This paper reviews modern science and technology with regard to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) research methods, quality control, and discusses the establishment and improvement of the evaluation system for TCM, focusing on the following issues: 1) How to incorporate the efficacy of TCM in the overall evaluation of TCM quality; 2) how to quantify the efficacy and properties of TCM; 3) how to understand the correlation between the efficacy and properties of TCM and its application; 4) how to reflect the specificity of the effective components in the overall evaluation of TCM quality; and 5) how to reflect the quality value transfer of effective components in the whole process of production and metabolism in vivo to the overall evaluation of TCM quality. The overall quality evaluation of TCM needs to better reflect its clinically safety and effectiveness. It is suggested to establish a clinical quality assessment method based on the content of the chemical components of TCM to explore and establish an overall evaluation method of TCM quality that reflects the efficacy of TCM and conforms with clinical practice.

The gut microbiota takes part in many in vivo important physiological activities of host, such as the substance metabolism and energy exchange, etc. The interaction between the host and the intestinal microorganisms has attracted scholars' attention. Flavonoids are a group of polyphenol compounds widely found in natural plants, with the bioactive effect of regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism, anti-inflammation. However, their low bioavailability cause difficulty to clarify the effective substances and the mechanism of flavonoids. Apart from the metabolic effects of liver on flavonoids, recent studies have shown that the gut microbiota can interact with flavonoids. On the one hand, flavonoids can be metabolized by gut microbiota and subsequent metabolites can produce pharmacological activities different from the parent components. On the other hand, flavonoids and their metabolites can in turn regulate the composition and physiological activities of the intestinal flora, which seems to provide a new insight for the research on the effective substances of flavonoids. In this review, we introduced the metabolic characteristics of flavonoids under the actions of intestinal bacteria, and the regulation effects of flavonoids on gut microbiota was also summarized. Meanwhile, the therapeutic effect of flavonoids under the action of intestinal bacteria was discussed.

As the main active compound of Stephania tetrandra S. Moore, tetrandrine (TET) has been used to treat silicosis for nearly 50 years. TET has clear therapeutic effect on pulmonary fibrosis and lung cancer. A recent study suggests that TET may inhibit the replication of SARS-CoV-2 by blocking the two-pore channel 2 (TPC2), revealing its potential as a natural medicine to treat COVID-19. To explore the material basis of TET targeting lung efficacy and its potential toxicity, available literatures related to the pharmacological activity on pulmonary, dosage, toxicity and pharmacokinetics of TET are systemically reviewed. The prospect and current problems of TET to be a therapeutic agent for COVID-19 are further investigated on this basis.

ABC transporters on the intestinal barrier, blood-brain barrier and on tumor cells will affect drug bioavailability, transport across the blood-brain barrier and multidrug resistance. The active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicines can affect the function and expression of ABC transporters. When combined with pharmaceuticals the potential interaction between the two can change the efficacy of the medicines. We review the ABC transporter superfamily and their distribution with regard to their relationship and interactions with traditional Chinese medicine on the intestinal barrier and the blood-brain barrier, as well as their role in tumor multidrug resistance mediated by ABC transporters. We summarize the research progress over the past five years.

An immunologically stressed rat model was used in a metabolomics study on the ability of Paeoniae Rubra Radix to reduce the liver toxicity of Psoraleae Fructus. Different groups of rats were given the extracts of Psoraleae Fructus and Psoraleae Fructus together with Paeoniae Rubra Radix or combined with a non-toxic dose of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The biochemical indices of liver function and pathological changes in liver tissue were used to evaluate histopathological changes. UHPLC-QTOF/MS was used to analyze the metabolic profile of serum samples, combined with principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) methods. The HMDB database and Metabo Analyst online tool were used for biomarker identification and metabolic pathway-enrichment analysis. The results show that the co-treatment Psoraleae Fructus and LPS resulted in significant liver injury, indicated by the elevation of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities, as well as obvious pathological changes. Liver injury was significantly decreased by treatment with Paeoniae Rubra Radix. Metabolomic analysis showed that the addition of Paeoniae Rubra Radix ameliorated the abnormal serum metabolism in rats mainly through regulation of arachidonic acid metabolism and glycerophospholipid metabolism pathways.

This study aimed to establish a method for positioning six chromatographic peaks occurred in HPLC profile of Gastrodiae Rhizoma. The "liner calibration with two reference substances" (LCTRS) method was used to calculate the retention time so as to assist in positioning of chromatographic peaks in terms of the prediction accuracy of retention time and the coincidence rate of chromatographic column. A total of 24 C₁₈ chromatographic columns from different brands and types available were used to determine the retention times of six components in Gastrodiae Rhizoma, then the average retention time of each component was obtained as standard retention time (SRT). Parishin E (peak 3) and Parishin A (peak 6) were simultaneously taken as reference substance to forecast the retention time of the other four components by using the LCTRS method. Four different C₁₈ columns were employed to verify the method. Meanwhile, for the purpose of comparison, the relative retention time (RRT) method was applied to forecast the retention time, by using Parishin E as the single reference substance. The comparison between LCTRS and RRT methods indicated that the former was more accurate in predicting the retention time and more applicable in utilization of chromatographic columns. This study demonstrated that the LCTRS method shows the superior performance in positioning of chromatographic peak, and therefore has a good prospect of application.

To study the changes in the pharmacokinetic behavior of four coumarins (bergapten, oxypeucedanin, imperatorin and isoimperatorin) in rats before and after combinating Angelicae Dahuricae Radix with Chuanxiong Rhizoma. The plasma concentrations of the drugs were determined by ultra performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection (UPLC-FLD) for dose response and time dependent curves. The pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by DAS 3.2.8, and SPSS 20.0 was used to analyze the differences of main pharmacokinetic parameters between the two groups. The result showed: comparing with Angelicae Dahuricae Radix group, the area under drug time curve (AUC_{0-24 h}) of bergapten, oxypeucedanin and imperatorin increased by 177.2%, 97.14% and 54.43% respectively, AUC_0-∞ increased by 282.3%, 104.2%, and 75.40% respectively, and clearance rate (CL_Z/F) decreased by 68.26%, 51.08% and 43.98% respectively; the peak drug concentration (C_max) of four coumarins was significantly increased; the distribution volume (V_Z/F) of bergapten was significantly decreased. These data indicated that Chuanxiong Rhizoma can promote the absorption of coumarins in Angelicae Dahuricae Radix, slow down the elimination of coumarins, and increase their bioavailability in vivo. The animal experiment scheme in this study has been approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (approval number: BUCM-4-2020083105-3072).

The current study was designed to evaluate the modulatory effects of paeoniflorin on the dysregulated gut microbiota as well as the disturbed fecal bile acids (BAs) in colitis mice. After approved by Xi'an Jiaotong University Ethics Committees (Approval No. XJTU2019-679), the animals were randomly distributed into the control (Con), colitis, low dose paeoniflorin (PF-L, 25 mg·kg^-1·d^-1), high dose paeoniflorin (PF-H, 50 mg·kg^-1·d^-1) and 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA, 50 mg·kg^-1·d^-1) groups. Colitis was induced by administering 3% (w/v) DSS in drinking water for 7 days. Paeoniflorin and 5-ASA were dissolved in water and administered to the appropriate groups by oral gavage over the 7-day period. The mice were monitored daily, and the disease activity index (DAI) comprising of body weight loss, stool consistency and gross blood was measured. The pathological changes of colon were evaluated by HE staining; the levels of inflammatory cytokines in colonic tissue were determined by ELISA; the gut permeability was measured by FITC-dextran. Microbiota analysis based on 16S rDNA and targeted metabolomics for BAs were used to evaluate the composition of gut microbiota and fecal BAs pool. The results showed that administration of paeoniflorin markedly alleviated the inflammatory response and intestinal barrier dysfunction in DSS-induced colitis. Importantly, these ameliorative effects of paeoniflorin were accompanied by the improvements of disturbed composition of gut microbiota and the dysmetabolism of bile acids in feces. Finally, we performed Spearman's correlation analysis between the fecal BAs and gut microbiota genera, and found that Lactobacillus has a strong positive correlation with DCA and LCA which were reported to confer the beneficial effects of maintaining intestinal homeostasis. Taken together, paeoniflorin might improve the intestinal homeostasis in colitis mice via modulating gut microbiota and fecal BAs metabolism.

We established a simple and sensitive GC-MS method for the determination of β-elemene in rat plasma and measured the pharmacokinetics of citronella grass extract in rats. Plasma samples were pretreated using liquid-liquid microextraction: 100 μL of plasma sample (containing naphthalene as the internal standard) was extracted with 50 μL of n-hexane. The determination was performed on DB-5ms column (30 m×0.25 mm, 0.25 μm). The initial column temperature was 60℃ and raised to 160℃ at a rate of 50℃·min^-1, maintained for 3 min, and finally increased to 260℃ for 3 min. Helium was the carrier gas and the flow rate was 0.15 mL·min^-1. The injection volume was 2 μL. EI and selected monitored ions pattern were used for ion scanning with m/z 128 (naphthalene) and m/z 93 (β-elemene). Citronella grass extract was administered to rats by intragastric administration and intravenous administration (containing β-elemene 55 mg·kg^-1), and plasma was collected and prepared using an automated blood collection system. The linear range of β-elemene in plasma was 1.0-250 ng·mL^-1 (r=0.997), the limit of quantification was 1.0 ng·mL^-1, the accuracy was -4.47%﹣-0.85%, the extraction recovery was between 56.02%-66.89%, and no obvious matrix effect (94.28%-108.63%) was found. The main pharmacokinetic parameters of β-elemene were AUC_0-t (23.56±4.40) ng·mL^-1, t_max (1.67±0.58) h, C_max (7.36±0.69) ng·mL^-1, MRT_0-t (2.76±0.27) h, t_1/2z (2.73±1.36) h, V_z (7.39±3.18) L·kg^-1, CL_z (1.95±0.51) L·h^-1·kg^-1, and the absolute bioavailability was about 8.78%. The method is simple, accurate, and sensitive, and is suitable for the pharmacokinetic analysis of β-elemene in citronella grass extract in rats. All animal studies were implemented according to protocols, which were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences.

The direct acting substances of Cuscuta chinensis in vivo were preliminarily identified through the correlation analysis of "metabolites-effect identification" model. The ovariectomized female rats were i.g administered with 95% ethanol extract part, 40% ethanol elution part and n-butanol extract part of Cuscuta chinensis. The serum fingerprints of different parts and times of administration were established by UPLC/Q-TOF-MS. At the same time, serum estradiol (E₂), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels were detected. Bivariate correlation analysis and grey correlation analysis were used to screen estrogenic components. The results showed that nine direct acting substances in vivo highly related to estrogen effect were found in the drug containing serum, which were hyperoside, astragalin, methyl quercetin glucuronide, quercetin-diglucuronide, quercetin, apigenin, isoquercitrin, kaempferol glucuronide and kaempferol. We can preliminarily screen out the direct acting substance of estrogen effect of Cuscuta chinensis in vivo based on the research idea of serum spectrum effect correlation. It provides a reliable basis for revealing the estrogeneffective substances of Cuscuta chinensis and confirming the quality markers. This experiment was approved by Harbin University of Commerce Ethics Committees (Approval No. HSDU2020-065).

Fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR), as a member of the receptor tyrosine kinase family, participates in a variety of biological processes by binding to ligand fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) and activating downstream signaling pathways, such as cell proliferation, migration, anti-apoptosis, angiogenesis, etc. FGFR gene amplification, missense mutations, oncogenic fusion are related to the occurrence and development of many cancers. FGFR has become an important potential target in cancer treatment. At present most of these studies focus on FGFR1-3, however there is growing evidence implicating an important and unique role of FGFR4 in oncogenesis and resistance to anti-tumor therapy in multiple types of cancer. The abnormality of FGF19-FGFR4 signaling pathway has been proved to be a carcinogenic factor of liver cancer. Importantly, there are several novel FGFR4-specific inhibitors in clinical trials, FGFR4 is therefore a promising target for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma harboring aberrant FGF19-FGFR4 signaling. In this review, we focus on assessing the role of FGFR4 in liver cancer, including a summary of the structure and ligand of FGFR4, downstream signaling pathways, abnormal activation in liver cancer, and the research progress of small molecule FGFR4 inhibitors, FGFR4 monoclonal antibodies and combined immunotherapy.

Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) is one of the most difficulties in the studies of cardiovascular diseases, and excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation in cells is the main cause of it. Reducing ROS level by antioxidant drugs to protect cardiomyocytes is being the spotlight on MIRI treatment. In this review, the research progress of antioxidant drugs in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in recent years was summarized.

Increasing research have found a high correlation between senescence and tumor. Cellular senescence can inhibit tumorigenesis while the cellular microenvironment altered by senescent cells can promote the proliferation and metastasis of tumor cells. Some cellular signaling pathways are commonly involved in aging process and carcinogenesis. The deregulation and imbalance of these pathways results into senescence and tumor development. Thus, agents that balance these pathways may effective for anti-aging and anti-tumor. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used for the activation of multiple signaling pathways and molecular targets both associated with aging and tumor, with few side effects. Therefore, the article reviewed the cellular signalings that cross between the aging and tumors, and on this basis, summarized the current effective components of TCM with anti-aging and anti-cancer properties, as well as the potential mechanisms of these components in the cross signalings, to provide new research strategies and perspectives for effective components of TCM to treat aging and tumors.

The incidence rate of depression is increasing, but its pathological mechanism is still unknown. More evidence shows that the occurrence and development of depression is closely related to the changes of gut microbiome. However, due to the huge differences in bacterial composition among individuals caused by different environmental factors, researchers usually need a large number of samples to get reliable results. Experimental animal models play an important role in the pathogenesis of diseases and the mechanism of drug action because of their highly consistent background, controllable experimental environment, and the characteristics of artificial intervention. Therefore, the selection of appropriate experimental animal models can not only simulate the clinical symptoms of human depression, but also reveal the causal relationship between clinical characteristics and gut microbiome changes. In this review, the development and application of fecal microbiota transplantation technology, the close relationship between flora and depression, the application of humanized fecal microbiota transplantation experimental animal model in the study of depression, as well as the preparation methods and key technologies of humanized fecal microbiota were summarized, which provided a reference for the research on the pathogenesis of depression and the mechanism of antidepressant drugs of humanized fecal microbiota transplantation experimental animal model. This review provides a reference for the reasonable application of this aspect.

Ischemic heart disease (IHD), which has been considered to be exclusively caused by stenosis or occlusion of coronary artery, is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Mitochondrial dysfunction is the main pathological basis of ischemic heart disease and reperfusion injury, and moderate mitochondrial autophagy can selectively remove damage proteins and organelles to maintain intracellular homeostasis, so mitochondrial autophagy is important for maintaining the homeostasis of cardiomyocytes. Natural drugs from plants are widely used in ischemic heart disease. In recent years, more and more natural drugs have been proven to alleviate myocardial cell damage after ischemia/reperfusion through mitochondrial autophagy. This paper reviews the research progress of natural drugs from plants medicines regulating mitochondrial autophagy in the treatment of ischemia heart disease.

As a key signal transduction molecule involved in the innate immune response, stimulator of interferon genes (STING) is triggered by cytosolic DNA from pathogen and host origins, and plays an important role in inducing the secretion of type Ⅰ interferons and proinflammatory cytokines, thereby defending against viral and intracellular bacterial infections and regulating the production of spontaneous antitumor immune responses in vivo. Thus, STING agonists have shown useful therapeutic effects for pathogen infection and cancer. In the past decade research on STING and its agonists has progressed rapidly. Here, we summarize recent advances in the structure and activation of STING and the mechanism of the cGAS-STING pathway. In particular, we review research advances of STING agonists, analyze the crystal structure of STING in complex with its agonists and the structure-activity relationship of STING agonists, and summarize the strong challenges of developing STING agonists.

The threat of fungal diseases is increasingly rigorous. The clinically invasive fungal infections remain a main cause of morbidity and mortality in certain high-risk groups, especially in critical patients or immunocompromised patients. In drug therapy, the problems of off-target toxicity and antifungal drug resistance are still challenging. With the wide application of biomaterials and nanotechnology, more nanomedicine studies have been carried out on antifungal drugs, such as the amphotericin B liposome which greatly reduced the renal toxicity of drugs has been successfully marketed. For the unique physical and chemical properties, the nano-drug delivery system possessed great potential in improving the bioavailability, reducing the side effects of drugs, increasing the stability of drugs, and achieving cells or tissue-specificity through the modification. This review summarized the applications and limitations of antifungal drugs. Some nanomedicines were summarized in discussion oriented around the antifungal therapy, including liposomes, niosomes, lipid nanoparticles, polymer nanoparticles, microemulsion, dendrimers, inorganic nanocarriers. Nanotechnology and nano-drug delivery system provide promising strategies for the research and development of new formulations that can improve antifungal activity and possibly overcome antifungal drug resistance.

Nanocrystal drugs have many advantages, such as no carrier materials, easy industrialization, diversified dosage forms, and can significantly improve the solubility and bioavailability of insoluble drugs, so many drugs have been on the market. The traditional nanocrystal preparation technology has the problems of low preparation efficiency and process limitation of the smallest achievable particle size. With the progress of pharmaceutical preparation technology, the preparation technology of nanocrystal drugs is constantly improving, and new preparation technologies are constantly emerging. The emergence of new technologies has greatly shortened the process time and makes it possible to prepare nanocrystal drugs with smaller particle diameters. In this paper, the preparation technologies of nanocrystal drugs, especially the new preparation technologies such as high gravity controlled precipitation, microfluidic reaction technology and various combination technologies, are reviewed from three aspects: "Top-down" technology, "Bottom-up" technology and combination technology. This article also prospects the development of new preparation technologies, hoping to provide reference for the related research of nano-preparations.

This research explored the synergistic effects and the potential mechanisms of RCE-4 and various nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on the proliferation of cervical cancer Ca Ski cells. The MTT assay and CalcuSyn V2.0 software were used to detect cell proliferation and calculate the combination index (CI); the expression levels of various proteins were analyzed using Western blot assay; mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) was assessed using JC-1 staining; acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) double-fluorescence staining was used to detect the apoptosis of Ca Ski cells; a co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) assay was used to analyze the relative content of Bcl-2-Beclin 1 complex in Ca Ski cells. The results demonstrate that the combination of RCE-4 and NSAIDs increases the inhibition of Ca Ski cells compared to the single-RCE-4 group, and celecoxib provided the best synergistic effect among the four NSAIDs tested, with a CI of 0.32. The combination of RCE-4 and celecoxib significantly down-regulated the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and nuclear transcription factor-κB (NF-κB), and promoted the expression of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs activity gene-1 (NAG-1). In addition, autophagy induced by RCE-4 was markedly inhibited in combination with celecoxib, which was associated with down-regulation of the expression of microtubule-associated protein 3 (LC3)-Ⅱ, Beclin 1, p62 and autophagy-related gene (ATG) 3/4B/5/7/14. RCE-4-induced apoptosis was significantly enhanced by altering the depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential and the expression of B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), B cell lymphoma-xl (Bcl-xl), Bcl-2 associated X protein (Bax), Bcl-2/Bcl-xl-associated death promoter (Bad) and cleaved cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase (cleaved-caspase) 3/7/9. Furthermore, the formation of the Bcl-2-Beclin 1 complex was significantly inhibited in Ca Ski cells treated with RCE-4 in combination with celecoxib. Taken together, this research shows that the combination of RCE-4 and celecoxib has a significant synergistic effect on the proliferation of Ca Ski cells by promoting apoptosis, inhibiting autophagy and disturbing the formation of the Bcl-2-Beclin 1 complex, which may be a novel strategy to increase the sensitivity of anti-cervical cancer drugs.

In this study, a rat morphine drug discrimination model with a fixed ratio (FR) of 10 (FR10) was established using different methods to explore which methods can shorten the modeling time and test the dose-response relationship and median effective dose (ED₅₀) value. Animal welfare and experimental procedures are in accordance with the provision of the Animal Ethics Committee of Shanghai InnoStar Bio-tech Co., Ltd. Forty rats were initially shaped to press lever under a fixed-ratio schedule of food reinforcement. The animals that were successfully trained under a FR10 schedule of food reinforcement were divided into two groups, namely the single-lever + double-lever training group 1 and the double-lever training group 2. In each group, rats were trained to discriminate morphine at 5.6 mg·kg^-1 from saline by the intraperitoneal route. After training, different doses of morphine were used to substitute for training dose of morphine, the dose-response curve for morphine were identified in rats, and the ED₅₀ value was calculated. The results showed that, in food training phase: 34 rats successfully entered the discrimination training during food training; in discrimination training phase: 14 animals in group 1 met the discrimination training standard for the first time, which took about (40.71±2.93) days, and there were 13 animals in group 2 that met the discrimination training criteria for the first time, and it took about (51.15±2.55) days. It can be seen that the method of single-lever + double-lever training is better than single-lever training, and the difference is significant compared with group 1 (P < 0.05); in generalization test phase: there are 17 rats completed morphine generalization test, and the percentages of morphine-lever responses produced by the generalization test of different doses of morphine (0, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 3, 5.6, and 10 mg·kg^-1) were (9.56±3.13)%, (9.01±5.83)%, (13.82±7.95)%, (29.04±10.13)%, (41.70±10.65)%, (85.36±7.16)%, (94.56±2.76)%, respectively. The results showed that the discriminative stimulative effect induced by morphine dose between 0-10 mg·kg^-1 increased in a dose-dependent manner, producing a good dose-response curve, and the ED₅₀ value of morphine was 4.74 mg·kg^-1 by linear fitting. The above results showed that, the FR10 morphine drug discrimination model has been successfully established using different methods; the single-lever + double-lever training method is better than the single-lever training, and can relatively shorten the discrimination training cycle.

Biosimilars are biological medicinal products that are highly similar to an already licensed reference product in terms of quality, safety, and efficacy. BAT1706 is being developed by Bio-Thera Solutions, Ltd. as a proposed biosimilar candidate to bevacizumab reference product (Avastin^®). Bevacizumab acts by specifically binding to vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), and preventing the interaction of VEGF-A with its receptors on the surface of endothelial cells, then blocking the downstream signaling pathway mediated by ligand-receptor, and inhibiting endothelial angiogenesis, thus inhibiting tumor growth. Comprehensive analytical characterization studies incorporating orthogonal analytical techniques were performed to compare the in vitro functional activities of BAT1706 and Avastin^®. BAT1706 and Avastin^® showed highly similar binding activity to multiple VEGF-A isoforms and equivalent VEGF-A neutralizing activity, as well as inhibitory activity of VEGF receptor (VEGFR)-2 tyrosine kinase autophosphorylation. Both products exhibited similar binding of the Fcγ receptors and a lack of Fc-related effector functions such as antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) and complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC). Overall, the results demonstrate that BAT1706 and Avastin^® are highly similar in terms of in vitro functional activities.

Astragalus polysaccharides are the main immunomodulatory substances in Astragali Radix. The structure of polysaccharides is difficult to accurately determine, which limits the in-depth study of the molecular mechanism of Astragalus polysaccharides in vivo. "Polysaccharide receptor theory" believes that there are one or more oligosaccharide fragment "active centers" in immunologically active polysaccharide molecules. Therefore, the degradation of Astragalus polysaccharides into oligosaccharides and the study of the active centers of polysaccharides at the oligosaccharide level provide new ideas in the study of the structure and mechanism of Astragalus polysaccharides. This article adopts endo-α-1, 4-glucanase enzymatic hydrolysis, and determines the best degradation conditions through single factor test and orthogonal test to degrade the immunologically active polysaccharide APS-Ⅱ (10 kDa component) into oligomers with different degrees of polymerization. Then through the preparation of polyacrylamide gel chromatography and specific immune and non-specific immune cell tests, the immune activity screening of different oligosaccharide components is carried out. The animal welfare and the experimental process in this study follow the requirements of the Animal Ethics Committee of Shanxi University. The results showed that compared with the immunologically active polysaccharide APS-Ⅱ, different oligosaccharide components have obvious differences in different immunological activities. This paper studies the different immunological activities of Astragalus polysaccharides at the level of oligosaccharides, laying a foundation for further elucidating the structure and function of Astragalus polysaccharides, enriching the theory of polysaccharide receptors, and providing new ideas for the development of Astragalus polysaccharides.

Inhibitor of DNA binding 1 (ID1) has an aberrantly high expression in multiple cancer tissues, including colon cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, and so on, which is closely related to cancer aggressiveness and poor clinical outcomes in cancer patients. It has been reported that ID1 maintains colorectal cancer cells (CRCs) stemness traits and contributes to the CRC drug resistance. While, the biological molecular mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. In this research, we found that ID1 upregulates octamer binding transcription factor (OCT4) protein level as well as OCT4 signaling pathway via Western blot, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), dual-luciferase reporter assay, and real-time PCR. Through the in vitro sphere formation assay, we found that overexpression of OCT4 reverses the inhibitory effect of knocking down ID1 on CRC sphere formation ability. With the help of JASPAR and GEPIA database, we predicted a novel transcriptional repressor-forkhead box D3 (FOXD3) of OCT4. Finally, by using co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP), confocal and real-time PCR, we demonstrated that ID1 interacts with FOXD3 to inhibit its transcriptional repression activity and therefore to upregulate OCT4 transcription and OCT4 signaling pathway. In conclusion, this study provides a new theoretical basis for the regulation mechanism of colon cancer stem cells, and the newly found protein-protein interaction of ID1-FOXD3 provides a potential drug target for the therapy of CRC.

Resistance of tumor cells is a complex biological process involving multiple mechanisms and factors, in which anti-apoptosis is the most important cause of drug resistance. Previous studies have shown that the DNA binding activity of Runt related transcription factor 3 (RUNX3) increased prominently in Herceptin resistant gastric cancer cells (NCI N87R) while the relevance of which to drug resistance has not yet been confirmed. In this study, we employed CRISPR/Cas9 to establish RUNX3 knock-out cell line (△RUNX3/NCI N87R) to investigate the functions of RUNX3 in Herceptin resistance of NCI N87R cells and its potential mechanisms. We investigated proteomics profiling of △RUNX3/NCI N87R cells based on label free quantitative proteomics. Differentially expressed proteins were screened out according to fold change and significance level between △RUNX3/NCI N87R and NCI N87R cells. Pathway enrichment analysis was done using GeneAnalytics database, and gene ontology analysis was conducted by DAVID Bioinformatics Resources database. Protein-protein interaction networks were constructed based on STRING database. The results showed that △RUNX3/NCI N87R cells increased the sensitivity to Herceptin. Proteomic data demonstrated that the expression of 577 genes changed significantly in △RUNX3/NCI N87R cells, among which 191 genes were up-regulated while 386 ones down-regulated comparing with NCI N87R cells. Pathway analysis showed that autophagy, cell cycle, apoptosis, mitochondrial fatty acid β oxidation, neurogenic locus notch homolog protein 1 (NOTCH1), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), Hedgehog and DNA damage response pathways exhibited notable changes based on pathway enrichment ratio and significance level (P < 0.05). These results indicated that RUNX3 knock-out altered multiple signaling pathways of NCI N87R cells. Western blotting manifested that the expression of autophagy regulatory molecules autophagy-related protein (ATG) 13, 7 and BECN1 increased remarkably while cell cycle molecules serine/threonine-protein kinase Chk2 (CHEK2) and apoptosis regulator Bcl-2 (BCL2) decreased prominently in △RUNX3/NCI N87R cells. The p-AKT expression decreased significantly in △RUNX3/NCI N87R cells compared with NCI N87R cells (P < 0.01) and was suppressed by Herceptin. These results indicated that RUNX3 knock-out altered cell cycle, increased inhibition to p-AKT by Herceptin, promoted autophagy and induced cell apoptosis of NCI N87R cells. These results suggested that RUNX3 may be a potential therapeutic target for reversing or reducing Herceptin resistance in gastric cancer cells.

Cephalosporins are widely used in the treatment of infectious diseases. The structural differences in cephalosporin drugs mainly lie in the C-7 amino side chain and the C-3 substituent. In this study, twenty-five haloacylated cephalosporins of five series were designed by using a strategy of introducing simple substituents at the C-7 amino group in four cephalosporin parent nucleus with different C-3 substituents and efficiently synthesized under optimized conditions. Their activities against human pathogenic bacteria, Pichia pastoris, citrus canker and citrus pathogenic fungi were evaluated. The results showed that most of the molecules had activity against human pathogenic bacteria, of which seven compounds including TM1f had stronger or equivalent inhibitory activities against eight human pathogens than the marketed drugs cefalotin, cefoxitin sodium and ceftizoxime sodium. The inhibitory activity of TM1s against Alternaria alternate Al.6 was stronger than that of cephalosporins and comparable to that of the positive control prochloraz. TM1f and TM1s are worthy of further study.

Three diarylheptanoids were isolated from the n-butanol fraction of Zingiber officinale peel by MCI Gel CHP-20, Sephadex LH-20, ODS and semipreparative high performance liquid chromatography. Their structures were identified by MS and NMR spectroscopy techniques: (2S, 2'S, 3R, 3'R, 4R, 4'R, 6R, 6'R)-6, 6'-bis((S)-1-hydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethyl)-2, 2'-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)octahydro-2H, 2'H-[3, 3'-bipyran]-4, 4'-diol (1), (E)-7-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)hept-4-en-3-one (2), and alpinin B (3). Compound 1 is a new compound, and compounds 2-3 were obtained from Zingiber officinale peel for the first time.

The objective of this work was to explore the content and composition of aristolochic acid compounds in Chinese medicinal materials containing toxic aristolochic chemicals, so as to ensure the safety of these medicinal materials and their related products. Nine Chinese medicinal materials were selected for study, including the tuber of Aristolochia cinnabarina, the herbs of Asarum forbesii, the stems of Aristolochia manshuriensis., the fruits of Aristolochia debilis, the roots of Aristolochia debilis, the stems and leaf of Aristolochia debilis, the herbs of Aristolochia mollissima, the roots of Aristolochia fangchi, and the roots of Asarum heterotropoides var. mandshuricum. The aristolochic acid components in the nine Chinese medicinal materials were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-Q-TOF-MS) combined with high performance liquid chromatography diode-array detection. The separation was performed on an Agilent ZORBAX SB-Aq column (250 mm×4.6 mm, 5 μm) with gradient elution using a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and 0.2% acetic acid. ESI positive ion mode MS was used to investigate the ionization pathways of aristolochic acid Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲa, Ⅳa, Ⅶa, and aristololactam Ⅰ, Ⅱ using seven reference standards, and the structures of the components with UV spectrasimilar to those of the seven reference standards in the selected medicinal materials were qualitatively analyzed by following the investigated ionization pathways. The identified aristolochic acid components were quantified using an external standard method by HPLC-UV with detection at 254 nm. Twenty-two aristolochic acid components including 11 aristolochic acids and 11 aristololactams were identified from the nine selected medicinal materials; 15 aristolochic acids were found in the tuber of Aristolochia cinnabarina and the roots of Aristolochia debilis, followed by 14 aristolochic acids in the fruits of Aristolochia debilis and the stems of Aristolochia manshuriensis. The greatest content of aristolochia components was found in the tuber of Aristolochia cinnabarina and the stems of Aristolochia manshuriensis, ranging from 8.91 mg·g^-1 to 13.40 mg·g^-1, and the least amount was in the herbs of Asarum forbesii, at less than 0.10 mg·g^-1 and containing only two aristolochia components. This study systematically explored the quantity and composition of aristolochic acid components in selected Chinese medicinal materials believed to contain toxic aristolochic compounds, providing a basis for follow-up studies on the toxicity of these substances that can lead to safety standards for their use.

Gemcitabine (GEM) is a commonly used drug in the clinical treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Due to the accumulation of cells mediating immune escape and T cell depletion after chemotherapy, tumor microenvironment (TME) tends to be immunosuppressive status, which ultimately leads to tumor metastasis. The experimental protocol was approved by the Medical Laboratory Animal Ethics Committee of Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Chinese Medicine. Therefore, we observed the immunomodulatory effects of micro-particulate Ganoderma lucidum spore β-glucan (PGSG) on macrophages in vitro experiments. Next, mice subcutaneous Lewis lung cancer models were established to observe the anti-tumor effects of PGSG through oral administration of PGSG combined with GEM. Flow cytometry analysis was used to analyze the ratio of anti-tumor T cells in tumors and spleen, as well as the proportion of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC), tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) and regulatory cells (Tregs). The results showed that PGSG can up-regulate the expression of major histocompatibility antigens (MHC-Ⅱ), CD40, CD86 and CD80 on the surface of macrophages, enhance the ability to phagocytosis of neutral red and further mediate the release of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-10 (IL-10). In vivo experiments, combined administration can significantly decrease the volume and weight of tumors, reduce the ratio of MDSC (CD11b⁺Gr-1⁺), M-MDSC (CD11b⁺Ly6G^-Ly6C^high) and Treg (CD4⁺Foxp3⁺). At the same time, PGSG promoted the conversion of M₂ (F4/80⁺CD206⁺) to M1 (F4/80⁺MHC-Ⅱ⁺) and enhanced the response of helper T cell-1 (Th1) (CD4⁺IFN-γ⁺) and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) (CD8⁺IFN-γ⁺), which is of great significance for killing tumors. These results suggest that PGSG can regulate innate and adaptive antitumor immune responses, reshape the immunosuppressive microenvironment and enhance the anti-lung cancer effect of GEM.

In this paper, the effects of the blend of nanoparticles and microneedle matrix materials on the mechanical properties of dissolving microneedles were studied mainly, so as to construct microneedles with excellent mechanical properties. Different kinds of nanoparticles (calcium carbonate, hydroxyapatite, silica), particle sizes (20, 60, 100 nm) and the proportion of prescription (2%, 6%, 10%) were blended with the matrix material[polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), poly(1-vinylpyrrolidone-co-vinyl acetate)(PVP/VA)] to form dissolving microneedles. The effects of nanoparticles on the elastic modulus and hardness of the microneedles were investigated using a nanoindenter. The results showed that the elastic modulus and hardness of PVP microneedles were significantly improved by nano-calcium carbonate (P < 0.001), and the elastic modulus and hardness of PVP/VA microneedles were significantly improved by nano-hydroxyapatite (P < 0.001). When the particle size of hydroxyapatite was 20 nm, the elastic modulus of PVP/VA microneedles was (10.6±1.0) GPa, and the hardness was (0.47±0.06) GPa. As the size of the nanoparticles increases, the mechanical performance of the microneedles decreases. When the mass proportion of nano-hydroxyapatite increased from 2% to 6%, the elastic modulus and hardness of the microneedles were significantly improved (P < 0.001), but the effect of continue increasing the proportion of nanoparticles on the microneedles was not significant. The nano-enhanced PVP/VA dissolving microneedles has no irritant effect on intact skin and has a slight irritation to damaged skin, but they disappear completely after 72 h. Animal experiments have been approved by the Laboratory Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee of Zhejiang University of Technology. Therefore, the nano-enhanced dissolving microneedles has good biological safety. To sum up, it is necessary to select the appropriate kind of nanoparticle, particle size, and prescription ratio when microneedles constructing with a given matrix material, so as to effectively improve its mechanical performance.

Gentiana crassicaulis Duthie ex Burk. in Gentiana (Sect. Cruciata), Gentianaceae, is one of the original plants of both Gentianae Macrophyllae Radix and Tibetan herb Jie-Ji Na-Bao, which contain such bioactive iridoids as gentiopicroside, loganic acid and others. In this study, based on previous work, the transcriptome of G. crassicaulis was sequenced and analyzed to construct transcriptome databases of roots, stems, leaves and flowers. qRT-PCR verification was conducted for parts of unigenes that may be key enzymes in the pathway of iridoid biosynthesis. The results are as follows: ① a total of 159 534 unigenes were obtained, with an average length of 679 bp. According to the functional classification of GO, unigenes can be divided into 3 categories with 67 branches. The unigenes were aligned in the KOG database and were classified into 25 categories according to function. ② In the KEGG database, 215 unigenes were implicated in 20 standard secondary metabolism pathways. The analysis shows that 305 unigenes encoded 28 key enzymes in the pathway of iridoid biosynthesis, and their expression in different organs is different; and ③ qRT-PCR was approximately consistent with RNA-Seq results. The 7 annotated unigenes identified in this study, HMGS, DXS, MCS, GPPS, G10H, 7-DLNGT and STR, all had higher relative expression levels in the above-ground parts (stem, leaf and flower) than in the underground part (root). Iridoids are common active and index components of such traditional Chinese medicines as Qinjiao, Longdan, Dangyao, and Qingyedan, among others. Therefore, this work provides basic scientific data for further development including obtaining active components or intermediates through biotechnology, exploring the accumulation of effective components, evaluating the quality of different ecotype varieties, and identifying authentic biosynthesis pathways of medicinal materials.

UDP glucosyltransferase (UDPGT) catalyzes the synthesis of secondary metabolites and plant hormones to regulate plant growth and development, pathogen defense and environmental adaptability. In this study 18 members of the RcUDPGT gene family were cloned from Tibetan Rhodiola crenulata and analyzed using bioinformatics. The tissue-specific expression, abiotic stresses and plant hormones (abscisic acid, auxin, methyl jasmonate) induced expression patterns were identified by real-time quantitative PCR. The bait vector of RcUDPGT (JX228125.1) was constructed to select interacting proteins from an Arabidopsis yeast library. The results of the bioinformatics analysis revealed that RcUDPGT nucleotide sequences were about 1 400 bp and encoded 452-498 amino acids. In the primary protein sequences, C-terminal sequences were more conserved compared with N-terminal regions, which held a PSPG (plant secondary product glycosyltransferase) domain. In the tertiary structures, RcUDPGTs contained a UDP sugar donor recognition binding site. In addition, all genes had multiple phosphorylation sites. The results of qRT-PCR showed that RcUDPGTs genes were expressed in root, stem and leaf. The expression levels were regulated by low temperature/ultraviolet light and various plant hormones (ABA, IAA, MeJA), but the expression patterns were quite different among them. For example, RcUDPGT6, RcUDPGT11, and RcUDPGT17 had the highest expression in leaves and were induced by all three hormones, suggesting that the functions of these genes might be to respond to environmental changes. RcUDPGT9, RcUDPGT10, RcUDPGT14 were most abundantly expressed in roots and were significantly induced by ABA and MeJA hormones, indicating that these genes may be involved in the synthesis and accumulation of salidroside. Yeast two-hybrid results showed that RcUDPGT did not exhibit autoactivation and cell toxicity, and two significant interactional genes were identified, AtKCR1 (AT1G67730.1) and AtSNL4 (AT1G70060). The AtKCR1 gene encodes a β-ketoacyl reductase (KCR) involved in synthesis of very long chain fatty acids. The AtSNL4 gene encodes a homolog of the transcriptional repressor SIN3, which could participate in the ABA hormone signaling pathway and enhance the transcriptional repression of AP2/EREBP class factors in Arabidopsis. These results suggest that the accumulation of the secondary metabolite salidroside in Rhodiola crenulata might be affected by several regulatory mechanisms. The above results may lay the foundation for understanding the adaptive mechanism of Rhodiola crenulata in a high altitude environment and stimulate an in-depth study of the synthesis and accumulation of secondary metabolites in this species.

1-Deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase (DXS) is a rate-limiting enzyme involved in the 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway for terpenoid precursor biosynthesis. DXS plays an essential role in glycyrrhizic acid (GA) biosynthesis. Based on our previous transcriptome study, there was a negative correlation between DXS expression and GA content. Therefore, we explored the regulatory role of DXS in GA biosynthesis using both gene overexpression and gene knockout in a hairy root culture system. DXS was cloned from Glycyrrhiza glabra L. (GenBank Accession No. MN158121). A plant binary expression vector pCA-DXS was constructed by a gene fusion method. The sgRNA sequence was designed based on the first exon of DXS to construct the gene editing vector pHSE-DXS. Hairy roots overexpressing or knocking out DXS were generated through an Agrobacterium-mediated method with licorice hypocotyls as explants. Wild-type hairy roots and negative control hairy roots containing empty plasmids were also evaluated. UPLC was used to determine the GA content in each licorice hairy root line. Results showed that the content of GA in the hairy root group knocking out DXS was significantly higher than that in the wild-type and negative control groups, while in the hairy root group overexpressing DXS was significantly lower, suggesting that DXS plays a negative role in GA biosynthesis. This study provides a foundation for determining the function of DXS in terpenoid metabolism and for further establishment of a molecular regulatory network of GA biosynthesis.