Critical cytotoxicity evaluation of pharmaceuticals is necessary for the clinical practice of chemotherapy. To quantitatively evaluate cell viability, currently there are two main types of sensitive methods including real-time cell analysis (RTCA) and CCK-8 assay, in which RTCA records electrochemical signal changes around an incubated cell, whereas CCK-8 is based on the colorimetric method. Despite the different detection principles adopted for the cytotoxicity assessment, the comparison of the two methods in terms of the application scope is lacking. In this study, comparison studies were conducted between the RTCA and CCK-8 assays using anticancer drugs including doxorubicin hydrochloride, curcumin, irinotecan (CPT-11), taxol, and oxaliplatin, which are classified into two groups of drug molecules in the absence and presence of additives. The cytotoxicity evaluation of these drugs on cancer cells revealed that the physicochemical properties of drug formulations such as optical and electrochemical properties are closely linked with the readout of cytotoxic methods. The experimental results suggested that the preselection of cytotoxic assay is critical for the quantitative measurement of cytotoxicity of anticancer drugs, which is of clinical importance for their therapeutic usage.

The fruit of Schisandra chinensis has been used in the traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. Accumulating evidence suggests that Schisandrin B (Sch B) has cardioprotection effect on myocardial ischemia in vitro. However, it is unclear whether Sch B has beneficial effects on continuous myocardial ischemia in vivo. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether Sch B could improve cardiac function and attenuate myocardial remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI) in mice. Mice model of MI was established by permanent ligation of the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery. Then the MI mice were randomly treated with Sch B or vehicle alone. After treatment for 3 weeks, Sch B could increase survival rate, improve heart function and decrease infarct size compared with vehicle. Moreover, Sch B could down-regulate some inflammatory cytokines, activate eNOS pathway, inhibit cell apoptosis, and enhance cell proliferation. Further in vitro study on H9c2 cells showed similar effects of Sch B on prevention of hypoxia-induced inflammation and cell apoptosis. Taken together, our results demonstrate that Sch B can reduce inflammation, inhibit apoptosis, and improve cardiac function after ischemic injury. It represents a potential novel therapeutic approach for treatment of ischemic heart disease.

Prospective ECG-triggering DSCT angiography with a very low effective radiation dose allows the accurate diagnosis of anomalies in infants and children with complex CHD compared with TTE. It has great promise to become a commonly used second-line technique for complex CHD.

BackgroundAngiogenesis plays a crucial role in myocardial infarction (MI) treatment by ameliorating myocardial remodeling, thus improving cardiac function and preventing heart failure. Muscone has been reported to have beneficial effects on cardiac remodeling in MI mice. However, the effects of muscone on angiogenesis in MI mice and its underlying mechanisms remain unknown.Material/MethodsMice were randomly divided into sham, MI, and MI+muscone groups. The MI mouse model was established by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery. Mice in the sham group received the same procedure except for ligation. Mice were administered muscone or an equivalent volume of saline for 4 consecutive weeks. Cardiac function was evaluated by echocardiograph after MI for 2 and 4 weeks. Four weeks later, all mice were sacrificed and Masson’s trichrome staining was used to assess myocardial fibrosis. Isolectin B4 staining was applied to evaluate the angiogenesis in mouse hearts. Immunohistochemistry, Western blot analysis, and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) were performed to analyze expression levels of HIF-1α and its downstream genes.ResultsCompared with the MI group, muscone treatment significantly improved cardiac function and reduced myocardial fibrosis. Moreover, muscone enhanced angiogenesis in the peri-infarct region and p-VEGFR2 expression in the vascular endothelial cells. Western blot analysis and qPCR showed that muscone upregulated expression levels of HIF-1α and VEGFA.ConclusionsMuscone improved cardiac function in MI mice through augmented angiogenesis. The potential mechanism of muscone treatment in regulating angiogenesis of MI mice was upregulating expression levels of HIF-1α and VEGFA.