The objective of this work was to develop a bioassay to quantify the antiplatelet aggregation activity of hirudo for quality evaluation and control. Antithrombin activity of hirudo extracted by high temperature decoction was determined by thrombin titration. Antiplatelet aggregation activity of hirudo was determined through pharmacodynamic experiments in vitro and in vivo using a bioassay we developed for quantifying inhibition of platelet aggregation. Methodological investigation was carried out and the titers of 12 batches of hirudo samples were determined. During the experiment, the disposal of animals is in accordance with the ethical standards of animal experiments. The results showed that the antithrombin activity of hirudo decocted at high temperature decreased significantly and almost lost its activity. Hirudo inhibited platelet aggregation and results in vivo and in vitro were consistent. These assays were employed to test 12 batches of hirudo. The results demonstrated that the biopotency of 12 batches was 113.49, 96.13, 121.22, 127.33, 83.48, 108.72, 131.41, 127.95, 76.90, 126.27, 132.89 and 573.53 U·mg^-1. The method was reliable and reproducible and can be used to assess the quality of hirudo.

Ginseng is a traditional Chinese medicine known as the "king of herbs" since ancient time in China. It was found in animal experiments that total saponins, ginsenoside monomers or glycosides from ginseng extraction all showed antidepressant effects in chronic unpredictable stress, corticosterone or lipopolysaccharide induced depression models. Taking ginsenosides as the focus, we reviewed the antidepressive mechanisms from the perspectives of various hypotheses, such as regulations of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, monoamine neurotransmitter and neuroplasticity related to the pathogenesis of depression. The mechanism, target and pharmacodynamic targets of ginsenosides for anti-depression were summarized, in order to provide references for multi-targets and multi-level development of new anti-depression drugs, and improvement of diagnosis and treatment of depression from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine and natural products.

Injectable traditional Chinese medicine often contains multiple components including undefined toxic substances, can have high variability between batches, with undefined mechanisms of action. It is urgent to improve the quality and consistency and reduce the toxicity risk of traditional Chinese medicine. The Microtox technology is a simple, rapid method for the detection of toxic substances in the environment that uses non-pathogenic luminescent bacteria as an indicator, and the change in luminosity as an index. Using this bioassay we have systematically applied Microtox technology for the detection of microtoxicity in injectable traditional Chinese medicine. As a new method of bioactivity characterization, Microtox technology is expected to be used in the detection of quality fluctuations and toxicity risks at an early stage in the preparation of injectable traditional Chinese medicines and to improve the quality of injectable traditional Chinese medicine.

We have developed a new method using HPLC-CAD (charged aerosol detector) for the quantitative analysis of cyclovirobuxine D and related substances in the API of Huangyangning tablets. The related substances were further studied by HPLC-Q-Exactive coupled with hybrid quadrupole-orbitrap mass spectrometry. A HILIC column of XBridge Amide (4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm) was used, and the mobile phase was composed of acetonitrile and 100 mmol·L^-1 ammonium formate (85:15), which was adjusted to pH 2.8 with formic acid. Isocratic mode elution was adopted at a flow rate of 1.1 mL·min^-1. The column temperature was set at 30℃. For CAD, the temperature of atomization and gas pressure were respectively set at 35℃ and 62.2 psi. This method detected and quantified five related substances to cyclovirobuxine D. The results showed that the LOD and LOQ of cyclovirobuxine D was 12.588 ng and 28.323 ng, respectively with an average recovery of 95.74% (RSD=1.79%, n=6). The content of cyclovirobuxine D in 12 batches of API samples provided by three manufacturers was from 79.94% to 88.49%, with an average value of 82.20%. The total content of the five related substances was from 15.99% to 22.15% with an average value of 20.10%, using an external standard method with cyclovirobuxine D as the reference and according to the CAD uniform response to non-volatile substances. The newly developed HPLC-CAD method has advantages in terms of the comprehensiveness of signals from Buxus alkaloids without UV absorption and with high sensitivity to its trace-related substances; the method yields good separation between the components and is compatible with mass spectrometry. It is applicable for the accurate quantitative analysis of main components and related substances in the API of Huangyangning tablets.

We study here in vitro cytotoxicity, in vivo tumor inhibition and the mechanism on photodynamic therapy (PDT) of photosensitizer BF01 using human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line BEL-7402. CCK-8 method was used to detect the inhibition rate and IC₅₀ in BEL-7402 cells on the same laser intensity with varying concentrations (0, 0.8, 1.6, 3.2, 6.4 μmol·L^-1) of photosensitizer BF01. Cell death mode of BEL-7402 was detected by flow cytometry, with apoptotic characteristics observed by DAPI staining, and the subcellular localization of reactive oxygen was observed using photodynamic detection and confocal microscopy. The cell model of human liver cancer in nude mice was established, tumor growth curve was drawn, and the therapeutic effect of BF01 was determined. The animal experimentation was approved by East China University of Science and Technology Ethics Committee. The results indicated that BF01 PDT treatment can clearly inhibit BEL-7402 tumor cell proliferation, with the killing rate of 86% at the concentration of 6.4 μmol·L^-1 of BF01, and half lethal concentration IC₅₀ value of 2.46 μmol·L^-1. DAPI stained nuclei shows the characteristics of advanced stage apoptosis, whereas reactive oxygen species level in the mitochondria increased with increasing drug concentration. In vivo experiments showed that photosensitizer BF01 mediated photodynamic therapy of liver cancer cells and inhibited tumor growth in mice. Therefore, the new BF01 photosensitizer has a potential for development into future clinic application.

Based on the ITS2 and psbA-trnH sequences, molecular biological identification and genetic relationship of Fritillaria cirrhosa with its relative species were carried out. In this paper, the PCR-RFLP method specified by the Chinese Pharmacopoeia was performed on all samples at first. Secondly, the ITS2 and psbA-trnH sequences of all samples were amplified. Then, the amplified products were used to analyze the genetic distance, construct the phylogenetic tree, assess the identification efficiency, and evaluate the genetic relationship as well. The result showed that all the samples were divided into two groups by PCR-RFLP method. The samples in the first group, including Fritillaria ussuriensis, Fritillaria thunbergii and Fritillaria pallidiflora, could not be digested by SmaI, while the other samples in the second group, including Fritillaria mellea, Fritillaria sinica, Fritillaria cirrhosa var. ecirrhosa Franch, Fritillaria unibracteata var. longinectarea and Fritillaria cirrhosa, could be digested by SmaI. Then, ITS2 and psbA-trnH sequences of all samples were obtained. The length of various ITS2 sequences were distributed from 235 to 239 bp, and the average intra-and inter-specific genetic distance were 0.001 and 0.022, respectively. NJ tree showed that all samples were separated into "Northern Fritillaria" group (Fritillaria ussuriensis and Fritillaria pallidiflora) and "Southern Fritillaria" group (Fritillaria thunbergii, Fritillaria mellea, Fritillaria sinica, Fritillaria cirrhosa var. ecirrhosa Franch, Fritillaria unibracteata var. longinectarea and Fritillaria cirrhosa). The latter group could be further divided into Fritillaria thunbergii and Fritillaria cirrhosa subgroup, and the species in Fritillaria cirrhosa subgroup had close phylogenetic relationships. The length of psbA-trnH sequences was distributed from 337 to 373 bp, and the intra-and inter-specific genetic distance were 0.263 and 0.329, respectively. The samples in this paper could not be clustered effectively by NJ tree. This indicated that the ITS2 sequences were not only able to identify Fritillaria cirrhosa with its partial relative species quickly and accurately, but also clarify the relationship between different Fritillaria species. Therefore, it provided an important theoretical foundation for the development of molecular markers, effective protection, and rational development and utilization of Fritillaria resources.

We determined a component-target-disease network for Carthamus tinctorius L. and the key compounds, identified by topological analysis, were related to vasculitis, coronary heart and cerebrovascular disease. Based on these compounds, the chromatographic fingerprint of Carthamus tinctorius L. was established. Firstly, 132 compounds were obtained from TCMID and TCMSP databases. Their targets were predicted in the PharmMapp and HemMapper databases. CardioGenBase, Therapeutic Target Database and DisGeNET databases were used to collect targets of vasculitis, coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. The corresponding relationships between component and target protein were established by mapping. Finally, the " component-target-disease" network was built with Cytoscape software. The core network and key nodes were analyzed with the Cytohubba plug-in. The results showed that the 24 key compounds were alpha-tocopherol, adenosine, quinone chalcone pigments such as hydroxysafflor yellow A, safflower yellow, quercetin, kaempferol and other flavonoids, organic acids such as stearic acid, linolenic acid, coumaric acid and cinnamic acid. This resulting chromatographic fingerprint of Carthamus tinctorius L. showed good consistency, and the core chemical compounds obtained by topological analysis of the network of " component-target-disease" , could be used as quality control markers. Our research provides a new approach for the identification of quality control indicators in Chinese medicinal materials.

Polymyxin B and polymyxin E (colistin) are increasingly used as last-resort drugs for treatment of infections caused by multidrug-resistant gram-negative pathogens. Unfortunately, the application was limited due to the serious side effects, especially nephrotoxicity. Very recently, the need for developing more tolerated and more effective polymyxin analogues has grown. This study details the design, synthesis, and evaluation of two classes of polymyxin B analogues with varying hydrophobicity and bulkiness at the N-terminal fatty acyl chain or position 6 amino acid. 20 polymyxin B analogues were synthesized and the chemical structures of the analogues were confirmed by HR-MS and ¹H NMR spectra. Compounds 7e (MIC:0.5-4 μg·mL^-1) and 7l (MIC:0.25-2 μg·mL^-1) showed similar or better antimicrobial activity against both susceptible and resistant strains of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa compared to polymyxin B (MIC:0.5-2 μg·mL^-1). Besides, compound 7l (CC₅₀:217.1±13.2 μg·mL^-1) displayed noticeably decreased renal cytotoxicity compared to polymyxin B (CC₅₀:120.3±6.0 μg·mL^-1). This work establishes the base of further study on the structure-activity relationship of polymyxin B.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of Sophoral flavones on proliferation of cardiac fibroblasts (CFb) induced by high glucose and its underlying mechanism. Cardiac fibroblasts were exposed to different concentration of D-glucose (15, 25 and 35 mmol·L^-1) at different time point (24, 48 and 72 h) in order to determine cell proliferation, and the model group was established by culturing CFb with 25 mmol·L^-1 D-glucose for 48 h. Sophoral flavones (12.5, 25 and 50 mg·L^-1) were employed for intervention. The cell viability was measured by MTT assay, and the levels of transforming growth factor-β₁ (TGF-β₁), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), collagen Ⅰ and collagen Ⅲ were measured by ELISA. In addition, flow cytometry was employed to detect the cell cycle; while the protein expression of prohibitin (PHB) was observed via immunocytochemistry and Western blot. This animal experiment had been approved by Jilin Medical University Experiment Animal Ethics Review Committee. The results showed that 25 mmol·L^-1 glucose could promote the proliferation of CFb; and the contents of TGF-β₁, MMP-2, collagen Ⅰ and collagen Ⅲ in the model group were higher than that of control (P < 0.05). The number of cells in S and G₂ phase increased under high glucose condition. In the model group, PHB translocation occurred at 6 h and protein expression decreased at 48 h (P < 0.01). Compared with the model group, 12.5-50 mg·L^-1 Sophoral flavones reduced the contents of TGF-β₁, MMP-2, collagen Ⅰ and collagen Ⅲ, increased the number of G₁ phase cells, and increased the expression of PHB protein at 48 h (P < 0.05), with no effect on the nuclear translocation of PHB. These results indicated that Sophoral flavones could prevent the proliferation of CFb induced by high glucose, the mechanism of which may be related to increasing the expression of PHB protein.

Long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs), defined as transcripts which are hundreds of nucleotides with little or non-protein coding potential. Recently, LncRNAs have caught much more attentions, instead of considering as noises of genome transcripts, and indeed they have been found to play important roles associated with some biological processes, such as tumorigenesis, immunology dysfunction, metabolism adjustment, and so on. The incidence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in different regions of the world is about 10% to 15%, with high growth rate and high unawareness, including the diabetic nephropathy, membranous nephropathy, etc. Previous publications also suggest that LncRNAs have a close relationship with the kidneys, and it may become new therapeutic targets or new biomarkers to diagnose diseases. In this review, we will summarize LncRNAs' functions with chronic kidney diseases, and discuss the prospects of the clinical applications of LncRNAs in the treatment of CKD treatment.