To identify major bioactive components and metabolites of Gandou decoction (GDD) in urine of normal and copper-laden rats, an integrative approach that ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS^E) coupled with xenometabolomics analytical platform was established. Mass spectral data information about retention time, accurate m/z and ionic strength of rat urine samples was performed under positive and negative ion modes. Unsupervised principal components analysis (PCA) and supervised orthogonal partial least-squared discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were used to reveal the differential ions. As a result, a total of 77 compounds including 45 prototypes and 32 metabolites in urine were detected. Results indicated that anthraquinones, alkaloids and tetracyclic triterpenoids and flavonoids were the main chemical components of GDD in rat urine; the main metabolic pathways of these compounds in rat urine mainly include hydroxyl, methylation, sulfating, glucuronidation, and so on. UPLC-QTOF-MS^E coupled with xenometabolomics analytical platform is fast and efficient so that facilitates authentication of the material basis of Chinese herb compound in vivo, can also be used as an effective tool for ascertaining trace bioactive components in vivo. The animal experiments were approved by the Experimental Animal Ethics Committee of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine (No. 2019025).

Dendrobium moniliforme is an important source of Dendrobii Caulis and one of the main sources of authentic Fengdou. The complete chloroplast genome of D. moniliforme was sequenced using Illumina Hiseq technology and its gene map and genomic structure were analyzed. Then comparative and phylogenetic analysis of the complete chloroplast genomes of D. moniliforme and its related species were conducted. The chloroplast genome of D. moniliforme was 150 754 bp in length and had a typical quadripartite structure with a large single copy (LSC, 84 818 bp), a small single copy (SSC, 14 124 bp) and two inverted repeats (IRs, 25 906 bp each). A total of 123 chloroplast genes were annotated, including 77 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes and 8 rRNA genes, of which 17 genes contained introns. Bioinformatics analysis identified 53 SSR sites, most of which had A-T base preference. A phylogenetic tree was constructed using the chloroplast genome sequences of 33 Dendrobium species. The results showed that Dendrobium complex species were clustered in a single large branch, indicating that they were closely related. This study provides a scientific basis for the identification of D. moniliforme and the phylogenetic relationship of D. moniliforme complex species necessary for Herbgenomics research.

To investigate the antitumor activity of shikonin against human colorectal cancer, the IC₅₀ value towards four different human colon cancer cells was detected by MTT assay. In addition, a SW620 xenograft model was established and both the tumor volume and tumor inhibitory rate were calculated to evaluate the antitumor activity of shikonin in vivo. To further explore the mechanism of shikonin, metabolomics combined with multivariate statistical analysis was performed to analyse the profile of metabolites in mouse serum. The results show that shikonin can significantly inhibit the proliferation of four different colon cancer cell lines and exerted a high antitumor activity in vivo. The tumor inhibitory rate at low dose and high dose were 38.35% and 42.16%, respectively. In addition, a total of 38 potential biomarkers related to the antitumor effects of shikonin were identified through metabolomics analysis, including tryptophan, proline and methionine. The study revealed that the mechanism was related to disordered amino acid metabolism in colon cancer, especially in tryptophan metabolism. Our study suggests that shikonin could exert an antitumor effect by regulating amino acid metabolism in colon cancer and provides a theoretical foundation for further exploration and the eventual clinical application of shikonin.

This study investigated the effect of a novel adenosine derivative YZG-331 on the glutamate (Glu) content and its receptor N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) in mouse frontal cortex. All procedures in this research were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to detect the Glu contents in the mouse frontal cortex tissue homogenate and extracellular fluid which were collected by brain microdialysis method. Western blot and co-immunoprecipitation methods were used to detect the expressions of NMDAR in cell membranes and endosomes, as well as the expression levels of endocytosis-related proteins and their interaction. The results showed that there was no significant change in Glu content in the dialysates from mouse frontal cortex within 0-0.5 h period and 0.5-1 h period after intragastric administration of YZG-331 (40 mg·kg^-1). Compare to the control group, the Glu content in mouse frontal cortex homogenates has no significant statistical differences after 15 minutes of administration of compound YZG-331. YZG-331 significantly decreased the expressions of NMDAR subunits NR1 and NR2B in the mouse frontal cortex cell membrane, meanwhile significantly increased the expressions of NR1 and NR2B proteins in the frontal cortex endosomes. It also increased the phosphorylation levels of NMDAR subunit NR2B in the frontal cortex. In addition, the result of co-immunoprecipitation which used NR2B as bait protein showed that the expression of postsynaptic density-95 (PSD95) in NR2B and PSD95 immunoprecipitation complexes in mouse frontal cortex tissues was significantly reduced. These results indicate that YZG-331 does not affect the Glu content in mouse frontal cortex, but it weakens the interaction between NR2B and PSD95 by increasing the phosphorylation level of NR2B in the mouse frontal cortex. Therefore, it reduces the membrane stability of NMDAR and promotes NMDAR's endocytosis, which leading to the decrease of excitotary transmission. It may be one of the mechanisms of YZG-331 to exert sedative and hypnotic effects.

Oligosaccharides play important roles in many biological processes and have great medicinal potential. The structure-activity study of oligosaccharides is complicated by the diversity and complexity of their structures. This review summarizes the state of oligosaccharide structural analysis in recent years. The ionization methods and dissociation rule of acid oligosaccharides, neutral oligosaccharides and glycopeptides in mass spectrometry are discussed and the methods of extraction and purification of oligosaccharides, the suitable mass spectrometry models for different types of oligosaccharides, and the advantages and disadvantages of different mass spectrometry models are introduced. We believe that this review will be helpful for the further investigation of these important biological substances.

This study aimed to investigate the effect and possible mechanism of carnosic acid (CA) on delaying aging. The effects of CA on senescence-related β-galactosidase (SA-β-Gal) activity and expressions of p53, p21 and p16 were evaluated by an oxidative challenge induced premature 2BS cell senescence model. Meanwhile, the animal experiment was approved by the Ethics Committee of Zhejiang Hospital. Male C57 BL/6J mice were injected with 100 mg·kg^-1·d^-1 D-galactose (D-gal) for 8 weeks to establish an aging model in vivo, and CA at 5 and 10 mg·kg^-1·d^-1 were given ig administration at the same time. Morris water maze test was used to test the spatial memory ability. Then the serum and tissue samples were collected for the detections of malondialdehyde (MDA), total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) as well as the protein expression of p53, p21 and p16 in hippocampus of brain. The results showed that H₂O₂ induced increment of SA-β-Gal activity (95%) was prevented by CA treatment (35%) and the enhanced protein expressions of p53, p21 and p16 in H₂O₂ exposed 2BS cells were alleviated by CA treatment, suggesting a potent protective role of CA against premature senescence induced by oxidative challenge. For in vivo study, D-gal induced declined spatial memory ability was partly reversed by CA administration. Besides, the serum and cerebral levels of MDA, IL-6, TNFα and AGEs were attenuated by CA treatment when compared to those in model mice. And the protein expressions of p53, p21 and p16 in mice hippocampus were suppressed by CA in D-gal treated mice. Taken together, our results showed that CA protects premature senescence induced by oxidative stress and D-gal, which is related to its antioxidative, antiinflammatory roles and inhibition on non-enzymatic glycosylation.

Metabolic reprogramming is an important feature of tumor cell metabolism. Glutamine, as a conditionally essential amino acid, provides material and energy for cell growth and maintains the redox homeostasis of tumor cells. This article reviews the role of glutamine in tumorigenesis, development and metastasis, discusses the relationship between glutamine and key biomacromolecules, and provides ideas for finding new targets in cancer therapy.

Heart failure is the end stage of many cardiovascular diseases. It seriously affects the safety and quality of life of nearly 40 million people worldwide. At present, the clinical and pathophysiological characteristics of some types of heart failure are unknown, and there is no effective diagnosis and treatment. In recent years, genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics and other omics technologies have been widely used in disease research, providing new opportunities for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. These strategies have also brought hope for the reduction in heart failure mortality. Based on the current status of clinical treatment of heart failure, this article reviews the roles and potential applications of these various omics technologies and their opportunities in the study of the pathogenesis of heart failure, clinical diagnosis and treatment, and related drug pharmacodynamics and mechanism of action.

It is difficult to directly observe the structural transformation inside of soft capsules if their shells are opaque. This study was designed to noninvasively in situ measure the structural characteristics of the soft capsules and internal particle distributions to reveal the intrinsic quality of the soft capsules and develop a new technique for reverse engineering and the physical stability evaluation of the soft capsules. In this research, the CT projection images of soft capsules, namely, propolis soft capsules, were collected via synchrotron radiation X-ray micro computed tomography (SR-μCT). After three-dimensional reconstruction, the structural differences of the soft capsules under long-term test and accelerated test for 6 months were quantitatively analyzed by calculating the three-dimensional structure parameters such as volume, number and distribution of the particles inside and the thickness for the wall of the capsules. There were only a small number of particles evenly distributed in the soft capsules stored under common storage condition without layering. On the other hand, the shell wall of the soft capsule turned thinner locally at the occlusal portion and the particles with strong X-ray absorption were densely distributed at the edge of the capsule wall after the accelerated test. This study revealed that the structural parameters of soft capsules obtained by SR-μCT could be used to evaluate the influence of storage environment on the physical stability of soft capsules. The technology provides a new method for quality control and evaluation for the soft capsules.

Inula japonica, Inula hupehensis and Inula linaariifolia are all medicinal plants of Inula L. in the Compositae family, and Inula hupehensis is endemic to China. In order to compare their genomic sequence differences and provide scientific basis for their germplasm conservation and development, we obtained and analyzed the complete chloroplast genomes of these three species. Total DNAs were extracted from fresh leaves and subjected to next-generation DNA sequencing. NOVOPlasty was used to assemble the chloroplast genomes from the sequence reads. CPGAVAS2 was used to annotate the genes and repeats in each genome. Lastly, phylogenomics analysis was conducted using RAxML. The results showed that the total length of the chloroplast genome of Inula japonica, Inula hupehensis and Inula linaariifolia is 150 754, 150 909, and 150 812 bp respectively, each consisting of a large single copy region, a small single copy region and a pair of inverted repeat regions. In addition, the G/C content of all three chloroplast genomes was approximately 37.7% and each encoded 111 unique genes, including 79 protein-coding, 28 tRNA and 4 rRNA genes. Meanwhile, 32, 33, 34 simple repeat sequences, 18, 22, 18 tandem repeat sequences and 33, 37, 38 scattered repeat sequences were identified in three species. Phylogenomic analysis showed that all three species of Inula L. and Pluchea indica were clustered together, with the relationship between Inuleae and Senecioneae closer, suggesting that Inuleae may have originated from the Senecioneae, not the Cardueae. The data in this study not only enriches the chloroplast genome database of Inula L., but also lays the foundation for the future studies of species identification, phylogenetic relationships, evolution history and genetic diversity of Inula species.