The α-conotoxins are peptide toxins that are identified from the venom of marine cone snails and they hold outstanding potency on various subtypes of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). nAChRs have an important role in regulating transmitter release, cell excitability, and neuronal integration, so nAChR dysfunctions have been involved in a variety of severe pathologies. Four types of α-3/5 conotoxins MI, MIA, MIB and MIC have been found from Conus magus. Among them, the activity and selectivity of MIA and MIB have not been well studied. In this study, four α-3/5 conotoxins MI, MIA, MIB and MIC were synthesized by solid peptide synthesis method, and the bioactivities of them were screened by double electrode voltage clamp electrophysiology. The results showed that MIA and MIB selectively inhibited muscle type acetylcholine receptors with IC₅₀ values of 14.45 and 72.78 nmol·L^-1, respectively, which are slightly weaker than MI and MIC. Molecular docking results have shown MIA and MIB interact with muscle-type nAChRs with similar mechanism. The reasons for activity differences may relate to the size of the N-terminal amino acids. Together, the conotoxins MIA and MIB may have the potential to develop as a tool for detect the function of muscle type nAChRs, as well as the diagnosis or treat of related diseases.

We analyzed the anticancer effect and mechanism of the novel indoleamine 2, ‍3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) inhibitor NLG-919 combined with temozolomide (TMZ) on human glioma cell lines. The anti-tumor activity of NLG-919 and temozolomide after single and combined treatments was detected by MTT assay. Colony formation assay, invasion assay and migration assays were used to detect the effects of NLG-919 and temozolomide alone or in combination on proliferation, invasion and migration of human glioma cells. A flow cytometry assay was used to detect cell apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and mitochondrial membrane potential damage (JC-1). An immunofluorescence assay was used to detect the expression level of IDO1 and HPLC was used to detect the expression level of L-kynurenine (Kyn) to explore the anti-tumor mechanism of NLG-919 and temozolomide. The results show that NLG-919 had a weak in vitro inhibitory effect compared to that of temozolomide. The IC₅₀ of NLG-919 on U251 cells and U87 after 72 h was 26.9 and 30.7 μmol·L^-1, respectively. However, when NLG-919 was used in combination with temozolomide, its anti-glioma activity was significantly increased. Compared with the single treatment, the combination treatment had a potent ability to inhibit proliferation, invasion and migration of glioma cells. Combination treatment improved the capacity of temozolomide to induce cell cycle arrest and inhibit the growth of glioma cells. NLG-919 significantly down-regulated the expression and activity of IDO1 in glioma cells, and the inhibitory effect was improved after combination with temozolomide, and effectively blocked the production of Kyn through the metabolism of L-tryptophan (Trp). In conclusion, the IDO1 inhibitor NLG-919 and temozolomide showed synergistic effects in the anticancer therapy of human glioma cell lines.

Embolotherapy is a common method for clinical intervention in the treatment of diseases including aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations and solid tumors, and embolic agents are a decisive factor affecting the effect of embolization. Although various embolic agents like coils, microspheres, and Onyx have been used clinically, there are still some treatment limitations: such as weak blood vessel penetration, easy to aggregate, poor mechanical properties, adhesion to catheters, and the need for toxic solvents (e.g. dimethyl sulfoxide). In recent years, a number of studies have found that in situ hydrogels have good application prospects in the field of vascular embolization. When low viscosity precursor solution is injected into the targeted blood vessel via microcatheters, it will undergo a sol-gel transition through physical and/or chemical cross-linking to form hydrogel to block blood flow. In addition, these in situ hydrogels can load drugs by pore embedding, electrostatic interaction, chemical bonding, etc., and have excellent sustained-release properties. This review summarizes the research progress of injectable in situ hydrogel vascular embolic agents in the past ten years, with a view to provide references for the development of new embolic agents in the future.

In order to research the mechanism of guiding action of borneol in Suxiaojiuxin pills, the model of in vitro intestinal absorption, in vivo drug metabolism of mice and cell in vitro absorption model of Caco-2 were established firstly. All animal experiments were in accordance with the regulations of the Animal Ethics Committee of Nankai University. The results showed that the cumulative absorption quantity and absorption permeability of ferulic acid and ligustilide in the intestinal juice of Suxiaojiuxin pills group were significantly increased comparing with fake Suxiaojiuxin pills group, which don't contain borneol. By using borneol, the content of ferulic acid and ligustilide in the blood and tissues, such as heart, were added. The transepithelial resistance value and the content of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in Caco-2 were rapidly decreased and increased, respectively. Due to further explore mechanism of promoting intestinal absorption of borneol for drugs, in this study, photosensitive probes of borneol were synthesized to capture its targets, and dual luciferase reporter system was used to evaluate its activity of calcium. It was found that it could make calcium overload by regulating transient receptor potential cation channel, subfamily M, member 8 (TrpM8). Then, the results of mass spectrometry imaging showed that the accumulation of ferulic acid in the heart was significantly increased by borneol, and the relaxation rate of rat thoracic aorta was enhanced obviously. In summary, the borneol in Suxiaojiuxin pills can expand cell space and increase intestinal permeability by acting on TrpM8, thus promoting the intestinal absorption, tissue distribution and target organ enrichment of drugs.

A large number of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in tumor tissues create a favorable environment for the development of tumor. CAFs inhibit immune cells activation and viability by cytokine secretion, and CAFs prohibit drugs and immune cells infiltration by producing extracellular matrix to weaken cancer treatment efficacy. Regulating CAFs or overcoming CAFs barriers are new strategies for cancer therapy. Hence, designing nano-carriers for regulating CAFs to suppress tumor progression or promoting drug delivery to tumor site by overcoming CAFs barriers has attracted much attention. Therefore, this manuscript reviewed the recent progresses of nano-carriers for CAFs-targeting cancer therapies, in order to provide a reference for clinical cancer treatment.

Type 2 diabetes is a hypermetabolic disease characterized with disorders of glucose/lipid metabolism, absolute or relative lack of insulin, and can induce skeletal muscle atrophy. Hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, insulin resistance, and abnormal release of inflammatory factors can lead to abnormal signal transduction in skeletal muscle, thus make protein synthesis and degradation imbalance and eventually causing muscle atrophy. Under normal conditions, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1)/insulin can activate phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT). AKT not only increases protein synthesis through mammalian target protein of rapamycin (mTOR), but also phosphorylates forkhead box O (FoxO) transcription factor and then inhibits the transcription of several ubiquitin ligases (such as MAFbx/atrogin-1 and MuRF1), or autophagy related genes. The weakened IGF-1/PI3K/AKT pathway in type 2 diabetes is an important factor leading to skeletal muscle atrophy. Studies have shown that the commonly used anti-type 2 diabetic drugs have different effects in regulating the synthesis and degradation of skeletal muscle protein. Studies reported that drugs with effect of anti-diabetic muscle atrophy include thiazolidinediones, glucagon-like peptide analogs, glucose-sodium cotransporter 2 inhibitors, etc.; drugs that are still in controversial or even promote skeletal muscle atrophy include metformin, and some sulfonylurea or non-sulfonylurea insulin secretagogues. This article overviewed and analyzed the currently commonly used drugs for type 2 diabetes and summarized the related mechanisms, with the aim to provide references for the rational applications of drugs for type 2 diabetes.

A blood-brain barrier microfluidic chip platform for studying the permeability of active components in traditional Chinese medicine was developed. This model used primary human brain microvascular endothelial cells on a microfluidic chip consisting of two perpendicularly-crossing channels and a single layer porous polycarbonate membrane. The physiological shear stress in the human vasculature was also modeled in this device. Cell viability on the chip was monitored by cell staining and immunofluorescence staining. The cells spread well and the structure of an intercellular adhesion protein was satisfactory. The permeability of fluorescent tracers and three model drugs and the functional expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp)on the blood-brain barrier were investigated. The results show that the apparent permeability coefficients (P_app) of the fluorescent tracers and three model drugs were consistent with those reported in the literature, and P-gp on the chip showed normal function, indicating that there was a complete structure and a functional BBB. The permeability of six active components of traditional Chinese medicine was investigated through this microfluidic chip and the drug concentration was determined by HPLC-MS/MS to obtain the P_app of each component. The P_app of corydaline was (4.51 ± 1.90)×10^-7 cm·s^-1, the P_app of tetrahydropalmatine was (9.10 ± 6.59)×10^-7 cm·s^-1, and the P_app of imperatorin was (9.38 ± 2.53)×10^-7 cm·s^-1; the concentration of isoimperatorin, baicalin and chlorogenic acid was below the limit of quantification, which suggested that isoimperatorin, baicalin and chlorogenic acid have poor permeability in this BBB chip. This blood-brain barrier microfluidic platform possesses a complete barrier function and near-physiological conditions and could be a valuable in vitro tool for drug permeability evaluation.

UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS metabonomics technology was used to clarify the metabolic regulation pathways by which Platycodon total saponins (PTS) exert antitussive and expectorant effects in a mouse cough model, in which coughing is induced by concentrated ammonia, and in a phenol red excretion model. After approval by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine (Approval No. JZLLSC-20190235), the mice were randomly divided into a normal group, a model group, a positive drug group and a PTS group. Endogenous metabolites in mouse serum were identified by UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS. Principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were used for multivariate analysis. Metabolic pathways were analyzed by the Metaboanalyst platform. The results show that PTS can significantly prolong the cough latent period and cough frequency of mice, and significantly increase phenol red excretion. UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS identified 19 metabolites related to cough, and PTS significantly decreased 16 of them; 17 metabolites related to expectoration were identified, and PTS decreased the levels of all. Metabolic pathway analysis showed that linoleic acid metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism and glycerophospholipid metabolism were the main pathways involved in serum metabolite changes in this mouse cough model. Linoleic acid metabolism, phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, arachidonic acid metabolism, phenylalanine metabolism and α-linolenic acid metabolism were the main pathways involved in serum metabolite changes in the phenol red excretion model. This study is the first to elucidate the regulation of antitussive and expectorant metabolic pathways and the effect of PTS on these pathways.

Twenty-five compounds of novel quinoxaline-based scaffold with antiplatelet activity were designed and synthesized on the basis of previous quinoxaline analogues, and the structures were confirmed by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and MS. The antiplatelet activity was evaluated, structure-activity relationship (SAR) study was summarized and the selectivity of PAR4 was confirmed by calcium mobilization assays. It was indicated that compound 14a, 14g, 13i, 13p showed moderate activity against PAR4, especially, the activity of compound 14g (IC₅₀ = 0.26 μmol·L^-1) was 6.7 times than the lead compound A (IC₅₀ = 1.73 μmol·L^-1). Therefore, 2, 3-dihydro-[1, 4]dioxino[2, 3-g]quinoxaline and [1, 3]dioxolo[4, 5-g]quinoxaline derivatives are promising compounds for the discovery of novel antiplatelet agents. It is worthy of further research to develop highly effective and selective PAR4 antagonists.

Proteasome controls the degradation of proteins closely related to life activities and plays a key role in the maintenance of protein homeostasis. Proteasome activities decrease with aging, followed by the overwhelming production of damaged proteins which far exceed the protein consumption. Accumulation of these proteins leads to various diseases including neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, inducing toxic protein degradation is considered as a promising solution for the treatment of these diseases, while increasing the activity of proteasome is considered as an important strategy. However, the research in this field is still in the preliminary stage, and this review will focus on the discussion of the research progress of various small molecule proteasome activators, including research methods, pharmacological effects, structure-activity relationships and the existing problems.