A novel flavonoid with antioxidant activity from Patrinia villosa (Thunb.) Juss.

Patrinia villosa (Thunb.) Juss (P. villosa), a perennial herb, is widely used as a medicinal plant in Chinese folk. This study aims to isolate and identify the chemical constituents from P. villosa and evaluate their antioxidant activity. Normal silica column chromatography, ODS silica column chromatography, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography and semi-preparative HPLC methods were used to obtain a new compound named 3-n-pentadecyl-4'-methoxyluteolin (1) and two known compounds including luteolin-7-O-ß-D-glucuronide methyl ester (2) and apigenin-7-O-ß-D-glucuronide methyl ester (3). The antioxidant activity of these compounds was determined by DPPH and ABTS methods and the IC50 values were calculated. The IC50 values of ABTS scavenging activity of 1, 2 and 3 were 12.99 ± 0.09 µM, 7.13 ± 0.07 µM and 5.15 ± 0.08 µM, respectively, and the IC50 values of DPPH scavenging activity of 1, 2 and 3 were 51.86 ± 0.41 µM, 23.95 ± 0.71 µM and 25.06 ± 0.65 µM, respectively. All the compounds exhibited good antioxidant activities in vitro.

Mindfulness-based relapse prevention combined with virtual reality cue exposure for methamphetamine use disorder: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) is a method that combines cognitive behavioral relapse prevention with mindfulness practice. Research suggests that MBRP can effectively reduce withdrawal/craving in people with substance use disorder (SUD). An important part of MBRP is to practice mindfulness meditation to cope with high-risk situations for relapse, such as stimuli and situations associated with drug taking. Virtual reality cue exposure (VRCE) may be a complementary approach to MBRP as it allows for controlled and graded presentations of various high-risk situations with distal and proximal drug cues. The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of MBRP combined with VRCE, in comparison to MBRP alone or treatment as usual, on craving and emotional responses in people with methamphetamine use disorders. METHOD/DESIGN: The study is a parallel randomized controlled study including 180 participants with methamphetamine use disorder. Three parallel groups will receive 8 weeks of MBRP combined with VRCE, MBRP alone, or treatment as usual, respectively. Craving, virtual cue reactivity, anxiety, depression, emotion regulation, mindfulness and drug-related attention bias will be assessed at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 3 and 6 months of follow-up. DISCUSSION: This innovative study aims at investigating the effects of MBRP combined with VRCE in people with SUD. The combined intervention may have important clinical implications for relapse prevention due to its ease of application and high cost-effectiveness. This study may also stimulate research on the neuronal and psychological mechanisms of MBRP in substance use disorder. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR-INR-17013041.

Anti-hepatitis B virus effects of dehydrocheilanthifoline from Corydalis saxicola.

In this report, the anti-hepatitis B virus (HBV) activity of dehydrocheilanthifoline (DHCH), a quaternary ammonium alkaloid isolated from the traditional Chinese medicine Corydalis saxicola Bunting (Papaveraceae), was determined in vitro. Following six days of treatment, DHCH efficiently suppressed the secretions of HBsAg and HBeAg in HepG2.2.15 cell cultures, with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) of 15.84 and 17.12 µM, and with a therapeutic index (TI) of 7.32 and 6.77, respectively. Further studies revealed that DHCH reduced the levels of extracellular DNA, intracellular DNA and covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) of HBV in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner, with IC(50) values of 15.08, 7.62 and 8.25 µM, respectively after six days of treatment. In contrast, the level of viral pre-genomic RNA (pgRNA) increased 6.13-fold after treatment with DHCH. Together, it was demonstrated for the first time that DHCH could significantly inhibit the replication of HBV, which warrants further studies on the antiviral mechanisms of DHCH, and suggests that it may be a promising candidate in the therapy of HBV infection.

[Role of hypothalamic orexin in drug addiction].

Hypothalamus is considered as an important brain region regulating natural rewards. Orexin, a neuropeptide specifically expressed in hypothalamus, arrests investigators much attention for its function in drug rewards. Orexin neurons in different brain regions exert different roles in regulating reward and motivation in the addiction research: orexin neurons in perifornical area (PFA) and dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) are mainly concerned with activating stress system, while orexin neurons in lateral hypothalamus participate in mediating reward-related behavior through activating brain circuitry involved in reward learning. The orexin system may therefore represent a target for preventing relapse to drug seeking during protracted abstinence. And targeting orexin receptors may provide new therapeutic strategies to treat addiction.