[Correlation between intestinal mucosal permeability and prognosis in patients with liver cirrhosis].

Objective: To investigate the correlation between changes in intestinal mucosal permeability and prognosis of patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods: Data of 89 cases with liver cirrhosis who were hospitalized in the Hepatology Department of Shanxi Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 2017 to August 2017 were collected as the liver cirrhosis experimental group, and 40 healthy subjects were randomly selected as the healthy control group. JY-DLT, the Intestinal Mucosal Barrier Biochemical Index Analysis System was used to measure the levels of serum diamine oxidase (DAO), D-lactic acid, and endotoxin (ETX) in two groups to evaluate intestinal mucosal barrier function. Spearman's rank correlation test was used to evaluate the correlation between liver cirrhosis prognosis and intestinal mucosal permeability. The results of the two groups were compared by Mann-Whitney H test of two independent samples. One-way Anova was used for intergroup comparison. The pairwise comparison between groups was performed using the LSD or SNK test. Results: The level of ETX in patients with decompensated cirrhosis was significantly higher than that in the compensated phase, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The levels of DAO, D-lactic acid and ETX in the liver cirrhosis group were significantly higher than those in the healthy control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.01). The plasma levels of DAO, D-lactic acid and ETX in the Child-Pugh grade groups of patients with liver cirrhosis were significantly higher than those in the healthy control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The results of intergroup comparison showed that there were statistically significant differences in DAO, D-lactic acid and ETX levels between Child-Pugh grade A and grade B groups (t = -4.255, 2.527, -2.179, P < 0.05). Furthermore, there were statistically significant differences in the levels of D-lactic acid and ETX between the Child-Pugh grade A and grade C groups (t = -2.693, -4.248, P < 0.01).The plasma levels of DAO, D-lactic acid and ETX levels were positively correlated (r = 0.205, 0.372, 0.342, P < 0.01). D-lactic acid and ETX levels were positively correlated with CTP score, Forns' index, RPR index, APRI score, FIB-4 index and FibroScan score(P < 0.01). Conclusion: The three indices (plasma DAO, D-lactic acid, and ETX) can accurately detect the changes in intestinal mucosal permeability. Moreover, the higher index of intestinal mucosal permeability causes the more severe degree of liver cirrhosis and the correlation between the intestinal mucosal permeability and the prognosis score of liver cirrhosis provides a reference for a new evaluation system and new ideas for the treatment of liver cirrhosis.

Transgenic mice overexpressing mutant PRKAG2 define the cause of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome in glycogen storage cardiomyopathy.

BACKGROUND: Mutations in the gamma2 subunit (PRKAG2) of AMP-activated protein kinase produce an unusual human cardiomyopathy characterized by ventricular hypertrophy and electrophysiological abnormalities: Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) and progressive degenerative conduction system disease. Pathological examinations of affected human hearts reveal vacuoles containing amylopectin, a glycogen-related substance. METHODS AND RESULTS: To elucidate the mechanism by which PRKAG2 mutations produce hypertrophy with electrophysiological abnormalities, we constructed transgenic mice overexpressing the PRKAG2 cDNA with or without a missense N488I human mutation. Transgenic mutant mice showed elevated AMP-activated protein kinase activity, accumulated large amounts of cardiac glycogen (30-fold above normal), developed dramatic left ventricular hypertrophy, and exhibited ventricular preexcitation and sinus node dysfunction. Electrophysiological testing demonstrated alternative atrioventricular conduction pathways consistent with WPW. Cardiac histopathology revealed that the annulus fibrosis, which normally insulates the ventricles from inappropriate excitation by the atria, was disrupted by glycogen-filled myocytes. These anomalous microscopic atrioventricular connections, rather than morphologically distinct bypass tracts, appeared to provide the anatomic substrate for ventricular preexcitation. CONCLUSIONS: Our data establish PRKAG2 mutations as a glycogen storage cardiomyopathy, provide an anatomic explanation for electrophysiological findings, and implicate disruption of the annulus fibrosis by glycogen-engorged myocytes as the cause of preexcitation in Pompe, Danon, and other glycogen storage diseases.

Current studies on anti-endotoxic chemical components of traditional Chinese medicine in China.

Endotoxin (ET) was found to have wide bioactivities and ET antagonists have become the pop research topic in life science. The chemical components of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) were the substance basis of its pharmacology. This review demonstrated the study state of about 18 chemical components from TCM, eg, organic acids of Radix Isatidis, anisodamine, matrine, tetramethypyrazine, colchicine, and glycine, etc, which showed anti-endotoxin effects through different routes. But now the most of them were limited to the laboratory. In the future, the trends of development should not only enlarge the range of research, but also strengthen the clinical study.