Objective: To investigate the effect of zinc sulfate and zinc methionine on growth and their possible regulating mechanism in mice. Method: Ninety male KM mice were randomly divided into three groups. The control group was fed on basal diet containing zinc of 11. 67 mg/kg 10d. The ZnSO4 group and Zn-Met group were fed on the diets supplemented with ZnSO4 or Zn-Met at 30 mg/kg(on the basis of Zn) for 10 d. Initial and final body weight,serum zinc concentration, growth hormone (GH),the levels of growth hormone receptor (GHR) and insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) mRNA were determined. Results: Both ZnSO4 and Zn-Met enhanced body weight and serum zinc concentration of mice,Zn-Met more effectively than ZnSO4 for body weight . Both forms of zinc had no effect on GH and the expression of GHR mRNA , but both up-regulated the expression of IGF-1 mRNA. As compared to ZnSO4, Zn-Met enhanced the level of IGF-1 mRNA significantly. Conclusion: Both ZnSO4 and Zn-Met had no effect on GH and the expression of GHR Mrna,but enhanced the expression of IGF-1 mRNA. Zn-Met enhanced the body weight gain and up-regulated IGF-1 mRNA expression more effectively than ZnSO4.

Plasma D-dimer is one of the degradation products of the cross-linked fibrin hydrolyzed by fibrinolysin and is also a unique metabolite of secondary fibrolysis.The change of its content is a reliable indicator for the identification of the hypercoagulabale state in vivo and primary and secondary fibrinolysis,as well as for the observation of the effectiveness of thrombolytic therapy.In recent years,D-dimer determination has gained new clinical application.

Objective:To study the protective effects of exogenous nucleotides on lipopolysaccharide(LPS)immunnostimulation and its mechanism.Method:Forty healthy Kunming mice were randomly divided into five groups:control group,nucleotides(NT)groups(4h,18h),nucleotides free(NF)groups(4h,18h).Control group and NF groups were fed with nucleotide-free diet.NT groups were fed with nucleotide-supplemented diet(0.25% nucleotides).On D 15,mice were lavaged with physiological saline(control)or LPS,and were killed 4 or 18 h later.Serum,liver,small intestine,and peritoneal macrophage were sampled in germfree state.Results:Hepatic Na+K+-ATPase,intestinal superoxide dismutase(SOD),serum total anti-oxidation ability,peritoneal macrophage-produced interleukin 10(IL-10)were increased,and intestinal malonaldehyde(MDA),serum alanine aminotransferase(ALT),intestinal myeloperoxidase(MPO),peritoneal macrophage-produced interleukin 1(IL-1)were decreased with nucleotides supplement.Conclusion:Exogenous nucleotides can help to maintain oxidation-antioxidation and inflammation-antiinflammation balance,and protect mice from injury under LPS immunostimulation.

Objective:To investigate the antihypertensive effects of mung bean protein,peanut protein and rice protein alcalase hydrolysates with in vitro angiotensin I-converting enzyme(ACE) inhibitory activity in spontaneously hypertensive rats(SHR) . Method:The impact of digestive proteases on ACE inhibitory activity of hydrolysates of peanut,mung bean and rice protein isolates were evaluated under simulated gastrointestinal digestion and their antihypertensive effects were investigated in SHR after single oral administration. Results:All of three kinds of protein hydrolysates showed antihypertensive activities after single oral administration at a dose of 600 mg/kg bw,most potent in mung bean protein while least in peanut protein. There were no significant changes in the heart rate of SHR after oral administration of protein hydrolysates. Conclusion:Mung bean protein,peanut protein and rice protein hydrolysates all showed antihypertensive activity,but their potent inhibitory activities on ACE did not correlate with their antihypertensive activities found in SHR.

Objective To investigate the imaging diagnostic value of the early avascular necrosis of the femoral head(ANFH) in adult.Methods There were 25 cases (34 hips) with early ANFH diagnosed by imaging and clinical data.Radiography,CT and MRI findings of ANFH were analysed comparatively.Results In the 34 ANFH included stage Ⅰ 13 hips,stage Ⅱ 21 hips.The diagnostic accurary was 32.4% for X-ray,61.8% for CT and 100% for MRI.Conclusion MRI is better than the other technique in early finding the lesions of ANFH,and the diagnostic sensitivity and accuracy of MRI are higher than that of CT and X-ray.

AIM:To elucidate the molecular mechanisms of lipoic acid (LA) on redox regulation and digestive function in intestine of C57BL/6 mice fed high fat diet (HFD).METHODS:C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned to one of three groups (n=8). The control group consumed an ordinary diet. The other two experimental groups were fed with a high fat diet,high fat plus 0.1% LA. After 6 weeks,the activities of digestive enzymes were examined. In order to evaluate the antioxidant status of the mice,superoxide dismutase (SOD),malondialdehyde (MDA),total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in intestinal homogenate were measured. To investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of LA,the gene expression profiles in intestine were examined using the GeneChip microarray system.RESULTS:A depressed antioxidant defense system,accompanied by digestive and absorptive function impairment,was observed in HFD-fed mice. These changes were partially restored in the LA-treated group. DNA microarray analysis of intestine showed that LA ingestion up-regulated the expression of genes related to free-radical scavenger enzymes,digestive enzymes and transporters.CONCLUSION:Treatment with LA improves redox homeostasis and the function of intestine in mice fed HFD. The mechanism may involve preventing oxidative stress by scavenging ROS directly and increasing those of free-radical scavenger enzymes gene expression indirectly.

Objective To investigate the correlation of serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protien (CRP) lev?els with left atrial thrombus and severe spontaneous echocontrast (SEC) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods A case-control study of patients with atrial fibrillation (n=76) was carried out. All patients were divided into control group (n=45) and study group (n=31) according to their conventional echocardiography performance. Serum IL-6 and CRP were exam?ined in both groups. Results The levels of serum IL-6 in patients with thrombus and severe SEC were (324.13±42.86) ng/L and (332.29±53.17) ng/L, respectivly which is higher than that in patient without thrombus or without severe SEC (108.75± 25.43) ng/L and (93.59 ± 27.82) ng/L respectively. In parallel, CRP levels in patients of thrombus and severe SEC were (66.97 ± 17.65) mg/L and (71.81 ± 20.19) mg/L respectively which is higher than that in patients without thrombus or without severe SEC (17.28±6.52) mg/L and (16.76±8.73) mg/L respectively. All differences were of statistically significant(P<0.05). Conclusion Increase of serum IL-6 and CRP as well as high systemic inflammatory state correlate with left atrial thombus and severe SEC in patients with AF.

Objective To develop and validate a simple and reliable HPLC method for the analysis of flee and total carnitine in human serum and to investigate its clinical significance. Methods After proteins in serum were precipitated with a precipitating reagent, carnitine in serum was derivatized to form its ester. HPLC separation of the sample solution was performed on a Lichrospher SiO2 column and detected by ultraviolet absorbance at 260 nm. A mobile phase composed of acetonitrile-citric acid-triethanolamine was found to be the most suitable for this separation at a flow rate of 1.2 ml/min and enabled the baseline separation of the carnitine from interferences with isocratic elution. The free and total carnitine levels in serum were studied in 347 subjects. Results Under the chromatographic conditions described, the carnitine derivative had a retention time of approximately 10 min. Good separation and detectability of carnitine in human serum sample were obtained. The method proved to be linear in the range of carnitine from 0 μmol/L to 400 μmol/L The relative standard deviations of within-assay ( n = 5 ) for free and total carnitine analysis were 3.36% and 1.97% , respectively, and between-assay (n =7) for free and total carnitine analysis were 3.04% and 1.77%, respectively. The average recovery was 98. 2% for free camitine and 96.3% for total carnitine, respectively. The average L-carnitine concentrations in the 347 subjects were as follows: total carnitine (52. 2 ± 8. 6 ) μmol/L, free carnitine ( 42. 3 ± 8. 3 ) μmol/L and acylcarnitine ( 9. 9 ± 2. 9 )μmol/L in the male group ( n = 182), and total carnitine (48.2 ± 9. 9 ) μmol/L, free camitine ( 37.9 ±8. 7) μmol/L and acylcarnitine ( 10. 3 ± 3.5 ) μmol/L in the female group ( n = 165 ). Statistical analysis showed that total and free carnitine levels of male were higher than that of female ( P <0. 01 ) while there was not statistical difference of acylcarnitine levels between two groups ( P > 0. 05). Conclusion The method has been successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of free and total carnitine in serum with good sensitivity, specificity and repeatability, and this is a useful guidance for the clinic therapy and the mechanism study on the diseases associated with carnitine.

A novel peptide, named BF2-X, was designed based on the structure-activity analysis of an analogue of Buforin II, named BF2-A. The BF2-X was a hybrid peptide containing the N-terminal residues 5 to 13 of BF2-A and three repeats of the C-terminal regular alpha-helical motif RLLR, and the residues 8 valine were replaced by leucine. The results of bioinformatics analysis had showed that compared with BF2-A, the helicity, positive charge, hydrophobicity rate and C-terminal amphipathy of BF2-X had remarkably enhanced. Both peptides showed a random coil structure in an aqueous solution, while displaying a typical alpha-helical structure in 50% trifluoroethanol solution (a membrane mimic condition). BF2-X exhibited higher alpha-helical contents than BF2-A in hydrophobic environment. BF2-X displayed potent antimicrobial activities against a broad spectrum of microorganisms. And BF2-X showed stronger antimicrobial activities against bacteria tested than parent peptide BF2-A. These results suggest that the alpha-helical content was directly correlated with the enhanced antibacterial activity. Both peptides had no hemolytic action on mouse erythrocyte.

Objective: To study the effect of dietary nucleotides on DNA damage of thymocytes in mice. Methods: KM mice (n=30) , 5-6 weeks, were randomized into 3 groups,negative group (group 1), positive group (group 2) and nucleotides group (group 3). Mice in group 1 and 2 were fed nucleotide-free diet and group 3 nucleotide-supplemented diet (0.25% nucleotides). Mice in group 2, 3 were given single cyclophosphamide intraperitoneal injection of 150 mg/kg bw at day 21. DNA damage in thymus lymphocytes was evaluated 18 h after injection by single-cell gel electrophoresis (SCGE) assay. Thymus and spleen were weighed. Results: Dietary nucleotides had no effect on weights of thymus and spleen, but significantly decreased the number of damaged lymphocytes and the degree of damage. Conclusion: Dietary nucleotides may protect thymocytes DNA in mice from damage.