Ursolic acid induces apoptosis and autophagy in oral cancer cells.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the fifth common cause of cancer mortality in Taiwan with high incidence and recurrence and needs new therapeutic strategies. In this study, ursolic acid (UA), a triterpenoid, was examined the antitumor potency in OSCC cells. Our results showed that UA inhibited the proliferation of OSCC cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner in both Ca922 and SCC2095 oral cancer cells. UA induced caspase-dependent apoptosis accompanied with the modulation of various biological biomarkers including downregulating Akt/mTOR/NF-κB signaling, ERK, and p38. In addition, UA inhibited angiogenesis as evidenced by abrogation of migration/invasion and blocking MMP-2 secretion in Ca922 cells. Interestingly, UA induced autophagy in OSCC cells, as manifested by LC3B-II conversion and increased p62 expression and accumulation of autophagosomes. Inhibition by autophagy inhibitor enhanced UA-mediated apoptosis in Ca922 cells. The experiment provides a rationale for using triterpenoid in the treatment of OSCC.

Developing spectrum-toxicity relationship with rough set theory for hepatotoxicity material basis of Polygonum multiflorum / 中国中药杂志

Idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity of Polygonum multiflorum has attracted a great attention in the world. The most toxic part of idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity was screened by MTT assay and flow cytometry, which was the 50% ethanol elute by macroporous adsorptive resins from alcohol-extraction of P. multiflorum. The fingerprints were collected by HPLC from 50% ethanol elute of crude and processed P. multiflorum from different habitats, then 14 common peaks were determined. Spectrum-toxicity relationship was analyzed by rough set theory(RST). Two main chemical components were predicted for idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity, in which TSG was the greater contributor. Idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity of TSG was tested in vitro, and the results indicated that TSG was the most important constituent contributed to idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity of P. multiflorum. The study showed the discovery of the main chemical components for idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity, and RST was effective for analyzing the spectrum-toxicity relationship, which could be a new method used in the effective/toxic constituents field of traditional Chinese medicine.

Spectral characteristics of burning moxa sticks / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND:The drug and thermal effects of moxa-wool moxibustion have been extensively studied in the clinical trials; however, the infrared radiation effects during the moxibustion are rarely reported. OBJECTIVE:To learn the spectrum characteristics of moxa sticks in the traditional moxibustion.METHODS:The herba violae, bog rush, tobacco and moxa were chosen as experimental materials. Furthermore, the moxa sticks of different storage years (1, 3, 10 years), proportions (1:3, 1:5, 1:10), and places of production (Nanyang, Qiai) were compared. A spectral measurement platform was built by using an optical power meter to analyze the spectral characteristics of the ten kinds of materials above. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:For the different materials, the herba violae and bog rush could not burn after crushed and the infrared radiation intensity of tobacco was too low, but a strong infrared emission was from the moxa with a wide range of spectrum from ultraviolet to far infrared ray. It was also found that the year of storage, proportion, place of production as well as production process had significant effects on the radiation intensity of the moxa stick. The spectrum ascended at visible-light spectrum region, reached its peak at near-infrared region, and then descended at mid-infrared and far-infrared regions. We analyzed the stability characteristics and relative total intensity of moxa stick based on statistics and mathematics. The results showed that the stability characteristics were proportional to the proportion of moxa wool, and the year of storage had stronger effect on the relative total intensity compared with the proportion of moxa wool. Herein, we systematically analyzed the spectral characteristics of different moxa sticks, thereby providing the scientific basic data for the study on the optical radiation of moxa-wool moxibustion.