OBJECTIVE: Our previous research showed that Naotaifang (a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine) extract (NTE) has clinically beneficial effects on neurological improvement of patients with acute cerebral ischemia. In this study, we investigated whether NTE protected acute brain injury in rats and whether its effects on ferroptosis could be linked to the dysfunction of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and iron metabolism. METHODS: We established an acute brain injury model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in rats, in which we could observe the accumulation of iron in neurons, as detected by Perl's staining. Using assay kits, we measured expression levels of ferroptosis biomarkers, such as iron, glutathione (GSH), reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malonaldehyde (MDA); further the expression levels of transferrin receptor 1 (TFR1), divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1), solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11) and GPX4 were determined using immunohistochemical analysis, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot assays. RESULTS: We found that treatment with NTE reduced the expression levels of TFR1 and DMT1, reduced ROS, MDA and iron accumulation and reduced neurobehavioral scores, relative to untreated MCAO rats. Treatment with NTE increased the expression levels of SLC7A11, GPX4 and GSH, and the number of Nissl bodies in the MCAO rats. CONCLUSION Taken together, our data suggest that acute cerebral ischemia induces neuronal ferroptosis and the effects of treating MCAO rats with NTE involved inhibition of ferroptosis through the TFR1/DMT1 and SCL7A11/GPX4 pathways.

An MSAP analysis method was established for detecting DNA methylation of Aconitum carmichaeli leaves, and the DNA methylation of different leaf shapes and different leaf position was analyzed by MSAP. The study made experiments on the leaves of different position of mosaic and moxa leaf type A. carmichaeli, researched the effects of restriction digestion of genomic DNA by using two restriction enzymes, screened the suitable selective amplification primers, and analyzed the methylation differences of leaves by calculating the 6% acrylamide gel electrophoresis bands and lane. The best reaction system of MSAP was obtained, under the conditions of 37 ℃, the 16 h incubated time was more suitable for 150 ng DNA, and 25 pairs of selective amplification primers were selected from 256 pairs. Totally, 273 electrophoresis bands were obtained by 25 pairs of selective primers, including 228 non methylation or single chain methylation bands,27 double chain methylation bands,and 18 single stranded methylation bands, the total methylation rate was 16.48%. The methylation rate was slightly different in mosaic and moxa leaf type A. carmichaeli leaf, which were 15.36%, 14.34%, respectively, and article 8, article 6 nucleotide fragments of genome methylation modification differences were obtained, accounted for 3%, 2.26% of the total number of bands. Based on this study it can provide new ideas for molecular identification, breeding and cultivation, and genetic evolution of A. carmichaeli.