China ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Streptococcal Infections ; epidemiology ; Streptococcus suis ; isolation & purification

Esophageal cancer ranks the seventh and sixth in morbidity and mortality among the malignant tumors， respectively. In traditional Chinese medicine， toxic medicinals are commonly used to enhance the efficacy on esophageal cancer. In recent years， as natural drugs have become the focus of research on anti-tumor drugs， toxic Chinese medicinals have received wide attention. It has been found that a variety of toxic Chinese medicinals have significant anti-esophageal cancer effect. In this study， articles on the treatment of esophageal cancer were retrieved from SinoMed， China National Knowledge Infrastructure （CNKI）， Wanfang Data， and VIP， and the toxic Chinese medicinals in the articles were summarized. It was found that the toxic Paridis Rhizoma， Gekko， Cremastrae Pseudobulbus Pleiones Pseudobulbus， Scolopendra， Hirudo， Sophorae Tonkinesis Radix et Rhizoma， Scorpio， and Bufonis Corium were mainly used for the treatment of this cancer. They can be classified into the heat-clearing and toxin-removing medicinals， toxin-counteracting medicinals， phlegm-resolving medicinals， and blood-activating and stasis-resolving medicinals. Most of them were pungent （19，52.78%） or bitter （17，47.22%）. The majority had the meridian tropism toward liver （25， 69.44%）， spleen （13， 36.11%）， and lung （12， 33.33%）. According to the research on the above commonly used toxic Chinese medicinals， most of them have anti-tumor effect and some have been reported to have anti-esophageal cancer effect. The mechanism is mainly the inhibition of proliferation. To be specific， they exert the anti-cancer effect by suppressing the proliferation， migration， and differentiation of cancer cells， inducing cell cycle arrest， and activating B-cell lymphoma/leukemia-2 （Bcl-2）-associated X protein （Bax）/Bcl-2/Caspase signaling pathway to induce apoptosis. In this paper， the commonly used toxic Chinese medicinals for the treatment of esophageal cancer were statistically analyzed， and the mechanisms were summarized， in order to provide a reference for the clinical rational use of toxic Chinese medicinals and the research on the mechanisms for their efficacy.

ObjectiveTo decipher the mechanism of Wenxiao powder in alleviating corticosterone-induced depression-like behaviors in mice. MethodMale ICR mice were randomized into normal， model， paroxetine （20 mg·kg^-1）， and low- and high-dose （3.27， 6.54 g·kg^-1， respectively） Wenxiao powder groups. The mice in normal and model groups received equal volume of saline. Other groups except the normal group were injected with corticosterone subcutaneously 0.5 h after gavage to induce depression. Mice were tested for depression-like behaviors after drug administration. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） was performed to measure the corticosterone content in the serum. Nissl staining was performed to observe the damage of hippocampal neurons. Immunofluorescence staining was employed to observe the expression of double cortin （DCX） in the dentate gyrus （DG） of the hippocampus. Western blot was employed to determine the expression of proteins in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor （BDNF）/tyrosine kinase receptor B （TrkB）/extracellular signal-regulated kinase （ERK）/cAMP-response element-binding protein （CREB） pathway in the hippocampus. ResultCompared with the normal group， the model group showed decreased sucrose preference rate， increased immobility time in the tail suspension test （P<0.01）， and reduced residence time in the central area of the open field and the total movement distance （P<0.05， P<0.01）. In addition， the modeling elevated the corticosterone level in the serum （P<0.01）， decreased the volume and intensified the nuclear staining of hippocampal neurons in the DG area， reduced the expression of DCX in the DG area， and down-regulated the protein levels of BDNF， phosphorylated （p）-TrkB， p-ERK， and p-CREB in the hippocampus （P<0.05， P<0.01）. Compared with the model group， low-dose Wenxiao powder improved the mouse behavivors in the sucrose preference， open field， and tail suspension tests （P<0.05， P<0.01）， and high-dose Wenxiao powder improved the behaviors in the sucrose preference and open field tests （P<0.05， P<0.01）. In addition， Wenxiao powder lowered the serum corticosterone level （P<0.01） and recovered the structure and morphology of neurons with obvious nuclei and presence of Nissl bodies in the DG area of the hippocampus. Moreover， Wenxiao powder at both doses promoted the expression of DCX in the DG area， and high-dose Wenxiao powder up-regulated the protein levels of BDNF， p-TrkB， p-ERK， and p-CREB in the hippocampus （P<0.05， P<0.01）. ConclusionWenxiao powder can alleviate corticosterone-induced depression-like behaviors and promote neurogenesis in mice possibly by activating the BDNF/TrkB/ERK/CREB signaling pathway.

ObjectiveTo improve the current standard of Belladonnae Herba in the 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia. MethodTaking hyoscyamine sulfate， atropine sulfate and scopoletin as reference substances， and ethyl acetate-methanol-concentrated ammonia（17∶4∶2）as developing solvent， thin layer chromatography （TLC） was applied in the qualitative identification of Belladonnae Herba. The moisture， total ash and ethanol-soluble extract of Belladonnae Herba were determined based on the general principles in the 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia （volume Ⅳ）. The contents of hyoscyamine sulfate and scopolamine hydrobromide were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography （HPLC） with mobile phase of acetonitrile-54 mmol·L^-1 phosphate buffer solution （14∶86）， flow rate of 1.0 mL·min^-1 and detection wavelength at 210 nm. ResultThe spots in the TLC were clear with good separation and specificity. Hyoscyamine sulfate and scopolamine hydrobromide showed a good linearity with peak area in the range of 0.024 7-0.789 6 g·L^-1 （r=0.999 9） and 0.003 9-0.124 0 g·L^-1 （r=0.999 9）， the average recoveries of these two ingredients were 100.29% （RSD 1.6%） and 99.04% （RSD 1.4%）， respectively. The limits for moisture， total ash in Belladonnae Herba should be less than 13.0% and the limit for the ethanol-soluble extract should be more than 10.0%. Due to the low content and wide variation of scopolamine hydrobromide， the content of hyoscyamine sulfate should not be less than 0.098%. ConclusionThe established method is simple， specific and reproducible， which can be used to improve the quality control standard of Belladonnae Herba.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma （ESCC）， the predominant histological strain of esophageal cancer in China， is complex in pathogenesis and may be associated with mutations in several genes and dysregulation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase （MAPK） pathway， the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase （PI3K） pathway， etc. MAPK signaling pathway can be activated by growth factors， proto-oncogenes， and oxidative stress， thus participating in biological functions such as cell proliferation， differentiation， migration， and apoptosis. More evidence shows that the MAPK signaling pathway plays an important role in the occurrence and development of ESCC and is expected to become an effective target for the treatment of ESCC. The classical MAPK family consists of extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 （ERK1/2）， c-Jun N-terminal kinases 1/2/3 （JNK1/2/3）， p38 α/β/γ/δ， and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 5 （ERK5）. Each pathway consists of three cascade sequentially phosphorylated and activated protein kinase systems. The activation of the ERK1/2 pathway is related to the proliferation， migration， drug resistance， and apoptosis inhibition of ESCC. JNK， p38， and ERK5 pathways seem to show bidirectional regulation， and there is signal integration between MAPK internal pathways. Chemotherapeutic drugs for esophageal cancer often have side effects and are prone to drug resistance， so it has become a new idea to find effective and low-toxic drug alternatives. Studies have found that flavonoids， terpenoids， alkaloids， saponins， phenols， and other active ingredients in Chinese medicine can play an anti-ESCC effect by targeting the MAPK pathway， which is mainly reflected in inhibiting proliferation， migration， and invasion， inducing cycle arrest， promoting apoptosis， reversing drug resistance， etc. Therefore， this paper reviewed the regulatory role of the MAPK signaling pathway in ESCC and the research progress in active ingredients of Chinese medicine in regulating MAPK pathway against ESCC to provide references for the mechanism research and new drug development of Chinese medicine in the prevention and treatment of esophageal cancer.

Three sesquiterpenoids were isolated and purified from the 95% ethanol extract of Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma by column chromatography on silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, ODS, and high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). Their chemical structures were identified on the basis of spectroscopic analysis and physiochemical properties as(7Z)-8β,13-diacetoxy-eudesma-4(15),7(11)-diene(1), 7-oxo-7,8-secoeudesma-4(15),11-dien-8-oic acid(2), and guai-10(14)-en-11-ol(3). Compounds 1 and 2 are new compounds and compound 3 was obtained from Compositae family for the first time. Compounds 1, 2, and 3 showed weak inhibitory activities against sterol regulatory element-binding proteins(SREBPs).
Atractylodes/chemistry* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Rhizome/chemistry* ; Sesquiterpenes, Eudesmane/pharmacology* ; Sterol Regulatory Element Binding Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors*

Anthocyanidin reductase (ANR) is one of the key enzyme in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway, and its catalytic activity is important for the synthesis of plant anthocyanin. In this study, specific primers were designed according to the transcriptome data of Lonicera japonica Thunb., and the CDS, gDNA and promoter sequences of ANR genes from Lonicera japonica Thunb. and Lonicera japonica Thunb. var. chinensis (Wats.) Bak. were cloned. The results showed that the CDS sequences of LjANR and rLjANR were 1 002 bp, the gDNA sequences were 2 017 and 2 026 bp respectively, and the promoter sequences were 1 170 and 1 164 bp respectively. LjANR and rLjANR both contain 6 exons and 5 introns, which have the same length of exons and large differences in introns. The promoter sequences both contain a large number of light response, hormone response and abiotic stress response elements. Bioinformatics analysis showed that both LjANR and rLjANR encoded 333 amino acids and were predicted to be stable hydrophobic proteins without transmembrane segments and signal peptides. The secondary structures of LjANR and rLjANR were predicted to be mainly consisted of α-helix and random coil. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis showed that LjANR and rLjANR had high homology with Actinidia chinensis var. chinensis, Camellia sinensis and Camellia oleifera, and were closely related to them. The expression levels of LjANR and rLjANR were the highest in flower buds and the lowest in roots. The expression patterns at different flowering stages were similar, with higher expression levels in S1 and S2 stages and then gradually decreased until reaching the lowest level in S4 stage, after a slow increase in S5 stage, the expression levels decreased again. The expression levels of ANR genes in the two varieties showed significant differences in roots, S2 and S5 stages, while the differences in stems, flower buds, S1, S3 and S6 stages were extremely significant. The prokaryotic expression vector pET-32a-LjANR was constructed for protein expression. The target protein was successfully expressed of about 59 kD. This study lays a foundation for further study on the function of ANR gene and provides theoretical guidance for breeding new varieties of Lonicera japonica Thunb.

In order to evaluate the quality of Artemisia argyi from Qichun, Ningbo, Anguo and Nanyang, the contents of eupatilin and jaceosidin were determined by RP-HPLC. The determination was performed on Agilent Eclipse XDB-C₁₈ (4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm) with mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile-0.2% phosphoric acid(35∶65) at the flow rate 1.0 mL•min ⁻¹. The detection wavelength was 350 nm and the column temperature was 25 ℃. The results showed that the amount of eupatilin and jaceosidin had a clear linear relationship in the range of 0.003-0.126 g•L ⁻¹ (r=0.999 9) and 0.005-0.200 g•L ⁻¹ (r=0.999 9), and the average recovery rates for them were 99.14% (n=6, RSD 1.2%) and 99.40% (n=6, RSD=0.73%), respectively. The results showed that RP-HPLC can be used for the quantification of eupatilin and jaceosidin in the folium of A. argyi. With this method, we found there was no significant difference of jaceosidin content within all the samples collected, but the content of eupatilin was significantly higher in samples from Qichun, Ningbo, Xiangyang and Nanyang, located in the south of Huaihe River compared with these from other areas.