Intervention effect and mechanism of Jisheng Shenqi Decoction plus Panax notoginseng and Bionjia on CCl4-induced hepatic fibrosis rat model

Objective:To investigate the intervention effect and specific mechanism of Jisheng Shenqi Decoction plus Panax notoginseng and Turmeric on carbon tetrachloride(CCl4)-induced liver fibrosis in rats.Methods:SPF SD rats were randomly divided into control group,model group,and Chinese medicine treatment(low,medium and high dose)groups.The model group and Chinese medicine treatment group were given intraperitoneal injection of 40%CCl4 olive oil solution twice a week.A rat model of liver fibrosis was replicated by the method for 8 weeks.After successful modeling,each drug-administered group was gavaged with corresponding drugs,and the control group and model group were gavaged with equal volume of distilled water,once a day,for 4 weeks.After the last intragastric administration,HE staining and Masson staining were used to observe the pathological morphology of liver tissue,and liver function(ALT,AST)was detected;ELISA method was used to determine transforming growth factorβ(TGF-β),angiotensin II(Ang-Ⅱ),chitinase 3-like protein 1(CHI3L1),interleukin-1(IL-1),interleukin-6(IL-6),tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)content;The expression levels of type I,type III collagen(Col-Ⅰ,Col-Ⅲ)and TGF-βmRNA were determined by RT-PCR.Results:①HE and Masson staining showed that a large number of liver cells in the model group were inflamed and necrotic,the collagen fibers in the liver tissue were extensively proliferated,the fibrous septa were interconnected,and the pseudolobules were formed.Compared with the model group,the levels of ALT,AST,TGF-β,Ang-Ⅱ,CHI3L1,IL-1,IL-6 and TNF-αin the traditional Chinese medicine treatment group were decreased,while the levels of Col-Ⅰ,Col-ⅢThe expressions ofⅢand TGF-βmRNA were decreased,and the effect was most obvious in the middle and high dose groups of traditional Chinese medicine(P<0.01).Conclusion:Jisheng Shenqi Decoction combined with Panax notoginseng and Biejia can significantly improve liver fibrosis induced by CCl4 in rats,and its mechanism may be related to the down-regulation of angiotensin-converting enzyme(ACE)-angiotensin II(Ang-II)-angiotensin II receptor 1(AT1R)signaling pathway related gene expression,reducing the level of related cytokines,promoting the degradation of extracellular matrix and so on.

Accumulation of 1-deoxynojirimycin in silkworm,Bombyx mori L.

1-deoxynojirimycin (1-DNJ) contents in the silkworm,Bombyx mori,at different developmental stages and tissues were investigated by using reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The 1-DNJ contents of silkworm larvae change significantly with their developmental stages. The male larvae showed higher accumulation efficiency of 1-DNJ than the females and also a significant variation was observed among the silkworm strains. The present results show that tissue distribution of 1-DNJ was significantly higher in blood,digestive juice,and alimentary canal,but no 1-DNJ was observed in the silkgland. Moreover,1-DNJ was not found in silkworms fed with artificial diet that does not contain mulberry leaf powder. This proves that silkworms obtain 1-DNJ from mulberry leaves; they could not synthesize 1-DNJ by themselves. The accumulation and excretion of 1-DNJ change periodically during the larval stage. There was no 1-DNJ in the newly-hatched larvae and 1-DNJ was mainly accumulated during the early and middle stages of every instar,while excreted at later stages of larval development. Further,it is possible to extract 1-DNJ from the larval feces and it is optimal to develop the 1-DNJ related products for diabetic auxiliary therapy.

Transcription and regulation of hepatitis B virus genes in host sperm cells

To investigate whether transcription of hepatitis B virus （HBV） gene occurs in human sperm, total RNA was extracted from sperm of patients with chronic HBV infection （test-I）, from donor sperm transfected with a plasmid containing the full-length HBV genome （test-2）, and from nontransfected donor sperm （control）, used as the template for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction （RT-PCR）. Positive bands for HBV DNA were observed in the test groups but not in the control. Next, to identify the role of host genes in regulating viral gene transcription in sperm, total RNA was extracted from 2-cell embryos derived from hamster oocytes fertilized in vitro by HBV-transfected （test） or nontransfected （control） human sperm and successively subjected to SMART-PCR, suppression subtractive hybridization, T/A cloning, bacterial amplification, microarray hybridization, sequencing and the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool （BLAST） search to isolate differentially expressed genes. Twenty-nine sequences showing significant identity to five human gene families were identified, with chorionic somatomammotropin hormone 2 （CSH2）, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4 gamma 2 （EIF4G2）, pterin-4 alpha-carbinolamine dehydratase 2 （PCBD2）, pregnancy-specific beta-l-glycoprotein 4 （PSG4） and titin （TTN） selected to represent target genes. Using real-time quantitative RT-PCR （qRT-PCR）, when CSH2 and PCBD2 （or EIF4G2, PSG4 and TTN） were silenced by RNA interference, transcriptional levels of HBV s and x genes significantly decreased （or increased） （P 〈 0.05）. Silencing of a control gene in sperm did not significantly change transcription of HBV s and x genes （P 〉 0.05）. This study provides the first experimental evidence that transcription of HBV genes occurs in human sperm and is regulated by host genes.

Mining and Correlation Analysis of Association Rules between Properties and Therapeutic Efficacy of Chinese Materia Medica Based on Strategy Pattern

To the Editor:Chinese physicians often address the combination of the properties and therapeutic efficacy of Chinese materia medica(CMM).They believe that the properties and therapeutic efficacy of traditional Chinese medicines(TCMs)should be considered as an"organic whole.""Use based on therapeutic efficacy"can lead to omission of the properties of CMM.It also

Precipitate Phases in an 11% Cr Ferritic/Martensitic Steel with Tempering and Creep Conditions

Precipitates in an 11% Cr ferritic/martensitic steel containing Nd with tempering and creep conditions were investigated using transmission electron microscope with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The precipitates in the steel with a tempering condition were identified to be Cr-rich M23C6 carbide, Nb-rich/V-rich/Ta–Nb-rich MX carbides, Nbrich MX carbonitride, and Fe-rich M5C2 carbide. Nd-rich carbonitride, which is not known to have been reported previously in steels, was also detected in the steel after tempering. Most of the Nb-rich MX precipitates were dissolved, whereas the amount of Ta-rich MX precipitates was increased significantly in the steel after a creep test at 600 °C at an applied stress of180 MPa for 1,100 h. No Fe2 W Laves phase has been detected in the steel after tempering.（Fe, Cr）2W Laves phase with a relatively large size was observed in the steel after the creep test.