Clinical and experimental studies on treatment of asthma with Juanxiao tablet

Objective: To evaluate the therapeutic effect of Juanxiao Tablet (JXT) in treating asthma.Methods: Clinical observation on 447 cases of asthma was done in double- or single-blinded control method, and the therapeutic effect and safety of JXT were analysed. The effect of JXT in anti-asthma, expectorant, antisepsis, hypoxia tolerance was studied, and its acute and chronic toxicity was also examined.Results: The clinical control rate in patients treated with JXT was 38.2 %, the markedly effective rate 31.2% and the total effective rate 93.4 %, whereas in patients treated with Oleum Vitex Negundo, the respective rates were 13.3 %, 20.0 % and 68.5%. Results of pulmonary function and IgE measurement were consistent with clinical effect. Experimental study showed that JXT has the actions of anti-asthma, expectorant, antisepsis and hypoxia tolerance enhancement, with its LD₅₀(40.48 ± 5.17) g/kg.Conclusion: JXT is a new Chinese herbal preparation of good effect, with less toxic-side effect for asthma treatment.     

Cyanidin-3-rutinoside increases glucose uptake by activating the PI3K/Akt pathway in 3T3-L1 adipocytes

In this study, the effect of cyanidin-3-rutinoside (C3R) on glucose uptake by 3T3-L1 adipocytes was studied. C3R significantly increased glucose uptake, which was associated with enhanced plasma membrane glucose transporter type 4 (PM-GLUT4) expression in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. The potentiating effect of C3R on glucose uptake and PM-GLUT4 expression was related to enhanced phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1) and Akt, as well as augmented activation of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) in the insulin signaling pathway. C3R induced glucose uptake was inhibited only by the PI3K inhibitor, but not by an AMPK inhibitor in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Therefore, C3R likely up-regulates glucose uptake and PM-GLUT4 expression in 3T3-L1 adipocytes by activating the PI3K/Akt pathways.