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Objective To investigate the clinical application value of circulating miR-29a in diagnosis and prognosis monitoring in acute pancreatitis (AP) patients, and to preliminary explore the molecular pathology significance of high expression of miR-29a. Methods 30 cases of mild acute pancreatitis (MAP) patients (MAP group) and 30 cases of moderately serve acute pancreatitis (MSAP) or serve acute pancreatitis (SAP) patients ( M-SAP group) were randomly selected, and 30 cases of healthy adults were used as control group. The general clinical data of each group were compared, and miR-29a levels in peripheral blood were measured by real tome quantitative PCR, then the correlation between miR-29a levels and Ranson score or APACHEIIscore were analyzed. The clinical usefulness of miR-29a for AP patients was assessed by ROC curve analysis. AR42J cells were treated with deoxycholic acid (DCA) to establish AP cell model, the expression levels of miR-29a and caspase-3 were detected. AR42J cells were transfected by lentiviral vector contain miR-29a mimic or miR-29a AMO and measured of expression levels of miR-29a and caspase-3. Results In acute phase, the expression of circulating miR-20a was up-regulated in MAP and M-SAP group patients, and miR-20a levels of M-SAP group patients were higher than MAP group patients. In same group, miR-20a levels in acute phase were higher than recovery phase. Correlation analysis indicated the positive correlation between miR-20a levels and Ranson score or APACHEII score. ROC curve analysis indicated that the AUC of miR-29a for diagnosis MAP patients was 0.961 ( 95%CI: 0.921~ 1.002), cut-off value was 1.460. The AUC of miR-29a for diagnosis M-SAP patients was 0.972 ( 95%CI: 0.939 ~ 1.004), cut-off value was 1.340. The expression levels of miR-29a and caspase 3 were increased in AP cell model. Moreover, caspase 3 levels in AP cell model were increased than vector control after overexpression of miR-29a, and caspase-3 levels were reduced than vector control after suppressing of miR-29a expression. Conclusion Circulating miR-29a is high expression in MAP and M-SAP patients, and high expression of miR-29a may relate to pancreatic acinar cell apoptosis, and this biomarkers has high clinical value in AP diagnosis and prognosis monitoring.

To explore the effect of leech on proliferation and apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells(VSMCs) in early atherosclerosis rats via p38MAPK signaling pathway and investigate its possible mechanism. Biochemical analyzer was used to examine the regulation of leech on levels of triglycerides(TG), total cholesterol(TC), low-density lipoprotein(LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein(HDL-C) in blood lipid of rats. The expression of transforming growth factor-beta 1(TGF-β1) in serum was detected by ELISA. Immunological histological chemistry (IHC) was taken to measure the expression levels of proliferating cell nucleus antigen(PCNA) and cell apoptosis proteinase-3(Caspase-3), while the protein expression levels of MKK3, p38 and C-myc were detected by Western blot. In addition, hematoxylin and eosin(HE) staining was used to observe the morphological change of thoracic aortas. The results showed that leech decreased the levels of TC, LDL-C obviously and increased HDL-C, suppressed the expression levels of TGF-β1 and PCNA, up-regulated Caspase-3, down-regulated the expression levels of MKK3, p38, and C-myc protein. HE staining indicated that it could inhibit intimal thickening and reduce plaque formation. The above results indicated that leech may affect the protein expression of the p38MAPK signaling pathway to inhibit proliferation and promote the apoptosis of VSMCs via reducing blood lipid levels and suppressing TGF-β1, aiming at inhibiting intimal thickening and reducing plaque formation, tand then slowing down the process of early atherosclerosis., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.)

Objective: To observe the protective effects of histone deacetylase inhibitor on stress-induced myocardial injury., Methods: Healthy male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups( n = 6), and the stress-induced myocardial injury model was established with chronic restraint stress method. The protective effects of histone deacetylase inhibitor on stress-induced myocardial injury were observed with Trichostatin A (TSA) intervention. Histone acetylation levels in myocardium of rats were detected by Western blot method, spectrophotometry method was used to dynamically determine the activity of rat serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), serum creatine kinase isoenzyme-MB (CK-MB) and Caspase 3, and nagar Olsen staining were used to observe the early myocardial damage., Results: Restraint stress could significantly reduce the level of histone acetylation of myocardium in rats, and TSA intervention could inhibit the stress-induced reduction of myocardial levels of histone acetylation. Restraint stress could cause the significant increase of serum LDH activity ( P < 0.05), serum CK-MB activity ( P < 0.05), and the Caspase 3 activity of myocardial tissue (P < 0.05), and early myocardial damage also occurred during restraint stress. ISA intervention could significantly reduce the serum LDH activity (P < 0.05), the serum CK-MB activity (P < 0.05), the activity of myocardial tissue caspase 3 induced by restraint stress (P < 0.05), and the stress-induced myocardial injury was also attenuated by TSA intervention., Conclusion: The histone deacetylase inhibitor TSA can protect stress-induced myocardial injury.

Objective: To investigate the protective effect of anisodamine on myocardial mitochondrial damage in cardiac arrest (CA) in pigs., Methods: Twenty-three male pigs were randomly divided into three groups, epinephrine group (n=9), anisodamine group (n=9) and control group (n=5). CA following ventricular fibrillation (VF) was induced by alternating current. The blood samples were collected before CA, 8 minutes after CA and instantly after recovery of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), and 30 minutes and 24 hours later. Hearts were obtained at 24 hours after ROSC. The changes in Cytochrome C (Cyt C) and caspase-3 in plasma and myocardium were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The myocardial specimens were observed by transmission electron microscopy for ultrastructural changes, and apoptosis was assessed with Hoechst 33258 staining., Results: The ROSC rate of the anisodamine group was elevated by 22.22% compared with the epinephrine group (77.78% vs. 55.56%, P>0.05). All animals with resumption of ROSC survived up to 24 hours. The plasma contents of Cyt C and caspase-3 in the epinephrine group and the anisodamine group gradually increased after ROSC, and were significantly higher than those in the control group. But the plasma Cyt C level in the anisodamine group was lower than that in the epinephrine group at 30 minutes and 24 hours after ROSC (48.68±19.50 nmol/L vs. 77.51±29.87 nmol/L, 48.98±20.26 nmol/L vs. 82.11±25.09 nmol/L, both P<0.05). There was no significant difference in protein contents of both Cyt C and caspase-3 in plasma and myocardium between two resuscitate groups. Both epinephrine and anisodamine could mitigate cardiac mitochondrial damage after CA, but the anisodamine showed better effect. The myocardium apoptosis ratio in the anisodamine group was lower than that of the epinephrine group [(0.15±0.04)% vs. (0.37±0.04)%, P<0.01]., Conclusion: By decreasing the protein content of Cyt C, and reducing the extent of damage to myocardial mitochondria, anisodamine can protect the myocardial ultrastructure, and restrain the mitochondria-induced cell apoptosis after resuscitation.

Objective: The study examined the changes of serum caspase-3 and IL-8 levels following selective head cooling with mild hypothermia (SHC) treatment in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) in order to explore the mechanism of neuroprotection of SHC against HIE., Methods: Thirty-three neonates with moderate or severe HIE were randomly assigned to two groups: SHC treatment (n=16) and conventional treatment (n=17). Serum levels of caspase-3 and IL-18 were measured using ELISA before treatment and 24 hrs, 48 hrs, 72 hrs and 5 days after treatment., Results: Serum caspase-3 levels in the SHC group decreased 24 and 48 hrs after treatment (3.8±1.9 and 2.6±1.2 ng/mL, respectively) compared with 6.1±2.3 ng/mL at 24 hrs and 7.2±3.1 ng/mL at 48 hrs in the conventional treatment group (P<0.05). Serum IL-18 levels in the SHC group decreased 24 hrs, 48 hrs and 72 hrs after treatment (119±30, 76±33 and 71±40 ng/mL, respectively) compared with those in the conventional treatment group (138±28 ng/mL at 24 hrs, 156±60 ng/mL at 48 hrs and 182±54 ng/mL at 72 hrs; P<0.01)., Conclusions: SHC treatment can inhibit the release of caspase-3 and the expression of IL-18 in neonates with moderate or severe HIE. This may contribute to the neuroprotection of SHC against HIE.