Background Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal lung disease with few treatment options. The poor success in developing anti-IPF strategies has impelled researchers to reconsider the importance of the choice of animal model and assessment methodologies. Currently, it is still not settled whether the bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis mouse model finally returns to resolution. Methods This study aimed to follow the dynamic fibrotic features of bleomycin-treated mouse lungs over extended durations through a combination of the latest technologies (micro-computed tomography imaging and histological detection of degraded collagens) and traditional methods. In addition, we also applied immunohistochemistry to explore the distribution of all hydroxyproline-containing molecules. Results As determined by classical biochemical methods, total lung hydroxyproline contents reached a peak at 4 weeks after bleomycin injury and maintained a steady high level thereafter until the end of the experiments (16 weeks). This result seemed to partially contradict with the changes of other fibrosis evaluation parameters, which indicated a gradual degradation of collagens and a recovery of lung aeration after the fibrosis peak. This inconsistency was well reconciled by our data from immunostaining against hydroxyproline and fluorescent peptide staining against degraded collagen, together showing large amounts of hydroxyproline-rich degraded collagen fragments detained and enriched within the intracellular regions at 10 or 16 weeks rather than at 4 weeks after bleomycin treatment. Conclusions Our present data not only offer respiratory researchers a new perspective towards the resolution nature of mouse lung fibrosis, but also remind them to be cautious when using the hydroxyproline content assay to evaluate the severity of fibrosis.

BACKGROUND:Andrographolide (Andro), a diterpenoid extracted from Andrographis paniculata, has been shown to attenuate pulmonary fibrosis in rodents; however, the potential mechanisms remain largely unclear. This study investigated whether and how Andro alleviates bleomycin (BLM)-induced NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in the lung epithelial cells.METHODS:The in vivo effects of Andro were evaluated in a rat model of BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis. The roles of Andro in BLM-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation, EMT and AKT/mTOR signaling were investigated using human alveolar epithelial A549 cells.RESULTS:We found that Andro significantly alleviated pulmonary edema and histopathological changes, decreased weight loss, and reduced collagen deposition. Andro downregulated the levels of NLRP3, the adaptor molecule apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC), and Caspase-1 in the lungs of BLM-treated rats, suggesting the inhibitory effect of Andro on NLRP3 inflammasome activation in vivo. Additionally, the symptoms of BLM-mediated EMT phenotype in the lung were also attenuated after Andro administration. In vitro, Andro also markedly inhibited BLM-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation and EMT in A549 cells. Moreover, Andro inhibited BLM-induced phosphorylation of AKT and mTOR in A549 cells, suggesting that AKT/mTOR inactivation mediates Andro-induced effects on BLM-induced NLRP3 inflammasome activation and EMT.CONCLUSIONS:These data indicate that Andro can reduce BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis through suppressing NLRP3 inflammasome activation and EMT in lung epithelial cells via AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.

1. There are numerous investigations demonstrating that the cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors might enhance the efficiency of anastrozole in breast cancer. Hence, this study was conducted to investigate the comparative pharmacokinetics of anastrozole after single administration and combination with celecoxib. 2. A simple protein precipitation procedure was adopted for the sample preparation with satisfactory extraction recovery for both anastrozole and the internal standard, and then anastrozole was separated and analysed on an ACQUITY BEH UPLC C-18 column ( 50 x 2.0 mm, 1.7 mu m, Waters) within 2 min. The calibration curves showed good linarites (r = 0.994). Intra- and inter-day precision were within 4.93 and 13.83%, respectively. The mean extraction recoveries across QC levels were within 91.4%, and the matrix effects were within 94.5%. 3. Results showed that the method was reliable to determine anastrozole in rat plasma. Compared with rats in single administration group, no significant difference was found in the combination group. It is workable to use celecoxib combined with anastrozole in clinical therapy.

Ramulus Cinnamomi (RC)-Radix Glycyrrhizae (RG) is a classic herb pair, which is commonly used as a fixed form to treat cardiovascular disease in the clinic. Our work aimed to compare the pharmacokinetic difference of cinnamic acid, liquiritin, isoliquiritigenin and glycyrrhetinic acid in rats after oral administration of the RC-RG herb pair extracts [Guizhigancao Decoction (GGD) and Lingguizhugan Decoction (LGZGD)] and the single RC or RG extract. A HPLC-MS method was developed and validated to study comparative pharmacokinetics. The pharmacokinetic parameters (Cmax , AUC, MRT) of four compounds between the RC-RG herb pair group and the single herb (RC or RG) group showed significant differences (p < 0.05). Compared with the single herb (RC or RG) group, higher peak concentration, slower elimination and larger exposure could be observed after giving the RC-RG herb-pair extracts. The pharmacokinetic differences might indicate the relativity of remedy in the RC-RG herb pair and provide scientific information for rational administration of the drug in the clinic. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cancer is the leading cause of death all over the world. Among the chemotherapy drugs, taxanes play an important role in cancer treatment. 6258-70 is a new semi-synthetic taxane which has a broad spectrum of antitumor activity. A fast and reliable high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS) method was developed for quantification of 6258-70 in rat plasma and tissues in this paper. After extraction by liquid-liquid extraction method with methyl tert-butyl ether, the samples were separated on a Kinetex C18 column (50 mm×2.1 mm, 2.6 µm, Phenomenex, USA) within 3 min. The method was fully validated with the matrix effect between 87.7% and 99.5% and the recovery ranging from 80.3% to 90.1%. The intra- and inter-day precisions were less than 9.5% and the accuracy ranged from −3.8% to 6.5%. The reliable method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution studies of 6258-70 after intravenous administration in rats. The pharmacokinetic results indicated that the pharmacokinetic behavior of 6258-70 in rats was in accordance with linear features within tested dosage of 1 to 4 mg/kg, and there was no significant difference between the two genders. The tissue distribution study showed that 6258-70 had an effective penetration, spread widely and rapidly and could cross blood-brain barrier. The results of pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution may provide a guide for future study.

目的 建立同时测定麻黄及其不同炮制品中盐酸麻黄碱(1),盐酸伪麻黄碱(2),盐酸甲基麻黄碱(3)和川芎嗪(4)含量的方法.方法 采用HPLC法,Agilent TC-C18柱(250 mm ×4.6 mm,5μm),流动相:乙腈-水-磷酸-三乙胺(体积比为4.0∶96.0∶0.1∶0.1),流速:0.8 mL·min-1,柱温:30℃,检测波长:(0 ～22 min)210、(22 ～30 min)300 nm.结果 化合物1-4分别在18.30 ～366.1、17.87 ～ 357.4、5.070 ～ 101.4、0.3050～6.100 mg·L-1质量浓度内,峰面积线性关系良好(r≥0.999 6),平均加样回收率分别为98.7％(RSD=1.8％)、100.9％ (RSD=1.6％)、100.8％(RSD=1.6％)和97.7％(RSD=1.3％).该方法应用于麻黄及其不同炮制品中麻黄类生物碱和川芎嗪的含量测定,测得化合物1-4的含量质量分数分别为0.83％ ～1.0％、0.48％ ～0.84％、0.087％ ～0.22％和0.001 7％ ～0.009 0％.结论 麻黄经炮制后,4种化合物含量均发生了不同程度的改变,表明炮制方法对麻黄化学成分的含量影响较大,该分析方法的建立为控制不同炮制品的质量提供了一定的参考依据.

目的 优化黄柏中总生物碱的提取工艺.方法 以盐酸小檗碱为指标,利用离子液体辅助超声萃取技术,以1-丁基-3-甲基咪唑四氟硼酸盐([Bmim] [BF4])甲醇溶液为提取溶剂,采用超声处理工艺提取黄柏的总生物碱,并应用Central-Composite响应面法优化工艺条件,经二项式拟合及响应曲面分析得到最适宜提取条件.结果 盐酸小檗碱最佳提取工艺为:离子液体浓度:1.3 mol·L-1,提取时间:40 min,甲醇体积分数:75％.在此条件下盐酸小檗碱提取率达到5.35％,与理论预测值相对偏差小于5％.结论 优化了离子液体辅助提取技术.

LS177 is a novel inhibitor of mesenchymal epithelial transition (MET) that was used as an anticancer agent. The present study was to evaluate the absolute bioavailability of LS177 in rats. A rapid and sensitive ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method has been developed and validated for the determination of LS177 in rat plasma. LS177 and internal standard (IS, LS410) were extracted from rat plasma samples by protein precipitation (PPT) for intravenous group and liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) procedure for oral group, then separated on a Phenomenex Kinetex XB-C18 (2.1 mm I.D. × 50 mm, 2.6 µm) using a mobile phase consisting of 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid water with a gradient elution program. The standard curves were linear over the ranges of 5.0-2000.0 ng · mL(-1) for PPT and 1.0-200.0 ng · mL(-1) for LLE. The mean recovery of LS177 was greater than 83.4% for PPT and not less than 88.5% for LLE, respectively. The intra- and inter-day accuracy and precision were within the acceptable limits of less than 15.0% at all concentrations. The validated method was successfully applied to the bioavailability study in rat plasma of LS177 and its absolute bioavailability was 25.37%.

目的 综述近年来离子液体在生物样品萃取分离中的应用.方法 通过查阅国内外相关文献,从离子液体在液-液萃取、固相萃取两方面的应用进行综述.结果与结论 离子液体在生物样品前处理方法中,表现出良好的萃取行为,具有广泛的应用前景.

LS-177 is a novel small-molecule kinase inhibitor employed to interrupt the c-Met signaling pathway. A rapid and sensitive ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for determination of LS-177 in rat plasma and tissues. The biosamples were extracted by liquid-liquid extraction with methyl tert-butyl ether and separated on a C18 column (50 × 4.6 mm, 2.6 µm) using a gradient elution mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid water. Under the optimal conditions, the selectivity of the method was satisfactory with no endogenous interference. The intraday and interday precisions (relative standard deviation) were <10.5% and the accuracy (relative error) was from -12.5 to 12.5% at all quality control levels. Excellent recovery and negligible matrix effects were observed. Stability studies showed that LS-177 was stable during the preparation and analytical processes. The UPLC-MS/MS method was successfully applied to pharmacokinetic and tissue distribution studies. The results indicated that there was no significant drug accumulation after multiple-dose oral administration of LS-177. The tissue distribution study exhibited significant higher uptakes of LS-177 in stomach, intestine, lung and liver among all of the tissues. The results in pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution may provide a meaningful basis for clinical application.