Yiguanjian decoction enhances fetal liver stem/progenitor cell-mediated repair of liver cirrhosis through regulation of macrophage activation state

AIM To investigate whether Yiguanjian decoction(YGJ) has an anti-liver cirrhotic effect and whether it regulates hepatic stem cell differentiation.METHODS A rat model of liver cirrhosis was established via subcutaneous injection of carbon tetrachloride(CCl4) for8 wk. From the beginning of the ninth week, the rats received 2-acetylaminofluorene(2-AAF) by oral gavage and a DLK-1+ fetal liver stem/progenitor cell(FLSPC)transplant or an FLSPC transplant in combination with YGJ treatment for 4 wk. In vitro, lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-activated macrophages were co-cultured with WB-F344 cells, and the differentiation of WB-F344 cells was observed in the presence and absence of YGJ treatment.RESULTS FLSPC transplantation improved liver function and histopathology, and inhibited the activation of the noncanonical Wnt signaling pathway, while activating the canonical Wnt signaling pathway. YGJ enhanced the therapeutic effects of FLSPCs and also promoted the liver regeneration differentiation of FLSPCs into hepatocytes.In vitro, LPS-activated macrophages promoted the differentiation of WB-F344 cells into myofibroblasts, and the canonical Wnt signaling was inhibited while the noncanonical Wnt signaling was activated in WB-F344 cells.YGJ suppressed the activation of macrophages and then inhibited non-canonical Wnt signaling and promoted canonical Wnt signaling.CONCLUSION YGJ enhances FLSPC-mediated repair of liver cirrhosis through regulation of macrophage activation state, and YGJ in combination with stem cell transplantation may be a suitable treatment for end-stage liver cirrhosis.

Chemical components of Dendrobium crepidatum and their neurite outgrowth enhancing activities

15 compounds,including two new ones crepidatuols A(1)and B(2)were isolated from the stems of Dendrobium crepidatum.The planar structures of these compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic methods(NMR,MS,UV,and IR)and comparison with those from literatures.10 compounds were send for enhancing activities on nerve growth factor(NGF)medicated neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells and the results indicated that crepidatuol A(1),confusarin and 3-(2-acetoxy-5-methoxy)-phenylpropanol showed enhancing activities at the concentration of 10.0μM.

A multi-channel real-time digital integrator for magnetic diagnostics in HL-2A tokamak

A novel full-digital integrator has been developed for the magnetic diagnostics in HL-2A. Based on the pipeline processing of the field-programmable gate array and high-speed PCI extensions for instrumentation platform, the digital integrator has realized octal-channel10-k Hz real-time integration and data transmission. In order to reduce the integration drift, a 24-bit analog-todigital converter and simple analog processing circuits are applied for high-precision sampling, while certain correction algorithms are used to minimize the drift. With simple and highly integrated circuits and high-performance digital processor, the digital integrator is of high stability and functional expansibility which greatly simplifies the operation procedure. The digital integrator has been tested in the plasma discharge experiments, and the experimental results have confirmed that the drift performance and accuracy of the digital integrator could fully meet the requirements of HL-2A.

Dendrowardol C, a novel sesquiterpenoid from Dendrobium wardianum Warner

Dendrowardol C(1)-a novel sesquiterpenoid,with an unprecedented 4/5/6/6 tetracyclic carbon backbone,together with two known cyclopacamphane-type sesquiterpenoids;dendronobilin I(2)and dendrobane A(3)were isolated from the stems of Dendrobium wardianum Warner.The structure of 1 was established on the basis of spectroscopic data and the absolute configuration was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction crystallography.The hypothetical biosynthetic pathway of 1 was postulated.Compound 1 showed no cytotoxic activity against human tumor cell lines HL-60,SMMC-7721,A-549,MCF-7,and SW480.