The relationship between attention networks and individual differences in visual mental imagery vividness - An EEG study.

Previous research has established a strong link between attention and visual mental imagery, but it's remained uncertain whether attention networks influence individual differences in the vividness of visual mental imagery. In our study, we examined 140 participants, assessing the vividness of imagery using the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire in both eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. We employed the Attention Network Test, coupled with EEG recording, to characterize three attention sub-networks: alerting, orienting, and executive control. To pinpoint the specific attentional networks associated with the vividness of visual mental imagery, we utilized latent profile analysis to categorize participants into distinct subgroups. Additionally, we constructed a regression mixture model to explore how attention networks predict different latent categories of visual imagery vividness. Our findings revealed that the efficiency of the alerting network, as indicated by the N1 component, demonstrated a positive correlation with the vividness of visual imagery. This electrophysiological evidence underscores the role of the alerting network in shaping individual differences in the vividness of visual mental imagery.

Using Nonlinear Dynamics and Multivariate Statistics to Analyze EEG Signals of Insomniacs with the Intervention of Superficial Acupuncture.

OBJECTIVE: As a noninvasive and nonpharmacological therapeutic approach, superficial acupuncture (SA) is a special method of acupuncture. In this study, using nonlinear dynamics and multivariate statistics, we studied the electroencephalography (EEG) of primary insomnia under SA intervention to investigate how brain regions change. METHOD: This study included 30 adults with primary insomnia. They underwent superficial acupuncture at the Shangen acupoint. The EEG signals were collected for 10 minutes at each state, including the resting state, the intervention state, and the postintervention state. The data were conducted using nonlinear dynamics (including approximate entropy (ApEn) and correlation dimension (CD)) and multivariate statistics. RESULT: The repeated-measures ANOVA results showed that both ApEn and CD values were not significantly different at the three states (p > 0.05). The paired t-test results showed that the ApEn values of electrodes O2 (the right occipital lobe) at the postintervention state have decreased, compared with the resting state (p < 0.05), and no difference was detected in CD (p > 0.05). The cluster analysis results of ApEn showed that patients' EEG has changed from the right prefrontal lobe (electrode Fp2) to the right posterior temporal lobe (electrode T6) and finally to the right occipital lobe (electrode O2), before, during, and after the SA intervention. In addition, the factor analysis results of CD revealed that patients' EEG of all brain regions except for the occipital lobes has changed to the frontal lobes and anterior temporal and frontal lobes from pre- to postintervention. CONCLUSION: SA activated the corresponding brain regions and reduced the complexity of the brain involved. It is feasible to use nonlinear dynamics analysis and multivariate statistics to examine the effects of SA on the human brain.

Discovery of TAS2R14 Agonists from Platycodon grandiflorum Using Virtual Screening and Affinity Screening Based on a Novel TAS2R14-Functionalized HEMT Sensor Combined with UPLC-MS Analysis.

TAS2R14 is of great potential as a therapeutic target against asthma, and the discovery of TAS2R14 agonists can be very valuable for treating this disease. Herein, we developed a strategy using virtual screening and affinity screening based on a fabricated biosensor combined with UPLC-MS analysis to screen TAS2R14 agonists from Platycodon grandiflorum. By ligand-based virtual screening, 16 best-fit candidates were yielded. A novel TAS2R14-functionalized high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) sensor was applied to detect and fish out the potential TAS2R14 agonists from P. grandiflorum extracts. Those components captured by the immobilized TAS2R14 were eluted and characterized on UPLC-QTOF MS. As a result, six potential TAS2R14 agonists were screened out and identified. Among them, platycodin L was confirmed to be a special agonist of TAS2R14 for the first time and had an EC50 of 15.03 ± 1.15 µM via intracellular calcium mobilization assay ( n = 6). The results indicated that the proposed strategy was efficient to discover TAS2R14 agonists from the herb directly.

A novel cell cycle blocker extracted from Stellera chamaejasme L. inhibits the proliferation of hepatocarcinoma cells.

Currently, liver cancer is the sixth most prevalent cancer and the third most common cause of cancer-related death. However, effective chemotherapeutic drugs with low drug resistance and few side-effects for the clinical treatment of liver cancer are lacking. Therefore, the search for novel drugs to compensate for the defects of existing drugs is urgently needed. Herein, we successfully screened an extract named from Stellera chamaejasme L. (SCL), a historically confimed antitumor plant, through a novel extraction platform. In the present study, we firstly screened the anticancer effect of ESC by the sulforhodamine B (SRB) cell proliferation assay in a wide range of malignant cell lines, including A549, NCI-H157, NCI-H460, SK-HEP-1 and HepG2. With the highest inhibitory rate in hepatocarcinoma cells, we further identified the tumor-suppressive efficacy and the safety of ESC in an H22 hepatocarcinoma xenograft model in vivo. In a mechanistic study, flow cytometry and western blot analysis were performed to evaluate the effects of ESC on the induction of cell apoptosis, intervention of cell cycle distribution and its influence on key G2/M-phase regulators. The results showed that ESC significantly inhibited the cell growth of liver cancer cell lines. Accordingly, the tumor inhibition rate was also increased following ESC administration with little systemic toxicity in H22-transplanted mice. Mechanistically, ESC caused obvious G2/M-phase arrest in both the SK-HEP-1 and HepG2 cell lines without cell apoptosis. Furthermore, cyclin B1 was downregulated, while the phosphorylation level of CDK1 was increased in response to ESC treatment. All these data confirmed that ESC possesses potent anti-proliferative efficacy for hepatocarcinoma through the induction of cyclin-mediated cell cycle arrest. Thus, ESC is a promising candidate for hepatocarcinoma treatment in the future.

Cytotoxic biflavones from Stellera chamaejasme.

Bioassay-guided phytochemical studies on Stellera chamaejasme led to the isolation of two new biflavones, chamaejasmenin E (1) and chamaejasmin D (2), together with ten known compounds. The structures of new compounds were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analyses and their absolute configurations on 2, 3, 2″ and 3″ were confirmed by TDDFT quantum chemical calculated ECD spectra combined with experimental ECD spectra. All isolated biflavones were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against Bel-7402 and A549 tumor cell lines, and sikokianin D (3) was found to possess the most potential cytotoxic activities against both the two cell lines with IC50 values of 1.29 ± 0.21 and 0.75 ± 0.25 µM, respectively. Moreover, some structure-function relationships of these bioflavones for cytotoxic activities were explored and summarized.

Chromium-containing traditional Chinese medicine, Tianmai Xiaoke Tablet improves blood glucose through activating insulin-signaling pathway and inhibiting PTP1B and PCK2 in diabetic rats.

OBJECTIVE: Chromium is an essential mineral that is thought to be necessary for normal glucose homeostasis. Numerous studies give evidence that chromium picolinate can modulate blood glucose and insulin resistance. The main ingredient of Tianmai Xiaoke (TMXK) Tablet is chromium picolinate. In China, TMXK Tablet is used to treat type 2 diabetes. This study investigated the effect of TMXK on glucose metabolism in diabetic rats to explore possible underlying molecular mechanisms for its action. METHODS: Diabetes was induced in rats by feeding a high-fat diet and subcutaneously injection with a single dose of streptozotocin (50 mg/kg, tail vein). One week after streptozotocin-injection, model rats were divided into diabetic group, low dose of TMXK group and high dose of TMXK group. Eight normal rats were used as normal control. After 8 weeks of treatment, skeletal muscle was obtained and was analyzed using Roche NimbleGen mRNA array and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Fasting blood glucose, oral glucose tolerance test and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index were also measured. RESULTS: The authors found that the administration of TMXK Tablet can reduce the fasting blood glucose and fasting insulin level and HOMA-IR index. The authors also found that 2 223 genes from skeletal muscle of the high-dose TMXK group had significant changes in expression (1 752 increased, 471 decreased). Based on Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway analysis, the most three significant pathways were "insulin signaling pathway", "glycolysis/gluconeogenesis" and "citrate cycle (TCA)". qPCR showed that relative levels of forkhead box O3 (FoxO3), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 2 (Pck2), and protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (Ptp1b) were significantly decreased in the high-dose TMXK group, while v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog 1 (Akt1) and insulin receptor substrate 2 (Irs2) were increased. CONCLUSION: Our data show that TMXK Tablet reduces fasting glucose level and improves insulin resistance in diabetic rats. The mechanism may be linked to the inactivation of PTP1B and PCK enzymes, or through intracellular pathways, such as the insulin signaling pathway.

[Antitumor effect of alcohol extracts from Stellera chamaejasme].

OBJECTIVE: To screen the best antitumor components of Stellera chamaejasme and their sensitive cell lines. METHOD: Sixteen different components of alcohol extracts from S. chamaejasme, including HH, H1-H8, JH and J1-J8, were got by gradient column chromatography eluted with alcohol in different concentrations. In the first screening, the solvent control group, the drug group, the positive group and the blank group were set up. Then the human cancer cell lines such as hepatocarcinoma BEL-7402, SK-HEP-1, and lung cancer A549, NCI-H157 were processed with the components, and the concentration for each drug group was 100 mg x L(-1). Thus, the 48 hour suppression ratio to the four kinds of cancer cells for each component were compared by the SRB method, to select the most inhibitive components and the most sensitive cell lines, which were used as the subjects of the second screening. In the second screening, each component including the concentration of 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, 100 mg x L(-1) was used to treat the sensitive cell lines and the inhibition rates to each cell line of 24, 48, 72 h by the SRB assay were detected. Also, the IC50 of each component was calculated and their main chemical composition was analyzed by UPLC-MS. RESULT: The inhibition effect to the proliferation of the different cancer cells has great difference among 16 components, and the lung cancer cells are more sensitive to them than the hepatocarcinoma cells. Besides, the inhibition rates of JS, J6 and H8 are higher than the other components and their effect has a certain time and concentration dependence. At 72 h, the inhibition rate of each component ranges from (60.57 +/- 3.83)% to (96.66 +/- 0.51)% for lung cancer cells, and IC50 from (9.61 +/- 0.79) mg x L(-1) to (55.76 +/- 2.31) mg x L(-1). J5, J6 and H8 are the biflavonoids. CONCLUSION: The biflavonoids in alcohol extracts from S. chamaejasme have exerted a satisfactory inhibitory effect on the lung cancer cell proliferation.

Carboxymethylpachymaran enhances immunologic function of dendritic cells cultured in two kinds of hepatoma carcinoma cell line's supernatant via nuclear factor κ B/Rel pathway.

OBJECTIVE: To study the immunologic function of dendritic cells (DCs) cultured in two kinds of hepatoma cell line's supernatant and the enhancing effects of carboxymethylpachymaran (CMP) on DCs. METHODS: DCs were harvested after stimulation by granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin (IL)-4 from umbilical cord blood using density-gradient centrifugation method. Cultured supernatant of two hepatoma cell lines (HepG2 and HepG2.2.15) were collected for condition medium (CM) according to a volume ratio of supernatant to incomplete RPMI-1640 medium, which was 3:1. CMP was dissolved in incomplete RPMI-1640 medium. Experimental groups were divided according to the culture medium, either CM or with CMP in it. DCs subsets CD83, CD86, CD1a, and d-related human leukocyte antigens (HLA-DR) were analyzed by flow cytometry. The proliferation ability of allogeneic T cells in mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) stimulated by DCs was examined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) analysis. IL-12p70, interferon-γ (IFN-γ), and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay analysis. RESULTS: The proliferation of lymphocytes and secreting level of IL-12 and expression of phenotype of DCs cultured in two kinds of CM were lower than those of normal group (P <0.01). Compared with the normal group, groups treated with CMP showed a higher expression level of DCs subsets, lymphocyte reproductive activity, as well as IL-12 and IFN-γ secretion levels. Groups treated with CMP also demonstrated higher levels of DCs phenotype expression and IL-12 and IFN-γ secretion in supernatant of MLR and higher lymphocyte reproductive activity compared with CM group (P <0.05). Compared with the normal group, the expression level of NF-κB in DCs nuclear was higher in CMP groups but lower in two CM groups (P <0.05). After CMP was added, the NF-κB expression levels of two CM groups were increased compared with levels before CMP was added (P <0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the two CM groups (P >0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Two kinds of hepatoma cell line's supernatant can inhibit the immunologic function of DCs. This suppressive effect may be related to the inhibition of NF-κB/Rel pathway. CMP may up-regulate the DCs function by activating the NF-κB/Rel pathway.