Effects of ginsenoside of stem and leaf combined with choline on learning and memory ability of rat models with Alzheimer diseases

BACKGROUND： Central adrenergic nerve and 5-serotonergic nerve can influence central cholinergic nerve on learning and memory and make easy for study; however, ginsenoside of stem and leaf （GSL） can improve functions of central adrenergic nerve; moreover, 5-serotonergic nerve and the combination with choline can produce synergistic effect and enhance learning and memory ability so as to improve learning and memory disorder of patients with Alzheimer disease （AD）. OBJECTIVE ： To observe the effects of GSL combining with choline on learning and memory of AD model rats DESIGN ： Randomized grouping design and controlled animal study SETIING ： Department of Pharmacology, Taishan Medical College MATERIALS ： The experiment was carried out in the Pharmacological Department of Medical College of Jilin University from October 1996 to January 1997. Forty healthy male Wistar rats of clean grade were randomly divided into 5 groups, including sham-injury group, model group, GSL group, choline group and combination group, with 8 rats in each group. Main medications： GSL with the volume more than 92.8% was provided by Department of Chemistry, Norman Bethune Medical College of Jilin University. Panaxatriol, the main component, was detected with thin layer scanning technique and regarded as the index of GSL quality [（55±1）%, CV= 2%, n = 5]. Choline was provided by the Third Shanghai Laboratory Factory. METHODS ： 150 nmol quinolinic acid was used to damage bilateral Meynert basal nuclei of adult rats so as to establish AD models. Rats in GSL, choline and combination groups were intragastric administrated with 400 mg/kg GSL, 200 mg/kg choline （20 mL/kg）, and both respectively last for 17 days starting from two days before operation. Rats in sham-injury group and model group were perfused with the same volume of distilled water once in each morning for the same days. （1） Passive avoidance step-down test： Five minutes later, rats jumped up safe platform when they were shocked with 36 V alternating current. If rats jumped down from the platform and the feet touched railings, the response was wrong. Numbers of wrong response were recorded within 3 minutes, and then the test was redone after 24 hours. （2） Morris water-maze spatial localization task： Swimming from jumping-off to platform directly was regarded as right response. Additionally, 4 successively right responses were regarded as the standard. Each rat was trained 10 times a day with 120 s per time for 3 successive days. The interval was 30 s. Three days later, numbers of right response were recorded. The training times were increased to 30 for unlearned rats. （3） Measurement of activity of choline acetylase in cerebral cortex： Rats were sacrificed at 17 days after operation to obtain cerebral cortex to measure activity of choline acetylase with radiochemistry technique. （4） Synergistic effect： It was expressed as Q value： Q value = factual incorporative effect/anticipant incorporative effect; Q ≥ 1 was regarded as synergistic effect. Anticipant incorporative effect = （EA＋EB-EA·EB）, EA and EB were single timing effect, respectively in GSL group and choline group. E（step-down test and Morris water maze test） = （x in model group - factual value in medicine groups）/x in model group; E （activity of choline acetylase） = （factual value in medicine groups -xin model group）/xin model group. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES ： （1） Passive avoidance step-down test and Morris water-maze spatial localization task in the study of learning and memory; （2） activity of choline acetylase. RESULTS ： All 40 rats were involved in the final analysis. （1） Passive avoidance response： At learning phase on first day and retesting phase on the next day, numbers of wrong responses within 3 minutes were more in model group than sham operation group, and there was significant difference [（5.88±1.46）, （2.25±0.87） times; （2.63±1.06）, （0.50±0.53） times; P 〈 0.01]; numbers of wrong responses within 3 minutes were less in combination group than model group, and there was significant difference [learning phase： （1.12±0.83）, （5.88±1.46） times; retesting phase： （0.38±0.74）, （2.63±1.06）times, P 〈 0.01]; moreover, effect was stronger than that in GSL group and choline group. The Q value was 1.07 and 1.59, respectively and it showed synergistic effect. Spatial localization task： Training times were more in model group than sham operation group, and there was significant difference [（2.9±2.5）, （12.6±3.5） times; P 〈 0.01]. Training times were less in combination group than model group, and there was significant difference [（11.8±2.4）, （27.9±2.5） times, P 〈 0.01]; moreover, effect was stronger than that in GSL group and choline group. The Q value was 1.07 and it showed synergistic effect. （3） Activity of choline acetylase： Activity was lower in model group than sham operation group, and there was significant difference [（30.56±8.33）, （61.11 ±8.33） nkat/g; P 〈 0.01]. Activity was higher in combination group than model group and there was significant difference [（50.00±8.33）, （30.56±8.33） nkat/g, P 〈 0.01];moreover, effect was stronger than that in GSL group and choline group. The Q value was 1.5 and it showed synergistic effect. CONCLUSZON： GSL in combination with choline can synergically improve the disorder of learning and memory of AD model rats. Its mechanism may be involved in enhancing the function of central cholinergic system.

Mock Examination of TEM-4: How to Make It Step-Stone for Passing a Real One?

The TEM-4 is important for English majors in colleges,and mock examination is a common mean to increase the passing rate.The studies that focus on the TEM-4 are much more than that of the mock one of TEM-4 even the latter can be regarded as an effective measure from the pedagogical prospective.This study,hence,paid attention to the mock test of TEM-4 by describing and analyzing the data collected from 24 subjects and found the relationship between reading section and multiple-choice section.The study also provided some suggestion of how to make good use of the mock test to improve the language competence of students.

From laboratory to on-site operation:Reevaluation of empirically based electric water chiller models

Chiller model is a key factor to building energy simulation and chiller performance prediction.With spread of new types of electric water chillers that have higher performance and wider operating range,new challenges have been faced by building energy simulation tools and their chiller models.This work takes a new type of electric water chiller as a case study and reevaluates eight typical empirically based models for predicting the energy performance of electric water chiller to verify whether they are suitable for the new type of chiller,using both laboratory test data from chiller manufacturer and online monitoring data from on-site operation of a central cooling plant with chillers of the same type.The prediction ability of the chiller models(including model prediction accuracy and generation ability)in laboratory test and on-site operation situations are examined.The results show that the existing models can well describe the chiller performance in the laboratory test situation but perform poorly in the on-site operation situation.As the best two models in the laboratory dataset,the overall prediction errors of DOE-2 and GN model increase more than 250%and 75%respectively in the field dataset.The big discrepancy of model prediction accuracy in the two situations is mainly due to the differences of evaporator and condenser water flow rates between the laboratory and on-site operation datasets,which indicates the limitations of the empirical chiller models and implies further research in future in order to improve the suitability and reliability of chiller model.