Novel advancements in threedimensional neural tissue engineering and regenerative medicine

Neurological diseases and injuries present some of the great- est challenges in modern medicine, often causing irrevers- ible and lifelong burdens in the people whom they afflict. Conditions of stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and neurodegenerative diseases have devastating con- sequences on millions of people each year, and yet there are currently no therapies or interventions that can repair the structure of neural circuits and restore neural tissue function in the brain and spinal cord. Despite the challenges of over- coming these limitations, there are many new approaches under development that hold much promise. Neural tissue engineering aims to restore and influence the function of damaged or diseased neural tissue generally through the use of stem cells and biomaterials. Many types of biomaterials may be implemented in various designs to influence the survival, differentiation, and function of developing stem cells, as well as to guide neurite extension and morphological architecture of cell cultures. Such designs may aim to reca- pitulate the cellular interactions, extracellular matrix char- acteristics, biochemical factors, and sequences of events that occur in neurodevelopment, in addition to supporting cell survival, differentiation, and integration into innate neural tissue.

Production of Active Compounds in Medicinal Plants:From Plant Tissue Culture to Biosynthesis

Over past decades plant tissue culture has emerged as an alternative of whole plant cultivation in the production of valuable secondary metabolites.Adventitious roots culture of Panax ginseng and Echinacea purpure has reached the scale of 1-10 kL.Some molecular biological techniques,such as transgenic technology and genetic stability are increasingly used in the studies on plant tissue cultures.The studies on elicitors have deepened into the induction mechanism,including signal molecules,functional genes,and so on.More and more biological elicitors,such as A.niger and yeast are used to increase the active compounds in plant tissue cultures.We also discussed the application of synthetic biology in the studies on biosynthesis of artemisinin,paclitaxel,and tanshinon.The studies on active ingredients biosynthesis of medicinal plants provide unprecedented possibilities to achieve mass production of active ingredients.Plant tissue cultures can not only produce active ingredients but also as experimental materials for biosynthesis.In order to improve the contents of active compounds in medicinal plants,following aspects could be carried out gene interference or gene silencing,gene overexpression,combination with chemical synthesis,application of elicitors,and site-directed mutagenesis of the key enzymes.

A Systematic Review of Animal and Clinical Studies on the Use of Scaffolds for Urethral Repair

Replacing urethral tissue with functional scaffolds has been one of the challenging problems in the field of urethra reconstruction or repair over the last several decades. Various scaffold materials have been used in animal studies, but clinical studies on use of scaffolds for urethral repair are scarce. The aim of this study was to review recent animal and clinical studies on the use of different scaffolds for urethral repair, and to evaluate these scaffolds based on the evidence from these studies. Pub Med and OVID databases were searched to identify relevant studies, in conjunction with further manual search. Studies that met the inclusion criteria were systematically evaluated. Of 555 identified studies, 38 were included for analysis. It was found that in both animal and clinical studies, scaffolds seeded with cells were used for repair of large segmental defects of the urethra, such as in tubular urethroplasty. When the defect area was small, cell-free scaffolds were more likely to be applied. A lot of pre-clinical and limited clinical evidence showed that natural or artificial materials could be used as scaffolds for urethral repair. Urinary tissue engineering is still in the immature stage, and the safety, efficacy, cost-effectiveness of the scaffolds are needed for further study.

Relationship between Tissue Distributions of Modified Wuzi Yanzong Prescription(加味五子衍宗方) in Rats and Meridian Tropism Theory

Objective： To investigate the relationship between tissue distributions of modified Wuzi Yanzong prescription（加味五子衍宗方, MWP） in rats and meridian tropism theory. Methods： A high-performance liquid chromatography with Fourier transform-mass spectrometry（HPLC-FT） method was used to identify the metabolites of MWP in different tissues of rats after continued oral administration of MWP for 7 days. The relationship between MWP and meridian tropism theory was studied according to the tissue distributions of the metabolites of MWP in rats and the relevant literature. Results： Nineteen metabolites, mainly flavanoid compounds, were detected in the different rat tissues and classified to each herb in MWP. Further, it was able to establish that the tissue distributions of the metabolites of MWP were consistent with the descriptions of meridian tropism of MWP available in literature, this result might be useful in clarifying the mechanism of MWP on meridian tropism. In the long run, these data might provide scientific evidence of the meridian tropism theory to further promote the reasonable, effective utilization, and modernization of Chinese medicine. Conclusion： The tissue distributions of MWP in vivo were consistent with the descriptions of meridian tropism of MWP.

A new look at epicardial adipose tissue from the perspective of Iranian traditional medicine

The fact that distribution of body fat can have a major role in the development of metabolic derangement and cardiovascular diseases is supported by a considerable amount of evidence.Therefore it is no surprise that increased of metabolic syndrome. New evidence describing adipose tissue as an advanced endocrine unit, capable of producing substances with remarkable physiologic impacts, has led to increased research interest in this field. While many fatty tissues are similar in composition, some of them, notably subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissues, possess special properties.

STUDY ON THE TISSUE DISTRIBUTION OF COMPOUNDS AND METABOLITES OF THE MONGOLIAN MEDICINE DIGEDA-4 DECOCTION IN ACUTE LIVER INJURY INDUCED BY D-GaIN

The objective of this study was to study the distribution characteristics of Mongolian drug Digeda-4 decoction in rats with acute liver injury.The Mongolian drug Digeda-4decoction was administered intragastric in rats with acute liver injury induced by D-GalN.The removal of the Liver,spleen,lung,kidney and heart,10%tissue homogenate

Protective Effects of Radix Astragali Injection on Multiple Organs of Rats with Obstructive Jaundice

Objective： To investigate the protective effects and mechanisms of Radix Astragali Injection on multiple organs of rats with obstructive jaundice（OJ）. Methods： A total of 180 rats were randomly divided into the sham-operated, model control and treated groups（60 in each group）. On 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after operation, the serum contents of alanine aminotransferase（ALT）, aspartate aminotransferase（AST）, r-glutamyl transpeptidase（r-GT）, total bilirubin（TBil）, direct bilirubin（DBil）, blood urine nitrogen（BUN）, and creatinine（CREA） were determined. And the pathological changes of livers, kidneys and lungs, and protein expressions of toll-like receptor-4（TLR-4） of livers, intercellular adhesion molecule-1（ICAM-1） of lungs, Bax and nuclear factor-kappa B（NF-κB）, as well as apoptotic indexes of multiple organs were observed, respectively. Results： The pathological severity scores of multiple organs（including livers on 7, 14, 21 and 28 days, kidneys on 14 and 28 days, and lungs on 14 days）, serum contents of ALT（14 and 21 days）, AST（14 days）, TBil（7, 14, 21 and 28 days）, DBil（14 and 21 days）, BUN（28 days）, protein expressions of TLR-4（in livers, 28 days）, Bax（in livers and kidneys, 21 days）, and apoptotic indexes in livers（7 and 21 days） in the treated group were significantly lower than those in the model control group（P〈0.05 or P〈0.01）. Conclusion： Radix Astragali Injection exerts protective effects on multiple organs of OJ rats by improving the pathological changes of lung, liver and kidney, decreasing the serum index of hepatic and renal function as well as inhibiting the protein expression of TLR-4 and Bax in the livers and Bax in the kidneys.