[Role of mitochondrial dynamics in diabetic cardiomyopathy and regulatory mechanisms].

Cardiovascular complications are the leading cause of death in diabetic patients. Among them, diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a type of specific cardiomyopathy excluding myocardial damage caused by hypertension and coronary heart disease. It is characterized by abnormal metabolism of cardiomyocytes and gradual decline of cardiac function. The clinical manifestations of DCM are impaired diastolic function in early stage and impaired systolic function in late stage. Eventually it developed into heart failure. Mitochondria are the main organelles that provide energy in cardiomyocytes. Mitochondrial dynamics refers to the dynamic process of mitochondrial fusion and fission, which is an important approach for mitochondrial quality control. Mitochondrial dynamics plays a crucial role in maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis and cardiac function. The proteins that regulate mitochondrial fission are mainly Drp1 and its receptors, Fis1, MFF, MiD49 and MiD51. The protein that performs mitochondrial outer membrane fusion is Mfn1/2, and the inner membrane fusion protein is Opa1. This paper reviews recent progress on mitochondrial dynamics in DCM. The main contents are as follows: mitochondrial dynamics imbalance in both type 1 and 2 DCM is manifested as increased fission and inhibited fusion. The molecular mechanism of the former is mainly associated with up-regulated Drp1 and down-regulated Opa1, while the molecular mechanism of the latter is mainly associated with up-regulated Drp1 and down-regulated Mfn1/2. Increased mitochondrial fission and inhibited fusion can lead to mitochondrial dysfunction and promote the development of DCM. The active ingredients of the traditional Chinese medicine such as punicalagin, paeonol and endogenous substance melatonin can improve mitochondrial function and alleviate the symptoms of DCM by inhibiting mitochondrial fission or promoting mitochondrial fusion. This article is helpful to further understand the role and mechanism of mitochondrial dynamics in DCM, and provide new treatment methods and intervention strategies for clinical DCM patients based on mitochondrial dynamics.

Research on dynamic on-line monitoring method of moisture attribute in three honey-processed Chinese herbal slice based on in-situ general model / 药学学报

Aiming at the hysteresis and destructiveness of off-line static detection of critical quality attribute of the moisture content of the raw material unit of the traditional Chinese medicine manufacturing process, honey-processed Tussilago farfara, honey-processed Astragalus and honey-processed Glycyrrhiza uralensis were used as the research carriers, and the drying method was used to measure the moisture content as a reference value. The moving stage was used to simulate the movement process of samples on the conveyor belt in the actual on-site production process, and near-infrared (NIR) spectra were collected, combined with machine learning, to establish NIR on-site dynamic detection model of moisture content in multi-variety honey-processed Chinese herbal slice. The results show that the second derivative method is used to preprocess the spectrum. The number of decision trees (ntree), the number of random features (max feature), and the minimum number of samples for generating leaf nodes (node size) are selected: 46, 76, and 8, respectively. The quantitative analysis model of moisture content has the best effect. The prediction coefficient of determination (the prediction coefficient of determination, R2pre) and the root mean square error of prediction (root mean square error of prediction, RMSEP) of the model were 0.903 2 and 0.330 2, respectively. The NIR quantitative model for the moisture content of multi-variety honey-processed Chinese herbal slice established in this study has good predictive performance, and can achieve rapid, accurate and non-destructive quantitative analysis of the moisture content of honey-processed Tussilago farfara, honey-processed Astragalus and honey-processed Glycyrrhiza uralensis at the same time, and provides a method for determining the moisture content of honey-processed Chinese herbal slice of the raw material unit of the traditional Chinese medicine manufacturing process.

Study of the Antimicrobial Activity of the Chinese Dong Ethnic Minority Medicine, Madeng'ai.

The overuse of antibiotics has contributed to the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria, which poses a challenging task for clinical therapy. Thus, new agents with antibiotic efficacy against multidrug-resistant infections are needed. The traditional Dong ethnic minority medicines have emerged as a new source for prodrug selection. Among them, Madeng'ai (PotentillafreynianaBornm) is widely used by the folk for anti-infection and wound healing, although the mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, the antimicrobial activities of Dong medicine Madeng'ai were evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. S. aureus, E. coli, E. faecalis, P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae, and A. baumannii were cultured in LB media, different concentrations of Madeng'ai powder solution were added to the LB agar plates to evaluate minimal inhibitory concentration. An animal study was performed on a mouse excisional wound model combined with bacterial solution injection in the wound area. After Madeng'ai or PBS treatment, hematoxylin and eosin analysis were used for pathological analysis of skin tissues from the infected area. Madeng'ai powder solution over 2 mg/mL concentration completely inhibited E. coli growth. At 4.0 mg/mL, Madeng'ai significantly inhibited the growth of E. faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PAE), Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Acinetobacter baumannii. The mouse model revealed that Madeng'ai could suppress the growth of MRSA and PAE and accelerate healing of cutaneous wounds. Madeng'ai, a newly discovered Dong ethnic minority medicine possesses considerable antimicrobial activity against both human normal pathogenic bacteria and multiresistance bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, S. aureus, and Acinetobacter baumannii. Therefore, Madeng'ai has great potential for further study and clinical application.

Hypolipidemic and antioxidant activities of polysaccharides from Rosae Laevigatae Fructus in rats.

Two major fractions (RLP-1 and RLP-2) were obtained by purifying the crude polysaccharides extracted from a traditional Chinese herb Rosae Laevigatae Fructus. The average molecular weight of RLP-1 and RLP-2 was 21.5 kDa and 16.1 kDa, respectively. Monosaccharide analysis indicated that RLP-1 was composed of xylose, mannose and galactose in the molar ratio of 1:11:8, while RLP-2 was only a glucan. Oral administration of RLP-1 could significantly decrease levels of serum total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), inhibit hepatic lipid accumulation, increase antioxidant lipids and up-regulate expressions of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ) and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) in hyperlipidemia rats. These results suggest that RLP-1 improve hyperlipidemia possibly through regulating PPAR-mediated lipid metabolism. Therefore, could be explored as a possible agent for hyperlipidemia.

Dietary quercetin ameliorates nonalcoholic steatohepatitis induced by a high-fat diet in gerbils.

Dietary quercetin is highly abundant in edible plants, which possesses a wide range of pharmacological properties. This study was to investigate hepatoprotective effects of quercetin in the nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) gerbils induced by a high-fat diet (HFD), and to evaluate its regulatory mechanism on hepatic inflammatory response. The gerbils were fed with HFD for 28 days to induce NASH. From 15th day to 28th day, the treated drugs were given daily to each animal, respectively. The lipid profiles and biochemical markers were determined at the end of the experiment. The expressions of Sirt1, NF-κB p65 and iNOS were detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. The results showed that oral administration of quercetin at doses of 30-60 mg/kg to hyperlipidemia rats for 14 days were highly effective in decreasing the levels of serum total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). It could decrease lipid accumulation in the hepatocytes, and reduce serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6 via regulating the expressions of Sirt1, NF-κB p65 and iNOS. Thus, dietary quercetin had significant therapeutic benefits and could be explored as a potential promising candidate for the prevention of NASH.

[Xianling Gubao Capsule improves semen quality].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of the compound Chinese traditional drug Xianling Gubao Capsule on the semen quality of infertile males. METHODS: We treated 66 infertile men with Xianling Gubao Capsule for 24 months, and analyzed the semen quality and sperm morphology before and after the treatment. RESULTS: Two months after the medication, sperm concentration was increased by a small margin, but no statistically significant changes were observed in sperm vitality and motility (P > 0.05), the rate of morphologically normal sperm was significantly raised from 25.8% before treatment to 57.6% (P < 0.05) in those with the normal rate > or = 15%, but decreased from 53.0% to 25.8% (P < 0.05) in those with the normal rate < 9%. Among the 7 cases of oligospermia, the rate of morphologically normal sperm was elevated to an average of 10.9% after the 4-month medication, significantly different from the baseline rate of 5.8% (P < 0.05). Five spontaneous pregnancies and 1 successful IVF-ICSI were achieved during the treatment. CONCLUSION: Xianling Gubao Capsule can improve semen quality and significantly increase the percentage of morphologically normal sperm.