This study aims to comprehensively analyze the material basis of toad visceral oil(hereafter referred to as toad oil), and explore the pharmacological effect of toad oil on atopic dermatitis(AD). Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-linear ion trap/orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry(UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS) were employed to comprehensively identify the chemical components in toad oil. The animal model of AD was prepared by the hapten stimulation method. The modeled animals were respectively administrated with positive drug(0.1% hydrocortisone butyrate cream) and low-and high-doses(1%, 10%) of toad oil by gavage. The effect of toad oil on AD was evaluated with the AD score, ear swelling rate, spleen index, and pathological section results as indicators. A total of 99 components were identified by UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS, including 14 bufadienolides, 7 fatty acids, 6 alkaloids, 10 ketones, 18 amides, and other compounds. After methylation of toad oil samples, a total of 20 compounds were identified by GC-MS. Compared with the model group, the low-and high-dose toad oil groups showed declined AD score, ear swelling rate, and spleen index, alleviated skin lesions, and reduced infiltrating mast cells. This study comprehensively analyzes the chemical composition and clarifies the material basis of toad oil. Meanwhile, this study proves that toad oil has a good therapeutic effect on AD and is a reserve resource of traditional Chinese medicine for external use in the treatment of AD.
Animals ; Dermatitis, Atopic/immunology* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Mice ; Male ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Humans ; Bufonidae ; Oils/administration & dosage* ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Female ; Mice, Inbred BALB C

PURPOSE: To investigate the protective effect of sub-hypothermic mechanical perfusion combined with membrane lung oxygenation on ischemic hypoxic injury of yorkshire brain tissue caused by traumatic blood loss. METHODS: This article performed a random controlled trial. Brain tissue of 7 yorkshire was selected and divided into the sub-low temperature anterograde machine perfusion group (n = 4) and the blank control group (n = 3) using the random number table method. A yorkshire model of brain tissue injury induced by traumatic blood loss was established. Firstly, the perfusion temperature and blood oxygen saturation were monitored in real-time during the perfusion process. The number of red blood cells, hemoglobin content, NA⁺, K⁺, and Ca²⁺ ions concentrations and pH of the perfusate were detected. Following perfusion, we specifically examined the parietal lobe to assess its water content. The prefrontal cortex and hippocampus were then dissected for histological evaluation, allowing us to investigate potential regional differences in tissue injury. The blank control group was sampled directly before perfusion. All statistical analyses and graphs were performed using GraphPad Prism 8.0 Student t-test. All tests were two-sided, and p value of less than 0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance. RESULTS: The contents of red blood cells and hemoglobin during perfusion were maintained at normal levels but more red blood cells were destroyed 3 h after the perfusion. The blood oxygen saturation of the perfusion group was maintained at 95% - 98%. NA⁺ and K⁺ concentrations were normal most of the time during perfusion but increased significantly at about 4 h. The Ca²⁺ concentration remained within the normal range at each period. Glucose levels were slightly higher than the baseline level. The pH of the perfusion solution was slightly lower at the beginning of perfusion, and then gradually increased to the normal level. The water content of brain tissue in the sub-low and docile perfusion group was 78.95% ± 0.39%, which was significantly higher than that in the control group (75.27% ± 0.55%, t = 10.49, p < 0.001), and the difference was statistically significant. Compared with the blank control group, the structure and morphology of pyramidal neurons in the prefrontal cortex and CA1 region of the hippocampal gyrus were similar, and their integrity was better. The structural integrity of granulosa neurons was destroyed and cell edema increased in the perfusion group compared with the blank control group. Immunofluorescence staining for glail fibrillary acidic protein and Iba1, markers of glial cells, revealed well-preserved cell structures in the perfusion group. While there were indications of abnormal cellular activity, the analysis showed no significant difference in axon thickness or integrity compared to the 1-h blank control group. CONCLUSIONS Mild hypothermic machine perfusion can improve ischemia and hypoxia injury of yorkshire brain tissue caused by traumatic blood loss and delay the necrosis and apoptosis of yorkshire brain tissue by continuous oxygen supply, maintaining ion homeostasis and reducing tissue metabolism level.
Animals ; Perfusion/methods* ; Disease Models, Animal ; Brain Injuries/etiology* ; Swine ; Male ; Hypothermia, Induced/methods*

Objective:To understand the health needs of patients with non-dementia cognitive impairment after stroke, to provide reference for targeted interventions.Methods:Using the convergent mixed research method, convenience sampling was used to select post-stroke patients with non-dementia cognitive impairment in China-Japan Friendship Hospital and Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Third Affiliated Hospital, a cross-sectional survey was conducted on 191 patients with non-dementia cognitive impairment after stroke using the health needs questionnaire in March to August 2023. A descriptive study was used to conduct semi-structured interviews with 16 patients.Results:A total of 191 questionnaires were distributed and 191 valid questionnaires were collected, including 103 male and 88 female patients, aged from 34 to 90 years old. The items of the post-stroke health questionnaire were (3.47 ± 0.54), with the highest need for understanding the rehabilitation program (148/191); multiple linear regression analysis showed that gender and primary caregiver type were factors influencing their health needs ( t = 2.39, 2.73, both P<0.05). A total of 16 patients with non-dementia cognitive impairment after stroke, 10 males and 6 females, aged from 58 to 90 years old, were interviewed. Four themes were extracted, namely, information support and behavioral guidance needs, psychological care needs, social support needs, and pre-established medical care plan needs. Conclusions:The health needs of patients with non-dementia cognitive impairment after stroke are at an above medium level and have diversified characteristics. Medical staff should conduct systematic health management based on patients′specific conditions and actual needs to help patients recover or maintain cognitive function.

Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation(taVNS)on overweight/obesity patients,and to explore its central mechanism.Methods Twenty-six overweight/obesity patients were randomly divided into two groups,12 cases in the taVNS test group(shortened as the taVNS group)and 14 cases in the lifestyle intervention control group(shortened as the control group).The patients in the control group were treated with online lifestyle intervention of calorie-restricted diet(CRD),and the patients in the taVNS group were treated with taVNS on the basis of the intervention for the control group.The taVNS was performed on unilateral acupoints of spleen and endocrine,twice(in the morning and at evening)per day,for five days a week.The treatment for the two groups covered four weeks.The obesity indicators such as body weight,body mass index(BMI)and waist circumference of the patients in the two groups were observed before and after treatment.Moreover,the resting-state cerebral functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI)data of the patients were collected after treatment,and then the regulatory effect of taVNS on the regional homogeneity(ReHo)of local cerebral area of the patients was observed.Results(1)During the trial,one case in each group dropped off,and a total of 24 patients(including 13 cases in the control group and 11 cases in the taVNS group)were finally included in the statistical analysis of the observation indicators.(2)After treatment,the body weight,BMI and waist circumference of patients in the taVNS group were decreased compared with those before treatment(P＜0.05),while the obesity indicators in the control group only showed a downward trend compared with those before treatment,the differences being not statistically significant(P＞0.05).The improvement of the obesity indicators of body weight,BMI,and waist circumference in the taVNS group was significantly superior to that in the control group,and there were statistically significant differences in the post-treatment indicators and in the pre-and post-treatment difference values of the indicators between the two groups(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).(3)After treatment,the taVNS group had greater ReHo values in the left prefrontal lobe and medial frontal gyrus than the control group,and the control group had greater ReHo value in the right parietal lobe than the taVNS group,which indicated that compared with the control group,the ReHo of the left prefrontal lobe and medial frontal gyrus in the taVNS group was increased and the ReHo of the right parietal lobe was decreased(Pvoxel＜0.001,Pcluster＜0.05,corrected by FWE level).Conclusion As a non-invasive treatment method,taVNS exerts certain efficacy for the treatment of overweight/obesity patients.The central response mechanism for treatment of obesity is probably related with the modulation of taVNS on the functional areas of left prefrontal lobe,medial frontal gyrus,and right parietal lobe of the patients.

Objective:To investigate the protective effect of endogenous ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid(PUFA)against cisplatin-induced myelosuppression and the mechanism of reducing apoptosis in bone marrow nucleated cells using mfat-1 transgenic mice.Methods:The experimental animals were divided into 4 groups:wild-type mice normal control group,mfat-1 transgenic mice normal control group,wild-type mice model group and mfat-1 transgenic mice model group.The mice in the model group were injected intraperitoneally with 7.5 mg/kg cisplatin on day 0 and day 7 to construct a myelosuppression model,while the mice in the normal control group were injected intraperitoneally with an equal amount of saline,and their status was observed and their body weight was measured daily.Peripheral blood was taken after 14 day for routine blood analysis,and the content and proportion of PUFA in peripheral blood were detected using gas chromatography.Bone marrow nucleated cells in the femur of mice were counted.The histopathological changes in bone marrow were observed by histopathological staining.The apoptosis of nucleated cells and the expression level changes of apoptosis-related genes in the bone marrow of mice were detected by flow cytometry and fluorescence quantitative PCR.Results:Compared with wild-type mice,mfat-1 transgenic mice showed significantly increased levels of ω-3 PUFA in peripheral blood and greater tolerance to cisplatin.Peripheral blood analysis showed that endogenous ω-3 PUFA promoted the recovery of leukocytes,erythrocytes,platelets and haemoglobin in peripheral blood of myelosuppressed mice.The results of HE staining showed that endogenous ω-3 PUFA significantly improved the structural damage of bone marrow tissue induced by cisplatin.Flow cytometry and PCR showed that,compared with wild-type mice model group,the apoptosis rate of bone marrow nucleated cells in mfat-1 transgenic mice was significantly reduced(P＜0.001),and the expression of anti-apoptotic genes Bcl-2 mRNA was significantly increased(P＜0.01),while the expressions of pro-apoptotic genes Bax and Bak mRNA were significantly reduced(P＜0.001,P＜0.05).Conclusion:Endogenous ω-3 PUFA can reduce cisplatin-induced apoptosis in bone marrow nucleated cells,increase the number of peripheral blood cells and exert a protective effect against cisplatin-induced myelosuppression by regulating the expression of apoptosis-related genes.

Aim To explore the effect of circ_0103552 on the proliferation,migration and invasion of lung cancer A549 cells and its possible mechanism.Meth-ods qRT-PCR was used to detect circ_0103552 and miR-1200 expression in lung cancer tissues and adja-cent tissues.A549 cells were grouped into si-NC,si-circ_0103552,miR-NC,miR-1200,si-circ_0103552+anti-miR-NC,si-circ_0103552+anti-miR-1200 groups.Cell proliferation,clone formation,migration and invasion were detected.The targeting relationship between circ_0103552 and miR-1200 was assessed u-sing the dual luciferase reporter experiment.The ex-pression of E-cadherin and N-cadherin protein was de-tected by Western blot.Results Compared with adja-cent tissues,circ_0103552 expression in lung cancer tissue increased(P＜0.05),while miR-1200 expres-sion decreased(P＜0.05).Circ_0103552 knockdown or miR-1200 overexpression reduced cell viability,N-cadherin,cloning,invasion,and promoted E-cadherin protein(P＜0.05).Circ_0103552 could target miR-1200.Down-regulating miR-1200 could reverse the in-hibitory effect of circ_0103552 knockdown on prolifera-tion,migration and invasion,as well as the promotion effect on cell apoptosis(P＜0.05).Conclusion Circ_0103552 could promote lung cancer cell progres-sion by targeting miR-1200.

AIM To establish an HPLC method for the simultaneous content determination of gallic acid,catechin,epicatechin,rhein 8-O-β-D-glucoside,chlorogenic acid,chrysophanol 8-O-β-D-glucoside,emodin-8-O-β-D-glucoside,emodin-3-methyl ether-8-O-β-D-glucoside,aloe emodin,rhein,cyperotundone,luteolin,α-cyperone,emodin,chrysophanol and emodin-3-methyl ether in Binglang Sixiao Pills.METHODS The analysis was performed on a 30℃thermostatic Kromasil C18 column(250 mm×4.6 mm,5 μm),with the mobile phase comprising of methanol-0.1%formic acid flowing at 1.0 mL/min in a gradient elution manner,and the detection wavelength was set at 260 nm.Subsequently,cluster analysis and principal component analysis were made.RESULTS Fifteen constituents showed good linear relationships within their own ranges(r＞0.999 0),whose average recoveries were 96.00%-101.00%%with the RSDs of 0.50%-1.50%.Various batches of samples were clustered into two categories,and four principal components demonstrated the accumulative variance contribution rate of 90.004%.CONCLUSION This simple,accurate and reproducible method can be used for the quality control of Binglang Sixiao Pills.

This study systematically reviewed the randomized controlled trial(RCT) of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) treatment of coronary heart disease patients with angina pectoris after percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI). The basic elements of these RCTs, including sample size and estimation method, randomizing scheme, allocation concealment, blind method implementation, data integrity, statistical method, TCM syndrome, intervention measures, treatment course, follow-up time, and outcome indicators, were analyzed to provide reference for the design of future RCT and the clinical application of TCM in treating angina pectoris after PCI. CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, SinoMed, PubMed, EMbase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Chinese Clinical Trial Registry were searched for the RCT about TCM treatment of coronary heart disease patients with angina pectoris after PCI according to pre-defined criteria, with the time interval from inception to January 31, 2024. A total of 188 RCTs were included, of which 184 were clinical research articles and 4 were clinical trial registration schemes. These RCTs involved a total of 15 521 patients, with an average sample size of 83 patients and a maximum sample size of 248 patients. Among them, 126 RCTs reported TCM syndromes, the top three of which were Qi deficiency and blood stasis(38.89%), phlegm combined with stasis(17.46%), and Qi stagnation and blood stasis(9.52%). The control group received guideline-directed medical therapy(GDMT) or GDMT combined with placebo, and the treatment group received GDMT combined with TCM. The treatment mainly lasted for 4-8 weeks, most of the RCTs did not set the follow-up period or the follow-up period was unknown. A total of 160 outcome indicators were used, with the total frequency of 1 348. According to functional attributes, the outcome indicators can be categorized into 6 groups: symptoms/signs(403, 29.90%), TCM syndromes/symptoms(182, 13.50%), physical and chemical examination(468, 34.72%), quality of life(89, 6.60%), long-term prognosis(5, 0.37%), and safety evaluation(201, 14.91%). The clinical trial design of TCM intervention in angina pectoris after PCI of coronary heart disease is becoming more and more rigorous, while it remains to be improved. It is expected that more clinical trial schemes with rigorous design and taking into account the TCM advantages can be adopted in the future to provide a basis for the TCM treatment of angina pectoris after PCI of coronary heart disease.
Humans ; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic ; Angina Pectoris/drug therapy* ; Coronary Disease/drug therapy* ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Male ; Treatment Outcome ; Female

Children's fever is often accompanied by food accumulation. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that removing food stagnation while clearing heat of children can effectively avoid heat damage. To systematically evaluate the efficacy of Xiaoer Chiqiao Qingre Granules(XRCQ) in clearing heat and removing food accumulation and explore its potential mechanism, this study combined suckling SD rats fed with high-sugar and high-fat diet with injection of carrageenan to induce rat model of fever and food accumulation. This study provided references for the study on the pharmacodynamics and mechanism of XRCQ. The results showed that XRCQ effectively reduced the rectal temperature of suckling rats, improved the inflammatory environment such as the content of interleukin-1β(IL-1β), interleukin-2(IL-2), interferon-γ(IFN-γ), white blood cells, and monocytes. XRCQ also effectively repaired intestinal injury and enhanced intestinal propulsion function. According to the confirmation of its efficacy of clearing heat, the thermolytic mechanism of XRCQ was further explored by non-targeted and targeted metabolomics methods based on LTQ-Orbitrap MS/MS and UPLC-QQQ-MS/MS. Non-target metabolomics analysis of brain tissue samples was performed by QI software combined with SIMCA-P software, and 22 endogenous metabolites that could be significantly regulated were screened out. MetaboAnalyst pathway enrichment results showed that the intervention mechanism was mainly focused on tyrosine metabolism, tricarboxylic acid cycle, inositol phosphate metabolism, and other pathways. At the same time, the results of targeted metabolomics of brain tissue samples showed that XRCQ changed the vitality of digestive system, and inhibited abnormal energy metabolism and inflammatory response, playing a role in clearing heat and removing food stagnation from multiple levels.
Animals ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Hot Temperature ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Metabolomics ; Food ; Fever ; Interferon-gamma

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center phase Ⅱ clinical trial design was used in this study to recruit subjects who were in line with the syndrome of excess heat and fire toxin, and were diagnosed as recurrent oral ulcers, gingivitis, and acute pharyngitis. A total of 240 cases were included and randomly divided into a placebo group and a Huanglian Jiedu Pills group. The clinical efficacy of Huanglian Jiedu Pills in treating the syndrome of excess heat and fire toxin was evaluated by using the traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) syndrome scale. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was used to determine and evaluate the levels of adenosine triphosphate(ATP), 4-hydroxynonenal(4-HNE), and adrenocorticotropic hormone(ACTH) in plasma of the two groups before and after administration and to predict their application value as clinical biomarkers. The results showed that the disappearance rate of main symptoms in the Huanglian Jiedu Pills group was 69.17%, and that in the placebo group was 50.83%. The comparison between the Huanglian Jiedu Pills group and the placebo group showed that 4-HNE before and after administration was statistically significant(P<0.05). The content of 4-HNE in the Huanglian Jiedu Pills group decreased significantly after administration(P<0.05), but that in the placebo group had no statistical significance and showed an upward trend. After administration, the content of ATP in both Huanglian Jiedu Pills group and placebo group decreased significantly(P<0.05), indicating that the energy metabolism disorder was significantly improved after administration of Huanglian Jiedu Pills and the body's self-healing ability also alleviated the increase in ATP level caused by the syndrome of excess heat and fire toxin to a certain extent. ACTH in both Huanglian Jiedu Pills group and placebo group decreased significantly after administration(P<0.05). It is concluded that Huanglian Jiedu Pills has a significant clinical effect, and can significantly improve the abnormal levels of ATP and 4-HNE in plasma caused by the syndrome of excess heat and fire toxin, which are speculated to be the effective clinical biomarkers for Huanglian Jiedu Pills to treat the syndrome of excess heat and fire toxin.
Humans ; Adrenocorticotropic Hormone ; Hot Temperature ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Adenosine Triphosphate