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A growing number of studies have suggested microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the modulation of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (MI/R) injury; however, the role of endogenous miRNAs targeting endothelial cells (ECs) and its interaction with ICAM-1 in the setting of MI/R remain poorly understood. Our microarray results showed that miR-146a, miR-146b-5p, miR-155*, miR-155, miR-497, and miR-451 were significantly upregulated, whereas, miR-141 and miR-564 were significantly downregulated in the ECs challenged with TNF-α for 6 h. Real-time PCR analyses additionally validated that the expression levels of miR-146a, miR-155*, and miR-141 were consistent with the microarray results. Then, ICAM-1 was identified as a novel target of miR-141 by Target Scan software and the reporter gene system. Further functional experiments showed that elevated levels of miR-141 inhibited ICAM-1 expression and diminished leukocytes adhesion to ECs in vitro. In an in vivo murine model of MI/R injury, pretreatment with miR-141 mimics through the tail vein downregulated the expression level of ICAM-1 in heart and attenuated MI/R injury as evidenced by decreased infarct size and decline of serum cardial troponin I (cTnI) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) concentration. The cardioprotective effects of miR-141 mimics may be attributed to the decreased infiltration of CD11b(+) cells and F4/80(+) macrophages into ischemic myocardium tissue. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that miR-141, as a novel repressor of ICAM-1, is involved in the attenuation of MI/R injury via antithetical regulation of ICAM-1 and inflammatory cells infiltration. Thus miR-141 may constitute a new therapeutic target in the setting of ischemic heart disease., (Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.)

To identify adulterants from medicinal plants of Bletilla H. G. Reichenbach, the suitable candidate DNA barcoding of Bletilla was evaluated. In this study, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA, the LFY homologous gene intron 2 and chloroplast ycfl gene were amplified and sequenced from forty-one samples. The intra-specific and inter-specific divergences of Bletilla were calculated, and the identification efficiency was assessed using Barcoding Gap, NJ tree by K2P distance and BLAST1 method. The result showed the intra-specific divergence of nrDNA ITS and ycJfl (0.022-0.106 and 0.017-0.106) were obviously higher than the inter-specific divergence (0-0.012 and 0-0.015), and four species of Bletilla were also accurately distinguished in NJ trees. Whereas, there was no Barcoding Gap on LFY homologous gene intron 2, thus it cannot effectively identify species of Bletilla. Using NJ tree of nrDNA ITS and ycfl gene, powdery medicine and the adulterants of Bletilla were successfully unidentified. In conclusion, nrDNA ITS and ycfl can be used as a potential DNA barcoding to identify the medicinal plants in Bletilla and its adulterants. There were only three basic differences on nrDNA ITS between "Jujing baiji" and Bletilla striata of Lu'an in Anhui province, and two basic differences in ycfl. Based on morphological and molecular data, "Jujing baiji" could be recognized as the species of Bletilla striata.