To establish a LC-MS/MS method for quantification of chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, 3,4-DCQA, ferulic acid and cinnamic acid in rats plasma and study its pharmacokinetics after administration of Mailuoning injection at a single dose to rats. Plasma samples were acidified with hydrochloric acid and extracted with ethyl acetate. The analytes were determined by LC-MS-MS using a ZOBAX SB C18 column with a mobile phase of methanol-water (containing 2 mmol x L(-1) ammonium acetic) (60:40)at a flow rate of 0.5 mL x min(-1) and detected using ESI with negative ionization mode. Ions monitored in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode were m/z 353.1/191.0 [M-H]- for chlorogenic acid, m/z 178.9/134.9 [M-H]- for caffeic acid, m/z 515.2/353.0 [M-H]-for 3,4-DCQA, m/z 193.0/133.9 [M-H]-for ferulic acid, m/z 146.9/102.9 [M-H]- for cinnamic acid and m/z 246.0/125.8 [M-H]- for tinidazole (IS). After administration of Mailuoning injection at a single dose to eight Sprague-Dawley rats, the concentrations of chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, 3,4-DCQA, ferulic acid and cinnamic acid in plasma were determined by LC-MS/MS method. The main pharmacokinetics parameters of measured data were caluculated by using DASver 1.0 software. The linear concentration ranges of the calibration curves for chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, 3,4-DCQA and cinnamic acid were 2.006-1,027 microg x L(-1) (r = 0.999 6), 1.953-1,000 microg x L(-1) (r = 0.999 7), 28.51-1.459 x 10(4) microg x L(-1) (r = 0.998 9), 1.836-940.0, g x L(-1) (r = 0.997 7) and 4.780-2,447 microg x L(-1) (r = 0.998 6) respectively. The inner and inter-days relative standard deviations were both less than 5.0%, indicating legitimate precise and accuracy to the requirement of biological sample analysis. For chlorogenic acid, the pharmacokinetic parameter t1/2, AUC0-t, and CL were (49.78 +/- 12.81) min, (123.55 +/- 14.82) mg x min x L(-1) and (0.004 3 +/- 0.000 5) L x min(-1), respectively. For caffeic acid, the pharmacokinetic parameter t1/2, AUC0-t, and CL were (36.65 +/- 10.59) min, (91.67 +/- 11.77) mg x min L(-1) and (0.005 7 +/- 0.000 7) L x min(-1), respectively. For 3,4-DCQA, the pharmacokinetic parameter t1/2, AUC0-t, and CL were (50.08 +/- 13.78) min, (278.34 +/- 31.82) mg x min x L-1 and (0.001 6 +/- 0.000 2) L x min(-1), respectively. For ferulic acid, the pharmacokinetic parameter t1/2, AUC0-t, and CL were (51.39 +/- 15.52) min, (34.72 +/- 4.67) mg x min x L(-1) and (0.000 4 +/- 0.0001) L x min(-1), respectively. For cinnamic acid, the pharmacokinetic parameter t1/2, AUCo-t, and CL were (74.42 +/- 18.32) min, (34.63 +/- 4.82) mg x min x L(-1) and (0.007 7 +/- 0.001 1) L x min-', respectively. The assay method is proved to be sensitive, accurate and convenient. It can be applied to the pharmacokinetic study of chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, 3,4-DCQA, ferulic acid and cinnamic acid.
Animals ; Chromatography, Liquid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; pharmacokinetics ; Female ; Hydroxybenzoates ; blood ; pharmacokinetics ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; methods

Objective To evoke cerebral potentials by stimulating nociceptive fibers with contact heat evoked potentials stimulator (CHEPS)and estimate the nerve conduction velocities of peripheral nerve fibers mediating these responses.Methods Subjects were set in supine position.A heat-foil technology with a rapid rising speed at 70 ℃/s was used to elicit pain and contact heat evoked potentials(CHEP).Contact heat was delivered via one circular thermode (diameter 27 mm,area 573 mm~2).Thermal stimuli were sent at two intensity levels (49.5 ℃ and 54.5 ℃) to three body sites:thenar eminence,the dorsum of hand and proximal volar forarm.Contact heat evoked potentials were recorded from Cz and Pz.A systemic effect between stimulus intensities and pain rating were observed,the main components of this evoked potential were observed.Nerve conduction velocity was calculated from latency difference of CHEP and center to center distance of distal and proximal stimulus arrays.Results The pain intensity rating was 3.2?0.3 and 4.4?0.5 when thenar eminence was stimulated at the temperature of 49.5 ℃ and 54.5 ℃ respectively;the rating was 6.3?0.8 and 7.2?0.5 when the dorsum of hand and proximal volar forarm were stimulated at the temperature of 54.5 ℃ respectively.Three components,Cz/N550,Cz/P750 and Pz/P1000,were found in the evoked potentials.Nerve conduction velocities of the fibers were (12.9?7.5) and (1.7?0.4) m/s respectively,which were corresponding to those of A8 fiber and C fiber.Conclusions CHEPs can be elicited reliably and stably.Velocities of peripheral nerve fibers demonstrate that A8 fiber and C fiber mediate the response.

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of intraoperative image fusion assisted contrastenhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in real-time assessing the curative effect on radiofrequency ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).Methods From November 2010 to August 2011,the patients with HCC which would accept radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in our hospital were divided into image fusion assisted CEUS group and conventional CEUS group.The HCC lesion in each group was named as difficult lesion if it was invisible in B-mode ultrasound,larger than 50 mm in diameter or the puncuture route was affected by lung,ribs or blood vessels.Ten minutes after RFA,two groups of patients were performed intraoperative image fusion assisted CEUS examination and conventional CEUS examination respectively.All the patients received CT/MRI one month after ablation to decide whether the HCC had been completely ablated.Difference of complete ablation rate of HCC was compared between the two groups as well as between the difficult lesions in each group.Results Forty-eight lesions in 39 patients were enrolled in image fusion assisted CEUS group including 19 difficult lesions.Sixty-eight lesions in 53 patients were enrolled in conventional CEUS group including 18 difficult lesions.No statistical difference was found between the two groups in lesion size,proportion of difficult lesions,proportion of lesions received TACE or RFA plus PEIT (P =0.052,P =0.136,P =0.185,P =1.000).Postoperation following-up results demonstrated that complete ablation rate of HCC in navigation assisted CEUS group(100 ％,48/48) was not statistically higher than that in conventional CEUS group(92.6％,63/68) (P =0.145).But the difficult lesions in navigation assisted CEUS group (100％,19/19) had statistically higher complete ablation rate than that in conventional CEUS group(72.2％,13/18) (P =0.020).Conclusions Intraoperative navigation assisted CEUS could real-time assess the curative effect on RFA of HCC,especially in the difficult lesions,and could be used as the beneficial supplement of the conventional CEUS.

Objective To evaluate the clinical value of CT/MR-contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) image fusion in immediate assessment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)ablation.Methods Patients diagnosed with HCC to receive ablation therapy were randomly divided into two groups.The ablation for each patient was performed according to their pre-ablation plan.Immediate assessments for the ablation were performed using CT/MR-CEUS image fusion (IF group)and CEUS (CEUS group)separately and whether the need for additional ablations was decided and performed during the therapy.The therapy efficacy was evaluated with enhanced CT or MR 1 month after each complete ablation treatment.Results There were 101 patients with 131 nodules in IF group,and 15.1% of the nodules needed additional ablation according the immediate assessment during the therapy.The complete ablation rate of IF group was 99.2%(125/126).On the other hand,there were 93 patients with 122 nodules in CEUS group,and 4.2% of the nodules needed additional ablation according the immediate assessment during the therapy.The complete ablation rate of CEUS group was 94.2% (113/120).IF group has significantly higher additional ablation rate and complete ablation rate than CEUS group (P <0.05).Conclusions CT/MR-CEUS image fusion can further improve ablation efficacy with accurate intraoperative evaluation and guidance of additional ablation compared with CEUS.

Objective: To investigate the value of the trigeminocervical response (TCR) for revealing bulbar involvement in patients with spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA). Methods: Thirty patients with SBMA and 30 healthy male controls were included in this study. In all of the normal controls, stimulation of the infraorbital nerve on one side produced bilateral short latency waves consisting of a positive/negative wave, p19/n31, the mean latency of which was measured. The mean square root of the ratio between the amplitude of p19/n31 and the mean rectifi ed surface electromyography (EMG) activity preceding the stimulus, the A value, was estimated. The parameters of the TCR were compared between the two groups. Results: Among the patients with SBMA, 21 (70.0%) had delayed latencies of p19/n31 (P < 0.01) and all (100%) had reduced A values (P < 0.01) relative to the normal controls. Conclusions: All parameters of the TCR were signifi cantly different between the patients with SBMA and the normal controls. T

Objective To establish the method of contact heat evoked potential(CHEP)and to explore the value of this evoked potential in pain testing of patients with cerebral infarction.Methods A total of 100 healthy volunteers and 30 patients were examined.The healthy volunteers were divided into 3 groups according to the length of their arms:(Group A:56.0～65.0 cm ;Group B :65.5～74.0 cm ;Group C :74.5～83.0 cm).A recently de- veloped heat-foil technique with a rapid temperature rising rate at 70℃/s was used to elicit pain and contact heat e- voked potentials.Contact heat was delivered via one circular thermode(diameter 27 mm,area 573 mm~2)and set at two intensity levels(49.5℃and 54.5℃)to three body sites:the thenar eminence,the dorsum of hand and proximal volar forearm.The subjects were asked to rate the pain with numerical rating scale after each stimulus and CHEP was recorded from Cz and Pz.The association between stimulus intensities and pain rating was explored,the main compo- nents of the evuked potential were watched.CHEP,sensory conduction velocity(SCV)and somatosensory evoked potentials(SEP)were performed in patients with hemi-anesthesia caused by cerebral infarction.Results The pain intensity ratings were 3.2?0.3 and 4.4?0.5 at thenar eminence,5.0?0.7 and 6.3?0.8 at the dorsum of hand and 5.3?0.6 and 7.2?0.5 at the proximal volar forearm when the temperature of 49.5℃and 54.5℃was applied, respectively;Three components,Cz/N550,Cz/P750 and Pz/P1000,were identified in the evoked potentials.Cz/ N550 and Cz/P750 appeared when the dorsum of hand and proximal volar forearm were stimulated.In contrast,Pz/ P1000 could be identified when nociceptors of thenar eminence and proximal volar fbrearm were excited.In the pa- tients with cerebral infarction,CHEP disappeared or became abnormal on one side,while SCV and SEP were normal on that side.Conclusion It was suggested that CHEP could be elicited reliably in the controls.CHEP is helpful in the assessment of analgesia in patients with cerebral infarction.

In this study, a composite cell model for evaluation of idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (IDILI) was established in vitro from the perspective of immune inflammation. And this model was used to evaluate the risk of IDILI for 2,3,5,4'-tetrahydroxy-cis-stilbene-2-O-β-glucoside (Cis-SG) and 2,3,5,4'-tetrahydroxy-trans-stilbene-2-O-β-glucoside (Trans-SG). To determine the low, medium, and high dosage of Cis-SG and Trans-SG, CellTiter-Glo^® 3D Cell Viability Assay was used to detect the effects of Cis-SG and Trans-SG on cell viability of HepG2 cells in three dimensional (3D) culture, and MTT assay was used to detect the effects of Cis-SG and Trans-SG on cell viability of THP-1 derived macrophages. THP-1 derived macrophages were incubated by Cis-SG and Trans-SG directly or supernatants from HepG2 cells incubated with them. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in the supernatants of the THP-1 derived macrophages. Western blot and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to determine the expression of apoptosis-associated speck-like protein (ASC), Nod-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase-1 (caspase-1), and IL-1β in THP-1 derived macrophages. The results showed that there was no effect on the secretion of IL-1β in THP-1 derived macrophages incubated by Cis-SG and Trans-SG directly. However, the secretion of IL-1β, the protein and mRNA expression of ASC, NLRP3, caspase-1, and IL-1β significantly increased in THP-1 derived macrophages incubated by supernatants from HepG2 cells incubated with 1, 5, and 25 μmol·L^-1 Cis-SG or 25 μmol·L^-1 Trans-SG. In summary, the composite cell model for evaluation of IDILI established in vitro has been successfully applied in testing Cis-SG and Trans-SG. This composite cell model is helpful to evaluate and screen drugs with IDILI risk in vitro preliminarily, which provides methods for predicting and solving the idiosyncratic liver toxicity of drugs.

OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of Feiyanning Granule (FYN) on tumor growth and cell cycle distribution in mice with Lewis lung cancer, as well as its influence on G1/S cell cycle checkpoint dominating signaling RB-E2F1 bio-axis.

METHODSModeled C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into 6 groups: the model group (A), the DDP treated group (B) peritoneally injected with cisplatin 0.1 mg on d1, d3 and d5 after modeling, and the 4 FYN treated groups (C-F), administered via gastrogavage with FYN Decoction, and FYN Granule in small-, median- and high- dose respectively for 14 days. The tumour inhibiting rate, tumour weight, and body weight of mice were observed after treatment; cell cycle distribution was detected by flow cytometry (FCM), RB-E2F1mRNA expressions in tumour tissue were analyzed by RT-PCR, and their protein expressions by Western blot.

RESULTSTumour weight in the 5 treated groups was lower than that in the model group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Body weight in group E was significantly higher than that in group A and B (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). FCM analysis showed the proportion of G0/G1 phase was higher in group E than in group A, B and C (P < 0.01), and cancer cell proliferation index (PI) in group E was lower than in group B (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). RT-PCR showed mRNA level of E2F1 was lower, but that of RB was significantly higher in group E than those in group A, B and C respectively (P < 0.01). Westem blot analysis showed the protein expression of E2F1 was lower in group E and B than that in group A (P < 0.05), while the protein expression of Rb in group E was higher than that in group A, B and C (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe effect of FYN in inhibiting Lewis lung cancer growth was related to its intervention on cancer cell cycle distribution which blocks most tumor cells in G0/G1 phase. Moreover, FYN can reduce MDM2 expression, enhance P53 expression to influence cell cycle G1/S checkpoint dominating signaling, so as to achieve the effect of antagonizing lung cancer cell proliferation.

Animals ; Carcinoma, Lewis Lung ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Signal Transduction ; drug effects

DNA, Viral ; blood ; Hepatitis B virus ; genetics ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; virology ; Humans ; Nucleic Acid Conformation ; RNA, Viral ; genetics ; Viral Envelope Proteins ; genetics

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of death. Safflower attracts great attention owing to its anti-ischemia/reperfusion injury effect. Ninety-three patients with CAD were included and randomized into safflower treatment group, PCI group and control group. Low-dose dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) was performed to measure end-systolic volume (ESV), end-diastolic volume (EDV), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and wall motion score index (WMSI) to determine the recovery of hibernating myocardium and cardiac function in all patients before treatment and after 3-month follow-up. The study was to investigate the effects of safflower on hibernating myocardial revascularization and cardiac function. It was found that LVEF was significantly improved, while the ESV and WMSI were significantly reduced after 2-week treatment in safflower and PCI treatment groups. No significant differences were found between safflower and PCI treatment groups in ESV, EDV, WMSI and LVEF after treatment Safflower injection effectively improved hibernating myocardial function.
Aged ; Carthamus tinctorius ; chemistry ; Coronary Artery Disease ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Heart ; drug effects ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Revascularization ; Myocardial Stunning ; drug therapy ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Recovery of Function