OBJECTIVETo study the mechanisms of tongjingning granule (TJN) on primary dysmenorrhea (PD).

METHODSOne hundred and twenty PD patients were treated with TJN, and 40 patients treated with aspirin as controls. The levels of serum estrogen (E2) and progestin (P) content in the luteal metaphase and anaphase (MI/AI) as well as endothelin (ET) and calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) in the metaphase and menstrual stage before and after treatment in partial patients were determined.

RESULTSThe therapeutic effect , and the curative markedly-effective rate and improvement rate of main accompanied symptoms of severe and moderate PD patients in the treated group were superior than those in the control group (P < 0.01). The level of E2 and ET were significantly decreased, and the content of P and CGRP were significantly increased in the treated group after treatment respectively (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONJTN not only can regulate ovarian hormone, ET and CGRP, but shows advantages in adjusting spirits and emotions, improving homeostasis and consolidating the therapeutic effect.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide ; blood ; Child ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Dysmenorrhea ; blood ; drug therapy ; Endothelin-1 ; blood ; Estradiol ; blood ; Female ; Humans ; Phytotherapy ; Progesterone ; blood

AIMTo assess whether hepatocyte growth factor recruits bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells into blood circulation to participate in postnatal angiogenesis and endothelium repair.

METHODSThe adenovirus vector encoding HGF gene (Ad-HGF) were intravenous administrated into BALB/c mice, and then serum HGF was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the number of CD34+ cells in peripheral blood was assayed by flow cytometry, and the nucleated cells in peripheral blood were isolated, cultured and the endothelial cell colonies were characterized by staining with antibodies against tie-2, vWF. The carbon tetrachloride-induced liver damage model of female mice was established. The peripheral blood nucleated cells of Ad-HGF treated male mice were intravenous administrated into these mice, and 4 weeks later, in situ hybridization for the sry gene was used to identify the implanted cells in the damaged tissues.

RESULTSIntravenous administration of Ad-HGF resulted in significant elevation of serum hepatocyte growth factor level and induced profoundly increase of endothelial progenitor cells in the peripheral blood, which were characterized by their ability to form endothelial cell colonies in culture and expression of CD34, tie-2, and vW factor. HGF-mobilized endothelial progenitors could incorporate into sites of neovascularization in a liver regeneration model.

CONCLUSIONHepatocyte growth factor could markedly recruit bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells into blood circulation.

Animals ; Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Endothelial Cells ; cytology ; Female ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Mobilization ; Hepatocyte Growth Factor ; pharmacology ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; Stem Cells ; cytology

Lactoferrin in milk is a multifunctional protein. In addition, lactoferrin has antiviral, antifungal and antiparasitic activity. In this study, the N-terminus from porcine lactoferrin (PLF-N) was designed to express the antimicrobial action of recombinant porcine lactoferrin. We cloned a 1077 bp fragment of the PLF gene from mammary gland tissue of the lactating sow at the third day. Comparing nucleotide sequence with four strains of PLF gene published on GenBank, the homology was more than 99%. With the reference template of the cloned fragment of PLF-N and optimizing codon bias, we synthesized the gene of N-terminus encoding porcine lactoferrin (PLF-NS). The high expression gene of PLF-NS was cloned into the fusion expression vector pET30b and expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3). After induced with Isopropyl beta-D-1-Thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG), the target fusion protein was successfully expressed and identified in inclusion bodies by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. The protein had a molecular weight of 42 kDa and accounted for 32% of the total cellular protein. After purification and renaturation, the purity of the expressed protein was 98%. The expressed PLF-NS protein showed obviously antibacterial activity. This method provides an excellent way for high expression of antimicrobial proteins when optimizing codon bias.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Anti-Infective Agents ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Base Sequence ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; metabolism ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Lactoferrin ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; pharmacology ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; pharmacology ; Swine