1. The present study was designed to determine whether pravastatin, a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitor, could attenuate acute lung injury (ALI) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in BALB/c mice. 2. Acute lung injury was induced successfully by intratracheal administraiton of LPS (3 microg/g) in BALB/c mice. Pravastatin (3, 10 and 30 mg/kg, i.p.) was administered to mice 24 h prior to and then again concomitant with LPS exposure. 3. Challenge with LPS alone produced a significant increase in lung index and the wet/dry weight ratio compared with control animals. Pulmonary microvascular leakage, as indicated by albumin content in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and extravasation of Evans blue dye albumin into lung tissue, was apparently increased in LPS-exposed mice. Lipopolysaccharide exposure also produced a significant lung inflammatory response, reflected by myeloperoxidase activity and inflammatory cell counts in BALF. Furthermore, histological examination showed that mice exposed to LPS also exhibited prominent inflammatory cell infiltration and occasional alveolar haemorrhage. 4. Pravastatin (3, 10 or 30 mg/kg, i.p.) produced a significant reduction in multiple indices of LPS-induced pulmonary vascular leak and inflammatory cell infiltration into lung tissue. Elevated tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha levels in lung tissue homogenates of ALI mice were significantly decreased after administration of 10 or 30 mg/kg pravastatin. 5. These findings confirm significant protection by pravastatin against LPS-induced lung vascular leak and inflammation and implicate a potential role for statins in the management of ALI. The inhibitory effect of pravastatin was associated with its effect in decreasing TNF-alpha.

Deep tumor penetration, long blood circulation, rapid drug release, and sufficient stability are the most concerning dilemmas of nano-drug-delivery systems for efficient chemotherapy. Herein, we develop reduction/oxidation-responsive hierarchical nanoparticles co-encapsulating paclitaxel (PTX) and pH-stimulated hyaluronidase (pSH) to surmount the sequential biological barriers for precise cancer therapy. Poly­(ethylene glycol) diamine (PEG-dia) is applied to collaboratively cross-link the shell of nanoparticles self-assembled by a hyaluronic acid–stearic acid conjugate linked via a disulfide bond (HA–SS–SA, HSS) to fabricate the hierarchical nanoparticles (PHSS). The PTX and pSH coloaded hierarchical nanoparticles (PTX/pSH-PHSS) enhance the stability in normal physiological conditions and accelerate drug release at tumorous pH, and highly reductive or oxidative environments. Functionalized with PEG and HA, the hierarchical nanoparticles preferentially prolong the circulation time, accumulate at the tumor site, and enter MDA-MB-231 cells via CD44-mediated endocytosis. Within the acidic tumor micro-environment, pSH would be partially reactivated to decompose the dense tumor extracellular matrix for deep tumor penetration. Interestingly, PTX/pSH-PHSS could be degraded apace by the completely activated pSH within endo/lysosomes and the intracellular redox micro-environment to facilitate drug release to produce the highest tumor inhibition (93.71%) in breast cancer models.

Injection of a compound algogenic substance into a receptive field of the skin induced sustained discharges from single polymodal nociceptors (PMNs) in rats. Stimulation of the sympathetic nerve (SS) innervating the receptive field obviously increased the sustained discharges. Some units were first facilitated and then inhibited. The sympathetic effect could be activated repeatedly and lasted a long time. Injection of norepinephrine (NE, 5 micrograms) into the local artery caused a similar effect. The results indicate that the sympathetic nerve could facilitate sustained discharges of PMN. The possible causes of causalgia and different results of other experiments are discussed in this paper.

Our findings suggest that PHVHF is a feasible adjuvant modality in the treatment of patients with severe sepsis. With the application of PHVHF treatment, plasma cytokines are effectively removed. Considering the lower cost and better feasibility than continuous high-volume hemofiltration (CHVF), PHVHF shows promising prospects for the future.

Mycelia of cultured Cordyceps sinensis (CS) is one of the most common substitutes for natural CS and was approved for arrhythmia in China. However, the role of CS in ameliorating injury during ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) is still unclear. We examined effects of extracts from CS on I/R and investigated the possible mechanisms. Post-ischemic coronary perfusion pressure, ventricular function, and coronary flow were measured using the Langendorff mouse heart model. Oxidative stress of cardiac homogenates was performed using an ELISA. Our results indicate that CS affords cardioprotection possibly through enhanced adenosine receptor activation. Cardioprotection was demonstrated by reduced post-ischemic diastolic dysfunction and improved recovery of pressure development and coronary flow. Treatment with CS largely abrogates oxidative stress and damage in glucose- or pyruvate-perfused hearts. Importantly, observed reductions in oxidative stress [glutathione disulfide (GSSG)]/[GSSG + glutathione] and [malondialdehyde (MDA)]/[superoxide dismutase + MDA] ratios as well as the resultant damage upon CS treatment correlate with functional markers of post-ischemic myocardial outcome. These effects of CS were partially blocked by 8-ρ-sulfophenyltheophylline, an adenosine receptor antagonist. Our results demonstrate a suppressive role of CS in ischemic contracture. Meanwhile, the results also suggest pre-ischemic adenosine receptor activation may be involved in reducing contracture in hearts pretreated with CS.

Traditional Chinese herbal medicine (TCHM) is used widely alone or in combination with chemotherapy to treat lung cancer in China. Meta-analysis of clinical trials of TCHM against lung cancer suggested the potential, but not confirmed therapeutic effect. To gain detailed insight into the antilung cancer effects of TCHM, we searched for preclinical studies of TCHM against lung cancer published from 1995 to 2012 and systematically analyzed published articles focusing on the antitumor effect of individual TCHM in lung cancer cell lines or animal models. Among 93 herbal components isolated from 73 Chinese herbs, we found 10 herbal compounds that showed the strongest cytotoxicity in lung cancer cell lines through apoptosis or cell cycle arrest, and agents isolated from seven Chinese herbs that inhibited the primary tumor growth more than 35% in A549 xenografted mice models. In addition, three herbal components suppressed lung cancer cell migration in vitro at the concentration without cytotoxicity. Polyphyllin I, tanshinone IIA, isochaihulactone, 25-OCH3-PPD, and andrographolide were the five TCHM compounds that showed strong antilung cancer effects both in cells and in animal models, and studies of their analogs showed their structure-activity relationships. This review summarizes and analyzes contemporary studies on the antitumor effect of individual TCHM against lung cancer and animal models, providing perspectives to better understand the TCHM effect in lung cancer treatment and develop new antilung cancer drugs from TCHM.

Phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt is an important cellular pathway that has been shown to participate in various replication steps of multiple viruses. In the present study, we compared the phosphorylation status of Akt during infection of MARC-145 cells and porcine alveolar macrophages (PAMs) with highly pathogenic PRRSV (HP-PRRSV) strain HuN4. We observed that biphasic activation of Akt was induced in at both the early stage (5, 15 and 30 min postinfection) and the late stage (12 and 24 h postinfection) of HP-PRRSV infection of MARC-145 cells, while an early-phase activation of Akt was found exclusively in virus-infected PAMs in vitro. Analysis with the PI3K-specific inhibitor LY294002 confirmed that PI3K acted as the upstream activator for the virus-induced activation of Akt. UV-irradiation-inactivated virus still induced the early event in PAMs but not in MARC-145 cells, suggesting that different mechanisms are employed for the early-stage induction of phosphorylated Akt within different cell cultures. We further demonstrated that FoxO1 and Bad, which serve as downstream targets of Akt, were phosphorylated in virus-infected MARC-145 cells. Moreover, the suppression of phosphorylated Akt with LY294002 significantly inhibited the virus-induced cytopathic effect (CPE) on MARC-145 cells, but it had a negligible effect on virus propagation. Collectively, our data provide new evidence of a novel role for the PI3K/Akt pathway in PRRSV infection of MARC-145 cells.

The enzyme nitric oxide (NO) synthase, that produces the signaling molecule NO, has been identified in several cell types in the inner ear. However, it is unclear whether a measurable quantity of NO is released in the inner ear to confer specific functions. Indeed, the functional significance of NO and the elementary cellular mechanism thereof are most uncertain. Here, we demonstrate that the sensory epithelia of the frog saccule release NO and explore its release mechanisms by using self-referencing NO-selective electrodes. Additionally, we investigated the functional effects of NO on electrical properties of hair cells and determined their underlying cellular mechanism. We show detectable amounts of NO are released by hair cells (>50 nM). Furthermore, a hair-cell efferent modulator acetylcholine produces at least a threefold increase in NO release. NO not only attenuated the baseline membrane oscillations but it also increased the magnitude of current required to generate the characteristic membrane potential oscillations. This resulted in a rightward shift in the frequency-current relationship and altered the excitability of hair cells. Our data suggest that these effects ensue because NO reduces whole cell Ca(2+) current and drastically decreases the open probability of single-channel events of the L-type and non L-type Ca(2+) channels in hair cells, an effect that is mediated through direct nitrosylation of the channel and activation of protein kinase G. Finally, NO increases the magnitude of Ca(2+)-activated K(+) currents via direct NO nitrosylation. We conclude that NO-mediated inhibition serves as a component of efferent nerve modulation of hair cells.