1.Development of a new paradigm for precision diagnosis and treatment in traditional Chinese medicine
Jingnian NI ; Mingqing WEI ; Ting LI ; Jing SHI ; Wei XIAO ; Jing CHENG ; Bin CONG ; Boli ZHANG ; Jinzhou TIAN
Journal of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2025;48(1):43-47
The development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) diagnosis and treatment has undergone multiple paradigms, evolving from sporadic experiential practices to systematic approaches in syndrome differentiation and treatment and further integration of disease and syndrome frameworks. TCM is a vital component of the medical system, valued alongside Western medicine. Treatment based on syndrome differentiation embodies both personalized treatment and holistic approaches; however, the inconsistency and lack of stability in syndrome differentiation limit clinical efficacy. The existing integration of diseases and syndromes primarily relies on patchwork and embedded systems, where the full advantages of synergy between Chinese and Western medicine are not fully realized. Recently, driven by the development of diagnosis and treatment concepts and advances in analytical technology, Western medicine has been rapidly transforming from a traditional biological model to a precision medicine model. TCM faces a similar need to progress beyond traditional syndrome differentiation and disease-syndrome integration toward a more precise diagnosis and treatment paradigm. Unlike the micro-level precision trend of Western medicine, precision diagnosis and treatment in TCM is primarily reflected in data-driven applications that incorporate information at various levels, including precise syndrome differentiation, medication, disease management, and efficacy evaluation. The current priority is to accelerate the development of TCM precision diagnosis and treatment technology platforms and advance discipline construction in this area.
2.Establishment of a Gastrointestinal-Brain Inter-Organ Multimodal Characterization System Based on Traditional Chinese Medicine Theory and Its Application in Refractory Diseases
Guanghui HAN ; Yan GUO ; Peijing RONG ; Bin CONG ; Shuangjiang LIU ; Shaoyuan LI ; Wei WEI
Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine 2025;66(6):561-568
The concept of holism is the core idea of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Various organs and tissues coordinate with each other to maintain the body's life activities, with a close and mutual influence between the spleen, stomach, and the central nervous system (brain). The gut-brain axis plays an important bridging role between the digestive system and the central nervous system, achieving bidirectional information exchange between the brain and the gastrointestinal tract through complex neuroendocrine and immune mechanisms. The theory of cross-organ interaction involves the mutual influence, coordination, and integration between different organs and systems; multimodality, on the other hand, utilizes multiple sensory modalities, such as vision, hearing, and touch, to convey information. By combining TCM theory with the gut-brain axis theory, a cross-organ multimodal characterization system is established to explore its mechanism and application value in refractory diseases such as functional gastrointestinal disorders, precancerous gastrointestinal diseases, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and depression.
3.Mechanisms by which microgravity causes osteoporosis
Dejian XIANG ; Xiaoyuan LIANG ; Shenghong WANG ; Changshun CHEN ; Cong TIAN ; Zhenxing YAN ; Bin GENG ; Yayi XIA
Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research 2025;29(10):2132-2140
BACKGROUND:The imbalance between bone resorption and bone formation in microgravity environments leads to significant bone loss in astronauts.Current research indicates that bone loss under microgravity conditions is the result of the combined effects of various cells,tissues,and systems. OBJECTIVE:To review different biological effects of microgravity on various cells,tissues,or systems,and summarize the mechanisms by which microgravity leads to the development of osteoporosis. METHODS:Databases such as PubMed,Web of Science,and the Cochrane Database were searched for relevant literature from 2000 to 2023.The inclusion criteria were all articles related to tissue engineering studies and basic research on osteoporosis caused by microgravity.Ultimately,85 articles were included for review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)In microgravity environment,bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells tend to differentiate more into adipocytes rather than osteoblasts,and hematopoietic stem cells in this environment are more inclined to differentiate into osteoclasts,reducing differentiation into the erythroid lineage.At the same time,microgravity inhibits the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts,promotes apoptosis of osteoblasts,alters cell morphology,and reduces the mineralization capacity of osteoblasts.Microgravity significantly increases the number and activity of osteoclasts.Microgravity also hinders the differentiation of osteoblasts into osteocytes and promotes the apoptosis of osteocytes.(2)In a microgravity environment,the body experiences changes such as skeletal muscle atrophy,microvascular remodeling,bone microcirculation disorders,and endocrine disruption.These changes lead to mechanical unloading in the bone microenvironment,insufficient blood perfusion,and calcium cycle disorders,which significantly impact the development of osteoporosis.(3)At present,the mechanism by which microgravity causes osteoporosis is relatively complex.A deeper study of these physiological mechanisms is crucial to ensuring the health of astronauts during long-term space missions,and provides a theoretical basis for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.
4.Forensic application evaluation of ssDNA library construction-hybridization capture DNA methylation sequencing in height inference
Zhonghua WANG ; Qian WANG ; Guangping FU ; Junyan WANG ; Lihong FU ; Bin CONG ; Shujin LI
Chinese Journal of Forensic Medicine 2025;40(1):33-39,55
Objective To evaluate the sensitivity,repeatability,anti-degradation ability,in vivo temporal stability,and tissue specificity of the DNA methylation sequencing panel constructed in our previous study for height inference,so as to provide a reference for forensic application.Methods Sensitivity:different initial template quantities(50 ng,40 ng,30 ng,20 ng)were set for sequencing.Repeatability:DNA from the same sample was sequenced three times.Anti-degradation ability:whole blood was used to make blood stains,and DNA was extracted and sequenced at 0,3,6 and 9 months,respectively.In vivo temporal stability:the blood was collected at 0,3,6,and 9 months for sequencing.Tissue specificities:published data and findings were used to analyze the tissue specificities of CpGs in the panel.Results The sensitivity test showed that the initial template quantities of 20 ng detected all the CpG sites and still obtained accurate prediction results.The results of the three repeated predictions of the same sample are stable,and the differences are mainly due to the randomness of the DNN model,indicating good detection repeatability.A complete methylation profile was obtained for the blood stains left at room temperature for 9 months,and the predicted results showed a small range of fluctuations.The three samples were predicted to fluctuate within a range of 1.5 cm or less over nine months.Tissue-specific analyses showed a high correlation between blood and saliva,but can not apply to other tissues.Conclusion The DNA methylation detection system we developed in our previous study has good sensitivity,repeatability,anti degradation ability,in vivo time stability,as well as strong tissue specificity,making it suitable for height inference of blood samples.This supports the feasibility of using targeted DNA methylation analysis on whole blood samples to infer height in the field of forensic science.
5.Inhibition of the Arp2/3 Complex Attenuates Angiotensin Ⅱ-Induced Cardiomyocyte Hypertrophy
Li LING ; Cong-Bin PAN ; Lu-Xuan WAN ; Zhuang-Zhuang YANG ; Zhan-Hong REN
Chinese Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2025;41(9):1332-1341,中插1-中插5
Pathological cardiac hypertrophy is an early and significant cardiac structural charac-teristic that contributes to the onset and progression of heart failure(HF).Its mainly structural feature is the abnormally enlarged cardiomyocyte.Effective intervention targets for abnormally en-larged cardiomyocyte remain to be identified.Previous studies have shown that the cellular shape and size can be regulated by the actin related protein 2/3(Arp2/3)complex,which is an actin-binding protein complex involved in the actin nucleation and assembly.However,the roles of the Arp2/3 complex in cardiomyocyte hypertrophy remain unknown.Here our study identifies its no-vel roles in the occurrence and development of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.We found that mRNA levels of all subunits from the Arp2/3 complex are significantly upregulated(P<0.05)in the an-giotensin II(Ang Ⅱ)-induced neonatal rat primary and H9c2 cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.Fur-ther studies showed that siRNA-directed ARPC2 silencing inhibits the reactivation of fetal genes and enlargement of cardiomyocyte area induced by Ang Ⅱ in neonatal rat primary cardiomyocytes(NRCMs)and H9c2 cells(P<0.05).In addition,the upstream activators of the Arp2/3 com-plex including SH3 protein interacting with Nck,90 kD(SPIN90)and Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1(Rac1)/WASp family Verprolin-homologous protein-2(WAVE-2)are upregu-lated(P<0.05)in Ang Ⅱ-induced neonatal rat primary and H9c2 cardiomyocyte hypertrophy,indicating the excessive activation of the Arp2/3 complex.We further show that CK666,a specif-ic Arp2/3 complex inhibitor,prevents the reactivation of fetal genes and the enlargement of car-diomyocyte area induced by Ang Ⅱ in NRCMs and H9c2 cells(P<0.05).Our results reveal that the Arp2/3 complex plays a crucial role in Ang Ⅱ-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy,which is beneficial to further studies about the molecular mechanisms by which the Arp2/3 complex regu-lates pathological cardiac hypertrophy.
6.Autophagy in different subtypes of breast cancer cells mediated by p-AMPK and its molecular mechanisms
Xin-jiao YANG ; Ru-yao HU ; Zhe XIONG ; Di ZOU ; Jie CAI ; Cong-long XIA ; Zhong-bin BAI ; Hong-ye ZHAO
Chinese Pharmacological Bulletin 2025;41(5):898-907
Aim To investigate the effect of p-AMPK activity on autophagy in different subtypes of MDA-MB-231(triple-negative breast cancer cells)and MCF-7(estrogen receptor-positive cells)and its regulatory mechanism.Methods MDA-MB-231 cells were trea-ted with EBSS,Baf-A1,and EBSS+Baf-A1 for four hours,and MCF-7 cells for eight hours.The effects of autophagy on cell proliferation and apoptosis were ob-served,mitochondrial morphology was examined,and the expression of autophagy markers LC3B,P62,LAMP1,TOM20,AMPK,p-AMPK,ULK1,and Bec-lin1/VPS34 proteins was detected.The autophagy pathway was validated by inhibiting AMPK activity.Results Breast cancer cells underwent autophagy af-ter starvation induction(EBSS),with inconsistent au-tophagy processes observed in different subtypes of breast cancer cells.Autophagy inhibited cell prolifera-tion.In MDA-MB-231 cells,autophagy led to an in-crease in p-AMPK levels and a decrease in ULK1 lev-els,initiating autophagy through p-AMPK activation of ULK1.In MCF-7 cells,both p-AMPK and ULK1 levels decreased after autophagy,suggesting that autophagy might not be mediated by p-AMPK activation.Conclu-sions MDA-MB-231 cells primarily initiate autophagy by directly activating ULK1 by p-AMPK,independent of the MTOR pathway.In MCF-7 cells autophagy might be triggered by inhibiting MTOR through AMPK activity or directly activating MTOR through other up-stream factors.Regulating p-AMPK activity based on the autophagy pathways in different cell subtypes could enable more precise targeting and treatment of different types of breast cancer.
7.Correlation between adiponectin/leptin ratio and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
Cong SUN ; Tongjian ZHU ; Ming LU ; Caibo LI ; Jian ZHANG ; Bin LI
Chinese Journal of Geriatric Heart Brain and Vessel Diseases 2025;27(9):1203-1207
Objective To investigate the correlation between adiponectin/leptin(Adpn/Lep)ratio and risk of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction(HFpEF).Methods A total of 84 hospi-talized HFpEF patients(HFpEF group)and 84 age-and sex-matched non-heart failure patients(control group)admitted in Xiangyang Central Hospital between October 2023 and April 2024 were recruited in this study.Serum Adpn and Lep levels were measured using ELISA.Spearman correlation analysis was applied to assess the relationship between the Adpn/Lep ratio and other HFpEF-related parameters.Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were per-formed to identify risk factors for HFpEF.ROC curve was plotted to evaluate the auxiliary diag-nostic value of the Adpn/Lep ratio for HFpEF.Results The HFpEF group exhibited significantly higher leptin level,but lower Adpn level and Adpn/Lep ratio when compared with the control group(P<0.01).Spearman correlation analysis revealed that Adpn/Lep ratio was negatively cor-related with N-terminal fragment of brain natriuretic peptide prohormone and left atrial diameter(r=-0.476,r=-0.328,P<0.01)in HFpEF patients.Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified the Adpn/Lep ratio as an independent risk factor for HFpEF(P<0.01).ROC curve analysis demonstrated that the AUC value of Adpn/Lep ratio,Adpn,and Lep in predicting HFpEF was 0.818(95%CI:0.747-0.888),0.639(95%CI:0.544-0.734)and 0.638(95%CI:0.550-0.726),respectively,and the ratio obtained better predictive performance than the two indicators(P<0.01).Conclusion Adpn/Lep ratio is associated with HFpEF.Lower Adpn/Lep ratio has good auxiliary diagnostic value for HFpEF.The ratio can better predict the occurrence of HFpEF than Adpn and Lep alone.
8.Research progress on the mechanisms of macrophage and neutrophil dysfunction in diabetic foot
Journal of Regional Anatomy and Operative Surgery 2025;34(8):735-739
Diabetic foot is one of the most common complications in patients with diabetes,potentially resulting in amputation and significant psychological distress.Macrophages and neutrophils play a crucial synergistic role in the inflammatory response;however,an imbalance in this synergy can lead to abnormal inflammatory responses and subsequent tissue damage.Therefore,a comprehensive study of the interactions between macrophages and neutrophils,along with their specific mechanisms in the occurrence and development of diabetic foot,is conducive to developing new therapeutic strategies to improve the clinical prognosis for diabetic patients.This article reviews the research progress on the mechanism of macrophage and neutrophil dysfunction in diabetic foot,in order to provide new ideas and directions for the treatment of diabetic foot.
9.Review of animal models of Alzheimer's disease applied in traditional Chinese medicine research
Jinying PEI ; Jialin LIU ; Bin LIU ; Xiaohong DONG ; Shuyuan CONG ; Xiumin REN ; Yongjie ZHOU
Chinese Journal of Comparative Medicine 2025;35(5):114-130
Alzheimer's disease(AD)is an age-related neurodegenerative disease that mainly manifests clinically as progressive functional impairments in cognition,memory,and language.With the accelerated transition toward an older population in China,the number of people suffering from AD in China is increasing.The exact pathogenesis of AD remains unclear,with current therapeutic strategies mainly limited to symptomatic treatments.Animal models are important tools for preclinical research,enabling explorations of molecular mechanisms,behavioral functions,and treatment strategies of diseases.Future mechanistic research and drug development of AD should involve the establishment of animal models that are consistent with clinical pathological characteristics.This review summarizes the AD animal models commonly used in research,providing details on the strains,age,modeling method and doses.It also discusses research on traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)components and their pharmacodynamic mechanisms in related AD animal models,aiming to provide references for the development of new animal models and in-depth exploration of the specific pharmacological activities,targets,metabolic pathways,and clinical applications of each TCM component.
10.Inhibition of the Arp2/3 Complex Attenuates Angiotensin Ⅱ-Induced Cardiomyocyte Hypertrophy
Li LING ; Cong-Bin PAN ; Lu-Xuan WAN ; Zhuang-Zhuang YANG ; Zhan-Hong REN
Chinese Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2025;41(9):1332-1341,中插1-中插5
Pathological cardiac hypertrophy is an early and significant cardiac structural charac-teristic that contributes to the onset and progression of heart failure(HF).Its mainly structural feature is the abnormally enlarged cardiomyocyte.Effective intervention targets for abnormally en-larged cardiomyocyte remain to be identified.Previous studies have shown that the cellular shape and size can be regulated by the actin related protein 2/3(Arp2/3)complex,which is an actin-binding protein complex involved in the actin nucleation and assembly.However,the roles of the Arp2/3 complex in cardiomyocyte hypertrophy remain unknown.Here our study identifies its no-vel roles in the occurrence and development of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.We found that mRNA levels of all subunits from the Arp2/3 complex are significantly upregulated(P<0.05)in the an-giotensin II(Ang Ⅱ)-induced neonatal rat primary and H9c2 cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.Fur-ther studies showed that siRNA-directed ARPC2 silencing inhibits the reactivation of fetal genes and enlargement of cardiomyocyte area induced by Ang Ⅱ in neonatal rat primary cardiomyocytes(NRCMs)and H9c2 cells(P<0.05).In addition,the upstream activators of the Arp2/3 com-plex including SH3 protein interacting with Nck,90 kD(SPIN90)and Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1(Rac1)/WASp family Verprolin-homologous protein-2(WAVE-2)are upregu-lated(P<0.05)in Ang Ⅱ-induced neonatal rat primary and H9c2 cardiomyocyte hypertrophy,indicating the excessive activation of the Arp2/3 complex.We further show that CK666,a specif-ic Arp2/3 complex inhibitor,prevents the reactivation of fetal genes and the enlargement of car-diomyocyte area induced by Ang Ⅱ in NRCMs and H9c2 cells(P<0.05).Our results reveal that the Arp2/3 complex plays a crucial role in Ang Ⅱ-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy,which is beneficial to further studies about the molecular mechanisms by which the Arp2/3 complex regu-lates pathological cardiac hypertrophy.


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