[Comparison of chemical composition between fresh and processed Bufonis Venenum by UPLC-TQ-MS].

Toad venom is the Bufo bufo gargarizans or B. melanostictus after the ears of the gland secretion, used in the treatment of various cancers in recent years. Research shows that the main anti-tumor components in bufadienolide. Bufadienolide have free type structure and conjunct type structure. To identify and clarify the difference between bufogenin and bufotoxin contained in Bufonis Venenum, which was from B. bufo gargarizans, an UPLC-TQ-MS method has been established. UPLC-TQ-MS method was used to identify and quantify the major bufadienolides in Bufonis Venenum. UPLC-TQ-MS assay with positive ion mode was performed on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C, (2.1 mm x 100 mm, 1.7 µm) with the mobile phase consisting of 0. 1% aqueous formic and acidacetonitrile in gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.4 mL · min⁻¹ and the column temperature was set at 35 °C. By comparing their retention time and high resolution mass data of Bufonis Venenum extracts, 37 effective components were primarily identified by MS/MS analysis in positive ion mode. Twenty-six of them were free-type bufadienolides (bufogenin), 11 of them were conjugated bufadienolides. There were significant differences in the main composition between fresh and processed Bufonis Venenum. The study found that the chemical composition of toad venom through great changes after processing, conjunct type content is much less, free type content as well change.

[Characteristics of Bone Marrow Cell Morphology and Immunophenotype in Patients with NHL Leukemia and Evaluation of NHL Bone Marrow Invasion].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the evaluation value of characteristics of bone marrow cell morphology and immunophenotype in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) leukemia on the bone marrow invasion of NHL. METHODS: The clinical data of 104 patients with NHL treated in the hospital from March 2016 to March 2021 were retrospectively analyzed, the characteristics of bone marrow smear morphology were recorded, and the analysis of bone marrow immunophenotype was performed, the evaluation value of bone marrow cell morphology and immunophenotype on NHL bone marrow invasion was analyzed. RESULTS: One hundred and four patients with NHL leukemia were found to have increased lymphoma cells by examination of bone marrow cell morphology, including 57 cases of B-cell type, 39 cases of T-cell type and 8 cases of NK/T cell type. The characteristics of bone marrow cell morphology were as follows: the cell body was large, irregular or round like in shape, the cytoplasm was much and mostly stained blue, a few cells could see a few granules, the nucleus was round or round like, some were twisted, the chromatin was thick and nucleolus was different, of which the T-cell type lymphoma cells had strong heteromorphism and more obvious nucleolus. B-cell type mainly expressed CD19, HLA-DR and CD20, and the positive rate was ≥70%. T-cell type mainly expressed CD7, HLA-DR and CD38, and the positive rate was ≥40%. NK/T cell types mainly expressed CD56 and CD161, and the positive rates was ≥50%. Compared the proportion of lymphoma cells between bone marrow smear and immunophenotype examination, there was no statistical significant difference (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The characteristics of bone marrow cell morphology and immunophenotype have certain application value in the evaluation of bone marrow invasion in patients with NHL leukemia, both can complement each other and provide a feasible mean for the effective evaluation of bone marrow invasion in patients with NHL leukemia.

Study on diagnosis criteria of fire-heat syndrome based on receiver operating characteristic curve and principal component analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To establish the diagnostic quantitative criteria for fire-heat syndrome (FHS) of Chinese medicine (CM) based on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and principal component analysis (PCA). METHODS: The symptoms and signs of FHS cases and healthy subjects from Guangzhou, Henan and Hunan of China were collected through questionnaire, and the diagnostic quantitative score tables were established for the three regions, respectively, with the method of maximum likelihood analysis. The homogeneity test was then performed on the diagnostic score tables for the three regions with ROC curve, and the diagnostic efficiency of diagnostic score tables for the three regions was compared with the prospective test and retrospective test. The method of PCA was adopted to obtain the analysis matrix for classifying the tapes of FHS. RESULTS: Twenty-seven elements of FHS were confirmed through Chi-square test, and the diagnostic score tables for the three regions were established with the method of maximum likelihood analysis on the basis of the collected case data. According to the ROC curve test, the areas under ROC curve of Guangzhou diagnostic score table assessment with candidates in Guangzhou, Henan and Hunan were 0.998, 0.961 and 0.956, respectively. It showed that the diagnostic efficiency of Guangzhou diagnostic score tables was the highest one. With the prospective test, the area under ROC of Guangzhou diagnostic score table was 0.949, and more than any other diagnostic score table. By PCA, FHS was classified into excess fire and deficiency fire, and then classified into syndrome of flaring up of Heart (Xin) fire, syndrome of Lung (Fei)-Stomach (Wei) excess fire, syndrome of deficiency of Liver (Gan)-yin and Kidney (Shen)-yin, and syndrome of deficiency of Lung-yin from the view of viscera. In the retrospective test, the consistency with clinicians' diagnosis was 69.4%, and in the prospective test, it was 70.1%. CONCLUSIONS: The Guangzhou diagnostic score table could be used as the recommended criteria for the diagnosis of FHS. The classification of FHS was basically in conformity with the clinical situation.

Antiapoptotic mechanisms of benidipine in the ischemic/reperfused heart.

1. Considerable evidence indicates that calcium plays a critical role in apoptosis. We have previously shown that benidipine, a vasodilatory calcium channel blocker, attenuates postischemia myocardial apoptosis. The present study was designed to determine the mechanisms by which benidipine exerts its antiapoptotic effect. 2. Adult male rats were subjected to 30 min of ischemia followed by 3 h of reperfusion. Rats were randomized to receive either vehicle or benidipine (10 microg x kg(-1), i.v.) 10 min before reperfusion. 3. Compared with rats receiving vehicle, those rats treated with benidipine had reduced postischemic myocardial apoptosis as evidenced by decreased TUNEL-positive staining (8.4+/-1.2 vs 15.3+/-1.3%, P<0.01) and caspase-3 activity (1.94+/-0.25 vs 3.43+/-0.29, P<0.01). 4. Benidipine treatment significantly reduced mitochondrial cytochrome c release and caspase-9 activation, but had no effect on caspase-8 activation, suggesting that benidipine exerts its antiapoptotic effect by inhibiting the mitochondrial-mediated, but not death receptor-mediated, apoptotic pathway. 4. 5. Benidipine treatment not only increased the maximal activity of ERK1/2 at 10 min after reperfusion, but also prolonged the duration of ERK1/2 activation. Benidipine treatment had no significant effect on other apoptotic regulating molecules, such as p38 MAPK. 6. Taken together, our present study demonstrated for the first time the differential regulation of a calcium channel blocker. Benidipine tilted the balance between ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK toward an antiapoptotic state, decreased mitochondrial cytochrome c release, reduced caspase-9 activation, and attenuated subsequent caspase-3 activation and postischemic myocardial apoptosis.

[Anti-apoptotic effect of insulin in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion and its principal signaling pathway].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the signaling pathway involved in the insulin-elicited anti-apoptotic effect during myocardial ischemia and reperfusion (MI/R) in vivo. METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized and subjected to 30 min of myocardial ischemia followed by 4h-reperfusion. Rats were randomly treated with intravenous infusion of saline (vehicle, 4 ml.kg(-1).h(-1)), insulin (60 U/L), or insulin + wortmannin 5 min before reperfusion and continuing throughout the 4h-reperfusion period. Cardiac myocyte apoptosis was determined both qualitatively and quantitatively by DNA laddering and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) methods. Myocardial nitric oxide (NO) was measured by using NO-specific chemiluminescence detector. Activations of Akt and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) were determined by kinase activity assays using corresponding kinase activity assay kits (Cell Signaling). RESULTS: In the vehicle-treated rats, MI/R caused significant cardiac myocyte apoptotic death. Treatment with insulin produced a significant anti-apoptotic effect as evidenced by a marked reduction of apoptotic index [(8.0 +/- 2.9)% vs. (19.3 +/- 4.6)% of vehicle, P < 0.01] and decreased formation of myocardial DNA fragmentation. In addition, insulin treatment produced 2.7-fold increase (P < 0.01) of myocardial Akt activity and 28% increase of myocardial NO production (P < 0.05), while p38 MAPK activity changed insignificantly as compared with that of vehicle (P > 0.05). Both insulin-induced Akt activation and anti-apoptotic effect could be abrogated by wortmannin, a phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase inhibitor. CONCLUSION: In vivo treatment with insulin at the initial of reperfusion significantly reduced postischemic apoptotic death via the PI3-kinase-Akt signaling pathway. Akt, but not p38 MAPK, activation plays a key role in the insulin-induced anti-apoptotic effect in MI/R.

Enhancement of glutathione cardioprotection by ascorbic acid in myocardial reperfusion injury.

The present experiment determined the effects of glutathione and ascorbic acid, the two most important hydrophilic antioxidants, on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury and evaluated their relative therapeutic values. Isolated rat hearts were subjected to ischemia (30 min) and reperfusion (120 min) and treated with ascorbic acid, glutathione monoethyl ester (GSHme), or their combination at the onset of reperfusion. Administration of 1 mM GSHme alone, but not 1 mM ascorbic acid alone, significantly attenuated postischemic injury (P < 0.05 versus vehicle). Most interestingly, coadministration of ascorbic acid with GSHme markedly enhanced the protective effects of GSHme (P < 0.01 versus vehicle). The protection exerted by the combination of GSHme and ascorbic acid at 1 mM each was significantly greater than that observed with 1 mM GSHme alone (P < 0.05). Moreover, treatment with GSHme alone or GSHme plus ascorbic acid markedly reduced myocardial nitrotyrosine levels, suggesting that these treatments attenuated myocardial peroxynitrite formation. These results demonstrated that 1) GSHme, but not ascorbic acid, exerted protective effects against ischemia-reperfusion injury; and 2) the protective effects of GSHme were further enhanced by coadministration with ascorbic acid, suggesting a synergistic effect between GSHme and ascorbic acid.