Objective To investigate the metabolic rules of surfactant protein A and D(SP- A,SP- D )in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF)in human fetal lungs during gestational ages. Methods BALF with 30 mL saline was performed on clinically collected human fetus with induction of labor by water- bag Their BALF was respectively retrieved [total retrieval rate(85. 6% ? 13 1)% ]for analysis of protein content. The BALF SP - A and SP - D from fetus of various gestational ages or newboms were detected by RPHA and ELISA. Results The total protein in BALF gradually increased since 10th week to newborn peak during lung development. And SP - A and SP D were respectively updated from(0.34 ?0.07 ) ,(0.05?0.01) ng/L to newborn climax[ (6 42 ? 0 36),(1.22 ? 0 13)ng/L] .Conclusions The protein in BALF gradually increases with fetal growth and lung development. SP-A and SP- D may reach prenatal climax and become the main indicator of newborn lung maturity.

Objective To observe the effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy(HBOT) on Glasgow coma scale(GCS) in patients with traumatic brain injury(TBI) and the influences of course and initiating time of HBOT on the therapeutic effects.Methods 105 cases of TBI patients,which performed HBOT more than 30 days in HBOT Center of Southwest Hospital,were analyzed retrospectively.The GCS improvements were compared with 29 cases of TBI patients without HBOT during the same period.They were also compared between patients with different severity,initiating times and courses of HBOT.Results The GCS improvement of patients with HBOT was 3.97?2.65,especially in severe TBI patients(5.22?2.49),Both were higher than that without HBOT(2.38?2.16)(P

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of cold or hot properties of traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) on biological effect indexes, and analyze the contribution of variables on cold or hot properties, in order to preliminarily establish the discrimination mode for the biological effects of cold or hot properties.

METHODRats were randomly divided into the blank control group, cold TCM groups (Coptidis Rhizoma, Scutellariae Radix, Phellodendri Cortex, Gardeniae Fructus, Sophorae Flavescentis Radix and Gentianae Radix) and hot TCM groups (Aconiti Lateralis Preparata Radix, Zingiberis Rhizoma, Alpiniae Officinarum Rhizoma, Zanthoxyli Pericarpium, Cinnamomi Cortex and Evodiae Fructus), and orally administered with 10 mL x kg(-1) of corresponding TCM water decoctions for 30 d, twice a day. Altogether 53 biological effect indexes correlated to cold or hot properties of traditional Chinese medicines were founded by searching literatures. The data warehouse were established by using data-mining software Clementine12.0. Data of the blank control group, cold TCM groups (Coptidis Rhizoma, Phellodendri Cortex, Gardeniae Fructus, Sophorae Flavescentis Radix, Gentianae Radix) and hot TCM groups (Aconiti Lateralis Preparata Radix, Zingiberis Rhizoma, Alpiniae Officinarum Rhizoma, Zanthoxyli Pericarpium, Cinnamomi Cortex) were selected into a training set. C5.0 algorithm and C&R classification and regression algorithm were adopted to define the importance of variable, create the decision trees, and test hot or cold properties of Evodiae Fructus and Scutellariae Radix.

RESULTAccording to C&R classification and regression algorithm, SDH activity of livers was the most important hot or cold property, with the significance closed to 30%. It was followed by triglyceride, liver Na' -K' -ATPase enzyme, muscle glycogen and platelet distribution width, with the accuracy up to 97.39% in models. C5.0 algorithm showed that liver SDH activity was the most important hot or cold property, with the significance closed to 40%. It was followed by triglyceride, GOT, muscle glycogen and liver Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase enzyme, with the accuracy up to 98.26% in models. The possibilities that Evodiae Fructus is in hot property and Scutellariae Radix is in cold property were 100. 00% and 77.78% by using both C&R classification and regression algorithm and C5.0 algorithm.

CONCLUSIONThe SDH activity of liver is the most important biological effect index to distinguish cold and hot properties of TCMs. The discrimination pathway or mode of cold and hot properties is closely related to energy metabolism.

Algorithms ; Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; classification ; pharmacology ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Liver ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Liver Glycogen ; metabolism ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; methods ; Phytotherapy ; classification ; methods ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; classification ; Random Allocation ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rhizome ; chemistry ; Sodium-Potassium-Exchanging ATPase ; metabolism ; Succinate Dehydrogenase ; metabolism ; Triglycerides ; metabolism

Objective To establish a detection technique for H.pylori(HP) infection in Mongolian gerbils using nested PCR technique.Methods H.pylori was cultured in vitro and inoculated into Mongolian gerbils.At the 10th week after infection, the HP in the gastric juice of Mongolian gerbil was detected by conventional PCR assay and the gastric juice, gastric mucosa, duodenal contents and colon stool were examined by nested PCR.Rapid urease test and ELISA were used to analyze the accuracy of the nested PCR assay.All of the PCR products were verified by sequencing.Results The positive rate of gastric juice detected by conventional PCR was 30%, while the positive rates of gastric juice, gastric mucosa, duodenal contents and colon stool detected by nested PCR were 100%, 100%, 90%, and 10%, respectively.The positive detection rates of rapid urease test and serum ELISA were 100% and 0%, respectively.Comparing the results of different methods, both the positive rates of gastric juice and gastric mucosa detected by nested PCR and the detection rate of rapid urease test were 100%, but the results of conventional PCR detection of gastric juice, the nested PCR detection result of stool in colon and of serum ELISA assay were lower than other methods.Conclusions Due to its high accuracy and sensitivity, the nested PCR assay of gastric juice can be used for the long-time detection of H.pylori infection in Mongolian gerbils, especially useful in the experiments of prevention and treatment of H.pylori infection.

Atrial Fibrillation/surgery* ; Cardiac Tamponade/surgery* ; Catheter Ablation/adverse effects* ; Humans ; Radiofrequency Ablation ; Treatment Outcome ; Vena Cava, Superior/surgery*

Rheum franzenbachii (called Tudahuang in local) has some similarities with R. palmatum (rhubarb) collected by "China Pharmacopoeia" and is often used as a substitute of rhubarb. Can Tudahuang simply replace rhubarb in the application or whether is there difference between Tudahuang and rhubarb, and what is the difference it is important to verify the difference and understand its proper application in the field of clinical practice. In this paper, we discussed the differences of the two herbs from the views of chemistry, efficacy and toxicity based on the author's previous research work as well as literatures, by using the major role of the rhubarb "diarrhea" as the basic point. The analysis result showed that the role of diarrhea Tudahuang was much weaker than that of rhubarb. The reason lies in the difference between the contents of combined anthraquinones component. While acute toxicity in mice of Tudahuang is stronger than that of rhubarb. Thus, Tudahuang should not simply replace rhubarb in practice.
Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; toxicity ; Humans ; Mice ; Rheum ; adverse effects ; chemistry

On the basis of the origin comparison of known endothelial genesis inhibitors, a 417-bp cDNA fragment was amplified from umbilical cord by RT-PCR and cloned into the expression vector pPIC9, followed by transformation into Pichia pastoris GS115. The resulted yeast was induced with methanol to express recombinant protein. The resulted protein was purified from culture broth and designated as EDI-8t. The in vitro study showed that EDI-8t, originated from collagen VIII, could specifically inhibit the growth and migration of bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC) stimulated by basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). The protein also exhibited the activity to cause cell apoptosis. In vivo EDI-8t showed the identical activity comparing with endostatin to inhibit the growth of liver tumor transplanted into nude mice. Interestingly, EDI-8t showed higher activity than endostatin to inhibit tumor growth in metastatic model of melanoma mice.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Angiogenesis Inhibitors ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; Base Sequence ; Cattle ; Cells, Cultured ; Collagen Type VIII ; chemistry ; genetics ; Endothelium, Vascular ; metabolism ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells ; chemistry ; Humans ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Pichia ; genetics ; metabolism ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the alterations in calcium metabolism of the vascular smooth muscle of rat thoracic aorta in the late phase of sepsis and to investigate the involvement of nitric oxide (NO)/cyclic-GMP(cGMP) signal transduction pathway in the sepsis-induced vascular hyporeactivity.

METHODSMale Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to sepsis by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Eighteen hours post CLP, rat aortic rings were removed for measurement of contractile responses to vasoconstrictors by using organ bath technique.

RESULTIn endothelium intact aortic rings from CLP rats, concentration-contraction curves to phenylephrine (PE) and high KCl were significantly decreased when compared with those from control rats. The transient contraction induced by PE in calcium-free Krebs solution and the concentration-dependent contraction to CaCl(2)in KCl-depolarized medium were also markedly reduced. The hyporeactivity to vasoconstrictors was completely reversed by pretreatment either with aminoguanidine (AMG), a selective inducible nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, or with 1H [1,2,4] oxadiazolo[4,3-a] quininoxalin-1-one(ODQ), an inhibitor of NO-sensitive guanylyl cyclase.

CONCLUSIONA generalized impairment in calcium handling in vascular smooth muscle,including the calcium influx through the voltage-operated and receptor-operated channels and calcium release from intracellular calcium stores, is involved in vascular hyporeactivity during the late phase of sepsis. The NO/cGMP signal transduction pathway might be involved in this defect in vascular smooth muscle.

Animals ; Aorta ; metabolism ; Calcium ; metabolism ; Cyclic GMP ; physiology ; Homeostasis ; In Vitro Techniques ; Male ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular ; metabolism ; Nitric Oxide ; physiology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Sepsis ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; physiology

Our previous studies showed that the proto-oncogene c-erbB₂ played an important role in primordial follicles growth. The present study was conducted to investigate the role of MAPK and PKC signaling pathways in the primordial follicle onset in neonatal rats, and the relationship between c-erbB₂ and MAPK/PKC signaling pathways. Ovaries collected from 2-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats were cultured in the Waymouth culture system in vitro. Ovaries were transfected with c-erbB₂ siRNA, or treated with PD98059 (50 mumol/L) or Calphostin (0.5 mumol/L) in the culture medium. RT-PCR was performed to measure the expression of c-erbB₂ mRNA, and Western blot analysis was performed to measure the expression of ErbB₂, MAPK and PKC protein after the neonatal rat ovaries were cultured for 8 d. The quantities of every-stage follicles of ovaries cultured for 8 d were obtained in histological section stained with hematoxylin eosin. The results showed that c-erbB₂ siRNA reduced the levels of c-erbB₂ mRNA (P<0.01) and the levels of ErbB₂, MAPK and PKC protein (P<0.01) significantly. But the levels of c-erbB₂ mRNA and ErbB₂ protein exhibited no change (P>0.05) in the ovaries cultured with PD98059 or Calphostin. After the ovaries were transfected with c-erbB₂ siRNA or cultured with PD98059 or Calphostin for 8 d, the quantities of primary follicles and second follicles were lower than those in the control group (P<0.05 or P<0.01), but the quantity of the primordial follicles was higher than that in the control group (P<0.01). These results suggest that proto-oncogene c-erbB₂ promotes the initiation of primordial follicle growth through the MAPK and PKC signal transduction, and c-erbB₂ is possibly the upstream of PKC and MAPK signaling pathway in the regulation of primordial follicle onset.
Animals ; Animals, Newborn ; Enzyme Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Female ; Flavonoids ; pharmacology ; MAP Kinase Signaling System ; Naphthalenes ; pharmacology ; Ovarian Follicle ; metabolism ; Protein Kinase C ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; metabolism ; RNA, Small Interfering ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Receptor, ErbB-2 ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the molluscicidal activities of methanol extract of Jatropha curcas leaves against Ampullaria gigas.

METHODSYoung snails, adult snails and eggs of Ampullaria gigas were treated with the methanol extract of J. curcas leaves at different doses for different time lengths and the molluscicidal effects of the extract were evaluated.

RESULTSThe methanol extract showed a significant molluscicidal effect on the young snails at a low concentration, and treatment with 75 mg/L extract for more than 3 days resulted in a 100% mortality rate of the young snails. The Jatropha leaf methanol extract also showed toxicity to adult snails and eggs.

CONCLUSIONJatropha leaves have a great potential for developing green pesticides to control Ampullaria gigas, but its biochemical mechanism needs further research.

Animals ; Jatropha ; chemistry ; Methanol ; chemistry ; Molluscacides ; pharmacology ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Plant Leaves ; chemistry ; Snails ; classification ; drug effects