Radix Angelica Sinensis and Radix Hedysari Ultrafiltration Extract Protects against X-Irradiation-Induced Cardiac Fibrosis in Rats.

Radiation-induced myocardial fibrosis (RIMF) is the main pathological change associated with radiation-induced heart toxicity after radiation therapy in patients with thoracic tumors. There is an antifibrosis effect of Radix Angelica Sinensis and Radix Hedysari (RAS-RH) ultrafiltration extract from Danggui Buxue decoction (DBD) in X-irradiation-induced rat myocardial fibrosis, and this study aimed to investigate whether that effect correlated with apoptosis and oxidative stress damage in primary rat cardiac fibroblasts; further, the potential mechanisms were also explored. In this study, we first found that the RAS-RH antifibrosis effect was associated with the upregulation of microRNA-200a and the downregulation of TGF-ß1/smad3 and COL1α. In addition, we also found that the antifibrosis effect of RAS-RH was related to the induction of apoptosis in primary rat cardiac fibroblasts and to the prevention of damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS). Interestingly, primary rat cardiac fibroblasts exposed to X-ray radiation underwent apoptosis less frequently in the absence of RAS-RH. Therefore, RAS-RH has the ability to protect against fibrosis, which could be occurring through the induction of apoptosis and the resistance to oxidative stress in rats with X-irradiation-induced myocardial fibrosis; thus, in a model of RIMF, RAS-RH acts against X-irradiation-induced cardiac toxicity.

Anti-aging effects exerted by Tetramethylpyrazine enhances self-renewal and neuronal differentiation of rat bMSCs by suppressing NF-kB signaling.

In order to improve the therapeutic effects of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapies for a number of intractable neurological disorders, a more favorable strategy to regulate the outcome of bone marrow MSCs (bMSCs) was examined in the present study. In view of the wide range of neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects, Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP), a biologically active alkaloid isolated from the herbal medicine Ligusticum wallichii, was used. It was revealed that treatment with 30-50 mg/l TMP for 4 days significantly increased cell viability, alleviated senescence by suppressing NF-κB signaling, and promoted bMSC proliferation by regulating the cell cycle. In addition, 40-50 mg/l TMP treatment may facilitate the neuronal differentiation of bMSCs, verified in the present study by presentation of neuronal morphology and expression of neuronal markers: microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP-2) and neuron-specific enolase (NSE). The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) revealed that TMP treatment may promote the expression of neurogenin 1 (Ngn1), neuronal differentiation 1 (NeuroD) and mammalian achaete-scute homolog 1 (Mash1). In conclusion, 4 days of 40-50 mg/l TMP treatment may significantly delay bMSC senescence by suppressing NF-κB signaling, and enhancing the self-renewal ability of bMSCs, and their potential for neuronal differentiation.

Therapeutic effect of angelica and its compound formulas for hypertension and the complications: Evidence mapping.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is one of the common diseases, which brings heavy burden to human race. Currently, western medication is in absolutely dominant position in the treatment of hypertension, but it maintains for a short time and there are various side effects and drug tolerance. Therefore, Chinese medicine has attracted great attention in the treatment field of hypertension, and angelica is one of the most frequently used herbs. OBJECTIVES: In order to give some inspiration to researches in these fields, this article presents the current research status of angelica and its compound formulas treating hypertension and its complications with evidence mapping. METHODS: Main databases were systematically searched, and researches about angelica or its compound formulas containing angelica treating hypertension or its complications were included. EXCEL 2013 was used to integrate and process the data, and the result is showed intuitively with the bubble diagram. RESULTS: 49 RCTs were included after screening. The articles recruited were published with a rising trend along with time. Of the 49 RCTs, there is the outcome measure of general the efficacy in the result part in 34 RCTs (69.4%), and all the clinical effective rate in the angelica intervention group is significantly higher than the control group. There is the outcome measure of reduction of MAP in the result part in 28 RCTs, and 27 RCTs (96.4%) showed that the angelica intervention group is significantly improved than the control group while 1 (3.6%) showed no significant differences. There is the outcome measure of efficacy of target organ protection in the result part in 26 RCTs, and 25 RCTs (96.2%) showed that there is significant difference between the angelica intervention group and the control group. Of the 49 RCTs, there is the outcome measure of adverse effects in the result part in 17 RCTs. 14 RCTs (82.4%) reported no adverse effects, 2 RCTs (11.8%) reported adverse effects rate as lower than 10%, and 1 RCT (7.1%) reported adverse effects rate as higher than 40%. CONCLUSION: Current research with low quality has revealed that angelica is effective in reduction of MAP and target organ protection and the adverse effects rate is low, and the effectiveness and safety of angelica needs to be proved by further researches with high quality. Researches of high quality are needed to provide scientific evidence for angelica in treating hypertension and its complications.

The effects of Radix Angelica Sinensis and Radix Hedysari ultrafiltration extract on X-irradiation-induced myocardial fibrosis in rats.

Radix Angelica Sinensis and Radix Hedysari are traditional Chinese medicines that are used for preventing and treating various diseases. This study aimed to investigate the effect and possible underlying mechanisms of Radix Angelica Sinensis and Radix Hedysari ultrafiltration extract (RAS-RH) on X-irradiation-induced cardiac fibrosis in rats. Our data demonstrated that (a) a single dose of total body irradiation (TBI) at 8 Gy resulted in cardiac fibrosis, whereas the control hearts exhibited less collagen and fibrosis. RAS-RH mitigated these morphological injuries. (b) TBI resulted in an increase in the serum levels of transforming growth factor ß1 (TGF-ß1) and troponin-I (TnI). RAS-RH inhibited the release of TBI-induced serum TGF-ß1 and the TnI levels. (c) TBI inhibited the apoptosis of primary rat cardiac fibroblasts, whereas RAS-RH induced the apoptosis of primary rat cardiac fibroblasts after X- irradiation. (d) TBI resulted in an increase in the expression of osteopontin (OPN), c-fos, c-jun, miRNA-21 and collagen1α (COL1α) in primary rat cardiac fibroblasts, and RAS-RH mitigated the TBI-induced increased expression of OPN, c-jun, miRNA-21 and COL1α. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that RAS-RH exerts antifibrotic effects possibly through inducing the apoptosis of fibroblasts, inhibiting the release of serum TGF-ß1, reducing the levels of serum TnI and reducing the expression of OPN, c-jun, miRNA-21 and COL1α. Therefore, RAS-RH may potentially be developed as a medical countermeasure for the mitigation of radiation-induced myocardial fibrosis.

Neuroprotective effects of Rhizoma Dioscoreae polysaccharides against neuronal apoptosis induced by in vitro hypoxia.

Rhizoma Dioscoreae polysaccharides (RDPS) are the primary active ingredient of Rhizoma Dioscoreae, which is a traditional Chinese medicine. RDPS have previously been shown to scavenge reactive oxygen species, and protect against D-galactose-induced mimetic aging. The present study aimed to investigate the neuroprotective effects of RDPS against hypoxia-induced neuronal cell apoptosis. Neuronal cells harvested from pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into groups, as follows: i) Normal control group; ii) hypoxia-induced apoptosis neuronal cell model; iii) 0.025 g/l RDPS-treated group; iv) 0.05 g/l RDPS-treated group; v) 0.1 g/l RDPS-treated group; and vi) 0.25 g/l RDPS treated group. Neuronal cell viability was investigated using an MTT assay, and neuronal cell apoptosis was analyzed using Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide double-staining, Hoechst 33342 fluorescent staining, Rhodamine 123 staining, polymerase chain reaction and immunocytochemical staining. The RDPS-treated neuronal cells exhibited improved viability, and decreased hypoxia-induced mitochondrial injury and apoptosis. In addition, the mRNA and protein expression levels of caspase-3 and B-cell lymphoma (Bcl)-2-associated X protein (Bax) were significantly downregulated, whereas the mRNA and protein expression levels of Bcl-2 were significantly upregulated, in the RDPS-treated hypoxic neurons, as compared with the apoptosis model (P<0.05). Furthermore, the ratio of Bcl-2 expression:Bax expression significantly increased following RDPS treatment, as compared with the apoptosis model (P<0.05). The results of the present study suggested that RDPS may attenuate hypoxia-induced neuronal cell apoptosis by altering the expression levels of key apoptosis-regulating proteins in hypoxic neurons.

[Investigations on cordycepin production by solid culture of Cordyceps militaris].

An efficient method to produce cordycepin by solid culture using Cordyceps militaris was investigated in this study. Firstly, the changes of cordycepin during various growing periods of solid culture using 5 strains of C. militaris were detected, the best strain and optimal growing period for cordycepin production were determined. Then, by experiments of quadratic rotation-orthogonal combination design and orthogonal design, the medium composition and growth conditions for high yield of cordycepin were optimized. With the optimized method to produce cordycepin, the content of cordycepin in the medium was increased to 0.60%, which was nearly 2 times higher than the highest yield reported.

[Change rate in bone cells of mice].

OBJECTIVE: To study the anti-mutation action of acupuncture and moxibustion. METHODS: Mice were randomly divided into 6 groups, group 1 (normal control group), group 2 (positive control group), group 3 (prevention group I), group 4 (prevention group II ), group 5 (treatment group I) and group 6 (treatment group II). The mice in the group 2-6 were treated by cyclophosphamide (ip, 50 mg/kg body weight), and in the 3'-6 groups were given acupuncture at "Zusanli" (ST 36) and moxibustion at "Guanyuan" (CV 4). At the end of experiment, all the mice were decapitated and chromosome aberration rate and sister chromatid exchange rate of bone marrow cells were investigated. RESULTS: The chromosome aberration rate and the sister chromatid exchange rate of bone marrow cells in the positive control group increased significantly as compared with the normal control group, while they decreased significantly in the group 3, 4, 5, 6 as compared with the positive control group (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Acupuncture and moxibustion have anti-mutation action, inhibiting the increase of chromosome aberrations and sister chromatid exchange of bone marrow cells in mice induced by cyclophosphamide.