Efficacy of Chinese herbal formula Kai-Xin-San on rodent models of depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Kai-Xin-San (KXS, or Happy Feeling Powder), a typical Chinese herbal prescription, is frequently used for treating depression by the multi-level and multi-target mechanism. AIM OF THE STUDY: To systematically investigate the efficacy and safety of KXS on depression in preclinic trials. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We independently searched for preclinical animal studies of KXS on depression from inception to June 28, 2022, using electronic databases, e.g., PUBMED. The measurements were performed to assess the outcomes of behavioral tests. RESULTS: This systematic review and meta-analysis included twenty-four studies and 608 animals. A remarkable effect of KXS in depression behavioral tests, including sucrose consumption test (SMD: 2.36, 95% CI: (1.81, 2.90); Z = 8.49, P < 0.00001)., forced swimming test (MD = -60.52, 95% CI: (-89.04, -31.99); Z = 4.16, P < 0.0001), rearing times (MD=4.48, 95% CI: (3.39, 5.57); Z = 8.05, P < 0.00001) and crossing times (MD = -33.7, 95% CI: (25.74, 41.67); Z = 8.29, P < 0.00001) in the open field test, showing KXS's excellent efficiency in improving depressive-like symptoms of animals. CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis showed KXS remarkably relieved animals' depressive-like symptoms, providing evidence that KXS can be a promising drug candidate for depression treatment.

Antidepressant effects of the traditional Chinese herbal formula Xiao-Yao-San and its bioactive ingredients.

BACKGROUND: Depression is one of the most debilitating and severe psychiatric disorders and a serious public health concern. Currently, many treatments are indicated for depression, including traditional Chinese medicinal formulae such as Xiao-Yao-San (XYS), which has effective antidepressant effects in clinical and animal studies. PURPOSE: To summarize current evidence of XYS in terms of the preclinical and clinical studies and to identify the multi-level, multi-approach, and multi-target potential antidepressant mechanisms of XYS and active components of XYS by a comprehensive search of the related electronic databases. METHODS: The following electronic databases were searched from the beginning to April 2022: PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. RESULTS: This review summarizes the antidepressant mechanisms of XYS and its active ingredients, which are reportedly correlated with monoamine neurotransmitter regulation, synaptic plasticity, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, etc. CONCLUSION: XYS plays a critical role in the treatment of depression by the regulation of several factors, including the monoaminergic systems, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, synaptic plasticity, inflammation, brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels, brain-gut axis, and other pathways. However, more clinical and animal studies should be conducted to further investigate the antidepressant function of XYS and provide more evidence and recommendations for its clinical application. Our review provides an overview of XYS and guidance for future research direction.

Progress and prospect of machine learning in research of acupuncture and moxibustion / 中国针灸

The application progress of machine learning in research of acupuncture and moxibustion was reviewed from three aspects: mining of acupuncture and moxibustion prescription and indications, acupuncture efficacy prediction and its influencing factors, acupoint specificity and acupuncture manipulation research, and the existing problems in current research and future research trends were discussed. It is believed that the appropriate machine learning algorithm should be selected to build the model according to the research purpose and data characteristics in the future research; attention should be paid to feature design, feature selection and feature cleaning; sample data collection should be a priority, and data sharing platform and standardized data collection should be developed to improve the data quality.

Soft-shelled turtle peptide modulates microRNA profile in human gastric cancer AGS cells.

Cancer prevention using natural micronutrition on epigenetic mechanisms primarily revolves around plant extracts. However, the role of macronutrition, including animal peptides, on epigenetic modification in cancer has been elusive. In traditional Chinese medicine, the soft-shelled turtle has a long-history of being a functional food that strengthens immunity through unknown mechanisms. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of soft-shelled turtle peptide on microRNA (miRNA) expression in gastric cancer (GC) cells and to analyze the potential anticancer mechanisms for GC. Affymetrix GeneChip miRNA 3.0 Array and quantitative polymerase chain reaction were used to detect the miRNA expression profile in human GC AGS cells treated with the soft-shelled turtle peptide. The results demonstrated that 101 miRNAs (49 upregulated miRNAs and 52 downregulated miRNAs) were significantly differentially expressed in the AGS cells following soft-shelled turtle peptide treatment. Several tumor suppressor miRNAs were upregulated markedly, including miRNA-375, let-7d, miRNA-429, miRNA-148a/148b and miRNA-34a. Pathway analysis indicated that soft-shelled turtle peptide may function with anticancer properties through the Hippo signaling pathway and the forkhead box O signaling pathway. Therefore, these results demonstrated that soft-shelled turtle peptide has the capacity to influence cancer-related pathways through the regulation of miRNA expression in GC cells.

Protective effects of oxymatrine against lipopolysaccharide/D­galactosamine­induced acute liver failure through oxidative damage, via activation of Nrf2/HO­1 and modulation of inflammatory TLR4­signaling pathways.

Oxymatrine has a variety of pharmacological functions, including anti-viral, anti-liver fibrotic, anti-cancer, anti­bacterial, anti­epidemic, analgesic, anti­allergy and anti­inflammatory properties. The present study aimed to investigate the protective effects of oxymatrine against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/D­galactosamine (D­GalN)­induced acute liver failure and the associated underlying mechanisms. Mice were administrated 4 mg/kg LPS and 600 mg/kg D­GalN. Then, mice in the Oxymatrine group were treated with 120 mg/kg of oxymatrine for 4 weeks. Oxymatrine treatment increased survival rate, decreased plasma aspartate transaminase and alanine aminotransferase activity, increased superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase and decreased malondialdehyde, tumor necrosis factor­ and myeloperoxidase activities in mice with LPS/D­GalN­induced liver failure. Furthermore, Oxymatrine activated nuclear factor erythroid 2­related factor (Nrf) 2 and heme oxygenase (HO)­1 protein expression, and suppressed Toll like receptor (TLR)4, myeloid differentiation primary response 88 and nuclear factor­κB protein expression in mice LPS/D­GalN mice. Overall, the present study suggests that oxymatrine effectively attenuates LPS/D­GalN­induced acute liver failure by oxidative damage via activation of Nrf2/HO­1 and modulation of TLR4­dependent inflammatory signaling pathways.

Acupuncture treatment of migraine research progress based on cerebral blood flow study / 医学研究生学报

Migraine is a kind of nerve vascular disease, characterized by hemialgia, moderate and severe, pulsating pain. Acupuncture as a safe and effective analgesic therapy, has been widely used in more than 160 countries and regions around the globe. Treating migraine with acupuncture has certain good features as effective, non-toxic side effects and untoward effect.But its mechanism is still not very clear.The cerebral blood flow study ( CBF study) is currently the most credibility of migraine pathogenesis theory.Now based on the theory of CBF study, this paper discusses the acupuncture treatment of migraine which can provide the basis for clinical treats.

Research on output and quality of Panax notoginseng and annual change characteristics of N, P and K nutrients of planting soil under stereo-cultivation / 中国中药杂志

The output and agronomic characters of 3-year-old Panax notoginseng cultured under stereo structure (upper, middle and down layers) were investigated, and the annual change of N, P and K of its planting soil were also studied. Results showed that, compared with field cultured Panax notoginseng, growth vigour and output of stereo-cultivation were significantly lower. But the total production of the 3 layers was 1.6 times of field. The growth vigor and production of P. notoginseng was in the order of upper layer > middle layer > down layer. The content of ginsenoside in rhizome, root tuber and hair root of P. notoginseng was in the order of upper layer > field > middle layer > down layer. Organic matter content and pH of stereo-cultivation soil decreased with the prolonging of planting time, which with the same trend of yield. Organic matter content of stereo-cultivation soil was significantly higher than field, but the pH was significantly lower. Contents of total and available N, P and K in stereo-cultivation soil and field decreased with the prolonging of planting time. The content of N and P were in the order of upper layer > middle layer > yield > down layer, the content of K was in the order of upper layer > middle layer > down layer > yield. Compared with field, the proportion of N and P in the organ of underground (rhizome, root tuber and hair root) of upper layer were increased, while decreased in middle and down layers. Proportion of K in underground decreased significantly of the 3 layers. In conclusion, the agronomic characters and production of stereo-cultivation were significantly lower than that of yield. But the total production of the 3 layers were significantly higher than field of unit area. And the aim of improving land utilization efficiency was achieved. Nutritions in the soil of stereo-cultivation were enough to support the development of P. notoginseng, which was not the cause of weak growth and low production. The absorbing ability of P. notoginseng to N, P and K nutrients was decreased by stereo-cultivation mode. So, improve the growth vigour of P. notoginseng from the perspective of adjusting the stereo-cultivation mode so as to improve the nutrient absorption capacity is the future direction.

Acupuncture status analysis in PROSPERO systematic review registry platform / 中国针灸

By searching the registry information of systematic review regarding acupuncture included before March 31, 2014 in PROSPERO systematic review registry platform, information in the project plan such as care gories of diseases, interventions, research team and the completion status was analyzed to make a comprehensive understanding on registry status of acupuncture systematic review in this platform. As a result, a total of 52 project plans was finally included. The health problem concerned was mainly painrelated diseases, and the interventions were mostly simple acupuncture or combination of acupuncture and moxibustion. The registered plan participated with Chinese team appeared comparatively late, which was featured with fewer independent projects and concentrated research organization, so its scientific research advantage in acupuncture did not present. In conclusion, it is believed that the consciousness on systematic review registry in domestic researchers needs to be improved, and researchers might take good advantages of the PROSPERO platform in the future.

Progress of fMRI research in central effect mechanism of acupuncture overseas / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Through analysis of oversea published literatures on central effect mechanism of acupuncture in recent years, the general tendency in this filed is discussed so as to provide references for later studies.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Pubmed database from January 2009 to May 2012 is retrieved with the key words of acupuncture and fMRI. As a result, 38 articles are included.</p><p><b>RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS</b>Healthy subjects are adopted for most of researches. And studies are carried out through three aspects of response characteristics of acupuncture analgesia, response characteristics of acupuncture specificity and duration of acupuncture effect. However, the brain activities of healthy subjects are obviously different from that of patients. Moreover, acupuncture treatment is also different from modern therapies. Therefore, it is held that patients should be adopted as study subjects in the future studies, and various bias in research designation and implementation course should be avoided.</p>

Acupuncture resources in Cochrane Library / 中国针灸

To identify acupuncture resources in six databases of Cochrane Library (CL) with computer retrieve. Seventy-two literatures were identified in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR). Among them, 12 Cochrane systematic review (CSR) verified the effectiveness of acupuncture, 29 concerning the indeterminacy of the efficacy of acupuncture with 1 didn't support acupuncture for epilepsy and 31 remained as protocols; 121 literatures were found in Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE) with more types of diseases or symptoms and rich modality comparing to CSR; 4218 randomized controlled trials and clinical controlled trials were identified in Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CCRCT); 43 literatures in Cochrane Methodology Register Database (CMRD) which focused on blindness study, quality assessment of methodology of research and publication bias and so on; 25 literatures in Health Technology Assessment Database (HTAD) and 18 in NHS Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED) which were centered on acupuncture analgesia. Consequently, acupuncture literatures in 6 databases of CL do provide good resources for acupuncture researchers due to its abundant content, concrete classification and high quality evidence.

Quality Control of the Research on Mechanisms of Acupuncture Therapy by Using PET-CT Imaging Techniques / 针刺研究

Combining the functional metabolic imaging and anatomical imaging,PET-CT stands for the highest level of current nuclear medical imaging techniques,and has been applying increasingly in acupuncture studies.However,owning to complexity of the brain function and sensitivity of brain metabolism,the lower reproducibility of cerebral function imaging even may reverse many results.This has been provoked more and more attention by researchers.Its main cause is intimately related to poor experimental methodology.For this reason,the present paper raises the quality control of the research on mechanisms of acupuncture in the process of application of PET-CT techniques from 1) the included standards of participants,2) the preparation of participants during the scanning process of PET-CT,3) the setting of the scanning parameters,4) the used machine and the imaging reagent,5) the analysis of dada,6) the standardization of acupuncture manipulation,and 7) the designs of the acupuncture operation,needling opportunity and scanning opportunity,hoping to offer some beneficial information for the coming researches.

Activation of NF-?B and anti-inflammation mechanism of pyrrolidine dithiocarb amate in rats with acute colitis / 中国临床药理学与治疗学

AIM: To investigate DNA-binding activity of nuclear factor ka ppa B (NF-?B) and pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) anti-inflammation effect and mechanism in trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced acute colitis in rats. METHODS: Acute colitis was induced by instilling TNBS/ ethanol into the lumen of the rat colon. Rats were randomized into PDTC-treat g roup (including group P10,P25,P50,P100), TNBS/ethanol group and normal control g roup. The rats in PDTC-treated group were injected intraperitoneally with PDTC at the dosages of 10, 25, 50, and 100 mg?kg -1 , respectively. Rats wer e killed at 4 h after enema. Colonic inflammation, the ratio of wet/dry weig ht and MPO, SOD, and MDA activity were detected. DNA-binding activity of NF-? B was assessed by EMSA. RESULTS: NF-?B activity in colon homog enate was increased markedly at acute colitis in rats. PDTC attenuates the devel opment of rat colonic inflammation but not by reducing the NF-?B activity. CONCLUSION: NF-?B is activated in rats with acute colitis, which may be a mechanism of self-protection. PDTC can attenuate the development of in flammation.