Synergistic Effect of Ferulic Acid and Z-Ligustilide, Major Components of A. sinensis

Angelica sinensis has been used to attenuate cold-induced cutaneous vasospasm syndrome, such as Raynaud’s disease and frostbite, in China for many years. Ferulic acid (PubChem CID: 445858) and Z-ligustilide (PubChem CID: 529865), two major components extracted from Angelica sinensis, had been reported to inhibit vasoconstriction induced by vasoconstrictors. In this study, the pharmacological interaction in regulating cold-induced vascular smooth muscle cell contraction via cold-sensing protein TRPM8 and TRPA1 was analyzed between ferulic acid and Z-ligustilide. Pharmacological interaction on inhibiting [Ca2+]i influx evoked by TRPM8 agonist WS-12 or TRPA1 agonist ASP 7663 as well as cold-induced upregulation of TRPM8 was determined using isobolographic analysis. The isobolograms demonstrated that the combinations investigated in this study produced a synergistic interaction. Combination effect of two components in inhibiting RhoA activation and phosphorylation of MLC20 induced by WS-12 or ASP 7663 was also being quantified. These findings suggest that the therapeutic effect of Angelica sinensis on cold-induced vasospasm may be partially attributed to combinational effect, via TRPM8 and TPRA1 way, between ferulic acid and Z-ligustilide

Identification of Hub Genes Related to the Recovery Phase of Irradiation Injury by Microarray and Integrated Gene Network Analysis

BACKGROUND: Irradiation commonly causes long-term bone marrow injury charactertized by defective HSC self-renewal and a decrease in HSC reserve. However, the effect of high-dose IR on global gene expression during bone marrow recovery remains unknown. METHODOLOGY: Microarray analysis was used to identify differentially expressed genes that are likely to be critical for bone marrow recovery. Multiple bioinformatics analyses were conducted to identify key hub genes, pathways and biological processes. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: 1) We identified 1302 differentially expressed genes in murine bone marrow at 3, 7, 11 and 21 days after irradiation. Eleven of these genes are known to be HSC self-renewal associated genes, including Adipoq, Ccl3, Ccnd1, Ccnd2, Cdkn1a, Cxcl12, Junb, Pten, Tal1, Thy1 and Tnf; 2) These 1302 differentially expressed genes function in multiple biological processes of immunity, including hematopoiesis and response to stimuli, and cellular processes including cell proliferation, differentiation, adhesion and signaling; 3) Dynamic Gene Network analysis identified a subgroup of 25 core genes that participate in immune response, regulation of transcription and nucleosome assembly; 4) A comparison of our data with known irradiation-related genes extracted from literature showed 42 genes that matched the results of our microarray analysis, thus demonstrated consistency between studies; 5) Protein-protein interaction network and pathway analyses indicated several essential protein-protein interactions and signaling pathways, including focal adhesion and several immune-related signaling pathways. CONCLUSIONS: Comparisons to other gene array datasets indicate that global gene expression profiles of irradiation damaged bone marrow show significant differences between injury and recovery phases. Our data suggest that immune response (including hematopoiesis) can be considered as a critical biological process in bone marrow recovery. Several critical hub genes that are key members of significant pathways or gene networks were identified by our comprehensive analysis

Theoretical investigation of group-IV binary compounds in the P4/ncc phase

Three direct and two indirect semiconductor materials together with one metallic material for group-IV binary compounds in the P4/ncc phase are investigated in this work, by employing density functional theory (DFT), where the morphology, stability, mechanical anisotropy, electronic properties, effective mass and optical properties are obtained. SiC, SnC and SnSi are all semiconductor materials with direct bandgaps of 3.38 eV, 1.30 eV and 0.67 eV, respectively, while GeC and GeSi have indirect bandgaps of 2.86 eV and 1.14 eV, respectively. The formation energy of P4/ncc-SiC is −133 meV per atom, indicating its excellent thermodynamic stability and great promise for future experimental realization. P4/ncc-SiC is more incompressible than C2/m-SiC and P42/mnm-Si8C4, and P4/ncc-GeSi is more incompressible than h-GeSi. SnSi has the largest anisotropy in the Young’s and shear modulus, SiC and GeC have the largest anisotropy in the Poisson’s ratio. P4/ncc-SnSi and SnC have low electron effective masses of 0.08m0 and 0.09m0, respectively, which may indicate a high carrier transport property. Compared with Fd-3m-Si, SnSi and GeSi show better optical absorption properties for infrared and visible light regions. All these unique properties endow these materials with great promise for application in microelectronic and optoelectronic devices