Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is treated in accordance with symptoms, which is feasible and effective. However, current therapeutic drugs are ineffective against this virus. The development of targeted therapeutic drugs that are based on key proteins in SARS-CoV-2 replication and pathogenesis will provide a more effective means for clinical treatment. In addition, because SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus, which typically mutate readily, new drug development against COVID-19 will be a long-term and arduous task. New approaches to drug discovery for COVID-19 treatment using molecular simulation and machine learning algorithms, and based on the key proteins in the process of SARS-CoV-2 adsorption, entry into the host cell and viral replication are discussed herein, and we briefly introduce related work in our laboratory that can provide strategies to promote the discovery of drugs with different mechanisms of action.

Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. At present, there is no specific antiviral drug for this virus, and the main clinical treatment is support and symptomatic treatment. Direct targeting the virus and the host targets are two strategies for the development of antiviral drugs. At present, the research and development of COVID-19 therapeutic drugs has made some progress on both approaches. Here we review potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs to discuss the antiviral mechanisms and potential of these drugs from the perspectives of virus and host. The role of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of COVID-19 is discussed along with the prospects for drug treatment strategies of COVID-19.

More and more clinical evidence shows that patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) died due to severe complications such as acute respiratory distress syndrome and multiple organ failure due to the aggravation of the disease in the later period, and the main cause of the aggravation is "cytokine storm". There is no specific drug for the treatment of severe COVID-19 patients. Although western medicine can improve some symptoms, it leaves a large sequela, while traditional Chinese medicine plays an important role in this outbreak. In this paper, based on the clinical reported cytokines storm-related indicators, the traditional Chinese medicine systems pharmacology database and analysis platform (TCMSP) was used to mine and screen the traditional Chinese medicines acting on these cytokines based on the theory of "damp toxin invading the lung". It was found that 19 cytokines, including interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and so on, were closely related to COVID-19, and 22 traditional Chinese medicines such as Ephedrae Herba, Glycyrrhizae Radix Et Rhizoma and Lonicerae Japonicae Flos acted on these cytokines, so as to provide certain reference for the reasonable choice of prescription and addition or modification of drugs for COVID-19 patients in the middle and late stage of Chinese medicine clinical treatment.

Small molecular drugs with large ring structure have recently attracted the attention in medicinal chemistry, the reason is their advantages in improving pharmacological activity and selectivity, and in satisfying drug-like properties. The macrocyclic structure takes into account both the microscopic structure for binding to targets and the macroscopic properties required by the pharmacokinetics. Although macrocyclic drugs historically originated from natural products, in recent years, they have been successfully designed, expanded the chemical space of traditional small molecules, and, to some extent, broken through the well-known the Role of Five in drug innovation. In addition, macrocyclic molecules also pave the path for developing drugs for non-druggability targets and for interfering with protein-protein interaction. This article focuses on the molecular design of macrocyclic drugs with some successful examples, concisely discusses structural optimization of a few macrocyclic natural drugs, and briefly describes stapled peptides in medicinal chemistry.

In recent years, cancer immunotherapy has become an important field of basic and applied researches of cancer immunology. Cancer immunotherapy mainly includes cancer vaccine, oncolytic virus therapy, chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T cells), immune checkpoint blocks, monoclonal antibodies, and other strategies. Among them, monoclonal antibody-based cancer immunotherapy has the fastest development. In the past 20 years, monoclonal antibody has become one of the drugs with remarkable curative effect and novel type for human malignant tumors, especially the monoclonal antibody targeting immune checkpoints, play an important role in immunotherapy. In this review, we will summarize the current situation of monoclonal antibody-based cancer immunotherapy, potential immune modulatory mechanism, antibody targeting molecules and its immunotherapeutic agents, and explore the trend of monoclonal antibody-based agents in cancer immunotherapy.

Acid-sensing ion channel 1a (ASIC1a) is an ammonia-chlorine-sensitive ligand-gated ion channel, and is widely distributed and expressed in the central and peripheral nervous systems. In a physiological environment, cells maintain a stable pH value around 7.0-7.5 through various transport modes of H⁺. During the occurrence of some pathological conditions such as allergic asthma, nephritis, arthritis, enteritis, acute lung injury, and other inflammatory diseases, the anaerobic glycolysis of tissue produces H⁺ accumulation of lactic acid and ATP hydrolysis, resulting in tissue acidification and body fluids. The pH value drops sharply to around 4.0-6.0, which further activates ASIC1a, causing a sharp deterioration of the inflammatory disease. In recent years, targeting ASIC1a may be a potential treatment strategy. This review briefly summarizes the role of ASIC1a in inflammatory diseases and discusses the research progress of ASIC1a in inflammatory diseases.

Chloroquine is a quinine derivative which is synthesized by German scholars in 1934. In addition to its anti-malaria, treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus and immunomodulatory effects, chloroquine is also found valuable in broad-spectrum antiviral treatment. Clinical trials have confirmed that chloroquine has a good effect on acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. In 2019, there were many patients infected with novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2). Preliminary clinical trials showed that chloroquine had obvious curative effect on patients with SARS-CoV-2. We summarize the effects of chloroquine to different viruses, explain its mechanism, and compare the results of its experiments in vitro and in vivo. The antiviral effect of chloroquine in vivo and in vitro are not consistent, which may be related to the model of animal, dosage and distribution of chloroquine in vivo, and the design of clinical research.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding single-stranded RNAs involved in the regulation of gene expression found in a wide variety of eukaryotic cells and viruses. Recent studies have shown that some plant-derived miRNAs, which can stably exist in blood, tissues, and organs of animals, play a role in regulating the expression of different target proteins. In this review, we intend to sort out the mechanism of plant miRNA regulation based on the current research, and discuss its application prospects in the mining of miRNA active components of traditional Chinese medicine, small nucleic acid drug development, and drug development using plants as carriers. This can be beneficial to deepen the understanding of plant miRNA regulation, as well as the pharmacological mechanism and biological function of medicinal plants, thus providing new ideas for the prevention or treatment therapies towards human diseases.

Heart failure is a serious public health problem with tens of millions of people suffering from its poor prognosis. Epidemiological studies indicate that its morbidity is rising year by year and its mortality has dramatically increased in recent years, with a trend towards younger people. Although great progress has been achieved in the development of medicine in recent years, finding effective agents against heart failure remains an unconquered area in medicine development. A large number of natural medicines and their bioactive compounds, possessing mild and low toxicity as well as multiple target comprehensive effects, have been implicated in a wide range of pharmacological properties in recovering heart function, reducing energy barriers, and improving the life quality of patients. In recent years, they have been widely applied in clinical treatment for heart failure. Hence, summarizing and elucidating the convincing mechanisms for these natural medicines and their bioactive compounds would provide therapeutic targets and benefits for the treatment against heart failure.

The rapid development of antibiotic resistance among bacterial pathogens has threatened to take humans back to the "pre-antibiotic era". The New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM-1) hydrolyzes nearly all β-lactam antibiotics including carbapenems. Bacterial strains carrying blaNDM-1 gene are termed "superbugs" and clinical inhibitors of NDM-1 have not yet been identified. Discovery of novel NDM-1 inhibitors is a challenging but rewarding research area. This review focuses on the structural characteristics and catalytic mechanisms of NDM-1, and comprehensively summarizes the development of NDM-1 inhibitors in order to facilitate the further development of NDM-1 inhibitors.

Intestinal Peyer's patches (PPs) are important sites to induce mucosal immunity response. As a kind of specialized epithelial cells in PPs, microfold cells (M cells) have a unique ability to take up antigens and can promote systemic immune response by transferring antigens to dendritic cells (DCs) in PPs. Selecting a suitable drug delivery vehicle and modifying the vehicle with a specific ligand can target drugs and bioactive substances to M cells to exert a therapeutic effect on intestinal immune-related diseases. This paper reviews the relevant literatures in the past 20 years, and summarizes and analyzes the ligands, types of vehicles, material properties that target M cells and main factors affecting the uptake of M cells, in order to provide construction ideas and experimental methods that can be worthy of reference for the study of PPs M cells-targeting drug delivery strategies.

The injectable recombinant protein of exendin-4 and human serum albumin (HSA), E2HSA, is a long-acting glucagon like-peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist, which is in clinical research stage now. This study aimed to evaluate the protective effects of E2HSA on mouse islet β cell function in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, the mouse insulinoma cells NIT-1 were used to assay the effects of E2HSA on cell viability and proliferation. Besides, the water soluble cholesterol was adopted to induce cell injury, and then the effects of E2HSA on cell viability and apoptosis, as well as the mechanism, were studied. In vivo, the alloxan-induced hyperglycemic mice were repeatedly administered with E2HSA by subcutaneous injection, and the blood glucose, serum insulin, and content of insulin in islets were measured. All animal experiments were carried out with approval of the Experimental Animal Welfare Ethics Committee of the Institute of Materia Medica (Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College). The results showed that E2HSA significantly increased the viability of NIT-1 cells and the amount of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporated in cells. Besides, the water soluble cholesterol significantly decreased the cell viability and induced apoptosis of NIT-1 cells, but E2HSA significantly reversed the injury of NIT-1 cells. Nevertheless, E2HSA significantly increased the expression of pancreatic duodenal homeobox-1 (PDX-1) and protein kinase B (PKB) of NIT-1 cells after injured by water soluble cholesterol. Furthermore, repeated injections of E2HSA significantly reduced the fasting and non-fasting blood glucose, increased the serum insulin level and raised the insulin content in β cells of alloxan-induced hyperglycemic mice. In conclusion, E2HSA could promote proliferation of NIT-1 cells, inhibit the water soluble cholesterol induced injury and apoptosis, and increase the insulin content in serum and islets of alloxan-induced hyperglycemic mice, suggesting the protective effects on pancreatic islet β cell function.

The benzaimides chidamide and entinostat are inhibitors of histone deacetylase and have been approved for clinic use. As drug resistance readily occurs in cancer chemotherapy, the characteristics of these drugs were studied in doxorubicin-sensitive and resistant human breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Using a CCK-8 assay for measuring cell proliferation, doxorubicin-resistant cells showed some resistance to chidamide and entinostat, with greater resistance to chidamide. Potentiation of cis-diamine-dichloroplatinum action by entinostat was observed in resistant cells. The accumulation of rhodomine 123, an indirect indicator of ATP-binding cassette B1 (ABCB1)-mediated resistance, was not affected by incubation with chidamide or entinostat, suggesting that neither drug is a substrate for ABCB1. However, ABCB1 expression was significantly increased in resistance cells incubated with a fixed concentration of entinostat. Slowing of the cell cycle at G1 phase and slightly increased cell numbers at G2/M phase was detected by flow cytometry when the cell lines were treated with chidamide or entinostat. Both drugs could induce spherical morphological changes and cleavage of PARP1, an indicater of apoptosis in doxorubicin-sensitive MCF-7 cells, whereas no apoptotic features were observed in resistant cells. These findings show that there is some resistance to chidamide and entinostat in doxorubicin-resistant MCF-7 cells and that this resistance may further oppose apoptosis.

Although noninvasive trachea cannula is a common technique in clinic, this technique is hard to be applied in mice. It is even more difficult to perform the repeated noninvasive trachea cannula on the same mouse due to the throat injury. Here we report an effective, rapid and easy method to perform the noninvasive intubation on mice. This method can effectively be applied to many pharmacological and other related studies. In addition, this strategy can protect the mouse from physical injury caused by operative procedure. All procedures involving animal treatment were approved according to the Committee on the Ethics of Animal Experiments of the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. In alliance with lung function measurement system, we detected the normal lung function values and presented the lung function development curves of mice of different age. We found that the lung function of mice was matured at 8 weeks old or at the body weight of 18-20 g. In addition, we constructed the mouse model of multiple bleomycin induced pulmonary fibrosis by using this method and illustrated that the trachea cannula is more efficiency than nasal inhalation. Using this method, we have confirmed that the immune microenvironment in lung tissue of multiple bleomycin model is distinct from that of single bleomycin induced pulmonary fibrosis model. Thus, this method is a reliable and safe strategy for the pharmacology study.

Cyclophosphamide (CPA) is the first-line chemotherapy for many tumors, but its overdose will lead to hepatotoxicity. This study aims to investigate whether the combined administration of oxymatrine (OMT) with CPA will aggravate the hepatotoxicity induced by CPA and its engaged mechanism. The expression of hepatic Cyp2b10 mRNA and CYP2B10 protein was detected by qPCR and Western blot in mice at different times after OMT (100 mg·kg^-1) administration. Mice were given with different doses of OMT (intragastric administration, ig) every day. At the same time, CPA (200 mg·kg^-1) was also intraperitoneally injected into mice every other day. After 10 days, serum alanine/aspartate aminotransferase (ALT/AST) activity, the mortality of mice and hepatic mRNA expression of Cyp2b10 were detected. Furthermore, the correlation among ALT/AST activity, the mortality and Cyp2b10 mRNA expression was analyzed. All animals were received humane care according to the institutional animal care guidelines approved by the Experimental Animal Ethical Committee of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The results showed that OMT itself enhanced hepatic mRNA and protein expression of Cyp2b10 (P < 0.05), and increased liver enzymatic activity of CYP2B10 in mice (P < 0.05). In mice treated with CPA plus OMT, OMT obviously enhanced the mortality of mice induced by CPA (from 33.3% to 58.3%). The results of serum biochemical analysis and hepatic mRNA expression of Cyp2b10 showed that OMT further enhanced the increased serum ALT/AST activity and hepatic Cyp2b10 mRNA expression in mice (P < 0.05). There was a good correlation between serum ALT/AST activity and mortality or hepatic Cyp2b10 mRNA expression. These results showed that OMT could enhance hepatic Cyp2b10 mRNA expression and increase liver CYP2B10 enzymatic activity, and then promoted the metabolism of CPA, and thus aggravated CPA-induced hepatotoxicity in mice.

This study was performed to determine the metabolic profile of a new illicit drug, PX-2, in human liver microsomes. Q Exactive™ HF Quadrupole-Orbitrap LC-MS (LC-QE-HF-Orbitrap-MS) was employed to determine the metabolic sites and pathways of phase Ⅰ and phase Ⅱ metabolism. PX-2 was added to a microsomal incubation model to simulate human hepatic metabolism. The results showed that a total of 18 phase Ⅰ metabolites and 3 glucuronidated phase Ⅱ metabolites were generated, with the main metabolic pathways of phase Ⅰ metabolism including amide hydrolysis, fluoropentyl oxidative defluorination, benzyl hydroxylation, and carbazole ring hydroxylation. Based on the type and sites of metabolism, phase Ⅰ metabolites M1.1 (amide hydrolysis), M4.1 (carbazole cyclic hydroxylation), and M3.1 (oxidative defluorinative hydroxylation) are proposed to be potential poisoning markers. The results of this study provide a basis for identification of related drugs and establishment of testing methods in biological samples.

Our previous report demonstrated puerarin protected β cells by up-regulating the expression of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor (GLP-1R). However, whether the anti-diabetic effects of puerarin in vivo depend on GLP-1R activation has not been clarified. In this study, the GLP-1R agonist exendin-4 (Ex4) and the GLP-1R antagonist exendin 9-39 (Ex9-30) were used. Type 2 diabetes was induced in C57BL/6J mice by a high fat diet (HFD) and divided into the following groups: control, HFD, HFD/puerarin (300 mg·kg^-1·d^-1), HFD/puerarin/exendin 9-39 (Ex9-39: 10 nmol·kg^-1·d^-1), and HFD/puerarin/exendin-4 group (Ex4: 10 nmol·kg^-1·d^-1). Animal experiments were approved by the Research Animal Care Committee of Affiliated Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine (AEWC-025). Puerarin was administered orally, Ex9-39 and Ex4 were administered by intraperitoneal injection for 10 days. Compared with HFD group, after 10-day treatment, the fasting blood glucose and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) of diabetic mice were effectively improved by puerarin (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, serum insulin levels were increased by puerarin, and levels of glucagon, triglycerides, and total cholesterol were significantly reduced (P < 0.05). Importantly, Ex4 significantly enhanced the anti-diabetic effects of puerarin in HFD mice, while Ex9-39 markedly inhibited the effects of puerarin (P < 0.05), which indicates that the effects of puerarin depend on GLP-1R activation. Furthermore, results of Western blotting of liver tissue showed puerarin effectively activated AKT and inhibited FOXO1, which relied on GLP-1R activation as well. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that puerarin ameliorates glucose homeostasis in HFD mice and is dependent on GLP-1R activation. This study provides experimental support for the potential application of puerarin.

The paper aims to study and compare the effects of Scutellaria baicalensis leaves (SLE) and Scutellaria baicalensis tea (STE) water extracts on the lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster, and explore their anti-aging mechanism through metabolomics. Lifespan, food intake and fertility were measured after administering different doses of SLE and STE to a Drosophila natural aging model, and the metabolic profile of Drosophila was analyzed by metabolomics and multivariate statistical methods. The results showed that SLE and STE (1, 3 g·L^-1) could significantly prolong the average lifespan, median life and maximum lifespan of male Drosophila, improve the fertility of Drosophila, and had no effect on the food intake. Through metabolomics technology, 14 differential metabolites related to aging were found, involving a total of five metabolic pathways. All differential metabolites were reversed after STE intervention, while 13 differential metabolites were reversed after SLE intervention. The results suggest that SLE and STE can delay aging of Drosophila, and the anti-aging mechanism is related to energy metabolism.

In this study, we used molecular docking technology and validation experiments in vitro to screen the active ingredients of Erzhi pill for treating osteoporosis. Firstly, the compound in Erzhi pill was docked with ten osteoporosis-related targets by molecular docking technology, and the five active compounds, salidroside, specnuezhenide, tyrosol, quercetin, and wedelolactone, were initially selected. Then, MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts were cultured in α-Mem medium containing different concentrations of compounds, and the cell proliferation rate and mineralized nodules were tested. The verification results showed that the proliferation of MC3T3-E1 cells with salidroside, specnuezhenide and quercetin were more obvious, and salidroside has a better effect on the mineralization of MC3T3-E1 cells than those of specnuezhenide and tyrosol. The molecular docking technology coupled with validation experiment in vitro can be used for the screening of anti-osteoporotic active ingredients of Erzhi pill, and it can also provide a method for the study of effective ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine.

Huang-Kui-Si-Wu Formula (HKSWF) can reduce the accumulation of uremic toxin p-cresyl sulfate (PCS) and its precursor p-cresol (PC) in a rat model of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and delay the progression of CKD. However, the mechanism by which HKSWF decreases PC accumulation is not clear. This study investigated the effect of HKSWF on PC production in intestinal microbes as well as its mechanism of action. After CKD model rats were given HKSWF by intragastric administration, feces were collected to analyze the gut bacterial composition by 16S rDNA sequencing technology. All procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine. The results showed that HKSWF inhibited PC production without decreasing the abundance of harmful bacteria. HPLC-UV-FLD was used to detect p-cresol. An in vitro anaerobic culture system was used to study the effect and mechanism of action of HKSWF on PC production in gut bacteria. The results show that food-derived tyrosine (Tyr) could significantly promote PC production in intestinal bacteria, and HKSWF (4000, 400, 40 μg·mL^-1) could dose-dependently inhibit PC production in gut bacteria in vitro. HKSWF inhibited bacterial PC synthesis by two pathways: it decreased the oxidation pathway from 82.83% to 38.87%, and increased the reductive pathway from 17.17% to 61.13%. This result suggests that HKSWF could inhibit PC production by switching tyrosine metabolism from an oxidative pathway to a reductive pathway. Secondly, HKSWF could directly inhibit the oxidative pathway of tyrosine and decrease the decomposition of PHA, thereby inhibiting PC production. These results suggest that HKSWF could inhibit the formation of harmful uremic toxins by modulating the metabolic pathway of PC in gut microbiota and thereby delaying CKD progression.

Fifteen 9-substituted palmatine (1) derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their anti-Helicobacter pylori (Hp) activities in vitro. Structure-activity relationship studies revealed that introducing appropriate substituted secondary amino group at position 9 of lead 1 might be beneficial for potency. Among them, compound 5a showed the most potential activity against metronidazole (Met) resistant Hp isolates with minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 4 μg·mL^-1, much better than that of lead 1. Compound 5a displayed satisfactory safety profile in acute toxicity assay. Molecular docking suggested that 5a might act on Hp urease. The results provided key scientific evidence for the development of 1 derivatives into a new class of anti-Hp component.

Asparagus cochinchinensis is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine with steroidal saponins as its main active ingredients. Due to the structural similarity and size of the steroidal saponins, these compounds cannot always be effectively separated by a combination of normal phase silica gel column chromatography and reversed phase ODS column chromatography. In this experiment, chromatographic columns with different separation mechanisms were systematically screened, and it was found that a chiral chromatographic cellulose column could effectively separate these components. This column was used to separate 3 mixtures to obtain 6 single compounds (1-6). Structural identification showed that the singular structural difference between these poorly separated components resides in a terminal glycosyl group (xylose or rhamnose) in the C-3 glycosyl chain, and compounds 4 and 6 are two new steroidal saponins. Since the structures of compounds are often unknown during the isolation and purification of natural products, chiral columns are rarely used. This study suggests that chiral chromatographic columns are a valuable option for natural products that are difficult to separate by conventional means.

An LC-MS/MS method was developed for the simultaneous determination prednisone acetate, prednisone and active metabolite prednisolone in dog plasma, and applied to a bioavailability and pharmacokinetics study of oral dose of prednisone acetate (2.0 mg·kg^-1) and prednisone (1.8 mg·kg^-1) given to Beagle dogs in a randomized, two-way crossover study. This experiment scheme was approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Shanghai Institute of Medicine, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dexamethason was used as internal standard. After extraction from the plasma by protein precipitation, the analytes and internal standard were separated on an HSS T₃ (50 mm×2.1 mm, 1.8 μm) column using a gradient elution procedure. The mobile phase consisted of methanol and 5 mmol·L^-1 ammonium acetate aqueous solution (0.1% formic acid). Positive electrospray ionization was performed using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) with transitions of m/z 401.2→295.2 for prednisone acetate, m/z 359.2→313.2 for prednisone, m/z 361.2→325.1 for prednisolone, m/z 393.2→373.0 for dexamethason. After prednisone acetate was administered, the C_max of prednisone was (25.1 ±3.61) ng·mL^-1 and AUC_0-t was (115 ±27.2) h·ng·mL^-1, while the C_max of prednisolone was (207 ±38.5) ng·mL^-1 and AUC_0-t was (760 ±218) h·ng·mL^-1. After prednisone was administered, the C_max of prednisone was (67.9 ±22.6) ng·mL^-1 and AUC_0-t was (160 ±19.3) h·ng·mL^-1, while the C_max of prednisolone was (582 ±81.4) ng·mL^-1 and AUC_0-t was (1 310 ±140) h·ng·mL^-1. The relative bioavailability of prednisone acetate to prednisone was only 57.1%.

In this study the blending process of Qingyan tablets was simplified and simulated, and near infrared spectroscopy was used to monitor the blending process of several raw materials in different particle size systems to explore the influence of particle size on the blending end-point. Five blended batches with different particle sizes were designed in this experiment and the near infrared spectra of the blended samples were collected. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) models of the contents of Platycodonis Radix, Fructus Chebulae, borax, Hanshuishi and microcrystalline cellulose were developed. A quantitative model was applied to determine the blending end-points of three separate batches of blends with different particle sizes. The moving block of standard deviation (MBSD) was used as a qualitative method for determination of the blending end-point. The results show that the smaller the particle size of the materials, the shorter the time to reach the blending end-points, and with more accurate model predictions. In addition, although the MBSD method is convenient and fast without modeling, the results of blending end-point determination were not as accurate as PLSR method. This approach allowed us to determine the blending end-point of Qingyan tablets.

The aim of this study was to identify the anti-inflammatory markers of Zhachong shisanwei pills (ZC-13) and characterize their mechanisms. UPLC/Q-TOF-MS combined with an NF-κB dual fluorescence reporter gene system and NO content detection were utilized to identify the anti-inflammatory bioactive substances in ZC-13. Network pharmacology and bioinformatics methods were used to predict the main targets and pathways of these anti-inflammatory markers, and to verify the main anti-inflammatory pathways of costunolide. Results showed that in ZC-13, four kinds of markers related to NF-κB inhibition were identified: gallic acid, ellagic acid, liquiritin apioside, glycyrrhizic acid, and four kinds of markers related to NO release inhibition were found: gallic acid, liquiritigenin, costunolide, and dehydrocostus lactone. The above components exert anti-inflammatory activities mainly through the regulation of PDK1 (3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1), MAPK14 (mitogen-activated protein kinase), GSK3β (glycogen synthase kinase-3β) and other anti-inflammatory-related targets, and further adjust the PI3K-AKT (phosphoinositide 3-kinase- protein kinase B), MAPK, mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) pathways. Among them, costunolide can inhibit AKT phosphorylation and NF-κB nuclear transfer. The above results identified the anti-inflammatory markers and possible mechanisms of ZC-13, and provide a theoretical basis for standardizing the clinical application and quality of ZC-13.

A method was developed for the rapid and systematic identification of alkaloids in Chelidonium majus L. by HPLC-Q-TOF/MS. The separation was performed on an XCharge C18 column (5 μm, 4.6 mm×250 mm) with acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid in water by gradient elution. The flow rate was 0.7 mL·min^-1. The primary mass spectrometer molecular ion and the secondary mass spectrometry fragment ion were determined. The mass spectrometric cleavage of alkaloids was determined and the structures were used to systematically identify the alkaloids in Chelidonium majus L. To verify the accuracy of the qualitative results, three alkaloids were purified and identified by NMR. Twenty-one alkaloids were identified from Chelidonium majus L., including one aporphine-type alkaloid, three protopine-type alkaloids, 11 benzophenanthrine-type alkaloids and six protoberberine-type alkaloids. (S)-N-methylstylopine (8) was first reported in Chelidonium majus L. and dihydrocoptisine (11) and norchelidonine (12) were identified for the first time in Chelidonium majus L. using this technique. The chemical structures of the purified compounds are consistent with the qualitative results of the mass spectrometric analysis. The method is fast and accurate and can provide a basis for the identification and extraction of the chemical constituents of Chelidonium majus L.

This study aims to synthesize fluorinated hyperbranched poly(amido amine)s for the delivery of influenza DNA vaccine. Hyperbranched poly(amido amine)s (HP) were synthesized by using Michael-type polyaddition and then fluorinated to obtain fluorinated polymers (F-HP). The target gene was amplified by designing specific primers to construct the eukaryotic expression plasmid of influenza viral PR8 nucleoprotein (NP) gene as DNA vaccines. Then the polyplexes (F-HP/NP) were prepared by the electrostatic interactions between polymers and plasmid. The results suggested that the molecular weight of HP was 59.7 kDa and polydispersity index (PDI) was 2.67. The fluorine content in F-HP was found to be 20% (w/w). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that the polyplexes had spherical shapes with sizes around 100 nm (w/w 5-10) and decreased with increasing w/w ratios. F-HP polyplexes showed improved cell uptake, lysosomal escape and elevated expression levels of NP in vitro than polyplexes based on HP. Finally, the in-vivo immunization by F-HP/NP polyplexes triggered improved CD8⁺ T cell responses. This study suggests that fluorinated hyperbranched poly (amido amine)s represent one of the effective carriers for DNA vaccine delivery. The animal experiments were approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Yangzhou University.

The adenosine triphosphate (ATP) liposome, prepared with the methods of film dispersion and ion-pairing was evaluated for its therapeutic effect on hypoxic brain damage. The appropriate formulation is adenosine disodium triphosphate, hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide, soybean phospholipid, cholesterol with mass ratio of 1:1.98:8:3. The encapsulation efficiency of ATP liposome was (81.50 ±0.82) % and the loading efficiency was (6.79 ±0.07) %. In vitro release test and rheology test were conducted to investigate the physicochemical properties of ATP liposomes and empty gels respectively. The blank methylcellulose gel, followed with ATP liposome and ATP aqueous solution added to the methycellulose gel, were used for nasal administration in mice respectively. All experiments were approved by the Ethics Committee for Experimental Research in Academy of Military Medical Sciences. After 9 days of continuous administration, ATP liposome hydrogel increased the values of red blood cells and hemoglobin (P < 0.01) compared to ATP hydrogel and blank gel. And the ATP liposome hydrogel significantly increased the standard hypoxia tolerance time in mice compared to ATP hydrogel and blank gel after 13 days of nasal administration (P < 0.05). The immunohistochemical staining of mice hippocampus for the proapoptotic gene p53 showed that ATP liposome hydrogel was capable of protecting brain tissue in hypoxia. It is indicated that the prophylactic administration of ATP liposome nasal gel can significantly improve the hypoxia tolerance of mice, and the ATP liposome nasal gel was proved to be a promising anti-hypoxia preparation.

Delivering water-soluble drugs via carriers often causes problems such as low loading and rapid releasing, so it is an urgent need to construct a high-load sustained-release drug delivery system for the clinical application of water-soluble drugs. Two-dimensional layered nanomaterials exhibit great potential in drug delivery due to their high specific surface area. In this study, bulk graphitic carbon nitride (b-g-C₃N₄) was obtained by calcination of urea. Graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets (g-C₃N₄-NS) were made from an alkali chemical-ultrasonic-assisted stripping process. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy were adopted to observe the morphological characteristics of g-C₃N₄-NS, while the structural characteristics of g-C₃N₄-NS were analyzed by X-ray diffractometer and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Ultraviolet spectrometry and fluorescence spectrometry were used to investigate the optical properties of g-C₃N₄-NS, and scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometer were employed to investigate the stability of g-C₃N₄-NS. Polyethyleneimine (PEI) was applied in the study to functionally modify g-C₃N₄-NS, and salvianolic acid B (Sal B) was used as a water-soluble drug model to investigate the loading capacity and drug releasing behavior of g-C₃N₄-NS. The results showed that g-C₃N₄-NS had a sheet structure, and it is easy to self-assemble in layers in the ionic environment to create flocculating settling. PEI modification can lead to the switching in the surface charge of g-C₃N₄-NS and significantly improve its stability. The results of cytotoxicity test and zebrafish embryo toxicity test showed that the toxicity was low when the concentration of PEI-g-C₃N₄-NS was less than 800 μg·mL^-1. The large specific surface area and surface charge of PEI-g-C₃N₄-NS allow the maximum load factor over Sal B to reach 327.4%. In addition, PEI-g-C₃N₄-NS can continuously release drugs slowly, with a cumulative release rate of 79.2% in seven straight days. The release process conforms to the Higuchi equation. In summary, g-C₃N₄-NS modified by PEI exhibits good biocompatibility and high stability, and shows great potential in high-load and sustained-release applications of water-soluble drugs.

Degradation of dexamethasone (DXM) is inevitable in the release test of dexamethasone implants (DI). In the release test conducted with flow-through cell method, the measured release curves of DI started to fall when cumulative release reached 70%-80%. Studies have shown that DI demonstrates a zero-order release rate of drug within every sampling interval, and a zero-order rate degradation in water (containing 0.05 mg·mL^-1 benzalkonium chloride). Hence, this study establishes a double zero-order model (DZOM) to calculate the release during sampling intervals with the formula R_i = [R_im-R_(i-1)m×(C_in/C_i0)]×2/(1+C_in/C_i0). At each sampling interval, we measure the initial and final drug contents in the release medium, and the concentrations of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in the release medium obtained at the same condition of release test, to calculate the total released DXM from the implants including the degraded drug. This paper has also analyzed the reasons for the fluctuations in the drug release curve and the errors in the DZOM and provided solutions. Experimental results show that the DZOM has effectively solved the problems encountered in the normal release method (NRM). The DZOM can be a potential solution to drug degradation problems in the release tests of long-acting injections.

Zedoary turmeric oil dry powder inhalers (ZDPIs) and curcumol dry powder inhalers (CDPIs) were prepared and intratracheally (i.t.) administered to the rats that suffered from acute lung injury (ALI) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and their therapeutic efficiencies were compared. Zedoary turmeric oil nanoemulsions and curcumol nanoemulsions were separately prepared and ZDPIs and CDPIs were obtained after the emulsions were added with 5% mannitol and lyophilized. ZDPIs and CDPIs are loose white powders with the aerodynamic diameters (D_a) of 3.02 and 2.67 µm, respectively. Both ZDPIs and CDPIs were suitable for pulmonary delivery. Animal experiments were approved by the Ethics Committee of Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Academy of Military Medical Sciences and the experiments were conducted in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. ALI rat models were established by i.t. administration of 0.2 mL of 5 mg·mL^-1 LPS solution and ZDPIs (with zedoary turmeric oil 0.5 mg) or CDPIs (with curcumol 0.5 mg) were i.t. administered. Both of them remarkably alleviated bleeding of injured lung tissues, and great reduced the levels of inflammatory factors tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, total proteins in the lung tissues (P < 0.001). They showed similar high effect against ALI. The non-curcumol components in zedoary turmeric oils could also have anti-inflammatory effect. ZDPIs and CDPIs are promising medications for the treatment of ALI and this comparative study is a paradigm of the research on active ingredients and effective compounds in natural products.

The structural modification of nano-micellar polymer carriers can not only increase the solubilization of insoluble drugs, but also make drug-loaded carriers aggregate in tumor tissues. In this paper, paclitaxel (PTX) was used as a model drug, D-α-tocopherol polyethyleneglycol 1 000 succinate (TPGS) modified by disulfide bond (-S-S-) and oleic acid (OA) was synthesized and mixed micelles were prepared with different molar ratios of sodium deoxycholate (NADC), and TPGS and NADC mixed micelles modified by thioether bond were synthesized for comparative study. The effects of the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the modified polymer and the molar ratio of TPGS-OA and NADC on the physical and chemical properties of the micelle were investigated. Finally, the redox drug release ability of disulfide bond and thioether bond was compared. The results showed that when the molar ratio of TPGS-OA to NADC decreased, the drug loading increased, but the stability decreased. When the molar ratio was 3:1, the particle size, potential and entrapment efficiency of TPGS-S-S-OA/NADC were 96.24 ±0.14 nm, -24.4 mV and (98.7 ±0.08)%, respectively, hemolysis rate of mixed micelles is less than 2%. The disulfide modified mixed micelles released PTX completely within 5 h in 10 mmol·L^-1 H₂O₂ environment (pH 7.4), which was similar to that of thioether modified micelles. It was also found that the stability of micelles decreased when the pH value was low. All animal experiments were in accordance with ethical standards and were approved by the Animal Experimental Center of Shenyang Pharmaceutical University (No.211002300032403). In this study, we mainly developed stable nano-micelle carriers which can target drug release in tumor heterogeneous environment.

This study aimed to establish a method for identification of the prescription components of Pule'an Tablet based on DNA barcoding technology. Sixteen samples have been collected from 8 different companies, and their DNA were purified using Plant and Animal Genomic Kits. The amplification rates of ITS2 were both 100%, and the amplification rates of COI were 43.75% and 56.25% for these samples' DNA purified using plant and animal kits, respectively. For ITS2, 12 samples obtained high-quality sequencing traces and then were identified as containing Brassica campestris. The other 4 samples showed crucial SNP peaks in the sequencing traces, which were assigned to be B. campestris and B. nigra on the basis of cloning and sequencing experiments. For the PCR products of 9 samples from COI universal primers, two samples were directly sequenced and identified as aphids, and 7 other samples were subjected to cloning and sequencing experiments. Finally, we obtained 82 clone sequences and found that Apis mellifera was detected only in 5 of the remaining 7 samples, and pathogens or pests were detected in all these 7 samples. To solve the failure of bee source detection caused by exogenous contaminations based on COI universal primers, we designed two new COI primer pairs of Apis genus. The amplification rates of both primer pairs were 43.75%, and they were identified as A. mellifera. A total of 9 bee source-free Pule'an Tablet samples from 3 different batches were produced by the same company, and each batch contained 3 replicates. Thus, we speculated that raw rape pollen materials for these 9 samples was not collected by bees. This study proposes an identification method for the prescription components of Pule'an Tablets based on ITS2 and COI sequences, which will provide scientific basis and technical guidance for quality control and market regulation of Pule'an Tablets.

The quality of the same herbal medicines in different daodi-origins in China is significantly different. Our research team previously found that using protocatechuic acid as a chemical marker can divide the Cynomorium songaricum into outside-the Great Wall (Inner Mongolia) and inside-the Great Wall (Gansu). However, the ecological mechanism that causes the quality variation of C. songaricum is unclear. Based on the microbiome-ecological strategy, 16s amplicon sequencing was performed on rhizosphere soils of C. songaricum in two origins (Inner Mongolia and Gansu), and the composition of soil microbial communities was analyzed. Tax4Fun was used to predict the metabolic function of soil microbial communities. Correlation analysis by combing with the abundance of key microbial community and ecological climate factors was performed. Microbiome sequencing results revealed that the diversity of soil microbial communities in Inner Mongolia was significantly higher than that in Gansu. Five core microbiomes (Arthrobacter, Streptomyces, Bacillus, etc.) and six specific biomarkers of soil microbial communities (Microbulbifer, Methyloceanibacter, Cynomorium_coccineum, etc.) which could be distinguished from two origins were identified. For the first time, metabolic function prediction showed the metabolic function profile of soil microbiome of C. songaricum in two origins. Redundancy analysis and correlation analysis results showed that the annual sunshine hours was the main ecological factor affecting the composition of the soil microbial community of C. songaricum, and it was extremely significantly negatively related to Streptomyces and Bacillus. This article provides a new idea for explaining the formation mechanism of quality variation in the daodi-origins of C. songaricum, and also provides a scientific basis for theoretical research on the quality ecology of herbal medicines.

Fc region of a monoclonal antibody usually contains two N-glycosylation, which have a profound influence on its structure and function. Here, we review the relationship between various glycoforms and their impact on structure and function of monoclonal antibodies, along with the technologies for glycosylation analysis. In addition, some related Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC) regulatory considerations are also discussed, such as specification improvement, biosimilarity assessment as well as comparability of pre- and post-process changes in glycosylation.