The Evaluation of Proanthocyanidins/Chitosan/Lecithin Microspheres as Sustained Drug Delivery System.

Proanthocyanidin (PC) has attracted wide attention on cosmetics and pharmaceutical due to its antioxidant, anticancer, antimicrobial, antiangiogenic, and anti-inflammatory activities. However, PC applications are limited because of its sensitivity to thermal treatment, light, and oxidation and the poor absorption in the gastrointestinal tract. Thus, a novel dosage form of PC needs to be designed to improve its stability and bioavailability for drug delivery. The objective of this study is to fabricate proanthocyanidins/chitosan/lecithin (PC/CTS/LEC) microspheres and investigate various characteristics. In the current study, PC/CTS/LEC microspheres were prepared by spray-drying technology. The yield (61.68%), encapsulation efficiency (68.19%), and drug loading capacity (17.05%) were found in the results. The scanning electron microscope demonstrated that the microspheres were spherical in shape with wrinkled surfaces. DSC study displayed that the microspheres stability was greatly improved when comparing with bare PC. The in vitro release study showed that the 76.92% of PC was released from microspheres within 48 h. The moisture contents of microspheres ranged from 8% to 13%. The swelling rate and tapped density of microspheres were elevated with increasing the concentration of chitosan in the formulations. The moisture uptake of microspheres was saturated at 40°C/RH75% within 12 h. Our results indicated that the stability of PC/CTS/LEC microspheres was enhanced, and it is a promising carrier for sustained drug delivery system.

Inhibitory effect of sihuangxiechai decoction on ovalbumin-induced airway inflammation in Guinea pigs.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of sihuangxiechai decoction on asthmatic Guinea pig model which was sensitized by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of ovalbumin (OVA) and challenged by OVA inhalation to induce chronic airway inflammation. Differential cell counts of cytospins were performed after staining with Giemsa solution. The quantity of leukocytes and its classification in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and blood were evaluated by blood cell analyzer and microscope. Histological analysis of the lung was performed by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. The levels of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in BALF and serum were detected by radioimmunoassay (RIA). The total number of leukocytes in BALF and blood has no significant difference between Sihuangxiechaitang decoction treated group and dexamethasone (DXM) treated group but was significantly lower than those of asthma group. The percentage of eosinophils in lung tissues of sihuangxiechai decoction treated group was significantly lower than that of asthma group. The results demonstrated that the levels of IL-4 and TNF-α in the sihuangxiechai decoction treated group were significantly reduced compared with the asthma group. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate that sihuangxiechai decoction has a protective effect on OVA-induced asthma in reducing airway inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) in a Guinea pig model and may be useful as an adjuvant therapy for the treatment of bronchial asthma.

The prevalence and distribution of Chlamydia trachomatis genotypes among sexually transmitted disease clinic patients in Guangzhou, China, 2005-2008.

This study was designed to determine the prevalence and distribution of Chlamydia trachomatis genotypes from clinical specimens in Guangzhou, China, obtained in the period 2005-2008. One hundred and ninety-four urogenital C. trachomatis samples were collected from sexually transmitted disease clinic patients, and the VS1-VS2 of OmpA gene was amplified by nested PCR and sequenced using an ABI-prism 3730 sequencer. Clinical C. trachomatis strains were genotyped and analyzed for a mutation with respect to the reference VS1-VS2 sequence. VS1-VS2 fragments with 453 bp were amplified from 194 clinical samples. Upon alignment with the sequences of the reference strains, 189 strains with discernible sequences were typed into 9 genotypes, while 5 with ambiguous sequences were considered to be mixed-serovar samples. The most prevalent genotypes were E (50, 26%), F (46, 24%), J (35, 19%), and D (24, 13%). There was no significant difference in the distribution of any of the genotypes detected during the study period, except for genotype K (P<0.01). A total of 16 (8%, 16/189) genetic variants of the OmpA VS1-VS2 of the reference strains were identified. Mutations occurred frequently for genotypes D (2/24, 8%), E (6/50, 12%), F (2/46, 4%), G (1/8, 13%), H (1/12, 8%), and K (4/11, 36%), with most of these being sense mutations that may result in amino acid substitution. Sequencing the OmpA VS1-VS2 enabled the genotype and sequence variations within each genotype to be analyzed. Genotypes E, F, J, and D continued to dominate among urogenital C. trachomatis, whereas genotype K increased significantly in Guangzhou between 2005 and 2008.