Post-stroke tactile allodynia and its modulation by vestibular stimulation: a MEG case study

BACKGROUND

There is behavioural evidence that caloric vestibular stimulation (CVS) can alleviate central pain. Several such patients have also noted that it reduces tactile allodynia, an especially ill-understood phenomenon in these patients.

AIMS OF THE STUDY

The first aim is to use magnetoencephalography (MEG) to study neural activity associated with tactile allodynia in central post-stroke pain (CPSP). The second is to assess how this would be affected, if at all, by CVS. The third is to assess the ability of the VESTAL solution for MEG to detect anterior cingulate activation.

METHODS

A 58-year-old woman with CPSP, and marked unilateral tactile allodynia, participated in a MEG study with imaging pre- and post-CVS.

RESULTS

Tactile simulation within the patient's allodynic area resulted in contralateral activation of the primary motor and anterior cingulate cortices, which had normalized 24 h post-CVS.

CONCLUSIONS

We suggest that the unexpected primary motor cortex activation in response to light touch in the allodynic area arises from inappropriate activation of a normal mechanism, which may occur when a threat to homeostasis is present, to lower motor thresholds and allow for more rapid performance of corrective actions. We propose this may be mediated by the interoceptive cortex in the dorsal posterior insula.

Partial splenic embolization for hypersplenism in cirrhosis: a long-term outcome in 62 patients

BACKGROUND

Although partial splenic embolization (PSE) has been widely used for treatment of leucocytopaenia and thrombocytopaenia in cirrhosis, only few studies on the correlation between splenic infarction rate and long-term outcome of partial splenic embolization have been reported so far.

AIM

To evaluate long-term results of partial splenic embolization with different infarction rates in cirrhotic patients with hypersplenism.

METHODS

Sixty-two consecutive patients with hypersplenism in cirrhosis received partial splenic embolization. According to the splenic infarction rate after partial splenic embolization, the patients were divided into three groups: more than 70% in group A (n=12), 50-70% in group B (n=34), and less than 50% in group C (n=16). The post-partial splenic embolization following-up time was 5 years.

RESULTS

Before partial splenic embolization, there were no significant differences among the three groups with respect to sex, age, splenic volume, Child-Pugh class, oesophageal varices, and peripheral blood cell counts. After partial splenic embolization, the short- and long-term outcomes of leucocyte and platelet counts showed significant difference among the three groups (P<0.001). In groups A and B, the leucocyte and platelet counts after partial splenic embolization remained significantly higher than those before partial splenic embolization for 2 weeks to 5 years (P<0.05), the post-partial splenic embolization leucocyte and platelet counts was even higher in group A than in group B; while in group C, leucocyte and platelet count improvement only lasted for 6 months after partial splenic embolization. No significant changes were observed concerning blood red cell counts and liver function parameters after partial splenic embolization among the three groups. Severe complications occurred in six patients (50%) in group A and three patients (8.8%) in group B (P<0.05), while in group C, no severe complications developed.

CONCLUSIONS

In partial splenic embolization, the splenic infarction rate should be limited to 50%-70% in order to ensure the long-term efficacy in alleviating hypersplenism and reduce complications.

beta-1,2,3-Triazolyl-nucleosides as nicotinamide riboside mimics

The synthesis of a series of pyridine- and piperidine-substituted 1,2,3-triazolides linked to a riboside moiety is described. The presence of a triazolide substituent on the pyridine moiety permitted the facile reduction of the latter under mild hydrogenation conditions. These analogues were modelled as to define their similarity to nicotinamide riboside and quantify their ability to bind NAD-dependent protein deacetylases.

Differential response of primary or secondary exon 13/14 and exon 17 c-kit mutant to nilotinib and sunitinib: Findings from a cell-based drug-screening platform

e15636

Background: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) are frequently associated with mutation of c-kit oncogene that is accompanied with constitutional activation of c-kit protein. At present, imatinib is the drug of choice for unresectable or metastatic GIST, however, primary or acquired resistance to imatinib is frequently associated with the presence of an exon 13, 14 or 17 c-kit mutation. The current recommendations for GIST refractory to standard (400 mg/day) imatinib treatment include increasing dose of imatinib to 600–800 mg/day for tumors with primary exon 9 mutation or sunitinib. Several molecular targeted agents are also under investigation. With so many potential agents, personalized therapy based on c-kit mutant genotype for imatinib-resistant GIST deserves to explore. Methods: We prepared a series of c-kit cDNA constructs encoding mutant exon 9 (502AY insertion), 11 (V560D substitution and Δ555–576 deletion), 13 (V654A substitution), 14 (T670I substitution) and 17 (D820G and N822K substitutions) either alone or in combination to simulating the frequently occurred primary ± secondary c-kit mutants in GIST. We expressed these constructs in COS-1 cells to study the efficacy of different tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) on the autophosphorylation of various single or double mutant c- kit. Results: The efficacy of imatinib on single c-kit mutant was V560D > Δ555–576 > 502AY > D820G or N822K, and ineffective for single and double mutants containing V654A or T670I. Sunitinib is a more potent inhibitor for single 502AY, D820G and N822K mutant than imatinib and nilotinib; while single V654A and T670I c-kit mutant are more sensitive to nilotinib. Interestingly, double exon 11 (V560D or Δ555–576)/V654A or T670I mutant c-kit are more sensitive to sunitinib; while exon 11 (V560D or Δ555–576)/D820G or N822K double mutant c-kit are more sensitive to nilotinib. Conclusions: Our system provides a useful platform to select/screen effective TKIs for GIST with single or double mutant c-kit. The findings of differential response of c-kit mutant to nilotinib and sunitinib may help to select therapy for GIST with primary or secondary exon 13 / 14 and exon 17 mutations.

[Table: see text]

Regulational effects of breast cancer stromal cells and normal breast stromal cells on MCF-7 mammosphere formation

1056

Background: It is well known that microenvironment plays an important role in tumor progression so we investigated the regulatory effects of breast cancer stromal cells (BCSCs) and normal breast stromal cells (NBSCs) as microenvironment on MCF-7 mammosphere formation. Methods: MCF-7 cells were cultured in suspension to generate mammospheres. The proportion of CD44+CD24- cells was assessed by flow cytometry and the expression of Wint1, notch1, β-catenin, CXCR4, SOX2, and ALDH3A1 was detected by real-time PCR. The stromal cells were purified and identified by immumohistochemistry. BCSCs or NBSCs and MCF-7 cells were co-cultured via Transwell system, the volumes and numbers of mammospheres and the mammosphere-forming efficiency (MFE) were calculated and the expression of Wnt1, β-catenin, Notch1 were detected. Results: The proportion of CD44+CD24- cells in mammospheres and MCF-7 cells was 10.4% and 2.1% (p < 0.05), respectively. Real-time PCR analysis suggested that Wint1, notch1, β-catenin, CXCR4, SOX2, and ALDH3A1 genes in the mammosphere cells were with higher levels than MCF-7 cells by about 2.25, 2.45, 1.72, 4.68, 4.25, 5.38 fold, respectively (p < 0.01). The stromal cells purified were identified as fibroblasts by α-SMA,Vimentin and fibroblast special protein antibody via immumohistochemistry. The time of mammosphere's formation was earlier, the volumes of mammospheres were bigger, and the MFE was higher than control group. The expressions of Wnt1 in co-culture group were significantly upregulated 1.27, 3.18 folds than control group, respectively, while the β-catenin was 1.22, 1.75 folds; Notch1 was 1.31, 2.09 folds; and CXCR4 was 1.73, 2.77 folds, respectively. Conclusions: Mammosphere cells contained higher propotion of breast cancer stem cells and expressed higher levels of cancer stem cell related genes. BCSCs can promote the mammosphere-forming efficiency and upregulate the expression of cancer stem cell related genes.

No significant financial relationships to disclose.

The comparison of epirubicin-treated MCF-7 mammosphere cells to the treated monolayer cells

e13542

Objective: To explore the different effects of epirubicin on the MCF-7 mammosphere cells and the monolayer cells. Methods: MCF-7 cells were cultured in suspension to generate primary mammospheres. The inhibitory effects of epirubicin on MCF-7 mammosphere cells and the monolayer cells by were measured by MTT assay. The change of CD44+CD24- expression and cell cycle distribution in MCF-7 mammosphere cells and the monolayer cells under epirubicin condition was analyzed by flow cytometry. Results: The cell inhibition was lower in MCF-7 mammosphere cells than that in the monolayer cells when induced by the same concentration of epirubicin (>100 ng/ml),(P<0.01). The CD44+CD24- expression was significantly higher in MCF-7 mammosphere cells than that in the monolayer cells under 400 ng/μl epirubicin for 72 h, (22.8% ± 4.8% Vs 3.3% ± 0.8%),(P<0.01). The cell cycle indicated that MCF-7 mammosphere cells had higher proportion of G0/G1 phase than the monolayer cells, (74.33% ± 3.20% Vs 53.40% ± 3.45%) (P<0.01). Epirubicin had little effect on the G0/G1 phase of MCF-7 mammosphere cells and the monolayer cells, but the S phase and G2 phase was not the case. Conclusion: Epirubicin had lower inhibitory effects on MCF-7 mammosphere cells and it can be used to enrich breast cancer stem cell. Epirubicin had lower effect on the G0/G1 phase of MCF-7 mammosphere cells as compared with control.

No significant financial relationships to disclose.

The role of EGFR MAbs C225 in breast cancer stem cells

e22093

Background: The epithermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) signaling pathways has been implicated in self-renewal of breast cancer stem cells. It has been proved that the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor-gefitinib significantly decreased the mammosphere- forming efficiency(MFE) in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) derived cancer cells. We investigated the response of breast cancer stem cells in breast cancer cell line MCF-7 to EGFR MAbs C225(cetuximab). Methods: Cells were used for nonadherent (i.e.,mammosphere) culture and were divided into four groups according to the different culture medium whether or not including exogenous EGF and MAbs C225. MFE was calculated as the number of mammospheres (≥60um) and was expressed as a percentage. We Compared the percentage of CD44+/CD24- cells from the four groups, and measured the levels of the Wnt and Notch-3 gene expression of the four groups. Results: There was no significant difference of MFE between groups. In the presence of exogenous EGF, MAbs C225 significantly decreased the MFE and the percentage of CD44+/CD24- cells of mammospheres compared with exogenous EGF alone(0.7% versus 1.5%, P < 0.001 and 4% versus 11%P < 0.001;respectively). In the absence of exogenous EGF, MAbs C225 aslo statistically decreased the MFE and the percentage of CD44+/CD24- cells of mammospheres compared with that of lacking exogenous EGF and MAbs C225(0.53% versus 1.3%,P = 0.003 and 9% versus 3%, P < 0.01;respectively). And we observed that the Notch-3 gene expression was compensativly increased in the two groups of addition of MAb C225. No significant differences of Wnt gene expression were observed between groups. Conclusions: EGFR MAbs C225 could disrupt mammoshpere formation and decrease the percentage of CD44+/CD24- cells of mammoshpere cells. The expression of Notch-3 is increased with the EGFR antagonistics in breast cancer stem cells.

No significant financial relationships to disclose.

Gefitinib versus platinum contained doublet chemotherapy in chemotherapy-naive patients with stage IIIb or IV non-small cell lung cancer of adenocarcinoma histology: A retrospective case control study

e19070

Background: The results of the ISEL study in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) suggest greater benefit of gefitinib among Asian patients and non-smokers compared with the overall trial population. Methods: We conducted a retrospective case-control study to compare outcomes for gefitinib versus platinum doublet chemotherapy as first line treatment in selected NSCLC patients (stage IIIB/IV adenocarcinoma, PS 0–2). Patient receiving platinum chemotherapy were selected on the basis of disease stage (IIIB or IV), gender, smoking history, WHO performance status (PS) (0–1, or 2) and age (< 60ys or ≥ 60ys) being matched to patients receiving gefitinib. Gefitinib and chemotherapy arm patients were selected by 1:2 ratio in order to increase statistical power. The study was approved by local institute review board. Results: 99 chemo-naïve adenocarcinoma patients treated in our institute from January 2006 to December 2007 were collected: 33 received gefitinib and 66 received chemotherapy. The baseline characteristics are listed in table 1 . The median duration of follow-up was 10 months. Patients receiving gefitinib experienced significantly higher ORR and DCR, and prolonged PFS ( table 1 ). Patients receiving chemotherapy experienced more frequent grade 3–4 neutropenia (42.4% vs 0%), thrombocytopenia (21.2% Vs 0%), febrile neutropenia (7.5% vs 0%) and nausea (24.2% vs 3.0%). The most commonly recorded adverse events in the gefitinib arm were rash/acne (9.1%), diarrhea (3.0%), nausea (3.0%) and anemia (3.0%). Conclusions: The limitations of case-control studies are acknowledged, yet these results were supported by IPASS. Gefitinib as first-line treatment confers clinically relevant benefit in Asian NSCLC patients with adenocarcinoma histology versus platinum based chemotherapy.

[Table: see text]

[Table: see text]

Role of E1B protein-dificient oncolytic virus in breast cancer stem cells

e22131

Background: Cancer stem cells have been indicated in the initiation of tumors and are even found to be responsible for relapses after apparently curative therapies have been undertaken. In breast cancer, they may reside in the CD44+CD24−/low population. Oncolytic adenoviruses enter cells through infection and can kill both proliferating and quiescent cells. We investigated the role of E1B protein- dificient oncolytic adenovirus in breast cancer stem cells. Methods: MCF-7 cells were infected by E1B protein-dificient oncolytic adenovirus as infected group (MOI=100) and cultured routinely as control group simultaneously. The proportion of CD44+CD24- cells was assessed by flow cytometry (FCM) in two groups respectively. Meanwhile, mammosphere culture was done in two groups' cells to observe the size and number of mammospheres, calculate the mammosphere- forming efficiency (MFE). The proportion of CD44+CD24- cells in two groups' mammospheres was assessed by FCM. Results: The percentages of CD24-,CD44+, CD44+CD24- in the infected gruop were 43.9%, 63.26%, 22.19%, respectively. While in the control group, the percentages were 6.74%, 88.30%, 2.30%. In the infected group, the time of mammosphere's formation was earlier, the volumes of mammospheres were bigger and the MFE was higher than the control group (1.26%:0.9%). In two mammospheres' groups, the proportion of CD44+CD24- cells in experiment group and control group was 38.08% and 23.35%, respectively. Conclusions: E1B protein-dificient oncolytic adenovirus can kill MCF-7 cells in short time, mainly breast cancer differentiated cells. It maybe promote the growth of the breast cancer stem cells. It maybe accelerate the speed of self-renewed and differentiation of the breast cancer stem cells.

No significant financial relationships to disclose.

The biological characteristics of human third trimester amniotic fluid stem cells

Third trimester amniotic fluid (AF)-derived human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can be greatly expanded in vitro and induced to differentiate into multiple mesenchymal cell types. This study aimed to investigate the biological characteristics of MSCs from third trimester AF as a new source of therapeutic stem cells. Forty third trimester AF samples were obtained from healthy women who underwent elective caesarean section for breech presentation. A simple culture protocol for MSCs was used. A cell growth curve was drawn, and cell surface antigens and cytokines were analysed by immunofluorescent staining, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and flow cytometry. MSCs from third-trimester AF were successfully isolated, cultured and enriched. MSCs expanded extensively without feeders, they were not tumourigenic and were induced to differentiate into osteocytes. Surface antigens were analysed and found to express the pluripotency marker Oct-4. Considering the great feasibility of biomedical engineering using MSCs, third trimester AF may provide a rich source for investigation of human MSCs.

Pre-transplantation glucose testing for predicting new-onset diabetes mellitus after renal transplantation

AIM

New-onset diabetes after renal transplantation (NODAT) adversely affects graft and patient survival. However, NODAT risk based on pre-transplant blood glucose (BG) levels has not been defined. Our goal was to identify the best pre-transplant testing method and cut-off values.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We performed a case-control analysis of non-diabetic recipients who received a live donor allograft with at least 6 months post-transplant survival. Pre-transplant glucose abnormalities were excluded through 75 g oral glucose tolerance testing (OGTT) and random BG (RBG) measurement. NODAT was defined based on 2003 Canadian Diabetes Association criteria. Multivariate logistic and Cox regression analysis was performed to determine independent predictor variables for NODAT. Receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to determine threshold BG values for diabetes risk.

RESULTS

151 recipients met initial entry criteria. 12 had pre-transplant impaired fasting glucose and/or impaired glucose tolerance, among who 7 (58%) developed NODAT. In the remaining 139, 24 (17%) developed NODAT. NODAT risk exceeded 25% for those with pre-transplant RBG > 6.0 mmol/l and 50% if > 7.2 mmol/l. Pre-transplant RBG provided the highest AUC (0.69, p = 0.002) by ROC analysis. Increasing age (p = 0.025), acute rejection (p = 0.011), and RBG > 6.0 mmol/l (p = 0.001) were independent predictors of NODAT.

CONCLUSION

Pre-transplant glucose testing is a specific marker for NODAT. Patients can be counseled of their incremental risk even within the normal BG range if the OGTT is normal.

Extract interaction detection methods from the biological literature

Background

Considerable efforts have been made to extract protein-protein interactions from the biological literature, but little work has been done on the extraction of interaction detection methods. It is crucial to annotate the detection methods in the literature, since different detection methods shed different degrees of reliability on the reported interactions. However, the diversity of method mentions in the literature makes the automatic extraction quite challenging.

Results

In this article, we develop a generative topic model, the Correlated Method-Word model (CMW model) to extract the detection methods from the literature. In the CMW model, we formulate the correlation between the different methods and related words in a probabilistic framework in order to infer the potential methods from the given document. By applying the model on a corpus of 5319 full text documents annotated by the MINT and IntAct databases, we observe promising results, which outperform the best result reported in the BioCreative II challenge evaluation.

Conclusion

From the promising experiment results, we can see that the CMW model overcomes the issues caused by the diversity in the method mentions and properly captures the in-depth correlations between the detection methods and related words. The performance outperforming the baseline methods confirms that the dependence assumptions of the model are reasonable and the model is competent for the practical processing.

Independent measurement of the total active 8B solar neutrino flux using an array of 3He proportional counters at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) used an array of 3He proportional counters to measure the rate of neutral-current interactions in heavy water and precisely determined the total active (nu_x) 8B solar neutrino flux. This technique is independent of previous methods employed by SNO. The total flux is found to be 5.54_-0.31;+0.33(stat)-0.34+0.36(syst)x10(6) cm(-2) s(-1), in agreement with previous measurements and standard solar models. A global analysis of solar and reactor neutrino results yields Deltam2=7.59_-0.21;+0.19x10(-5) eV2 and theta=34.4_-1.2;+1.3 degrees. The uncertainty on the mixing angle has been reduced from SNO's previous results.

Mining physical protein-protein interactions from the literature

Background:

Deciphering physical protein-protein interactions is fundamental to elucidating both the functions of proteins and biological processes. The development of high-throughput experimental technologies such as the yeast two-hybrid screening has produced an explosion in data relating to interactions. Since manual curation is intensive in terms of time and cost, there is an urgent need for text-mining tools to facilitate the extraction of such information. The BioCreative (Critical Assessment of Information Extraction systems in Biology) challenge evaluation provided common standards and shared evaluation criteria to enable comparisons among different approaches.

Results:

During the benchmark evaluation of BioCreative 2006, all of our results ranked in the top three places. In the task of filtering articles irrelevant to physical protein interactions, our method contributes a precision of 75.07%, a recall of 81.07%, and an AUC (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve) of 0.847. In the task of identifying protein mentions and normalizing mentions to molecule identifiers, our method is competitive among runs submitted, with a precision of 34.83%, a recall of 24.10%, and an F₁ score of28.5%. In extracting protein interaction pairs, our profile-based method was competitive on the SwissProt-only subset (precision = 36.95%, recall = 32.68%, and F₁ score = 30.40%) and on the entire dataset (30.96%, 29.35%, and26.20%, respectively). From the biologist's point of view, however, these findings are far from satisfactory. The error analysis presented in this report provides insight into how performance could be improved: three-quarters of false negatives were due to protein normalization problems (532/698), and about one-quarter were due to problems with correctly extracting interactions for this system.

Conclusion:

We present a text-mining framework to extract physical protein-protein interactions from the literature. Three key issues are addressed, namely filtering irrelevant articles, identifying protein names and normalizing them to molecule identifiers, and extracting protein-protein interactions. Our system is among the top three performers in the benchmark evaluation of BioCreative 2006. The tool will be helpful for manual interaction curation and can greatly facilitate the process of extracting protein-protein interactions.

A nonlinear mixed-effect mixture model for functional mapping of dynamic traits

Functional mapping has emerged as a next-generation statistical tool for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) that affect complex dynamic traits. In this article, we incorporated the idea of nonlinear mixed-effect (NLME) models into the mixture-based framework of functional mapping, aimed to generalize the spectrum of applications for functional mapping. NLME-based functional mapping, implemented with the linearization algorithm based on the first-order Taylor expansion, can provide reasonable estimates of QTL genotypic-specific curve parameters (fixed effect) and the between-individual variation of these parameters (random effect). Results from simulation studies suggest that the NLME-based model is more general than traditional functional mapping. The new model can be useful for the identification of the ontogenetic patterns of QTL genetic effects during time course.

Molecular characterization of drug-resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from Sichuan Province in china

Tuberculosis is still a severe public health issue in eastern Asia, and Sichuan is the key area for tuberculosis control in China. To determine the phenotypic and mutation patterns of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from Sichuan, the drug susceptibility of 198 clinical isolates was examined. Among these isolates, 76 drug-resistant and 20 susceptible isolates were analyzed for the rpoB, embB, and katG and inhA regulatory regions. These are mutations believed to associate with rifampin (RIF), ethambutol (EMB), and isoniazid (INH) resistance, respectively. Of the 60 RIF-resistant isolates, 54 (90.0%) carried mutations on the amplified fragment of the rpoB gene, and the most common one (64.8%, 35/54) was at codon 531. Two new mutation patterns were recognized: one isolate harbored three mutations at codons 511, 516, and 518, and the other carried the dual mutation GAChACC at codon 516. A total of 30 INH-resistant isolates (60.0%, 30/50) had mutations at codon 315, whereas 4 (8.0%) had mutations at the inhA regulatory region. Among the 46 EMB-resistant isolates, 22 harbored the Met306 mutation. The results showed geographical variation in the mutation types of drug-resistant genes in M. tuberculosis isolates from Sichuan; this finding is valuable for the development of targeted and rapid molecular diagnostic methods suitable for specific regions.

Second-trimester fetal growth and the risk of poor obstetric and neonatal outcomes

OBJECTIVE

To compare outcomes of fetuses with an estimated fetal weight (EFW) < 25(th) percentile in the second trimester to those in fetuses with EFW >or= 25(th) percentile in the second trimester.

METHODS

We compared outcomes of 252 pregnancies with an EFW < 25(th) percentile at 18-24 weeks' gestation with those of 265 controls. All pregnancies had early dating by ultrasonography. We excluded fetuses with aneuploidy, major malformations, second-trimester rupture of membranes, and multiple pregnancies.

RESULTS

Second-trimester EFW < 25(th) percentile was significantly associated with higher rates of fetal or neonatal death, third-trimester small for gestational age (SGA), Doppler abnormalities, indicated preterm birth, gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia before labor, lower birth weight, birth weight < 10(th) percentile, birth weight < 5(th) percentile, and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit. Many of these associations remained even after excluding patients with oligohydramnios, fetal echogenic bowel, and growth asymmetry.

CONCLUSION

Second-trimester SGA, as defined by an EFW < 25(th) percentile using current growth curves, is associated with poor obstetric and neonatal outcomes. Increased surveillance of such pregnancies may be necessary.

Pharmacokinetic characterization of hydroxylpropyl-beta-cyclodextrin-included complex of cryptotanshinone, an investigational cardiovascular drug purified from Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza)

1. The study aimed to investigate the pharmacokinetics of cryptotanshinone in a hydroxylpropyl-beta-cyclodextrin-included complex in dogs and rats. 2. Animals were administrated the inclusion complex of cryptotanshinone and the concentrations of cryptotanshinone and its major metabolite tanshinone IIA were determined by a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method. 3. Cryptotanshinone in inclusion complex was absorbed slowly after an oral dose, and the C(max) and AUC(0-)(t) were dose-proportional. The bioavailability of cryptotanshinone in rats was (6.9% +/- 1.9%) at 60 mg kg(-1) and (11.1% +/- 1.8%) in dogs at 53.4 mg kg(-1). The t(1/2) of the compound in rats and dogs was 5.3-7.4 and 6.0-10.0 h, respectively. Cryptotanshinone showed a high accumulation in the intestine, lung and liver after oral administration, while the lung, liver and heart had the highest level following intravenous dose. Excretion data in rats showed that cryptotanshinone and its metabolites were mainly eliminated from faeces and bile, and the dose recovery rate was 0.02, 2.2, and 14.9% in urine, bile, and faeces, respectively. 4. The disposition of cryptotanshinone in an inclusion complex was dose-independent and the bioavailability was increased compared with that without cyclodextrin used to formulate the drug. Cryptotanshinone was distributed extensively into different organs. Excretion of cryptotanshinone and its metabolites into urine was extremely low, and they were mainly excreted into faeces and bile.