[Effects of schisandra on the function of the pituitary-adrenal cortex, gonadal axis and carbohydrate metabolism in rats undergoing experimental chronic psychological stress, navigation and strenuous exercise].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of schisandra on the function of the pituitary-adrenal cortex, gonadal axis and carbohydrate metabolism in male rats undergoing experimental chronic psychological stress, navigation and strenuous exercise. METHODS: Thirty-four SD rats were randomly allocated into a non-stress group (Group A), a stress control group (Group B) and a schisandra group (Group C). The latter two groups received 10 days of Benford's high-intensity training, followed by 3 hours of wearing floating with psychological stress and another 3 hours of running at the speed of 26.7 m/min. Then blood samples were immediately obtained for the measurement of the levels of testosterone (T), corticosterone (CORT), luteinizing hormone (LH) and blood glucose (Glu). Meanwhile the adrenal gland was excised and its cortex ultrastructure observed under the electron microscope. RESULTS: The Glu level was increased while the T level decreased significantly in Group B as compared with Group A. The CORT level remained unchanged in Group B. Both the Glu and CORT levels were significantly reduced in Group C in comparison with B. However, no significant differences were found in serum LH levels among the three groups. And electron microscopy revealed a reduction of lipid droplets and apoptosis of the adrenal cortex cells in Group B as compared with C. CONCLUSION: Schisandra can reduce the levels of CORT and Glu and protect the structure of the adrenal cortex.

[Salidroside protects the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonad axis of male rats undergoing negative psychological stress in experimental navigation and intensive exercise].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of salidroside on the function and ultramicro-pathological change of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis of male rats in experimental navigation and intensive exercise. METHODS: Six-week SD rats were randomized into 3 groups: non-stress control (NC, n = 10), training control (TC, n = 12) and salidroside treatment (ST, n = 12) group. Blood samples were collected from the NC rats that did not receive any stimulus after a 7-day intragastric administration of saline. The TC rats underwent a 10-day running training with increasing load on the treadmill followed by a 7-day intragastric administration of saline. The ST rats were subjected to the same process of running training as the TC group and received intragastric administration of salidroside. Then blood samples were immediately obtained and the levels of testosterone (T), corticosterone (CORT), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) measured by radioimmunoassay. The testis histopathology was observed by HE staining, and the ultrastructural changes of the pituitaries and testes investigated by electron microscopy. RESULTS: The serum T level was significantly lower in the TC than in the NC group, but showed no significant difference between the ST and NC groups. HE staining revealed no significant difference in testis histopathology among the 3 groups. Ultramicro-pathology showed that the secretory granules of the pituitary cells were significantly reduced in the TC rats compared with the NC ones; the number of the granules significantly increased in the ST group compared with the TC rats; and mitochondrial swelling, increase of electron density and decrease/disappearance of mitochondrial cristae were observed in the Leydig cells of the TC rats. But no significant differences were found in the testicular cells between the ST and NC groups. CONCLUSION: Negative psychological stress and intensive exercise can significantly suppress the function of the HPG axis in rats. Salidroside therapy has protective effect on the HPG axis.

[Experimental navigation and deuteroexhaustive exercise suppress the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicle axis in rats].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of experimental navigation and deuteroexhaustive exercise on the serum levels of testosterone (T), corticosterone (CORT), luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). METHODS: Thirty-six male SD rats were randomly divided into an experimental navigation group (Group A), which underwent 180 min wearing floating with psychological stress, a deuteroexhaustive exercise group (Group B), which were subjected to 120 min intensive running on the treadmill after the accomplishment of the same procedure as Group A, and a control group (Group C). Blood samples were obtained at the end of the experiment to determine the T, CORT, LH and FSH of the rats. RESULTS: Compared with Group C, serum T was statistically decreased in Group A and B (P < 0.05), while CORT was increased slightly in Group A and significantly in Group B (P < 0.05). A statistically lower level of serum LH was observed in Group B (P < 0.05), but no significant differences were found in serum FSH among the three groups. CONCLUSION: Stresses of experimental navigation and intensive exercise suppress the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicle axis in rats.

[The rapid and nondestructive identification and infrared spectra visualization of Banlangen granule].

Banlangen granule is the main medicament of Banlangen, and is widely used for the prevention and cure of flu and viral infection. In the present article, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used in the identification and analysis of the traditional Chinese medicine, Banlangen granule. The FTIR spectra of Banlangen granule samples coming from different companies and different batches of the same company were obtained. The curves of original absorbance and the second derivatives of the absorbance were analyzed for identification, and compared with those of indigowoad root and indigowoad leaf, which are their raw medicine materials. In addition, the infrared fingerprint spectra were visualized in the form of color bar figure. Results showed that characteristic fingerprint spectra of Banlangen Granule could be picked up effectively, and the products quality of different pharmaceutical factories and the spectra of different batch numbers from the same factory could be revealed directly by FTIR spectroscopy combined with the second derivative spectrum and fingerprint spectrum visualization of analytical data. Thus they were differentiated conveniently, accurately, quickly and directly with this method, providing a simple and effective technique in supervising and examining the quality of the traditional Chinese medicine.

[Principal component extraction used for the interpretation of RS-FTIR spectra].

A method for interpretation of remote sensing FTIR spectra was set up based on ANN model. Considering long training time and over-fitting problem of ANN, two methods, partial least squares (PLS) and principal component analysis (PCA), were utilized to extract principal components of spectra, process time decrease from about 30 minutes to a few seconds. Meanwhile, the idea of calibration transfer was used to overcome the limitation of calibration model in remote sensing FTIR spectra analysis. With the optimization of ANN model, four-component mixtures of acetone, benzene, chloroform and methanol were predicted in a remote sensing and real-time way while the calibration model was built with EPA data. The best performance was yielded with PLS-ANN model, and the root mean square error (RMSE) of acetone, benzene, chloroform and methanol were 0.043, 0.031, 0.034 and 0.051 respectively, which confirm the real-time, correct and quick analysis of remote sensing FTIR in air monitoring.

[Azoospermia factor microdeletion on Y chromosome in patients with idiopathic azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlation between male infertility and Y chromosome microdeletions of azoospermia factor (AZF) regions, and to establish a reliable genetic diagnosis in idiopathic infertile male patients with azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia. METHODS: Multiplex PCR amplification of 6 sequence-tagged sites in AZF regions of the Y chromosome was examined among 100 normal karyotype male patients with azoospermia or oligozoospermia. RESULTS: Four patients (4%) had Y chromosome microdeletions, the microdeletions of 3 patients were idiopathic azoospermic and those of the other 1 patient were secretory azoospermia. CONCLUSION: The PCR-based Y chromosome microdeletion screening is simple and effective in the diagnosis of patients with severe male infertility. Microdeletion of Y chromosome is one of the major causes of severe dyszooospermia.

[Calibration transfer used for the interpretation of RS-FTIR spectrum].

A technique of analysis for RS-FTIR (Remote Sensing Fourier Transform Infrared) spectrum was built based on the principle of calibration transfer. A system of four-component gas mixtures, whose FTIR spectra were overlapped seriously, was determined as the object in the present research. Its FTIR data from EPA and field measurement were used to set up calibration and prediction models, respectively. With OSC (orthogonal signal correction), the model built with data of EPA predicted values of field measurement. The RMSEP values of acetone, methanol, benzene and chloroform were 0.0085, 0.0180, 0.0640 and 0.0028, respectively, while without OSC correction the corresponding values were 0.0856, 0.0479, 1.0653 and 0.0142, respectively. With optimization, the Kennard-Stone method was used for subset selection, and the iteration in the process of OSC was carried out 3 times, yielding the best performance. The result indicates that this technique can overcome the limitation of background and calibration model, which restricts the application of RS-FTIR in air monitoring.

[Advanced development of remote sensing FTIR in air environment monitoring].

Remote sensing FTIR(RS-FTIR) is one of the most important technologies in atmospheric pollutant monitoring. It has several prevailing advantages: (1) high resolution and high selectivity; (2) it requiring no sampling and no sample preprocessing; (3) capability of detecting several compounds simultaneously; (4) real time, long distance, and automatic monitoring. So it is extraordinarily appropriate for the quantitative and qualitative determination, and remote, real time, dynamic monitoring of air contaminant, especially the toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The present paper reviews the research progress in remote sensing FTIR for air monitoring made by the Laboratory of Advanced Spectroscopy in recent years, including chemometrics, computed tomography, FTIR spectra interpretation, spatial distribution of air pollutant concentration and passive remote monitoring, etc. These research findings show that the rapid development and application of remote sensing FTIR accelerated the temporal and spatial extension of analytical chemistry, and it will by all means have wide prospects in atmospheric environmental monitoring.

[Multi-component analysis of FTIR spectra of non-linear system using polynomial partial least squares method].

A non-linear algorithm, polynomial PLS was applied to the simultaneous analysis of OP-FTIR spectra of a five-component system whose FTIR spectra were seriously overlapped. The results were compared with the one obtained from PLS. PPLS yielded good performance, especially for the prediction of benzene and chloroform. RMSEP (root mean squared error of prediction) of benzene and chloroform in PPLS model were 0.043 and 0.087 and the corresponding values in PLS were 0.402 and 0.842, respectively. Meanwhile, variance was accounted by PPLS with fewer latent variables, which indicates the simplicity and robustness of the model. The successful application of PPLS to non-linear system was meaningful for the use of remote sensing FTIR in air monitoring.