Ischemic stroke (IS) is a globally life-threatening disease. Presently, few therapeutic medicines are available for treating IS, and rt-PA is the only drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US. In fact, many agents showing excellent neuroprotection but no blood flow-improving activity in animals have not achieved ideal clinical efficacy, while thrombolytic drugs only improving blood flow without neuroprotection have limited their wider application. To address these challenges and meet the huge unmet clinical need, we have designed and identified a novel compound AAPB with dual effects of neuroprotection and cerebral blood flow improvement. AAPB significantly reduced cerebral infarction and neural function deficit in tMCAO rats, pMCAO rats, and IS rhesus monkeys, as well as displayed exceptional safety profiles and excellent pharmacokinetic properties in rats and dogs. AAPB has now entered phase I of clinical trials fighting IS in China.

In-depth study of the components of polymyxins is the key to controlling the quality of this class of antibiotics. Similarities and variations of components present significant analytical challenges. A two-dimensional (2D) liquid chromatography-mass spectrometr (LC-MS) method was established for screening and comprehensive profiling of compositions of the antibiotic colistimethate sodium (CMS). A high concentration of phosphate buffer mobile phase was used in the first-dimensional LC system to get the components well separated. For efficient and high-accuracy screening of CMS, a targeted method based on a self-constructed high resolution (HR) mass spectrum database of CMS components was established. The database was built based on the commercial MassHunter Personal Compound Database and Library (PCDL) software and its accuracy of the compound matching result was verified with six known components before being applied to genuine sample screening. On this basis, the unknown peaks in the CMS chromatograms were deduced and assigned. The molecular formula, group composition, and origins of a total of 99 compounds, of which the combined area percentage accounted for more than 95% of CMS components, were deduced by this 2D-LC-MS method combined with the MassHunter PCDL. This profiling method was highly efficient and could distinguish hundreds of components within 3 h, providing reliable results for quality control of this kind of complex drugs.

In recent years,the international drug control situation has become increasingly serious.According to the statistical data of the year 2021 from UNODC,in the past decade,the trafficking volume of traditional drug(such as methamphetamine,cannabis and cocaine)has continued to rise,new psychoactive substances(NPS)have emerged one after another,the drugs as well as their precursors and metabolites have become a new group of pollutants.They widely exist in environmental media such as water,air,sludge and soil,due to the manufacture and abuse of drugs,which endangers human and animal safety.Drug detection data from environmental samples can reflect the local drug use situation objectively,real-time,accurately and effectively,which is helpful to grasp the spatial distribution and time changes,monitor the development trends of drug abuse,assess the trend of drug abuse reasonably,and assist in combating related illegal and criminal activities through comprehensive data analysis.At present,sewage monitoring has become an important means of drug monitoring in countries around the world.Sewage testing can assess drug consumption in a place reasonably,and sewage network traceability technology can reduce the scope of regional investigation of drug manufacturing dens effectively,so as to combat accurately.Drug detection in the atmosphere,sludge and soil has been carried out in some foreign countries,but it has not been used as a long-term monitoring means.Long-term monitoring of drugs from the environment in a variety of ways not only helps to effectively update the drug situation in the region,but also to better understand local trends in drug use and identify new drugs of abuse.It will provide data support for more accurate monitoring and combating drug crimes in the future.This paper reviews the methods for detecting drugs and other related compounds in different environmental matrices including sewage,atmosphere and sludge in China and other countries,including the study on the sources and forms of related compounds in different environments,the preparation of different matrix samples and the quantitative analysis of drugs from environment,as well as the existing problems and shortcomings of various detection methods.Finally,the drug detection technology and comprehensive monitoring system in the environment are prospected.

To identify the related substances of tacrolimus by LC-MS techniques, the separation of the related substances contained in tacrolimus and its stressed samples was carried out on a Agilent Eclipse Plus-C18 (150 mm × 4.6 mm,3.5 μm) column with 0.01% fomic acid solution and a mixture of acetonitrile- methyl tert-butyl ether as the mobile phase.in linear gradient elution. Electrospray positive ionization high resolution Q-TOF/MS was used for the determination of the accurate mass and elemental composition of the parent ions of all the components, thence, the structures of all the detected substances were successfully characterized through spectra elucidation and fragmentation pathways analysis. Tacrolimus and its 35 detected related substances were well separated under the established conditions, among which 2 were its isomers , 3 were listed in United States Pharmacopeia(USP), and the rest 30 were identified as unknown products having not been reported before. These results were useful for its fermentation processes and quality control.

A sensitive and selective method was developed for the separation and characterization of related substances (RSs) in EVT-401 by hyphenated LC–MS techniques. Complete separation of the RSs was achieved with an Inertsil ODS-SP column (250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 μm) by linear gradient elution using a mobile phase consisting of 0.2% formic acid solution, methanol and acetonitrile. EVT-401 was found to be susceptible to acid, alkaline and oxidative stresses, while relatively stable under photolytic and thermal dry stress conditions. Fourteen RSs including six process-related substances and eight degradation products were detected and identified in EVT-401 with positive ESI high-resolution TOF-MS analysis of their parent ions and the corresponding product mass spectra elucidation, and some of them were further verified by chemical synthesis and NMR spectroscopy. The specific LC–MS method developed for separation, identification and characterization of RSs is valuable for EVT-401 manufacturing process optimization and quality control.

An LC-TOF /MS and LC-MS /MS method was established for the identification the related substances in ambrisentan.HPLC separation was carried out on an XBridge C18 column(4.6 mm ×150 mm,3.5 μm)with linear gradient elution using a mobile phase consists of acetonitrile,water and 0.15% formic acid.The structures of the related substances were identified by electrospray positive ESI high resolution TOF /MS and MS /MS spec-tra,and verified further through reference substances.Ambrisentan and its related substances can be separated under the established HPLC conditions.Ten related substances were detected and identified.The established method is useful for the identification of related substances in ambrisentan.The results obtained are valuable for its manufacturing process optimization and quality control.

Objective To evaluate the pharmacokinetics and bioequivalence of genetic dasatinib in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in the choronie phase(CML-CP).Methods Using randomized,parallel,overlapping,self-control designed study,a 100 mg dose of the reference or test tablet was given to 12 CML-CP patients who were resistant or intolerant to Imatinib and Nilotinib in a randomized two-way crossover design,and the plasma concentration of the medicine was assayed by HPLC-MS-MS.The main pharmacokinetic parameters and bioequivalence of the two formulations were evaluated.Results The major pharmacokinetic parameters were as follows:Cmax (209.01±58.69) μg/L and (223.07±79.51) μg/L,Tmax (1.1±0.8) h and (1.1±0.8) h,T1/2 (5.10±1.34) h and (4.39±0.74) h,AUC0.t (646.65±185.67) h·μg/L and (695.84±273.40) h·μg/L (all P＞0.05);AUC0-x(668.11±186.00) h·μg/L and (712.42±278.08) h·μg/L,MRT (5.32± 1.70) h and (4.68± 1.53) h (all P＞0.05).Conclusion The two formulations were bioequivalent.

Objective: To investigate the effect of tanshinone IIA (TSN) on left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and cardiomyocyte apoptosis in spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHRs). Methods: A total of 60 SHRs at 8 weeks of age were randomly divided into 3 group: Blank control group, the rats were sacriifced at 8 weeks, TSN group, the rats were treated with TSN at 1 ml/(kg?d) for 18 weeks and Solvent control group, the rats were treated with the solvent at 1 ml/(kg?d) for 18 weeks. n=20 in each group and 15 rats were used for the experiments. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) were examined, cardiomyocyte’s diameter and surface area were measured by HE staining, the apoptosis rate was evaluated by TUNEL method and the apoptosis related protein expression s of Bcl-2, Bax and p53 were determined by Western blot analysis. Results: ①Compared with Solvent control group, TSN group had decreased LVMI (3.23 ± 0.24) mg/g vs (4.58 ± 0.68) mg/g,cardiomyocyte’s diameter (16.13 ± 1.77) μm vs (27.15 ± 3.52) μm and surface area (230.23 ± 69.37) μm2 vs (490.12 ± 118.96) μm2and decreased apoptosis rate (7.45 ± 1.78) % vs (10.61 ± 2.77) %, allP<0.01.②With NAPDH reference correction, compared with Solvent control group, TSN group presented increased protein expression of Bcl-2 (0.97 ± 0.31) vs (0.40 ± 0.11) and decreased Bax (0.37 ± 0.15) vs (1.81 ± 0.44), decreased p53 (0.83 ± 0.18) vs (2.72 ± 0.28), allP<0.05 or P<0.01. The above indexes were similar between TSN group and Blank control group,P>0.05. Conclusion: TSN could inhibit the development of LVH and decrease the cardiomyocyte apoptosis, which might be via up-regulating the protein expressions of Bcl-2 and down-regulating Bax and p53 in SHRs.

[ABSTRACT]AIM:Tostudytheprotectiveeffectofbrain-derivedneurotrophicfactor(BDNF)onvascularendo-thelial cells with H 2 O2-induced oxidative injury .METHODS: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells ( HUVECs ) were cultured in vitro, and the oxidation injury model of HUVECs was established by treatment with H 2 O2 .The oxidatively in-jured HUVECs were cultured with different concentrations (1, 10 and 100μg/L) of BDNF.At the same time, the control group (no injury), PBS treatment after H2O2 injury group and TrkB inhibitor group (with 100 μg/L BDNF and 1∶1 000 TrkB inhibitor) were also set up.The viability of the HUVECs was detected by MTT assay .The levels of LDH, MDA, SOD and GSH were measured .The releases of NO , ET-1 and ICAM-1 were analyzed by ELISA .The changes of ROS pro-duction and cell apoptosis were evaluated by flow cytometry .The protein levels of TrkB , p-TrkB, cleaved caspase-3, Bcl-2 and Bax were determined by Western blot .RESULTS:Compared with uninjured control group , in H2 O2 oxidative injury plus PBS treatment group , the viability of the cells was decreased significantly , the LDH and MDA levels were increased significantly and the activities of SOD and GSH were decreased significantly .The NO secretion was decreased , and the ET-1 and ICAM-1 concentrations were increased significantly .The ROS content and apoptotic rate were increased significantly . The protein levels of cleaved caspase-3 and Bax were increased but Bcl-2 protein expression was decreased significantly . Compared with PBS treatment group , in H2 O2-injured HUVECs treated with different concentrations of BDNF , the cell via-bility was gradually increased , the LDH and MDA levels were decreased and the activities of SOD and GSH were increased gradually .The secretion of NO was increased but ET-1 and ICAM-1 were decreased gradually .The ROS content and apop-totic rate were decreased significantly .The TrkB and p-TrkB levels were significantly increased significantly , the protein expression of cleaved-caspase 3 and Bax was decreased gradually and the Bcl-2 protein expression increased gradually .The role of BDNF was inhibited by TrkB inhibitor .CONCLUSION:BDNF protects HUVECs from oxidative injury by binding with TrkB to activate the BDNF-TrkB signaling pathways .

Objective To investigate the effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) pretreatment on H9c2 myocardial hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) injury, and explore its mechanism. Methods The H9c2 myocardial cells were cul?tured in vitro and (95%O2+5%CO2) oxygen cultured 12 h after (95%N2+5%CO2) hypoxia cultured 4 h to establish the H/R model. The cells were divided into normal control group, H/R group, different concentrations (1, 10, 100μg/L) BDNF pre?treatment in H/R groups and TrkB-inhibitor group (with 100μg/L BDNF and 1∶1 000 TrkB inhibitor pre-treatment in H/R group). The cell survival rate was measured by MTT method in different groups. The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK), malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) content and activity were detected after H/R injury. The apoptotic rate of H9c2 myocardial cells were detected by flow cytometry, and the expressions of TrkB, Bcl-2 and Bax protein were detected by Western blot assay. Results Compared with the normal control group, the survival rate of H9c2 myocardial cells was decreased significantly in H/R model group (P < 0.05), LDH, CK and MDA contents were increased and SOD activity was decreased (P<0.05). The cell apoptosis rate was increased significantly (P<0.05). The anti-apoptosis Bcl-2 protein expression was decreased, pro-apoptosis Bax protein expression was increased in H/R model group (P<0.05). Compared with the H/R model group, the cell survival rates of H9c2 myocardial cells were increased after pre-treatment with different concentrations of BDNF (P<0.05);LDH, CK and MDA contents were decreased and SOD activity were in?creased respectively (P < 0.05). The cell apoptotic rates were decreased (P < 0.05). The expressions of TrkB receptor and Bcl-2 protein gradually increased, while the expression of Bax protein was gradually decreased (P<0.05). The role of BDNF was inhibited by TrkB inhibitor. Conclusion BDNF pre-treatment can promote the cell survival rate of H9c2 myocardial cells after H/R injury, which plays a protective role by inhibiting the cell apoptotic rate and maintaining antioxidant capacity, and associates with BDNF-TrkB signaling pathways.