To effectively identify the Astragalus and its adulterants based on ITS2 sequence and secondary structure, in this study, 32 portions of Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bge. var. mongholicus (Beg.) Hsiao and Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bge. collected were conducted ITS2 sequence amplification and bidirectional sequencing, whose results were then spliced by CExpress software remove the 5.8S and 28S sequences at both ends to obtain a complete ITS2 sequence. In addition, 3 ITS2 sequences for each of the adulterants of Astragalus, respectively, Oxytropis coerulea, Caragana sinica, Hedysarum polybotrys, Althaea rosea were downloaded from GenBank. The intra-specific and inter-specific genetic distances were calculated by the software MEGA7 to analyze the difference of each sequence; the Neighbor-joining (NJ) method was used to construct the phylogenetic tree based on ITS2 sequence (primary structure) as well as joint ITS2 sequence and its secondary structure. The results showed that the average ITS2 sequence length of both A. mongolicus and A. membranaceus was 216 bp, and their average GC content was 50.00% and 50.46%, respectively. The similarity of ITS2 sequence length and GC content between the two kind of Astragalus and Oxytropis coerulea was the highest, while the ITS2 sequence length and GC content of Althaea rosea showed great differences with those of Astragalus. The inter-specific distance between Astragalus and Oxytropis coerulea was the smallest, while that between the medicinal Astragalus and Hedysarum polybotrys, Caragana sinica as well as Althaea rosea was great. The phylogenetic trees constructed based on the ITS2 sequence (primary structure) and joint ITS2 sequence and its secondary structure showed that the topological relations of the two phylogenetic trees were basically the same, and both could effectively identify the Astragalus and its adulterants. What's more, the addition of secondary structure information made end branch of the phylogenetic tree become more in its construction, and the distinguish ability and approval rating were also improved, which further reflected the genetic relationship of Astragalus and its adulterants. This provides some scientific basis for classification and accurate identification of Astragalus and its adulterants.

Depression is a common mental illness with mood disorders as the main clinical feature. In recent years numerous studies have shown that mitochondrial function and structure are abnormal in patients with depression, and changes in mitochondrial ultrastructure can lead to energy metabolism disorders in the body. It is suggested that 'mitochondrial energy metabolism disorder' may be the pathogenesis of depression. This paper reviews the intrinsic association of mitochondrial energy metabolism with depression and notes potential mechanisms from the standpoint of mitochondrial structure and function on the molecular level. We provide a reference for understanding the pathogenesis of depression and identifying the possible targets of antidepressant drugs.

To explore the affect and mechanisms of rapamycin on mesangial cell proliferation and cell cycle, rat mesangial cells (HBZY-1) were cultured and divided into the six groups:normal; normal with platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) 20 ng·mL^-1; PDGF + rapamycin 1, 10, 100, 1 000 nmol·L^-1. The cell proliferation was measured by MTT in 24 and 48 h; flow cytometry was used to detect the cell cycle phase. Western blot was performed to determine cyclin D1, cyclin E, cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2), cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4), p27, p70S6K/p-p70S6K protein expression. The p27 mRNA was detect by Real-time PCR. The results showed that rapamycin significantly suppressed PDGF induced glomerular mesangial cells (MCs) proliferation in a dose and time-dependent manner, but with the dose increased (1 to 1 000 nmol·L^-1), the time dependence gradually weakened. Rapamycin inhibited mesangial cell proliferation and arrested the cell cycle in the G0/G1 phase. PDGF at 20 ng·mL^-1 significantly increased the expression of cyclin D1, cyclin E and CDK2, CDK4 (P < 0.05), but rapamycin did not affect the expression of cyclin D1, cyclin E and CDK2, CDK4. Rapamycin can significantly inhibited p70S6K phosphorylation, up-regulated the expression of p27 protein and mRNA. Collectively, rapamycin has the effect of inhibiting the glomerular mesangial cells proliferation of mesangial cells by regulating the transcription of p27 mRNA, increasing its protein expression through the mTORC1/p70S6K pathway, resulting in decreased activity of cyclin-CDK, and blocking cell cycle in G0/G1 phase.

The property of medicine is the "identity card" of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and the key to crack the theory of property of TCM. Based on molecular thermodynamics, the effects of interaction between TCM and organs in vitro were studied from the perspective of micro-energy release and absorption in order to construct a new idea of characterizing meridian theory. Scutellaria baicalensis, for example, application of isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) were used to determine the energy changes during the interaction of Scutellaria baicalensis and its main active ingredient baicalin with brain, heart, lung, spleen and kidney in vitro, comparison including the association constant (K_a) and disassociation constant (K_d), combined with thermodynamic parameters, such as stoichiometry ratio (n), enthalpy change (ΔH), entropy change (ΔS), Gibbs free energy (ΔG), it is found that the interaction intensity between Scutellaria baicalensis and lung is significantly stronger than that of other organs, which is consistent with the theory of the return of Scutellaria baicalensis in ancient books. In addition, baicalin, the main active ingredient, showed the same action pattern as Scutellaria baicalensis. The thermodynamic parameters analysis showed that the action was a weak bond-induced spontaneous chemical binding reaction driven by both entropy and enthalpy. The results of specific curl measurement further proved the interaction between baicalin and lung, and were consistent with the results of ITC titration, indicating that ITC could be used to characterize the meridian tropism of TCM. Therefore, based on ITC, it is scientific and feasible to characterize the meridian of TCM by the energy change of the interaction between the decoction of TCM and its active components and the in vitro tissues respectively. This experiment provides a new idea for the discussion of meridian of TCM.

Uranium[U(Ⅵ)] in the blood is known to form stable complexes with apotransferrin (apo-Tf), which plays an important role in mediating the cytotoxicity induced by U(Ⅵ) transported to cells. The present study aimed to establish an new in vitro screening model of U(Ⅵ) decorporation agents through exploring the capability of chelating agents competing with U(Ⅵ) binding to apo-transferrin based on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The optimal concentrations of apo-Tf coated antigen, Tf antibody, secondary antibody and U(Ⅵ) treatment were achieved and the stability and reproducibility of this method were validated by methodology study. Using this model, the ability of four chelating agents to mobilize the U(Ⅵ) binding to apo-Tf was evaluated, and the rank of competitiveness was catechol-3, 6-bis(methyleiminodiacetic acid) (CBMIDA) ≈ Tiron > apo-Tf > DTPA-CaNa₃ ≈ DTPA-ZnNa₃. The efficacy of these chelating agents in removal of U(Ⅵ) was tested by animal experiments. The results showed that immediate administration of CBMIDA or Tiron after injection of U(Ⅵ) in mice significantly promoted urinary U(Ⅵ) excretion and reduced U(Ⅵ) accumulation in kidneys and femurs, while DTPA-CaNa₃ and DTPA-ZnNa₃ have no obvious effects as compared to U(Ⅵ)-exposed mice alone, which was consistent with the results of competitive ELISA method. The animal experiments conform to the rules of the Animal Research Ethics Committee of School of Pharmacy of Fudan University. These results show that the new proposed method is rapid, simple and convenient with good reproducibility and has the potential to be used for in vitro screening of U(Ⅵ) decorporation agents.

To determine the relationship between the effect of wuzhi capsules on the blood concentration of tacrolimus as compared to diltiazem and with regard to cytochrome P450 (CYP)3A5 gene polymorphisms, 170 patients who underwent renal transplantation from November 2014 to March 2018 and used tacrolimus combined with diltiazem 30 mg bid were selected in this study retrospectively. Patients were divided into an observation group (105 patients) and a control group (65 patients) according to whether they used wuzhi capsules after the operation. The polymorphisms of CYP3A5*3 were determined and the effect of wuzhi capsules on the blood concentration of tacrolimus, as compared with that of diltiazem was determined in patients with different CYP3A5*3 genotypes. This study complies with relevant ethical norms. The results show that compared with diltiazem, an increase of tacrolimus C₀/D was significantly correlated with the patient's CYP3A5*3 genotype in both the self-control and the control group. CYP3A5 expressers in the observation group were able to increase the tacrolimus C₀/D by about 76.8% by replacing the wuzhi capsules with diltiazem, but this effect was not observed in CYP3A5 non-expressers. In CYP3A5 expressers wuzhi capsules had a greater ability relative to diltiazem to increase the blood concentration of tacrolimus.

Cerebral malaria (CM) is the deadliest complication of Plasmodium falciparum infection and even with effective anti-malarial treatment the mortality of children can be as high as 18%; up to one-third of CM survivors are left with neurological and cognitive deficits. The pathophysiology of CM is not completely understood, but mechanical obstruction and immunopathology are its mainstream theories. Adjuvant therapy aims to improve clinical outcomes and/or reduce mortality, as well as preventing long-term neurocognitive deficits. Improving survival and reducing neurological damage to survivors are new goals for new antimalarials and adjuvant therapies. Herein, we discussed what is known about the disease mechanism of CM and systematically summarize the progress of adjuvant therapy research in protecting the vascular endothelium, reducing adhesion formation, regulating immune balance, interfering with malarial metabolism, protecting nerves, improving nitric oxide bioavailability, improving energy metabolism and alleviating inflammation, with the aim of exploiting this understanding to reduce the neurological damage to children with CM. This work also highlights some preclinical studies which may be candidate strategies in future clinical trials.

Eight triterpenes were isolated from the methanol extract of Galbanum by various chromatographic methods including silica gel, ODS opening column, recrystallization and semi-preparative HPLC. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic methods and physicochemical properties as 3β, 19α, 21α-trihydroxyl-12-en-28-oic acid (1), sumaresinolic acid (2), 3β, 19α-dihydroxyl-12-en-28-oic acid (3), oleanolic acid (4), 3β, 6β, 19α-trihydroxyl-12-en-28-oic acid (5), 19α-hydroxy oleanonic acid (6), 6α-hydroxy oleanonic acid (7), and (11R, 12R)-3α, 6α-dihydroxy-epoxyolean-28α, 13α-olide (8). Among them, compound 1 is a new compound, while compounds 2-8 were newly isolated from the Apiaceae family. The ability of compounds 1-8 to inhibit cholinesterase was determined with an improved Ellman method. Compound 1 showed strong inhibitory activity against butyrylcholinesterase. The molecular docking results indicated that Trp82, His438, Phe329 and Ala328 played an important role in the binding of compound 1 to butyrylcholinesterase.

Following small molecules and monoclonal antibodies, oligonucleotides are expected to overcome the rare and refractory human diseases. It has been attracted the attention of the pharmaceutical industry since the approval of six oligonucleotides in recent years because of their unique mechanism of regulating disease gene transcription at the RNA level. As a new class of drug molecules, oligonucleotides are highly polar, charged, and need to be improved by means of chemical modification and drug delivery systems. And therefore, they have different clinical pharmacology properties compared with chemical molecules and monoclonal antibodies, which pose new challenges for early clinical development. This paper reviews the characteristics of oligonucleotides from the perspective of technological development, mechanism of action, human pharmacokinetics, efficacy and safety.

Four alkaloids were isolated from the total alkaloids of the twigs and leaves of Alstonia yunnanensis (Apocynaceae) by using silica gel, ODS, Sephadex LH-20, and HPLC chromatography. Structures were determined by physical, chemical and spectroscopic methods and identified as N₄-methylpseudoakuammigine (1), pseudoakuammigine (2), vinorine (3), picraline (4). Among them, compound 1 is a new monoterpenoid indole alkaloid.