PC-3M cell line, PC-3M cell line was incubated with gradient concentrations of TRAIL for 4--24 h. Annixin-V fluorescence staining and TUNEL method were employed to detect the apoptosis of PC-3M cells. The morphology of apoptotic PC-3M cells was observed by electron microscopy. The relationship between TRAIL concentrations and the percentage of apoptotic cells was evaluated by flow cytometry. The proliferation inhibitory ratio was calculated by using MTT colorimetry. Our results showed that apoptosis of PC-3M cells could be induced by treatment with TRAIL for at most 4 h. The results of flow cytometry and MTT colorimetry demonstrated a time- and concentration-dependent relationship between cell apoptosis rate and TRAIL concentration. It is concluded that apoptosis of PC-3M cells can be induced by TRAIL. Because of the selective killing effect of TRAIL on tumor cells, it may become a potential alternative for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.
Apoptosis/*drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Prostatic Neoplasms/metabolism ; Prostatic Neoplasms/*pathology ; TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand/*pharmacology

Objective To investigate therapeutic effects of Salvia miltiorrhiza on hepatic fibrosis of rats induced by carbon tewachloridean. Methods Rat models of hepatic fibrosis were founded by intraperitoneal injection of carbon tetrachloride. Salvia miltiorrhiza were given to these rats. Normal group and control group were set for comparison at the same time. Serum levels of ALT, AST, HA, LN, and PC-Ⅲ were detected; HE and Masson staining were conducted in hepatic tissues to observe pathological variations. Results Salvia miltiorrhiza could decrease serum levels of ALT, AST, HA, LN,PC-Ⅲ obviously (P ＜0.01), compared with the control group; Salvia miltiorrhiza could obviously improve pathological variations compared with the control group. Conclusion Salvia miltiorrhiza has therapeutic effect on hepatic fibrosis of rats

A novel and sensitive HPLC-UV method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of twelve major compounds in Longdan Xiegan Pill.The chemical profile of the twelve compounds,including geniposidic acid (1),geniposide(2),gentiopicroside(3),liquiritin(4),crocin(5),baicalin(6),wogonoside(7),baicalein(8),glycyrrhizic acid (9),wogonin (10),oroxylin A ( 11 ) and aristolochic acid A (12),was acquired using high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector coupled with an electrospray tandem mass spectrometer (HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS).The analysis was performed on a Dikma Platisil ODS C18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm,5 μm ) with a gradient solvent system of acetonitrile-0.1％ aqueous formic acid.The validation was carried out and the linearities ( r ＞ 0.9996),repeatability (RSD＜1.8％),intra- and inter-day precision (RSD＜1.3％),and recoveries (ranging from 96.6％ to 103.4％ ) were acceptable.The limits of detection (LOD) of these compounds ranged from 0.29 to 4.17 ng.Aristolochic acid A,which is the toxic ingredient,was not detected in all the batches of Longdan Xiegan Pill.Furthermore,hierarchical cluster analysis was used to evaluate the variation of the herbal prescription.The proposed method is simple,effective and suitable for the quality control of this traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Objective To observe therapeutic effects of HuGanJieXian decoction on rats hepatic fibrosis induced by tetrachloride. Methods Rat models of hepatic fibrosis were constructed by intraperitoneal injection of tetrachloride.HuGanJieXian decoction composed of low, middle, and high dose curcumin were given to these rats respectively at the same time. Sho-saiko-to compound treatment group and Fufangbiejiarangan Tablets treatment group were made as positive control groups. After twelve weeks, all rats were executed. Serum samples were kept for measuring serum levels of PC-Ⅲ, LN, and HA. Left livers were extirpated for pathologic examination including H.E and Masson stainings. Grade of hepatic fibrosis were evaluated according to SSS system. The levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) of supematant centrifugated from hepatic tissue homogenate were detected. Results Serum levels of PC-Ⅲ, LN, and HA were depressed obviously in decoction groups compared with those of fibrotic group (P<0.05) , especially in the low-dose curcumin group.HuGanJieXian Decoction could increase the level of SOD and decrease the level of MDA (P<0.05) , especially in the low-dose curcumin group. Staining of H. E and Masson showed that degrees of hepatic fibrosis in decoction groups were improved obviously compared with that of the fibrotic group. Conclusion HuGanJieXian Decoction can improve rat hepatic fibrosis, the mechanism of this effect may be associated with protecting hepatic cell membrane and anti- peroxidative damage.

A novel and sensitive HPLC-UV method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of twelve major compounds in Longdan Xiegan Pill.The chemical profile of the twelve compounds,including geniposidic acid（1）,geniposide（2）,gentiopicroside（3）,liquiritin（4）,crocin（5）,baicalin（6）,wogonoside（7）,baicalein（8）,glycyrrhizic acid（9）,wogonin（10）,oroxylin A（11）and aristolochic acid A（12）,was acquired using high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector coupled with an electrospray tandem mass spectrometer（HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS）.The analysis was performed on a Dikma Platisil ODS C18 column（250 mm×4.6 mm,5 μm）with a gradient solvent system of acetonitrile-0.1% aqueous formic acid.The validation was carried out and the linearities（r〉0.9996）,repeatability（RSD〈1.8%）,intra-and inter-day precision（RSD〈1.3%）,and recoveries（ranging from 96.6% to 103.4%）were acceptable.The limits of detection（LOD）of these compounds ranged from 0.29 to 4.17 ng.Aristolochic acid A,which is the toxic ingredient,was not detected in all the batches of Longdan Xiegan Pill.Furthermore,hierarchical cluster analysis was used to evaluate the variation of the herbal prescription.The proposed method is simple,effective and suitable for the quality control of this traditional Chinese medicine（TCM）.

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of NGF on apoptosis of HSC in vitro and explore the possible mechanism.MethodsHSC was incubated with different concentrations of NGF.HSC apoptosis was identified by FCM.The expressions of apoptosis-regulating proteins Caspase-3,p53 and Bcl-2 of HSC after apoptosis induced by NGF were examined by immunohistochemical staining.Expressions of NGF and p75NTR were detected by immunofluorescence.ResultsApoptosis index of HSC was higher than that of control group [(22.36±9.51)％ vs (5.88±1.36)％] after treated with NGF (100 ng/ml) (P＜0.05).After incubating with 100 ng/ml NGF for 24 h,the positive expression rates of p53 and Caspase-3 of HSC increased significantly than those of control group [(78.41±4.00)％ vs (34.96±3.84)％,(39.26±1.57)％ vs (9.27±1.01)％,P ＜0.05].The positive expression rate of Bcl-2 protein of HSC significantly decreased compared with that of control group (18.12±1.38)％ vs (91.53±2.98)％ (P＜0.05).When HSC was stimulated with 100 ng/ml NGF for 24 h,the average optical density of NGF increased significantly than control group (6.53±1.40 vs 1.77±0.17) (P＜0.05),while the expression of p75NTR was not significantly changed (3.52±0.36 vs 4.24±0.38) (P＞0.05).ConclusionsThe mechanism of NGF to induce HSC apoptosis may be associated with the up-regulating expression of Caspase3,P53 and down-regulating expression of Bcl-2 on HSC.NGF could be used as an initiating factor and effect factor to increase the expression of NGF on HSC,but it had no significant effect on p75NTR expression.

To study the effect of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL)on PC-3M cell line, PC-3M cell line was incubated with gradient concentrations of TRAIL for 4-24h. Annixin-Ⅴ fluorescence staining and TUNEL method were employed to detect the apoptosis of PC-3M cells. The morphology of apoptotic PC-3M cells was observed by electron microscopy. The relationship between TRAIL concentrations and the percentage of apoptotic cells was evaluated by flow cytometry. The proliferation inhibitory ratio was calculated by using MTT colorimetry. Our results showed that apoptosis of PC-3M cells could be induced by treatment with TRAIL for at most 4 h. The results of flow cytometry and MTT colorimetry demonstrated a time- and concentration-dependent relationship between cell apoptosis rate and TRAIL concentration. It is concluded that apoptosis of PC-3M cells can be induced by TRAIL. Because of the selective killing effect of TRAIL on tumor ceils, it may become a potential alternative for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.

To obtain an initial overview of gene diversity and expression pattern in porcine thymus, 11,712 ESTs (Expressed Sequence Tags) from 100-day-old porcine thymus (FTY) were sequenced and 7,071 cleaned ESTs were used for gene expression analysis. Clustered by the PHRAP program, 959 contigs and 3,074 singlets were obtained. Blast search showed that 806 contigs and 1,669 singlets (totally 5,442 ESTs) had homologues in GenBank and 1,629 ESTs were novel. According to the Gene Ontology classification, 36.99% ESTs were cataloged into the gene expression group, indicating that although the functional gene (18.78% in defense group) of thymus is expressed in a certain degree, the 100-day-old porcine thymus still exists in a developmental stage. Comparative analysis showed that the gene expression pattern of the 100-day-old porcine thymus is similar to that of the human infant thymus.
Animals ; Computational Biology ; Expressed Sequence Tags ; Fetus ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Genetic Variation ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Sus scrofa ; genetics ; metabolism ; Thymus Gland ; metabolism