1.Pharmacological Review, Challenges, and Future Prospects of Zhusha Anshenwan
Xiaosong HU ; Zhou LAN ; Ping WANG ; Li DING ; Chun GUI
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2026;32(9):329-335
Zhusha Anshenwan is a classical traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula originating from LI Dongyuan's Treatise on the Differentiation of Endogenous and Exogenous Injuries (Nei Wai Shang Bian Huo Lun) of the Jin-Yuan period. It is composed of five medicinal ingredients: Cinnabaris (Zhusha), Coptidis Rhizoma (Huanglian), Angelicae Sinensis Radix (Danggui), Rehmanniae Radix (Shengdihuang), and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma (Gancao). Under the guidance of TCM theory, this formula is used to treat syndromes of disturbed spirit, including insomnia, palpitations, and anxiety, caused by hyperactivity of heart fire and deficiency of Yin-blood, and it also exerts auxiliary anticonvulsant effects in epilepsy and related conditions. However, the potential neurotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, and nephrotoxicity of its monarch drug, Cinnabaris (mainly composed of mercuric sulfide, HgS), together with the risk of in vivo accumulation, have rendered its clinical application controversial, and it has not yet been formally included in the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China. In addition, restrictions imposed by the Minamata Convention on Mercury have led to an increasing shortage of natural medicinal Cinnabaris resources, making the evaluation of the efficacy and safety of synthetic Cinnabaris particularly urgent. This contradiction highlights the complexity of safety evaluation for traditional medicines. Existing studies indicate that Zhusha Anshenwan exhibits definite pharmacological activities in calming the mind, improving sleep, and regulating emotional disorders. Moreover, other components of the formula may exert antagonistic effects on the toxicity of Cinnabaris, and reports of severe mercury poisoning caused by standardized clinical use of this prescription are extremely rare. Research suggests that other ingredients in the compound formula, such as Rehmanniae Radix, Coptidis Rhizoma, and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, may effectively alleviate the hepatorenal toxicity of Cinnabaris through mechanisms including modulation of the gut microbiota, formation of mercury complexes, and direct protection of target organs. This article aims to systematically review the progress in pharmacodynamic research on Zhusha Anshenwan, to explore its mechanisms of action in depth, and to analyze the toxicokinetic characteristics and safety risks of Cinnabaris, as well as the scientific connotations of toxicity reduction and efficacy enhancement achieved through compound compatibility. In addition, it compares Zhusha Anshenwan with other commonly used sedative formulas, with the aim of providing a scientific basis and forward-looking perspectives for the safe and rational application and in-depth development of this classical prescription in a modern context, and of emphasizing the important value of holistic research on TCM compound formulas in addressing the challenges of single-component toxicity.
2.Application of Recombinant Collagen in Biomedicine
Huan HU ; Hong ZHANG ; Jian WANG ; Li-Wen WANG ; Qian LIU ; Ning-Wen CHENG ; Xin-Yue ZHANG ; Yun-Lan LI
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2025;52(2):395-416
Collagen is a major structural protein in the matrix of animal cells and the most widely distributed and abundant functional protein in mammals. Collagen’s good biocompatibility, biodegradability and biological activity make it a very valuable biomaterial. According to the source of collagen, it can be broadly categorized into two types: one is animal collagen; the other is recombinant collagen. Animal collagen is mainly extracted and purified from animal connective tissues by chemical methods, such as acid, alkali and enzyme methods, etc. Recombinant collagen refers to collagen produced by gene splicing technology, where the amino acid sequence is first designed and improved according to one’s own needs, and the gene sequence of improved recombinant collagen is highly consistent with that of human beings, and then the designed gene sequence is cloned into the appropriate vector, and then transferred to the appropriate expression vector. The designed gene sequence is cloned into a suitable vector, and then transferred to a suitable expression system for full expression, and finally the target protein is obtained by extraction and purification technology. Recombinant collagen has excellent histocompatibility and water solubility, can be directly absorbed by the human body and participate in the construction of collagen, remodeling of the extracellular matrix, cell growth, wound healing and site filling, etc., which has demonstrated significant effects, and has become the focus of the development of modern biomedical materials. This paper firstly elaborates the structure, type, and tissue distribution of human collagen, as well as the associated genetic diseases of different types of collagen, then introduces the specific process of producing animal source collagen and recombinant collagen, explains the advantages of recombinant collagen production method, and then introduces the various systems of expressing recombinant collagen, as well as their advantages and disadvantages, and finally briefly introduces the application of animal collagen, focusing on the use of animal collagen in the development of biopharmaceutical materials. In terms of application, it focuses on the use of animal disease models exploring the application effects of recombinant collagen in wound hemostasis, wound repair, corneal therapy, female pelvic floor dysfunction (FPFD), vaginal atrophy (VA) and vaginal dryness, thin endometritis (TE), chronic endometritis (CE), bone tissue regeneration in vivo, cardiovascular diseases, breast cancer (BC) and anti-aging. The mechanism of action of recombinant collagen in the treatment of FPFD and CE was introduced, and the clinical application and curative effect of recombinant collagen in skin burn, skin wound, dermatitis, acne and menopausal urogenital syndrome (GSM) were summarized. From the exploratory studies and clinical applications, it is evident that recombinant collagen has demonstrated surprising effects in the treatment of all types of diseases, such as reducing inflammation, promoting cell proliferation, migration and adhesion, increasing collagen deposition, and remodeling the extracellular matrix. At the end of the review, the challenges faced by recombinant collagen are summarized: to develop new recombinant collagen types and dosage forms, to explore the mechanism of action of recombinant collagen, and to provide an outlook for the future development and application of recombinant collagen.
3.Associations between Pesticide Metabolites and Decreased Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate Among Solar Greenhouse Workers: A Specialized Farmer Group.
Teng Long YAN ; Xin SONG ; Xiao Dong LIU ; Wu LIU ; Yong Lan CHEN ; Xiao Mei ZHANG ; Xiang Juan MENG ; Bin Shuo HU ; Zhen Xia KOU ; Tian CHEN ; Xiao Jun ZHU
Biomedical and Environmental Sciences 2025;38(2):265-269
4.Generalized Functional Linear Models: Efficient Modeling for High-dimensional Correlated Mixture Exposures.
Bing Song ZHANG ; Hai Bin YU ; Xin PENG ; Hai Yi YAN ; Si Ran LI ; Shutong LUO ; Hui Zi WEIREN ; Zhu Jiang ZHOU ; Ya Lin KUANG ; Yi Huan ZHENG ; Chu Lan OU ; Lin Hua LIU ; Yuehua HU ; Jin Dong NI
Biomedical and Environmental Sciences 2025;38(8):961-976
OBJECTIVE:
Humans are exposed to complex mixtures of environmental chemicals and other factors that can affect their health. Analysis of these mixture exposures presents several key challenges for environmental epidemiology and risk assessment, including high dimensionality, correlated exposure, and subtle individual effects.
METHODS:
We proposed a novel statistical approach, the generalized functional linear model (GFLM), to analyze the health effects of exposure mixtures. GFLM treats the effect of mixture exposures as a smooth function by reordering exposures based on specific mechanisms and capturing internal correlations to provide a meaningful estimation and interpretation. The robustness and efficiency was evaluated under various scenarios through extensive simulation studies.
RESULTS:
We applied the GFLM to two datasets from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In the first application, we examined the effects of 37 nutrients on BMI (2011-2016 cycles). The GFLM identified a significant mixture effect, with fiber and fat emerging as the nutrients with the greatest negative and positive effects on BMI, respectively. For the second application, we investigated the association between four pre- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and gout risk (2007-2018 cycles). Unlike traditional methods, the GFLM indicated no significant association, demonstrating its robustness to multicollinearity.
CONCLUSION
GFLM framework is a powerful tool for mixture exposure analysis, offering improved handling of correlated exposures and interpretable results. It demonstrates robust performance across various scenarios and real-world applications, advancing our understanding of complex environmental exposures and their health impacts on environmental epidemiology and toxicology.
Humans
;
Environmental Exposure/analysis*
;
Linear Models
;
Nutrition Surveys
;
Environmental Pollutants
;
Body Mass Index
6.L-shape technique with concentrated growth factor for horizontal bone defects in the maxillary anterior region: a clinical and radiographic study.
Ruiwen SHI ; Hu YANG ; Yue LIU ; Yilin SHI ; Shengben ZHANG ; Yu LIU ; Feng SONG ; Jing LAN
West China Journal of Stomatology 2025;43(1):76-83
OBJECTIVES:
To study the clinical effect of the L-shape technique combined with concentrated growth factor on the horizontal bone defects of maxillary anterior teeth.
METHODS:
Twenty-five implants from 25 patients who underwent single maxillary anterior tooth implantation with simultaneous bone grafting were selected as the study subjects. Based on the bone grafting techniques, the patients were divided into a test group (L-shaped technique with guided bone regeneration combined with concentrated growth factor, 11 cases) and a control group (traditional guided bone regeneration combined with concentrated growth factor, 14 cases). The early discomfort and wound healing conditions in the two groups at two weeks after surgery were compared. The horizontal bone thickness, vertical bone thickness, and grayscale values in the augmentation area were measured immediately postsurgery and six months after surgery. Implant stability, hard tissue resorption within six months, and grayscale values were compared between the two groups.
RESULTS:
Differences in early discomfort, wound healing, implant stability, and grayscale values between the two groups were not statistically significant (P>0.05). Vertical bone thickness in the test group was significantly better than that in the control group at six months after surgery (P<0.05). The variation in horizontal bone thickness in the test group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
The application of the L-shape technique with concentrated growth factor for horizontal bone defects in the anterior maxillary area yielded satisfactory short-term results in terms of bone augmentation, early discomfort, wound healing, and implant stability at six months after surgery.
Humans
;
Maxilla/diagnostic imaging*
;
Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins/therapeutic use*
;
Wound Healing
;
Bone Transplantation/methods*
;
Dental Implantation, Endosseous/methods*
;
Bone Regeneration
;
Male
;
Female
;
Adult
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Dental Implants, Single-Tooth
;
Middle Aged
7.Correlation and clinical significance of FN1 expression and tumor-associated mac-rophages in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma
Jingtian WANG ; Guobin HU ; Lili LAN ; Yan ZHAO ; Ganxun WU ; Zhanlong WANG ; Supeng SHEN
Chinese Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology 2025;41(7):910-917
Purpose To investigate the relationship between FN1 expression and clinical and pathologic features of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma(LSCC)and the expression of tumor-associated macrophages(TAMs).Methods LSCC datasets GSE33232 and GSE84957 were analyzed and screened the differentially expressed gene FN1,and draw the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve.Bioinformatics analysis of FN1 expression,and prognosis in LSCC was performed.To investigate the effect of down-regulating FN1 expression in TU177 cells on the malignant bio-logical behavior of LSCC,we performed a scratch wound healing assay and a Transwell chamber assay to assess the effect of FN1 on cell proliferation,migration,and invasion in vitro.Immunohistochemical(IHC)staining was per-formed to detect the expression of FN1 and CD 163 in LSCC tissues.Results Analysis of the GSE33232 and GSE84957 datasets and online databases showed that FN1 was significantly overexpressed in LSCC tissues(P<0.05),and patients with high FN1 expression had a significantly lower recurrence-free survival rate(HR=1.6,P=0.017).After transfection with si-FN1,the expression of FN1 in TU177 cells was significantly reduced(0.34±0.02 vs 1.00±0.03,P<0.01).Compared with the control group,the down-regulation of FN1 expression inhibited the in vitro migra-tion(56.1±3.1 vs 19.23±1.0)and invasion(480±23 vs 288±20)ability of TU177 cells(both P<0.01).Im-munohistochemistry findings showed that FN1 was highly expressed in both the tumor parenchyma(nest)and stromal cells of LSCC tissue,with a statistically significant difference[52.1%(24/46)vs 71.7%(33/46),P<0.001].It was found that high expression of N-FN1 was associated with patients' pathological grade and lymph node metastasis(P<0.05),while high expression of S-FN1 was associated with patients' age,lymph node metastasis,and TNM stage(P<0.05).In addition,the co-expression of FN1 and CD163 was correlated with patients' pathological grad-ing,lymph node metastasis,and TNM stage(all P<0.05).Conclusion FN1 and CD163 exhibit high expression levels in LSCC patients,which are closely associated with malignant progression,including invasion and metastasis.Notably,during LSCC progression,there may be a potential synergistic interaction between FN1 and CD 163-positive macrophages in the tumor microenvironment.
8.Intrinsic specific TGF-β signaling in myofibers attenuates mouse acute skeletal myositis via LRP1
Qihui CAI ; Haiqiang LAN ; Bojun XIAN ; Nan WANG ; Xiaolei HUANG ; Xiaolu NIU ; Xinyu HU ; Chen LI ; Junyi XIE ; Zhaohong LIAO
Chinese Journal of Pathophysiology 2025;41(7):1365-1374
AIM:To investigate the effect of intrinsic specific transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β)signaling on regeneration and repair of myofibers in acute skeletal myositismice model induced by cardiotoxin(CTX).METHODS:One hundred and eighty-six wild C57BL/6 mice and one hundred and thirty-eight mice with conditional knockout of TGF-β receptor 2(TGF-βr2)in myofibers(SM TGF-βr2-/-mice)were selected.CTX injection to anterior tibial muscle(TA)in-duced acute myoinjury in mice.Some SM TGF-βr2-/-mice were given Smad signaling agonist SRI-011381(SRI)intramus-cular injection.All mice were mainly divided into the following groups:control group,SM TGF-βr2-/-group and SM TGF-βr2-/-+SRI group.Twenty-four mice were selected in each group.RT-qPCR and immunofluorescence staining were used to detect the relative mRNA level,protein expression of inflammatory cytokines and low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1(LRP1),respectively,while the relative protein expression of myosin heavy chain 3(MHY3)and embryonic myosine heavy chain(eMHC)in damaged muscle was detected by Western blot and immunofluorescence staining.In vi-tro,after being extracted from neonatal mice,myogenic precursor cells(MPCs)were cultured in an pro-inflammatory mi-lieu and treated with SRI,recombinant mouse extracellular matrix protein 1(rmECM1)alone or in combination.Hereby,they were divided into the following seven groups:control-MPCs group,control-MPCs+LPS group,TGF-βr2-/--MPCs group,TGF-βr2-/--MPCs+LPS group,TGF-βr2-/--MPCs+LPS+SRI group,TGF-βr2-/--MPCs+LPS+rmECM1 group,and TGF-βr2-/--MPCs+LPS+SRI+rmECM1 group.Six mice were selected in each group.RT-qPCR and Western blot were used to detect the relative mRNA level,protein expression of major histocompatibility complex class I molecules(MHC-I/H-2Kb),major histocompatibility complex class II molecules(MHC-II/H2-Eα),Toll-like receptor 3(TLR3),and LRP1.And the relative protein expression of MoyD and myogenin in myotubes was detected by immunofluorescence staining.RE-SULTS:In vivo,compared with control group,SM TGF-βr2-/-group showed the significant upregulation of pro-inflamma-tory cytokines(P<0.05),and the opposite trend of anti-inflammatory cytokines,LRP1,MHY3,eMHC in the injured muscle(P<0.05),with delayed regeneration and repair of myofibers.In vitro,compared with control-MPCs+LPS group,LRP1,MoyD and myogenin significantly downregulated in TGF-βr2-/--MPCs+LPS group,but the downregulation trend was corrected after giving SRI treatment(P<0.05).In addition,compared with the TGF-βr2-/--MPCs+LPS group,the combi-nation of rmECM1 and SRI significantly upregulated the protein expression of MyoD and myogenin(P<0.05).CONCLU-SION:In a mouse model of acute skeletal myositis,intrinsic TGF-β signaling specifically in myofibers regulates local im-mune behavior.It promotes the expression of LRP1 in damaged muscle via Smad2/3 signaling,and LRP1 can then fully bind to ECM1,thereby facilitating muscle regeneration and repair,and improving the prognosis of acute skeletal myositis.
9.Preoperative magnetization transfer imaging for predicting pancreatic fistula after distal pancreatectomy
Mingming YANG ; Ya LAN ; Derui HU ; Junxin LYU ; Xinyue ZHANG ; Jinggang ZHANG ; Jie CHEN ; Wei XING
Chinese Journal of Medical Imaging Technology 2025;41(7):1117-1120
Objective To observe the value of preoperative magnetization transfer imaging(MTI)for predicting postoperative pancreatic fistula(POPF)after distal pancreatectomy(DP).Methods A total of 65 patients with pancreatic tumor who underwent DP and preoperative MR scanning were retrospectively enrolled and divided into clinically relevant POPF(CR-POPF)group(n=14,with grade B or C fistula),biochemical fistula group(n=31,postoperative drain fluid amylase level exceeding 3 times the upper limit of normal)and non-fistula group(n=20,postoperative drain fluid amylase level not exceeding 3 times the upper limit of normal)based on postoperative records.Clinical data and magnetization transfer ratio(MTR)of pancreatic tissue at the surgical margin were compared among 3 groups.The predictive value of MTR for CR-POPF was evaluated according to the area under the curve(AUC)of receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve.Results Patients' age,intraoperative blood loss and the proportion of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in both CR-POPF group and biochemical fistula group were lower than those in non-fistula group(all adjusted P<0.05),while no significant difference was found between the former two groups(all adjusted P>0.05).MTR of pancreatic tissue at the surgical margin in CR-POPF group was lower than that in both biochemical fistula group and non-fistula group(both P<0.05),whereas no statistical difference was detected between the latter two groups(P>0.05).The AUC of MTR for predicting CR-POPF after DP was 0.727.Conclusion Preoperative MTI could be used to predict POPF after DP.
10.Infant-cued behavior-based feeding pattern in preterm infants:a scoping review
Ting TU ; Hongqing GUO ; Lan HU ; Ying YUAN
Chinese Journal of Nursing 2025;60(15):1914-1921
Objective To generalize and summarize the types,content elements,outcome measures,application effects,and safety monitoring of the infant-cued behavior-based feeding,so as to provide guidance for the clinical application and research in the future.Methods The literature was retrieved from PubMed,CINAHL,CNKI,and Wanfang Data-base,with a retrieval timeframe from database establishment to August 20,2024.The included literature was sum-marized and analyzed.Results A total of 28 studies were included,of which 15 were randomized controlled trials,7 were quasi-experimental studies,and 6 were observational studies.The infant-cued behavior-based feeding pattern could be categorized as ad libitum feeding,demand feeding,semi-demand feeding,and behavioral cue-based feeding.The content elements included assessment,supporting strategies,and advancement of oral feeding.The infant-cued behavior-based feeding pattern had a positive impact on feeding and developmental outcomes,immune function,rate of complications and length of hospital stay in preterm infants.The safety monitoring consisted of heart rate,blood oxygen saturation,blood sugar,and daily weight gain.Conclusion It is beneficial to implement the infant-cued behavior-based feeding pattern in preterm infants,which leads to better clinical outcomes.To support its implementation in clinical practice,we need to validate and enhance the application value of the feeding pattern in the future by concentrating on clinically individual differences,refining feeding intervention programs,improving effect evaluation and safety monitoring.

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