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MicroRNAs(miRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs associated with a variety of cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, heart failure and myocardial infarction. Expression of miRNAs changes during cardiac hypertrophy, which regulates cardiac hypertrophy by regulating cardiomyocyte autophagy, inflammatory response and energy metabolism. This article reviews the expression changes, potential targets and molecular mechanisms of miRNAs in cardiac hypertrophy.

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BACKGROUND: At present, studies have been done to reveal the relationship between exosomes and ferroptosis, but the research is still limited. Therefore, further exploration of the relationship between exosomes and ferroptosis will help to seek new treatment strategies and reliable basis for clinical treatment of diseases. OBJECTIVE: To expound the biological characteristics of exosomes, the mechanism of ferroptosis, and the main ways of exosomes regulating ferroptosis, and summarize the application progress of exosomes inducing or inhibiting ferroptosis in the fields of tumor, cardiovascular system, nervous system disease and liver disease. METHODS: Relevant articles were retrieved in CNKI and PubMed using computer. Search terms included “exosomes, ferroptosis, disease” in Chinese and English. Finally, 66 articles related to the research purpose of the article were included for further review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Exosomes play a regulatory role in promoting cell ferroptosis by participating in iron metabolism, lipid metabolism and amino acid metabolism. (2) Exosomes play an important role in the treatment of various diseases by inducing or inhibiting ferroptosis: on the one hand, exosomes induce ferroptosis of cancer cells, inhibit tumor growth and metastasis, and improve the effect of tumor targeted therapy. On the other hand, by inhibiting ferroptosis, exosomes promote the regeneration and repair of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion and reduce cardiac toxicity in cardiovascular disease. In terms of nervous system diseases, it has played a role in inhibiting cerebral hemorrhage and reducing sepsis. In liver diseases, it can improve hepatic ischemiareperfusion. (3) Although the specific mechanism by which exosomes regulate ferroptosis in various diseases has not been fully explored, and the relevant research is still in the preliminary stage. However, the regulation of ferroptosis by exosomes is expected to become one of the new potential targets for clinical treatment of various diseases in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the mechanism of action of Gexiazhuyu decoction in the treatment of alcoholic liver disease based on network pharmacology and molecular docking technology, and to validate it through the animal ex⁃ periments. Methods Based on the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP ) database, we screened the potential active compounds and targets of Gexiazhuyu decoction, and searched the GeneCards, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM), PharmGkb, Therapeutic Target Database (TTD) and Drug⁃ Bank databases for the targets related to alcoholic liver disease, and obtained the key targets of Gexiazhuyu decoction for al⁃ coholic liver disease after the intersection of the two. Functional enrichment analysis and molecular docking were per⁃ formed on key targets. The STRING platform and Cytoscape software were used to construct the potentially active com⁃ pound-target regulatory network and protein interactions network of Gexiazhuyu decoction in the treatment of alcoholic liver disease, and topological analysis of the network was performed to obtain the core network and targets. Sixty specific patho⁃ gen free (SPF)- grade male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were taken, 12 were randomly selected as the normal control group, and the remaining 48 rats were prepared as alcoholic liver disease models by ethanol gavage, and then were divided into the model control group, silymarin group, low-dose and high-dose Gexiazhuyu decoction groups, with 12 in each. The rats in the low-dose and high-dose Gexiazhuyu decoction groups were treated with 6. 2 and 12. 4 g/kg of Gexiazhuyu decoction, respectively; the rats in the silymarin group were gavaged with 0. 2 g/kg of silymarin; the rats in the model control group and normal control group were gavaged with the same volume of distilled water for 6 weeks. Serum alanine aminotransfer⁃ ase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), triglyceride (TG) and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) were mea⁃ sured in the abdominal aorta blood of rats; liver tissues were stained with HE to observe the histopathological morphology, and Western blotting was used to detect key pathway-related proteins. Results A total of 253 key targets were obtained for the treatment of alcoholic liver disease by Gexiazhuyu decoction, which were mainly enriched in PI3K/AKT and other signaling pathways. After topological analysis, 19 core targets were obtained. The molecular docking showed that all the core target proteins could bind to the corresponding active compounds in Gexiazhuyu decoction, and the binding free ener⁃ gy was below -0. 5 kcal/mol. Animal experiments showed that the pathological morphology of liver tissues in rats of the low-dose and high-dose Gexiashuyu decoction groups was significantly improved in comparison with that of the model group. Serum levels of ALT, AST, TG, and GGT decreased, and the expression of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway-related proteins p-PI3K and p-AKT increased (all P<0. 01). Conclusion Gexiazhuyu decoction has protective effect on rats with alcoholic liver injury, and its mechanism of action may be related to the regulation of the expression of key proteins such as p-PI3K and p-AKT in the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Partially hydrogenated derivatives of xanthone, dihydroxanthones, are being intensively studied. They are of interest due to their antimicrobial, antitumor, and antioxidant effects. Many researches are focused on the study of the cytotoxicity of dihydroxanthones and very little information is available on their antimicrobial activity. Therefore, the study of the antimicrobial activity and mechanism of action of new synthetic derivatives of 4,4a-dihydroxanthone is relevant. Preliminary studies have demonstrated that 4,4a-dihydroxanthones are active against gram-positive bacteria and have a pronounced anti-staphylococcal effect. Namely, 5-bromo-4,4-dimethyl-7-chloro-4,4a-dihydroxanthone (BDC-DX) was shown to be the most active derivative.Aim of the study was to determine the possible target of action of the active derivative of BDC-DX in bacterial cells and its acute toxicity.Materials and methods. The method of measuring the intensity of absorption of the crystal violet dye by bacteria cells was used to prove the effect of BDC-DX on the permeability of the cytoplasmic membrane in bacterial cells. The plasma coagulase activity of Staphylococcus aureus was tested under the action of dihydroxanthone to determine the effect of dihydroxanthone on the process of protein synthesis. Plasmid DNA digestion method was used to study the effect of the compound on bacterial DNA. The acute toxicity of BDC-DX was determined by the express method of V.B. Prozorovsky.Results and discussion. BDC-DX increased the permeability of the cytoplasmic membrane of S. aureus. Dihydroxanthone did not directly affect the plasma coagulase activity of Staphylococcus and showed a weak damaging effect on bacterial DNA. The compound induced breaks in plasmid DNA at a very high concentration — 1 mM or 384 pg/ml and higher. BDC-DX is a low-toxic compound (the average lethal dose for oral administration of the compound is 1710 ± 170 mg/kg, the average lethal dose for intraperitoneal administration of the compound is 116.9 ± 13.3 mg/kg).Conclusion. For the first time, in-depth study of the possible mechanism of action of a new synthetic biologically active compound from the group of 4,4a- dihydroxanthones, BDC-DX, was conducted. A likely target of 5-bromo-4,4-dimethyl-7-chloro-4,4a-dihydroxanthone in S. aureus cells is the cytoplasmic membrane. BDC-DX did not affect the process of protein synthesis, namely the activity of the plasma coagulase enzyme. The compound had no pronounced damaging effect on bacterial DNA. It was found that 4,4a-dihydroxanthone refers to low-toxic compounds.

Objective: To analyse the key compounds, targets and pathways of the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by Jianwei Gexia Zhuyu Decoction based on network pharmacology, in order to explore the molecular mechanism of its therapeutic effects. Methods: The differential genes between sick and normal conditions were screened by GEO-Datasets, and the heat map and volcano map were drawn. The active compounds in Jianwei Gexia Zhuyu Decoction were searched by TCMSP platform and Drugbank database. OB≥30% and DL≥0.18 were set as thresholds to screen potential active compounds and action targets. The molecular target maps of Jianwei Gexia Zhuyu Decoction and NAFLD differential genes were constructed, and the PPI network and network topology parameters were obtained by STRING database. The PPI network and network topology parameters were visually analyzed by Cytoscape, and the core regulatory genes were screened. At the same time, the SwissDock platform was used to dock the main active components with the target. The main pathways were determined by GO biological function enrichment analysis and KEGG metabolic pathway enrichment analysis by DAVID. Results: After screening, 377 differential genes (127 up-regulated genes and 250 down-regulated genes), 225 active compounds of Jianwei Gexia Zhuyu Decoction, 308 corresponding targets were obtained; 14 key targets were screened, corresponding to 168 compounds, and the key targets involved MYC, FOSL2, FOS, etc. The results of GO functional enrichment analysis showed that Jianwei Gexia Zhuyu Decoction mainly regulated the activity expression of DNA binding transcriptional activator and the specific transcription of RNA polymerase?; The results of molecular docking showed that the main active components quercetin and baicalein had good binding activity with VCAM1, HSPB1, MYC, JUN and so on; The results of KEGG enrichment analysis showed that it was mainly involved in IL-17 signal pathway, Wnt receptor signal pathway, NF-κB signal pathway, TNF signal pathway and AGE-RAGE signal pathway in diabetic complications. Conclusion: Through the interaction of multi-components and multi-targets, Jianwei Gexia Zhuyu Decoction has achieved the goal of overall treatment of NAFLD from many ways. The application of network pharmacology provides a new research approach and scientific basis for further study on the mechanism of Jianwei Gexia Zhuyu Decoction in the treatment of NAFLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overimitation is defined as the imitation of a series of actions, including causally irrelevant ones. Although previous studies have indicated that children’s overimitation tends to be flexible, there is no research directly comparing overimitation occurrences due to types of irrelevant actions such as the target of irrelevant action or tool use. To identify the boundary of overimitation—that is, the point at which it occurs or not—Study 1 focused on the target of causally irrelevant tool-using actions. Specifically, the study examined the demonstration of irrelevant actions toward a main apparatus, a disconnected apparatus, or an actor’s own body, followed by the demonstration of causally relevant actions, to 2-, 3-, and 5-year-old children ( N = 59). Results indicated that children overimitated actions toward the apparatuses more than they did the actions toward an actor’s body. These results showed that overimitation was affected by the target, the apparatus, or the actor’s own body. Study 2 investigated the effect of tool use toward the disconnected apparatus or an actor’s body based on the findings in Study 1. Concretely, Study 2 added two actions without tool use (e.g., action toward an actor’s own body without tool use and action toward an apparatus without tool use) to Study 1’s actions for comparison. The results of this study showed that children overimitated the action toward the apparatus and the action with the tool more than the action toward an actor’s own body and the action without the tool. Taken together, these findings suggest that two factors are involved in the occurrence of overimitation: the target of the action (i.e., the apparatus) and the use of a tool. The current findings provide suggestions for considering important aspects of overimitation that are worthy of more attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many chemical components in the volatile oil of Dictamni Cortex. The complex network relationship of &quot;component-target-disease&quot; can be revealed by using the network pharmacology method, and the mechanism of the efficacy of Dictamni Cortex can be revealed. In this study, we used Swiss Target Prediction database to predict the target of action, STRING database to build protein interaction network, and Cytoscape software to build &quot;component-target-disease&quot; network. The results showed that the antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antiallergic effects of Dictamni Cortex were closely related to the components of thymol methyl ether, elemenol, anethole, and the related targets of each component were cross-linked to play a multi-target pharmacodynamic role. This study laid a foundation for the study of the effective substance basis and quality control evaluation of the Dictamni Cortex, and provided a scientific basis for further revealing its mechanism.

Synthetic antiviral drugs have several limitations including high cost. Thus research on antiviral property of medicinal plants is continuously gaining importance. Polyalthia longifolia possesses several medicinal properties and has been used in traditional ayurvedic medicine for treatment of dermatological ailments as kushta, visarpa/herpes virus infection and also to treat pyrexia of unknown origin as mentioned in Visarpa Chikitsa. Keeping in view the cytotoxic, anti-cancer activity and antiviral efficacy of Polyalthia longifolia against herpes, present study was undertaken to evaluate the in vitro antiviral activity of methanolic extract of Polyalthia longifolia leaves, if any, and to unravel the possible target(s)/mechanism of action. Antiviral activity of Polyalthia longifolia methanolic extract was studied using Vero cell lines against paramyxoviruses, namely-peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) and Newcastle disease virus (NDV). Cytotoxicity of the test extract was evaluated employing MTT assay. Virucidal activity, and viral-attachment, virus entry and release assays were determined in Vero cells using standard experimental protocols. The viral RNA in the virus-infected cells was quantified by qRT-PCR. At non-cytotoxic concentration, methanolic extract of Polyalthia longifolia leaves was found to inhibit the replication of PPRV and NDV at viral entry and budding level, whereas other steps of viral life cycle such as attachment and RNA synthesis remained unaffected. Polyalthia longifolia leaves extract possesses promising antiviral activity against paramyxoviruses and acts by inhibiting the entry and budding of viruses; and this plant extract evidently possesses excellent and promising potential for development of effective herbal antiviral drug. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]