Objectives: The aim of the study has been to investigate the effect of the Standard Reference Material of fine particulate matter (SRM 2786) on cytotoxicity and apoptosis in human lung bronchial epithelial cells (16HBE cells). Whether the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation could...

Given the problems associated with the escalation in methamphetamine (METH) use, the identification of more effective treatment strategies is essential. l-stepholidine (l-SPD) is an alkaloid extract of the Chinese herb Stephania intermedia with dopamine D1 receptor partial agonistic and D2 receptor antagonistic dual actions. The unique pharmacological profile of l-SPD suggests that l-SPD may be effective for the treatment of METH addiction. The aim of this study was to characterize the effect of l-SPD on METH self-administration on a fixed-ratio 1 schedule. We found that 5 and 10 mg/kg of l-SPD attenuated METH self-administration behavior. These results demonstrate that l-SPD which possesses dual actions on dopamine D1 and D2 receptors, attenuates METH self-administration on a fixed-ratio 1 schedule.

In order to investigate the influence of electroacupuncture on heroin seeking behavior and the expression of CB2-Rs in the relapse-relevant brain regions, heroin self-administration rat model which represents the heroin relapse behaviors was developed with progressive fixed ratio program. The model rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: control group, heroin-addicted group and 2Hz electroacupuncture group (stimulating on acupoints zusanli and sanyinjiao). The expression of CB2-Rs in the relapse-relevant brain regions were assessed with immunohistochemistry technologies. The reinstatement of heroin seeking behavior induced by conditioned cue priming showed that compared with the heroin-addicted group, active pokes in the 2Hz electroacupuncture group decreased significantly (p<0.05). Compared with the control group, the expression of CB2-Rs in prefrontal cortex (PFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) was significantly decreased (p<0.05) in heroin-addicted group and increaseed significantly recover (p<0.05) in the 2Hz electroacupuncture group. Our present results showed that 2Hz-electroacupuncture could attenuate the conditioned cue-evoked heroin-seeking behavior and the inhibitory effect was mediated partially by the increase CB2-Rs expression in relapse-relevant brain regions in heroin-addicted rats.