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.

Ammonium reduces chromium toxicity in the freshwater alga Chlorella vulgaris.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the protective effect of ammonium (NH4 (+)) on Cr toxicity to the freshwater alga Chlorella vulgaris. We followed an array of cellular functions and biomolecules in C. vulgaris cells exposed to 50 or 100 µM Cr at three different initial NH4 (+) concentrations (0.5, 3, and 10 mM). The results showed that Cr strongly inhibited cell yield of C. vulgaris, but 10 mM NH4 (+) could decrease by more than two-fold Cr toxicity on cell yield compared to exposure to 0.5 mM NH4 (+). Cr toxicity on gene transcripts and cellular substructure was also much lower at high than at low NH4 (+). Our results suggest that this protecting effect of NH4 (+) on intracellular Cr toxicity could be due to several factors, such as enhance uptake of phosphorus, increase in C and N assimilation efficiency, and increase transcription of photosynthesis-related genes.

Phosphorus availability changes chromium toxicity in the freshwater alga Chlorella vulgaris.

Chromium (Cr) is one of the most serious pollutants in aquatic systems. This study examined the relationship between the toxic effects of Cr on the freshwater alga Chlorella vulgaris and phosphorus (P) availability on the algal physiology and ultrastructure. Cr inhibited C. vulgaris growth in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, and its inhibitory effect was related to the P concentration. In a low-P medium, Cr showed approximately 2.2-3.7-fold stronger toxicity than in a high-P medium. Cr was absorbed into the algal body where it disrupted the chloroplast structure and decreased the chlorophyll content. However, Cr had a weaker chlorophyll inhibitory ability and destructive power against the chloroplasts in the high-P medium than in the low-P medium due to the partial blockage of Cr absorption in high P-medium. Cr exposure also changed the metal ion and anion absorption profiles, which was also closely related to the concentration of P. Cr treatment increased the volume of the vacuole, and the larger vacuole reduced the space available for chloroplasts, as based on optical and electron microscopy results, but a higher P availability could alleviate this damage. These results suggest that high P alleviated the toxicity of Cr by decreasing Cr absorption and increasing the absorption of beneficial ions. It is, therefore, necessary to consider the phosphorus availability when the toxicity of metal compounds is evaluated.