Paeoniflorin Prevents Intestinal Barrier Disruption and Inhibits Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-Induced Inflammation in Caco-2 Cell Monolayers.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in humans is closely related to bacterial infection and the disruption of the intestinal barrier. Paeoniflorin (PF), a bioactive compound from Paeonia lactiflora Pallas plants, exerts a potential effect of anti-inflammatory reported in various researches. However, the effect of PF on intestinal barrier function and its related mechanisms has not been identified. Here, we investigate the PF potential anti-inflammatory effect on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated human Caco-2 cell monolayers and explore its underlying key molecular mechanism. In this context, PF significantly increased TEER value, decreased intestinal epithelium FITC-dextran flux permeability, and restored the expressions of occludin, ZO-1, and claudin5 in LPS-induced Caco-2 cell. In vitro, treatment of PF significantly inhibited LPS-induced expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). In addition, we found that PF suppressed nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling via activating the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathways in ILPS-stimulated Caco-2 cells. Our findings indicate that PF has an inhibitory effect on endothelial injury. Our findings suggested that PF has an anti-inflammatory effect in ILPS-stimulated Caco-2 cells, which might be a potential therapeutic agent against IBD and intestinal inflammation.

Higher Biostability of rh-aFGF-Carbomer 940 Hydrogel and Its Effect on Wound Healing in a Diabetic Rat Model.

Hydrogels are excellent drug delivery carriers with excellent ductility. Here, we report the design of a higher biostability of a recombinant human acidic fibroblast growth factor (rh-aFGF) carbomer hydrogel formulation. To verify the optimality of this formula, we prepared various prescriptions and tested the resulting physical properties including micromorphology, long-term stability, accelerated stability, and destructive test. Furthermore, the efficacy for promoting wound healing in full-thickness injury and scald wound diabetic rat models was explored. We found that rh-aFGF-carbomer hydrogel had good physical properties. It was stable for 24 months at 5 ± 3 °C, and for 6 months at 25 ± 3 °C. In vivo, the rh-aFGF-carbomer 940 hydrogel achieved a remarkable promotion of skin wound healing in diabetic rats with full-thickness injuries or scald wounds. Our data suggest that rh-aFGF-carbomer hydrogel may have applications for the treatment of diabetic ulcers combined with other wounds.

Effect of alprazolam on rat serum metabolic profiles.

We developed a serum metabolomic method by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to evaluate the effect of alprazolam in rats. The GC-MS with HP-5MS (0.25 µm × 30 m × 0.25 mm) mass was conducted in electron impact ionization (EI) mode with electron energy of 70 eV, and full-scan mode with m/z 50-550. The rats were randomly divided to four groups, three alprazolam-treated groups and a control group. The alprazolam-treated rats were given 5, 10 or 20 mg/kg (low, medium, high) of alprazolam by intragastric administration each day for 14 days. The serum samples were corrected on the seventh and fourteenth days for metabolomic study. The blood was collected for biochemical tests. Then liver and brain were rapidly isolated and immersed for pathological study. Compared with the control group, on the seventh and fourteen days, the levels of d-glucose, 9,12-octadecadienoic acid, butanoic acid, l-proline, d-mannose and malic acid had changed, indicating that alprazolam induced energy metabolism, fatty acid metabolism and amino acid metabolism perturbations in rats. There was no significant difference for alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, urea and uric acid between controls and alprazolam groups. According to the pathological results, alprazolam is not hepatotoxic. Metabolomics could distinguish different alprazolam doses in rats.

Determination of morphine and codeine in human urine by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A sensitive and selective gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method was developed and validated for the determination of morphine and codeine in human urine. The GC-MS conditions were developed. The analysis was carried out on a HP-1MS column (30 m × 0.25 mm, 0.25 µ m) with temperature programming, and Helium was used as the carrier gas with a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. Selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode was used to quantify morphine and codeine. The derivation solvent, temperature, and time were optimized. A mixed solvent of propionic anhydride and pyridine (5 : 2) was finally used for the derivation at 80°C for 3 min. Linear calibration curves were obtained in the concentration range of 25-2000.0 ng/mL, with a lower limit of quantification of 25 ng/mL. The intra- and interday precision (RSD) values were below 13%, and the accuracy was in the range 87.2-108.5%. This developed method was successfully used for the determination of morphine and codeine in human urine for forensic identification study.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel thiazolidinone derivatives as potential anti-inflammatory agents.

The modulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines provides a target for controlling inflammatory diseases and attracts much attention in current anti-inflammatory drug development. Here, four series of thiazolidinone derivatives were synthesized and screened for anti-inflammatory activities. A majority of these compounds showed excellent inhibition on the expression of TNF-α and IL-6 in LPS-stimulated macrophages. Discussions are given regarding the structure-activity relationships. Compounds 12d and 12h inhibited LPS-induced TNF-α and IL-6 release in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, 12d exhibited a significant protection against LPS-induced septic death in mouse model. Together, these data present a series of new thiazolidinones with potential therapeutic effects in acute inflammatory diseases and they could be important leads in the continuing anti-inflammatory drug research.