1.Cyclocarya paliurus Polysaccharide Inhibits Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia by Reducing 5α-Reductase 2
Qinhui DAI ; Mengxia YAN ; Chen WANG ; Chenjun SHEN ; Chenying JIANG ; Bo YANG ; Huajun ZHAO ; Zhihui ZHU
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2025;31(3):107-114
ObjectiveTo investigate the effect and mechanism of polysaccharide in water extract of Cyclocarya paliurus (CPWP) in inhibiting benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). MethodsCPWP was obtained by heating reflux, aqueous extraction, alcohol precipitation, and freeze drying. The chemical composition and structural properties of CPWP were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography with 1-pheny-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone pre-column derivatization and infrared spectroscopy. Male SD rats were randomly assigned into control, model, finasteride (ig 5 mg·kg-1), and low-, medium-, and high-dose (ig 50, 75, 100 mg·kg-1) CPWP groups, with 8 rats in each group. The BPH model was established by subcutaneously injecting propionate testosterone in castrated rats. The rats in the drug intervention groups were administrated with corresponding drugs, and those in the control group were administrated with an equal volume of normal saline each day. After 30 consecutive days, the rats were sacrificed, and the prostate tissue was separated and weighed. The effects of drug interventions on the body weight, prostate wet weight, and prostate index of rats were examined. The prostate tissue was stained with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) for observation of pathological changes. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was employed to measure the level of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), and immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of steroid 5 alpha-reductase 2 (SRD5A2) and Ki67 in the prostate tissue. ResultsCPWP was identified as a saccharide, with characteristic absorption peaks of saccharides. CPWP showed the total sugar content of 44.15% and molecular weight within the range of 5.5-78.8 kDa, being composed of mannose, rhamnose, galacturonic acid, glucose, galactose, xylose, and arabinose. Compared with the control group, the model group had significantly increased prostate wet weight and prostate index (P<0.01), thick and tall prostate epithelial cells, increased internal wrinkles, papillary expansion into the cavity, an elevation in DHT level in the serum, and up-regulated expression of SRD5A2 and Ki67 in the prostate tissue (P<0.05, P<0.01). Compared with the model group, both the finasteride and CPWP groups showed decreases in prostate wet weight and prostate index (P<0.05, P<0.01), thinned prostate epithelial cells, with only a small portion of internal wrinkles and papillary expansion into the cavity, shortened papillary protrusions, lowered DHT level in the serum, and down-regulated expression of SRD5A2 and Ki67 in the prostate tissue (P<0.01). Moreover, CPWP exerted effects in a dose-dependent manner. ConclusionCPWP inhibits BPH by regulating the expression of SRD5A2.
2.Mitochondrial Quality Control Regulating Pathogenesis of Sarcopenia and Its Intervention by Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Review
Ting DAI ; Yan CHEN ; Changsheng GUO ; Jing GAO ; Xiaodong FENG
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2025;31(8):279-286
Sarcopenia is a clinical syndrome characterized by a decrease in skeletal muscle strength and quality, often accompanied by adverse outcomes such as falls, loss of function and weakness. The pathogenesis of sarcopenia is complex, and studies have shown that dysfunction due to impaired mitochondrial quality control is an important pathological factor in the occurrence and development. Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) has been widely favoured for regulating mitochondrial homeostasis and preventing sarcopenia by virtue of its multi-target and multi-pathway advantages. They can play a role in the prevention and treatment of sarcopenia by regulating the mitochondrial quality control system to inhibit the occurrence of mitochondrial oxidative stress, regulate the balance of mitochondrial dynamics, inhibit mitochondrial autophagy, promote mitochondrial biosynthesis, resist the occurrence of mitochondrial apoptosis, and maintain the mitochondrial calcium and protein homeostasis. Based on this, the paper reviewed the relationship between mitochondrial quality control and sarcopenia, as well as the mechanism of TCM in intervening the mitochondrial quality control system to treat sarcopenia, in order to provide a new idea for the prevention and treatment of sarcopenia by TCM and to a theoretical basis for the clinical research on TCM intervention in sarcopenia.
3.Ten surgical pearls adapted from ancient Chinese allusions in managing severe proliferative diabetic retinopathy
Zhe CHEN ; Chan WU ; Yan ZHOU ; Shiqun LIN ; Xingyu XIAO ; Rongping DAI
International Eye Science 2025;25(5):698-705
AIM: To summarize 10 surgical pearls for managing proliferative diabetic retinopathy(PDR)adapted from the ancient Chinese allusions and analyze the application of these pearls in a real-world fashion.METHODS: Retrospective, noncomparative, interventional study. Ten surgical pearls were summarized and adapted from the ancient Chinese philosophy. Totally 346 cases(443 eyes)that underwent pars plana vitrectomy(PPV)at our hospial from January 2016 to February 2024 were selected. Flexible combinations of these pearls were applied according to the specific condition of each patient during surgeries. The efficacy and safety were analyzed, as well as the application frequencies according to the existence of tractional retinal detachment or not.RESULTS: A total of 473 times of surgeries were performed on all the patients. According to ancient Chinese allusions, ten surgical pearls were summarized from these surgeries. All PPVs went smoothly with the application of different combinations. Finally, almost all proliferative membranes were successfully peeled except for 10 patients(11 eyes), who went through strategy No.10(minimal membranectomy)that, only necessary relaxation incisions were made with most of the proliferative membranes left on purpose. The final visual acuities were mostly improved or stable(1.92±0.83 LogMAR preoperatively vs 1.16±0.85 LogMAR postoperatively, P<0.01). Postoperative complications mainly included early inflammatory responses in the anterior chamber and nuclear sclerosis. Recurrent vitreous hemorrhage, retinal detachment, and hyphema or neovascular glaucoma occurred in 1.9%(9/473), 3.2%(15/473), 0.4%(2/473)and 0.4%(2/473)times of PPVs, respectively. After 12/473(2.5%)times of PPVs, retinal detachment at the macular area still existed, and multiple times of subsequent PPVs were conducted. Final retinal attachment at the macular area was realized in 98.9% eyes. Those 5 unattached eyes were with heavily reproliferated membranes and subsequent tractional retinal detachment recurrence under the oil, and three of them were scleral buckled additionally.CONCLUSION:These 10 surgical strategies and technique pearls were mostly effective and safe in the management of severe PDR patients. They were relatively easy to be memorized and applicated once the meaning of each Chinese idiom was understood. One can use different combinations flexibly according to a patient's specific condition.
4.A Case of Multidisciplinary Treatment for Deficiency of Adenosine Deaminase 2
Jingyuan ZHANG ; Xiaoqi WU ; Jiayuan DAI ; Xianghong JIN ; Yuze CAO ; Rui LUO ; Hanlin ZHANG ; Tiekuan DU ; Xiaotian CHU ; Peipei CHEN ; Hao QIAN ; Pengguang YAN ; Jin XU ; Min SHEN
JOURNAL OF RARE DISEASES 2025;4(3):316-324
This case report presents a 16-year-old male patient with deficiency of adenosine deaminase 2(DADA2). The patient had a history of Raynaud′s phenomenon with digital ulcers since childhood. As the disease progressed, the patient developed retinal vasculitis, intracranial hemorrhage, skin necrosis, severe malnutrition, refractory hypertension, and gastrointestinal bleeding. Genetic testing revealed compound heterozygous mutations in the
5.Association between QRS voltages and amyloid burden in patients with cardiac amyloidosis.
Jing-Hui LI ; Changcheng LI ; Yucong ZHENG ; Kai YANG ; Yan HUANG ; Huixin ZHANG ; Xianmei LI ; Xiuyu CHEN ; Linlin DAI ; Tian LAN ; Yang SUN ; Minjie LU ; Shihua ZHAO
Chinese Medical Journal 2024;137(3):365-367
6.Effect of Artemisinin and Its Derivatives in Treatment of Nervous System Diseases: A Review
Yan LIANG ; Shuiqing QU ; Yu LI ; Yue DAI ; Chengcheng LIU ; Luqi WANG ; Lina CHEN ; Tuo LIU ; Yujie LI
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2024;30(23):292-299
With the rapid development of social economy, the number of patients with nervous system diseases has increased, and the incidence of the population has a trend of younger, which has a serious impact on life health and social economy. Artemisinin is an active antimalarial component extracted and isolated from Artemisia annua, a Chinese medicinal material. Artemisinin and its derivatives, in addition to the antimalarial effect, also have anti-parasitic, anti-fungal, anti-viral, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, anti-tumor, and anti-inflammatory effects, showing a wide range of pharmacological activities. In the past five years, research on the new pharmacological effects of artemisinin and its derivatives has been deepening, and the efficacy of artemisinin and its derivatives in nervous system diseases has attracted much attention, including anti-neuroinflammation, anti-oxidative stress, maintaining the stability of the blood-brain barrier, regulating the release of neurotransmitters, repairing neuronal damage, and promoting neuronal regeneration. These pharmacological effects indicate that artemisinin and its derivatives are potentially capable of neuroprotection. By sorting out literature on the pharmacological activity of artemisinin and its derivatives in nervous system during 2019-2024, this paper systematically summarized the protective effects of artemisinin and its derivatives against nervous system diseases such as stroke, neurodegenerative diseases, neuroimmunological diseases, neuralgia, and nervous system tumors. This review is expected to provide clues and evidence for new indication expansion of artemisinin drugs, innovative drug development, and clinical treatment of nervous system diseases.
7.Mechanisms of Outdoor Air Pollution Affecting Cardiovascular Diseases: A Review
Chengcheng LIU ; Yu LI ; Yan LIANG ; Shuiqing QU ; Yue DAI ; Tuo LIU ; Lina CHEN ; Luqi WANG ; Yujie LI
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2024;30(23):318-326
The impact of air pollution on human health has always been a research hotspot in the global health field. Outdoor air pollutants composed of multiple components can enter the human body through various pathways. Cardiovascular diseases are a group of diseases caused by outdoor air pollutants. Studies have shown that the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, arrhythmia, and heart failure, is significantly increased among people exposed to air pollution environments. Air pollutants such as fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide are closely related to the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases, and short-term and long-term exposure causes different cardiovascular risks. By reviewing the relevant research reports from 2019 to 2024, this article summarizes the epidemiological evidence of cardiovascular diseases caused by different air pollutants. It generalizes the pathways through which air pollutants accelerate the progression of cardiovascular diseases. These pathways include oxidative stress, inflammatory response, thrombosis, extracellular vesicle release, endoplasmic reticulum stress, apoptosis, endothelial dysfunction, autonomic nervous system imbalance, and their interactions. Based on the different mechanisms of air pollution on cardiovascular diseases, the article analyzes the main progress in drug intervention and summarizes the roles of various active ingredients and compound prescriptions of traditional Chinese medicine in treating air pollution-related cardiovascular diseases, providing reference for the research on the mechanisms and drug interventions of air pollution-related cardiovascular diseases.
8.Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases in Diabetes Mellitus with Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Review
Yu ZHANG ; Yu LI ; Zhongyuan ZHENG ; Yan LIANG ; Chengcheng LIU ; Yue DAI ; Luqi WANG ; Tuo LIU ; Lina CHEN ; Yujie LI
Chinese Journal of Experimental Traditional Medical Formulae 2024;30(23):327-337
The complex pathophysiological mechanisms between diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases have not yet been fully elucidated, becoming one of the challenges in clinical care. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP1-RA) and sodium glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2) are clinically used to reduce the cardiovascular risk of patients with diabetes mellitus. Traditional Chinese medicine has diverse biological activities and unique advantages in the treatment of chronic complex diseases due to its multi-component and multi-target effects. Based on recent reports, this paper reviewed the common risk factors of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases (e.g., hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, and inflammation), related targets such as apolipoprotein C-Ⅲ (APOC3), S100 calcium-binding protein A8/A9 (S100A8/A9), growth/differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15), and NACHT, LRR, and PYD domains-containing protein 3 (NLRP3), advanced glycation end products, insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction, endoplasmic reticulum stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and intestinal flora disorder. In addition, this paper summarized the research progress in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in diabetes mellitus with the active ingredients (e.g., baicalein, puerarin, curcumin, notoginsenoside, and tanshinone ⅡA), single herbal medicines (e.g., Astragali Radix, Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma, Sophorae Flavescentis Radix, Cinnamomi Cortex, and Corni Fructus), and compound formulas (e.g., Buzang Tongluo Fang, Yiqi Yangyin Huoxue Fang, Shenqi Fang, Huangqisan, Danggui Buxue Tang, and Liuwei Dihuang Wan) of traditional Chinese medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine mainly treats cardiovascular diseases in diabetes mellitus by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress, ameliorating dyslipidemia and insulin resistance, protecting islet β cell function, repairing endothelial damage, inhibiting smooth muscle cell proliferation, foam cell formation, macrophage polarization, and cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis, and regulating intestinal flora disorder. These processes involve insulin receptor substrate/ phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (IRS/PI3K/Akt), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α/γ (PPAR α/γ), nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), adenosine 5′-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK), hypoxia-inducible factor-1-BCH domain-containing protein (HIF-1-BNIP), vascular endothelial growth factor/hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (VEGF/HIF-1α) and other signaling pathways. This review is expected to provide a theoretical basis and reference for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in diabetes mellitus with traditional Chinese medicine.
9.Discrete element modeling and breakage behavior analysis of oral solid dosage form particles
Lin-xiu LUO ; Tian-bing GUAN ; An-qi LUO ; Zeng LIU ; Yu-ting WANG ; Yan-ling JIANG ; Zheng LU ; Jing-cao TANG ; Shuang-kou CHEN ; Hui-min SUN ; Chuan-yun DAI
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica 2024;59(4):1057-1066
The breakage pattern of unit particles during the production of oral solid dosage forms (OSD) is closely related to the quality of intermediate or final products. To accurately characterize the particles and study the evolution law of particle breakage, the Bonding model of the discrete element method (DEM) was used to investigate the breakage patterns of model parameters, particle shape and process conditions (loading mode and loading rate) on the dynamic breakage, force-time curve, breakage rate, maximum breakage size ratio and fracture strength of particles. The results showed that the particle breakage force was positively correlated with normal strength and bonded disk scale, negatively correlated with normal stiffness per unit area and tangential stiffness per unit area, and weakly correlated with tangential strength. The particle breakage rate was negatively correlated with the aspect ratio of the particles, and the maximum breakage size ratio was positively correlated with the aspect ratio of the particles; among the three loading modes, the breakage rate of compression breakage model was the largest, the breakage rate of shear breakage model was the second largest, and the breakage rate of wear breakage model was the smallest; the maximum breakage size ratio was positively correlated with the loading rate, the loading mode and the loading rate had no mutual influence on particle breakage rate, but had mutual influence on the maximum breakage size ratio. The research results will provide a theoretical basis for the shift of OSD from batch manufacturing to advanced manufacturing.
10.Nanomaterial-based Therapeutics for Biofilm-generated Bacterial Infections
Zhuo-Jun HE ; Yu-Ying CHEN ; Yang ZHOU ; Gui-Qin DAI ; De-Liang LIU ; Meng-De LIU ; Jian-Hui GAO ; Ze CHEN ; Jia-Yu DENG ; Guang-Yan LIANG ; Li WEI ; Peng-Fei ZHAO ; Hong-Zhou LU ; Ming-Bin ZHENG
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2024;51(7):1604-1617
Bacterial biofilms gave rise to persistent infections and multi-organ failure, thereby posing a serious threat to human health. Biofilms were formed by cross-linking of hydrophobic extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), such as proteins, polysaccharides, and eDNA, which were synthesized by bacteria themselves after adhesion and colonization on biological surfaces. They had the characteristics of dense structure, high adhesiveness and low drug permeability, and had been found in many human organs or tissues, such as the brain, heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract, and skeleton. By releasing pro-inflammatory bacterial metabolites including endotoxins, exotoxins and interleukin, biofilms stimulated the body’s immune system to secrete inflammatory factors. These factors triggered local inflammation and chronic infections. Those were the key reason for the failure of traditional clinical drug therapy for infectious diseases.In order to cope with the increasingly severe drug-resistant infections, it was urgent to develop new therapeutic strategies for bacterial-biofilm eradication and anti-bacterial infections. Based on the nanoscale structure and biocompatible activity, nanobiomaterials had the advantages of specific targeting, intelligent delivery, high drug loading and low toxicity, which could realize efficient intervention and precise treatment of drug-resistant bacterial biofilms. This paper highlighted multiple strategies of biofilms eradication based on nanobiomaterials. For example, nanobiomaterials combined with EPS degrading enzymes could be used for targeted hydrolysis of bacterial biofilms, and effectively increased the drug enrichment within biofilms. By loading quorum sensing inhibitors, nanotechnology was also an effective strategy for eradicating bacterial biofilms and recovering the infectious symptoms. Nanobiomaterials could intervene the bacterial metabolism and break the bacterial survival homeostasis by blocking the uptake of nutrients. Moreover, energy-driven micro-nano robotics had shown excellent performance in active delivery and biofilm eradication. Micro-nano robots could penetrate physiological barriers by exogenous or endogenous driving modes such as by biological or chemical methods, ultrasound, and magnetic field, and deliver drugs to the infection sites accurately. Achieving this using conventional drugs was difficult. Overall, the paper described the biological properties and drug-resistant molecular mechanisms of bacterial biofilms, and highlighted therapeutic strategies from different perspectives by nanobiomaterials, such as dispersing bacterial mature biofilms, blocking quorum sensing, inhibiting bacterial metabolism, and energy driving penetration. In addition, we presented the key challenges still faced by nanobiomaterials in combating bacterial biofilm infections. Firstly, the dense structure of EPS caused biofilms spatial heterogeneity and metabolic heterogeneity, which created exacting requirements for the design, construction and preparation process of nanobiomaterials. Secondly, biofilm disruption carried the risk of spread and infection the pathogenic bacteria, which might lead to other infections. Finally, we emphasized the role of nanobiomaterials in the development trends and translational prospects in biofilm treatment.

Result Analysis
Print
Save
E-mail