[Practical experience of virtual acupuncture and moxibustion teaching system in the operation teaching course of Acupuncture Sciences].

Started from the needs of clinical teaching and practice of acupuncture and moxibustion, based on the acupuncture Tongren education and assessment model, the virtual acupuncture teaching system was developed with the help of virtual reality (VR) technology, and applied to the course teaching of meridian and acupoint and needling and moxibustion method of Acupuncture Sciences. Compared with conventional teaching, this system can effectively improve practical operation test scores of students, meanwhile, it has higher interest, interactivity and helpfulness for knowledge learning, and improve independent learning ability, learning effect and memory depth, so student's satisfaction is higher.

Andrographolide Promotes Neural Differentiation of Rat Adipose Tissue-Derived Stromal Cells through Wnt/ß-Catenin Signaling Pathway.

Adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (ADSCs) are a high-yield source of pluripotent stem cells for use in cell-based therapies. We explored the effect of andrographolide (ANDRO, one of the ingredients of the medicinal herb extract) on the neural differentiation of rat ADSCs and associated molecular mechanisms. We observed that rat ADSCs were small and spindle-shaped and expressed multiple stem cell markers including nestin. They were multipotent as evidenced by adipogenic, osteogenic, chondrogenic, and neural differentiation under appropriate conditions. The proportion of cells exhibiting neural-like morphology was higher, and neurites developed faster in the ANDRO group than in the control group in the same neural differentiation medium. Expression levels of the neural lineage markers MAP2, tau, GFAP, and ß-tubulin III were higher in the ANDRO group. ANDRO induced a concentration-dependent increase in Wnt/ß-catenin signaling as evidenced by the enhanced expression of nuclear ß-catenin and the inhibited form of GSK-3ß (pSer9). Thus, this study shows for the first time how by enhancing the neural differentiation of ADSCs we expect that ANDRO pretreatment may increase the efficacy of adult stem cell transplantation in nervous system diseases, but more exploration is needed.