Regulation of wakefulness by astrocytes in the lateral hypothalamus.

The lateral hypothalamus (LH) is an important brain region mediating sleep-wake behavior. Recent evidence has shown that astrocytes in central nervous system modulate the activity of adjacent neurons and participate in several physiological functions. However, the role of LH astrocytes in sleep-wake regulation remains unclear. Here, using synchronous recording of electroencephalogram/electromyogram in mice and calcium signals in LH astrocytes, we show that the activity of LH astrocytes is significantly increased during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep-to-wake transitions and decreased during Wake-to-NREM sleep transitions. Chemogenetic activation of LH astrocytes potently promotes wakefulness and maintains long-term arousal, while chemogenetic inhibition of LH astrocytes decreases the total amount of wakefulness in mice. Moreover, by combining chemogenetics with fiber photometry, we show that activation of LH astrocytes significantly increases the calcium signals of adjacent neurons, especially among GABAergic neurons. Taken together, our results clearly illustrate that LH astrocytes are a key neural substrate regulating wakefulness and encode this behavior through surrounding GABAergic neurons. Our findings raise the possibility that overactivity of LH astrocytes may be an underlying mechanism of clinical sleep disorders.

[Effect of moxibustion on postpartum urodynamics and pelvic floor function in puerperal women].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of moxibustion on postpartum urodynamics and recovery of pelvic floor function based on the pelvic floor muscle function training. METHODS: A total of 150 puerperal women were randomly divided into an observation group (75 cases, 15 cases dropped off) and a control group (75 cases, 15 cases dropped off). The control group was treated with pelvic floor muscle function training, twice a day. Based on the treatment in the control group, the observation group was treated with Baixiao moxibustion at Qihai (CV 6), Guanyuan (CV 4), Sanyinjiao (SP 6) and Zusanli (ST 36), twice a week. The treatment started on the 42nd day after delivery, totaling for 12 weeks. The urodynamic indexes (functional urethral length [FUL], stress leak point pressure [SLPP], maximum urethral closure pressure [MUCP], bladder compliance [BC], maximum urethral pressure [MUP], detrusor pressure at maximum urinary flow rate [Pdet Qmax]), the international consultation on incontinence questionnaire-urinary incontinence-short form (ICIQ-UI-SF) score and vaginal muscle voltage were observed before and after treatment. The prolapse rate of pelvic floor organ and normal rate of pelvic floor muscle strength of the two groups were recorded after treatment. RESULTS: Compared before treatment, the levels of FUL, MUCP, BC, Pdet Qmax and SLPP in the observation group after treatment were increased (P<0.05), while the FUL and SLPP in the control group after treatment were increased (P<0.05). After treatment, the levels of FUL, SLPP, MUCP and BC in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). Compared before treatment, the ICIQ-UI-SF scores in the two groups after treatment were decreased (P<0.01), and the vaginal muscle voltage was increased (P<0.01). After treatment, the ICIQ-UI-SF score in the observation group was lower than that in the control group (P<0.01), and the vaginal muscle voltage in the observation group was higher than that in the control group (P<0.01). The prolapse rate of pelvic floor organ was 6.7% (4/60) in the observation group, which was lower than 20.0% (12/60) in the control group (P<0.05). The normal rate of pelvic floor muscle strength in the observation group was 88.3% (53/60), which was higher than 65.0% (39/60) in the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The moxibustion combined with pelvic floor muscle function training could improve postpartum urodynamics and pelvic floor muscle strength.

Catalpol inhibits apoptosis in hydrogen peroxide-induced cardiac myocytes through a mitochondrial-dependent caspase pathway.

Catalpol, an iridoid glucoside, has been reported to inhibit apoptosis of neuron and endothelial cells. In the present study, we investigated the mechanism of catalpol-mediated cardioprotection. The rat embryonic ventricular myocardial cell line (H9c2) cells were first incubated with catalpol, and then exposed to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) and the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) were all determined by using commercially available kits. Apoptotic cells were assessed by Hoechst 33258 and Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate binding assay. Synthesis of Bcl-2, Bax, cytochrome c and caspase-3 were analysed by real-time semiquantitative reverse transcription-PCR and Western blotting. We observed that apoptosis in H9c2 was associated with increased Bax, cytochrome c, caspase-3, decreased Bcl-2 activity after 24 h of H2O2 exposure. Catalpol pretreatment afforded a marked protection against the above H2O2-mediated cytotoxicity and apoptosis in H9c2 cells. Moreover, the catalpol pretreatment led to a great reduction in H2O2-induced MDA release and increased SOD. These findings indicated for the first time that pretreatment of H9c2 cells with catalpol can be against H2O2-induced apoptosis, and the protective effect of catalpol involves the mitochondrial-dependent caspase pathway and is associated with increased Bcl-2 and decreased Bax expression.

Red blood cell distribution width: a potential maker estimating disease activity of ankylosing spondylitis.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a autoimmune disease, early and accurate detection is vital for effective treatment. Very recently, a large of novel laboratory index were found to diagnose AS. However, the correlation between red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and AS has been poorly discussed in previous study. Then, our aim was to focus on the association between RDW and AS. AS patients without drugs treatments and healthy individuals were incorporated in our study. Laboratory parameters including RDW tests were conducted consecutively on the entire cohort of AS patients and healthy individuals. AS patients with increased RDW showed significant difference compared to healthy individuals (13.66±0.77 vs. 12.77±0.47, P<0.01), similarly, difference of AS patients and heathy individuals stratified by sex was almost the same as that in two groups. Some significantly positive correlation were observed between RDW and CRP, ESR, IgG, BASDAI score in patients with AS (r=0.356, P=0.018; r=0.481, P=0.001; r=0.385, P=0.010; r=0.586, P<0.01), almost identical results were showed when AS patients was stratified by gender. Finally, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of RDW levels to identify AS patients exhibited a statistically significant level (area under the curve of 0.853; sensitivity of 72.7%, specificity of 81.4%). The results suggested that increased RDW was associated with AS and may be used as a potential marker estimating disease activity of AS.