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Danzhi Xiaoyao Powder is a classical prescription for anxiety. This study aims to analyze the effect of this medicine on mitochondrial morphology and function of anxiety rats and explore the mechanism of it against anxiety. Specifically, uncertain empty bottle drinking water stimulation(21 days) was employed to induce anxiety in rats. The elevated plus-maze test and open field test were respectively performed on the 7 th, the 14 th, and the 21 st days of the stimulation, so as to detect the anxiety-related protein index brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF) and evaluate the anxiety level of animals. On this basis, the effect of this prescription on anxiety rats was preliminarily evaluated. After the behavioral test on the 21 st day, rats were killed and the brain tissues were separated for the observation of the mitochondrial morphology and the determination of mitochondrial function-related indicators and the adenosine 5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase(AMPK) level. The results showed that Danzhi Xiaoxiao Powder could alleviate the anxiety-like behavior of rats, significantly increase the percentage of time in open arm in elevated plus-maze test and the ration of activity time in the central area of the field, dose-dependently raise the activity levels of respiratory chain complex Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ and Ⅳ and the adenosine triphosphate(ATP) content, and elevate the levels of BDNF and phosphorylated AMPK(p-AMPK). Clear structure and intact morphology of mitochondrial cristae in medial prefrontal cortex cells and amygdala were observed in the Danzhi Xiaoyao Powder group. In summary, Danzhi Xiaoyao Powder exerts therapeutic effect on anxiety, and the mechanism is the likelihood that p-AMPK protects the structure and maintains the function of mitochondria.

Herb-pairs are the basic units of composition in Chinese herbal formulae, where the bridge linking Chinese medicine and prescription consists of two Chinese medicine herbs. The Suanzaoren-Wuweizi herb-pair (SWHP) is commonly used as a sedative or tranquilizer. SWHP has been demonstrated to exert an antianxiety effect in animal models of anxiety. However, little information about its mechanism is available and the effects of SWHP have not been investigated. This study examined the effects of SWHP on ameliorating anxiety-like behaviors by regulating endocannabinoids system (ECS)—brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)—extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK) signaling pathway expression, induced by restraint stress (RS) procedures. The antianxiety effects of SWHP on RS rats were then examined through the open-field test (OF) and the elevated plus maze test (EPM). The concentration of BNDF, ERK1/2, p-ERK1/2, cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB), and p-CREB expression in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of the rats was then measured by western blot. The number of positive cells of CB1 and CB2 in the rats’ hippocampus CA1 region was measured by immunohistochemistry. These results gave compelling evidence that SWHP could modify anxiety-like behaviors of RS rats through regulation of the ECS-BDNF-ERK signaling pathway. Our study demonstrated that SWHP improved anxiety-like behaviors in RS rat models by regulating the ECS-BDNF-ERK signaling pathway. The findings indicate that SWHP may have a therapeutic application in the RS model of anxiety disorder, which proposes a potential new direction for research into anxiety disorders regarding mechanisms and the development of novel antianxiety drugs.

Background Sevoflurane, a volatile anesthetic, is known to induce widespread neuronal degeneration and apoptosis. Recently, the stress-inducible protein sestrin 2 and adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) have been found to regulate the levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and suppress oxidative stress. Notoginsenoside R1 (NGR1), a saponin isolated from Panax notoginseng, has been shown to exert neuroprotective effects. The effects of NGR1 against neurotoxicity induced by sevoflurane were assessed. Methods Sprague-Dawley rat pups on postnatal day 7 (PD7) were exposed to sevoflurane (3%) anesthesia for 6 h. NGR1 at doses of 12.5, 25, or 50 mg/kg body weight was orally administered to pups from PD2 to PD7. Results Pretreatment with NGR1 attenuated sevoflurane-induced generation of ROS and reduced apoptotic cell counts. Western blotting revealed decreased cleaved caspase 3 and Bad and Bax pro-apoptotic protein expression. NGR1 substantially upregulated nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) expression along with increased heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase-1 levels, suggesting Nrf2 signaling activation. Enhanced sestrin-2 and phosphorylated AMPK expression were noticed following NGR1 pretreatment. Conclusion This study revealed the neuroprotective effects of NGR1 through effective suppression of apoptosis and ROS via regulation of apoptotic proteins and activation of Nrf2/HO-1 and sestrin 2/AMPK signaling cascades.

In this work, we investigate the next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD correction to $J/\psi$ associated production with a bottom quark pair from the Higgs boson decay within the nonrelativistic QCD framework. From numerical results, {we find that the decay width of process $H \rightarrow b+ J/\psi+\bar{b}$ at leading order (LO) mainly comes from the contribution of the Fock state $^3S^{(8)}_1$, and the NLO QCD corrections significantly enhance the decay width at LO accuracy by about 2 times. At NLO accuracy, the Fock states $^3S^{(8)}_1$ and $^3P^{(8)}_J$ channels give the main contribution, accounting for about $68\%$ and $29\%$ of the total decay width of $J/\psi$ associated production with a bottom quark pair at NLO accuracy from the Higgs boson decay, respectively. Considering the dominant contribution of color octet (CO) channels at NLO accuracy, the inclusive decay process $H\to b+J/\psi+\bar b + X$ has the potential to be found in future colliders with high energy/luminosity.} The study of $J/\psi$ associated production with a bottom quark pair from the Higgs boson decay is not only useful to study the mechanism of color-octet, but also to assist in the investigation of the coupling for the Higgs boson with the bottom quark., Comment: 11 pages, 6figures, Accepted by Phys. Rev. D

The exotic nuclei have attracted extensive attention in nuclear physics recently. The resonant states are thought to play a critical role at the formation of these exotic phenomena. Here, the complex momentum representation (CMR) method for resonances is combined with the relativistic mean field (RMF) theory applicable to deformed system. The RMF-CMR method for deformed exotic nuclei is established. The theoretical formalism and numerical details are presented. $^{75}\mathrm{Cr}$ is chosen as an example, the energies and widths of single-particle levels and their evolutions to deformation ${\ensuremath{\beta}}_{2}$ are obtained for resonant states together with bound states. The available potential energy curve shows that $^{75}\mathrm{Cr}$ is a deformed nucleus with ${\ensuremath{\beta}}_{2}=0.333$. Wave function of the orbit occupied by the last valence neutron consists mainly of $d$-wave components. The corresponding density represents a considerably diffuse distribution, which suggests that $^{75}\mathrm{Cr}$ is a $d$-wave deformed halo nucleus. The predication is helpful to explore the deformation halos in experiment for the nuclei in the medium mass region.

The production of charmonium associated with Higgs boson via gluon fusion has been investigated in Ref.[Phys.Rev.D66,114002(2002)], in which they considered the contribution of final Higgs boson radiation off the charm quark at tree level and found that this process is to be far too rare to be observable in any of the considered experiments. In this paper, the production of prompt $J/\psi$ associated with Higgs boson via gluon fusion at the 14 TeV LHC within the factorization formalism of NRQCD is revisited. After considering the contribution from the final Higgs boson radiation off the top quark in the loop, which is {more than} three orders of magnitudes over the charm quark at tree level, the production of prompt $J/\psi$ associated with Higgs boson has great potential to be detected. The prompt $J/\psi$ production includes the direct production and indirect production via radiative or hadronic decays of high excited charmonium states. For the direct $J/\psi + H$ production via gluon fusion loop-induced, the ${}^{3}S^{(8)}_1$ Fock state gives dominant contribution to the cross section, which is about 95\% to the total direct production. The indirect contribution via loop-induced is appreciable, since the summation of which from $\psi(2S) + H$, $\chi_{c1} + H$ and $\chi_{c2} + H$ is about $34\%$ to the total cross section of prompt $J/\psi + H$. While the indirect contribution from $\chi_{c0} + H$ is tiny, which can be neglected. With the great potential to be detected, prompt $J/\psi$ production in associated with Higgs boson can help us to further understand the mechanism of colour-octet, as well as can be useful to further investigate the coupling of the Higgs boson and fermion., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables. Accepted by Physical Review D

Many newly discovered excited states are interpreted as bound states of hadrons. Can these hadrons also form resonant states? In this paper, we extend the complex scaling method (CSM) to calculate the bound state and resonant state consistently for the $\Lambda_c D(\bar D)$ and $\Lambda_c \Lambda_c (\bar \Lambda_c)$ systems. For these systems, the $\pi, \eta, \rho$ meson exchange contributions are suppressed, the contributions of intermediate- and short-range forces from $\sigma/\omega$ exchange are dominant. Our results indicate that $\Lambda_c D$ system can not form bound state and resonant state. There exist resonant states in a wide range of parameters for $\Lambda_c \bar D$ and $\Lambda_c \Lambda_c (\bar \Lambda_c)$ systems. For these systems, the larger bound state energy, the easier to form resonant states. Among all the resonant states, the energies and widths of the P wave resonant states are smaller and more stable, which is possible to be observed in the experiments. The energies of D and F wave resonant states can reach dozens of MeV and the widths can reach hundreds of MeV., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Physical Review C

The Nod-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome-driven inflammatory response plays a key role in the pathophysiology of depression. Mounting evidence suggests that acupuncture is an effective treatment for depression. In this study, we investigated the effects of acupuncture treatment at the acupoints Baihui (GV20) and Yintang (GV29) on NLRP3 inflammasome in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of an animal model of depression. Rats that underwent chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) for 6 weeks showed depressive-like behaviors, which were confirmed by sucrose preference and locomotor activity in the open field test. The protein levels of NLRP3, apoptotic speck-containing protein with a card (ASC), and cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase-1 (Caspase-1) in the PFC were detected by Western blot analysis. The mRNA and protein expressions of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) in the PFC were measured by the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), respectively. Our results showed that the depressive-like behaviors in stressed rats were reversed by acupuncture treatment. Compared with control rats, the protein expression of NLRP3, ASC, and Caspase-1 and the mRNA and protein expressions of IL-1β and IL-18 in the PFC were markedly increased in CUMS rats. Acupuncture treatment significantly decreased the levels of NLRP3 inflammasome components and inflammatory cytokines in the PFC. Acupuncture treatment also reduced the number of TUNEL-positive cells in the PFC. These results suggested that acupuncture has antidepressant-like effects, and its mechanism appears to be involved in the inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and apoptosis in the PFC.NOD 样受体家族含 pyrin 结构域蛋白 3(NLRP3) 炎症小体在抑郁症的病理过程中起着重要作用。越来越多的研究表明针刺是治疗抑郁症的有效方法。在本实验中，我们研究了针刺百会 (GV20) 和印堂 (GV29) 对抑郁大鼠前额叶皮层 NLRP3 炎症小体的影响。采用 6 周慢性不可预知温和刺激方法建立抑郁大鼠模型，采用糖水偏好实验和旷场实验进行行为学检测。采用蛋白印迹法(Western blot) 检测大鼠前额叶皮层 NLRP3、凋亡相关的斑点样蛋白 (ASC)、半胱氨酸天冬氨酸蛋白酶-1 (Caspase-1) 的蛋白水平；采用实时荧光定量 PCR(RT-PCR) 方法检测炎性细胞因子白细胞介素-1β (IL-1β) 和白细胞介素-18(IL-18) 的 mRNA 表达；采用酶联免疫吸附(ELISA)法检测IL-1β 和IL-18 的浓度; 采用 TUNEL 染色法检测前额叶皮层细胞凋亡。结果表明，针刺可逆转应激大鼠的抑郁样行为。与对照组相比， CUMS 大鼠前额叶皮层NLRP3，ASC，Caspase-1 的蛋白表达、IL-1β和IL-18的基因和蛋白表达均显著增加。针刺治疗可显著降低抑郁大鼠前额叶皮层 NLRP3 炎症小体成分和促炎性细胞因子的水平。针刺治疗也减少了抑郁大鼠前额叶皮层 TUNEL 阳性细胞的数量。这些结果表明，针刺具有抗抑郁作用，其机制可能与抑制前额叶皮层 NLRP3 炎症小体活化和凋亡有关。.

This paper aims to investigate the active components and mechanism of Valerianae Jatamansi Rhizoma et Radix against post-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD) based on network pharmacology and molecular docking. The main components and targets of Valerianae Jatamansi Rhizoma et Radix were obtained by literature mining methods, SwissTargetPrediction, BATMAN and ETCM database. PTSD-related genes were collected from DrugBank, TTD and CTD databases. The protein-protein interaction(PPI) network was constructed based on STRING, and the core targets of Valerianae Jatamansi Rhizoma et Radix in the treatment of PTSD were selected according to the topological parameters. Cytoscape 3.7.2 was used to construct the compound-target network. DAVID database was used for GO enrichment analysis and KEGG enrichment analysis. The relationship network ofquot;compound-target-pathwayquot; was constructed through Cytoscape 3.7.2 to analyze and obtain the key targets and their corresponding components in the network, and their results were verified by molecular docking. The results showed that a total of 47 components(such as valeraldehyde, dihydrovalerin, valerate, chlorovaltrate K, 8-hydroxypinoresinol, 6-hydroxyluteolin, apigenin, farnesin, vanillin, luteolin, kaempferol, glycosmisic acid and pogostemon) of Valerianae Jatamansi Rhizoma et Radix may act on 94 key targets such as CNR1, MAOA, NR3 C1, MAPK14, MAPK8, HTR2 C and DRD2. Totally 29 GO terms were obtained by GO functional enrichment analysis(Plt;0.05), and 20 signaling pathways were obtained from KEGG pathway enrichment, mainly involving neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, serotonergic synapse, calcium signaling pathway, cAMP signaling pathway, dopaminergic synapse, retrograde endocannabinoid signaling, neurotrophin signaling pathway, gap junction, cholinergic synapse, estrogen signaling pathway, glutamatergic synapse and long-term potentiation. Molecular docking analysis showed that hydrogen bonding, π-π interaction and hydrophobic effecting may be the main forms of interaction. This study used the network of compound-target-pathway and molecular docking technology to screen the effective components of Valerianae Jatamansi Rhizoma et Radix against PTSD, and explore its anti-PTSD mechanism, so as to provide scientific basis for exploring the anti-PTSD drugs from traditional Chinese medicine and clarifying its mechanism of action.

The ability to identify strange conspecifics in societies is supported by social memory, which is vital for gregarious animals and humans. The function of hippocampal principal neurons in social memory has been extensively investigated; however, the nonprincipal neuronal mechanism underlying social memory remains unclear. Here, we first observed parallel changes in the ability for social recognition and the number of parvalbumin interneurons (PVIs) in the ventral CA1 (vCA1) after social isolation. Then, using tetanus toxin-mediated neuronal lesion and optogenetic stimulation approaches, we revealed that vCA1-PVIs specifically engaged in the retrieval stage of social memory. Finally, through the in vivo Ca(2+) imaging technique, we demonstrated that vCA1-PVIs exhibited higher activities when subjected mice approached a novel mouse than to a familiar one. These results highlight the crucial role of vCA1-PVIs for distinguishing novel conspecifics from other individuals and contribute to our understanding of the neuropathology of mental diseases with social memory deficits.

The therapeutic goals of patients with chronic pain are not only to relieve pain but also to improve the quality of life. Chronic pain negatively affects various aspects of daily life, such as by decreasing the motivation to work and reward sensitivity, which may lead to difficulties in daily life or even unemployment. Human and animal studies have shown that chronic pain damages reward processing; the exploration of associated internal mechanisms may aid the development of treatments to repair this damage. Incentive salience theory, used widely to describe reward processing, divides this processing into “liking” (reward-induced hedonic sensory impact) and “wanting” (reward-induced motivation) components. It has been employed to explain pathological changes in reward processing induced by psychiatric disorders. In this review, we summarize the findings of studies of reward processing under chronic pain and examine the effects of chronic pain on “liking” and “wanting.” Evidence indicates that chronic pain compromises the “wanting” component of reward processing; we also discuss the neural mechanisms that may mediate this effect. We hope that this review aids the development of therapies to improve the quality of life of patients with chronic pain.

The complex scaling method is applied to probe the resonances of a Dirac particle in the Eckart potential, along with the corresponding energies and widths obtained. Then, the dependence of the resonant energies and widths on the parameters of the potential is checked. The results indicate that the energy and width of the pseudospin doublets preserve a good pseudospin symmetry. Furthermore, the quality of pseudospin symmetry is correlated with the parameters of the Eckart potential.

The generalized liquid-drop model (GLDM) with the microscopic shell correction from relativistic Hartree-Fock (RHF) calculations is used to explore the α-decay of superheavy nuclei. The known nuclei with are chosen as examples for testing. The calculated half-lives of α-decay agree with the experimental data better than those from the GLDM with the shell correction in the Weizs cker-Skyrme model. Moreover, the influence of the decay energy on α-decay is investigated. It is determined that the values obtained from the WS4 model with radial basis function (RBF) correction match the experimental data optimally. Owing to these advantages, the GLDM with the RHF shell correction and WS4+RBF values is adopted to predict the α-decay lifetime for the unknown superheavy nuclei with . The trend of the available α-decay half-lives according to the neutron number is similar to the trends of the values from the GLDM calculation without shell correction as well as the universal decay law (UDL) formula. Comparably, the RHF shell correction depresses (raises) the α-decay lifetime for most nuclei with ( ). In comparison with the half-lives of spontaneous fission, it can be concluded that the α-decay is dominant in the superheavy nuclei , , and . These results are beneficial to the exploration of superheavy nuclei in experiments.

Nardostachyos Radix et Rhizoma (nardostachys) is the root and rhizome of Nardostachys jatamansi DC. Recent studies have shown that nardostachys may exert an anti-PD effect. In this study, the UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS method was used to analyze the brain components of nardostachys in rats. Based on the results of UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS analysis, nardosinone was identified to be the most effective anti-PD compound in nardostachys. To further verify this inference, a mouse PD model was established and the effect of nardosinone on PD mice was determined using classic behavioral tests. The results showed that nardosinone was indeed effective for relieving PD symptoms in mice. Moreover, network pharmacology analysis was used to elucidate the mechanism underlying the anti-PD effect of nardosinone. Dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) was identified as the key target of nardosinone-PD interaction network, which was further verified by molecular docking and Western blotting. The results demonstrated that nardosinone and DRD2 could interact with each other. Furthermore, the expression level of DRD2 was decreased in the brain tissue of PD mice, and nardosinone could restore its expression to a certain extent. In conclusion, our findings suggest that nardosinone may reduce the motor and cognitive symptoms in the animal PD model by regulating DRD2 expression.

The weakly bound nucleus 29F locates near the neutron drip line. Experiments have confirmed that it is the heaviest two-neutron halo nucleus discovered up to now. To understand the halo structure in 29F, we explore the weakly bound and resonant levels close to the Fermi surface with the complex momentum representation method. Not only the narrow resonances and the broad resonances. Since the broad resonance 2p 3/2 is disclosed, the p − f inversion and N = 20 shell gap quenching are found. The last valence neutron can occupy the weakly bound level 1/2[310], composed mainly of p 3/2–component, or the 1/2[211], composed mainly of s 1/2–component. Since the wavefunctions of p and s–components extend to a large range in the coordinate space, which results in the density distributions of the levels 1/2[310] and 1/2[211] being considerably diffuse. This is the most likely cause of halo formation in 29F and the halo may be formed by the p–component, s–component, or their mixtures by pairing correlations.

The relativistic point-coupling model is combined with the complex momentum representation with resonances considered by BCS approximation, which is called the RMFPC-CMR-BCS theory. The RMFPC-CMR-BCS theory can be used to explore exotic structures in nuclei. The resonant levels near the continuum threshold can be shown to play an important role in the formation of exotic phenomena. The Ce isotopes are taken as examples, and the energy and width are obtained for the bound states and resonant states in a clear shell structure. The occupation probabilities of valence nucleons in these orbits close to the Fermi surface are calculated, and the contributions of every orbit to the nuclear density distribution are compared. It is found that several resonant levels with low-angular momentum contribute fairly diffuse density distributions, which result in the appearance of halos and giant halos in the Ce isotopes close to the neutron drip line. $^{186--190}\mathrm{Ce}$ are suggested to be halo nuclei and $^{192--198}\mathrm{Ce}$ are suggested to be giant halo nuclei, which agrees the relativistic HFB calculations and is expected to be verified in experiment.

Pleurotus eryngii (PE) contains polysaccharides and vitamins, and has been reported to have antidepression properties. P. eryngii polysaccharides (PEP) are one of the main components. Modulation of β-amyloid-induced neurotoxicity has emerged as a possible therapeutic approach to ameliorate the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The present study aimed to evaluate the protective effect of PEP on β-amyloid-induced neurotoxicity in cultured rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells and aging rats. After 28 weeks' treatment, exposure of PC12 cells to P. eryngii polysaccharides significantly elevated cell viability, decreased the levels of intracellular calcium, and attenuated the β-amyloid-mediated cell apoptosis. In aging rats, P. eryngii polysaccharides could decrease the production of APP in the brain by an action that is associated with a lowering of the iNOS, and COX-2 level. Our findings indicated that P. eryngii polysaccharides had potential neuroprotective actions against β-amyloid-induced neurotoxicity, which might be through modulating calcium channels, or downstream molecules involved in inflammation.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the spatial structure and potential antifatigue activity of polysaccharide fractions which was extracted from Inonotus obliquus. The first polysaccharide fractions of Inonotus obliquus (PIO-1) were obtained after hot-water extraction and purification by DEAE cellulose-52 chromatography. Results of the forced swimming test showed that the doses (50 mg/kg) of PIO-1 could increase the climbing duration and swimming time as well as reduced the immobility time in the PIO treated mice. The fatigue related metabolic parameters showed that PIO-1 decreased the level of blood lactic acid (BLA), urea nitrogen (BUN) and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH). Additionally, PIO-1 significantly decreased the 5-HT concentrations in the mice brain. The results of monosaccharide analysis showed that the molar ratio of mannose, glucose, galactose, xylose and arabinose with the molar ratio of 1.0:1.9:3.5:18.5:5.7. The molecular morphology of the PIO-1 observed under atomic force microscopy (AFM). There were many spherical and heterogeneous clumps existed in the images. Therefore, current study indicated polysaccharide PIO-1 not only has great potential to postpone physical fatigue but also shown potential to improve mental fatigue.