BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Acute liver failure (ALF) is a type of disease with high mortality and rapid progression with no specific treatment methods currently available. Glucocorticoids exert beneficial clinical effects on therapy for ALF. However, the mechanism of this effect remains unclear and when to use glucocorticoids in patients with ALF is difficult to determine. The purpose of this study was to investigate the specific immunological mechanism of dexamethasone (Dex) on treatment of ALF induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/D-galactosamine (D-GaIN) in mice. METHODS: Male C57BL/6 mice were given LPS and D-GaIN by intraperitoneal injection to establish an animal model of ALF. Dex was administrated to these mice and its therapeutic effect was observed. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was used to determine liver pathology. Multicolor flow cytometry, cytometric bead array (CBA) method, and next-generation sequencing were performed to detect changes of messenger RNA (mRNA) in immune cells, cytokines, and Kupffer cells, respectively. RESULTS: A mouse model of ALF can be constructed successfully using LPS/D-GaIN, which causes a cytokine storm in early disease progression. Innate immune cells change markedly with progression of liver failure. Earlier use of Dex, at 0 h rather than 1 h, could significantly improve the progression of ALF induced by LPS/D-GaIN in mice. Numbers of innate immune cells, especially Kupffer cells and neutrophils, increased significantly in the Dex-treated group. In vivo experiments indicated that the therapeutic effect of Dex is exerted mainly via the glucocorticoid receptor (Gr). Sequencing of Kupffer cells revealed that Dex could increase mRNA transcription level of nuclear receptor subfamily 4 group A member 1 (Nr4a1), and that this effect disappeared after Gr inhibition. CONCLUSIONS In LPS/D-GaIN-induced ALF mice, early administration of Dex improved ALF by increasing the numbers of innate immune cells, especially Kupffer cells and neutrophils. Gr-dependent Nr4a1 upregulation in Kupffer cells may be an important ALF effect regulated by Dex in this process.
Animals ; Dexamethasone/therapeutic use* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Kupffer Cells/physiology* ; Liver Failure, Acute/pathology* ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 4, Group A, Member 1/physiology* ; Receptors, Glucocorticoid/physiology*

Through the records of herbal and market investigations,the samples collected from different market and origin were analyzed,and the appearance character indexes were determined in order to revise the commodity specification and grade standard of Dipsaci Radix combined with production practice. This is also to analyze association of the appearance with quality different of intrinsic components. The investigation results indicated the root's long and thick was better,and atrovirens of fracture surface,there are most of the market is dominated by the ungraded goods. Through principal component analysis,variance analysis and cluster analysis,combining with the feasibility of actual operation and herbal record,the length,middle diameter and phloem color were filtrated and the specification was divided into 2 ranks: the selection and ungraded goods,and the grade was divided into 2 ranks for the selection goods: big,small selected goods. Moreover,there were no significant correlation between the appearance and the intrinsic quality index of Dipsaci Radix,the content of extractum were significantly positive correlation with the moisture,but had extremely negative correlation with the total ash. Multiple comparisons indicated that the content of the moisture,extractum and asperosaponin VI of the selected goods were higher than the ungraded goods,while the total ash content were lower,and they hasn't significant difference. The commodity specification and grade standard of Dipsaci Radix as a basis provide commodity specification and grade standard of communities and standardizing market trade order.
Cluster Analysis ; Dipsacaceae ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; standards ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Principal Component Analysis

This paper is aimed to study the commodity specification and grade standard of Galla Chinensis,for standardizing market order and guide the market circulation,and provide a basis for standardization of Galla Chinensis. With 33 samples of Galla Chinensis from market as the object of the research,the herbal textual research and market research were carried out. Then the grading indicator were selected by the descriptive statistics,principal component analysis and cluster analysis,combining with production practice,the commodity specification and grade standard of Galla Chinensis were set out. The data of moisture,ash,gallic acid as the internal index were used to analyze the relationship between the quality difference between grades and the appearance characters and the intrinsic composition. Herbal textual research and market research found that the high quality of Galla Chinensis characterized with large,complete,wall thick,grayish brown characteristics,and Galla Chinensis could be divided into gallnuts and horned gall. Through principal component analysis and cluster analysis,combining actual production and herbal record,screening,the length,diameter,single weight,the number of 500 g were determined as 4 grading indicators,the commodity specification was divided into two: gallnuts and horned gall,the grades was divided into two: selected goods and mixed goods. The result of correlation analysis showed there was no significant correlation between the internal index and the appearance characters of Galla Chinensis. The result of multiple comparison showed that the ash content of the selected goods was smaller than that of the mixed goods,but it did not reach significant. The content of gallic acid of the selected goods and the mixed goods of gallnuts were higher than selected goods of horned gall,and higher than mixed goods of horned galls. Using the length,diameter,single weight,the number of 500 g as the appearance characters index. Combining with the herbal textual research and market research,we have divided two specifications and two grades for the commodity specification and grade standard of Galla Chinensis,which can provide a basis for industry standards and national standards.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; standards ; Gallic Acid ; analysis ; Plant Tumors ; Quality Control

Objective: To explore the potential mechanism of Shema Zhichuan liquid in treatment of asthma by network pharmacology. Method: Bioinformatics analysis tool for molecular mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), systematic pharmacological database and analysis platform of TCM were employed to find the components in Shema Zhichuan liquid and their targets, and asthma-related genes were obtained from the comparative toxicogenomics database (CTD). The data set of Shema Zhichuan liquid-gene and asthma-gene were imported into the Draw Venn Diagram for intersection analysis. The obtained data set of Shema Zhichuan liquid-asthma-gene was imported into String 11.0 for protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis, and was visualized by Cytoscape 3.6.1, and further important modules were analyzed with MCODE. DAVID 6.8 was used to analyze pathway enrichment and biological process of Shema Zhichuan liquid-asthma-gene. Result: A total of 399 components and 2 099 potential targets were obtained from Shema Zhichuan liquid, 98 asthma-related targets were retrieved, 45 common genes and 16 hub genes were screened, including transforming growth factor-β₁(TGF-β₁), heme oxygenase-1 (HMOX1), interleukin-4 (IL-4), etc. Enrichment analysis showed that the common biological processes of Shema Zhichuan liquid and asthma were related to inflammation, contraction and remodeling of airway, cell proliferation and apoptosis, etc. The common biological pathways mainly included tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway, receptor with high affinity for immunoglobulin E (Fc epsilon RI) signaling pathway, nuclear transcription factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway, nucleotide binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor signaling pathway and so on. Conclusion: Shema Zhichuan liquid serves as a multi-target, multi-pathway treatment for asthma, which can provide a reference for the further research and clinical application of this preparation.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the predictive value of Ees/Ea in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension based on right cardiac catheterization and cardiac magnetic resonance examination. METHODS: A total of 50 pulmonary arterial hypertension patients confirmed by right heart catheterization were retrospectively reviewed and followed up 2 years. The relationship between the baseline clinical data and survival prognosis of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension were analyzed. The predictive value of baseline Ees/Ea for prognosis in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension were compared. RESULTS: The Ees/Ea calculated by volume method was significantly correlated with the prognosis of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension(OR =0.082, 95%CI 0.009-0.814, P=0.032). The two-year survival rate of group Ees/Ea>0.67 was significantly higher than that of Ees/Ea≤0.67(86.7% vs. 50%, P=0.003). Conclution Ees/Ea calculated by volume method is an independent influence factor of the survival prognosis of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. When Ees/Ea≤0.67, the patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension is more likely to deteriorate.

The study aims at investigating the grade standard and the quality characteristic of Pinelliae Rhizoma for commodity specification, which provides the reference for its grade standard formulation. 42 Pinelliae Rhizoma simples were collected from 5 medicinal materials markets and 2 producing areas. Based on the previous herbalogical study and market investigation, we combined with the data analysis to select the grading indicators using SPSS software for descriptive statistical analysis, analysis of variance, K-cluster analysis and correlation analysis. According to the actual production condition, we developed the grading standards of Pinelliae Rhizoma. Moreover, we compared the internal indicators(water, total ash, leachate and guanosine) of Pinelliae Rhizoma at various grade levels, and analyzed the correlation between appearance traits and internal indicators. The herbalogical study and market research found that the Pinelliae Rhizoma was better in large, solid and white. The results from descriptive and variance analysis showed that the appearance of Pinelliae Rhizoma was significantly different in weight per grain and grain number of 500 g. Referring to the 2015 Chinese Pharmacopoeia and the production practice, we use the length, weight per grain and grain number of 500 g as the classification index of Pinelliae Rhizoma. The results from correlation analysis showed that there was no significant correlation between the appearance of Pinelliae Rhizoma and the intrinsic quality index. In addition, we found there was no significant difference in the content of the intrinsic index except for the total ash and the extract. The current study established the classification index of the product specification and grade standard of Pinelliae Rhizoma with length, weight per grain and grain number of 500 g as the index, which can provide the basis for the classification of the product specification and grade of Pinelliae Rhizoma market.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; standards ; Pinellia ; chemistry ; Rhizome ; chemistry