Calcitonin gene­related peptide­mediated pharmacological effects in cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases (Review).

Calcitonin gene­related peptide (CGRP) is the predominant neurotransmitter located in sensory nerves. This peptide is extensively distributed in central and peripheral tissues. CGRP causes relaxation of cardiovascular smooth muscle cells and confers protection against ischaemic myocardium and cardiac remodeling. The pharmacological effects of nitroglycerine and rutaecarpine have been demonstrated to be associated with an increase in the synthesis and release of CGRP. In the gastrointestinal tissues, CGRP participates in the regulation of gastrointestinal function, and exerts protective effects on gastric mucosa. Rutaecarpine, capsaicin and its derivatives, such as evodiamine, decrease gastric mucosal damage induced by several factors, including increased synthesis and release of CGRP. Taken together, this review focuses on the pharmacological effects of several CGRP related canonical drugs and suggests that synthesis and secretion of CGRP exhibit significant therapeutic effects in the occurrence and development of cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases.

Assessment of the contribution of chiral odorants to aroma property of baked green teas using an efficient sequential stir bar sorptive extraction approach.

Chiral volatile compounds are known to be distributed in teas at various enantiomeric ratios. However, the performance of each enantiomer, including aroma characteristics, aroma intensities, and contribution to the overall flavor of tea, is still unclear. In this study, aroma characteristics and intensities of 38 volatile enantiomers in standards and baked green teas with chestnut-like aroma and clean aroma were evaluated by an efficient sequential headspace-stir bar sorptive extraction (seq-HS-SBSE) approach combined with the enantioselective gas chromatography-olfactometry/mass spectrometry (Es-GC-O/MS) technique. Moreover, aroma recombination results for the two types of baked green teas using 14 chiral odorants and four achiral odorants indicated that the combinations of the detected odorants mainly contributed to the "floral", "sweet", and "chestnut-like" aromas. R-Linalool simultaneously enhanced the "floral", "sweet", and "chestnut-like" aromas; R-limonene mainly contributed to the "sweet" and "clean" aromas; and S-α-terpineol promoted the "sweet" and "floral" aromas of baked green tea.

Characterization of the key aroma compounds in Longjing tea using stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O), odor activity value (OAV), and aroma recombination.

Longjing tea is the most famous premium green tea, and is regarded as the national tea in China, with its attractive aroma contributing as a prime factor for its general acceptability; however, its key aroma compounds are essentially unknown. In the present study, volatile compounds from Longjing tea were extracted and examined using stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Data obtained from the present study revealed that 151 volatile compounds from 16 different chemical classes were identified by GC-MS analysis. Enols (8096 µg/kg), alkanes (6744 µg/kg), aldehydes (6442 µg/kg), and esters (6161 µg/kg) were the four major chemical classes and accounted for 54% of the total content of volatile compounds. Geraniol (6736 µg/kg) was the most abundant volatile compound in Longjing tea, followed by hexanal (1876 µg/kg) and ß-ionone (1837 µg/kg). Moreover, 14 volatile compounds were distinguished as the key aroma compounds of Longjing tea based on gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O) analysis, odor activity value (OAV) calculations, and a preliminary aroma recombination experiment, including 2-methyl butyraldehyde, dimethyl sulfoxide, heptanal, benzaldehyde, 1-octen-3-ol, (E, E)-2,4-heptadienal, benzeneacetaldehyde, linalool oxide I, (E, E)-3,5-octadien-2-one, linalool, nonanal, methyl salicylate, geraniol, and ß-ionone. This is the first comprehensive report describing the aroma characterizations and the key aroma compounds in Longjing tea using SBSE/GC-MS. The findings from this study contribute to the scientific elucidation of the chemical basis for the aromatic qualities of Longjing tea.

[Assessment of efficacy of acupuncture combined with hyperbaric oxygen therapy for patients with delayed encephalopathy of CO intoxication by magnetic resonance voxel incoherent motion imaging].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of acupuncture plus hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) on cerebral blood perfusion in patients with delayed encephalopathy after carbon monoxide poisoning (DEACMP). METHODS: Twenty-eight patients with DEACMP were randomly divided into acupuncture group (n=14 cases) and control group (n=14 cases). Patients of the acupuncture group were treated by using "Xingnao Kaiqiao" needling technique (specific set of acupuncture points as Yintang ï¼»EX-HN3ï¼½, Shangxing ï¼»GV23ï¼½, Baihui ï¼»GV20ï¼½, Sishenchong ï¼»EX-HN1ï¼½, Fengchi ï¼»GB20ï¼½, Taichong ï¼»LR3ï¼½, etc., and strong stimulation) combined with HBO in an air pressurized tank, and those of the control group treated by simple HBO. The treatment was conducted once a day, 5 days a week for 6 weeks. All the patients underwent head routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and intravoxel incoherent motion imaging(IVIM) scan before and after the treatment. The values of pseudo-diffusion coefficient D (D*) and perfusion fraction (f) of the bilateral semi-oval centers were measured by using MITK software package to calculate the ave-rage fD* value (f×D*). The Barthel index (BI) score was used to assess the patients' daily living ability, and the correlation between parameter values was evaluated by Pearson method. RESULTS: After the treatment, the values of f, fD* and BI scores were significantly increased in both acupuncture group and control groups (P<0.05). The values of the 3 indexes were significantly higher in the acupuncture group than those in the control group (P<0.05). The values of f and fD* were positively correlated with BI score (P<0.05), with the correlation coefficients being 0.822, 0.636 and 0.601, respectively between the fD* and f, BI and f, and BI and fD*. CONCLUSION: Acupuncture combined with HBO can significantly improve the low-perfusion of bilate-ral semi-oval center and daily living ability in patients with DEACMP, being significantly superior to simple HBO therapy in the curative effect.

[Current state of researches on mechanisms of acupuncture in improvement of hypoxia-ischemic diseases of the central nervous system].

Acupuncture is widely used in the treatment of ischemic diseases of the central nervous system in different clinical stages and has achieved a good clinical effect. The current research showed that acupuncture can improve cerebral blood flow perfusion via increasing blood flow volume, blood flow velocity, the levels of vasomotor substances and reduction of blood viscosity and erythrocyte aggregation index. In recent years, many studies focused on the pathophysiological mechanism of acupuncture in improving cerebral ischemia via triggering the cholinergic vasodilatation, up-regulation of expression of vascular-related proteins and genes，attenuation of inflammatory reaction, etc. Currently, the methods for evaluating the effect of acupuncture are mostly noninvasive functional magnetic resonance imaging in healthy subjects. Future studies should include united selection of acupoints and acupuncture needle manipulations, more reasonable combination of different acupoints, united outcome evaluative standards, better repeatability, employment of big data, etc.