Ginseng and its effective components are famous for their influence to enhance human immunity, regulate endocrine and antioxidant action. However, the different effects of different components are not clear. In this study, Wistar rats were used to study the effects of main components of ginseng, including total ginsenoside, panaxadiol saponins, panaxtrol saponin and ginseng polysaccharide. The results showed that the effects of panaxadiol saponins and ginseng polysaccharide on improving animal immune organ weight, plasma interleukin 2 (IL-2), interleukin 6 (IL-6), plasma gamma-interferon (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) were better than that of the other groups. Total ginsenoside and panaxtrol saponin can effectively increase the concentration of spleen NK cells (NKC) while panaxadiol saponins and ginseng polysaccharide can significantly increase the concentrations of rat plasma adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), corticosterone (CORT) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). As for the effect of increasing organization nitric oxide (NO) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA), total ginsenoside is better than that of other groups. In brief, different components in ginseng possess different effects on enhancing immunity, regulating endocrine and resisting oxidation. Panaxadiol saponins and ginseng polysaccharide are better in enhancing immune, and total ginsenoside shows advantages in resisting oxidation and stress.
Adrenal Glands ; drug effects ; growth & development ; Adrenocorticotropic Hormone ; blood ; Animals ; Brain ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Corticosterone ; blood ; Ginsenosides ; pharmacology ; Glutathione ; metabolism ; Immune System ; drug effects ; physiology ; Interferon-gamma ; blood ; Interleukin-2 ; blood ; Interleukin-6 ; blood ; Killer Cells, Natural ; drug effects ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide ; metabolism ; Organ Size ; drug effects ; Panax ; chemistry ; Polysaccharides ; pharmacology ; Random Allocation ; Rats, Wistar ; Saponins ; pharmacology ; Spleen ; drug effects ; growth & development ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism ; Thymus Gland ; drug effects ; growth & development ; Thyrotropin ; blood

Objective To investigate the expression of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and CD_(74), the receptor of MIF, in preeclamptic placenta and its correlation with the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.Methods From March 2008 to November 2008,69 preeclamptic women who delivered in the Department of Obstetrics, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University Medical College,were recruited,including 33 women with mild preeclampsia (MPE group) and 36 women with severe preeclampsia (SPE group).Another 43 healthy pregnant women were taken as control group.Immunoturbidimetry was applied to measure the concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP) in maternal blood.The expressions of MIF and CD_(74) in placenta were tested with immunohistochemistry and the expressions of MIF mRNA and CD_(74) mRNA were detected by semiquantitative RT-PCR.The relationship between maternal blood level of CRP and MIF mRNA and CD_(74) mRNA in placenta was analyzed in the MPE and SPE group.Results (1) MIF and CD_(74) were expressed in the placenta of all pregnant women in the 3 groups, as shown in brown-yellow color, and significantly higher expression was found in the MPE and SPE group.(2) The expression of MIF mRNA and CD_(74) mRNA in the MPE group (0.70±0.13 and 0.96±0.16), SPE group (0.88 ± 0.12 and 1.08 ± 0.15) were significantly higher than in the control group (0.67 ± 0.11 and 0.83 ± 0.14) (P < 0.01), and statistical significance was also found between the MPE and SPE group (P <0.01).(3)The maternal blood concentrations of CRP in the MPE and SPE group were significantly higher than in the control group [(15.3±7.0) mg/L and (21.6±9.1)mg/L vs (4.8 ± 1.8) mg/L, P <0.01] , and significant difference was also found between the MPE and SPE group (P <0.01).(4) In the two preeclamptic groups, the blood concentrations of CRP were positively correlated with the expression of both MIF mRNA(r =0.67 ,P <0.01)and CD_(74) mRNA(r =0.83 ,P <0.01) in placenta.Positive correlation was also found between the levels of MIF mRNA and CD_(74) mRNA in placenta (r =0.93 ,P < 0.01).Conclusions Overexpression of MIF and CD_(74) in the placenta may up-regulate the CRP level in maternal blood, resulting in systemic inflammatory reaction and vascular endothelium damage which may be involved in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.

Air ; analysis ; Air Pollutants, Occupational ; analysis ; Formates ; analysis ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; methods ; Humans ; Occupational Exposure ; analysis ; Workplace

Background Central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) is a common retinal vascular disease.Intravitreal injection of ranibizumab, a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antibody, is being a useful approach to the treatment of macular edema secondary to CRVO.However,little literature about choroidal thickness variations following intravitreal injection of ranibizumab for CRVO is published up to now.Objective This study was to observe the dynamic changes of macular choroidal thickness after intravitreal injection of ranibizumab in CRVO eyes.Methods A self-controlled series cases study was designed.Thirty-one eyes of 31 CRVO patients were included in Tianjin Eye Hospital from June 2013 to November 2014,with the males 19 and females 12 and mean age of (51.13±16.65) years.Ranibizumab (5 mg,5 ml) was intravitreally injected in the CRVO eyes once per month for 3 times by the same operator.A enhanced depth image (EDI) mode of spectral-domain OCT system was employed to measure the choroidal thickness at subfoveal, 1 mm from fovea nasal and 1 mm from fovea temporal before and 1 month,2,3 months after first injection in both CRVO eyes and contralateral healthy eyes, respectively.The best LogMAR vision was recored.This research protocol was approved by the Ethic Committee of this hospital, and written informed consent was obtained from each individual prior to any medical examination.Results Retinal bleeding was exhibited in the CRVO eyes in color photography,and fundus fluorescein angiography showed the fluorescine leakege in the early phase and fluorescine accummulation in the late phase.The mean choroidal theckness value was (325.32±83.04) , (294.83±80.61), (315.95±90.77) and (314.81±84.98) μm before injection and 1,2,3 months after injection,respectively,showing a significantly difference among various time points (F =7.96,P =0.00) , and the choroidal theckness values were evidently reduced in various time points after injection in comparison with before injection (P =0.01,0.01,0.00).The choroidal thickness value at foveal was (314.81±84.98) μm in the CRVO eyes 3 months after injection,and that in the fellow eyes was (260.47±55.90) ,with significant difference between them (t =2.95, P =0.01).The LogMAR vision was 0.17±0.09,0.37±0.23,0.42±0.26 and 0.49±0.21 before and 1,2,3 months after injection,with the significant difference among various time points (F =21.50, P =0.00) and showed considerable improvement after intravitreal injection of ranibizumab(all at P＜0.01).The mean retinal thickness value was (244.14-±23.28) μm in the fellow eyes, and those in 1 month, 2,3 months after injection were (523.81 ± 147.61), (352.13 ± 166.71),(376.39±209.46) and (369.00±225.61) μm in the CRVO eyes, showing obvious reduce after intravitreal injection, with significant difference among different time points (F =7.09, P＜0.01).Conclusions Choroidal thickness at macular fovea is obviously increased in CRVO eyes compared with the contralateral healthy eyes.Intravitreal injection of ranibizumab can reduce choroidal thickness and therefore improve vision.EDI OCT is available in the evaluation of dynamic change of choroidal thickness.Macular choroidal thickness could be used as a predictor of CRVO prognosis following intravitreal ranibizumab.

Objective To explore the atopic condition of children with stable asthma and their parents by detecting total IgE concentration in serum and collecting history. Methods Fifteen children with asthma in remission stage and 24 parents and 40 normal children were involved in this study. The concentrations of serum total IgE were measured with UniCAP Pharmacia system. The history including eczema and allergic rhinitis and asthma of children and parents were collected. Skin test with 10 kinds of inhalant allergens were taken in children with asthma. Results Of 15 children with asthma, 13 cases (86.7%)had eczema in infant stage and allergic rhinitis, 13 parents(86.7%)had allergic rhinitis or asthma. There was significant difference in the stable asthmatic children compared with parents and normal control group increased amounts of serum total lg IgE(F=68.42 P=0). There was significant difference in serum total lg IgE in patients group(2.43?0.73)kU/L compared with that in normal control group(0.72?0.54)kU/L (q=14.176 P0.05). Twelve children were positive in skin test, which were mainly dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and dermatophagoides farinae.Conclusions There is obvious congregate phenomena of atopy in the family of asthmatic children. The continuous high IgE concentration was associated with immune pathological mechanisms of atopic diseases.

Objective To investigate the in vitro effects of human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSC) on Th17 cells of the human peripheral blood.Methods The density gradient centrifugation combined with lymphocyte separation medium was used to isolate hBMSC,which were then cultured.Cytokine IL-17 in the peripheral blood from a healthy person was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Proportion of Th17 cells was evaluated by flow cytometry.Results The expression level of IL-17 in spent culture supernatant of the healthy person PBMC and AML hBMSC was (292.32±37.25) pg/ml,and was significantly higher than that of the healthy person PBMC and healthy hBMSC [(169.64±17.47) pg/ml,P ＜ 0.01].There was no significant difference between the expression level of IL-17 in spent culture supernatant of the healthy person PBMC and ALL hBMSC [(159.89±23.71) pg/ml] and the level of the healthy person PBMC and hBMSC.The percentages of Th17 cells of co-culture systems from hBMSC,ALL-hBMSC,and AML-hBMSC and PBMC were (10.13±2.19) ％,(13.77±4.04) ％ and (21.53±5.05) ％,respectively,with the result between AML patients and healthy people being statistically different (P ＜ 0.01).ALL patients and healthy people showed no difference (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion AML-hBMSC promotes the CD~ T cells to generate Th17 cells,which suggests that the MSC from AML marrow may play a role in the regulation of immune suppression.

Objective To explore the effect of curcumine on the proliferation and heparanase expression in blood vessel endothelium cells isolated from ovarian cancer tissues. Methods Blood vessel endothelium cells were obtained from pathologically identified ovarian cancer tissues by primary culture. The control group was the normal blood vessel endothelium cells. The experimental groups was treated with curcumine at 2,10,50 and 250 ?g/ml for 24,48 h and 72 h respectively. The cytostasis rate and cell cycle changes of the primarily cultured cells were detected by MTT assay and flow cytometry respectively. The transcriptional and translation levels of heparanase were detected by RT-PCR and immunofluorescent staining. The MDA content and LDH activity in the supernatant were detected too. Results In the curcumine groups,the cell proliferation was inhibited in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner ( P

Due to its effect of systems regulation and promotion on body, Ginseng is always referred to be long-term used as a dietary supplement. But it was still unclear about its target of the tonic effects and also the side-effects long-term use may bring. Urine metabolomic method is suitable for long-term studies of pharmaco-dynamics, pharmacology and toxicology of traditional Chinese medicine because of its characteristics of non-invasive and monitoring the whole-body metabolism. This study was designed to detect the dynamic variation of rat urine metabolome along with a long-term administration of total ginsenosides using GC-TOF based metabolomic technology. Our result showed that either short-term or chronic administration of ginsenosides did not impact the rat urine metabolome significantly (as the PCA subgroup was not successful). By comparison, the short-term (1-3 w) dose of ginsenosides had the biggest metabolic influence including TCA cycle, catecholamines and neurotransmitter amino acids. Medium-term (6-10 w) dose had a gradually lower effect and long-term (27 w) dose almost had no effect. Our study indicates that both short and long-term administration of ginsenosides showed almost no obvious side-effect on the experimental animals.
Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; metabolism ; Ginsenosides ; metabolism ; urine ; Male ; Metabolomics ; Panax ; metabolism ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Time Factors

AIM: To explore the relationship between the expression of caspase-2 and caspase-3 and the apoptosis in retinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury of rats, as well as the therapeutic effects of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)on the ischemic and reperfused retina.METHODS: This experiment was conducted at the laboratory of Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University Medical College from February 2007 to July 2007. The models of retinal ischemia/reperfusion injury were made by transiently elevating intraocular pressure. A total of 28 rats were divided into Normal and Operative Groups. Operative group was divided into six subgroups. In each subgroup there were four rats. The left eyes of rats were used for I/R and the right eyes were used for intravitreal injection of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) as treatment group. After reperfusion we divided our subgroups according to the reperfusion time as 1, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 hours. The retinal ganglion cell number was counted by using optic microscope(BX-51,Olympus). Apoptosis was assessed by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick-end labelling (TUNEL) method, and the expression of caspase-2,caspase-3 was studied by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and strept avidin-biotin complex (SABC)immunohistochemistry.RESULTS: No positive apoptotic cells were observed in the normal rats' retinae, but there were a significant number of positive apoptosis cells in 6-24 hours after transient ischemia followed by a decrease at 48 hours. The number of apoptotic cells reached a maximum at 24 hours after ischemia .The expression of caspase-2 gradually increased as early as at 6 hours, reached a peak at 24 hours, then decreased between 48 and 72 hours. Similarly, caspase-3 has the same rule with caspsae-2 in the time courses of expression in retinal tissues.BDNF administered before reperfusion inhibited the expression of apoptosis and ameliorated the retinal tissue damage. It also decreased caspase-2 and caspase-3 expression in ischemic/reperfused retina.CONCLUSION: Retinal ischemia-reperfusion can induce apoptosis of cells in the retina. BDNF rescues retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) from retinal ischemia/reperfusion injury through down-regulation of cell apoptosis and caspase-2 and caspase-3 expression. BDNF have a neuroprotective effect on retina.

Objective To investigate the effects of rigid gas permeable contact lens (RGPCL) wearing 3 years on ocular surface in keratoconus.Design Retrospective case series.Participants 73 patients with keratoconus.Methods From July 2001 to July 2004,73 patients (142 eyes) wearing RGPCL for more than 3 years were collected in Peking University Optometry & Ophthalmology Center.Be- fore and at 1 year,2 years and 3 years of RGPCL wearing,density and morphologic changes of corneal endothelium were examined with non-contact specular microscope.Eye axial length,central and peripheral thickness of cornea were measured with A-scan pachymeter. All eyes were examined with slit-lamp microscope periodically.Main Outcome Measures Corneal endothelial density and morphology, corneal thickness,eye axial length,ocular surface changes.Results Before and at 1 year,2 years and 3 years of RGPCL wearing,aver- age corneal endothelial density was 2901.92?445.20,2862.78?497.13,2854.71?526.80,3015.61?421.22 (cells/mm~2)without significant difference statistically (F=1.571,P=0.20).Morphologic changes were not significant during 3 years.Eye axial length was 25.15?1.50, 24.93?1.36,24.78?1.25,25.39?1.31 (mm) without significant difference statistically (F=2.218,P=0.10).Corneal central thickness was 489.09?59.64,484.02?60.80,496.61?59.74,487.44?54.25(?m)without significant difference statistically (F=0.991,P=0.40).Peripheral thickness changes were also not significant statistically during 3 years.69 eyes with mild conjunctival congestion,12 eyes with corneal fluorescence stain and 6 eyes with corneal epithelial rough were found with slit-lamp microscope during follow-up.Conclusions For the patients with keratoconus,long term of RGPCL wear will not lead to significant ocular changes or severe ocular complications.