OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects of quercetin on cuproptosis and L-type calcium currents in the myocardium of diabetic rats. METHODS: Forty SD rats were randomized into control group and diabetic model groups. The rat models of diabetes mellitus (DM) induced by high-fat and high-sugar diet combined with streptozotocin (STZ) injection were further divided into DM model group, quercetin treatment group, and empagliflozin treatment group (n=10). Blood glucose and body weight were measured every other week, and cardiac function of the rats was evaluated using echocardiography. HE staining, Sirius red staining, and wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) analysis were used to observe the changes in myocardial histomorphology, and serum copper levels and myocardial FDX1 expression were detected. In cultured rat cardiomyocyte H9c2 cells with high-glucose exposure, the effects of quercetin and elesclomol, alone or in combination, on intracellular CK-MB and LDH levels and FDX1 expression were assessed, and the changes in L-type calcium currents were analyzed using patch-clamp technique. RESULTS: The diabetic rats exhibited elevated blood glucose, reduced body weight, impaired left ventricular function, increased serum copper levels and myocardial FDX1 expression, decreased L-type calcium currents, and prolonged action potential duration. Quercetin and empagliflozin treatment significantly lowered blood glucose, improved body weight, and restored cardiac function of the diabetic rats, and compared with empagliflozin, quercetin more effectively reduced serum copper levels, downregulated FDX1 expression, and enhanced myocardial L-type calcium currents in diabetic rats. In H9c2 cells, high glucose exposure significantly increased myocardial expressions of FDX1, CK-MB and LDH, which were effectively lowered by quercetin treatment; Elesclomol further elevated FDX1, CK-MB and LDH levels in the exposed cells, and these changes were not significantly affected by the application of quercetin. CONCLUSIONS Quercetin ameliorates myocardial injury in diabetic rats possibly by suppressing myocardial cuproptosis signaling and restoring L-type calcium channel activity.
Animals ; Quercetin/pharmacology* ; Calcium Channels, L-Type/metabolism* ; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental/metabolism* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rats ; Myocytes, Cardiac/drug effects* ; Myocardium/pathology* ; Male

Objective:To investigate the current status of application of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in China, aiming to provide reference for promoting the development of this technology.Methods:From January to March 2024, a questionnaire was designed and distributed online, targeting member units of the Professional Committee of Stereotactic Radiosurgery Treatment, which covers 175 radiotherapy units in 30 provinces and regions nationwide. The survey focused on the current application of SBRT technology and its utilization in the treatment of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A statistical description of the survey results was presented.Results:Of 175 questionnaires distributed, a total of 130 valid responses were collected, with an effective response rate of 74.3%. A total of 81.5% (106/130) of the units had implemented SBRT technology, and 99.1% of the respondents believed it was necessary to further promote SBRT technology, yet the actual training rate was only 67.0%. SBRT equipment configuration: there were a total of 267 SBRT equipment, featuring a diverse range of types, with traditional linear accelerators as the mainstays, accounting for 76.0% ( n=203), followed by 12.0% ( n=32) for TOMO, 6.4% ( n=17) for Cyber knife, 3.7% ( n=10) for Gamma knife, and proton/heavy ion equipment at 1.5% ( n=4), respectively. The percentage of units with multi-leaf collimator leaf widths ≤0.5 cm was 93.4% (99/106). The application of SBRT: the first radiotherapy unit commenced SBRT in 2000, and this technology entered a period of rapid growth after 2015, sustaining a steady increase over the past decade; SBRT technology was mainly applied in the brain, lung, liver, bone, adrenal gland, and kidney, with application rates of 97.2%, 94.3%, 86.8%, 71.7%, 56.6%, and 27.4%, respectively, while the application rates for the pancreas, metastatic lymph nodes, and other parts were less than 5%. Current status of SBRT technology application in early-stage NSCLC: 90.6% (96/106) of units had implemented SBRT; pre-treatment multi-disciplinary diagnosis and treatment accounted for 77% (74/96); the proportion of application units for peripheral and central type lung cancer lesions both exceeded 57.3%, whereas the application rate for ultra-central type and lesions > 5 cm lung cancer was less than 30%; there was significant variability in the selection of reference guidelines, dose fractionation patterns, and the concept of central type among units. Conclusions:The development of SBRT technology in China is in a period of steady growth, but several issues such as low training rate and lack of standardization still exist. The survey results provide important reference for clinical training and promotion of SBRT technology in China.

This study aims to investigate the effects of Pulsatilla powder(PP)on colonic intestinal flora and tryptophan metabolism in piglets with diarrhea.Twenty-four weaned piglets were ran-domly divided into the normal control group,model group,self-healing group,and PP group.The model of piglet diarrhea was established by the compound factor of external evil+internal injury+epi-demic virus,and treated with PP.During the modeling period,the body weight,mental status and fecal patterns of piglets were monitored daily.After the experiment,the colon tissues were collect-ed for histopathological observation,and the inflammatory factors IL-1β and IL-6 in the colon tis-sue was detected by ELISA,16S rRNA was used to analyze colonic intestinal flora and RT-qPCR was used to determine the expression of genes related to tryptophan metabolism in the colon.The results showed that,compared with the model group,PP significantly improved the pathological status of the colon in piglets with diarrhea,with elevated body mass and a significant increase in goblet cells(P＜0.05);and significantly reduced the levels of IL-1β and IL-6 in the colon of diar-rhea piglets(P＜0.05).The results of intestinal flora showed that PP increased the abundance of Firmicutes(P＜0.01),Spirochaeota(P＜0.01)and Lactobacillus(P＜0.05),reduced the abun-dance of Bacteroidota(P＜0.05)、Prevotella_NK3B31_group(P＜0.05)and Clostridium_sensu_stricto 1(P＜0.01).Meanwhile,PP significantly reduced the expression level of TPH1 mRNA(P＜0.05),increased the expression levels of AhR(P＜0.05)and IL-22 mRNA in the co-lon of diarrhea piglets.These results indicates that PP may alleviate diarrhea in piglets by regula-ting colonic intestinal flora and genes related to intestinal tryptophan metabolism.This study pro-vides data support for the subsequent investigation of piglet diarrhea prevention and treatment.

Danggui Buxue decoction(DBD)is a classic prescription with immunomodulatory and hematopoietic effects.Previous studies have shown the DBD has potential to be used as an oral im-mune booster.However,its immunomodulatory effects and mechanism of action have not been thoroughly studied,especially the protective mechanism of immunomodulatory regulation in the state of immunosuppressive is still unclear.The aim of this study was to explore the protective mechanism of DBD in the immunosuppressive state using network pharmacology combined with animal experiments verification.The active components,core targets and signaling pathways of DBD in treating immunosuppression were obtained using network pharmacology tools.On this ba-sis,the active components of DBD were identified using HPLC-MS,and in vivo studies were con-ducted at the same time.The key active components of DBD obtained using network pharmacology included quercetin,kaempferol and formononetin.The core targets included TP53,RELA,TNF,AKT1,and IL-6.KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that phosphoinositide 3-kinase(PI3K)-protein kinase B(AKT)may play an important role in the treatment of immunosuppres-sive diseases using DBD.Molecular docking confirmed that each core target had good binding activ-ity with its corresponding compounds.Animal experiments showed that after DBD intervention,the mRNA gene and protein expression of RELA,TNF,and IL-6 in the serum was significantly down-regulated.The mRNA expression of PI3K and AKT in the ileum and PI3K protein expression were also downregulated.In conclusion,DBD exerts its role in treating immunosuppressive diseases by regulating the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway.

To explore the effect of Macleaya cordata extract(MCE)on growth performance and serum biochemistry of Sichuan White Geese,and to analyze its mechanism of action by network pharmacology and molecular docking technology combined with animal experiments verification.A total of 90 1-day-old healthy goslings were randomly divided into 5 groups with 18 goslings per group after 5 d of adaptive feeding.The control group(CON)was fed with basal diet,the antibiotic group(CTC)was supplemented with 450 mg/kg chlortetracycline premix,and the low MCE group(MCEL),medium MCE group(MCEM)and high MCE group(MCEH)were supple-mented with 200,300 and 400 mg/kg MCE,respectively.The experimental period was 21 d.On the basis of the above experiments,Network pharmacology and molecular docking technology were used to predict the core targets and signaling pathways of MCE to promote geese growth from the levels of antioxidant,immune and apoptosis,and the expression levels of the core target genes were detected by Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR.The results showed that compared with the CON group,MCE supplementation could increase the average daily weight gain,decrease the ratio of feed to gain,significantly increase the contents of serum GH,T3,T4,TP and ALB(P＜0.05),and significantly decrease the contents of serum AST and TG(P＜0.05).Network pharmacology analysis predicted 2 active ingredient and 237 active ingredient targets,and concluded that the mechanism of MCE promoting the growth of Sichuan White Geese may be related to the role of 5 key targets such as SRC,HSP90AA1,CASP3,ESR1 and MAPK14,and the action of MAPK,apop-tosis and other signaling pathways.Molecular docking results showed that the active ingredients of sanguinarine and chelerythrine in MCE could act through MAPK14.The validation results of core targets showed that MCE could significantly reduce the mRNA expression levels of CytC,CASP2,CASP3 and CASP9 in spleen(P＜0.05)and significantly increase the mRNA expression levels of Mcl-1(P＜0.05).These results indicated that MCE could promote the growth performance of Si-chuan White Geese by regulating apoptosis,promoting the secretion of serum growth-related hor-mones and improving biochemical indicators.

To explore the effect of Macleaya cordata extract(MCE)on growth performance and serum biochemistry of Sichuan White Geese,and to analyze its mechanism of action by network pharmacology and molecular docking technology combined with animal experiments verification.A total of 90 1-day-old healthy goslings were randomly divided into 5 groups with 18 goslings per group after 5 d of adaptive feeding.The control group(CON)was fed with basal diet,the antibiotic group(CTC)was supplemented with 450 mg/kg chlortetracycline premix,and the low MCE group(MCEL),medium MCE group(MCEM)and high MCE group(MCEH)were supple-mented with 200,300 and 400 mg/kg MCE,respectively.The experimental period was 21 d.On the basis of the above experiments,Network pharmacology and molecular docking technology were used to predict the core targets and signaling pathways of MCE to promote geese growth from the levels of antioxidant,immune and apoptosis,and the expression levels of the core target genes were detected by Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR.The results showed that compared with the CON group,MCE supplementation could increase the average daily weight gain,decrease the ratio of feed to gain,significantly increase the contents of serum GH,T3,T4,TP and ALB(P＜0.05),and significantly decrease the contents of serum AST and TG(P＜0.05).Network pharmacology analysis predicted 2 active ingredient and 237 active ingredient targets,and concluded that the mechanism of MCE promoting the growth of Sichuan White Geese may be related to the role of 5 key targets such as SRC,HSP90AA1,CASP3,ESR1 and MAPK14,and the action of MAPK,apop-tosis and other signaling pathways.Molecular docking results showed that the active ingredients of sanguinarine and chelerythrine in MCE could act through MAPK14.The validation results of core targets showed that MCE could significantly reduce the mRNA expression levels of CytC,CASP2,CASP3 and CASP9 in spleen(P＜0.05)and significantly increase the mRNA expression levels of Mcl-1(P＜0.05).These results indicated that MCE could promote the growth performance of Si-chuan White Geese by regulating apoptosis,promoting the secretion of serum growth-related hor-mones and improving biochemical indicators.

This study aims to investigate the effects of Pulsatilla powder(PP)on colonic intestinal flora and tryptophan metabolism in piglets with diarrhea.Twenty-four weaned piglets were ran-domly divided into the normal control group,model group,self-healing group,and PP group.The model of piglet diarrhea was established by the compound factor of external evil+internal injury+epi-demic virus,and treated with PP.During the modeling period,the body weight,mental status and fecal patterns of piglets were monitored daily.After the experiment,the colon tissues were collect-ed for histopathological observation,and the inflammatory factors IL-1β and IL-6 in the colon tis-sue was detected by ELISA,16S rRNA was used to analyze colonic intestinal flora and RT-qPCR was used to determine the expression of genes related to tryptophan metabolism in the colon.The results showed that,compared with the model group,PP significantly improved the pathological status of the colon in piglets with diarrhea,with elevated body mass and a significant increase in goblet cells(P＜0.05);and significantly reduced the levels of IL-1β and IL-6 in the colon of diar-rhea piglets(P＜0.05).The results of intestinal flora showed that PP increased the abundance of Firmicutes(P＜0.01),Spirochaeota(P＜0.01)and Lactobacillus(P＜0.05),reduced the abun-dance of Bacteroidota(P＜0.05)、Prevotella_NK3B31_group(P＜0.05)and Clostridium_sensu_stricto 1(P＜0.01).Meanwhile,PP significantly reduced the expression level of TPH1 mRNA(P＜0.05),increased the expression levels of AhR(P＜0.05)and IL-22 mRNA in the co-lon of diarrhea piglets.These results indicates that PP may alleviate diarrhea in piglets by regula-ting colonic intestinal flora and genes related to intestinal tryptophan metabolism.This study pro-vides data support for the subsequent investigation of piglet diarrhea prevention and treatment.

Danggui Buxue decoction(DBD)is a classic prescription with immunomodulatory and hematopoietic effects.Previous studies have shown the DBD has potential to be used as an oral im-mune booster.However,its immunomodulatory effects and mechanism of action have not been thoroughly studied,especially the protective mechanism of immunomodulatory regulation in the state of immunosuppressive is still unclear.The aim of this study was to explore the protective mechanism of DBD in the immunosuppressive state using network pharmacology combined with animal experiments verification.The active components,core targets and signaling pathways of DBD in treating immunosuppression were obtained using network pharmacology tools.On this ba-sis,the active components of DBD were identified using HPLC-MS,and in vivo studies were con-ducted at the same time.The key active components of DBD obtained using network pharmacology included quercetin,kaempferol and formononetin.The core targets included TP53,RELA,TNF,AKT1,and IL-6.KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that phosphoinositide 3-kinase(PI3K)-protein kinase B(AKT)may play an important role in the treatment of immunosuppres-sive diseases using DBD.Molecular docking confirmed that each core target had good binding activ-ity with its corresponding compounds.Animal experiments showed that after DBD intervention,the mRNA gene and protein expression of RELA,TNF,and IL-6 in the serum was significantly down-regulated.The mRNA expression of PI3K and AKT in the ileum and PI3K protein expression were also downregulated.In conclusion,DBD exerts its role in treating immunosuppressive diseases by regulating the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway.

Objective:To investigate the current status of application of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in China, aiming to provide reference for promoting the development of this technology.Methods:From January to March 2024, a questionnaire was designed and distributed online, targeting member units of the Professional Committee of Stereotactic Radiosurgery Treatment, which covers 175 radiotherapy units in 30 provinces and regions nationwide. The survey focused on the current application of SBRT technology and its utilization in the treatment of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A statistical description of the survey results was presented.Results:Of 175 questionnaires distributed, a total of 130 valid responses were collected, with an effective response rate of 74.3%. A total of 81.5% (106/130) of the units had implemented SBRT technology, and 99.1% of the respondents believed it was necessary to further promote SBRT technology, yet the actual training rate was only 67.0%. SBRT equipment configuration: there were a total of 267 SBRT equipment, featuring a diverse range of types, with traditional linear accelerators as the mainstays, accounting for 76.0% ( n=203), followed by 12.0% ( n=32) for TOMO, 6.4% ( n=17) for Cyber knife, 3.7% ( n=10) for Gamma knife, and proton/heavy ion equipment at 1.5% ( n=4), respectively. The percentage of units with multi-leaf collimator leaf widths ≤0.5 cm was 93.4% (99/106). The application of SBRT: the first radiotherapy unit commenced SBRT in 2000, and this technology entered a period of rapid growth after 2015, sustaining a steady increase over the past decade; SBRT technology was mainly applied in the brain, lung, liver, bone, adrenal gland, and kidney, with application rates of 97.2%, 94.3%, 86.8%, 71.7%, 56.6%, and 27.4%, respectively, while the application rates for the pancreas, metastatic lymph nodes, and other parts were less than 5%. Current status of SBRT technology application in early-stage NSCLC: 90.6% (96/106) of units had implemented SBRT; pre-treatment multi-disciplinary diagnosis and treatment accounted for 77% (74/96); the proportion of application units for peripheral and central type lung cancer lesions both exceeded 57.3%, whereas the application rate for ultra-central type and lesions > 5 cm lung cancer was less than 30%; there was significant variability in the selection of reference guidelines, dose fractionation patterns, and the concept of central type among units. Conclusions:The development of SBRT technology in China is in a period of steady growth, but several issues such as low training rate and lack of standardization still exist. The survey results provide important reference for clinical training and promotion of SBRT technology in China.