An injectable, self-healing hydrogel system from oxidized pectin/chitosan/γ-Fe2O3.

Injectable hydrogels with self-healing ability present great potential for drug delivery. They could be facilely implanted in vivo and maintained structural and functional integrity till the hydrogel arriving at target sites. Herein, a series of injectable and self-healing composite hydrogel were developed as delivery vehicles for anti-cancer drug. The hydrogels were obtained with varying ratios of oxidized pectin/chitosan to nano γ-Fe2O3, which present excellent injectable, self-healing, magnetic, high biocompatible, and anti-cancer properties. The nano γ-Fe2O3 with particle size of about 0.25 µm loaded on the surface of hydrogel. Magnetic hysteresis loops of the hydrogel presented S-shape over the applied magnetics and the MS value was 4.86 emu/g. When pH dropped from 7.4 to 6.5 or temperature increased form 36 °C to 37 °C, the percentage increase in the swelling rate of OP4-400 reached to 35.89% and 25.13%, respectively. The composite hydrogels could continuously release water-soluble 5-FU for more than 12 h. In addition, the drug delivery systems indicated acceptable anti-cancer property though trace amounts of 5-FU were added in the hydrogel systems. The addition of γ-Fe2O3 could not only be beneficial to the targeting but also collectively enhance the anti-cancer property.

[Prescription rules of preparations containing Crataegi Fructus in Chinese patent drug].

To analyze the prescription rules of preparations containing Crataegi Fructus in the drug standards of the People's Republic of China Ministry of Public Health-Chinese Patent Drug(hereinafter referred to as Chinese patent drug), and provide some references for clinical application and the research and development of new medicines. Based on TCMISS(V2.5), the prescriptions containing Crataegi Fructus in Chinese patent drug were collected to build the database; association rules, frequency statistics and other data mining methods were used to analyze the disease syndrome, common drug compatibility and prescription rules. There were a total of 308 prescriptions containing Crataegi Fructus, involving 499 kinds of Chinese medicines, 34 commonly used drug combinations, and mainly for 18 kinds of diseases. Drug combination analysis was done with "Crataegi Fructus-Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium" and "Crataegi Fructus-Poria" as the high-frequency herb pairs and with "stagnation" and "diarrhea" as the high-frequency diseases. The results indicated that the Crataegi Fructus in different herb pairs had a roughly same function, and its therapy effect was different in different diseases. The prescriptions containing Crataegi Fructus in Chinese patent drug had the effect of digestion, and they were widely used in clinical application, often used together with spleen-strengthening medicines to achieve different treatment effects; the prescription rules reflected the prescription characteristics of Crataegi Fructus for different diseases, providing a basis for its clinically scientific application and the research and development of new medicines.

[Analysis of chemical constituents from Citrus aurantium by UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS/MS].

In this study, a ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled with linear ion trap-Orbitrap tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS/MS) method was developed to analyze the chemical components in Citrus aurantium. C. aurantium were extracted with 75% methanol, and we applied a Thermo Scientific BDS Hypersil C18 column (2.1 mm×150 mm, 2.4 µm) to UHPLC analysis with acetonitrile-water (containing 0.1% formic acid) in gradient as mobile phase. Elutes were then detected by ESI-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS/MS. A total of 27 components were identified, including fourteen flavonoids, seven coumarins, five limonoids and one alkaloid. This study showed an insight into the composition of C. aurantium, which could provide theoretical foundation for further study and utilization of the medicinal resources.

[Discussion on relevant theories of "Qi-Blood-Shen" and formula implication of Guan-Xin-Jing capsule].

In the field of traditional Chinese medicine（TCM）,the definition of "Shen" contains a broad concept and a narrow concept. Broad "Shen" is the dominator and administrator of human vital movement,while narrow "Shen" means spirit, consciousness, thinking and emotions of human. "Shen" originates from innate essence of parents, and survives on acquired essence of water and food as well as the nutrition of its metaplastic Qi-Blood-Body fluid. Qi-Blood,the most precious asset of human body, is a quite important section of one person and the central material basis of "Shen-Zhi". Coronary heart disease(CHD) is classified as thoracic obstruction category in TCM. However, in the progress of CHD, the mental factors and physical factors interplay each other. Thus, CHD is defined as a kind of psychosomatic disorder. So, the concept of psycho-cardiology generally corresponds to the cognition of TCM. Disorder of Qi and Blood, Qi deficiency and Blood stasis and lack of spirit and "Shen" preservation, are the main causes of coronary heart disease(CHD). Guan-Xin-Jing capsule possesses multiple therapeutical effects including supplementing qi and activating blood circulation, tranquilizing "Shen" and sedating "Zhi" and balancing psychosomatic status. It will be of vital importance and promotional value in the prophylaxis and treatment of CHD.

Combined effects of independent variables on yield and protein content of pectin extracted from sugar beet pulp by citric acid.

The extraction of pectin from sugar beet pulp by citric acid was carried out under different conditions using Box-Behnken design for four independent variables (pH, temperature, time and liquid to solid ratio). The yield of sugar beet pulp pectin ranged from 6.3% to 23.0%, and the content of protein from 1.5% to 4.5%. All independent variables significantly affected the yield, and all variables except liquid to solid ratio significantly affected the protein content. The yield increased as decreasing pH of extracting solution, extending time and advancing temperature, and an opposite relationship of effects between variables and content of protein was obtained. The chemical composition of collected samples was determined. Moreover, from the results of emulsifying properties study, the extracted pectin from sugar beet pulp could prepare steady oil-in-water emulsions. Therefore, it was inferred that the extraction conditions could influence yield and protein content, resulting in different emulsifying property.

[Identification of pearl powder using microscopic infrared reflectance spectroscopy].

Pearl is a precious ornament and traditional Chinese medicine, which application history in China is more than 2000 years. It is well known that the chemical ingredients of shell and pearl are very similar, which all of them including calcium carbonate and various amino acids. Generally, shell powders also can be used as medicine; however, its medicinal value is much lower than that of pearl powders. Due to the feature similarity between pearl powders and shell powders, the distinguishment of them by detecting chemical composition and morphology is very difficult. It should be noted that shell powders have been often posing as pearl powders in markets, which seriously infringes the interests of consumers. Identification of pearl powder was investigated by microscopic infrared reflectance spectroscopy, and pearl powder as well as shell powder was calcined at different temperatures for different time before infrared reflectance spectroscopy analysis. The experimental results indicated that when calcined at 400 °C for 30 minutes under atmospheric pressure, aragonite in pearl powder partly transformed into calcite, while aragonite in shell powder completely transformed into calcite. At the same time, the difference in phase transition between the pearl powders 'and shell powders can be easily detected by using the microscopic infrared reflectance spectroscopy. Therefore, based on the difference in their phase transition process, infrared reflectance spectroscopy can be used to identify phase transformation differences between pearl powder and shell powder. It's more meaningfully that the proposed infrared reflectance spec- troscopy method was also investigated for the applicability to other common counterfeits, such as oyster shell powders and abalone shell powders, and the results show that the method can be a simple, efficiently and accurately method for identification of pearl powder.