ABSTRACT
Notch signalling pathway plays an essential role in the development of cochlea, which inhibits the proliferation of hair cells. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the most abundant polyphenol in green tea, which presents strong antioxidant activation and has been applied for anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory. In this study, we treated the cochlear explant cultures with EGCG and found that EGCG can protect cochlear hair cells from ototoxic drug gentamicin. We demonstrated that EGCG could down-regulate the expression of Notch signalling pathway target genes, such as Hes1, Hes5, Hey1 and Hey5. However, the Notch pathway ligands such as Delta1, Jag1 and Jag2 were not affected by EGCG. To further illustrate the mechanism of recover cochlear hair cells, we demonstrated that EGCG inhibited the activity of γ-secrectase to suppress Notch signalling pathway and promoted the proliferation and regeneration of hair cells in the damaged cochlea. Our results suggest for the first time the role of EGCG as an inhibitor of the Notch signalling pathway, and support its potential value in hearing-impaired recovery in clinical therapy.
Subject(s)
Hair Cells, Auditory/drug effects , Polyphenols/pharmacology , Receptors, Notch/antagonists & inhibitors , Tea/chemistry , Amyloid Precursor Protein Secretases/antagonists & inhibitors , Animals , Catechin/analogs & derivatives , Catechin/pharmacology , Cell Proliferation/drug effects , Cochlea/injuries , Down-Regulation/drug effects , Electrophysiological Phenomena/drug effects , Gentamicins/toxicity , Humans , In Vitro Techniques , Mechanotransduction, Cellular , Mice , Mice, Transgenic , Protein Synthesis Inhibitors/toxicity , Regeneration/drug effects , Signal Transduction/drug effectsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To study the clinical therapeutic effect of integrative Chinese and Western medicine on patients with hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) and its influence on serum level of motilin (MOT). METHODS: Sixty patients with HG were randomized equally into two groups, the treated group and the control group. They all received the Western medical supportive treatment mainly by fluid infusion, but for patients in the treated group, Chinese herbal medicine, the Yuntu recipe was given orally in combination. The course of treatment was 6 days. Besides, a group of 30 women with regular pregnancy was set up for normal control. Serum levels of MOT and beta-HCG were measured before and after treatment. And patients were followed up for 2 weeks. RESULTS: The curative rate and the relapse rate was 73.3% (22/30) and 16.7% (5/25) in the treated group; 56.7% (17/30) and 33.3% (10/20) in the control group respectively, the curative rate was significantly higher and the relapse rate was significantly lower in the treated group than those in the control group (P>0.05). Blood 3-HCG levels in the two HG groups were similar to that of the normal control, and changed insignificantly after treatment (P>0.05), while serum level of MOT in them were 67.15 +/- 15.94 ng/L and 70.28 +/- 13.56 ng/L respectively before treatment, significantly lowers than that of the normal control (145.35 +/- 30.12 ng/L, P<0.05), but it increased significantly after treatment in the treated and the control groups (P<0.05), being 151.50 +/- 54.84 ng/ L vs 103.28 +/- 38.31 ng/L and the increasing in the treated group was more significant than that in the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The occurrence of HG is correlated with the lowering of serum MOT level. Integrative medical treatment is effective in treating HG by way of increasing the serum level of MOT and promoting the peristalsis of stomach.
Subject(s)
Hyperemesis Gravidarum/blood , Hyperemesis Gravidarum/therapy , Medicine, Chinese Traditional/methods , Motilin/blood , Phytotherapy , Adult , Combined Modality Therapy , Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use , Female , Humans , Pregnancy , Young AdultABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To observe the positive rate and other variances of the vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP)in normal young people. METHOD: Fifty-two normal young people aged from 21-22 years old including 31 males and 21 females were investigated. Intense clicks were given to one test ear and EMG was recorded from ipsilateral side. RESULT: VEMPs were presented in both ears in 47 subjects, absent in either of the two ears in 5 subjects. Variances averaged from all 94 positive ears were as follows (mean +/- standard deviation): latencies for p1 (15.97 +/- 3.22) ms, latencies for n2 (24.41+/- 2.46) ms, interval time between p1 and n2 (8.41 +/- 2.06) ms, amplitude (33.27 +/- 14.37) microV, threshold (93.67 +/- 5.20) dB nHL. Inter-subject variances averaged from 47 normal subjects were as follows:latencies for p1 (0.97 +/- 1.31) ms, latencies for n2 (1.23 +/- 1.30) ms, interval time between p1 and n2 (0.95 +/- 1.21) ms, amplitude (10.04 +/- 11.88) microV, threshold (2.29 +/- 2.56) dB nHL. There were no significant difference between males and females. CONCLUSION: VEMP can be recorded in most normal subjects. VEMP may travel along the hypothesized response pathway from the vestibular sacculus to the inferior vestibular nerve, vestibular nucleus, and lateral vestibulospinal tract to the SCM muscle. VEMP recording could become an attractive method for testing otolithic receptors and vestibulospinal pathways.