Objective: To compare the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of pirfenidone in the fasted and fed states in healthy volunteers. Methods: An open-label, randomized crossover study was conducted in 12 healthy subjects. Food effects were examined by comparing pharmacokinetic data of pirfenidone after administration of a single oral 400 mg dose under fasted or fed conditions. Plas-ma pirfenidone concentration was determined by an HPLC method and its pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated with DAS v2. 0 software. Results: Under fasted and fed conditions, the concentration-time profiles of pirfenidone were fitted a one-compartment model and the pharmacokinetic parameters were as follows: t1/2were (2. 16 ± 0. 47) and (2. 05 ± 0. 42) h;tmaxwere(0. 69 ± 0. 16)and (1. 46 ± 0. 40)h;Cmaxwere (12. 95 ± 1. 79) and (9. 16 ± 2. 87) mg·L-1;AUC0-12were (44. 97 ± 15. 06) and (36. 19 ± 14. 44) mg·h·L-1;AUC0-∞were (46. 55 ± 16. 79) and (37. 41 ± 15. 43) mg·h·L-1, respectively. When compared with that of the fasted group, tmaxwas significantly increased (P<0. 001) while Cmaxand AUC were remarkedly decreased in the fed group (P<0. 001 and P<0. 01, respectively). Conclusion: Concomitant food intake significantly influences the pharmacokinetics and bioavail-ability of pirfenidone as indicated by reducing its extent and rate of absorption, which is associated with better tolerability.

With the deepening medical reform, people pay more attention to achieve excellent medical quality, reasonable cost and thoughtful medical service, which were the core indicators for the success of medical reform, but also were the basic requirements which medical reform should achieve.For strengthening the management of medical quality and improving medical quality, it was necessary to further develop the pharmaceutical department of medical institute and pharmaceutical care, which plays an important role in the improvement of rational use of drugs in clinical practice. With the deepening of the medical reform, graded medical system will be constantly realized and capacity of pharmaceutical care of the primary health care should be enhanced immediately.We should pay more attention to the special diseased population, which was also one of the key tasks of strengthening clinical pharmacy services.

Objective To retrospectively analyze adverse drug reaction ( ADR ) of Yuxingcao ( Houttuyniae Herba ) preparations, thus provide reference for post-market re-evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine injections. Methods The ADR from Chinese ADR spontaneous reporting system database from 2006 to 2008 were analyzed by descriptive statistic method. Results A total of 2 282 reports on ADR induced by Yuxingcao preparations were concluded in this study, and 98.07% ADR of the total cases ( 2 238 case ) were due to vein injection. The main ADR were anaphylactic reactions which injure multiple systems and organs.The most frequent symptoms were respiratory system damage, such as expiratory dyspnea (with the incidence rate of 27.25%).Skin and mucous membrane were the secondly susceptible (with the incidence rate of 21.35%).The ratio of serious ADR in the total case was 13.50% (308 case), rate of allergic shock was 8.37% (191 case), and 22 cases were dead. Conclusion By strengthening the ADR reporting and monitoring, the risk of traditional Chinese medicine injection could be controlled.Safety re-evaluation should be performed to overall enhance safety, effectiveness and quality control of these kinds of medicine.

Aim To explore the protective effects of LPPC ( procyanidins extracted from the litchi pericarp) on cardiomyocyte apoptosis in septic rats and its mech-anisms. Methods The rats were randomly divided in-to 5 groups, and were given orally the drug for two weeks continuously. The control group ( control) and sepsis model group ( LPS ) were given distilled water once a day. LPPC low, medium and high dose groups were given LPPC 50 , 100 , 200 mg · kg-1 · d-1 re-spectively which were prepared freshly every day. After the treatment, sepsis animal models were established. Except for the control group, other groups were injec-ted LPS (lipopolysacchride, 10mg·kg-1) intraperito-neally to induce acute sepsis model. 4hrs later, rat se-rum was collected, isoenzyme ( CK-MB ) , lactate de-hydrogenase ( LDH ) and activity of aspertate amin-otransferase ( AST/GOT) were detected. Then rat car-diac tissue was obtained and cardiac tissue malondial-dehyde ( MDA ) , total antioxidant capacity ( T-AOC ) and reduced glutathione ( GSH ) content were deter-mined. TUNEL staining was performed to analyze the apoptosis of myocardial cells. Cleaved caspase-3 and TNF alpha protein expressions were analyzed by West-ern blot. Results Compared with the control group ( control) , serum of sepsis model group rats CK-MB, LDH, AST/GOT and cardiac tissue MDA content were significantly increased (P<0. 01). At the same time, the activity of cardiac tissue T-AOC and GSH de-creased obviously ( P<0. 01 ) . The apoptotic myocar-dial cells increased significantly ( P<0. 01 ) , and the expression level of cleaved caspase-3 and TNF alpha decreased obviously ( P <0. 01 ) . LPPC pretreatment significantly decreased the serum CK-MB, LDH, AST/GOT and tissue MDA content, increased tissue T AOC and GSH activity, attenuated apoptosis of rat myocardi-al cells significantly, and decreased expression level of cleaved caspase-3 and TNF alpha. Conclusion LPPC pretreatment can significantly attenuate rat myocardial cell apoptosis induced by sepsis, and the underlying mechanisms may be related to its anti-oxidative effects.

Aim To study the mechanisms of the pro-tective effect of procyanidin B2 ( PCB2 ) on the myocar-dial cell apoptosis induced by lipopolysaccharide ( LPS) . Methods Using the primary culture rat myo-cardial cells, myocardial cell injury model was induced by LPS. PCB2 low, medium and high dose groups, were cultured with 6. 25 , 12. 5 , 25. 0 μmol · L-1 PCB2 respectively in DMEM medium for 24 h continu-ously. Myocardial cell survival rate was determined by MTT colorimetric method. Cardiacmyocyte NOX activi-ty was determined by lucigen chemiluminescence meth-od . Western blot analysis was used to detect myocardi-al NADPH oxidase p47phox expression. TUNEL method was used to detect apoptosis and flow cytometry was used to determine the content of myocardial cells ROS. Results Compared with control group, the cell dam-age induced by LPS group myocardial cell survival rate significantly decreased ( P <0. 01 ) , and myocardial cell NOX activity, p47phox expression, apoptotic cell number and ROS content were significantly increased (P<0. 01). PCB2 low, medium and high dose groups cell survival rates were significantly elevated, myocar-dial cell NOX activity and p47phox expression, apoptotic cell number and the ROS content decreased significant-ly in a dose-dependent manner ( P <0. 01 ) . Conclu-sion PCB2 protects myocardial cell apoptosis induced by LPS via inhibiting the expression of NADPH oxidase activation, p47phox expression and reactive oxygen spe-cies generation.

Objective To study the effects of pirfenidone on total enzyme and isoenzyme of liver microsomal cytochrome P450 in rats. Methods The activites of liver microsomal dimethyl nitrosamine N-demethylase( NDMA )and erythromycin demethylase( ERD ) were determined. Fifty-six SD rats were randomly divided into six groups,in which they received CMC,dexamethasone 100 mg·kg-1 ,ketoconazole 40 mg·kg-1 ,pirfenidone 25,50,100 mg·kg-1 ,respectively. After administration for 6 and 12 days,livers were prepared liver microsome,the concentration of proteinum in microsome and shade selection to plasma samples were determined by spectrophotometer. Results After administration of pirfenidone for 6 days, cytochrome P450 was significantly increased in 50 and 100 mg·kg-1 pirfenidone groups,as compared with solvent control group (1%sodium carboxymethylcellulose)(P﹤0. 01). After administration of pirfenidone for 6 and 12 days,NDMA of liver microsome was not changed significantly(P﹥0. 05). ERD of liver microsome was significantly increased in 100 mg·kg-1 pirfenidone group after administration for 12 days(P﹤0. 01). Conclusion Pirfenidone can induce P450 and ERD activities in a dose-and time-dependent manner.

Clopidogrel was believed to be superior to aspirin by the well-known CAPRIE trial. However, no other large clinical trials demonstrated the same results, but all focused on the combination use of clopidogrel with aspirin, and combination therapy in CREDO was called the "Emperor's New Clothes". However, no one overturned the results of these clinical trials by quantitatively analyzing them. We reviewed ten large-scale clinical trials about clopidogrel. On the basis of results of CAPRIE, CREDO and CHARISMA trials, we re-estimated their minimal sample sizes and their powers by three well-established statistical methodologies. From the results of CAPRIE, we inferred that the minimal sample size should be 85 086 or 84 968 but its power was only 30.70%. A huge gap existed. The same was also true of CREDO and CHARISMA trials. Moreover, in CAPRIE trial, 0 was included in the 95% confidence interval and 1 was included in the 95% confidence interval for the relative risk. There were some paradoxical data in CAPRIE trial. We are led to conclude that the results in CAPRIE, CREDO, and from the subgroup analysis in CHARISMA trials were questionable. These results failed to demonstrate that clopidogrel was superior to aspirin or that clopidogrel used in combination with aspirin was better than aspirin alone. The cost-effectiveness analyses by some previous studies were not reliable.

Clopidogrel was believed to be superior to aspirin by the well-known CAPRIE trial. However, no other large clinical trials demonstrated the same results, but all focused on the combina-tion use of clopidogrel with aspirin, and combination therapy in CREDO was called the "Emperor's New Clothes". However, no one overturned the results of these clinical trials by quantitatively ana-lyzing them. We reviewed ten large-scale clinical trials about clopidogrel. On the basis of results of CAPRIE, CREDO and CHARISMA trials, we re-estimated their minimal sample sizes and their powers by three well-established statistical methodologies. From the results of CAPRIE, we inferred that the minimal sample size should be 85 086 or 84 968 but its power was only 30.70%. A huge gap existed. The same was also true of CREDO and CHARISMA trials. Moreover, in CAPRIE trial, 0 was included in the 95% confidence interval and 1 was included in the 95% confidence interval for the relative risk. There were some paradoxical data in CAPRIE trial. We are led to conclude that the results in CAPRIE, CREDO, and from the subgroup analysis in CHARISMA trials were questionable. These results failed to demonstrate that clopidogrel was superior to aspirin or that clopidogrel used in combination with aspirin was better than aspirin alone. The cost-effectiveness analyses by some pre-vious studies were not reliable.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of dauricine on the apoptosis of neuronal cells and the expression of apoptosis-related proteins in the brain penumbra of rats induced by transient focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.

METHODMale SD rats were randomly divided into five groups: sham group (Sham), model group (Model), and Dauricine groups of low, middle and high doses. To make the transient focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury model, the middle cerebral artery on the right side of rat was occluded by inserting a nylon suture through the internal carotid artery for 1 h, followed by reperfusion for 24 h after withdrawing the suture. Dauricine groups, different doses of Dauricine (2.5, 5, 10 mg x kg(-1) as low, middle and high dose respectively) were administered intraperitoneally at the beginning of the cerebral ischemia, and at 11 h and 23 h after reperfusion. At the same time, Sham group and Model group was administered saline as controls. Brain samples of rats were treated with paraformaldehyde perfusion fixation 24 h after blood reperfusion and then collected for making pathological sections. Apoptotic changes of neuronal cells in the brain penumbra of rat were evaluated in situ by terminal deoxyribonucleotidyl transferasemediated dUTP-digoxigenin nick end-labelling (TUNEL). Cytochrome C (Cyt-C) release and the expression of caspase -3 and caspase -9 proteins of the ischemic-reperfusion brain tissue were determined by immunohistochemistry assay.

RESULTTUNEL-positive cells in groups of middle and high doses of dauricine (18.9 +/- 2.02 and 15.9 +/- 2.9 cells/mm2 respectively) decreased significantly compared with model group (25.5 +/- 3.3 cells/mm2, P<0.05). Cyt-C release and the expression of caspase-3 and caspase-9 proteins in groups of middle and high doses of dauricine were also inhibited compared with Model group (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe mechanism of the neuroprotective effect of dauricine after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury may parly, related with an inhibition of neuronal cells apoptosis in the penumbra.

Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Benzylisoquinolines ; pharmacology ; Caspases ; metabolism ; Cytochromes c ; metabolism ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Gene Expression Regulation ; drug effects ; Ischemic Attack, Transient ; surgery ; Male ; Neuroprotective Agents ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Reperfusion Injury ; metabolism ; pathology ; prevention & control ; Tetrahydroisoquinolines ; pharmacology

To determine the pharmacokinetics and bioequivalence of epinastine (EPN) hydrochloride, a promising histamine H1 receptor antagonist, in healthy Chinese volunteers under fasting conditions. METHODS: EPN hydrochloride test and reference tablets were administered as a single dose on two treatment days separated by a 1-week washout period. After dosing, serial blood samples were collected for a period of 36 h, and plasma EPN hydrochloride concentrations were determined by a validated reversed-phase HPLC method and pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated with DAS software. RESULTS: Plasma concentration-time profiles were adequately described by a two-compartment open model. The compound was rapidly absorbed and cleared slowly from plasma with a half-life of approximately 10 h. The main pharmacokinetic parameters of EPN hydrochloride test and reference tablets were as follow: tmax were (2.2±0.5) and (2.0±0.4)h, Cmax were (66±16)and (68±13)μg/L, t1/2 were(10.1±1.3) and (10.4±2.4)h, AUC0-36 were (592±88) and (601±94)μg·h·L-1, respectively. The relative bioavailability of test tablets was (99±13)%. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the two formulations of EPN hydrochloride tablets are bioequivalent in the rate and extent of absorption.