Objective To investigate serum levels of β-human chorionic gonadotrophin (β-HCG) and progesterone (P) in early pregnant women,and their relation to luteal maintenance therapy for early pregnancy protection.Methods One hundred and thirty five infertility women treated in Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital from January 2007 to December 2011.Total 150pregnancy cycles,including 84 with intrauterine insemination (IUI) and 66 with natural conception,were divided into two groups:normal intrauterine pregnancy group (group A,n =80) and early pregnancy loss group (group B,n =70).Medical history,ultrasonic findings,serum female hormone,P and β-HCG levels at early pregnancy stage were analyzed.Results The age of group A and group B was (30.0 ± 3.9) years and(30.7 ± 4.9) years,respectively (P ＞ 0.05).The follicle-stimulating hormone/luteinizing hormone in group A and group B was 1.57 ±0.96 and 1.56 ± 1.08 ; the estradiol levels in two groups were (152 ±66) pmol/L and (147 ± 69) pmol/L,respectively (both P ＞ 0.05).There were no differences in dominant follicles and endometrial thickness between groups A and B (P ＞ 0.05).Ovulation promotion and luteal support treatments were adopted in both groups:50％ (40/80) of cycles in group A received ovulation promotion,73％ (58/80) of cycles received luteal support,while 44％ (31/70) and 76％ (53/70) received in groups B,respectively.The levels of serum progesterone in group A during 14-21 d,22-27 d and ≥ 28 d after ovulation were higher than those in group B at each time points (P ＜ 0.0l).There were no significant differences in serum progesterone levels between women with luteal support treatment and those without luteal support treatment in both groups (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Dynamic monitoring of serum progesterone level in early pregnancy may be used as an auxiliary index for prediction of pregnancy outcome,but it may not be an indicator for luteal maintenance therapy.

Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus and Hedysarum polybotrys belong to different genera, but have similar drug efficacy in traditional Chinese medicine theory, and H. polybotrys was used as the legal A. membranaceus var. mongholicus previously. In this study, similarities and differences between them were analyzed via their ITS/ITS2 fragments information. The ITS (internal transcribed spacer) regions were amplified using polymerase chain reaction and then sequenced in two-way. The alignment lengths of ITS regions were 616 bp, in which 508 loci were consistent, and 103 loci were different, accounting for 82.47% and 16.72% of the total ITS nucleotides in length, respectively. As genotype determines phenotype, 1HNMR-based metabolomic approach was further used to reveal the chemical similarities and differences between them. Thirty-four metabolites were identified in the 1H NMR spectra, and twenty-seven metabolites were the common components. Amino acids, carbohydrates and other primary metabolites were similar, while a large difference existed in the flavonoids and astragalosides. This study suggests that A. membranaceus var. mongholicus and H. polybotrys show similarities and differences from molecular and chemical perspectives, which has laid a foundation for elucidating the effective material basis of drug with similar efficacy and resources utilization.

One hundred and ten postmenopausal women,complaining vaginal discomfort,recurrent urinary tract infections or painful intercourse and visiting the hospital between March 2014 and February 2015 were enrolled in the study.Among them,58 patients received vaginal administration of estriol estriol ointment (group A) and 52 patients received conventional treatment (group B).There were no significant differences in mean age of menopause and mean menopause duration between two groups.The clinical symptoms,vaginal health scores,pelvic organ prolapse were observed after treatment.After 6-month treatment,the female vaginal health score was significantly improved in women group A,the rate of urinary orifice was reduced (78％ vs.7％),and the rate of pelvic organ prolapse was decreased (36％ vs.21％).The geritourinary syndrome of menopause is a new term for vulvovaginal atrophy with clinical characteristics of multi-system changes in postmenopausal women,including atrophic vaginitis,female urogenital diseases,and pelvic organ prolapse.The new diagnostic criteria are needed for evaluation and management of geritourinary syndrome.

BACKGROUND:Neural stem cells have self-renewal and multidirectional differentiation potential, but under normal circumstances, the number of neural stem cells is less, and most cells are in the resting state. Thus, to promote the proliferation of neural stem cells is the key to the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the effects of osthole on the proliferation of neural stem cells cultured in vitro, and to analyze its mechanism underlying promoting the proliferation. METHODS:Neural stem cells were cultured in vitro, and passage 3 cells were cultured with different concentrations of osthole(10, 50 and 100μmol/L). After 24 hours, cellvitality was determined by cellcounting kit-8. After 3, 5, 7 days of further culture, the radius of neurospheres was measured, and Ki67-positive cells were counted by immunofluorescence staining. Meanwhile, after 3 days of further culture, the gene expression of Notch 1, Hes 1 and Mash 1 in neural stem cells was detected by RT-PCR. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with the control group, 50, 100μmol/L osthole could obviously promote the proliferation ability of neural stem cells. 100μmol/L osthole had the most significant effect and increased the expression of Notch 1 gene, Hes 1 gene, but it had no effect on Mash 1 gene. These results suggest that osthole can promote proliferation of neural stem cells cultured in vitro and its mechanism may be associated with activation of Notch 1 gene and Hes 1 gene in Notch signaling pathway.

OBJECTIVE:To investigate the protective effects of osthole on the nerves in model mice with craniocerebral injury. METHODS:Mice models of craniocerebral injury were established by craniotomy drill. There was a sham-operation group(isomet-ric normal saline),a model group (isometric normal saline) and osthole high,mediu,low dose groups (30,20,10 mg/kg). The drugs were given to the mice 1 h after successful establishment of the models,ip,once a day,for consecutive 14 d. Neurological severity score was conducted for the mice 12 h,3 d,7 d,14 d and 21 d after the establishment of models;HE stain was conduct-ed 7 d and 14 d thereafter and the wounds areas of brain were observed by microscope;the activity of myeloperoxidase(MPO)in the homogenate of mice’s brain tissues were determined 1 d and 3 d after the establishment of models;immunohistochemical meth-od was adopted to determine the expressions of the brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF) and neurotrophic factor (NT) 3 in the mice’s brain tissues 7 d after the establishment of models. RESULTS:Compared with model group,the neurological severity scores of the mice in osthole high dose group and medium dose group were decreased 3 d,14 d and 21 d after the establishment of models;that in osthole high dose group were decreased 7 d after the establishment of models. The wounds areas of brain in osthole high dose group were smaller 7 d after the establishment of models;those in osthole high dose group and medium dose group were smaller 14 d after the establishment of models. The activity of MPO in the brain tissue in osthole high dose group was decreased 24 h and 72 h after the establishment of models.The expressions of the BDNF and NT-3 in the brain tissue homogenate in osthole high dose group and medium dose group were increased 7 d after the establishment of models,with significant differences(P<0.01 or P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS:Osthole has certain protective effects on the nerves in mice with craniocerebral injury. The mechanism may be related to improving the mice’s neurological functions,promoting wound healing,inhibiting the production of inflammato-ry factors,increasing the expression of neurotrophic factors.

Aim To investigate the effects of osthol on cell apoptosis and inflammatory cell infiltration after brain stab wound injury in mice. Methods The mice underwent the stab wound injury by a needle, then were randomly divided into sham operation group, model group, osthol 10, 20, 30 mg · kg-1 treatment group. The main examinations included mice brain wa-ter content; the apoptotic cytokines Bax, Bcl-2, Caspase-3 mRNA expression were assessed by PT-PCR; immunohistochemistry staining was used to de-tect neutrophils (MPO) and microglia (Iba-1) infiltra-tion and Caspase-3 positive cell expression around in-jured lesions. Results Treatment with osthole 20, 30 mg·kg-1 group significantly reduced the water content in injured brain, improved the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2, and reduced the expression of apoptosis cytokine Caspase-3 mRNA. Osthole 30 mg·kg-1 treatment group obvious-ly reduced the infiltration of neutrophils and microglial cells and significantly reduced the number of apoptotic cells around the injured cerebral cortex. Conclusion Osthole has therapeutic effect on stab wound injury in mice, and the possible mechanism may be by reducing the infiltration of inflammatory cells and reducing apop-totic cells.

Aim To investigate the effect of osthole on neuron synapses infected APP gene and its underlying mechanism. Methods The neurons were divided into three groups:GFP, APP, APP+Ost groups. The neu-rons were infected APP gene with containing mutational site in vitro for mimicking the characterstics of Alzhei-mer’ s disease ( AD) . The cell viability was assessed by CCK-8 , the expression of synapsin-1 was deter-mined by immunofluorescence, and the concentration of PSD-95 and SYP were detected by ELISA. The ex-pressions of Aβ1-42 , CAMKK2 , phoshorylated AMPKα1 , AMPKα1 protein were determined by West-ern blot. Results Strong APP staining was visible in neurons infected with APP and abundant expression of Aβ1-42 , a neurotoxic oligomer. Compared with APP group, APP+Ost group significantly increased cell vi-ability, promoted the expression of synapsin-1, up-reg-ulated the concentration of PSD-95 and SYP, and de-creased the expressions of CAMKK2 and p-AMPKα1 . Conclusions Ost can protect the neuron synapses a-gainst infected with APP gene. Its neuroprotective effect may be related to inhibiting the CAMKK2/AMPK signal pathway.

AIM:To explore the protective effect of osthole on the SH-SY5Y cells transfected with APP595/596 gene, and to investigate the molecular mechanism.METHODS:The SH-SY5Y cells were transfected with APP595/596 gene in vitro for establishing a cell model to study the pathogenic role of amyloid β-protein ( Aβ) .The cell viability was detected by CCK-8 assay.The release of lactate dehydrogenase ( LDH) was determined by the colour reaction of dia-phorase-INT.The cell apoptotic rate was analyzed by flow cytometry.The expression of β-site APP cleaving enzyme 1 ( BACE1) at mRNA and protein levels was detected by RT-PCR and Western blot.The expression of Aβwas measured by the technique of immunofluorescence cytochemistry and Western blot.RESULTS: Treatment with osthole inhibited the LDH release, and increased the viability of the cells.The percentage of apoptotic cells was also significantly decreased. Osthole also inhibited the expression of BACE1 at mRNA and protein levels and the protein expression of Aβ.CONCLU-SION:Osthole has protective effect on SH-SY5Y cells transfected with APP595/596 gene.The mechanism may be associ-ation with inhibiting the mRNA and protein expression of BACE1.