Trichosanthin attenuates vascular injury-induced neointimal hyperplasia following balloon catheter injury in rats.

Trichosanthin (TCS), isolated from the root tuber of Trichosantheskirilowii, a well-known traditional Chinese medicinal plant, belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family, was found to exhibit numerous biological and pharmacological activities including anti-inflammatory. However, the effects of TCS on arterial injury induced neointimal hyperplasia and inflammatory cell infiltration remains poorly understood. The aim of study was to examine the effectiveness of TCS on arterial injury-mediated inflammatory processes and underlying mechanisms. A balloon-injured carotid artery induced injury in vivo in rats was established as a model of vascular injury. After 1 day TCS at 20, 40, or 80 mg/kg/day was administered intraperitoneally, daily for 14 days. Subsequently, the carotid artery was excised and taken for immunohistochemical staining. Data showed that TCS significantly dose-dependently reduced balloon injury-induced neointima formation in the carotid artery model rat, accompanied by markedly decreased positive expression percentage proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). In the in vitro study vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) were cultured, proliferation stimulated with platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) (20 ng/ml) and TCS at 1, 2, or 4 µM added. Data demonstrated that TCS inhibited proliferation and cell cycle progression of VSMC induced by PDGF-BB. Further, TCS significantly lowered mRNA expression of cyclinD1, cyclinE1, and c-fos, and protein expression levels of Akt1, Akt2, and mitogen-activated protein kinase MAPK (ERK1) signaling pathway mediated by PDGF-BB. These findings indicate that TCS inhibits vascular neointimal hyperplasia induced by vascular injury in rats by suppression of VSMC proliferation and migration, which may involve inhibition of Akt/MAPK/ERK signal pathway.

Salvia Miltiorrhiza Bge.f.alba Ameliorates the Progression of Monocrotaline-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension by Protecting Endothelial Injury in Rats.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a life-threatening disease that is characterized by elevated pulmonary blood pressure, abnormally thickened pulmonary arteries, and right ventricular hypertrophy. Monocrotaline (MCT) has been used to generate an experimental model of PH in rats, with PH initiated from injuries of lung vascular endothelium. Salvia Miltiorrhiza Bge.f.alba is a widely used traditional herb in China, known to exert protective effects on vascular endothelial cell injury in animal experiments. However, the role of Salvia Miltiorrhiza Bge.f.alba in PH remains unclear. Thus, we investigated the effects of the aqueous extract of Salvia Miltiorrhiza Bge.f.alba (AESM) on MCT-induced PH and explored the pertinent mechanism. PH was induced in rats by a single subcutaneous injection of MCT (60 mg/kg body weight). Low or high dose (4.6 g/kg or 14 g/kg body weight) of AESM was then administered orally for 21 days to PH rats. Hemodynamic study showed that AESM reduced mean pulmonary artery pressure and improved right ventricle function. Lung pathological analysis revealed that AESM reduced wall thickness and lumen stenosis of pulmonary vessels. Also AESM ameliorated right ventricular hypertrophy. Measurement of biochemical parameters indicated that AESM decreased endothelin-1 and thromboxane A2 in plasma and increased nitrogen monoxide and prostacyclin in the plasma and reduced the increase of transforming growth factor ß1 in lung tissue. Our results suggest that AESM may ameliorate the progression of MCT-induced PH in rats, at least in part by its protective effect on endothelial injury. Therefore, Salvia Miltiorrhiza Bge.f.alba could be useful in the treatment of PH.

Clinical study on effect of Astragalus Injection and its immuno-regulation action in treating chronic aplastic anemia.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect of Astragalus Injection (, AI) and its immuno-regulatory action in treating chronic aplastic anemia (CAA). METHODS: Sixty patients with CAA were randomly assigned to two groups equally, both were treated with Stanozolol three times a day, 2 mg each time through oral intake, but AI was given additionally to the patients in the treated group once a day via intravenous dripping. All were treated for 15 days as one therapeutic course and the whole medication lasted for more than 4 months totally, with follow-up adopted. The clinical efficacy was estimated and the changes of T-lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood as well as the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) were observed. RESULTS: The total effective rate in the treated group was 83.3% (25/30), which was higher than that in the control group 66.7% (20/30), showing significant difference between them (P<0.05). Levels of hemoglobin, WBC, reticular cell and platelet were elevated in both groups after treatment, but the improvement was significantly better in the treated group than that in the control group with respect to the former three indexes (P<0.05). The level of CD4(+) increased and that of CD8(+) decreased significantly after treatment in the treated group (P<0.05), which showed significant difference as compared with those in the control group (P<0.05). Levels of serum TNF-alpha and IL-2 lowered after treatment in both groups, but significance only showed in the treated group (P<0.05). The degree of proliferation in bone marrow got raised significantly and the percentage of non-hemopoietic cells reduced significantly in the treated group after treatment, also showing significant difference to those in the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: AI could promote the recovery of hemopoietic function, which might be through improving T-lymphocyte subsets and reducing the release of negative regulatory factors such as TNF-alpha and IL-2 to alleviate the inhibition on hemopoietic function.

[Protective effect of Uncaria rhynchophylla total alkaloids pretreatment on hippocampal neurons after acute hypoxia].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of Uncaria rhynchophylla total alkaloids (RTA) pretreatment on the voltage-gated sodium currents of the rat hippocampal neurons after acute hypoxia. METHOD: Primary cultured hippocampal neurons were divided into RTA pre-treated and non-pretreated groups. Patch clamp whole-cell recording was used to compare the voltage-gated sodium current amplitude and threshold with those before hypoxia. RESULT: After acute hypoxia, sodium current amplitude was significantly decreased and its threshold was upside. RTA pretreatment could inhibit the reduction of sodium current amplitude. CONCLUSION: RTA pretreatment alleviates the acute hypoxia-induced change of sodium currents, which may be one of the mechanisms for protective effect of RTA on cells.