Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response caused by severe infection or trauma, and is one of the common causes of acute lung injury(ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS). Sepsis-acute lung injury(SALI) is a critical clinical condition with high morbidity and mortality. Its pathogenesis is complex and not yet fully understood, and there is currently a lack of targeted and effective treatment options. Pyroptosis, a novel form of programmed cell death, plays a key role in the pathological process of SALI by activating inflammasomes and releasing inflammatory factors, making it a potential therapeutic target. In recent years, the role of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) in regulating signaling pathways related to pyroptosis through multi-components and multi-targets has attracted increasing attention. TCM may intervene in pyroptosis by inhibiting the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes and regulating the expression of Caspase family proteins, thus alleviating inflammatory damage in lung tissues. This paper systematically reviews the molecular regulatory network of pyroptosis in SALI and explores the potential mechanisms and research progress on TCM intervention in cellular pyroptosis. The aim is to provide new ideas and theoretical support for basic research and clinical treatment strategies of TCM in SALI.
Pyroptosis/drug effects* ; Humans ; Sepsis/genetics* ; Acute Lung Injury/physiopathology* ; Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Inflammasomes/metabolism* ; NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein/genetics*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the therapeutic effect of Xiangshao Granules (XSG) on post-stroke depression (PSD) and explore the underlying mechanisms. METHODS: Forty-three C57BL/6J mice were divided into 3 groups: sham (n=15), PSD+vehicle (n=14), and PSD+XSG (n=14) groups according to a random number table. The PSD models were constructed using chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). The sham group only experienced the same surgical operation, but without MACO and CUMS stimulation. The XSG group received XSG (60 mg/kg per day) by gavage for 4 weeks. The mice in the sham and vehicle groups were given the same volume of 0.9% saline at the same time. The body weight and behavior tests including open field test, sucrose preference test, tail suspension test, and elevated plus-maze test, were used to validate the PSD mouse model. Real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and immunofluorescence staining were used to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects of XSG. The potential molecular mechanisms were explored and verified through network pharmacology analysis, Nissl staining, Western blot, ELISA, and RT-qPCR, respectively. RESULTS: The body weight and behavior tests showed that MCAO combined with CUMS successfully established the PSD models. XSG alleviated neuronal damage, reduced the expressions of pro-apoptotic proteins Caspase-3 and B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2)-associated X (BAX), and increased the expression of anti-apoptotic protein BCL-2 in PSD mice (P<0.05 or P<0.01). XSG inhibited microglial activation and the expressions of pro-inflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-1 β, and IL-6 via the toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor kappa-B signaling pathway in PSD mice (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Furthermore, XSG decreased the expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase1 (IDO1) and increased the concentration of 5-hydroxytryptamine in PSD mice (P<0.05 or P<0.01). CONCLUSION XSG could reverse the anxiety/depressionlike behaviors and reduce the neuronal injury in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of PSD mice, which may be a potential therapeutic agent for PSD.
Animals ; Indoleamine-Pyrrole 2,3,-Dioxygenase/metabolism* ; Depression/etiology* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Hippocampus/metabolism* ; Male ; Mice, Inbred C57BL ; Prefrontal Cortex/pathology* ; Microglia/metabolism* ; Stroke/drug therapy* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Mice ; Behavior, Animal/drug effects*

Acupuncture, a therapeutic treatment defined as the insertion of needles into the body at specific points (ie, acupoints), has growing in popularity world-wide to treat various diseases effectively, especially acute and chronic pain. In parallel, interest in the physiological mechanisms underlying acupuncture analgesia, particularly the neural mechanisms have been increasing. Over the past decades, our understanding of how the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system process signals induced by acupuncture has developed rapidly by using electrophysiological methods. However, with the development of neuroscience, electrophysiology is being challenged by calcium imaging in view field, neuron population and visualization in vivo. Owing to the outstanding spatial resolution, the novel imaging approaches provide opportunities to enrich our knowledge about the neurophysiological mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia at subcellular, cellular, and circuit levels in combination with new labeling, genetic and circuit tracing techniques. Therefore, this review will introduce the principle and the method of calcium imaging applied to acupuncture research. We will also review the current findings in pain research using calcium imaging from in vitro to in vivo experiments and discuss the potential methodological considerations in studying acupuncture analgesia.
Calcium ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Acupuncture ; Acupuncture Analgesia/methods* ; Acupuncture Points ; Technology

Objective: To examine the effect of icariin plus curcumol on prostate cancer cells PC3 and elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Methods: We employed the Cell Counting Kit 8 assay and colony formation assay to assess cell viability and proliferation. Autophagy expression was analyzed using monodansylcadaverine staining. Immunofluorescence and Western blot analyses were used to evaluate protein expressions related to autophagy, pyroptosis, and the mTOR pathway. Cellular damage was examined using the lactate dehydrogenase assay. Moreover, cathepsin B and NLRP3 were detected by co-immunoprecipitation. Results: Icariin plus curcumol led to a decrease in PC3 cell proliferation and an enhancement of autophagy. The levels of LC3- Ⅱ/LC3-Ⅰ and beclin-1 were increased, while the levels of p62 and mTOR were decreased after treatment with icariin plus curcumol. These changes were reversed upon overexpression of mTOR. Furthermore, 3-methyladenine resulted in a decrease in inflammatory cytokines, pyroptosis-related protein levels, and lactate dehydrogenase concentration, compared to the icariin plus curcumol group. Inhibiting cathepsin B reversed the regulatory effects of icariin plus curcumol. Conclusions: Icariin plus curcumol demonstrates great potential as a therapeutic agent for castration-resistant prostate cancer by enhancing autophagy via the mTOR pathway and promoting pyroptosis mediated by cathepsin B. These findings provide valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the therapeutic potential of icariin and curcumol for prostate cancer treatment.

The pathogenesis of depression is complex, and some existing monoamine antidepressants have problems such as drug resistance or off-target failure. Traditional Chinese medicine has the characteristics of "multi-component and multi-target", and has been used in the treatment of depression in clinical practice. Yueju pill is effective in the treatment of depression. Geniposide and ligustrazine, the active ingredients of Gardeniae fructus and Ligusticum sinense 'Chuanxiong', play a key role in the treatment of depression. In this study, based on the neuroprotective activity of genipin and the rapid antidepressant activity of tetramethylpyrazine, a series of novel genipin derivatives were designed and synthesized through pharmacophore assembly principle, and their neuroprotective activity and antidepressant effect were investigated. The results showed that the novel genipin derivatives had well neuroprotective activity on the glutamate-induced HT-22 cell model, with compounds W-1 and W-3 showing better protective activity. In behavioral despair depression (BDD) model mice, compound W-3 was found to have better antidepressant activity than W-1 in tail suspension test and forced swimming test. Further study on the behavior of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model mice showed that W-3 could significantly improve the depression-like behavior of model mice. All animal experiments were approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine (approval number: AHUCM-mouse-2022027). The effects of the preferred compound W-3 on protein kinase A (PKA), cAMP response element binding protein (CREB), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), 5-hydroxytryptamine 1A (5-HT_1A) receptor, N-methyl-D-aspartate ionic glutamate receptor 2A (GluN2A) and N-methyl-D-aspartate ionic glutamate receptor 2B (GluN2B) were analyzed by Western blot. W-3 treatment significantly up-regulated the protein expression of PKA, CREB, BDNF and 5-HT_1A, and down-regulated the protein expression of GluN2A and GluN2B. The results of qRT-PCR were consistent with those of Western blot. According to the above results, compound W-3 has a potential antidepressant effect, and its mechanism may be related to the activation of PKA-CREB-BDNF signaling pathway by regulating the expression of GluN2A, GluN2B and 5-HT_1A receptor proteins.

Aim To explore the effect of Danggui Shaoyao San on edema in rats with nephrotic syndrome and the underlying mechanism.Methods Rats were randomly divided into control group,model group,Danggui Shaoyao San group(17.2 g·kg-1·d-1),losartan group(30 mg·kg-1·d-1)and tolvaptan group(3 mg·kg-1·d-1).The rat model of nephrot-ic syndrome was established by tail vein injection of adriamycin.After four weeks of treatment,the levels of renal function and 24 h urinary protein were detected.The distribution of aquaporin 2(AQP2)and pS256-AQP2 in renal tissue was detected by immunohisto-chemistry.The levels of plasma arginine vasopressin(AVP)and angiotensin Ⅱ(Ang Ⅱ)were measured by radioimmunoassay.The expressions of renal AQP2,pS256-AQP2,angiotensin type 1 receptor(AT1R),arginine vasopressin receptor 2(V2R)protein and mRNA were measured by Western blot and RT-PCR,respectively.Results The three drugs could improve renal function,reduce proteinuria,decrease plasma AVP and Ang Ⅱ levels,and down-regulate AQP2 and pS256-AQP2 protein and mRNA expression in model rats.Danggui Shaoyao San and tolvaptan were more ef-fective than losartan in reducing plasma AVP levels.Conclusions Danggui Shaoyao San may regulate the expression of AQP2 by reducing the levels of AVP and Ang Ⅱ,and improve the edema of nephrotic syndrome rats.

Ameloblastoma is a benign tumor characterized by locally invasive phenotypes,leading to facial bone destruction and a high recurrence rate.However,the mechanisms governing tumor initiation and recurrence are poorly understood.Here,we uncovered cellular landscapes and mechanisms that underlie tumor recurrence in ameloblastoma at single-cell resolution.Our results revealed that ameloblastoma exhibits five tumor subpopulations varying with respect to immune response(IR),bone remodeling(BR),tooth development(TD),epithelial development(ED),and cell cycle(CC)signatures.Of note,we found that CC ameloblastoma cells were endowed with stemness and contributed to tumor recurrence,which was dominated by the EZH2-mediated program.Targeting EZH2 effectively eliminated CC ameloblastoma cells and inhibited tumor growth in ameloblastoma patient-derived organoids.These data described the tumor subpopulation and clarified the identity,function,and regulatory mechanism of CC ameloblastoma cells,providing a potential therapeutic target for ameloblastoma.

Eleven compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of the 95% aqueous ethanol extract of the roots of Sophora tonkinensis by silica gel, ODS, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, and semi-preparative RP-HPLC. Their structures were identified as 7-hydroxy-8-isopentenylchromone (1), furo[2,3-f]-1,3-benzodioxole-7-carboxylic acid (2), 6-[3-(2′,4′-dihydroxyphenyl)acryloyl]-7-hydroxy-2,2-dimethyl-8-(3-methyl-2-butenyl)-2H-benzopyran (3), flemichapparin B (4), tectorigenin (5), genistein (6), 6-hydroxy-1,3-benzodioxole-5-carboxylic acid (7), vanillic acid (8), protocatechuic acid (9), 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (10), and p-hydroxybenzoic acid (11) through extensive spectroscopic data (IR, UV, HR-ESI-MS, and NMR spectra). Among them, compounds 1 and 2 were new compounds. In addition, compound 3 showed significant α-glucosidase and protein tyrosine phosphatase-1B (PTP1B) inhibitory activities with IC₅₀ values of 5.595 and 0.320 μmol·L^-1, respectively.

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of pneumococcal meningitis(PM),and drug sensitivity of Streptococcus pneumoniae(SP)isolates in Chinese children.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on clinical information,laboratory data,and microbiological data of 160 hospitalized children under 15 years old with PM from January 2019 to December 2020 in 33 tertiary hospitals across the country.Results Among the 160 children with PM,there were 103 males and 57 females.The age ranged from 15 days to 15 years,with 109 cases(68.1% )aged 3 months to under 3 years.SP strains were isolated from 95 cases(59.4% )in cerebrospinal fluid cultures and from 57 cases(35.6% )in blood cultures.The positive rates of SP detection by cerebrospinal fluid metagenomic next-generation sequencing and cerebrospinal fluid SP antigen testing were 40% (35/87)and 27% (21/78),respectively.Fifty-five cases(34.4% )had one or more risk factors for purulent meningitis,113 cases(70.6% )had one or more extra-cranial infectious foci,and 18 cases(11.3% )had underlying diseases.The most common clinical symptoms were fever(147 cases,91.9% ),followed by lethargy(98 cases,61.3% )and vomiting(61 cases,38.1% ).Sixty-nine cases(43.1% )experienced intracranial complications during hospitalization,with subdural effusion and/or empyema being the most common complication[43 cases(26.9% )],followed by hydrocephalus in 24 cases(15.0% ),brain abscess in 23 cases(14.4% ),and cerebral hemorrhage in 8 cases(5.0% ).Subdural effusion and/or empyema and hydrocephalus mainly occurred in children under 1 year old,with rates of 91% (39/43)and 83% (20/24),respectively.SP strains exhibited complete sensitivity to vancomycin(100% ,75/75),linezolid(100% ,56/56),and meropenem(100% ,6/6).High sensitivity rates were also observed for levofloxacin(81% ,22/27),moxifloxacin(82% ,14/17),rifampicin(96% ,25/26),and chloramphenicol(91% ,21/23).However,low sensitivity rates were found for penicillin(16% ,11/68)and clindamycin(6% ,1/17),and SP strains were completely resistant to erythromycin(100% ,31/31).The rates of discharge with cure and improvement were 22.5% (36/160)and 66.2% (106/160),respectively,while 18 cases(11.3% )had adverse outcomes.Conclusions Pediatric PM is more common in children aged 3 months to under 3 years.Intracranial complications are more frequently observed in children under 1 year old.Fever is the most common clinical manifestation of PM,and subdural effusion/emphysema and hydrocephalus are the most frequent complications.Non-culture detection methods for cerebrospinal fluid can improve pathogen detection rates.Adverse outcomes can be noted in more than 10% of PM cases.SP strains are high sensitivity to vancomycin,linezolid,meropenem,levofloxacin,moxifloxacin,rifampicin,and chloramphenicol.[Chinese Journal of Contemporary Pediatrics,2024,26(2):131-138]

Objective With the widespread of transcatheter aortic valve replacement(TAVR)in patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis(AS),the life-cycle management has become a major determinant of prognosis.Methods A total of 408 AS patients who underwent successfully TAVR from June 2021 to August 2023 were consecutively enrolled in Hospital Valve Intervention Center.Patients were assigned to the Usual Care(UC)group between June 2021 and October 2022,while patients were assigned to the Heart Multi-parameter Monitoring(HMM)group between November 2022 and August 2023.The primary endpoint was defined as composite endpoint within 6 months post-TAVR,including all-cause death,cardiovascular death,stroke/transient ischemic attack,conduction block,myocardial infarction,heart failure rehospitalization,and major bleeding events.Secondary endpoints were the time interval(in hours)from event occurrence to medical consultation or advice and patient satisfaction.Statistical analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier and multivariable Cox proportional hazards models.Results The incidence of primary endpoint in HMM group was significantly lower than that in UC group(8.9％vs.17.7％,P=0.016),the driving event was the rate of diagnosis and recognition of conduction block.The average time intervals from event occurrence to receiving medical advice were 3.02 h in HHM group vs.97.09 h in UC group(P＜0.001).Using cardiac monitoring devices and smart healthcare platforms provided significant improving in patients long-term management(HR 0.439,95％CI 0.244-0.790,P=0.006).Conclusions The utilization of cardiac monitoring devices and smart healthcare platforms effectively alerted clinical events and improved postoperative quality of life during long-term management post TAVR.