Quality control is a key link in the modernization process of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM). Studies have shown that the effects of active components in TCM depend on not only their chemical composition but also their suitable physical forms and states. The physical phase structures, such as micelles, vesicles, gels, and nanoparticles, can improve the solubility, delivery efficiency, and targeting precision of active components. These structures significantly enhance the pharmacological activity while reducing the toxicity and side effects, demonstrating functional activity surpassing that of active components and highlighting the key effects of "structures" on "functions" of active components. Taking the physical phase structure as a breakthrough point, this paper outlines the common types of TCM physical phase structures. Furthermore, this paper explores how to realize the quality upgrading of TCM through the precise regulation of physical phase structures based on the current applications and potential of TCM physical phase structures in processing to increase the efficacy and reduce the toxicity, compounding and decocting processes, drug delivery systems, and quality control, aiming to provide novel insights for the future quality control of TCM.
Quality Control ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/standards* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/standards* ; Humans ; Drug Delivery Systems

The connection between tendons and bones is called the tendon bone connection. With the continuous improvement of national sports awareness, excessive exercises and the related intensity are prone to damage the tendon bone connection. Tendon bone healing is a complex repair and healing process involving multiple factors, and good tendon bone healing is a prerequisite for its physiological function. The complexity of tendon bone structure also poses great challenges to the repair of tendon bone injuries. In recent years, researches have found that stem cells, growth factors, macrophages, and other factors are closely related to the healing process of tendon bone injuries, among which macrophages play an important role in the healing process. The authors reviewed relevant research literature in recent years and summarized the role of macrophages in tendon bone healing, in order to provide new ideas and directions for treatment strategies to promote tendon bone healing.
Humans ; Macrophages/metabolism* ; Wound Healing ; Animals ; Tendons/physiology* ; Bone and Bones/injuries* ; Tendon Injuries

Long-term hypertension causes excessive vascular remodeling and leads to adverse cardiovascular events. Balance of ubiquitination and deubiquitination has been linked to several chronic conditions, including pathological vascular remodeling. In this study, we discovered that the expression of ubiquitin-specific protease 25 (USP25) is significantly up-regulated in angiotensin II (Ang II)-challenged mouse aorta. Knockout of Usp25 augments Ang II-induced vascular injury such as fibrosis and endothelial to mesenchymal transition (EndMT). Mechanistically, we found that USP25 interacts directly with Forkhead box O3 (FOXO3) and removes the K63-linked ubiquitin chain on the K258 site of FOXO3. We also showed that this USP25-mediated deubiquitination of FOXO3 increases its binding to light chain 3 beta isoform and autophagosomic-lysosomal degradation of FOXO3. In addition, we further validated the biological function of USP25 by overexpressing USP25 in the mouse aorta with AAV9 vectors. Our studies identified FOXO3 as a new substrate of USP25 and showed that USP25 may be a potential therapeutic target for excessive vascular remodeling-associated diseases.

Hypercholesterolemia is a significant risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis. 2',3',5'-Tri-O-acetyl-N ⁶-(3-hydroxyphenyl) adenosine (IMM-H007), a novel AMPK agonist, has shown protective effects in metabolic diseases. However, its impact on cholesterol and triglyceride metabolism in hypercholesterolemia remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the effects and specific mechanisms by which IMM-H007 regulates cholesterol and triglyceride metabolism. To achieve this goal, we used Apoe ^-/- and Ldlr ^-/- mice to establish a hypercholesterolemia/atherosclerosis model. Additionally, hepatocyte-specific Ampka1/2 knockout mice were subjected to a 5-week high-cholesterol diet to establish hypercholesterolemia, while atherosclerosis was induced via AAV-PCSK9 injection combined with a 16-week high-cholesterol diet. Our results demonstrated that IMM-H007 improved cholesterol and triglyceride metabolism in mice with hypercholesterolemia. Mechanistically, IMM-H007 modulated the AMPKα1/2-LDLR signaling pathway, increasing cholesterol uptake in the liver. Furthermore, IMM-H007 activated the AMPKα1-FXR pathway, promoting the conversion of hepatic cholesterol to bile acids. Additionally, IMM-H007 prevented hepatic steatosis by activating the AMPKα1/2-ATGL pathway. In conclusion, our study suggests that IMM-H007 is a promising therapeutic agent for improving hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis through the activation of AMPKα.

Temporal interference (TI) is a form of stimulation that epitomizes an innovative and non-invasive approach for profound neuromodulation of the brain, a technique that has been validated in mice. Yet, the thin cranial bone structure of mice has a marginal influence on the effect of the TI technique and may not effectively showcase its effectiveness in larger animals. Based on this, we carried out TI stimulation experiments on rats. Following the TI intervention, analysis of electrophysiological data and immunofluorescence staining indicated the generation of a stimulation focus within the nucleus accumbens (depth, 8.5 mm) in rats. Our findings affirm the viability of the TI methodology in the presence of thick cranial bones, furnishing efficacious parameters for profound stimulation with TI administered under such conditions. This experiment not only sheds light on the intervention effects of TI deep in the brain but also furnishes robust evidence in support of its prospective clinical utility.
Animals ; Deep Brain Stimulation/methods* ; Nucleus Accumbens/physiology* ; Male ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVE: Emerging evidence suggests that exposure to ultrafine particulate matter (UPM, aerodynamic diameter < 0.1 µm) is associated with adverse cardiovascular events. Previous studies have found that Shenlian (SL) extract possesses anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic properties and has a promising protective effect at all stages of the atherosclerotic disease process. In this study, we aimed to investigated whether SL improves UPM-aggravated myocardial ischemic injury by inhibiting inflammation and cell apoptosis. METHODS: We established a mouse model of MI+UPM. Echocardiographic measurement, measurement of myocardialinfarct size, biochemical analysis, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), histopathological analysis, Transferase dUTP Nick End Labeling (TUNEL), Western blotting (WB), Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and so on were used to explore the anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects of SL in vivo and in vitro. RESULTS: SL treatment can attenuate UPM-induced cardiac dysfunction by improving left ventricular ejection fraction, fractional shortening, and decreasing cardiac infarction area. SL significantly reduced the levels of myocardial enzymes and attenuated UPM-induced morphological alterations. Moreover, SL significantly reduced expression levels of the inflammatory cytokines IL-6, TNF-α, and MCP-1. UPM further increased the infiltration of macrophages in myocardial tissue, whereas SL intervention reversed this phenomenon. UPM also triggered myocardial apoptosis, which was markedly attenuated by SL treatment. The results of in vitro experiments revealed that SL prevented cell damage caused by exposure to UPM combined with hypoxia by reducing the expression of the inflammatory factor NF-κB and inhibiting apoptosis in H9c2 cells. CONCLUSION Overall, both in vivo and in vitro experiments demonstrated that SL attenuated UPM-aggravated myocardial ischemic injury by inhibiting inflammation and cell apoptosis. The mechanisms were related to the downregulation of macrophages infiltrating heart tissues.
Animals ; Apoptosis/drug effects* ; Particulate Matter/adverse effects* ; Mice ; Male ; Inflammation/drug therapy* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Myocardial Ischemia/drug therapy* ; Cell Line

Recent studies have identified a missense mutation in the β1-receptor (ADRB1-A187V) that exerts a pronounced impact on human sleep, with a noted decrease in protein abundance in vivo. The administration of β-blockers is frequently associated with sleep disturbances in clinical settings. In this study, we assessed the influence of various β-blockers on sleep within mouse models. Our findings indicated that β-blockers could induce varying degrees of arousal, sleep disruption, and a decrease in REMS (rapid eye movement sleep). We examined the dose-dependent effects of metoprolol and nebivolol on both sleep and cardiac functionality in both wild-type and Adrb1-A187V mutant mice. Our data suggested that, in contrast to cardiac effects, higher doses of metoprolol are required to have noted impact on sleep. No genotype effect was observed with metoprolol in terms of sleep or cardiac function. In contrast, the mutant mice demonstrated increased sensitivity to nebivolol, which exacerbated sleep fragmentation and impeded the onset of REMS. This study is expected to provide some reference for minimizing the occurrence of sleep disorders and reducing the adverse reactions of drugs to the greatest extent.

Objective To evaluate the short-term efficacy and safety of catheter-directed thrombolysis(CDT)via femoral vein access and via anterior tibial vein access for lower extremity deep vein thrombosis(LEDVT).Methods The clinical data of 86 LEDVT patients,who were treated with CDT via healthy-side femoral vein access or via affected-side anterior tibial vein access at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University of China between January 2019 and December 2021,were retrospectively analyzed.Of the 86 patients,via femoral vein access was adopted in 40(FV group)and via anterior tibial vein access was adopted in 46(ATV group).The primary endpoints were the technical success rate and the thrombus removal rate.The secondary endpoints included the operation time and the complications.Results In the FV group and ATV group,the technical success rates were 92.5％and 100％respectively(P=0.097),the thrombus removal rates were(68.9+25.9)％and(78.3±21.0)％respectively(P=0.067),and the differences between the two groups were not statistically significant.The operation time in the FV group and ATV group was(64.1±14.8)min and(72.0±19.9)min respectively(P=0.037),and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant.The incidence of complications in the FV group and ATV group was 22.5％and 10.9％respectively(P=0.145),and the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant.Conclusion CDT therapy,regardless of via femoral vein access or via anterior tibial vein access,can effectively treat LEDVT with quite same clinical short-term efficacy and safety.

Purpose To investigate the clinicopathological features,immunophenotypes,molecular characteristics,treat-ment and prognosis of nodal follicular helper T cell lymphoma,angioimmunoblastic type(nTFHL-AI)with B cell clonal hyper-plasia.Methods The clinicopathological data of 10 nTFHL-AI patients with B cell clonal hyperplasia were collected from medi-cal records,with HE and immunohistochemical staining and gene rearrangement analysis.Related literature was also re-viewed.Results The included 10 patients were 5 males and 5 females with a median age of 73 years.The clinical manifesta-tions were mainly systemic lymphadenopathy,splenomegaly and B symptoms.8 patients were categorized as stage Ⅳ and 2 pa-tients were staged as Ⅰ+Ⅱ according to Ann Arbor staging cri-teria.Major laboratory results were increased β2 microglobulin,lactate dehydrogenase and decreased hemoglobin,erythrocytes and thrombocytes.Plasma Epstein-Barr virus(EBV)nucleic acid quantification was positive in 8 cases.Microscopically,the morphological patterns were nodular aggregation or scattered clear cells,branched high endothelial vessels and disorderly"wind-blown"like follicular dendritic cells(FDC).The num-ber of infiltrated eosinophils was 0-5/HPF in 7 cases,5-10/HPF in 2 cases,and＞50/HPF in 1 case.Plasma cell count was≤5％in 6 cases,10％in 1 case,20％in 1 case,and the rest 2 had relative higher count of 30％.The tumor cells of 7 ca-ses coexisted with marked hyperplasia of histiocytes,and in only one case Reed-Sternberg(RS)-like large cells were found 5 ca-ses showed abundant background B cells while the other 5 cases had limited background B cells.All tumor cells expressed T cell markers,6 were positive for CD10,BCL6,CXCL13 and PD-1 simultaneously and all of 10 were positive for BCL6,CXCL13 and PD-1.8 cases were positive for EBV-encoded small RNA(EBER)by in situ hybridization.Clonal TCR gene rearrange-ments and IG gene rearrangement were detected in all 10 pa-tients.After diagnosis,all patients were treated with chemother-apy,and three of them died due to disease progression.Conclu-sion B cell clonal hyperplasia,the status of EBV infection and the number of EBV-positive cells may be related with disease progression,individualized treatment and prognosis of patients with nTFHL-AI.