Systematic Analysis of Absorbed Anti-Inflammatory Constituents and Metabolites of Sarcandra glabra in Rat Plasma Using Ultra-High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Linear Trap Quadrupole Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry

Ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC) was coupled with linear ion trap quadrupole Orbitrap mass spectrometry (LTQ-Orbitrap) and was used for the first time to systematically analyze the absorbed components and metabolites in rat plasma after oral administration of the water extract of Sarcandra glabra. This extract is a well-known Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of inflammation and immunity related diseases. The anti-inflammatory activities of the absorbed components were evaluated by measuring nitric oxide (NO) production and proinflammatory genes expression in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated murine RAW 264.7 macrophages. As a result, 54 components in Sarcandra glabra were detected in dosed rat plasma, and 36 of them were positively identified. Moreover, 23 metabolites were characterized and their originations were traced. Furthermore, 20 of the 24 studied components showed anti-inflammatory activities. These results provide evidence that this method efficiency detected constituents in plasma based on the anti-inflammatory mechanism of multiple components and would be a useful technique for screening multiple targets for natural medicine research.     

Disrupted Structural and Functional Connectivity in Prefrontal-Hippocampus Circuitry in First-Episode Medication-Na?ve Adolescent Depression

Background

Evidence implicates abnormalities in prefrontal-hippocampus neural circuitry in major depressive disorder (MDD). This study investigates the potential disruptions in prefrontal-hippocampus structural and functional connectivity, as well as their relationship in first-episode medication-naïve adolescents with MDD in order to investigate the early stage of the illness without confounds of illness course and medication exposure.

Methods

Diffusion tensor imaging and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data were acquired from 26 first-episode medication-naïve MDD adolescents and 31 healthy controls (HC). Fractional anisotropy (FA) values of the fornix and the prefrontal-hippocampus functional connectivity was compared between MDD and HC groups. The correlation between the FA value of fornix and the strength of the functional connectivity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) region showing significant differences between the two groups was identified.

Results

Compared with the HC group, adolescent MDD group had significant lower FA values in the fornix, as well as decreased functional connectivity in four PFC regions. Significant negative correlations were observed between fornix FA values and functional connectivity from hippocampus to PFC within the HC group. There was no significant correlation between the fornix FA and the strength of functional connectivity within the adolescent MDD group.

Conclusions

First-episode medication-naïve adolescent MDD showed decreased structural and functional connectivity as well as deficits of the association between structural and functional connectivity shown in HC in the PFC-hippocampus neural circuitry. These findings suggest that abnormal PFC-hippocampus neural circuitry may present in the early onset of MDD and play an important role in the neuropathophysiology of MDD.     

The Influence of Perioperative Dexmedetomidine on Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: A Meta-Analysis

BackgroundThe use of dexmedetomidine may have benefits on the clinical outcomes of cardiac surgery. We conducted a meta-analysis comparing the postoperative complications in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with dexmedetomidine versus other perioperative medications to determine the influence of perioperative dexmedetomidine on cardiac surgery patients.MethodsRandomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials comparing outcomes in patients who underwent cardiac surgery with dexmedetomidine, another medication, or a placebo were retrieved from EMBASE, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and Science Citation Index.ResultsA total of 1702 patients in 14 studies met the selection criteria among 1,535 studies that fit the research strategy. Compared to other medications, dexmedetomidine has combined risk ratios of 0.28 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.15, 0.55, P = 0.0002) for ventricular tachycardia, 0.35 (95% CI 0.20, 0.62, P = 0.0004) for postoperative delirium, 0.76 (95% CI 0.55, 1.06, P = 0.11) for atrial fibrillation, 1.08 (95% CI 0.74, 1.57, P = 0.69) for hypotension, and 2.23 (95% CI 1.36, 3.67, P = 0.001) for bradycardia. In addition, dexmedetomidine may reduce the length of intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital stay.ConclusionsThis meta-analysis revealed that the perioperative use of dexmedetomidine in patients undergoing cardiac surgery can reduce the risk of postoperative ventricular tachycardia and delirium, but may increase the risk of bradycardia. The estimates showed a decreased risk of atrial fibrillation, shorter length of ICU stay and hospitalization, and increased risk of hypotension with dexmedetomidine.     

An TRIM59‐CDK6 axis regulates growth and metastasis of lung cancer

Lung cancer (LC) is a devastating malignancy with no effective treatments, due to its complex genomic profile. Using bioinformatics analysis and immunohistochemical of lung carcinoma tissues, we show that TRIM59 as a critical oncoprotein relating to LC proliferation and metastasis. In this study, high TRIM59 expression was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and tumour stage. Furthermore, up‐regulation of TRIM59 expression correlated with poorer outcomes in LC patients. Mechanistically, TRIM59 play a key role in promoting LC growth and metastasis through regulation of extracellular‐signal regulated protein kinase (ERK) signalling pathway and epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition (EMT)‐markers, as validated by loss‐of‐function studies. In‐depth bioinformatics analysis showed that there is preliminary evidence of co‐expression of TRIM59 and cyclin dependent kinase 6 (CDK6) in LC. Notably, CDK6 expression significantly decreased when TRIM59 was knocked down in the LC cells. In contrast, exogenous up‐regulation of TRIM59 expression also induced significant increases in the expression of CDK6. Moreover, the expression of CDK6 was also inhibited by the ERK signalling inhibitor, U0126. The results of both loss‐ and gain‐of‐function studies showed that TRIM59 could regulate the expression of CDK6. Collectively, these data provide evidence that TRIM59 is involved in lung carcinoma growth and progression possibly through the induction of CDK6 expression and EMT process by activation of ERK pathway.     

A molecularly imprinted polymer based chemiluminescence array sensor for one‐step determination of phenothiazines and benzodiazepines in pig urine

The residues of phenothiazines and benzodiazepines in foods of animal origin are dangerous to consumers. For inspection of their abuses, this study for the first time reported on the use of a chemiluminescence array sensor for the simultaneous determination of four phenothiazines and five benzodiazepines in pig urine. Two molecularly imprinted polymers were coated in different wells of a conventional 96‐well microtiter plate as the recognition reagents. After sample loading, the absorbed analytes were initiated directly by using an imidazole enhanced bis(2,4,6‐trichlorophenyl)oxalate–hydrogen peroxide system to emit light. The assay process consisted of only one sample‐loading step prior to data acquisition, so one test was finished within 10 min. The limits of detection for the nine drugs in the pig urine were in a range of 0.1 to 0.6 pg/mL, and the recoveries from the fortified blank urine samples were in a range of 80.3 to 95%. Furthermore, the sensor could be reused six times. Therefore, this sensor could be used as a simple, rapid, sensitive and reusable tool for routine screening for residues of phenothiazines and benzodiazepines in pig urine.     

Functional nano-catalyzed pyrolyzates from branch of Cinnamomum camphora

Cinnamomum camphora is an excellent tree species for construction of forest construction of Henan Province, China. The diverse bioactive components of nano-catalyzed pyrolyzates form cold-acclimated C. camphora branch (CCB) in North China were explored. The raw powder of CCB treated with nano-catalyst (Ag, NiO, ¹/₂Ag + ¹/₂NiO) were pyrolyzed at two temperatures (550 °C and 700 °C), respectively. The main pyrolyzates are bioactive components of bioenergy, biomedicines, food additive, spices, cosmetics and chemical, whose total relative contents at 550 °C pyrolyzates are higher than those at 700 °C pyrolyzates. There are abundant components of spices and biomedicine at 550 °C pyrolyzates, while more spices and food additive at 700 °C pyrolyzates. At 550 °C, the content of biomedicine components reaches the highest by ¹/₂Ag + ¹/₂NiO nanocatalysis, while the contents of spices and food additive components reach the highest by NiO nanocatalysis. At 700 °C, the content of bioenergy components reaches the highest by ¹/₂Ag + ¹/₂NiO nanocatalysis, and the content of cosmetics components reaches the highest by Ag nanocatalysis. The findings suggested that the branch of the cold-acclimated C. camphora have the potential to develop into valued-added products of bioenergy, biomedicine, cosmetics, spices and food additive by nanocatalysis.