Traditional medicine (herb medicine) began to prevail again over last two decades, and it is about 70% of the world population taking herb medicine as supplement or alternative medicine according to a recent survey. The consumption of herb medicine increased exponentially in Canada, Australia and Europe during last 10 years. Since concomitant administration of herbal and western medicine has become a trend, it requires paying close attention to the problem. Herb-drug interactions have been extensively investigated worldwide, and there is an increasing concern about the clinical herb-drug interaction. In this review we introduced the current progress in the herb-drug interactions including evidence-based clinical studies and establishment of levels of evidence for herb-drug interaction; and in the related mechanisms including the induction and inhibition of metabolic enzymes, inhibition and induction of transport and efflux proteins, alteration of gastrointestinal functions, and alteration in renal elimination. We also analyzed both the achievements and the challenges faced in the concomitant administration of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine.

Acoustic Stimulation ; Animals ; Corpus Striatum ; physiology ; Estrogens ; metabolism ; Estrus ; physiology ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory ; physiology ; Female ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Hematopoietic System ; drug effects ; Male ; Physical Conditioning, Animal ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

Aim To explore the neuroprotective effects of preconditioning with resveratrol on focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats.Methods Forty-five Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham group,ischemic-reperfusion group(I/R)and resveratrol preconditioning ischemic-reperfusion group(Res+I/R).Each group had 15 animals.The middle cerebral artery in rats was occluded for 90 min by an intraluminal filament and then reperfused to cause transient focal cerebral ischemia.In the resveratrol preconditioning group,the resveratrol(30 mg?kg-1)was injected intraperitoneally 30 min before ischemia.Twenty-four hours after reperfusion,the infarct volume was shown with 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride(TTC)staining.The spatial learning and memory ability of rats was measured by Morris water maze 72 h after reperfusion.Electrophysiological recordings were conducted to detect the effects of resveratrol on Schaffer collateral-CA1 synaptic transmission in ischemic rats.Results The infarct volume and neurological score in Res+I/R group were lower than I/R group(P

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by certain genera of toxigenic fungus and frequently oc-cur in food worldwide. Humans and animals can be simultaneously exposed to different mycotoxins through the diet. As most mycotoxins are highly toxic, carcinogenic, teratogenic and mutagenic, they have posed grave health threats to consumers. Determination of mycotoxins and their main metabolites in blood, urine, bile, milk or faeces can serve as biomarkers and can facilitate effective exposure assessment, crucial to estimate mycotoxin related dis-ease risk. According to reason mentioned above, the study of metabolism and evaluations of mycotoxins in biologi-cal fluids have been paid increasing attention since the results may offer valuable indications on the real risk for consumers. Therefore, it is important to develop proper analytical methods for the rapid quantitative and qualita-tive measurement of mycotoxins and key metabolites in vivo. This paper reviewed some biomarkers and their harm to animals and humans, systematically summarized the research progress of analytical methods and prospected the development trends.

The study is to establish an HPLC method using fluorescence detector for the determination of doxazosin enantiomers and investigate their chiral inversion in vitro and in vivo. Ultron ES-OVM was taken as the chiral chromatographic column, and the column temperature was 30 degrees C. Isocratic elution using a mobile phase of phosphate buffer-acetonitrile (85 : 15, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.8 mL x min(-1) was done. The fluorescence detection was set at lambda(Ex) = 255 nm and lambda(Em) = 385 nm. Prazosin was used as the internal standard. (-) Doxazosin or (+) doxazosin added into rat plasma in vitro was determined after incubating in 37 degrees C water bath for 2, 5 and 10 days. (-) Doxazosin or (+) doxazosin was administered orally to the rats for one months. Plasma samples were taken at 8 h after the last administration. A good linear relationship was achieved when the concentration of doxazosin enantiomers was within the range of 4 - 2 000 ng x mL(-1). The average recovery for (-) doxazosin was 99.5% with RSD 3.6%, and for (+) doxazosin was 99.3% with RSD 4.3%. Chiral inversion was observed neither in vitro nor in vivo studies. The method is selective, accurate and reproducible, which is suitable for the detection of doxazosin enantiomers in rat plasma. The in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that chiral inversion occurs uneasily between (-) doxazosin and (+) doxazosin in the rat.

Objective To determine the effect of transcription and translation in telomeric related proteins,and synergism of progressive telomere shortening and cell cycle alteration in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cell line,which is induced by antisense tankyrase oligonucleotide(asTANKS) combinated with antisense human telomerase reverse transcriptase(ashTERT) oligonucleotide.Methods A549 cells were randomly assigned as 3 test groups: ashTERT,ashTERT + asTANKS and asTANKS,three control groups(shTERT,sTANKS and blank).With individual intervention for different hours,the effect of transcription in hTERT mRNA was evaluated by RT-PCR,and telomerase activity was tested by ELISA-PCR,tankyrase activity was tested by Western blot as well.Moreover,telomere average length was analyzed by Q-FISH,and duration of proliferation was observed by population double test.Results Transcription in hTERT mRNA and telomerase activity for 48 hrs was inhibited obviously by ashTERT,but not by asTANKS.Progressive telomere shortening in A549 cells for 48 hrs was induced by either asTANKS or ashTERT(vs control,P

Objective To investigate the correlation between the single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP) of macrophage migration inhibitory factor(MIF) gene -173G/C and the susceptibility in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis(JIA).Methods Study group consisted of 97 children of JIA.All patients included in this study met the International League of Associations for Rheumatology criteria for JIA.Control group consisted of 102 healthy individuals.Germline DNA was extracted from peripheral blood by AxyPrep blood genomic DNA miniprep kit.Polymerase chain reaction-restrictivon fragment length polymorphism(PCR-RFLP) was used for genotyping the -173G/C polymorphism of MIF.Genotype distribution and allele frequencies were obtained by direct counting.Statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS Bosoftware.Allele and genotype distributions were compared using the chi-square test.The relative risk of alleles was described by odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).Hardy-weinberg equilibrium was confirmed with the chi-square test.Results We detected 3 kinds of genotypes at the MIF-173 locus.The frequency of each genotype was 54.6%(GG),42.3%(GC),3.1%(CC) in JIA group,and 79.4%(GG),20.6%(GC),0(CC) in control group.The C allele frequencies in the JIA and control group were 24.7% and 10.3%,respectively.There was significant difference was observed between the JIA and control group in the frequencies of mutant genotype(GC and CC) of MIF-173G/C polymorphism(?2=13.872 P=0).Individuals possessing a MIF-173C allele did have an increased risk of JIA(OR=2.79,95% CI 1.62-4.81 P=0).When the genotype and allele distributions of the MIF-173 gene in the subtypes of JIA and contronl group were compared,a significant difference wad found in the systemic JIA and control group (P0.05).Conclusions MIF-173G/C SNP may be associated with the sensitivity of JIA.MIF-173 C allele may increase susceptibility to JIA.

Objective To explore the effects of chronic levodopa treatment on characteristics of N-methyl-D-aspartate(NMDA) receptor subunit 1(NR1) on the neurons of striatum in rat models of Parkinsonism related motor complications.Methods Rat models(n=25)of Parkinsonism related motor complications were established and were randomly divided into solvent treatment group(n=5,intraperitoneal injection with vitamin C),levodopa chronic treatment group(n=10,intraperitoneal injection with levodopa for 23 d) and MK-801 treatment group(n=10,intraperitoneal injection with MK-801 on d 23 after intraperitoneal injection with levodopa for 22 d).Another 5 rats were served as controls(sham-operation group,n=5).Locomotion changes of rats in MK-801 treatment group were recorded,and NR1 phosphorylation in the other three groups was detected by Western blotting. Results After chronic treatment with levodopa methylester for 1,8,15 and 22 d,rats in MK-801 treatment group displayed shortened rotational duration and increased peak rotation.Compared with d 22,MK-801 both prolonged rotational duration and reduced peak rotation(P0.05).The expression of NR1,phosphorylated NR1S890,NR1S896 and NR1S897 in striatal membranes in levodopa chronic treatment group was increased compared with that of solvent treatment group(P

Objective To reduce infection risk in hemodialysis patients through analyzing the causes of over stand-ard colony forming unit(CFU)and conducting bacteriological detection of hemodialysis concentrated B solution. Methods According to microbial monitoring results of hemodialysis concentrate B solution in a hospital between November 2011 and May 2012,disinfection frequency of B solution was changed and dispensing container was covered during the process of using,four groups were divided according to different measures (group A disinfected twice a week,covered dur-ing the process of using;group B twice a week;group C once a week;group D once every two weeks),monthly bacte-riological detection of B solution was conducted,condition before and after disinfection of four groups were com-pared.Results Bacterial count in group A,B ,C and D was(25.41 ±15.08),(28.24±28.04),(68.58 ±22.58), and (75.25±26.63)CFU/mL,respectively (F =79.00,P <0.01 );bacterial count of group A,B,and C after in-tervention were all lower than group D before intervention (all P <0.01),bacterial count of group A and B was the lowest.The qualified rate of group A was 100.00%,the unqualified rate of group B,C,and D was 13.95%, 24.24%,and 35.94% respectively(χ2 =28.70,P <0.01 ),the unqualified rates of group A,B,and C after inter-vention were all lower than group D.Conclusion Hemodialysis concentrated B solution should be used within 24 hours after preparing,disinfected twice a week,and covered during the process of using ,so as to control B solution colony number within the standard level.