EGB761 ameliorates chronic cerebral hypoperfusion-induced cognitive dysfunction and synaptic plasticity impairment.

Chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) may lead to the cognitive dysfunction, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. EGB761, extracted from Ginkgo biloba and as a phytomedicine widely used in the world, has been showed to have various neuroprotective roles and mechanisms, and therapeutic effects in Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive dysfunctions. However, improvements in cognitive function after CCH, following treatment with EGB761, have not been ascertained yet. In this study, we used the behavior test, electrophysiology, neurobiochemistry, and immunohistochemistry to investigate the EGB761's effect on CCH-induced cognitive dysfunction and identify its underlying mechanisms. The results showed that EGB761 ameliorates spatial cognitive dysfunction occurring after CCH. It may also improve impairment of the long-term potentiation, field excitable potential, synaptic transmission, and the transmission synchronization of neural circuit signals between the entorhinal cortex and hippocampal CA1. EGB761 may also reverse the inhibition of neural activity and the degeneration of dendritic spines and synaptic structure after CCH; it also prevents the downregulation of synaptic proteins molecules and pathways related to the formation and stability of dendritic spines structures. EGB761 may inhibit axon demyelination and ameliorate the inhibition of the mTOR signaling pathway after CCH to improve protein synthesis. In conclusion, EGB761 treatment after CCH may improve spatial cognitive function by ameliorating synaptic plasticity impairment, synapse degeneration, and axon demyelination by rectifying the inhibition of the mTOR signaling pathway.

[Investigation on correlation between ratio of xylem to phloem of Radix Isatidis and efficacy, chemical composition].

OBJECTIVE: Explore contribution of ratio of xylem to phloem(RXP) to evaluate the quality of Radix Isatidis. METHODS: Antivirus activity and chemical compositions of xylem, phloem and Radix Isatidis of different RXP were determined by RBC agglutination test and unique chromatogram. Meanwhile, correlation between RXP and bioactivity,components was investigated. RESULTS: the activity of medical material of Radix Isatidis whose RXP was 1:2 or 1:1 is equal to that of phloem sample, while is stronger than that of cylem sample. There was a good consistency among the chemical figureprints of three samples (Radix Isatidis, xylem and phloem). When the RXP was 2:1, the medical material of Radix Isatidi and its xylem had the same activity. But the activity of phloem was not obvious. Their consistency of chemical fingerprint was bad, and the activity of Radix Isatidis which had RXP of 1:2 or 1:1 was better than that formed by xylem and phloem of 2:1. The Radix Isatidis of RXP of 1:2 or 1:1 had less similarity of chemical figureprint with that having RXP of 2:1. CONCLUSION: The quality of Radix Isatidis made up by the various RXP had significant difference. Radix Isatidis whose RXP is less than 1:1 had good quality and better activity. As a characteristic parameter of biologic morpha, the RXP can be applied to identifying the quality of Radix Isatidis, and also provided a reference to evaluation of other medical material of roots.

[Agglutinated activity bioassay method for the determination of antivirus potency of Banlangen granula].

To establish a bioassay method and quality standard of Banlangen granula, agglutinated activity assay was used in the analysis of the traditional Chinese medicine, Banlangen granula. It showed that masculined effect could be picked up effectively and the products quality of different pharmaceutical factories and different batch numbers from the same factory could be revealed conveniently, accurately, quickly and directly with this method (valence value was between 2 and 11). The established bioassay method had a good reproducibility with RSD = 2%. The dependablity of the activity of red cell agglutination and restrainting influenza virus NA was conspicuous (r2 = 0.878 3). In conclusion, this bioassay method is suitable to control and evaluate the quality of Banlangen granula. Thus the method may provide a simple and effective technique in supervising and examining the quality of other traditional Chinese medicine.

[Quality control of shuanghuanglian freeze-dried powder for injection based on its HPLC-ELSD fingerprints and biological profiles].

This paper is aimed to provide the methods of quality control and bioassay of traditional Chinese medicine injections including bioassay method. Shuanghuanglian freeze-dried powder for injection (SFPI) was chosen as study object. HPLC-ELSD fingerprints of SFPI had been established and the samples were differentiated by similarity calculation. Meanwhile, biological profiles of SFPI on Escherichia coli had been established by microcalorimetry. The similarity values were calculated using the correlation coefficient, based on quantitative thermo-kinetic parameters (T2m, Tj, I%). The results indicated that HPLC-ELSD fingerprints, which showed content changes of chemical components, could not monitor minimal variation of different samples, especially that of biological pollutants, while biological profiles could sensitively detect antibiotic activity alterations of the samples, which were kept under specific conditions. In conclusion, characterized by two-dimension, microcalorimetry could supply thermograms as biological profiles characterized to describe the bioactivity of drugs. This study could clearly demonstrate that the correlative detection was proposed as an efficient strategy for quality control of SFPI, based on HPLC-ELSD fingerprints and biological profiles, which could detect quality fluctuation of samples early and quickly and predict the potential adverse drug events (ADE) for ensuring clinical safety.

[Study on selecting the suitable solubilizing excipients for Shengmai injection].

OBJECTIVE: To select the suitable solubilizing excipients for Shengmai injection by the mean of hemolysis. METHODS: The hemolysis ratio of Shengmai injection, solubilizing excipients and different proportion of them were determined by absorption spectrometry. RESULTS: In the experimental concentration, Shengmai injection itself had no hemolytic effect. Polysorbate 80, Polyethylene glycol 400, Polyethylene glycol 600, Poloxamer 188 solution had no hemolytic effect to appear, but all the experimental concentrations of Polysorbate 20 had hemolytic effect. When combining with different proportion of Polysorbate 20, Polyethylene glycol 400, Polyethylene glycol 600, Poloxamer 188 and Polysorbate 80 of high concentration (0.75% - 1%), Shengmai injection had hemolytic effect. CONCLUSIONS: The absorption spectrometry is more reliable for the judgement of hemolysis than macroscopic observation, and it is helpful to improve the accuracy to select the solubilizing excipients for the TCM injection. Polysorbate 80 can be used as solubilizing excipient of Shengmai injection, which is safe in the concentration range of 0.1% to 0.5%.