Aim To observe the effect of epimedium on the proliferation and stem cell-like character expression of breast cancer cells, and investigate the relationship between the inhibition of stem cell-like character and miR-148a by epimedium, and its molecular mechanism. Methods After treatment with different concentrations of epimedium, cell viability and population dependence were detected by MTT assay and colony formation assay; the breast cancer stem cell-derived mammosphere formation was examined by Mammosphere assay; the expression levels of CD44,ALDH-1, Oct4,BMIl and EpCAM were detected by qPCR; the protein expression levels of EpCAM, SOX4, ZO-1, E-cadherin and vimentin were detected by Western blot; the protein localization of EpCAM was observed by im-munofluorescence assay; the effect of epimedium on migration was detected by wound healing assay. The miR-148a mimic was transfected into MDA-MB-231 cells, and the effects of epimedium on stem-like character expression of transfected MDA-MB-231 cells were observed. Results Epimedium significantly inhibited the proliferation and population dependence of MDA-MB-231 cells (P < 0.05 ), and reduced the breast cancer stem cell-derived mammosphere formation; compared with control group, epimedium significantly decreased mRNA levels of CD44, ALDH-1, Oct4, BMI1 and EpCAM (P <0.05) ,decreased protein contents of EpCAM, SOX4 and Vimentin (P < 0.05 ), up-regulated the protein expression of ZO-1 and e-cadherin ( P <0.05) ,and decreased the migration ability of MDA-MB-231 cells (P < 0.05). Epimedium up-regulated the expression of miR-148a in MDA-MB-231 cells (P <0.01). YYH + miR-148a mimic group significantly inhibited stem-like character expression and EMT process of breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells compared with control group (P <0.05). Conclusions Epimedium can inhibit the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells, which may be related to the up-regulation of miR-148a, decrease of stem-like character expression of breast cancer cells,and inhibition of EMT.

Objective:To document the effectiveness of using a digital treadmill in rehabilitating the walking ability of patients with an incomplete spinal cord injury.Methods:Ninety-three patients with an incomplete spinal cord injury were randomly divided into a control group ( n=46) and a treatment group ( n=47). Both groups received routine rehabilitation, but the treatment group was additionally trained using a digital treadmill. Before and after 3 months of the treatment, the quadriceps strength of each patient was graded using Lovett muscle strength grades. Walking ability was quantified using the 10m walk test, the 6min walking endurance test and lower extremity motor scoring (LEMS). Gait parameters were recorded along with the maximum knee flexion and hip flexion angles. Ability in the activities of daily living was assessed using the modified Barthel index (MBI) and the functional independence rating scale (FIM). Results:After treatment, significant improvement was observed in the average quadriceps muscle strength, 10m walking time, 6min walking distance, LEMS score, step length, step speed, step frequency, maximum knee flexion angle, maximum hip flexion angle, MBI score and FIM score of both groups compared with before the treatment. Significantly greater improvement was observed in the treatment group′s average quadriceps muscle strength, 10m walking time, 6min walking distance, LEMS score, step length, walking speed, stride frequency, knee and hip flexion angles, and their average MBI and FIM scores.Conclusions:Rehabilitation training using a digital treadmill can improve the lower limb muscle strength, walking ability and gait parameters of patients with incomplete spinal cord injury, as well as their ability in the activities of daily living.

The present study was aimed to investigate the effects of circRNA-0028171 on the apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells induced by arsenic trioxide (As₂O₃). Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were treated with 0-15 μmol/L As₂O₃ for 24 h. Then, cellular viability was measured by MTT assay. The expression levels of circRNA-0028171, Bcl-2 and Bax mRNA were detected by real-time quantitative PCR. Bcl-2/Bax protein ratio was detected by Western blot. Whether circRNA-0028171 was involved in the regulation of HUVECs by As₂O₃ was investigated by transfection with overexpression plasmid of circRNA-0028171 and siRNA. The results showed that compared with the control group, As₂O₃ group showed decreased cellular viability, reduced Bcl-2/Bax mRNA and protein ratios, and significantly lower expression of circRNA-0028171. Overexpression of circRNA-0028171 inhibited apoptosis of HUVECs induced by As₂O₃. Knockdown of circRNA-0028171 by siRNA promoted As₂O₃-induced apoptosis in HUVECs. These results suggest that circRNA-0028171 is involved in the vascular endothelial cell apoptosis induced by As₂O₃.
Humans ; Arsenic Trioxide/pharmacology* ; RNA, Circular ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein/metabolism* ; RNA, Small Interfering/metabolism* ; Apoptosis ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2/metabolism* ; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells/metabolism* ; RNA, Messenger/metabolism*

Chinese medicine dispensing granules, the result of the efforts to transform Chinese medicinal decoction pieces in China, features portability and ease of storage. Thus, it is destined to be an indispensible dosage form in the modernization drive of Chinese medicine. The Announcement on Ending the Pilot Project of Chinese Medicine Dispensing Granules was released in February 2021 and relevant regulations went into force in November 2021, which marks the a new journey for the development of Chinese medicine dispensing granules and the beginning of the "post-pilot era". However, it faces the challenges in quality and standard. This study reviewed the history of Chinese medicine dispensing granules, analyzed the technical progress, market, and main problems in development, and proposed suggestions and prospects for its development in the "post-pilot era", which is expected to serve as a reference for its industry development and rational use.
China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use* ; Industrial Development ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Pilot Projects

OBJECTIVE: To establish a method for simultaneous determination of 15 kinds of vapor state organic acids in workplace air by solvent desorption-gas chromatography.METHODS: A total 15 kinds of vapor state organic acids such as acetic acid, propanoic acid, butyric acid and pentanoic acid in the air of workplace were collected by silica gel, eluted with acetone, separated by DB-FFAP capillary chromatograph column, and detected by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection. RESULTS: There was a good linear relationship in the selected range of 15 kinds of organic acids. The coefficient correlation was 0.999 97-0.999 98. The limit of detection of this method was 0.04-0.29 mg/L, and the minimum detection concentration was 0.03-0.19 mg/m~(3 )(collected sample volume was 1.50 L). The average desorption efficiency was 92.9%-98.5%. The within-run and between-run relative standard deviation was 0.3%-1.6% and 1.5%-3.0%, respectively. The samples could be kept for at least 15 days at room temperature. CONCLUSION: The method is simple for operation, with high sensitivity, and good precision, which is suitable for simultaneous determination of 15 kinds of vapor state organic acids in the air of workplace and sites of emergency accident.

The study explores the application of Tanreqing Injection into brain components in brain diseases. The components of Tanreqing Injection and its existing components in rat cerebrospinal fluid were qualitatively analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry(LC-MS). The possible mechanism of action of Tanreqing Injection into brain on brain diseases was predicted by network pharmacological theory. In this study, 17 brain-entry components of Tanreqing Injection were founded, and 222 core targets were obtained from network pharmacological results. The biological processes include 31 items such as negative regulation of apoptotic process, MAPK cascade, Ras protein signal transduction, and 22 items such as PI3 K-Akt signal transduction, MAPK signal transduction and neurotrophic factor signal transduction. Nine brain diseases including stroke, migraine and meningioma were screened out by predicting the effect of Tanreqing Injection on brain components, which provide ideas and directions for further study of a certain encephalopathy and lay a theoretical foundation for further revealing its molecular mechanism.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Brain Diseases/drug therapy* ; Cerebrospinal Fluid/chemistry* ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/analysis* ; Injections ; Mass Spectrometry ; Rats ; Signal Transduction

Objective To screen Oxalobacter formigenes (OxF) from fresh feces of healthy adults,and study its effect on the the prevention of calcium oxalate kidney stones.Methods OxF was screened and cultured from fresh feces of healthy adults.The rat model of calcium oxalate stone was established by esophageal gavage of 0.8％ of ethylene glycol.Rats were divided into a control group and four groups of rats with ethylene glycol-induced calcium oxalate kidney stones according to random number table.Three groups were treated with 106 CFU,107 CFU,108 CFU viable OxF every day,respectively,for 4 weeks.The blood and 24-hour urine samples were collected to detect the serum creatinine,urea nitrogen,serum and urine calcium,phosphorus,magnesium and urine oxalate every week.At the end of the 4th week,the rats were sacrificed and the kidney tissues were stained with HE and Yasue.The deposition and content of calcium oxalate crystals were observed under a light microscope.Results The bacteria strain isolated from fresh feces of healthy adults was 100％ as same as the known ATCC35274 bacteria strain,which means the strain screened is OxF.Among the 5 groups,there were no significant differences in body weight,Scr,BUN,serum calcium,blood magnesium,blood phosphorus,urinary magnesium and urinary phosphorus.The 24-hour urinary calcium excretion in the model group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P ＜ 0.05).After intervention with OxF solution,the 24-hour urinary calcium excretion in the 108 CFU OxF group was significantly higher than that in the model group (P ＜ 0.05),while there was no significant difference between the other intervention groups and the model.The oxalic acid excretion of 106 CFU OxF group and 107 CFU OxF group was lower than that of the model,but the difference did not reach statistical significance (P＞ 0.05).The 24 h oxalic acid excretion in the 108 CFU OxF group was significantly lower than that of the model at the end of first week (P ＜ 0.05),and continued to decrease for the next 3 weeks.After 4 weeks of intervention,no crystal formation was observed in the control group under the deflection microscope,but a large amount of calcium oxalate crystals were formed in the renal cortex and renal medulla.The crystals were piled up and connected to each other.Yasue staining coincided with the calcium oxalate crystal in the same part of the kidneys.Compared with the model,there was no significant change in the score of calcium oxalate crystal in the kidneys of 106 CFU OxF group and 107 CFU OxF group,while the score of calcium oxalate crystal in the kidneys of 108 CFU OxF group was significantly lower (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions OxF are successively screened from healthy adults.Daily administration of 108 CFU OxF can safely and effectively reduce the urinary oxalic acid excretion,prevent the formation of calcium oxalate crystals and inhibit the formation of stones in kidneys of rats.

This paper aimed to explore the molecular mechanism of Xingnaojing injection and its scientific connotation of compatibility mechanism from a new perspective on bioinformatics and network biology. Based on the analysis function of intergrative pharmacology platform V1.0, the compatibility mechanism of this prescription was investigated by constructing the herbs-compounds-targets network. Seven hundreds and ninety-five targets from the prescription were screened out, then 302 hub nodes were included in drug targets-disease targets network. Enrichment analysis showed that it was related to MAPK cascade, negative/positive regulation of apoptotic process and other biological functions as well as PI3K/AKT, neurotrophin and other signal pathways. The target functions of different drugs were similar, complementing each other, and belonging to the common signaling pathway with asynergistic effect. Based on analysis of core components-key targets-main pathway network, among totally 25 core components and 29 key targets, musk had 15 and 25 respectively.SLC1A2, AR, PGR, CAT, NMDA receptors and other targets were associated with cerebral infarction. Musk, gardenia and borneol compatibility can play a bidirectional regulation of apoptosis; musk and gardenia showed synergistic effect on Ras signaling pathway, indicating that musk was the main ingredient of the injection and the other three drugs played the role of assistance. This study could not only provide the bioinformatics support in compatibility mechanism of Xingnaojing injection, but also provide theoretical support for its formula rationality.

Triptolide (TP) from Tripterygium wilfordii has been demonstrated to possess anti-inflammatory, immunosuppressive, and anticancer activities. TP is specially used for the treatment of awkward rheumatoid arthritis, but its clinical application is confined by intense side effects. It is reported that licorice can obviously reduce the toxicity of TP, but the detailed mechanisms involved have not been comprehensively investigated. The current study aimed to explore metabolomics characteristics of the toxic reaction induced by TP and the intervention effect of licorice water extraction (LWE) against such toxicity. Obtained urine samples from control, TP and TP + LWE treated rats were analyzed by UPLC/ESI-QTOF-MS. The metabolic profiles of the control and the TP group were well differentiated by the principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis. The toxicity of TP was demonstrated to be evolving along with the exposure time of TP. Eight potential biomarkers related to TP toxicity were successfully identified in urine samples. Furthermore, LWE treatment could attenuate the change in six of the eight identified biomarkers. Functional pathway analysis revealed that the alterations in these metabolites were associated with tryptophan, pantothenic acid, and porphyrin metabolism. Therefore, it was concluded that LWE demonstrated interventional effects on TP toxicity through regulation of tryptophan, pantothenic acid, and porphyrin metabolism pathways, which provided novel insights into the possible mechanisms of TP toxicity as well as the potential therapeutic effects of LWE against such toxicity.
Animals ; Biomarkers ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Diterpenes ; toxicity ; Epoxy Compounds ; toxicity ; Glycyrrhiza ; Male ; Metabolomics ; Phenanthrenes ; toxicity ; Plant Extracts ; therapeutic use ; Principal Component Analysis ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization ; methods

Objective To establish a liquid chromatography -mass spectrometry ( LC-MS/MS) method for the analysis of platelet-activa-ting factor C-18(PAF C-18)and its acetylhydrolase in human plasma. Methods A convenient extraction procedure using trichloromethane, methanol and water as the extract solvent was used.The separation was carried out on Agilent XDB C -18 analytical column.Mobile phase A consisted of methanol -ammonium acetate(1 mmol? L-1 )-acetonitrile ( 57 ∶23 ∶20 ) , and mobile phase B was methanol containing 1 mmol? L-1 ammonium acetate.Gradient elution was used.The speci-ficity, linearity and limit of quantification, precision and recovery, ma-trix effect and stability were assessed.Results The assay was reproduci-ble within the linearity range from 0.5-25.0 ng? mL-1 ( r=0.998 4 ) . The relative standard deviation( RSD) of intra-day precision were below 10%, with recovery rate ranged from 67.0% to 82.1% and the matrix effect ranged from 115.3%to 116.9%.PAF C-18 was fully degraded over 90 min at room temperature.Conclusion This method provides a sensitive, special and convenient approach for the clinical analysis of PAF C-18, as well as the indirect measurement of PAF-acetylhydrolase activity by analyzing the concentration decrease of an exogenous PAF.