Field assessment of Bt cry1Ah corn pollen on the survival, development and behavior of Apis mellifera ligustica.

Honeybees may be exposed to insecticidal proteins from transgenic plants via pollen. An assessment of the impact of such exposures on the honeybee is an essential part of the risk assessment process for transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis corn. A field trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of transgenic Bt cry1Ah corn on the honeybee Apis mellifera ligustica. Colonies of honeybees were moved to Bt or non-Bt corn fields during anthesis and then sampled to record their survival, development and behavior. No differences in immature stages, worker survival, bee body weight, hypopharyngeal gland weight, colony performance, foraging activity or olfactory learning abilities were detected between colonies that were placed in non-Bt corn fields and those placed in Bt corn fields. We conclude that cry1Ah corn carries no risk for the survival, development, colony performance or behavior of the honeybee A. mellifera ligustica.

[HPLC fingerprint of the components of Radix Angelicae Sinensis].

A chemical fingerprint method was developed for investigating the variance of constituents between the whole roots and prepared slices of Radix Angelicae Sinensis (the roots of Angelica sinensis) using HPLC. 19 Radix Angelicae Sinensis whole roots collected from 16 different habitats and 28 commerial drugs including 6 whole roots, 1 root head and 21 prepared slices were analyzed. The component fingerprint of Radix Angelicae Sinensis with 12 common peaks was established. Common peaks 2, 5 and 6 could not be detected in most of the prepared slice samples. Except peaks 11 and 12, all the other peaks in graphics of the prepared slice samples mostly showed lower responses than those of the whole root samples. The whole roots and prepared slices could also be divided into two groups based on the clustering analysis results done by SAS 8.2. Meanwhile, the Similarity Evaluation System for Chromatographic Fingerprint of TCM 2004 software was applied for data analysis. Except samples y-17, s-3, s-5 and s-6, the similarities of the whole root samples were over 0.973, while the similarities of the prepared slice samples were all below 0.969. All the results demonstrated that there was distinguished difference in chemical components between the whole roots and prepared slices of Radix Angelicae Sinensis. Our experiments suggested to maintain the active components, whole roots of Radix Angelicae Sinensis should be a better choice than prepared slices for medicine trade and the storage of Radix Angelicae Sinensis should be taken care of.

[Study on the effect of heluoshugan capsule on liver fibrosis induced by Schistosoma japonicum infection in mice].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of Chinese traditional medicine heluoshugan capsule on liver fibrosis induced by Schistosoma japonicum infection in mice. METHODS: Liver fibrosis in mice was established by Schistosoma japonicum infection in 6 weeks. Suspension of heluoshugan prepared with normal saline was given orally to the mice, 2 capsules for 20 mice daily for 8 weeks. The level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and type I, III collagen in liver tissue were detected by immuno-histochemistry. RESULTS: The results showed that heluoshugan improved the pathological change of the liver tissue, decreased the level of type I, III collagen, especially type III collagen (P < 0.01). The level of VEGF and FAK expression was inhibited after the administration of heluoshugan, though the level usually increased in liver fibrosis due to the infection. CONCLUSIONS: The result suggests that heluoshugan capsule might have therapeutic effect on liver fibrosis induced by the infection of Schistosoma japonicum in mice, by inhibiting the activation of hepatic stellate cells and the pathological change of liver blood vessel.