Glutamatergic neurons in paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus regulate the recovery from isoflurane anesthesia.

OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have demonstrated that the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) is a key wakefulness-controlling nucleus in the thalamus. Therefore, PVT may also be involved in the process of general anesthesia. This study intends to explore the role of PVT in isoflurane anesthesia. METHODS: In the present study, we used the expression of c-Fos to observe the neuronal activity of PVT neurons under isoflurane anesthesia. We further recorded the effect of isoflurane anesthesia on the calcium signal of PVT glutamatergic neurons in real time with the help of calcium fiber photometry. We finally used chemogenetic technology to specifically regulate PVT glutamatergic neurons, and observed its effect on isoflurane anesthesia and cortical electroencephalography (EEG) in mice. RESULTS: We found that glutamatergic neurons of PVT exhibited high activity during wakefulness and low activity during isoflurane anesthesia. Activation of PVT glutamatergic neuronal caused an acceleration in emergence from isoflurane anesthesia accompanied with a decrease in EEG delta power (1-4 Hz). Whereas suppression of PVT glutamatergic neurons induced a delay recovery of isoflurane anesthesia, without affecting anesthesia induction. CONCLUSIONS: Assuming a pharmacokinetic explanation for results can be excluded, these results demonstrate that the PVT is involved in regulating anesthesia emergence.

Herbal Medicines against Hydatid Disease: A Systematic Review (2000-2021).

Echinococcosis is a serious public health issue that affects people and livestock all over the world. Many synthetic and natural products have been examined in vitro and in vivo on Echinococcus species but only a few are used clinically, however, they may cause some complications and side effects. To overcome these limitations, new horizons of herbal drugs to cure echinococcosis are opening with every passing day. To summarize the developments during the last 21 years, we conducted this review of the literature to identify medicinal herbs utilized throughout the world that have anti-Echinococcus activity. From 2000 to 2021, data were carefully obtained from four English databases: Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, and OpenGrey. Botanical name, extraction technique, extract quantities, efficacy, duration of treatment, year of publication, and half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values were all well noted. Ninety-one published papers, with 78 in vitro and 15 in vivo, fulfilled our selection criteria. Fifty-eight different plant species were thoroughly tested against Echinococcus granulosus. Zataria multiflora, Nigella sativa, Berberis vulgaris, Zingiber officinale (ginger), and Allium sativum were the most often utilized anti-Echinococcus herbs and the leaves of the herbs were extensively used. The pooled value of IC50 was 61 (95% CI 60−61.9) according to the random effect model and a large degree of diversity among studies was observed. The current systematic study described the medicinal plants with anti-Echinococcus activity, which could be investigated in future experimental and clinical studies to identify their in vivo efficacy, lethal effects, and mechanisms of action.

Scoparone attenuates angiotensin II-induced extracellular matrix remodeling in cardiac fibroblasts.

Scoparone is a biologically active constituent isolated from Artemisia capillaris and possesses a variety of pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-allergic and anti-cardiovascular activities. However, there are no studies focusing on the effects of scoparone against cardiac fibrosis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of scoparone on Angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling and its possible mechanism in cardiac fibroblasts (CFs). Our results demonstrated that scoparone effectively attenuated CFs proliferation in Ang II-stimulated CFs. Scoparone also prevented the differentiation of CFs to myofibroblasts and ECM proteins (type I collagen and fibronectin) expression in Ang II-stimulated CFs. Furthermore, scoparone prevented Ang II-induced the activation of TGF-ß1/Smad signalling in CFs. Taken together, these studies indicated that scoparone attenuated Ang II-induced ECM remodeling in CFs, at least in part, by inhibiting TGF-ß1/Smad signalling. These findings suggest that scoparone may be used a novel therapeutic agent against cardiac fibrosis.

GABAergic ventrolateral pre­optic nucleus neurons are involved in the mediation of the anesthetic hypnosis induced by propofol.

Intravenous anesthetics have been used clinically to induce unconsciousness for seventeen decades, however the mechanism of anesthetic­induced unconsciousness remains to be fully elucidated. It has previously been demonstrated that anesthetics exert sedative effects by acting on endoge-nous sleep­arousal circuits. However, few studies focus on the ventrolateral pre­optic (VLPO) to locus coeruleus (LC) sleep­arousal pathway. The present study aimed to investigate if VLPO is involved in unconsciousness induced by propofol. The present study additionally investigated if the inhibitory effect of propofol on LC neurons was mediated by activating VLPO neurons. Microinjection, target lesion and extracellular single­unit recordings were used to study the role of the VLPO­LC pathway in propofol anesthesia. The results demonstrated that GABAA agonist (THIP) or GABAA antagonist (gabazine) microinjections into VLPO altered the time of loss of righting reflex and the time of recovery of righting reflex. Furthermore, propofol suppressed the spontaneous firing activity of LC noradrenergic neurons. There was no significant difference observed in firing activity between VLPO sham lesion and VLPO lesion rats. The findings indicate that VLPO neurons are important in propofol­induced unconsciousness, however are unlikely to contribute to the inhibitory effect of propofol on LC spontaneous firing activity.

Effects of Etomidate on GABAergic and Glutamatergic Transmission in Rat Thalamocortical Slices.

Although accumulative evidence indicates that the thalamocortical system is an important target for general anesthetics, the underlying mechanisms of anesthetic action on thalamocortical neurotransmission are not fully understood. The aim of the study is to explore the action of etomidate on glutamatergic and GABAergic transmission in rat thalamocortical slices by using whole cell patch-clamp recording. We found that etomidate mainly prolonged the decay time of spontaneous GABAergic inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs), without changing the frequency. Furthermore, etomidate not only prolonged the decay time of miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mIPSCs) but also increased the amplitude. On the other hand, etomidate significantly decreased the frequency of spontaneous glutamatergic excitatory postsynaptic currents (sEPSCs), without altering the amplitude or decay time in the absence of bicuculline. When GABAA receptors were blocked using bicuculline, the effects of etomidate on sEPSCs were mostly eliminated. These results suggest that etomidate enhances GABAergic transmission mainly through postsynaptic mechanism in thalamocortical neuronal network. Etomidate attenuates glutamatergic transmission predominantly through presynaptic action and requires presynaptic GABAA receptors involvement.

[Chemical investigation of triterpenoids from Dichrocephala benthamii].

The triterpenoids of Dichrocephala benthamii were investigated by means of silica gel, Sephadex LH-20 and semi-preparative HPLC. Nine triterpenoids were isolated from D. benthamii. By analysis of the EI-MS, NMR spectra and comparison to the data reported in literatures, the structures of these compounds were determined as ß-amyrin formiate (1), ß-amyrin acetate (2), ß-amyrenol (3), ß-amyrone (4), 3ß-hydroxy-olean-11, 13 (18)-diene (5) , Δ12-oleanene (6) , friedelin (7), dammaradienyl acetate (8), epi-friedeband (9), respectively. Compounds 1-8 were isolated for the first time form this genus, compound 9 was isolated for the first time from this plant, whereas ß-amyrin formiate (1) was a new natural product.

Addition of optically pure H-phosphinate to ketones: selectivity, stereochemistry and mechanism.

Aromatic methyl ketones and cyclic asymmetric ketones underwent hydrophosphorylation with P-stereogenic H-P species in the presence of potassium carbonate to produce P,C-stereogenic tertiary α-hydroxyl phosphinates in excellent yields with up to 99 : 1 dr. The diastereoselectivity was induced by a reversible conversion of less stable stereomer of product to that of a more stable one via an equilibrium, which was confirmed by aldehyde/ketone exchanging reaction. Toward the exchange, aliphatic or aldehyde carbonyl were more active than aromatic or ketone carbonyls, respectively. The stability difference between the two diastereomers was controlled by the sizes of substituents linking to phosphorus or α-carbon.

[Study on epidemiological effect of the freeze-dried attenuated live varicella vaccine].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety and epidemiological effect of the Freeze-dried Live attenuated varicella vaccine. METHODS: A random, double-blind control clinical trial was adopted. RESULTS: In the observation period, the incidence of varicella was 0.8 per thousand in the experimental group and 8.7 per thousand in control group. There was a significant difference (B.P=0.000017). Vaccine effectiveness (VE(%)) was 90.8%, the lower limit of 95%CI was 88.7%. CONCLUSION: The varicella vaccine produced by Changchun keygen biological products co., Ltd. was safe and effective.

Traditional Chinese medicine Kang Xian Fu Fang I is effective for prophylaxis and treatment of alcoholic liver disease in rats.

BACKGROUND: Reversal of liver fibrosis is one of the key steps in the prevention and treatment of alcoholic liver disease (ALD), but the mechanism is unknown. This study was to investigate the effects of the Chinese medicine Kang Xian Fu Fang I (KXI) on prophylaxis and treatment of ALD in rats and its possible mechanism of action. METHODS: Eighty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: normal control; ALD model; treatment of ALD with KXI; and prophylaxis of ALD by KXI. At the end of 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks, five rats from each group were anesthetized and their livers were removed for pathological studies using hematoxylin-eosin and Masson stain, immunohistochemical studies, and flow cytometry for matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). Blood samples were taken for hyaluronic acid (HA) assay. RESULTS: Serum HA level and liver collagen content were lower in the groups given KXI for prophylaxis and treatment than in ALD model group (P<0.05). The levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were also decreased in the prophylaxis and treatment groups (P<0.05). Immunohistochemistry showed immunoreactive MMP-2 in endothelial cells of the hepatic artery and portal vein, sinusoidal endothelial cells, and sinusoidal cells. Immunoreactive MMP-9 occurred in the hepatic cells around the veins and sinusoidal cells. CONCLUSIONS: KXI can effectively inhibit or reverse the course of ALD. This may be attributable to its capacity to inhibit the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9.

A New Triterpenoid and its Glycoside from Phytolacca esculenta.

A new triterpenoid and its glycoside, designated as esculentagenic acid and esculentoside J, have been isolated and characterized from the roots of PHYTOLACCA ESCULENTA. The new compounds have been identified as 2beta,3beta,23,30-tetrahydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic acid and 3- O-[beta- D-glucopyranosyl(1-->4)-beta- D-xylopyranosyl] - 28- O-beta- D-glucopyranosyl- 2beta,3beta,23,30-tetrahydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic acid.