Effects of Naotan Pill on repair of neural cells and cognitive disorders in juvenile rats following hypoxia and ischemia

BACKGROUND: Hypoxia and ischemia induce neuronal damage, decreased neuronal numbers and synaptophysin levels, and deficits in learning and memory functions. Previous studies have shown that lycium barbarum polysaccharide, the most effective component of barbary wolfberry fruit, has protective effects on neural cells in hypoxia-ischemia. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of Naotan Pill on glutamate-treated neural cells and on cognitive function in juvenile rats following hypoxia-ischemia. DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: The randomized, controlled, in vivo study was performed at the Cell Laboratory of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou Institute of Modern Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Gansu Provincial Rehabilitation Center Hospital, China from December 2005 to August 2006. The cellular neurobiology, in vitro experiment was conducted at the Institute of Human Anatomy, Histology, Embryology and Neuroscience, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, and Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Gansu Provincial Rehabilitation Center Hospital, China from March 2007 to January 2008. MATERIALS: Naotan Pill, composed of barbary wolfberry fruit, danshen root, grassleaf sweetflag rhizome, and glossy privet fruit, was prepared by Gansu Provincial Rehabilitation Center, China. Rabbit anti-synaptophysin, choline acetyl transferase polyclonal antibody, streptavidin-biotin complex kit and diaminobenzidine kit (Boster, Wuhan, China), as well as glutamate (Hualian, Shanghai, China) were used in this study. METHODS: Cortical neural cells were isolated from neonatal Wistar rats. Neural cell damage models were induced using glutamate, and administered Naotan Pill prior to and following damage. A total of 54 juvenile Wistar rats were equally and randomly assigned into model, Naotan Pill, and sham operation groups. The left common carotid artery was ligated, and then rat models of hypoxic-ischemic injury were assigned to the model and Naotan Pill groups. At 2 days following model induction, rats in the Naotan Pill group were administered Naotan Pill suspension for 21 days. In the model and sham operation groups, rats received an equal volume of saline. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Neural cell morphology was observed using an inverted phase contrast microscope. Survival rate of neural cells was measured by MTT assay. Synaptophysin and choline acetyl transferase expression was observed in the hippocampal CA1 region of juvenile rats using immunohistochemistry. Cognitive function was tested by the Morris water maze. RESULTS: Pathological changes were detected in glutamate-treated neural cells. Neural cell morphology remained normal after Naotan Pill intervention. Absorbance and survival rate of neural cells were significantly greater following Naotan Pill intervention, compared to glutamate-treated neural cells (P < 0.05). Synaptophysin and choline acetyl transferase expression was lowest in the hippocampal CA1 region in the model group and highest in the sham operation group. Significant differences among groups were observed (P < 0.05). Escape latency and swimming distance were significantly longer in the model group compared to the Naotan Pill group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Naotan Pill exhibited protective and repair effects on glutamate-treated neural cells. Naotan Pill upregulated synaptophysin and choline acetyl transferase expression in the hippocampus and improved cognitive function in rats following hypoxia-ischemia.

复方治疗慢性肾衰海洋新药的初步研究

该论文在褐藻多糖硫酸酯已有研究工作的基础上,参考中药治肾病领域有关文献,结合中医药理论,组方成治疗慢性肾衰复方海洋新药-复方褐藻多糖硫酸酯,并进行了复方褐藻多糖硫酸酯的部分药学、初步药效学和急性毒性试验的研究.

The effect of acute stress on LTP and LTD induction in the hippocampal CA1 region of anesthetized rats at three different ages

Not all experiences are memorized equally well. Especially, some types of stress are unavoidable in daily life and the stress experience can be memorized for life. Previous evidence has showed that synaptic plasticity, such as long-term potentiation (LTP) that may be the major cellular model of the mechanism underlying learning and memory, is influenced by behavioral stress. However, the effect of behavioral stress on age-related synaptic plasticity in-vivo was primarily known. Here we found that the LTP induction in the hippocampal CA1 region of anesthetized rats obviously showed inverted-U shape related to ages (4, 10 and 74 weeks old rats), but low-frequency stimulation was unable to induce reliable long-term depression (LTD) in these animals. Furthermore, acute elevated platform (EP) stress enabled reliable LTD significantly and completely blocked LTP induction at these ages. Importantly, LTD after exposure to acute EP stress showed similar magnitude over these ages. The present results that stress enables LTD but impairs LTP induction at these three ages strengthen a view that stress experience-dependent LTD (SLTD) may underlie stress form of aberrant memories. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Prolonged cardiac xenograft survival in guinea pig-to-rat model by a highly active cobra venom factor

A highly active cobra venom factor (CVF) was isolated from the venom of Naja kaouthia by sequential column chromatography. It displays strong anticomplementary activity, and has 1515 U of anti complementary activity per mg protein. A single dose of 0.1 mg/kg CVF given i.v. to rats completely abrogated complement activity for nearly 5 days. Given 0.02 mg/kg of CVF. the complement activity of rats was reduced by more than 96.5% in 6 It. In guinea pig-to-rat heart transplant model, rats treated with a single dose of 0.05 mg/kg CVF had significantly prolonged xenograft survival (56.12 +/- 6.27 h in CVF-treated rats vs. 0.19 +/- 0.07 h in control rats, P < 0.001). (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Self-Assembly of Rod-Terminally Tethered Three-Armed Star-Shaped Coil Block Copolymer: Investigation of the Presence of the Branching in the Coil to the Self-Assembled Behavior

Self-assembled behavior of rod-terminally tethered three-armed star-shaped coil block copolymer melts was studied by applying self-consistent-field lattice techniques in three-dimensional (3D) space. Similar to rod-coil diblock copolymers, five morphologies were observed, i.e., lamellar, perforated lamellar, gyroidlike, cylindrical and sphericallike structures, while the distribution of the morphologies in the phase diagram was dramatically changed with respect to that Of rod-coil diblock copolymers.

Tethered diblock copolymer chains on platelets prepared by semicrystalline ABC triblock copolymers in toluene with trace amounts of water

Lamellar platelets of triblock copolymers grown in dilute toluene solution with trace amounts of water can be used as templates for tethered diblock copolymer chain preparation and analysis. Polystyrene-bpoly(2-vinylpyridine)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (PS-b-P2VP-b-PEO) with two different block fractions were used as model templates to generate tethered P2VP-b-PS chains on the platelet basal surfaces. In toluene solution the aggregation states of PS-b-P2VP-b-PEO were sensitive to the water content in the solution. For toluene with trace amount of water, spherical micelles were formed in the early stage and large square platelets would gradually grow from these spherical micelles. The hydrogen bonding between water and EO units was responsible for the formation of micelles and subsequent square platelets in the solution. Tethered P2VP-b-PS chains on basal surface of PEO platelets could be regarded as diblock copolymer brushes and the density (or: 0.086-0.36) and height (d: 3.5-14.3 nm) of these tethered chains could be easily modulated by changing the crystallization condition and/ or the molecular weight of each block. The tethered P2VP-b-PS chains were responsive to different solvent vapor.

NMR-based metabonomic study on the subacute toxicity of aristolochic acid in rats

The subacute toxicity of aristolochic acid (AA) was investigated by H-1 NMR spectroscopic and pattern recognition (PR)-based metabonomic methods. Model toxins were used to enable comparisons of the urinary profiles from rats treated with known toxicants and AA at various time intervals. Urinary H-1 NMR spectra were data-processed and analyzed by pattern recognition method. The result of visual comparison of the spectra showed that AA caused a renal proximal tubular and papillary lesion and a slight hepatic impair. Pattern recognition analysis indicated that the renal proximal tubule lesion was the main damage induced by AA, and the renal toxicity induced by AA was a progressive course with the accumulation of dosage by monitoring the toxicological processes from onset, development and part-recovery. These results were also supported by the conventional clinical biochemical parameters.