Inhibitory activities of Lignum Sappan extractives on growth and growth-related signaling of tumor cells

AIM: To investigate the active constituents of Lignum Sappan(Caesalpinia sappan L.) on growth-related signaling and cell mitosis. METHOD: The influence of the ethyl acetate(EtOAc) extract of Lignum Sappan and its constituents on growth-related signaling were evaluated by a luciferase assay in cells stably- transfected with NF-κB, STAT1, or STAT3 responsive luciferase reporter plasmid. The inhibitory effect on the cell cycle was determined by flow cytometric analysis. The anti-tumor activities were assessed in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: The EtOAc extract of Lignum Sappan had inhibitory activities on growth-related signaling and cell mitosis. Three major active compounds were sappanchalcone, brazilin, and butein. Sappanchalcone blocked cell cycle progression in the G2/M phase, brazilin inhibited TNFα/NF-κB signaling, while butein inhibited IL-6/STAT3 signaling, as well as TNFα/NF-κB signaling. The three compounds all demonstrated cytotoxic activities against human tumor cells in vitro. In a S180 tumor cell-bearing mice model, the anti-tumor efficacy of the EtOAc extract was better than the individual compounds acting alone. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that Lignum Sappan contains multiple active compounds with different antitumor activities, which act synergistically to enhance their anti-tumor effects. The EtOAc extract of Lignum Sappan may be better than individual active constituent as a novel medicine for the treatment of cancer.

多重感觉通道训练对听写落后儿童的教学

目的:研究多重感觉通道训练法对听写落后儿童的教学效果,将其与传统识字教学法进行比较。方法:以24名听写落后儿童为被试,平均分为两组。接受不同的汉字学习教学,分别为多重感觉通道训练法和传统识字教学法,其中多重感觉通道训练在识字教学中采用了视听动触多种感官通道整合。收集两组儿童教学前后的认读正确率和错字比率,考察两种方法的教学效果差异。结果:两种教学方法在认读正确率的教学效果上差异不显著;在错字比率上教学效果差异显著,多重感觉通道训练组的听写落后儿童有着显著更低的错字比率。结论:多重感觉通道训练方法在对听写落后儿童的识字教学上更有优势,这一优势可能来源于视觉通道刺激的丰富或者触觉通道和动作编码在汉字识字教学中的应用。