Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a chronic microvascular complication of diabetes. The purpose of this study is to find the underlying mechanism for the effects of acupuncture in DPN rats. Rats were rendered diabetic with a single injection of 35 mg/kg streptozotocin (STZ). These STZ-diabetic rats were treated with acupuncture for 20 min once daily. The therapeutic efficacy of acupuncture was assessed using mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) and thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) evaluations. After 14 days treatment, acupuncture markedly reduced the pathological injury in STZ-diabetic rats. Moreover, it significantly down-regulated P2X4 and OX42 expression along with the reduced levels of inflammatory factors (CXCR3, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6), GSP and lipid metabolisms in the spinal cord of the DPN rats. Acupuncture could relieve DPN in rats by regulating P2X4 expression and inflammation in spinal microglia.

Endothelial dysfunction is a key pathophysiological step in early stage diabetes mellitus (DM) macrovascular complications and is also crucial in the inflammatory mechanisms of macrovascular complications. However, there is currently no effective intervention to improve endothelial dysfunction associated with DM macrovascular complications. Astragaloside IV (AS-IV), which can be extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine Astragalus membranaceus , has potential therapeutic effects on DM and its complications. The present study evaluated the effect of AS-IV on high glucose-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) injury and its possible mechanism. The result indicated that AS-IV has a significant protective effect on high glucose-induced HUVEC injury. AS-IV could significantly promote cell proliferation, reduce apoptosis and decrease the protein and mRNA expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β in HUVECs. Furthermore, AS-IV could decrease the expression of phosphorylated c-Jun NH 2 -terminal kinase (JNK) phosphorylated apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1, cytochrome c, cleaved-caspase-9, cleaved-caspase-3 and the relative ratio of B-cell lymphoma-2 associated X protein/B-cell lymphoma-2 in HUVECs. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that AS-IV could suppress apoptosis and inflammatory reactions promoted by high glucose conditions in HUVECs by inhibiting the JNK signaling pathway. These findings suggest that AS-IV could inhibit the process of endothelial dysfunction in diabetic macrovascular complications.

Worldwide, the most prevalent metabolic disorder is diabetes mellitus (DM), an important condition that has been widely studied. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), a complication that can occur with DM, is associated with pain and can result in foot ulcers and even amputation. DPN treatments are limited and mainly focus on pain management. There is a clear need to develop treatments for DPN at all stages. To make this progress, it is necessary to understand the molecular signaling pathways related to DPN. For this review, we aimed to concentrate on the main signaling cascades that contribute to DPN. In addition, we provide information with regard to treatments that are being explored.

Objective: To improve the pathophysiological understanding of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) by exploring the gut-brain axis.Background: Disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBIs) are gastrointestinal (GI) disorders in which alterations in bowel functions occur. IBS, which is one of the most studied DGBIs, is linked with abdominal distress or pain without obvious structural or biochemical anomalies. Methods:The etiology of IBS has not been clearly described but is known to be multifactorial, involving GI motility changes, post-infectious reactivity, visceral hypersensitivity, gut-brain interactions, microbiota dysbiosis, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, food sensitivity, carbohydrate malabsorption, and intestinal inflammation.Conclusions: One of the main features of IBS is the occurrence of structural and functional disruptions in the gut-brain axis, which alter reflective and perceptual nervous system reactions. Herein, we provide a brief summary of this topic. Furthermore, we discuss animal models, which are important in the study of IBS, especially as it is linked with stressors. These animal models cannot fully represent the human disease but serve as important tools for understanding this complicated disorder. In the future, technologies, such as organ-on-a-chip models and metabolomics, will provide novel information regarding the pathophysiology of IBS, which will play an important role in treatment development. Finally, we take a brief glance at how acupuncture treatments may hold potential for patients with IBS.

Diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) is one of the most common chronic peripheral neuropathies in diabetes mellitus (DM). Objective. To observe the underlying mechanism of the effects of Yiqi Huoxue Tongluo Decoction (YQHX) on DNP rats. Methods. SD rats were intraperitoneally injected with 35 mg/kg streptozotocin (STZ) to prepare DNP models and were treated with YQHX for 8 weeks. Results. Studies have shown that the drug restores some levels of MWT, TWL, and MNCV, downregulates the levels of inflammatory factors IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α, downregulates the levels of ASK1-MKK3-p38, and weakens the level of OX42 activation. Conclusion. Yiqi Huoxue Tongluo Decoction can relieve DNP by affecting the activity of spinal cord microglia and the ASK1-MKK3-p38 signaling pathway, thereby reducing the central sensitization caused by the inflammatory response of DNP rats.

In daily study and work, there are some people who complain about procrastination and how to change from an ill-adapted procrastination patient to the adaptive procrastination to improve the efficiency of work by using procrastination. This paper studies the procrastination crowd, analyzes the cause of procrastination anxiety, and puts forward a method based on management time-GTD (Getting Things Done) designs a set of office supplies design combining software and hardware from the point of view of product design. Hopefully, through the core principles of GTD: collection, collation, organization, review, and execution of a series of steps to procrastinate patients at a certain stage Solve or alleviate the bad factors caused by procrastination in order to improve the efficiency of the work.

Soil salinization is an important factor limiting food security and ecological stability. As a commonly used greening tree species, Robinia pseudoacacia often suffers from salt stress that can manifest as leaf yellowing, decreased photosynthesis, disintegrated chloroplasts, growth stagnation, and even death. To elucidate how salt stress decreases photosynthesis and damages photosynthetic structures, we treated R. pseudoacacia seedlings with different concentrations of NaCl (0, 50, 100, 150, and 200 mM) for 4 weeks and then measured their biomass, ion content, organic soluble substance content, reactive oxygen species (ROS) content, antioxidant enzyme activity, photosynthetic parameters, chloroplast ultrastructure, and chloroplast development-related gene expression. NaCl treatment significantly decreased biomass and photosynthetic parameters, but increased ion content, organic soluble substances, and ROS content. High NaCl concentrations (100-200 mM) also led to distorted chloroplasts, scattered and deformed grana lamellae, disintegrated thylakoid structure, irregularly swollen starch granules, and larger, more numerous lipid spheres. Compared to control (0 mM NaCl), the 50 mM NaCl treatment significantly increased antioxidant enzyme activity while upregulating expression of the ion transport-related genes HhNHX1 and HhSOS1 and the chloroplast development-related genes psaA, psbA, psaB, psbD, psaC, psbC, ndhH, ndhE, rps7, and ropA. Additionally, high concentrations of NaCl (100-200 mM) decreased antioxidant enzyme activity and downregulated the expression of ion transport- and chloroplast development-related genes. These results showed that although R. pseudoacacia can tolerate low concentrations of NaCl, high concentrations (100-200 mM) can damage chloroplast structure and disturb metabolic processes by downregulating gene expression.

Object: Exploring the effect of Tetrahydropalmatine (THP) on diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) and its possible mechanism. Methods: The type 2 diabetic (T2DM) rat models were prepared by high-fat and high-sugar feeding combined with a single small-dose intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ). When the mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) and the thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) of T2DM model rats decreased to less than 85% which were judged as DNP-bearing rats. After treatment with or without THP, the protein expression of hypertonic glycerol reactive kinase (p38), phosphorylated hypertonic glycerol-responsive kinase (p-p38) and OX42 (a specific marker of microglia) were detected by Western Blot and and the mRNA content of p38 and OX42 were detected by qRT-PCR. The expression of pro-inflammatory factors IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, as well as chemotactic factors and their receptors including CXCL1, CXCR2, CCL2 and CCR2 in spinal tissues were detected by ELISA. Serum FINS and GSP content were also detected by ELISA. Double-label immunofluorescence were used to observe the expression of OX42 and p-p38 in the spinal dorsal horn. Results: Results showed that THP inhibited microglial activation of spinal in DNP rats. And after THP intervention, the MWT and TWL of DNP rats decreased, the expression of p38, p-p38 and OX42 in the spinal cord tissues of rats was significantly reduced while the mRNA of p38 and OX42 also reduced. The expression of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, CXCL1, CXCR2, CCL2 and CCR2 in the spinal cord tissues of rats was significantly reduced (P < 0.01). At the same time, THP significantly proved FINS, but did not affect FBG and GSP in DNP rats. Conclusions: THP significantly alleviates pain symptoms in DNP rats, and this effect may be achieved by inhibiting the inflammatory response caused by the activation of microglia mediated by the p38-MAPK signaling pathway.