Hormones are the main materials which regulate the plant growth and the secondary metabolites formation of plant. The effects of hormones on cell biomass and metabolites content and the application progress of honrmones in plant cell suspension culture is reviewed. It covers the influence of exogenous hormones’ categories, concentration and proportion on cell biomass and metabolites content in plant cell suspension culture, the developmental course of the endogenous hormones determination, the changes of endogenous hormones content and its effects on the cell biomass and metabolites content, the relation of interaction between exogenous hormones and endogenous hormones, the study on the effect of new hormone varieties on the culture.

Objective To analyze the chemical components of the ethanol-soluble portion of Liuwei Dihuang Decoction,and to explore its mechanism in kidney-Yin deficiency of mice.Methods Bioactive components were analyzed by HPLC,the method was used at Hypersile C1s column(4.6 mm × 250 mm,5 μm),the mobile phase consisted of methanol-water (27 ∶ 73),the detective wavelength was 236 nm,the flow rate was 1.0 mL · min-1,the column temperature was 25 ℃.The mice were divided randomly into three groups (n =10):blank group,model group,experimental group.The mice were gavaged with oral administration of corresponding medicines (9.75 g · kg-1)for nine weeks.At time 6 d after administration,in addition to that the normal group was given distilled water,the other groups were gavaged with hydrocortisone injection per day according to 50 mg · kg-1 body weight for 4 d to establish the kidney Yin deficiency mice model.The contents of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP),cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) were determined by ELISA and the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH),estradiol (E2),testosterone (T) were determined by radioimmunoassay after administration.Results The linear range of morroniside,sweroside,paeoniflorin and loganin were 0.24-2.40 μg (r=0.999 6),0.14-1.38 μg(r =0.999 1),0.12-1.20 μg(r =0.999 1),0.24-2.40 μg(r =0.999 4) respectively.The recovery and relative standard deviation of them were (100.22 ± 1.80) ％,(100.83 ± 1.94) ％,(102.40 ± 1.47) ％,(101.40 ± 1.50) ％,and RSD were 1.80％,1.92％,1.44％,1.50％.The average content of morroniside,sweroside,paeoniflorin and loganin in Liuwei Dihuang Decoction water extract-alcohol soluble parts were calculate in terms of material were 0.20％,0.02％,0.06％,0.13％.The plasma level of cAMP in model group and experimental group were (8.20 ±0.63),(6.90 ±0.15) nmol · L-1 with significant different (P ＜0.01).The serum contents of FSH,E2,T in model group and experimental group were(0.54 ±0.10),(0.88 ±0.04)mU · mL-1;(13.93 ± 0.29),(15.48 ± 0.43) pg · mL-1;(2.23 ± 0.14),(5.63 ± 0.48) ng · mL-1 with significant different (P ＜ 0.01).Conclusion It is found that ethanol-soluble portion might be one of the bioactive component of Liuwei Dihaung Decoction to improve kidney Yin deficiency,and it mainly contains loganin,morroniside,sweroside and paeoniflorin.Its function mechanism of tonifying kidney may be related to the regulation of cAMP content and the levels of hormones in the HPG axis.

AIM To investigate the effects of total Astragalus saponins on the improvement of sarcopenia in a rat model of type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM).METHODS The rats were divided into the normal group for a normal feeding and the model group for the feeding of high-sugar and high-fat diet combined with intraperitoneal injection of STZ to establish a T2DM model.The successful model rats were randomly divided into the model group,the metformin group(0.2 g/kg)and the total Astragalus saponins group(80 mg/kg),and given corresponding doses of drugs by gavage.After 12 weeks administration,the rats had their FBG,postprandial blood glucose(PG2h)and wet weight of skeletal muscle measured;their serum levels of INS,C-peptide(C-P),IGF-1,TNF-α and IL-1β detected by ELISA;their morphological changes of skeletal muscle observed by HE staining;their protein expressions of PI3K,p-Akt,mTOR,S6K1,FoxO1 and Murf1 in skeletal muscle detected by Western blot;and their mRNA expressions of Pi3k,Akt and mtor in skeletal muscle detected by RT-qPCR method.RESULTS Compared with the model group,the total Astragalus saponins group displayed decreased levels of FBG,PG2h,OGTT-AUC,HOMA-IR,TNF-α and IL-1β(P＜0.01);increased levels of INS,C-P,IGF-1 and wet weight of skeletal muscle(P＜0.05,P＜0.01);improved skeletal muscle atrophy and increased protein expressions of PI3K,p-Akt,mTOR and S6K1 in skeletal muscle(P＜0.05,P＜0.01);decreased protein expressions of FoxO1 and Murf1(P＜0.05,P＜0.01);and increased mRNA expressions of Pi3k,Akt and mtor(P＜0.01).CONCLUSION The improvement effects of total Astragalus saponins on sarcopenia in T2DM rats may be associated with the regulation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR and PI3K/Akt/FoxO1 pathways.

The aim of this paper was to screen the active targets of Schizonepetae Herba and Saposhnikoviae Radix in the treatment of ulcerative colitis by means of network pharmacology,and to investigate their mechanism of action. The effective components of Schizonepetae Herba and Saposhnikoviae Radix were screened out by traditional Chinese medicine systematic pharmacological( TCMSP)database,with oral bioavilability( OB) ≥30% and drug-like( DL) ≥18% selected as the thresholds. Target PPI network was built between the main components and their corresponding targets. One hundred and eighty-two human genes corresponding to the medicine target sites were obtained from Uniprot database; 3 874 genes corresponding to ulcerative colitis were obtained from Genecard database.A total of 115 intersection genes were screened from disease genes and medicine genes,and the PPI interaction analysis was conducted by using String tool. Disease-target PPI network was drawn by using Cytoscape software,and component-target-disease network was constructed. One hundred and eight nodes and 1 882 connections were found,and then Cytoscape software was used to merge the networks and filter the core network for gene GO function analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. The mechanism of Schizonepetae Herba and Saposhnikoviae Radix was then verified by animal experiment. Gene GO functional analysis suggested that biological process,molecular functions and cell components were involved,and it was found that ulcerative colitis might be related to transcription factor activity,and cytokine receptor binding,etc. Gene KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that the mechanism of ulcerative colitis might be associated with TNF and Toll-like receptors( TLRs) signaling pathway-mediated cytoinflammatory factors interleukin-1( IL-1) and interleukin-6( IL6). The possible mechanism of the effective components of Schizonepetae Herba and Saposhnikoviae Radix in treating ulcerative colitis might be related to intervening the cytokine receptor binding of TNF and TLRs signaling pathways,reducing the transcription of nuclear factor-kappaB( NF-κB),and inhibiting the secretion of intestinal inflammatory factors IL-1 and IL-6.
Animals ; Apiaceae/chemistry* ; Colitis, Ulcerative/drug therapy* ; Databases, Genetic ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Humans ; Interleukins/metabolism* ; Lamiaceae/chemistry* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Phytotherapy ; Plant Roots/chemistry* ; Protein Interaction Mapping ; Signal Transduction ; Software ; Toll-Like Receptors/metabolism*

Aim To investigate the effects of combined administration of loganin and berberine on bone structure and metabolism in diabetic mice and its potential mechanism.Methods The diabetic ICR mouse model was induced by high fat diet(HFD).After 10 weeks of combined intervention, the effects of loganin and berberine on body weight, body fat rate, blood glucose, blood lipid and serum oxidative stress levels were observed.Bone microstructure was scanned by micro-CT.Biomechanical characteristics of bone were measured by three-point bending test, and material properties were detected by fourier transform infrared(FTIR).The pathological changes were observed by HE and TRAP staining.Protein expressions involved in advanced glycation end products(AGEs)and their receptors(RAGE)/nuclear factor-κB(NF-κB)signaling pathway were detected by immunohistochemistry.Results The combined administration of loganin and berberine could significantly inhibit the weight gain, reduce the levels of blood glucose, blood lipid and oxidative stress, as well as improve glucose tolerance.In addition, combined intervention also decreased the expression levels of the proteins involved in AGEs/RAGE/NF-κB signaling pathway, and improved bone microstructure, finally contributing to increasing bone quality in diabetic mice.Conclusions The combination of loganin and berberine could improve bone metabolism in diabetic mice, which may be related to AGEs/RAGE/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Objective: To compare the prognostic influence and postoperative pathology of different comprehensive treatment models for adenocarcinoma of esophagogastric junction. Methods: Between January 2012 and December 2017, a total of 219 patients with adenocarcinoma of esophagogastric junction underwent surgery in Gastrointestinal Cancer Center, Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute and were enrolled in this study. The clinicopathological data of these patients were collected. The patients were categorized into 3 groups according to different treatment models: surgery-first group, neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) group and neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) group. A trimatch propensity score analysis was applied to control potential confounders among the three groups by using R language software. A total of 7 covariates including gender, age, comorbidity, body mass index, clinical T stage, clinical N stage and Siewert type were included, and the caliper value was taken as 0.2. After matching, a total of 87 patients were included for analysis with 27 patients for each group. There were 82 males and 5 females, with a median age of 63 years (range: 38 to 76 years). The effect of preoperative treatment on postoperative tumor pathology among the three different comprehensive treatment models was explored by χ² test, ANOVA or Wilcoxon rank sum test. Mann-Whitney U test or χ² test were used to undergo pairwise comparisons. Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test were used to analyze the overall survival and progression-free survival. Results: The proportion of vascular embolism in the surgery-first group was 72.4% (21/29), which was significantly higher than NAC group (37.9% (11/29), χ²=6.971, P=0.008) and nCRT group (6.9% (2/29), χ²=26.696, P<0.01). The proportions of pathological T3-4 stage in nCRT group and NAC group were 55.2% (16/29) and 62.1% (18/29), respectively, which were significantly lower than the surgery-first group (93.1% (27/29), χ²=10.881, P=0.001; χ²=8.031, P=0.005). Compared with the NAC group (55.2% (16/29), χ²=6.740, P=0.009) and nCRT group (31.0% (9/29), χ²=18.196, P<0.01), the proportion of lymph node positivity 86.2% (25/29) were significantly higher in the surgery-first group. The 5-year overall survival rates were 62.1%, 68.6% and 41.4% for the surgery-first group, NAC group and nCRT group, respectively (χ²=4.976, P=0.083). The 5-year progression-free survival rates were 61.7%, 65.1% and 41.1% for the surgery-first group, NAC group and nCRT group, respectively. The differences in overall survival (χ²=4.976, P=0.083) and progression-free survival (χ²=4.332, P=0.115) among the three groups were nonsignificant. Conclusions: Postoperative pathology is significantly different among the three groups. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy and neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy could decrease the proportions of vascular embolism, pathological T3-4 stage and lymph node positivity to achieve local tumor control. The prognosis of overall survival and progression-free survival are not significantly different among the three groups.
Adenocarcinoma/pathology* ; Adult ; Aged ; Cohort Studies ; Esophagogastric Junction/pathology* ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Propensity Score