The triangular relationship between traditional Chinese medicines, intestinal flora, and colorectal cancer.

Over the past decade, colorectal cancer has reported a higher incidence in younger adults and a lower mortality rate. Recently, the influence of the intestinal flora in the initiation, progression, and treatment of colorectal cancer has been extensively studied, as well as their positive therapeutic impact on inflammation and the cancer microenvironment. Historically, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely used in the treatment of colorectal cancer via promoted cancer cell apoptosis, inhibited cancer metastasis, and reduced drug resistance and side effects. The present research is more on the effect of either herbal medicine or intestinal flora on colorectal cancer. The interactions between TCM and intestinal flora are bidirectional and the combined impacts of TCM and gut microbiota in the treatment of colon cancer should not be neglected. Therefore, this review discusses the role of intestinal bacteria in the progression and treatment of colorectal cancer by inhibiting carcinogenesis, participating in therapy, and assisting in healing. Then the complex anticolon cancer effects of different kinds of TCM monomers, TCM drug pairs, and traditional Chinese prescriptions embodied in apoptosis, metastasis, immune suppression, and drug resistance are summarized separately. In addition, the interaction between TCM and intestinal flora and the combined effect on cancer treatment were analyzed. This review provides a mechanistic reference for the application of TCM and intestinal flora in the clinical treatment of colorectal cancer and paves the way for the combined development and application of microbiome and TCM.

Shoutai pills for threatened abortion: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Threatened abortions are a serious health risk for women. Deferiprone tablets are commonly used in the treatment of clinical delivery. Traditional Chinese medicine, a characteristic medical system inherited for thousands of years, often applies Shoutai pills in the treatment of Threatened abortion and has achieved good results. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Shoutai pills combined with dedrogesterone tablets for the treatment of early preterm abortion. METHODS: Electronic searches of clinical randomized controlled trials in PubMed, Web of Science, MEDLINE, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang database, and China Scientific Journal Database (VIP) were conducted. References to the included literature, gray literature in Open Grey, and other relevant literature such as clinical studies registered in ClinicalTrials.gov, were also manually searched. Relevant data were extracted, and a meta-analysis was performed using Reviewer Manager 5.4. RESULTS: The results of this study will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals. CONCLUSION: This study provides high-quality evidence on the efficacy and safety of Shoutai pills in combination with dedrogesterone tablets for the treatment of preterm abortion.

[Preparation and in vitro evaluation of quercetin nanosuspension stabilized by gypenosides].

This study was designed to explore the potential of gypenosides as a novel natural stabilizer for the production of nanosuspensions. The gypenosides-stabilized quercetin nanosuspensions(QUE-NS) were prepared using the high-speed shearing and high-pressure homogenization method with quercetin as a model drug, followed by their in vitro evaluation.Based on the measured mean particle size and polydispersity index(PDI) of QUE-NS,the single factor experiment was conducted to optimize the preparation process parameters.The freeze-drying method was used to transform QUE-NS into freeze-dried powders, whose storage stability and saturation solubility were then studied.Moreover, the effects of pH and ionic strength on the physical stability of the nanosuspension system were examined.According to the results, the optimized process parameters were listed as follows: shear rate 13 000 r·min~(-1),shear time 2 min, homogenization pressure 100 MPa, and homogenization frequency 12 times.The mean particle size of QUE-NS prepared under the optimum process conditions was(461.9±2.4) nm, and the PDI was 0.059±0.016.During the two months of storage at room temperature, the freeze-dried QUE-NS powders remained stable.The saturation solubility of freeze-dried QUE-NS powders was proved higher than those of quercetin and the physical mixture.The results of stability testing demonstrated that QUE-NS stabilized with gypenosides exhibited good stability within the pH range of 6 to 8,while coalescence was prone to occur in the presence of salt.Overall, gypenosides is expected to become a new natural stabilizer for the preparation of nanosuspensions.

Experimental Study on Danggui Shaoyao San Improving Renal Fibrosis by Promoting Autophagy.

Renal fibrosis could lead to chronic kidney disease (CKD) developing into the end-stage with its pathological manifestation is the deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM). Danggui Shaoyao San (DSS) is one of the widely used herbal formulas in ancient China, which has been proven to have efficacy in the treatment of CKD. The experiment employed TGF-ß1 to stimulate the NRK-52E cells to establish a renal fibrosis model. With rapamycin (RAPA) used as the positive control, we detected the expression of fibronectin (FN), caspase-3, and autophagy-related proteins in the NRK-52E cells treated with DSS by Western blot and immunofluorescence assay. In order to further verify autophagy-promoting effects of DSS, we adopted 3-MA to inhibit autophagy. The experiment has found that DSS can lower the protein levels of FN and caspase-3 in the NRK-52E cells induced by TGF-ß1. After TGF-ß1 stimulation, the expression of LC3 II/I and Beclin 1 has decreased, and the protein levels of mTOR and p62 have increased. Consistent with rapamycin, DSS has significantly reduced these effects of TGF-ß1. It has also been found that DSS can increase the expression of LC3 II/I and Beclin 1 proteins and can reduce the level of mTOR in cells treated with 3-MA, suggesting that DSS can promote autophagy. In conclusion, DSS has been proved to reduce the apoptosis and fibrosis of NRK-52E cells induced by TGF-ß1, which may be achieved by promoting autophagy.

Atractylenolides (I, II, and III): a review of their pharmacology and pharmacokinetics.

Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz is a widely used as a traditional Chinese medicine. Atractylenolides (-I, -II, and -III) are a class of lactone compounds derived from Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz. Research into atractylenolides over the past two decades has shown that atractylenolides have anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-platelet, anti-osteoporosis, and antibacterial activity; protect the nervous system; and regulate blood glucose and lipids. Because of structural differences, both atractylenolide-I and atractylenolide-II have remarkable anti-cancer activities, and atractylenolide-I and atractylenolide-III have remarkable anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective activities. We therefore recommend further clinical research on the anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects of atractylenolides, determine their therapeutic effects, alone or in combination. To investigate their ability to regulate blood glucose and lipid, as well as their anti-platelet, anti-osteoporosis, and antibacterial activities, both in vitro and in vivo studies are necessary. Atractylenolides are rapidly absorbed but slowly metabolized; thus, solubilization studies may not be necessary. However, due to the inhibitory effects of atractylenolides on metabolic enzymes, it is necessary to pay attention to the possible side effects of combining atractylenolides with other drugs, in clinical application. In short, atractylenolides have considerable medicinal value and warrant further study.

Therapeutic potential of catalpol and geniposide in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases: A snapshot of their underlying mechanisms.

Rehmannia glutinosa, the fresh or dried root of Rehmannia glutinosa (Gaertn.) Libosch. ex Fisch. & Mey., and Gardenia, the fruit of Gardenia jasminoides Ellis from Rubiaceae, both are famous traditional Chinese medicines that have been traditionally used in China. Catalpol and geniposide, as two kinds of iridoid glycosides with high activities, are the main bioactive components in Rehmannia glutinosa and Gardenia jasminoides Ellis, respectively. Over the past few decades, catalpol and geniposide have been widely studied for their therapeutic effects. The preclinical experiments demonstrated that they possessed significant neuroprotective activities against Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, stroke, and depression, etc. In this paper, the pharmacological effects and mechanisms of catalpol and geniposide on Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease from 2005 to now were systematically summarized and comprehensively analyzed. At the same time, the pharmacokinetic characteristics of the analyzed compounds were also described, hoping to provide some enlightenment for the design, research, and development of iridoid glycosides.

Lupeol and its derivatives as anticancer and anti-inflammatory agents: Molecular mechanisms and therapeutic efficacy.

Lupeol is a natural triterpenoid that widely exists in edible fruits and vegetables, and medicinal plants. In the last decade, a plethora of studies on the pharmacological activities of lupeol have been conducted and have demonstrated that lupeol possesses an extensive range of pharmacological activities such as anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities. Pharmacokinetic studies have indicated that absorption of lupeol by animals was rapid despite its nonpolar characteristics, and lupeol belongs to class II BCS (biopharmaceutics classification system) compounds. Moreover, the bioactivities of some isolated or synthesized lupeol derivatives have been investigated, and these results showed that, with modification to C-3 or C-19, some derivatives exhibit stronger activities, e.g., antiprotozoal or anticancer activity. This review aims to summarize the advances in pharmacological and pharmacokinetic studies of lupeol in the last decade with an emphasis on its anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities, as well as the research progress of lupeol derivatives thus far, to provide researchers with the latest information, point out the limitations of relevant research at the current stage and the aspects that should be strengthened in future research.

Calycosin: a Review of its Pharmacological Effects and Application Prospects.

Introduction: Calycosin (CA), a typical phytoestrogen extracted from root of Astragalus membranaceus. On the basis of summarizing the pharmacological and pharmacokinetic studies of CA in recent years, we hope to provide useful information for CA about treating different diseases and to make suggestions for future research.Areas covered: We collected relevant information (January 2014 to March 2020) on CA via the Internet database. Keywords searched includ pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and toxicology, and the number of effective references was 118. CA is a phytoestrogen with wide range of pharmacological activities. By affecting PI3K/Akt/mTOR, WDR7-7-GPR30, Rab27B-ß-catenin-VEGF, etc. signaling pathway, CA showed the effect of anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-osteoporosis, neuroprotection, hepatoprotection, etc. Therefore, CA is prospective to be used in the treatment of many diseases.Expert opinion: Research shows that CA has a therapeutic effect on a variety of diseases. We think CA is a promising natural medicine. Therefore, we propose that the research directions of CA in the future include the following. Carrying out clinical research trials in order to find the most suitable medicinal concentration for different diseases; Exploring the synergistic mechanism of CA in combination with other drugs; Exploring ways to increase the blood circulation concentration of CA.

Applications, phytochemistry, pharmacological effects, pharmacokinetics, toxicity of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi. and its probably potential therapeutic effects on COVID-19: a review.

Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi. (SB) is a common heat-clearing medicine in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It has been used for thousands of years in China and its neighboring countries. Clinically, it is mostly used to treat diseases such as cold and cough. SB has different harvesting periods and processed products for different clinical symptoms. Botanical researches proved that SB included in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (1st, 2020) was consistent with the medicinal SB described in ancient books. Modern phytochemical analysis had found that SB contains hundreds of active ingredients, of which flavonoids are its major components. These chemical components are the material basis for SB to exert pharmacological effects. Pharmacological studies had shown that SB has a wide range of pharmacological activities such as antiinflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, anticancer, liver protection, etc. The active ingredients of SB were mostly distributed in liver and kidney, and couldn't be absorbed into brain via oral absorption. SB's toxicity was mostly manifested in liver fibrosis and allergic reactions, mainly caused by baicalin. The non-medicinal application prospects of SB were broad, such as antibacterial plastics, UV-resistant silk, animal feed, etc. In response to the Coronavirus Disease In 2019 (COVID-19), based on the network pharmacology research, SB's active ingredients may have potential therapeutic effects, such as baicalin and baicalein. Therefore, the exact therapeutic effects are still need to be determined in clinical trials. SB has been reviewed in the past 2 years, but the content of these articles were not comprehensive and accurate. In view of the above, we made a comprehensive overview of the research progress of SB, and expect to provide ideas for the follow-up study of SB.

Heterogeneous information network based clustering for precision traditional Chinese medicine.

BACKGROUND: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a highly important complement to modern medicine and is widely practiced in China and in many other countries. The work of Chinese medicine is subject to the two factors of the inheritance and development of clinical experience of famous Chinese medicine practitioners and the difficulty in improving the service capacity of basic Chinese medicine practitioners. Heterogeneous information networks (HINs) are a kind of graphical model for integrating and modeling real-world information. Through HINs, we can integrate and model the large-scale heterogeneous TCM data into structured graph data and use this as a basis for analysis. METHODS: Mining categorizations from TCM data is an important task for precision medicine. In this paper, we propose a novel structured learning model to solve the problem of formula regularity, a pivotal task in prescription optimization. We integrate clustering with ranking in a heterogeneous information network. RESULTS: The results from experiments on the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China (ChP) demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed model for discovering useful categorizations of formulas. CONCLUSIONS: We use heterogeneous information networks to model TCM data and propose a TCM-HIN. Combining the heterogeneous graph with the probability graph, we proposed the TCM-Clus algorithm, which combines clustering with ranking and classifies traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions. The results of the categorizations can help Chinese medicine practitioners to make clinical decision.

Danggui Shaoyao San Ameliorates Renal Fibrosis via Regulation of Hypoxia and Autophagy.

Danggui Shaoyao San (DSS), a traditional Chinese medicinal prescription, was widely used to reinforce earth to activate collaterals in ancient times. Recently, many clinical studies found that DSS had a renoprotection. In this study, we evaluated the effect of DSS on unilateral ureteral obstruction- (UUO-) induced renal fibrosis in rats and investigated the mechanisms underlying the effect. Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomized to UUO or Sham operation. After 1 day, the rats that underwent UUO were randomized to treatment for four experimental groups (n=10 each group): Sham, UUO only, UUO+ benazepril (Bena), and UUO+DSS. After 4 weeks, we demonstrated that DSS significantly suppressed UUO-induced renal hypertrophy by gravimetric. In addition, DSS obviously prevented UUO-induced disorder in renal structure and renal function by HE and biochemistry test. We also found that DSS abrogated UUO-induced renal fibrosis by Masson's staining and collagen volume fraction (CVF) analysis; this is consistent with the western blot analysis that showed DSS abrogated the UUO-induced enhanced TGF-ß1 and weakened BMP-7. Compared with the UUO only group, rats treated with DSS exhibited significant increase in vascular density, followed by decrease in hypoxia and HIF-1α protein level through western blot and immunofluorescence analysis. Furthermore, we also determined proteins of autophagy and DSS enhanced autophagy to prevent the damage-induced by UUO. Taken together, our findings demonstrated that DSS had a renoprotection effect in ameliorating renal fibrosis possibly via attenuating tissue hypoxia and regulating autophagy.

Exosomes Derived from Human Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells Promote Tumor Growth Through Hedgehog Signaling Pathway.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are known to home to sites of tumor microenvironments where they participate in the formation of the tumor microenvironment and to interplay with tumor cells. However, the potential functional effects of MSCs on tumor cell growth are controversial. Here, we, from the view of bone marrow MSC-derived exosomes, study the molecular mechanism of MSCs on the growth of human osteosarcoma and human gastric cancer cells. METHODS: MSCs derived from human bone marrow (hBMSCs) were isolated and cultured in complete DMEM/F12 supplemented with 10% exosome-depleted fetal bovine serum and 1% penicillin-streptomycin, cell culture supernatants containing exosomes were harvested and exosome purification was performed by ultracentrifugation. Osteosarcoma (MG63) and gastric cancer (SGC7901) cells, respectively, were treated with hBMSC-derived exosomes in the presence or absence of a small molecule inhibitor of Hedgehog pathway. Cell viability was measured by transwell invasion assay, scratch migration assay and CCK-8 test. The expression of the signaling molecules Smoothened, Patched-1, Gli1 and the ligand Shh were tested by western blot and RT-PCR. RESULTS: In this study, we found that hBMSC-derived exosomes promoted MG63 and SGC7901 cell growth through the activation of Hedgehog signaling pathway. Inhibition of Hedgehog signaling pathway significantly suppressed the process of hBMSC-derived exosomes on tumor growth. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrated the new roles of hedgehog signaling pathway in the hBMSCs-derived exosomes induced tumor progression.

Pharmacokinetic study of eplerenone in rats after long-term coadministration with buckwheat tea.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of long-term intake of Tartary buckwheat tea on the pharmacokinetics (PK) of eplerenone in rats. A validated high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) method was established to determine the eplerenone in plasma, and the portal vein absorption model was applied to conduct the pharmacokinetic study. Two groups of animals-buckwheat tea group and control group-were involved in this study. Plasma samples were obtained at different time points after administration, and were separated on Shimadzu HPLC-MS 2020 instruments. The method showed good linearity (r=0.9988) over a wide dynamic range (0.20-50 µg/mL). Within- and between-batch precisions ranged from 2.13% to 7.90%. The extraction recovery rates ranged from 91.96% to 94.96%. The data showed that in the Tartarian buckwheat group the area under the curve and maximum concentration of eplerenone were reduced compared with those of the blank group (p<0.01), but the time to reach peak concentrations of eplerenone (p<0.01) was prolonged. The results suggested that long-term consumption of Tartary buckwheat tea might induce the activities of the hepatic drug metabolizing enzyme, which can accelerate the metabolism of eplerenone. According to the results, the dosage of eplerenone should be adjusted in hypertension treatment trials when administered with Tartary buckwheat or Tartary buckwheat-containing dietary supplements to avoid potential drug interactions.

Comparation of Hypolipidemic and Antioxidant Effects of Aqueous and Ethanol Extracts of Crataegus pinnatifida Fruit in High-Fat Emulsion-Induced Hyperlipidemia Rats.

BACKGROUND: Hawthorn (Crataegus pinnatifida) is a Chinese medicinal plant traditionally used in the treatment of hyperlipidemia. Recently, studies indicated free radical scavenging was one of the major pathways to alleviate hyperlipidemia. Moreover, hawthorn fruit is a rich source of phenols, which quench free radical and attenuate hyperlipidemia. However, the phenols vary with processing methods, especially solvent type. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to compare hypolipidemic and antioxidant effects of aqueous and ethanol extracts of hawthorn fruit in hyperlipidemia rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After a 4-week treatment of high-fat emulsion, lipid profile levels and antioxidant levels of two extracts were determined using commercial analysis. Total phenols content in the extract of hawthorn fruit was determined colorimetrically by the Folin-Ciocalteu method. RESULTS: Both ethanol and aqueous extracts of hawthorn fruit possessed hypolipidemic and antioxidant activities. Simultaneously, stronger activities were observed in ethanol extract. Besides, total phenols content in ethanol extract from the same quality of hawthorn fruit was 3.9 times more than that in aqueous extract. CONCLUSION: The obvious difference of hypolipidemic and antioxidant effects between ethanol extract and aqueous extract of hawthorn fruit was probably due to the presence of total phenols content, under the influence of extraction solvent. SUMMARY: Ethanol extract of hawthorn fruit exhibited more favorable hypolipidemic and antioxidant effects than aqueous extract. The higher effects could be due to the higher content of total phenols that varies with extraction solvent. Abbreviations used: TC: Total cholesterol, TG: Triglyceride, LDL-C: Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, HDL-C: High-density lipoprotein cholesterol, GSH-Px: Glutathione peroxidase, SOD: Superoxide dismutase, MDA: Malondialdehyde, CAT: Catalase, NO: Nitric oxide, NOS: Nitric oxide synthase, SR-BI: Scavenger receptor Class B Type I.

[Action mechanism of electroacupuncture at stomach meridian acupoints for oxidative damage in rats with gastric ulcer].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) at stomach meridian acupoints on expression of oxidation damage factors in serum and gastric mucosal cells in rats with gastric ulcer, and to explore the mechanism of EA at stomach meridian acupoints for oxidative damage in rats with gastric ulcer. METHODS: Forty clean-grade SD rats were randomly divided into a normal group, a model group, a stomach meridian group and a gallbladder meridian group, ten rats in each one. Except the normal group, rats in the remaining groups were applied the restraint-cold stress method to establish the model of gastric ulcer. Rats in the normal group and model group received no treatment; rats in the stomach meridian group were treated with EA at "Liangmen" (ST 21) and "Zusanli" (ST 36); rats in the gallbladder meridian group were treated with EA at "Riyue" (GB 24) and "Yanglingquan" (GB 34). The EA was given for 30 min, once a day for 7 days totally. The change of gastric mucosal morphology was observed by routine light microscope; enzyme linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the expressions of malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-px) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-2(IL-2), interleukin-6(IL-6) in serum and gastric mucosal cells of rats. RESULTS: After treatment, compared with the model group, the gastric mucosal damage index was decreased in the stomach meridian group and gallbladder meridian group (both P<0.05), the expressions of MDA, TNF-α, IL-2 and IL-6 in serum and gastric mucosal cells were significantly decreased in the stomach meridian group (all P<0.01), but the contents of GSH-Px in serum and gastric mucosal cells were increased significantly (both P<0.01). Compared with the gallbladder meridian group, the gastric mucosal damage index as well as the expressions of MDA,TNF-α, IL-2 and IL-6 in serum and gastric mucosal cells were significantly decreased in the stomach meridian group rats (P<0.05, P<0.01), and the contents of GSH-px in serum and gastric mucosal cells were increased significantly (both P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: EA at stomach meridian acupoints is likely to inhibit the expressions of oxidative damage factors to promote the repair of gastric mucosal injury, which indicates the correlation between meridians and zang-fu.

Tumor delivery efficiency and apoptosis enhancement by EVO nanoparticles on murie hepatic carcinoma cell line H22.

Nanoscale particles, as drug carriers, have a potential to improve drug therapeutic efficiency. However, the feasible design of the nanostructure containing chemotherapeutic agents and the behavior of the delivery to tumor tissues and cells has not been adequately investigated. In this study, we developed a novel nanoparticle, consisting of a gelatinase-cleavage peptide with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL)-based structure for tumor-targeted EVO (an alkaloid isolated from Evodia rutaecarpa) delivery. We found that EVO-NPs were transformed by gelatinases, which could significantly promote drug release and enhance the cellular uptake of EVO (P < 0.01). In vivo biodistribution study demonstrated that targeted EVO-NPs could accumulate and remain in the tumor regions. Moreover, EVO-NPs exhibited higher tumor growth suppression than EVO on hepatic H22 tumor model via intravenous administration (P < 0.01). Both in vitro and in vivo experiments suggested that the gelatinase-mediated nanoscale delivery system was promising for improvement of antitumor efficacy in various over-expressed gelatinase cancers.

[Effects of heishunpian total alkaloids on Cassia acutifolia induced mice diarrhea and contraction of isolated intestinal smooth muscle in rats].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of Heishunpian total alkaloids on Cassia acutifolia induced mice diarrhea and contraction of isolated intestinal smooth muscle in rats. METHODS: The experiment was carried out with Cassia acutifolia induced mice diarrhea model, small intestinal propulsive rate in mice was used to valuate the effect of Heishunpian total alkaloids on diarrhea mice; The effects of Heishunpian total alkaloids on contraction of isolated intestinal smooth muscle in rats and its mechanism were investigated by monitoring amplitude and tension of isolated intestinal smooth muscle in rats; The chemical constituents of Heishunpian total alkaloids were analyzed by HPLC. RESULTS: Heishunpian total alkaloids could significantly slow down intestine propulsive motility in diarrhea mice (P < 0. 05), and reduce amplitude and tension of isolated small intestinal smooth muscle contraction in normal rats in dose-dependent manner. Heishunpian total alkaloids had a certain inhibitory effect on acetylcholine chloride and neostigmine methylsulfate strengthening small intestine smooth muscle movement, however, had no significantly effect on Atropine sulfate inhibiting small intestine smooth muscle movement. By HPLC analysis, benzoylaconitine, benzoylmesaconitine, benzoylhypaconitine were the main chemical constituents of Heishunpian total alkaloids. CONCLUSION: Heishunpian total alkaloids have a certain role of antidiarrheal and its mechanism may be related to antagonizing muscarinic receptors.

A novel magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia combined with ACMF-dependant drug release by DAMMs injection in VX-2 liver tumors.

In this paper, we investigated the feasibility and effect of a novel combination therapy of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) hyperthermia with anticancer drugs for solid malignancies using doxorubicin-loaded alginate-templated magnetic microcapsules (DAMMs) in an animal liver cancer model. Firstly, DAMMs containing 18 nm gamma-Fe2O3 with doxorubicin (Dox) were synthesized and characterized. Then, the particular behavior of Dox release under external alternating current magnetic filed (ACMF) was tested in vitro. Moreover, to obtain accurate thermotherapy, the dose of DAMMs and temperature rise were computed by Hyperthermia treatment plan (HTP) and a fiber optic temperature sensor (FOTS) was used to monitor the temperature rise during treatments on VX-2 liver tumor-bearing rabbits. Furthermore, the therapeutic effect was studied by histopathological examinations and animal survival. The results showed that ACMF can induce Dox fast release during the treatment and the high MNPs content of DMMAs guaranteed the temperature rise for hyperthermia in tumors. The rabbits bearing VX-2 tumors in the magnetic hyperthermia using DMMAs group gained the most tumor necrosis and survival time. It was indicated that DAMMs-based magnetic hyperthermia could be a feasible and effective remedy which could be targeted at liver tumors by dual effects of hyperthermia and chemotherapy.

[Protective and therapeutic effects of Shugan Lifei Recipe on rats with asthma under stress and the mechanisms].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the influence of psychological factor on asthma, the protective and therapeutic effects of Shugan Lifei Recipe on rats with asthma under stress and the mechanisms. METHODS: Allergy and stress-induced asthma models were established in rats by giving ovalbumin and restraining stress. Radioimmunoassay, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical method were used to detect plasma corticosterone, IL-4, IFN-gamma, expression of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) mRNA in hippocampus and adrenocorticotropic hormone corticoliberin (CRH) positive neuron in hypothalamus. Optical and electron microscopes were used to observe the morphological changes of pulmonary hilar and hippocampal tissues. RESULTS: Shugan Lifei Recipe (SGLFR) could reduce plasma corticosterone, decrease CRH positive neurons in paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus, up-regulate the expression of GR mRNA in hippocampus and reduce the injury of hippocampal neuron. SGLFR had certain inhibitive effect on hyperfunction of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal cortex (HPA) axis in rats with asthma under stress and could also relieve the pathological changes of the pulmonary hilar tissue. The level of plasma IFN-gamma was increased while the level of plasma IL-4 was decreased in SGLFR-treated group. CONCLUSION: The mechanism of SGLFR in treating the rats with asthma under stress is probably to regulate the hyperfunction of HPA axis and the disorder of immuo-system.