The methods and technology of immunopharmacology for Chinese Materia Medica have been progressing rapidly in recent years. The regulation of Chinese Materia Medica on the activity of cytokine and effector cells is reviewed in this article. Many clinical studies indicate that Chinese Materia Medica can regulate the production and activity of IFN, ILs, TNF, etc., and affect the cytotoxieity of NK. LAK, CTL, etc. The immunopharmcological research of Chinese Materia Medica in molecular and cellular levels is useful for explaining the mechanism of whole regulation and two-way regulation depending on the function of the body. In this article, the relations between quantity and effect, the study in vivo and in vitro, and the whole drug and its component are also reviewed.

Objective. To evaluate how the efficacy of DNA inocutation affects the ability to raise protective immunity against Leptospira.Methods. A pair of oligonucleotide primers were designed to amplify the endoflagellar gene of L. interrogans sensu stricto serovar lai. An approximately 840bp fragment was generated with PCR and inserted into VR1012, a plasmid DNA expression vector, after the fragment and VR1012 were digested respectively with EcoRV and Sal I. A recombinant plasmid designated as VR1012+flaB2 was obtained. The vector, VR1012 consits of a pUC18 backbone with the cytomegalovirus(CMV) IE1 enhancer, promoter, and intron A, transcription regulatory elements and the BGH polyadenylation sequences driving the expressing of leptospiral endoflagellar gene of L. interrogans sensu stricto serovar lai. Plasmid encoding leptospiral endoflagellin gene was injected into quadriceps of NZW rabbits.Results.This resulted in the generation of specific leptospiral antibody with high ELISA titer (1:32768) in the rabbits. Immuno/protection was performed in guinea pigs without adjuvant. The group"VR1012+flaB2" showed higher survival rate(90%,9/10 animals),compared with the group "VR1012 lack flaB2" and the group "normal saline".Conclusion.The technique of DNA vaccine has potential advantages over certain other vaccine preparation technologies. However whether DNA vaccine will be useful for vaccine development remains to be tested.

Computer aid vaccine design (CAVD) is a new area of biomedical engineering. This article reviewed the background of the coming of CAVD and its main research contents, methods and applications. Free tools of the trade in CAVD are listed; the implication and the perspective of CAVD are also suggested.
Animals ; Biomedical Engineering ; instrumentation ; trends ; Computer-Aided Design ; Drug Design ; Epitope Mapping ; Humans ; Software ; Vaccines ; biosynthesis

RNA interference (RNAi) is a post-transcriptional gene silencing process by targeting mRNA for degradation in a sequence-specific manner. This powerful platform has enormous potential in functional genomics and medical research. As a tool to knock out expression of specific genes in a variety of organisms, RNAi was used to investigate gene function in a high throughput fashion. Highly conserved in evolution RNAi appears to have evolved as a cellular defense mechanism in plants and animals to suppress viral infection, transposon jumping and endogenous aberrant genes. Exploiting the natural mechanism, the researchers can shut down disease-causing genes and develop novel therapeutics against infection, tumor and other disease.
Gene Expression Regulation ; Gene Silencing ; Genomics ; RNA Interference ; RNA, Small Interfering ; RNA-Induced Silencing Complex

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common affective disorder.With its unique characteristics and advantages,traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has played an important role in the treatment of MDD.Recent researches have revealed that the neuroinflammation-induced neurogenesis reduction were the key pathology of MDD.This analysis indicated that salvia was frequently used for treatment of MDD from the prescriptions reported in literatures.Salvianolic acid (SalB),one of main active compounds of salvia,had showed anti-inflammation and neuroprotection effects in previous studies.In this review,we summarized the antidepressant effects of SalB through regulating microglial activation,inhibiting neuroinflammation and promoting neurogenesis.According to the theory of removing blood stasis for promoting tissue regeneration,it was suggested that the novel antidepressant strategies for antiinflammatory and neuroprotective activities were through microglia-modulating pathway with TCM.