Effect of Electroacupuncture on the Treatment of Pneumonia in Patients with Hypertensive Intracerebral Hemorrhage.

OBJECTIVE: Pneumonia is a serious postoperative complication of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (HICH), and there is no specific treatment for pneumonia. In this study, we conducted randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on the treatment of pneumonia in patients with HICH. METHODS: An equal number of patients with HICH complicated with pneumonia (n = 80 in total) were randomly placed in either the EA group (EA treatment and routine basic treatment) or the control group (routine basic treatment). After 14 days of treatment, clinical symptoms and signs, blood oxygen saturation, the level of inflammatory factors, the effective rate, the scores of the Barthel Index, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and Glasgow Coma Scale, the hospitalization time, and expenses were compared between the groups. RESULTS: The general information of the patients in the control and EA groups were similar. After 14 days of intervention, the patients in the EA group showed better symptom and sign scores, blood oxygen saturation levels, Barthel Index scores, Glasgow Coma Scale scores, and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores than the patients in the control group. Furthermore, the EA treatment also lowered the levels of inflammatory factors and white blood cell count. Additionally, the patients in the EA group showed higher effective rates than those in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: EA benefits the treatment of pneumonia in patients with HICH.

Development of an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (icELISA) using highly specific monoclonal antibody against paclitaxel.

Paclitaxel, the major active component of the yew tree, is used as an important anti-cancer agent. To obtain the monoclonal antibody (MAb) against paclitaxel for paclitaxel determination using immunoassay, 7-xylosyltaxol was conjugated to the carrier protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) to construct the immunogen, and the ratio of hapten in XylTax-BSA conjugate was determined by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. After immunization of mice with this conjugate, hybridomas secreting MAbs against paclitaxel were obtained by fusing the splenocytes with the mouse myeloma cell line SP2/0. After hybridoma screening, the anti-paclitaxel MAb 3A3 was obtained, which showed a relatively high specificity to paclitaxel (cross-reactivities against other naturally occurred taxanes: 7-xylosyltaxol, 31.8%; cephalomannine, 6.17%; baccatin III, 10-deacetyl-baccatin III, 1-hydroxybaccatin I, 13-acetyl-9-dihydrobaccatin III and 1-acetoxyl-5-deacetyl-baccatin I, <0.11%). Using the MAb 3A3, we established an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (icELISA) for paclitaxel determination with a detection range of 0.098-312.5 µg ml(-1). Determination of paclitaxel contents in various yew tree samples with this icELISA resulted in recovery rates ranging from 92 to 94.8%, and intra- and inter-assay variations of 3.6 and 4.7%, respectively. This icELISA provides a valuable method of paclitaxel determination for various purposes.

[Quality inspection of commercial Bupluri Radix samples in Guangzhou: an ELISA for determining saikosaponin A content using anti-saikosaponin A monoclonal antibody].

OBJECTIVE: To inspect the quality of commercially available Chaihu (Bupluri Radix, a common traditional Chinese herbal drug) in Guangzhou by determining the content of saikosaponin A (SSa) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). METHODS: A competitive ELISA system using mouse anti-saikosaponin A monoclonal antibody was established for determining SSa content. Commercial samples of Chaihu were obtained from 10 drug stores in Guangzhou, and SSa contents in the methanol extracts of these samples were determined using the ELISA system. RESULTS: The detection range of this competitive assay was 0.16-2.5 µg/ml for determining SSa contents. In the 10 commercial Chaihu samples, SSa contents in the methanol extract determined by this method ranged from 0.32 µg/mg to 6.87 µg/mg, and 3 samples showed a SSa content lower than the minimum requirement documented in the Chinese Pharmacopeia. CONCLUSION: This competitive ELISA is sensitive, rapid, economic and environment-friendly for SSa determination, especially suitable for batch determination. The results of SSa detection for the commercial Chaihu samples demonstrate an uneven quality of Chaihu in Guangzhou market, suggesting the necessity of more rigorous quality control measures for this drug.

[Determination of stachydrine and leonurine in Herba Leonuri by ion- pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography].

OBJECTIVE: To establish a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for determining stachydrine and leonurine contents in the crude drug of Yimu Cao, a Chinese motherwort herb(Herba Leonuri, the aerial part of Leonurus japonicus). METHODS: The sample was obtained from the crude drug by ultrasonic extraction with ethanol after decolorization with ethyl acetate. YMC-Park CN column (250.0 mm x 4.6 mm) was used with the mobile phase for stachydrine of 0.00125 mol/L SDS:C2H5CN (90:10) at the flow rate of 1.5 ml/min with the wavelength for detection of 201.7 nm, and that for leonurine of 0.00125 mol/L SDS (containing 0.05% HClO4):CH4OH(90:10) at the flow rate of 1 ml/min with the wavelength for detection of 282 nm. The sensitivity was 0.1 AUFs and the column temperature was 20 degrees Celsius;. RESULTS: With the injection amount (mg) as the abscissa and the peak area as the ordinate, the regression equation of the calibration curve for stachydrine was Y=1,187.542 3X-168.9822, and that for leonurine was Y=5,202.654X-221.141 (r=0.9998) with the linearity scope of 2.5-12.5 mg, detective limit of 0.15 mg, and recovery of (99.03+/-2.744) %. The analysis of extracted drug samples from 18 regions indicated that the alkaloids contents in Yimu Cao varied significantly, i.e. stachydrine within a range of 0.1%-0.2% while leonurine content, which was much lower, within 0.01%-0.05%. In general, the alkaloid contents were higher in the drug produced in northern China than in those produced in southern China. L. japonicus and the variant L. japonicus albiflorus had total alkaloid contents around 0.3%, which was higher than the contents of other species. CONCLUSION: As a convenient and feasible means for determining the alkaloid contents in Yimu Cao, HPLC produces accurate and reliable results and can be more effective than the formerly used methods.