An explanation for fluctuations of icariin content in Epimedium production process.

Epimedium has beneficial effects in nourishing and building up the body and is widely used in practical production of Epimedium preparations. As one of the major active compounds in Epimedium preparations, icariin is be used as a quality control index of industrial manufacture. However, content of icariin was observed to increase to uncertain extent in pharmaceutical production, which might bring difficulties in quality control. The content fluctuation mainly occurred in high-temperature extraction process. The aim of this study is to investigate what happen to flavonol-glycosides in Epimedium under heating treatment. Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Linear Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer was applied to profile the transformation rule of flavonol-glycosides in Epimedium and search for an explanation for the increase in icariin content under heating treatment. 56 compounds were found to have significantly changed and their structures were identified, among which 15 flavonol-glycosides were proposed to play a role in icariin content variation. Further studies were conducted based on 8 flavonol-glycosides standard substances to obtain more credible data. Finally, Baohuoside II, 2"-o-rhamnosylicariside II, Epimedin A1, Epimedin A, Epimedin B, Epimedin C, Baohuoside I and Anhydroicaritin were found to transform into icariin during the heating process. This study provides an evidence for the quality control study of Epimedium preparation, as well as reference for chemical researches in natural pharmacy.

[Advanced in studies on anxiolytic effects of natural flavonoids].

Anxiety is one of the most common diseases endangering human health. Its pathogenesis is complex, the studies on the mechanisms of anxiety disorder are concentrated on neurotransmitter, neuroendocrine, immunologic system. Flavonoids are a kind of compounds which possess a variety of physiological activity, used in plenty of diseases. In recent years, researches of natural flavonoids on anti-anxiety were increasing, but contents were incomplete. It was just involved several neurotransmitters in research area. This paper is based on different anxiolytic effect mechanisms and structure-activity relationships of natural flavonoids, summarizing the researches of domestic and foreign, which can serve as a reference for further studies on anxiolytic effects of natural flavonoids.

Vegetarian diet duration's influence on women's gut environment.

BACKGROUND: Nutrient composition of vegetarian diets is greatly different from that of omnivore diets, which may fundamentally influence the gut microbiota and fecal metabolites. The interactions between diet pattern and gut environment need further illustration. This study aims to compare the difference in the gut microbiota and fecal metabolites between vegetarian and omnivore female adults and explore associations between dietary choices/duration and gut environment changes. METHODS: In this study, investigations on the fecal metabolome together with the gut microbiome were performed to describe potential interactions with quantitative functional annotation. In order to eliminate the differences brought by factors of gender and living environment, 80 female adults aged 20 to 48 were recruited in the universities in Beijing, China. Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology (QIIME) analysis and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) were applied to screen differential data between groups from gut microbiota and fecal metabolites. Furthermore, weighted gene correlation network analysis (WGCNA) was employed as the bioinformatics analysis tool for describing the correlations between gut microbiota and fecal metabolites. Moreover, participants were further subdivided by the vegetarian diet duration for analysis. RESULTS: GPCR-mediated integration of enteroendocrine signaling was predicted to be one of the regulatory mechanisms of the vegetarian diet. Intriguingly, changes in the gut environment which occurred along with the vegetarian diet showed attenuated trend as the duration increased. A similar trend of returning to "baseline" after a 10-year vegetarian diet was detected in both gut microbiota and fecal metabolome. CONCLUSIONS: The vegetarian diet is beneficial more than harmful to women. Gut microbiota play roles in the ability of the human body to adapt to external changes.

Accuracy of pedicle screw placement in posterior lumbosacral instrumentation by computer tomography evaluation: A multi-centric retrospective clinical study.

BACKGROUND: Pedicle screw misplacement rates are relatively high with fluoroscopically guided techniques. However, breach rates in the 5th lumbar and the 1st sacral spines in conventional operations have not been specifically concerned because of their broad cross sections. It's a retrospective study to evaluate the accuracy and safety of pedicle screw placement in posterior lumbosacral instrumentation under CT scan with reconstruction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 401 patients were evaluated under CT scan with reconstruction in 3 hospitals by 2 professional observers after posterior lumbosacral instrumentation including 152 3rd lumbar spines (L3), 219 4th lumbar spines (L4), 270 5th lumbar spines (L5) and 95 1st sacral spines (S1) with screws placed. Patients were followed for potential clinical symptoms. RESULTS: In a total of 1467 instrumented pedicles, there were 371 pedicle breaches. Of these, the segment of the breached pedicles were L3: 91/301 (30.2%), L4: 126/436 (29.0%), L5: 132/539 (24.5%), S1: 22/191 (11.5%). For severe violation from L3 to S1, 8/91 (8.8%), 8/126 (6.3%), 19/132 (14.4%), 8/22 (36.4%) were confirmed respectively. Furthermore, the inferomedial breach sites quantified from L3 to S1 were 43/91 (47.3%), 74/126 (58.7%), 99/132 (75%), 19/22 (86.4%) respectively. And there were 9 cases of cerebrospinal fluid leakage and 3 cases of neurological deficit. CONCLUSION: L3, L4 and L5 have no significant differences in pedicle breach rates. The incidences of high risk pedicle breach (grade III, grade IV) are higher in L5 and S1, and the breach sites are more common in the inferomedial wall of L5 and S1 than that of L3 and L4. Many surgeons took it for granted that L5 and S1 were safe when inserting pedicle screws, but they are not safe as expected actually.