Mitochondrial dysfunction and the inflammatory response

Diabetic nephropathy is the most common cause of end-stage renal disease. Shu Wakino and colleagues now show that high-glucose conditions in the renal proximal tubules result in downregulation of Sirt1 expression there and in the glomeruli, resulting in epigentic upregulation of Claudin-1 in the glomeruli and thus proteinuria. They also show that genetic or chemical targeting of Sirt1 in the kidney is sufficient to improve kidney function in a mouse model of diabetic nephropathy.

/pdf/renal-tubular-sirt1-attenuates-diabetic-albuminuria-by-22zizyw9rr.pdf

Renal tubular Sirt1 attenuates diabetic albuminuria by epigenetically suppressing Claudin-1 overexpression in podocytes

Seven sirtuins for seven deadly diseases ofaging

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a multifunctional organelle required for lipid biosynthesis, calcium storage, and protein folding and processing. A number of physiological and pathological conditions, as well as a variety of pharmacological agents, are able to disturb proper ER function and thereby cause ER stress, which severely impairs protein folding and therefore poses the risk of proteotoxicity. Specific triggers for ER stress include, for example, particular intracellular alterations (e.g., calcium or redox imbalances), certain microenvironmental conditions (e.g., hypoglycemia, hypoxia, and acidosis), high-fat and high-sugar diet, a variety of natural compounds (e.g., thapsigargin, tunicamycin, and geldanamycin), and several prescription drugs (e.g., bortezomib/Velcade, celecoxib/Celebrex, and nelfinavir/Viracept). The cell reacts to ER stress by initiating a defensive process, called the unfolded protein response (UPR), which is comprised of cellular mechanisms aimed at adaptation and safeguarding cellular survival or, in cases of excessively severe stress, at initiation of apoptosis and elimination of the faulty cell. In recent years, this dichotomic stress response system has been linked to several human diseases, and efforts are underway to develop approaches to exploit ER stress mechanisms for therapy. For example, obesity and type 2 diabetes have been linked to ER stress-induced failure of insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells, and current research efforts are aimed at developing drugs that ameliorate cellular stress and thereby protect beta cell function. Other studies seek to pharmacologically aggravate chronic ER stress in cancer cells in order to enhance apoptosis and achieve tumor cell death. In the following, these principles will be presented and discussed.

https://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/scientifica/2012/857516.pdf

Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress: Its Role in Disease and Novel Prospects for Therapy

Importance of the field: The use of traditional medicines of natural origin is being encouraged for the treatment of chronic disorders, as synthetic drugs in such cases may cause unpredictable adverse effects. Berberine, a traditional plant alkaloid, is used in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine for its antimicrobial and antiprotozoal properties. Interestingly, current clinical research on berberine has revealed its various pharmacological properties and multi-spectrum therapeutic applications.Areas covered in this review: An extensive search in three electronic databases (Unbound Medline, PubMed and ScienceDirect) and internet search engines (Scirus and Google Scholar) were used to identify the clinical studies on berberine, without any time constraints. This review elaborates the recent studies which reveal that with time, the drug has evolved with superior therapeutic activities. In addition, this review will also attract the attention of formulation scientists towards the issues and challenges associated ...

Berberine: a potential phytochemical with multispectrum therapeutic activities.

Protective effect of berberine on beta cells in streptozotocin- and high-carbohydrate/high-fat diet-induced diabetic rats

Resveratrol protects against hyperglycemia-induced oxidative damage to mitochondria by activating SIRT1 in rat mesangial cells.

[Determination of azathiopurine and 6-mercaptopurine in serum by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography].

The invention relates to a process for extracting rhynchophylline monomers from uncaria rhynchophylla The process comprises the following steps of: pretreating uncaria rhynchophylla medicinal materials by adopting a lower alcohol water quenching ultrasonic method to prepare a crude extract; separating rhynchophylline in the crude extract by adopting a silicagel column chromatography method by using two organic reagents and ammonia water according to a certain proportion as an eluent; and finally obtaining rhynchophylline monomers through steps of eluting fractions, extracting, purifying, andthe like The method has the advantages of safety, high efficiency, low cost and high rhynchophylline monomer productivity; and per kilogram of the medicinal materials can be used for obtaining 027grhynchophylline monomers, and the purity is higher than 90 percent, so that the method is beneficial to industrial large-scale production and provides an approach for the further development of rhynchophylline as a new drug

Process for extracting rhynchophylline monomers from uncaria rhynchophylla

The invention relates to a drug of indole alkaloid, and particularly relates to application of rhynchophylline in preparation of adrug with an anxiolytic effect and an antidepressant effect. The drug disclosed by the invention is composed of the rhynchophylline and pharmaceutical acceptable auxiliary materials, wherein the content of the rhynchophylline is 1-99.5%. The drug disclosed by the invention is oral preparations and can be tablets, capsules or the like.

Jianlin Tang

Papers

Protective effect of berberine on beta cells in streptozotocin- and high-carbohydrate/high-fat diet-induced diabetic rats

Resveratrol protects against hyperglycemia-induced oxidative damage to mitochondria by activating SIRT1 in rat mesangial cells.

[Determination of azathiopurine and 6-mercaptopurine in serum by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography].

Process for extracting rhynchophylline monomers from uncaria rhynchophylla

Application of rhynchophylline in preparation of drug with anxiolytic effect and antidepressant effect