title: Effect of Nourishing "Yin" Removing "Fire" Chinese Herbal Mixture on Hypothalamic Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Expression during Onset of Puberty in Female Rats.
abstract: Aim. The present study aims to investigate the effects of nourishing "Yin" removing "Fire" (NYRF) Chinese herbal mixture on puberty onset and hypothalamic mTOR expression in female rats. Materials and Methods. Forty female 20-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into Chinese herbal mixture (CHM) and normal saline (NS) groups. Rats in CHM and NS were treated with NYRF mixture and normal saline, respectively, from d22. Rats in each group were sacrificed on d28, d31, and d34. Serum luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and estradiol (E2) levels were analyzed by ELISA. Hypothalamic mTOR mRNA expression levels were determined by RT-PCR and hypothalamic p-mTOR protein levels were assayed by western blot. Results. The vaginal opening time in CHM group was significantly delayed (P < 0.05). On d31, in comparison with NS group, the coefficients of uteri and ovaries, levels of serum LH and E2, and the expression levels of hypothalamic mTOR mRNA and p-mTOR protein were significantly lower in CHM group (P < 0.05). Conclusion. The mechanism by which the nourishing "Yin" removing "Fire" Chinese herbal mixture delays puberty onset may be associated with the inhibition of the hypothalamic mTOR signaling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Medicine, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, 399 Wanyuan Road, Shanghai 201102, China.
authors.forename: Gulan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Medicine, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, 399 Wanyuan Road, Shanghai 201102, China.
authors.forename: Xinghui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Medicine, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, 399 Wanyuan Road, Shanghai 201102, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Medicine, Children's Hospital of Fudan University, 399 Wanyuan Road, Shanghai 201102, China.
authors.forename: Yonghong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and Integrative Medicine, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, 130 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Zhanzhuang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tian