[Research progress of ion channels relating to cerebral ischemic diseases and prevention and treatment with traditional Chinese medicine].

Cerebral ischemia is a series of clinical symptoms and signs of cerebral ischemia, hypoxia and neuronal damage caused by cerebral artery stenosis or occlusion due to atherosclerosis or thrombosis, which seriously affects human health and quality of life. Cerebral ischemia involves the cascade reaction of the "neurovascular unit" system, and finally affects the normal physiological function of nerve cells and produces a series of pathological changes. And the changes in the structure and function of various ion channels in the cell membrane play an important role during this process. This article illustrates the changes in the ion channel associated with ce-rebral ischemic diseases, such as the potassium ion channels, sodium ion channels, calcium channels and other relevant channels, like AQP, TRPM2, TRPM7, TRPV4, ASICs, Cl~- channel, and explores the intervention effect of traditional Chinese medicine in prevention and treatment of cerebral ischemic diseases from the perspective of ion channels, in order to provide references for potential targets involving in drug development for the future prevention and treatment of cerebral ischemic diseases.

[Effect of baicalin on inflammatory response and TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway of human brain microvascular endothelial cell after hypoxia-reoxygenation injury].

In this study, the oxygen-glucose deprivation(OGD) model in the human brain microvascular endothelial cell(HBMEC) was used to simulate the ischemic neuronal damage and observe the inflammatory response, explore the possible mechanisms for treating cerebral ischemia/reperfusion and improving memory impairment from the view point of inhibiting inflammatory response, which is of great reference significance for related Chinese medicine treatment of ischemic diseases. HBMECs were given with drugs at the same time of OGD injury, and reoxygenated for 2 h after 4 h treatment. Cell supernatant was then collected, and the inflammatory factors in cell supernatant were detected. Immunofluorescence assay was used to detect HBMECs morphology and expression of p-nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B(p-NF-κB); Western blot was used to detect expression changes of Toll like receptor 4(TLR4), myeloid differentiation primary response 88(MYD88) and p-NF-κB. The results showed that, after OGD modeling, the levels of interleukin 6(IL-6), IL-1α, IL-1ß and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) were significantly increased; baicalin protected HBMEC, inhibited intranuclear transcription of p-NF-κB, significantly decreased HBMEC release of inflammatory factors caused by OGD injury, and inhibited the expression of TLR4, MYD88, and p-NF-κB. The studies suggested that baicalin had obvious protective effect on HBMECs damaged by OGD, and could inhibit inflammatory response. Its protection mechanism may be related to inhibiting TLR4 signaling pathways.

Chinese medicine shenfu injection for heart failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective. Heart failure (HF) is a global public health problem. Early literature studies manifested that Shenfu injection (SFI) is one of the most commonly used traditional Chinese patent medicine for HF in China. This article intended to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of SFI for HF. Methods. An extensive search was performed within 6 English and Chinese electronic database up to November 2011. Ninety-nine randomized controlled trails (RCTs) were collected, irrespective of languages. Two authors extracted data and assessed the trial quality independently. RevMan 5.0.2 was used for data analysis. Results. Compared with routine treatment and/or device support, SFI combined with routine treatment and/or device support showed better effect on clinical effect rate, mortality, heart rate, NT-proBNP and 6-minute walk distance. Results in ultrasonic cardiography also showed that SFI combined with routine treatment improved heart function of HF patients. There were no significant difference in blood pressure between SFI and routine treatment groups. Adverse events were reported in thirteen trails with thirteen specific symptoms, while no serious adverse effect was reported. Conclusion. SFI appear to be effective for treating HF. However, further rigorously designed RCTs are warranted because of insufficient methodological rigor in the majority of included trials.