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Diabetic retinopathy(DR)has been traditionally considered a purely microvascular disease in the retina. Currently, mainstream therapies focus only on advanced vascular complications and a single molecular target-vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF). However, the research is shifting towards a more comprehensive view that DR is a neurovascular disease caused by neurovascular unit(NVU)injury. In the early stage of DR, diabetic retinal neurodegeneration(DRN)dominates and may precede the retinal microvascular abnormalities. Moreover, neuronal apoptosis can further lead to microvascular injury and blood-retinal barrier(BRB)disruption. Therefore, it makes sense to develop new therapeutic strategies to prevent or reverse DRN. However, no drug targeting DRN has been approved for clinical use. In recent years, it has become a trend to study the protective effect of traditional Chinese medicine on the retina. The primary research focuses on Chinese herb monomers. This article reviews the research status of representative monomers in DRN to provide references for the early treatment of DR and development of new drugs.

AIM: To study the effect of leech extract on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)in retinoblastoma(WERI-RB-1 cells)and the related molecular mechanism.METHODS: WERI-RB-1 cells cultured in vitro were divided into control group, 0.04U/mL leech extract group and 0.08U/mL leech extract group. The control group was cultured with complete medium for 48h, and the leech extract group was cultured with 0.04 and 0.08U/mL drug-containing medium for 48h, respectively. The expression level of VEGF in conditioned medium of cell culture was detected by ELISA. The mRNA levels of hypoxia-inducible factor-1a(HIF-1a)and matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9)were detected by RT-PCR. The expression levels of HIF-1a, MMP-9, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase(PI3K)and human phosphorylated AKT(p-AKT)were detected by Western Blot.RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the expression of VEGF in the conditioned medium with the concentration of 0.04U/ mL and 0.08U/mL of leech extract was decreased(P

Hirudo is highly effective in promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, a vital medicine for breaking blood and removing blood stasis in ophthalmopathy. Presently, Hirudo is commonly used in ophthalmology for age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, cataract, retinal vein occlusion and other ophthalmic diseases, with the mechanism thereof possibly being related to anti-VEGF, improvement of microcirculation and anti-apoptosis. Further, although new functions have been found in Hirudo extract, such as transdifferentiation and inhibition of WERI-RB-1, these studies remain in the basic exploratory stage, and the specific molecular mechanism requires further verification. This paper concisely describes the application and research status of Hirudo and the extract thereof in ophthalmic diseases, so as to provide a new direction for further research on the treatment of ophthalmopathy using Hirudo and the extract thereof.

AIM: To evaluate the effect of leech extract on human retinoblastoma WERI-RB-1 cells.METHODS: WERI-RB-1 cells with different concentrations of leech extracts(0.02, 0.04, 0.08 and 0.16U/mL)were cultured in vitro for 0, 24, 48 and 72h. The optimal drug intervention concentration and time were selected by CCK-8 method for subsequent experiments. WERI-RB-1 cells cultured in vitro were divided into control group(normal culture medium)and experimental group(culture medium containing leech extract). Flow cytometry was used to detect the effects of drugs on cell cycle and cell apoptosis, and Transwell invasion assay was used to detect the effects of drugs on cell invasion abilit. RESUITS: According to the detection results of CCK-8 method, the optimal intervention conditions were 0.04 and 0.08U/mL leech extract for 48h. The cells in the leech extract intervention were mainly blocked at G2/M stage, and the positive cell rates in the 0.04 and 0.08U/mL groups were(12.59±5.36)% and(14.79±4.12)%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those in the control group \〖(3.00±2.32)%, PPCONCLUSION: The leech extract can inhibit the proliferation and invasion of human retinoblastoma cells and induce cell apoptosis in vitro.

The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a platform organism for bioethanol production from various feedstocks and robust strains are desirable for efficient fermentation because yeast cells inevitably encounter stressors during the process. Recently, diverse S. cerevisiae lineages were identified, which provided novel resources for understanding stress tolerance variations and related shaping factors in the yeast. This study characterized the tolerance of diverse S. cerevisiae strains to the stressors of high ethanol concentrations, temperature shocks, and osmotic stress. The results showed that the isolates from human-associated environments overall presented a higher level of stress tolerance compared with those from forests spared anthropogenic influences. Statistical analyses indicated that the variations of stress tolerance were significantly correlated with both ecological sources and geographical locations of the strains. This study provides guidelines for selection of robust S. cerevisiae strains for bioethanol production from nature.