Simultaneous determination of paeoniflorin from total glucosides of paeony in Sprague–Dawley rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats by high‐performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry: in vivo and in vitro studies

Paeoniflorin is a well‐known monoterpene glucoside in the herbal drug that exhibits a number of biological activities. The pharmacokinetic characteristics of paeoniflorin from total glucosides of paeony in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) are still unclear. It is essential to investigate the in vivo and in vitro pharmacokinetic differences of paeoniflorin from total glucosides of paeony in Sprague–Dawley (SD) and SHR. The in vivo pharmacokinetic data were analyzed using DAS 2.0 software and the in vitro metabolic characteristics were measured using rat hepatic microsomes. The concentration of paeoniflorin in biological samples was determined using high‐performance liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry method, which showed good precision and stability. The plasma concentration–time profiles of paeoniflorin following oral administration of total glucosides of paeony showed a single peak and there were significant differences in the mean values of AUC_(0–t), AUC_(0–∞), CL_z/F and T_max between SD and SHR (p < 0.05). The metabolic rate of paeoniflorin from total glucosides of paeony was slower in SHR than in SD rats (p < 0.05). The results might be useful in further applications of paeoniflorin and total glucosides of paeony. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identification,Characterization and Antihypertensive Effect In Vivo of a Novel ACE-Inhibitory Heptapeptide from Defatted Areca Nut Kernel Globulin Hydrolysates

The areca (Areca catechu L.) nut kernel (ANK) is a good potential protein source for its high protein content of 9.89–14.62 g/100 g and a high yield of around 300,000 tons per year in China. However, utilization of the areca nut kernel is limited. To expand the usage of ANK in pharmaceutical or foods industries, areca nut kernel globulin was extracted and angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition peptides were prepared and identified using gel chromatography, reversed phase HPLC separation, UPLC-ESI-MS/MS analysis and in silico screening. Finally, a novel ACE-inhibitory heptapeptide (Ala–Pro–Lys–Ile–Glu–Glu–Val) was identified and chemically synthesized. The combination pattern between APKIEEV and ACE, and the inhibition kinetics, antihypertensive effect and endothlein-1 inhibition activity of APKIEEV were studied. The results of the molecular docking demonstrated that APKIEEV could bind to four active sites (not the key active sites) of ACE via short hydrogen bonds and demonstrated high ACE-inhibitory activity (IC₅₀: 550.41 μmol/L). Moreover, APKIEEV exhibited a significantly lowering effect on both the systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure of spontaneously hypertensive rats, and had considerable suppression ability on intracellular endothelin-1. These results highlight the potential usage of APKIEEV as ingredients of antihypertensive drugs or functional foods.     

Phospholipid Polymer Hydrogel Matrices with Dually Immobilized Cytokines for Accelerating Secretion of the Extracellular Matrix by Encapsulated Cells

Construction of 3D tissues by various types of cells with specific characteristics is an important and fundamental technology in tissue reconstruction medicine and animal‐free diagnosis system. To do so, an excellent extracellular matrix (ECM) is needed for encapsulation of cells and maintaining cell activity. Spontaneously forming hydrogel matrix is used by complexation between two water‐soluble polymers, 2‐methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine polymer bearing phenylboronic acid groups and poly(vinyl alcohol). Two cytokines for cell proliferation are immobilized in the hydrogel matrix to control the activities of the encapsulated cells. The cytokine‐immobilized hydrogel matrix can encapsulate both L929 fibroblasts and normal human dermal fibroblasts under mild condition. The physical properties of the hydrogel matrix can follow the proliferation process of the encapsulated cells. The encapsulated cells secrete ECM in the polymer hydrogel networks upon 3D culturing for 7 days. Consequently, the tissue‐mimicking ECM hybrid hydrogels are fabricated successfully.     

Comparison Between the Effects of 2-Selenium Bridged β-Cyclodextrin and Ebselen on Treating SHRsp Stroke

A glutathione peroxidase（GPX） mimic, 2-selenium bridged β-cyclodextrin（2-SeCD）, was synthesized. In order to examine its role and mechanism in treating stroke we chose stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats（SHRsp） as animal model. 56 SHRsps of 8-week olds were randomly divided into several groups： test groups （low, moderate, high dose of 2-SeCD） and control groups（positive and negative）. After onset of the stroke, the rats in test groups were orally administrated with different amounts of 2-SeCD, the positive control group with ebselen, and the negative control group with drinking water. The treatment lasted two weeks, followed by observation of the rats for 10 days, meanwhile blood pressure, biochemical parameters of plasma, and the contents of nitric oxide（NO） and malondialdehyde（MDA） in plasma and brain were determined. The results show that there were significant differences in contents of NO and MDA in plasma and brain between the test groups（high, moderate dose of 2-SeCD） and negative control group. The NO contents of the test groups were obviously higher than that of the negative control group （P〈0.01）. The MDA contents of the test groups（high, moderate dose of 2-SeCD） were obviously lower than that of the negative control group（P〈0.01）. The mechanism of 2-SeCD in treating stroke was discussed, which maybe related to the increase of NO and the decrease of MDA in plasma and brain tissue, but the exact mechanism should be further studied. Moreover, the tendencies of changes in systolic blood pressure, contents of NO and MDA, and other physiological parameters for the test groups were shown to be much better than the corresponding parameters for the positive group（the group with ebselen）（P〈0.05）, indicating that the treatment effect of 2-SeCD is better than that of ebselen.     

自发产生相干对探测场的色散和吸收影响

在Y形四能级原子系统中,分析了自发产生相干对探测场的色散和吸收影响. 结果发现,随着自发产生相干的增强,系统呈现的电磁感应透明窗口逐渐变窄,并在共振处出现反常色散,吸收从负值变为正值. 同时,当抽运场和耦合场的相对强度不同时,共振处附近吸收为零或出现增益,而两场强相等或接近时,系统对探测场表现为吸收. 关键词： 非线性光学 电磁感应透明 自发产生相干     

自发辐射诱导相干对开放的Ladder型系统无反转激光增益瞬态演化的影响

利用开放的Ladder型三能级原子系统密度矩阵运动方程的数值解,研究了在探测场和驱动场双共振条件下,自发辐射诱导相干（SGC） 对系统无反转激光（LWI）增益瞬态演化的影响以及注入速率比和退出速率对与SGC相关的增益的调制作用.研究结果表明：SGC强度的变化将使瞬态增益和最终的稳定增益发生显著的改变;存在非相干抽运时,LWI增益随注入速率比和退出速率的减小而增大,而不存在非相干抽运时的情况与此正好相反;通过选取适当的SGC强度、注入速率比和退出速率可得到最大的LWI增益的瞬态值和最终的稳定值. 关键词： 开放系统 自发辐射诱导相干 瞬态演化 无反转增益     

Effects of Spontaneously Generated Coherence on Intensity-Intensity Correlation in a Driven Y-Type Atom

In this paper, we investigate the spontaneously generated coherence (SGC) effects on the fluorescence fields intensity-intensity correlation in a resonant driven four-level Y-type atomic system. By using a strong control field, in the absense of SGC effects, strong correlation and anticorrelation
fluorescence photons can be produced from two ladder transitions in this system respectively. However, in the presence of SGC effects, the fluorescence fields correlation properties are reversed for the two transitions. The above phenomena can be traced to the quantum destructive or constructive interference in terms of dressed states.     

Phase control in an open Λ-type system with spontaneously generated coherence

This paper investigates the control role of the relative phase between the probe and driving fields on the gain, dispersion and populations in an open A system with spontaneously generated coherence （SGC）. It shows that by adjusting the value of the relative phase, a change from lasing with inversion to lasing without inversion can be realized; the values and frequency spectrum regions of the inversionless gain and dispersion can be obviously varied; high refractive index with zero absorption and electromagnetically induced transparency can be achieved. It is also found that when the driving field is resonant, the shapes of the dispersion and the gain curves versus the probe detuning are very similar if the relative phase of the dispersion lags π/2 than that of the gain, however for the off-resonant driving field the similarity will disappear; the gain, dispersion and populations are periodical functions of the relative phase, the modulation period is always 2π; the contribution of SGC to the inversionless gain and dispersion is much larger than that of the dynamically induced coherence.     

Effect of spontaneously generated coherence on inversionless lasing gain in an atomic system with Doppler broadening

We have studied the effect of the spontaneously generated coherence (SGC) on gain of lasing without inversion (LWI) in a closed three-level $\Lambda $-type atomic system with Doppler broadening. It is shown that, regardless of the driving and probe fields being co- or counter-propagating, at a suitable value of the Doppler width, we can obtain a much larger LWI gain with SGC than that without SGC; and the region of the LWI gain spectrum with SGC is obviously larger than that without SGC. When the Doppler width takes a constant value, the gain does not monotonically decrease or increase with increasing strength of SGC, the largest LWI gain can be obtained by adjusting strength of SGC. Generally speaking, the co-propagating probe and driving fields is favourable to obtain a larger LWI gain.