The Meridian Tropism and Classification of Red Yeast Rice Investigated by Monitoring Dermal Electrical Potential.

Red yeast rice is a traditional Chinese medicine and food that has been purported to color food, ferment, and lower cholesterol. In order to study the antioxidative capacity of red yeast rice and the effects on electrical potential difference (EPD) of 12 acupuncture meridians, the pH value, oxidation reduction potential (ORP), ABTS, FRAP, T-SOD, and particle size distribution of red yeast rice were analyzed. 20 volunteers were recruited and randomly divided into two groups, the red yeast rice group (10 g red yeast rice and 40 g water) and control CK group (50 g water). The left 12 acupuncture meridians' EPD was real-time monitored. Samples were taken at the 10th minutes. The whole procedure continued for 70 minutes. It is shown that the pH value of the red yeast rice was 4.22, the ORP was 359.63 mV, the ABTS was 0.48 mmol Trolox, the FRAP was 0.08 mmol FeSO4, the T-SOD was 4.71 U, and the average particle size was 108 nm (7.1%) and 398.1 nm (92.9%). The results of 12 acupuncture meridians' EPD showed that the red yeast rice can significantly affect the EPD of stomach, heart, small intestine, and liver meridians.

Effects of TAT-SOD at Acupoints on Essential Hypertension by Monitoring Meridians Electrical Potential.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect on essential hypertension of the topical application of TAT-Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase (TAT-SOD) at left acupoint Zusanli (ST 36), and to observe whether the change of electrical potential difference (EPD) can be related to the change of blood pressure. METHODS: Sixteen patients with essential hypertension and 16 healthy subjects were included in the study. EPD between the left acupoints of Yanglingquan (GB 34) and Qiuxu (GB 40) was firstly screened out for the EPD detection. An intracellular superoxide quenching enzyme, TAT-SOD, was topically applied to the acupoint ST 36 within an area of 1 cm2 once a day, and the influence on EPD was investigated. The dosage applied to TAT-SOD group (n=8) was 0.2 mL of 3000 U/mL TAT-SOD cream prepared by adding purified TAT-SOD to a vehicle cream, while placebo group (n=8) used the vehicle cream instead. The left acupoints of Yanglingquan (GB 34) and Qiuxu (GB 40) were selected for EPD measurement after comparing EPD readings between 5 acupoints on each of all 12 meridians. RESULTS: EPDs between the left acupoints of GB 34 and GB 40 for 16 patients of essential hypertension and 16 healthy subjects were 44.9±6.4 and 5.6±0.9 mV, respectively. Daily application of TAT-SOD for 15 days at ST 36 of essential hypertension patients significantly decreased systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of 179.6 and 81.5 mm Hg to 153.1 and 74.1 mm Hg, respectively. Responding to the change in blood pressure, EPD between the left acupoints of GB 34 and GB 40 also declined from 44.4 to 22.8 mV with the same trend. No change was observed with SBP, DBP and EPD between the left acupoints of GB 34 and GB 40 with the daily application of the placebo cream. CONCLUSION: Enzymatic scavenging of the intracellular superoxide at ST 36 proved to be effective in decreasing SBP and DBP. The results reconfirm the involvement of superoxide anions and its transportation along the meridians, and demonstrate that EPD between acupoints may be an indicator to reflect its functioning status. Moreover, preliminary results suggest a close correlation between EPD and blood pressure readings, implying a possibility of using EPD as a sensitive parameter for blood pressure and to monitor the effect of antihypertensive treatment.

Topical Application of TAT-Superoxide Dismutase in Acupoints LI 20 on Allergic Rhinitis.

Reactive oxygen species are products of cellular metabolism and assigned important roles in biomedical science as deleterious factors in pathologies. In fact, some studies have shown that the therapeutic benefits of taking antioxidants were limited and the potential for therapeutic intervention remains unclear. New evidences showed that ROS have some ability of intercellular transportation. For treating allergic rhinitis, as a novel intracellular superoxide quencher, TAT-SOD applied to acupoints LI 20 instead of directly to nasal cavity can be used to test that. TTA group apply TAT-SOD cream prepared by adding purified TAT-SOD to the vehicle cream to acupoints LI 20, while placebo group used the vehicle cream instead. TTN group applied the same TAT-SOD cream directly to nasal cavity three times daily. Symptom scores were recorded at baseline and days 8 and 15. For the overall efficacy rate, TTA group was 81.0%, while placebo group was 5.9% and TTN was 0%. Malondialdehyde levels decreased observably in TTA group, and superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase levels remained basically unaffected. Enzymatic scavenging of the intracellular superoxide at acupoints LI 20 proved to be effective in treating allergic rhinitis, while no improvement was observed with the placebo group and TTN group.

Monitoring the Effects of Acupoint Antioxidant Intervention by Measuring Electrical Potential Difference along the Meridian.

Previous studies suggest that superoxide anions are possibly traveling along acupuncture meridians. The electrical potential difference (EPD) between acupoints may be related to the movement. To test the above hypothesis, we conducted a study investigating the effects of acupoint antioxidant interventions on the meridian EPD. Firstly, ST39 (L) and ST44 (L) were screened out for the EPD detection along the stomach meridian, and ST36 (L) was selected for interventions including acumassage with the control cream, as well as the TAT-SOD cream for 30 minutes, or injection with reduced glutathione sodium. The EPD between ST39 and ST44 was recorded for 80 minutes and measured again 48 h later. While the EPD increased during the acumassage, the acumassage with TAT-SOD cream and the glutathione injection generated waves of EPD increased, indicating the migration or removal from the visceral organ of a greater quantity of superoxide. Remarkably lower EPD readings 48 h later with both antioxidant acupoint interventions than the mere acumassage imply a more complete superoxide flushing out due to the restored superoxide pathway at the acupoint after interventions. The results confirm superoxide transportation along the meridians and demonstrate a possibility of acupoint EPD measurement as a tool to monitor changes in the meridians and acupoints.

catena-Poly[[[aqua-[3-(3-hy-droxy-phen-yl)prop-2-enoato]samarium(III)]-bis-[µ(2)-3-(3-hy-droxy-phen-yl)prop-2-enoato]] monohydrate].

The title Sm(III) compound, {[Sm(C(9)H(7)O(3))(3)(H(2)O)]·H(2)O}(n), was obtained under hydrothermal conditions. Its structure is isotypic with the analogous Eu complex. The latter was reported incorrectly in space group P1 by Yan et al. [J. Mol. Struct. (2008), 891, 298-304]. This was corrected by Marsh [Acta Cryst. B65, 782-783] to P-1. The Sm(III) ion is nine-coordinated by O atoms from one coordinating water molecule and the remaining ones from the 3-(3-hy-droxy-phen-yl)prop-2-enoatate anions (one bidentate, two bidentate and bridging, two monodentate bridging), leading to a distorted tricapped trigonal-prismatic coordination polyhedron surrounded by solvent water mol-ecules. In the crystal, extensive intermolecular O-H⋯O hydrogen-bonding inter-actions and π-π inter-actions [centroid-centroid separation = 3.9393 (1) Å] lead to the formation of a three-dimensional supra-molecular network.

Tetrakis[µ-3-(3-hy-droxy-phen-yl)propenoato]bis-{aqua-(2,2'-bipyridine)-[3-(3-hy-droxy-phen-yl)propenoato]neodymium(III)} 2,2'-bipyridine disolvate dihydrate.

The dinuclear title compound, [Nd(2)(C(9)H(7)O(3))(6)(C(10)H(8)N(2))(2)]·2C(10)H(8)N(2)·2H(2)O, was synthesized under hydro-thermal conditions. The centrosymmetric complex consists of two nine-coordinated Nd(3+) cations, six 3-hy-droxy-cinnamate anions and two chelating 2,2'-bipyridine mol-ecules. The coordination geometry around the cations can be best described as distorted tricapped trigonal-prismatic. The carboxyl-ate groups show different coordination and bridging modes. Two of them chelate to one Nd(3+) cation, two bridge the two cations in a bis-monodentate fashion, and two chelate to one and bridge monodentately to the symmetry-related Nd(3+) cation. The dinuclear mol-ecule is surrounded by two 2,2'-bipyridine solvent and two water mol-ecules. Extensive O-H⋯O and O-H⋯N hydrogen-bonding inter-actions between the components lead to the formation of a three-dimensional network.