OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of Tiaoshu Anshen (regulating the hinge and calming the mind) acupuncture on sleep quality and serum levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) in patients with chronic insomnia. METHODS: A total of 58 patients with chronic insomnia were randomly divided into an acupuncture group and a medication group, 29 cases in each group. Tiaoshu Anshen acupuncture was applied at Baihui (GV20) and bilateral Shenmen (HT7), Sanyinjiao (SP6), Benshen (GB13) in the acupuncture group, once a day, 1-day interval was taken after 6 consecutive days of treatment. Estazolam tablet was given orally before bed in the medication group, 1 mg each time. The 4-week treatment was required in both groups. Before and after treatment, the sleep quality was assessed by Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) and polysomnography (PSG), the serum levels of 5-HT and DA were detected by ELISA. RESULTS: After treatment, the item scores and total scores of PSQI were decreased compared with those before treatment in the two groups (P<0.05); in the acupuncture group, the scores of sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep time, sleep efficiency, sleep disorders and total score of PSQI were lower than those in the medication group (P<0.05). After treatment, the total sleep time (TST) was prolonged (P<0.05), the sleep latency (SL) and wake after sleep onset (WASO) were shortened (P<0.05), the sleep efficiency (SE%), percentage of non-rapid eye movement stage 3 (N3%), percentage of rapid eye movement stage (REM%) and serum levels of 5-HT were increased (P<0.05) compared with those before treatment; the percentage of non-rapid eye movement stage 1 (N1%), percentage of non-rapid eye movement stage 2 (N2%) and serum levels of DA were decreased (P<0.05) compared with those before treatment in the two groups. After treatment, in the acupuncture group, TST was longer, while SL and WASO were shorter than those in the medication group (P<0.05), SE%, N3%, REM% and serum level of 5-HT were higher, while N1%, N2% and serum level of DA were lower than those in the medication group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION Tiaoshu Anshen acupuncture may improve the sleep quality by regulating the serum neurotransmitter levels i.e. 5-HT and DA in patients with chronic insomnia.
Humans ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/physiopathology* ; Male ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Adult ; Serotonin/blood* ; Sleep Quality ; Acupuncture Points ; Dopamine/blood* ; Aged ; Neurotransmitter Agents/blood* ; Young Adult

ObjectiveTo investigate the objective characteristics of tongue manifestations in patients with coronary heart disease （CHD）. MethodsA total of 315 participants with CHD were recruited in the CHD group， and 211 healthy participants who underwent physical examination were recruited as the healthy control group. In addition， according to the common comorbidities （primary hypertension， carotid atherosclerosis， type 2 diabetes mellitus， fatty liver， hyperlipidaemia， heart failure， and cerebral infarction） in 315 participants with CHD， each comorbidity was classified into a group of comorbidities with that disease and a group of non-comorbidities. Tongue images were captured using a TFDA-1 tongue diagnostic instrument to characterise the tongue body （TB） and tongue coating （TC）， comparing the RGB， HIS， and Lab colour spaces in the chromaticity index （R， red； G， green； B， blue； H， hue； I， intensity； S， saturation； L， lightness； a， red-green axis； b， yellow-blue axis）， the tongue coating thickness index （per-All）， contrast （CON）， angular second moment （ASM）， entropy （ENT）， and mean （MEAN） in texture metrics. ResultsCompared with the healthy control group， the characteristic indexes of tongue body in CHD group showed lower TB-R， TB-G， TB-B， TB-I， TB-L and higher TB-H， TB-b； and the characteristic indexes of tongue coating in CHD group showed lower TC-R， TC-B and higher TC-CON， TC-MEAN， TC-H， TC-b （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. Compared with non-combined primary hypertension group， CHD combined primary hypertension group showed higher per-All， TB-G， TB-L， and lower TB-a， TC-a （P＜0.05）； compared with the non-combined carotid atherosclerosis group， CHD combined carotid atherosclerosis group showed higher TB-CON， TB-ENT， TB-MEAN， and lower TB-ASM （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）； compared with the non-combined type 2 diabetes mellitus group， CHD combined type 2 diabetes mellitus group showed lower per-All and higher TB-H （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）； compared with the non-combined fatty liver group， CHD combined fatty liver group showed higher TB-CON， TB-MEAN， TB-ENT， and lower TB-ASM and TC-S （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）； compared with the non-combined hyperlipidaemia group， CHD combined hyperlipidaemia group showed lower TB-S and TB-a （P＜0.05）； compared with non-combined heart failure group， CHD combined heart failure group showed lower TB-R， TB-G， TB-I， TB-L， and higher TB-a （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）； compared with non-combined cerebral infarction group， CHD combined cerebral infarction group showed higher TC-CON， TC-ENT， TC-MEAN， and lower TC-ASM （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. ConclusionCompared to healthy individuals， patients with CHD tend to have darker tongue colours and rougher TC textures. Compared with non-comorbidity participants， those with primary hypertension tended to be lighter tongue colour and thicker tongue coating， those with carotid atherosclerosis had paler tongue body， those with type 2 diabetes mellitus had thinner tongue coating， those with fatty liver disease had paler tongue body and whiter tongue colour， those with hyperlipidaemia and heart failure had paler tongue colour， and those with cerebral infarction had rougher tongue texture.

Objective To explore the role of resveratrol (RES) on cardiomyocyte hypertrophy of rat induced by isoproternol (ISO) and the effect of Res on the expression of GRP78 and GRP94 in endoplasmic reticulum stress of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.Methods Hypertrophic model of cardiomyocytes was induced by ISO.Cardiomyocytes was divided into four group: control group, the model group, RES+ISO group and RES group.Hypertrophy status of cardiomyocytes was determined by Leica 2Q500 image analysis system measuring the cell surface area and the gene expression of ANP.The content of LDH and MDA was measured in different groups, and the protein expressions of GRP78 and GRP94 were detected by Western blot.Results Compared with control group, ISO induced cardiomyocytes hypertrophy, endoplasmic reticulum stress related factors GRP78 and GRP94 protein expression were increased, compared with ISO group, RES intervention effectively suppressed the cardiomyocytes hyper-trophy induced by ISO, reduced the protein expression of GRP78 and GRP94, at the same time, reduced lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) release in cell medium.Conclusions Treatment of RES may protect cardiomyocytes hypertrophy, which is partially mediated by inhibiting the expression of ERS factors GRP78 and GRP94.

The study aims at cloning the CDS fragment of erk2 gene cDNA in Inner Mongolia Cashmere Goat and analyzing its tissue-specific expression, erk2 gene cDNA was cloned by RT-PCR. The nucleotide sequence was analyzed by Blast and amino acid sequence was analyzed by online softwares SMART and Psite. The tissue-specific expression pattern of erk2 was analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR. The expression of erk2 in testis of goat was detected by Immunohistochemistry. The cloned erk2 gene cDNA (GenBank Accession No. JX569765) was 1 083 bp in length, including a complete ORF encoding 360 amino acids residues. The amino acid sequence shares 100% identity with the Bos Taurus ERK2 (Bos Taurus BC133588.1). Analysis by SMART suggests that the encoded protein contained a "TEY" structure and an S-TKc domain possessing serine/threonine kinase catalytic activity. Analysis with Psite indicates one cAMP-/cGMP-dependent protein kinase phosphorylation site, 3 protein kinase C phosphorylation sites, 5 casein kinase II phosphorylation sites, 2 protein kinases ATP-binding region signatures and one serine/threonine protein kinases active-site signature in this protein. Analysis by Psort (k-NN prediction) suggestes that this protein most probably is localized in cytoplasm. The results of quantitative RT-PCR show that the expression of erk2 mRNA was higher in heart, skin and breast, whereas lower in spleen and kidney. ERK2 protein was detected in testis by immunohistochemistry.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; China ; Cloning, Molecular ; DNA, Complementary ; genetics ; Goats ; genetics ; Male ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Testis ; metabolism