Latest ArticlesThe movement and deposition of inhaled particles in the lung tissue have an important influence on the respiratory physiology of human body. The corresponding particle dynamics model plays a vital role in exploring the pathogenic factors and treatment methods of lung diseases. Such as evaluating the optimal design of pulmonary atomization drug delivery and the impact of particulate air pollutants on the lung. According to the different knowledge and modeling methods, this paper classifies, combs and analyzes several representative particle dynamics models in lung airways in recent years. We divided the mechanism models into the biological model, physical model and numerical simulation model. The biological models include in vivo imaging and pharmacokinetic methods; physical models include bionic and microfluidic chip models; the numerical models include respiratory tract model, airflow model and particle model. Moreover, the numerical solution and fluid-structure-interaction models were also reviewed, especially the application prospect of the lattice Boltzmann method.
An ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was established for the simultaneous determination of seven components (chlorogenic acid, rutin, narirutin, hesperidin, sinensetin, nobiletin, tangeretin) in Citri Exocarpium Rubrum. The separation was performed over 12.0 min on a Shim-pack GIST C18 column (100 mm×2.1 mm, 2.0 μm) with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile (A) and 0.1% formic acid water solution (B) with gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.4 mL·min-1; the column temperature was 30℃ and the injection volume was 1 μL. Detection was performed on a QTRAP 4500 mass spectrometer equipped with electrospray ionization. Positive and negative electrospray ionization was performed in multiple reaction monitoring mode. All of the analytes showed good linearity (r ≥ 0.997 3) in the tested ranges, with good precision, repeatability and stability for all analytes. The average recoveries were in the range of 99.32%-107.75% with relative standard deviations RSD ≤ 3.94%. The established method is accurate, stable and reproducible, and can provide a research method for the quality control of Citri Exocarpium Rubrum.
Twenty-five quinolizidine alkaloids (including matrine-type 1-14, sparteine-type 15-17, cytisine-type 18-23, other types 24 and 25) were isolated from the roots and rhizomes of Sophora tonkinensis by various chromatographic methods. Their structures were elucidated by physicochemical properties, NMR and MS spectral data. Among them, 12-(1-acetoxyethyl)-cytisine (23) is a new alkaloid derivative, and compounds 13, 16, 17, 24 were isolated from the roots and rhizomes of S. tonkinensis for the first time. Compounds 1, 6, 19 and 20 showed potent inhibitory activity against LPS-induced NO production in RAW 264.7 macrophages, with IC50 values of 39.86 ±0.65, 23.66 ±0.37, 34.56 ±0.45, 47.68 ±0.58 μmol·L-1, respectively.
Type 2 diabetes is a common form of diabetes and can have serious consequences for diabetics when their wounds do not heal properly due to impaired function. Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are widely found in skin tissue. Due to the isomerization of C6 in uronic acid and different sulfuric acid substitutions, the structure of GAGs is relatively complex. The fine structure of GAGs in the skin of diabetic patients has not been studied. In this study, the structure of GAGs in the skin of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice was characterized by liquid chromatographytandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). All animal experiments were carried out with approval of the Animal Ethics Committee of Ocean University of China. The results indicate that the content of hyaluronic acid (HA) in STZ-induced diabetic mouse skin was significantly lower than that of non-diabetic mice. Although there was no significant difference in the content of chondroitin sulfate (CS) and heparin sulfate (HS) between diabetic mouse and normal mouse skin, the disaccharide compositions were different. The expression of CS-4S6S, HS-0S, HS-NS, and HS-6S in STZ-induced diabetic mouse skin was higher than in non-diabetic mice. While the content of HS-NS6S was lower. In addition, the degree of sulfation of HS in STZ-induced mouse skin was lower than that of normal mouse skin. These results provide a basis for the pathogenesis of diabetes and the development of wound healing dressings for diabetic patients.
In recent years, the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been dramatically increased in China and specific targeted therapy is still unavailable. The purpose of this research was to investigate whether schisandrin B (SchB) improves NAFLD and the potential mechanisms. Wildtype mice with C57BL/6J background were treated with special high fat diet (containing 40% fat, 22% fructose, 10% sucrose, and 2% cholesterol) for 16 weeks to induce NAFLD. Then SchB (120 mg·kg-1) were used to treat NAFLD mice for 6 weeks. Body weight, food intake, glucose tolerance, insulin resistance, serum level of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were assayed and histopathological analysis were performed to evaluate the improvement of NAFLD induced by SchB. Furthermore, the level of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in serum, intestinal permeability, and the expression of genes and proteins associated with mucosal defense were evaluated, intestinal flora composition in fresh cecal contents were analyzed and differential flora were identified to explore the potential mechanism. All animal experiments were approved by the Animal Research Committee of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. These results showed that SchB significantly reduced the body weight of NAFLD mice without changing food intake, and effectively reduced serum level of TC, ALT, and AST. SchB also significantly altered the composition of the microflora in NAFLD mice, increased the abundance of the Akkermansia muciniphila (A. Muciniphila) and elevated the expression of genes and proteins associated with the mucosal defense in ileum and colon, restored the permeability of intestinal barrier. In summary, SchB improves NAFLD by regulating the composition of the microflora and enhancing the function of intestinal barrier to further reduce the excessive lipids accumulation and hepatic inflammation.
Cancer is a malignant disease threatening human health and life. Early diagnosis of carcinoma plays an important role in the treatment of carcinoma, so tumor imaging agents have been the focus of research in this field. Mannose receptor is a C-type lectin receptor, which expressed in various tumor tissues, sentinel lymph nodes and has become an important tumor marker. In recent years, a variety of imaging agents targeting mannose receptors have been designed and developed. This review summarizes the representative achievements.
Flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H), flavonol synthase (FLS) and anthocyanin synthase (ANS) are members of the 2-oxoglutarate-dependent oxygenase (2-ODD) superfamily, which play important functions in plant flavonoid biosynthesis. In this study, 16 2-ODD genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis pathway were screened and identified from safflower genome database using bioinformatics method. The length of the proteins encoded by these genes ranged from 283 (CtFLS2) to 442 aa (CtANS6), and the molecular weight ranged from 32 062.05 (CtFLS2) to 48 245.49 Da (CtANS6). The proteins encoded by these genes were hydrophilic. Phylogeny divided it into three subfamilies, two conserved residues, H-x-D-xn-H and R-x-S, were found in this gene family using conserved motifs analysis, the analysis of cis-acting elements in the upstream 2 000 bp region showed that these genes might be regulated by environmental factors such as light, temperature and plant hormones such as salicylic acid, methyl jasmonate and so on. The members of the safflower 2-ODD gene family involved in flavonoid biosynthesis pathway were analyzed by qRT-PCR, the result showed that the expression patterns of these members were different in diverse flowering period and leaf. This study can lay a foundation for further exploring the function of 2-ODD genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis pathway in safflower.
The metabonomics method was used to explore the processing and synergistic mechanism of epimedium fried with suet oil in warming the kidney and enhancing yang. The kidney-yang deficiency rat model was established by injection of hydrocortisone. Then the UPLC-Q-TOF-MS (ultra-performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry) metabolomics method was combined with multivariate statistical analysis methods and univariate statistical analysis to screen and identify kidney-yang deficiency potential biomarkers in plasma and urine samples. Finally the metabolic regulation mechanism of suet oil group, the epimedium raw product group, the epimedium heating product group, and the epimedium fried with suet oil group improved kidney-yang deficiency was analyzed. The results showed that the plasma and urine metabolism of rats with kidney-yang deficiency induced by hydrocortisone showed obvious trajectory changes. 15 biomarkers related to kidney-yang deficiency were identified in plasma and urine, involving 5 metabolic pathways, namely glycerophospholipid metabolism, sphingolipid metabolism, sulfur metabolism, glyoxylate acid and dicarboxylate metabolism, and cysteine and methionine metabolism. The metabolic pathway of epimedium fried with suet oil warming kidney and promoting yang involved glycerophospholipid metabolism, cysteine and methionine metabolism, and the two processing factors of epimedium fried with suet oil "heating" and "suet oil" enhanced its function of warming the kidney and promoting yang by regulating glycerophospholipid metabolism, cysteine and methionine metabolism, respectively. In this way, the processing and synergistic mechanism of epimedium fried with suet oil was clarified. The animal experiments involved in this article comply with ethical standards and have been approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Chinese Medicine (approval number: AEWC-20200702-119).
Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a nutrient substance that exists in humans and animals. It has anti-tumor, anti-atherosclerosis, and immune-regulating functions, but its oral bioavailability is low. Conjugated linoleic acid dry powder inhalers (CDPIs) were prepared and intratracheally administered to the rats that suffered from primary lung cancer. Conjugated linoleic acid nanoemulsions were prepared first and CDPIs were with 10% mannitol after lyophilization. CDPIs are loose white powders with the aerodynamic median diameter (Da) of 3.10 μm, which were suitable for pulmonary delivery. Rats lung cancer models were established after 45 days by instilling 3-methylcholanthrene (MCA) and N, N-dimethylnitrosamine (DEN) into the rats lung once. The animal experiments were approved by the Ethics Committee of Academy of Military Medical Sciences and conducted in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations. The CDPIs, gefitinib suspension and blank DPIs were sprayed into the lungs of rats with lung cancer through the trachea. Compared with the model group, both the gefitinib suspension group and the CDPIs group showed significantly fewer tumor nodules and inflammatory cells, and the CDPIs group was better than the gefitinib suspension group. The inhibition efficiency of CDPIs on CD31 and NF-κB p65 was better than that of the gefitinib suspension group. The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) level in the CDPIs group was significantly reduced, which was equivalent to that of the gefitinib suspension group. The apoptosis in the CDPIs group by Tunel tests showed a significant increase, which was significantly better than the gefitinib suspension group. Therefore, CDPIs had excellent pharmacological activity on lung cancer, which provided a model for the efficient delivery of oil therapeutic agents.
Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) is an endocrine hormone that belongs to the transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) superfamily, which plays a role by binding to the glial cell line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF)-family receptor α-like (GFRAL)-rearranged during transfection (RET) heterodimer receptor. A number of studies have confirmed that GDF15, as a biomarker for obesity, diabetes, tumors, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, ischemic diseases, and so on, has become a new target for new drug discovery. At present, pharmaceutical companies around the world are carrying out drug discovery with GDF15 as a new therapeutic target involving many therapeutic areas such as anti-obesity, anti-tumor, and treatment of anorexia syndrome. Comprehensive analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the GDF15 target, discussion, and objective evaluation of research and development of new drugs based on GDF15 will provide a scientific basis for the discovery of innovative drugs that could relieve the human suffering from illness.
No. 86 Xueyuan South Road, Haidian District, Beijing
010-62662699(Operation and Technical Support)
qkjq@cast.org.cn
Copyright © 2025 China Association for Science and Technology. All rights reserved. For all open access content, the relevant licensing terms apply.
Sponsored by the Office of the Leading Group for Cybersecurity and Informatization of CAST, and supported by Science and Technology Review Publishing House
