2.Circadian and non-circadian regulation of the male reproductive system and reproductive damage: advances in the role and mechanisms of clock genes.
Meng-Chao HE ; Ying-Zhong DAI ; Yi-Meng WANG ; Qin-Ru LI ; Si-Wen LUO ; Xi LING ; Tong WANG ; Jia CAO ; Qing CHEN
Acta Physiologica Sinica 2025;77(4):712-720
Recently, male reproductive health has attracted extensive attention, with the adverse effects of circadian disruption on male fertility gradually gaining recognition. However, the mechanism by which circadian disruption leads to damage to male reproductive system remains unclear. In this review, we first summarized the dual regulatory roles of circadian clock genes on the male reproductive system: (1) circadian regulation of testosterone synthesis via the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular (HPT) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axes; (2) non-circadian regulation of spermatogenesis. Next, we further listed the possible mechanisms by which circadian disruption impairs male fertility, including interference with the oscillatory function of the reproductive system, i.e., synchronization of the HPT axis, crosstalk between the HPT axis and the HPA axis, as well as direct damage to germ cells by disturbing the non-oscillatory function of the reproductive system. Future research using spatiotemporal omics, epigenomic assays, and neural circuit mapping in studying the male reproductive system may provide new clues to systematically unravel the mechanisms by which circadian disruption affects male reproductive system through circadian clock genes.
Male
;
Humans
;
Animals
;
Circadian Clocks/physiology*
;
Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System/physiology*
;
Circadian Rhythm/genetics*
;
Spermatogenesis/physiology*
;
Pituitary-Adrenal System/physiology*
;
Testis/physiology*
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Testosterone/biosynthesis*
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CLOCK Proteins
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Infertility, Male/physiopathology*
3.Liang-Ge-San Decoction Ameliorates Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome via Suppressing p38MAPK-NF-κ B Signaling Pathway.
Quan LI ; Juan CHEN ; Meng-Meng WANG ; Li-Ping CAO ; Wei ZHANG ; Zhi-Zhou YANG ; Yi REN ; Jing FENG ; Xiao-Qin HAN ; Shi-Nan NIE ; Zhao-Rui SUN
Chinese journal of integrative medicine 2025;31(7):613-623
OBJECTIVE:
To explore the potential effects and mechanisms of Liang-Ge-San (LGS) for the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) through network pharmacology analysis and to verify LGS activity through biological experiments.
METHODS:
The key ingredients of LGS and related targets were obtained from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform. ARDS-related targets were selected from GeneCards and DisGeNET databases. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analyses were performed using the Metascape Database. Molecular docking analysis was used to confirm the binding affinity of the core compounds with key therapeutic targets. Finally, the effects of LGS on key signaling pathways and biological processes were determined by in vitro and in vivo experiments.
RESULTS:
A total of LGS-related targets and 496 ARDS-related targets were obtained from the databases. Network pharmacological analysis suggested that LGS could treat ARDS based on the following information: LGS ingredients luteolin, wogonin, and baicalein may be potential candidate agents. Mitogen-activated protein kinase 14 (MAPK14), recombinant V-Rel reticuloendotheliosis viral oncogene homolog A (RELA), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) may be potential therapeutic targets. Reactive oxygen species metabolic process and the apoptotic signaling pathway were the main biological processes. The p38MAPK/NF-κ B signaling pathway might be the key signaling pathway activated by LGS against ARDS. Moreover, molecular docking demonstrated that luteolin, wogonin, and baicalein had a good binding affinity with MAPK14, RELA, and TNF α. In vitro experiments, LGS inhibited the expression and entry of p38 and p65 into the nucleation in human bronchial epithelial cells (HBE) cells induced by LPS, inhibited the inflammatory response and oxidative stress response, and inhibited HBE cell apoptosis (P<0.05 or P<0.01). In vivo experiments, LGS improved lung injury caused by ligation and puncture, reduced inflammatory responses, and inhibited the activation of p38MAPK and p65 (P<0.05 or P<0.01).
CONCLUSION
LGS could reduce reactive oxygen species and inflammatory cytokine production by inhibiting p38MAPK/NF-κ B signaling pathway, thus reducing apoptosis and attenuating ARDS.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology*
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Respiratory Distress Syndrome/enzymology*
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p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases/metabolism*
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NF-kappa B/metabolism*
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Animals
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Signal Transduction/drug effects*
;
Molecular Docking Simulation
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Humans
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Male
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Network Pharmacology
;
Apoptosis/drug effects*
;
Mice
4.Morin inhibits ubiquitination degradation of BCL-2 associated agonist of cell death and synergizes with BCL-2 inhibitor in gastric cancer cells.
Yi WANG ; Xiao-Yu SUN ; Fang-Qi MA ; Ming-Ming REN ; Ruo-Han ZHAO ; Meng-Meng QIN ; Xiao-Hong ZHU ; Yan XU ; Ni-da CAO ; Yuan-Yuan CHEN ; Tian-Geng DONG ; Yong-Fu PAN ; Ai-Guang ZHAO
Journal of Integrative Medicine 2025;23(3):320-332
OBJECTIVE:
Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignancies seen in clinic and requires novel treatment options. Morin is a natural flavonoid extracted from the flower stalk of a highly valuable medicinal plant Prunella vulgaris L., which exhibits an anti-cancer effect in multiple types of tumors. However, the therapeutic effect and underlying mechanism of morin in treating GC remains elusive. The study aims to explore the therapeutic effect and underlying molecular mechanisms of morin in GC.
METHODS:
For in vitro experiments, the proliferation inhibition of morin was measured by cell counting kit-8 assay and colony formation assay in human GC cell line MKN45, human gastric adenocarcinoma cell line AGS, and human gastric epithelial cell line GES-1; for apoptosis analysis, microscopic photography, Western blotting, ubiquitination analysis, quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis, flow cytometry, and RNA interference technology were employed. For in vivo studies, immunohistochemistry, biomedical analysis, and Western blotting were used to assess the efficacy and safety of morin in a xenograft mouse model of GC.
RESULTS:
Morin significantly inhibited the proliferation of GC cells MKN45 and AGS in a dose- and time-dependent manner, but did not inhibit human gastric epithelial cells GES-1. Only the caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK was able to significantly reverse the inhibition of proliferation by morin in both GC cells, suggesting that apoptosis was the main type of cell death during the treatment. Morin induced intrinsic apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner in GC cells, which mainly relied on B cell leukemia/lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) associated agonist of cell death (BAD) but not phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate-induced protein 1. The upregulation of BAD by morin was due to blocking the ubiquitination degradation of BAD, rather than the transcription regulation and the phosphorylation of BAD. Furthermore, the combination of morin and BCL-2 inhibitor navitoclax (also known as ABT-737) produced a synergistic inhibitory effect in GC cells through amplifying apoptotic signals. In addition, morin treatment significantly suppressed the growth of GC in vivo by upregulating BAD and the subsequent activation of its downstream apoptosis pathway.
CONCLUSION
Morin suppressed GC by inducing apoptosis, which was mainly due to blocking the ubiquitination-based degradation of the pro-apoptotic protein BAD. The combination of morin and the BCL-2 inhibitor ABT-737 synergistically amplified apoptotic signals in GC cells, which may overcome the drug resistance of the BCL-2 inhibitor. These findings indicated that morin was a potent and promising agent for GC treatment. Please cite this article as: Wang Y, Sun XY, Ma FQ, Ren MM, Zhao RH, Qin MM, Zhu XH, Xu Y, Cao ND, Chen YY, Dong TG, Pan YF, Zhao AG. Morin inhibits ubiquitination degradation of BCL-2 associated agonist of cell death and synergizes with BCL-2 inhibitor in gastric cancer cells. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(3): 320-332.
Humans
;
Flavonoids/therapeutic use*
;
Stomach Neoplasms/pathology*
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Animals
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2/metabolism*
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Cell Line, Tumor
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Apoptosis/drug effects*
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Cell Proliferation/drug effects*
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Ubiquitination/drug effects*
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Mice
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Drug Synergism
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Mice, Inbred BALB C
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Mice, Nude
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Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
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Flavones
5.Clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of atopic dermatitis with integrative traditional Chinese and Western medicine.
Xin-Ran DU ; Meng-Yi WU ; Mao-Can TAO ; Ying LIN ; Chao-Ying GU ; Min-Feng WU ; Yi CAO ; Da-Can CHEN ; Wei LI ; Hong-Wei WANG ; Ying WANG ; Yi WANG ; Han-Zhi LU ; Xin LIU ; Xiang-Fei SU ; Fu-Lun LI
Journal of Integrative Medicine 2025;23(6):641-653
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a well-accepted therapy for atopic dermatitis (AD). However, there are currently no evidence-based guidelines integrating TCM and Western medicine for the treatment of AD, limiting the clinical application of such combined approaches. Therefore, the China Association of Chinese Medicine initiated the development of the current guideline, focusing on key issues related to the use of TCM in the treatment of AD. This guideline was developed in accordance with the principles of the guideline formulation manual published by the World Health Organization. A comprehensive review of the literature on the combined use of TCM and Western medicine to treat AD was conducted. The findings were extensively discussed by experts in dermatology and pharmacy with expertise in both TCM and Western medicine. This guideline comprises 23 recommendations across seven major areas, including TCM syndrome differentiation and classification of AD, principles and application scenarios of TCM combined with Western medicine for treating AD, outcome indicators for evaluating clinical efficacy of AD treatment, integration of TCM pattern classification and Western medicine across disease stages, daily management of AD, the use of internal TCM therapies and proprietary Chinese medicines, and TCM external treatments. Please cite this article as: Du XR, Wu MY, Tao MC, Lin Y, Gu CY, Wu MF, Cao Y, Chen DC, Li W, Wang HW, Wang Y, Wang Y, Lu HZ, Liu X, Su XF, Li FL. Clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of atopic dermatitis with integrative traditional Chinese and Western medicine. J Integr Med. 2025; 23(6):641-653.
Dermatitis, Atopic/drug therapy*
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Humans
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Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods*
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Integrative Medicine
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Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use*
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Practice Guidelines as Topic
6.Neck dissection and free flap repair technique for tongue cancer without neck scar
Fan YANG ; Chang CAO ; Shasha MENG ; Hui XIA ; Xiaoyi WANG ; Zhuang ZHANG ; Chunjie LI ; Yi MEN ; Guiquan ZHU
Journal of Practical Stomatology 2024;40(1):15-19
Neck dissection and reconstruction are two important aspects of oral cancer treatment.There are various surgical methods for neck dissection and reconstruction,but all of them are performed by open surgery.This article reports a full endoscopic neck dis-section through the retroauricular hairline approach,the radical resection of the intraoral tumor and the repair of the defect by superfi-cial circumflex iliac artery perforator flap with in situ vascular anastomosis intraorally.The incision is located in the hairline,hidden and invisible,and there is no exposed surgical scar on the neck after surgery.This paper introduces the technique of scarless neck dissection combined with free skin flap repair for the treatment of oral cancer and discusses its advantages and disadvantages.
7.Rapid Screening of 34 Emerging Contaminants in Surface Water by UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS
Chen-Shan LÜ ; Yi-Xuan CAO ; Xiao-Xi MU ; Hai-Yan CUI ; Tao WANG ; Zhi-Wen WEI ; Ke-Ming YUN ; Meng HU
Journal of Forensic Medicine 2024;40(1):30-36
Objective To establish a rapid screening method for 34 emerging contaminants in surface water by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry(UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS).Methods The pretreatment conditions of solid phase extraction(SPE)were op-timized by orthogonal experimental design and the surface water samples were concentrated and ex-tracted by Oasis? HLB and Oasis? MCX SPE columns in series.The extracts were separated by Kine-tex? EVO C18 column,with gradient elution of 0.1%formic acid aqueous solution and 0.1%formic acid methanol solution.Q-TOF-MS'fullscan'and'targeted MS/MS'modes were used to detect 34 emerging contaminants and to establish a database with 34 emerging contaminants precursor ion,prod-uct ion and retention times.Results The 34 emerging contaminants exhibited good linearity in the con-centration range respectively and the correlation coefficients(r)were higher than 0.97.The limit of de-tection was 0.2-10 ng/L and the recoveries were 81.2%-119.2%.The intra-day precision was 0.78%-18.70%.The method was applied to analyze multiple surface water samples and 6 emerging contaminants were detected,with a concentration range of 1.93-157.71 ng/L.Conclusion The method is simple and rapid for screening various emerging contaminants at the trace level in surface water.
8.Analysis of amino acid and protein components of commercial swim-bladders
Jin-Ju ZHANG ; Yi-Hong LU ; Qing HE ; Meng-Hua WU ; Zhi-Guo MA ; Ying ZHANG ; Hui CAO
Chinese Traditional Patent Medicine 2024;46(2):499-506
AIM To study the amino acids and proteins in 16 batches of commercial fish swim-bladders with different origins.METHODS A high performance liquid chromatography method based on pre-column derivatization using 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate(AQC)was developed for the determination of contents and components of 17 amino acids in fish swim-bladders.Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis(SDS-PAGE)was performed to analyze the molecular weight distribution of proteins from different fish swim-bladders,and proteins in fish swim-bladders were identified by proteomics method.RESULTS The result showed that the determination of 17 amino acids had a good linear relationship(R2≥0.998 0).The average recovery rate was 85.62%-109.60%and the relative standard deviations of precision,stability and repeatability were less than 3.5%.The total content of the 17 amino acids in 16 batches of fish swim-bladders ranged from 468.31 mg/g to 620.05 mg/g.A total of 688 proteins including 11 collagens were identified from 16 batches of fish swim-bladder samples and a plenty of low-abundance proteins at 52-95 kDa were also detected in fish swim-bladders by SDS-PAGE.CONCLUSION This study provides a good reference for the quality evaluation and further utilization of fish swim-bladders.
9.Association of Cytokines with Clinical Indicators in Patients with Drug-Induced Liver Injury
Hua Wei CAO ; Ting Ting JIANG ; Ge SHEN ; Wen DENG ; Yu Shi WANG ; Yu Zi ZHANG ; Xin Xin LI ; Yao LU ; Lu ZHANG ; Yu Ru LIU ; Min CHANG ; Ling Shu WU ; Jiao Yuan GAO ; Xiao Hong HAO ; Xue Xiao CHEN ; Ping Lei HU ; Jiao Meng XU ; Wei YI ; Yao XIE ; Hui Ming LI
Biomedical and Environmental Sciences 2024;37(5):494-502
Objective To explore characteristics of clinical parameters and cytokines in patients with drug-induced liver injury(DILI)caused by different drugs and their correlation with clinical indicators. Method The study was conducted on patients who were up to Review of Uncertainties in Confidence Assessment for Medical Tests(RUCAM)scoring criteria and clinically diagnosed with DILI.Based on Chinese herbal medicine,cardiovascular drugs,non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs(NSAIDs),anti-infective drugs,and other drugs,patients were divided into five groups.Cytokines were measured by Luminex technology.Baseline characteristics of clinical biochemical indicators and cytokines in DILI patients and their correlation were analyzed. Results 73 patients were enrolled.Age among five groups was statistically different(P=0.032).Alanine aminotransferase(ALT)(P=0.033)and aspartate aminotransferase(AST)(P=0.007)in NSAIDs group were higher than those in chinese herbal medicine group.Interleukin-6(IL-6)and tumor necrosis factor alpha(TNF-α)in patients with Chinese herbal medicine(IL-6:P<0.001;TNF-α:P<0.001)and cardiovascular medicine(IL-6:P=0.020;TNF-α:P=0.001)were lower than those in NSAIDs group.There was a positive correlation between ALT(r=0.697,P=0.025),AST(r=0.721,P=0.019),and IL-6 in NSAIDs group. Conclusion Older age may be more prone to DILI.Patients with NSAIDs have more severe liver damage in early stages of DILI,TNF-α and IL-6 may partake the inflammatory process of DILI.
10.Immune infiltration mechanism of cuproptosis genes in multiple sclerosis and prediction of potential Chinese medicine treatment
Yi MENG ; Wenlan TAN ; Ying JIANG ; Yuexia WU ; Youxue FU ; Kang CAO ; Qiongxin ZHANG ; Xiaoli CHEN
Chinese Journal of Immunology 2024;40(8):1718-1725,中插2
Objective:To analyze the correlation between cuproptosis genes and immune infiltration during the occurrence and development of multiple sclerosis(MS),and to predict the traditional Chinese medicine,to provide theoretical basis for the mecha-nism study of cuproptosis in MS immune infiltration and Chinese medicine to intervene in immune regulation.Methods:The gout chip of MS was downloaded from the GEO database and standardized;based on the processed data,immune cells and functions were ex-tracted and quantified,and the correlation and differences of immune cells and functions were analyzed;at the same time,cuproptosis genes related to MS were screened out,a risk model was constructed,and enrichment analysis was carried out;the prediction of cu-proptosis genes and immune-related biological processes were carried out.Results:① Among immune cells,T follicular helper cell and B cell showed the strongest positive correlation;among the immune functions,parainflammation and typeⅠIFN reponse showed the strongest positive correlation;②B cell,T helper cell and human leukocyte antigen were lowly expressed in MS patients,while major histocompatibility complex class Ⅰ,parainflammation and typeⅠIFN response were significantly expressed;③ The cupropto-sis genes associated with MS were SLC31A1,PDHA1,NLRP3,MTF1,GLS and DBT,of which DBT was the most likely risk factor for MS;④The occurrence and development of MS involves biological processes such as IL-4 production,T-helper cell differentiation,and acute inflammatory response,which were related to pathways such as arginine biosynthesis,citrate cycle,and propanoate metabo-lism;⑤Banxia,Danshen,Jianghuang and other traditional Chinese medicines may be used as potential molecular drug sources.Con-clusion:The expression of cuproptosis gene is closely related to MS-related immune cells and functions,which can provide support for the basic research of MS.

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