Electroacupuncture pretreatment preserves telomerase reverse transcriptase function and alleviates postoperative cognitive dysfunction by suppressing oxidative stress and neuroinflammation in aged mice.

BACKGROUND: Elderly patients often exhibit postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD), a postsurgical decline in memory and executive function. Oxidative stress and neuroinflammation, both pathological characteristics of the aged brain, contribute to this decline. This study posits that electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation, an effective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory modality, may enhance telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) function, the catalytic subunit of telomerase known for its protective properties against cellular senescence and oxidative damage, to alleviate POCD in aged mice. METHODS: The animal POCD model was created by subjecting aged mice to abdominal surgery, followed by EA pretreatment at the Baihui acupoint (GV20). Postoperative cognitive function was gauged using the Morris water maze (MWM) test. Hippocampal TERT mRNA levels and telomerase activity were determined through qPCR and a Telomerase PCR ELISA kit, respectively. Oxidative stress was assessed through superoxide dismutase (SOD), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Iba-1 immunostaining determined the quantity of hippocampal microglia. Additionally, western blotting assessed TERT, autophagy markers, and proinflammatory cytokines at the protein level. RESULTS: Abdominal surgery in aged mice significantly decreased telomerase activity and TERT mRNA and protein levels, but increased oxidative stress and neuroinflammation and decreased autophagy in the hippocampus. EA-pretreated mice demonstrated improved postoperative cognitive performance, enhanced telomerase activity, increased TERT protein expression, improved TERT mitochondrial localization, and reduced oxidative damage, autophagy dysfunction, and neuroinflammation. The neuroprotective benefits of EA pretreatment were diminished following TERT knockdown. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings underscore the significance of TERT function preservation in alleviating surgery-induced oxidative stress and neuroinflammation in aged mice. A novel neuroprotective mechanism of EA stimulation is highlighted, whereby modulation of TERT and telomerase activity reduces oxidative damage and neuroinflammation. Consequently, maintaining TERT function via EA treatment could serve as an effective strategy for managing POCD in elderly patients.

Limonoids from seeds of Azadirachta indica and their cytotoxic activity / 中国中药杂志

Eight limonoids were isolated from 95% ethanol extracts of neem(Azadirachta indica) seeds by various chromatographic methods. By comparison of their spectroscopic data with those reported in the literatures, these limonoids were determined as salannin(1), 1-detigloyl-1-isobutylsalannin(2), salannol-3-acetate(3), salannol(4), spirosendan(5), 1-detigloyloxy-3-deacetylsalannin-1-en-3-one(6), nimbin(7) and 6-deacetylnimbin(8). Compounds 2 and 5 were firstly isolated from this genus and 5 represented the only example of its type. And 6 is a new natural product. 6 showed inhibitory activity against HeLa and HL-60 cells, with IC₅₀ of(21.61±4.37) and(27.33±5.74) μmol·L⁻¹, respectively. Both 7 and 8 mildly inhibited the growth of HeLa cells, with IC₅₀ of (33.15±5.24) and (38.56±6.41) μmol·L⁻¹, respectively.

Tibetan medicine "RNSP" in treatment of Alzheimer disease.

Alzheimer disease (Alzheimer Disease, AD) is one of the most common type in senile dementia. Its main pathological features were that a large number of senile plaques gathered in brain extracellular and tangles fibrosis appeared in nerve cells. Currently, the pathogenesis of AD is still uncertain, and scale investigation and combined brain CT, MRI data were analyzed mainly for clinical diagnosis. Mitigation and improvement of the nervous system activity to interfere with the subsequent behavior of the patients are the main methods for treatment. In clinical no drug can really prevent and cure AD. From the view point of Tibetan medicine studies, Tibetan medicine RNSP has effect on improving memory and repairing the neurons in the brain. In this study, we combined the characteristics of AD pathology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment methods to explore the feasibility of Tibetan medicine RNSP for the treatment of AD to provide new ideas for the diagnosis and treatment of AD.

Effect of calcium or vitamin D supplementation on vascular outcomes: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Whether calcium or vitamin D supplementation reduces serious vascular outcomes in older people remains unclear. We conducted a meta-analysis based on randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effect of calcium or vitamin D supplementation on the risk of major cardiovascular outcomes. METHODS: We performed electronic searches in PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library to identify relevant randomized controlled trials. Odds ratios (ORs) were used to measure the effect of calcium or vitamin D supplementation on the risk of major vascular outcomes with a random-effect model. RESULTS: Of the 1643 identified studies, we included 11 trials reporting data on 50,252 individuals. These studies reported 2685 major cardiovascular events, 1097 events of myocardial infarction, and 1350 events of stroke. Calcium or vitamin D supplementation did not have an effect on major cardiovascular events (OR, 1.03; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.94-1.12; P=0.54), myocardial infarction (OR, 1.08; 95% CI: 0.96-1.22; P=0.21), or stroke (OR, 1.01; 95% CI: 0.91-1.13; P=0.80) when compared to the effect with a placebo. Subgroup analysis indicated that calcium supplementation alone might play an important role in increasing the risk of major cardiovascular events, myocardial infarction, and stroke, but this difference could not be identified as statistically significant. Furthermore, males seem to experience more harmful effects with supplements of calcium or vitamin D than the effects experienced by females. CONCLUSIONS: Calcium supplementation might increase the risk of major cardiovascular events, myocardial infarction, and stroke compared to the risk with a placebo.

Review on investigations related to chemical constituents and biological activities of Periplaneta americana / 中国中药杂志

With the fast development of medicinal animals as new drugs, research on Periplaneta americana become hot recently. Several drugs which mainly consisted of P. americana were approved for clinical applications. The chemical constituents and pharmacological bioactivities of this insect were summarized herein, which provides informativon for further researches on this medicinal animal.