Effect of Electroacupuncture on Neurological Deficit and Activity of Clock and Bmal1 in Cerebral Ischemic Rats

Acute focal cerebral ischemic stroke(IS)is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.Acupuncture is an emerging alternative therapy that has been beneficial to acute brain ischemia.However,the underlying protective mechanism of its neuroprotective effect remains unclear.Human original circadian rhythm will be lost after IS,which seriously affects the quality of life and functional recovery of stroke patients.We hypothesize that acupuncture treats IS by regulating the balance of Clock and Bmal1.This study aims to explore the effect of acupuncture at acupoints GV20 and BL23 on neuroprotection and anti-apoptosis in middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO)rats and expression of apoptosis and circadian rhythm related proteins.Male Sprague-Dawley(SD)rats were randomly divided into five groups:normal group(Normal),sham model group(Sham MCAO),MCAO model group(MCAO),sham electroacupuncture group(Sham EA)and electroacupuncture group(EA).The MCAO model was prepared by electrocoagulation.The first acupuncture treatment was performed within 2 h after surgery,and then acupuncture therapy was performed on 1st day,2nd day and 3rd day respectively.After their neurological examination at 72 h of ischemia,the rats from each group were sacrificed.Triphenyltetrazolium chloride(TTC)staining was used to evaluate the brain infarct size.Ultrastructural observation on cerebral ischemic cortex and serum inflammatory cytokines were evaluated.TUNEL staining was used to detect cell apoptosis of brain tissue.The expression levels of proteins Bax,bcl-2,caspase-3,Clock and Bmal1 in the cerebral ischemic region were detected by immunofluorescence staining.Here,we presented evidence that EA at GV20 and BL23 could significantly improve the neurological deficit score and infarct size,and alleviate the cell apoptosis of brain tissue.Moreover,acupuncture treatment upregulated the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2/Bax ratio and reversed the upregulation of caspase-3 following 72-h cerebral ischemia.In addition,the expression levels of circadian proteins Clock and Bmal1 were upregulated in EA group while compared with MCAO group.Our study demonstrated that acupuncture exerted neuroprotective effect against neuronal apoptosis after stroke and the mechanism might be related with regulation of circadian rhythm proteins Clock and Bmal1.

Bioactive Diarylheptanoids from Alpinia coriandriodora

Eight new diarylheptanoids,coriandralpinins A-H(1-8),were isolated from the rhizomes of Alpinia coriandriodora,an edible plant of the ginger family.Their structures,including the absolute configurations,were established by extensive spectroscopic analysis and ECD calculations.Compounds 1-8 have a 1,5-O-bridged diarylheptanoid structure featuring polyoxygenated aryl units.When evaluated for intracellular antioxidant activity using t-BHP stressed RAW264.7 mac-rophages,all these compounds scavenged reactive oxygen species(ROS)in a concentration-dependent manner.Compounds 3 and 5 also showed inhibitory activity against NO release in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells.Six known flavonols,7,4′-di-O-methylkaempferol,7-O-methylquercetin,7,4′-di-O-methylquercetin,7,3′,4′-tri-O-methylquercetin,kaempferol 3-O-β-d-(6-O-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl)glucopyranoside,and 3-O-β-d-glucopyranuronosylquercetin were also isolated and characterized from the rhizomes.

Study of Magnetic Force Distribution for Electromagnetic V-shape Bending Forming of Small Size Flat Sheet

Electromagnetic V-shape bending of small size sheet blank is investigated numerically and experimentally. Three-dimensional electromagnetic field models are established to calculate the magnetic force distribution on the sheet by software ANSYS / EMAG. Series of electromagnetic V-shape bending forming experiments are presented,in which small size uniform pressure coil and big size round flat spiral coil are used. The results show that small size uniform pressure coil is not suitable for electromagnetic forming of small size flat sheet,and the coil is susceptible to failure such as bulging,ablation and cracking. When the plane dimension of round flat spiral coil is bigger than sheet blank sizes,the induced current crowding effect will be resulted which seriously influence the magnetic force distribution on the sheet. In this case,magnetic force distribution can be adjusted through the change of the relative position between coil and sheet,the desired deformation can be obtained finally. Therefore,big size round flat spiral coil can be well applied to electromagnetic V-shape bending forming of small size flat sheet.

Affection of Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in miR-27a, miR-124a, and miR-146a on Susceptibility to Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Chinese Han People

Background：Polymorphisms of microRNA （miRNA）,as a novel mechanism,are closely associated with disease states by interfering with miRNA function.Direct correlations have been identified between single-nucleotide polymorphisms （SNPs） in miRNA,but the effect on type 2 diabetes mellitus （T2DM） onset among Chinese population remains unclear.Therefore,the aim of this study was to identify correlations between common SNPs in miR-27a,miR-146a,and miR-124a with T2DM among a Chinese population,as well as to explore diabetic pathological mechanisms and the impact of environmental factors.Methods：SNPscan technology was used to genotype 995 patients newly diagnosed with T2DM and 967 controls.Logistic regression analysis was performed to compare mutation frequencies between cases and controls.Results：We found no significant correlations between all genotypes of these miRNAs and T2DM in our research.However,stratification analysis identified a lower risk of T2DM associated with the rs531564GC genotype among younger subjects （age ＜ 45 years） （adjusted P =0.043; odds ratio [OR] =0.73; 95％ confidence interval [CI] =0.54-0.99）.Furthermore,the rs895819CC genotype in overweight people （24 ＜ body mass index [BMI] ＜ 28） was significantly associated with an increased risk of T2DM （adjusted P =0.042; OR =1.73; 95％ CI =1.02-2.94）,while the rs2910164 genotype in miR-146a was not significantly correlated with T2DM.The genetic risk score was calculated based on the number of risk alleles of the three SNPs and was found to be correlated to total cholesterol （adjusted P =0.021）.Conclusions：The rs531564GC genotype acted as a protective factor to decrease the risk of T2DM in younger subjects （age ＜ 45 years）,while the presence of the rs895819CC genotype increased the risk of illness among overweight subjects （24 ＜ BMI ＜ 28 kg/m2）.The presence of SNPs in miRNA might promote disease by affecting miRNA expression and gene function.Thus,miRNA mimics or inhibitors that directly regulate miRNA expression present novel and promising therapeutic targets.