The Chinese herbal Radix Scrophulariae is the main medicine for nourishing yin and reducing fire. It can be used to treat hyperthyroidism due to yin deficiency and fire hyperactivity, but its mechanism is not clear. The present study was aimed to explore the mechanism of Radix Scrophulariae treatment of hyperthyroidism due to yin deficiency and fire hyperactivity. The urine metabolomic approach was conducted using the method of UPLC-TOF-MS. The results showed that Radix Scrophulariae has good therapeutic effects on hyperthyroidism rat model of yin deficiency. After treatment with Radix Scrophulariae, through metabolic profiling and protocol analysis, 6 potential metabolic markers may be closely related with the treatment mechanism of Radix Scrophulariae on this disease, including proline betaine, estrone, thymidine, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, cyclic AMP and L-dopa. The strongest metabolic pathways were associated with tryptophan metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, tyrosine metabolism, purine metabolism and steroid hormone biosynthesis. The urine metabolomic approach can be applied to clarify the therapeutic mechanism of Radix Scrophulariae on hyperthyroidism rat of yin deficiency, and provide the theoretical basis for the clinical practice of Radix Scrophulariae on nourishing yin to reduce pathogenic fire.

An HPLC method was established for the simultaneous determination of saikosaponin a, b₂, c, d, e, f of Bupleurum chinense DC. in order to study the content difference of saikosaponins in different producing areas, different harvest time and different processed products of Bupleurum chinense DC. The Agela Venusil MP C₁₈ (4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm) column was used with a gradient elution of acetonitrile-water at the wavelength of 210 and 254 nm with the flow rate of 1.0 mL·min^-1 and the column temperature at 30℃. Based on the content of six kinds of saikosaponins, the differences of saikosaponins in four producing areas, eight harvest periods and 11 processing methods of Bupleurum chinense DC. were systematically studied. The results showed that the content of saikosaponins in Bupleurum chinense DC. was higher in May and August of Liaoning, Shaanxi and Gansu, but only in August from Shanxi in the four producing areas. The content of saikosaponins in 11 processed products was as follows:raw product > bran-stir-fried product > stir-fried product > wine-moistened product > turtle blood-stir-fried product > bran-wine-stir-fried product > wine-stir-fried product > vinegar-moistened product > turtle blood-wine-stir-fried product > vinegar-stir-fried product > honey-stir-fried product > honeymoistened product.

Chinese material medica (CMM) is the foundation for treating disease using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which is not only guided by the basic theory of TCM but also follows the general rules of drug action. There are both toxicity and efficacy in TCM. For TCM the integrated regularities of its toxicity and efficacy were demonstrated in their prescription, which were qualitatively characterized by compatible experiences such as "seven emotions", "Yin" and "Yang" compatibility, etc. When the toxicity is still produced by oral administration according to the prescription of TCM theory or administration is not abided by original requirement, the integral regularities of toxicity and efficacy that depends on experience appears to be at a loss what to do. Especially in recent years, with the modernization of TCM and the continuous advantages in new medicinal innovation, the CMM safety incidents occurred frequently. It is very urgent for us how to establish a set of integrated methods that are adequately situated to multiple components for TCM. With the combination of the biological supramolecular chemistry and the basic theory of TCM, an integrated model of toxicity and efficacy based on TCM supramolecular "imprinting template" has begun to take shape. The CMM and the human body are both biological supramolecular bodies that follow the autonomic action rules of their "imprinting template". The integrated trends of toxicity and efficacy are able to build on systematical results of single components in CMM based on the theory of TCM to treat diseases by prescription on syndromes. It is also the systematic actions resulting from single effective components in CMM by the supramolecular "imprinting template" self-acted regularities. Through the qualitative and quantitative analysis of supramolecular "imprinting templates" characteristics and actions and their network chromatotoxicometrology (chromatopharmacometrology), a toxic and effective integrated analysis methods will be established on an integrated "therapeutic window" for components in the CMM. This effort will finally permit the description of the components of the pharmacokinetic overlaid law of "therapeutic window", plotted to lower-overflow, entering and higher-overflow profiles.

Rabdosia japonica(Burm.f.) Hara var.glaucocalyx(Maxim.) Hara is a traditional Chinese medicine, and is known to have anti-tumor effects. This study aims to investigate the effect of glaucocalyxin A (GLA), a diterpenoids extracted from Glaucocalyx Hara, on apoptosis of glioma cells and its mechanism. This study investigated the molecular signaling mechanism of GLA-induced glioma cell apoptosis by analyzing survival rate of C6 rat glioma cells, cell morphology, colony formation ability, interference ribonucleic acid, polymerase chain reaction, and Western blot. The result showed that in the presentce of GLA, the survival rate of C6 rat glioma cells decreased significantly, while the expression of guanine nucleotide-exchange factor-H1 was up-regulated, causing phosphorylation of extracellular regulated protein kinases proteins and apoptosis. Hence, the mechanism of GLA-induced glioma cell apoptosis was the GEF-H1/ERK pathway.

This study is aimed to investigate the potential mechanisms of herceptin-acquired resistance and curcumin to reverse resistance in NCI N87/R gastric cancer cells. Western blot was used to evaluate the effect of curcumin on the expression of IκBα, NF-κBp65, HER-2, caspase-3, Bcl-2 and Bax in herceptin resistant cells; Annexin V-FITC/PI was exploited to analyze the effect of curcumin on cell apoptosis; Caspase kit was used to evaluate the effect of curcumin on the enzymatic activity of caspase-3, 8 and 9. The results showed a low expression of IκBα in the cytoplasm and a high expression of NF-κBp65 in the nucleus of NCI N87/R cells. Correspondingly, inhibition of NF-κB pathway by EVP4593, a specific NF-κB inhibitor, preferentially reduced cell viability of NCI N87/R cells, indicating the activation of NF-κB pathway in NCI N87/R cells. Curcumin preferentially reduced cell proliferation and inhibited NF-κB signaling pathway of NCI N87/R cells, downregulated the expression of HER-2 and Bcl-2, upregulated the expression of Bax, increased the activity of caspase-3, 8 and 9. Taken together, our study demonstrates the correlation between herceptin resistance acquirement of NCI N87 cells and the activation of NF-κB pathway. Moreover, curcumin reverses herceptin resistance of NCI N87 cells possibly by inhibiting NF-κB pathway and inducing cell apoptosis.

Forsythia suspensa is a herbal medicine that widely used for heat-clearing and detoxification in clinical practice. However, the molecular mechanism of its heat-clearing and detoxifying effect is still unclear. Based on the theory and methods of network pharmacology, the efficacy of the heat-clearing and detoxification of Forsythia suspensa was analyzed in this study. A total of 114 of compounds in Forsythia suspensa were collected, and 15 of effective compounds were obtained by analyzing the bioavailability (OB) and drug-like properties (DL). Then 26 corresponding targets were obtained using reverse pharmacophore-docking method. Using the BioGPS database, the organ location of the target initially was revealed. The compound-targetdisease network model of Forsythia suspensa was constructed by using the Cytoscape, which showed that the material basis of the heat-clearing and detoxification of Forsythia suspensa was to synthesize and synergize the effects by combining various active ingredients of multiple targets, simultaneously. This study explains the scientific mechanism of the heat-clearing and detoxification of Forsythia suspensa, and provides a theoretical foundation for clinical rational usage of Forsythia suspensa.

Indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) is a key enzyme of L-tryptophan metabolic oxidation pathway, in which the L-tryptophan is transformed into N-formyl kynurenine by oxidative cleavage. IDO1 is considered as a potential target for the development of cancer immunotherapeutic molecules. Up to now, at least 10 drug candidates have been advanced into clinical research. In this review, the binding mode and structure-activity relationships of the representative IDO1 small molecule inhibitors were summarized according the characteristics of chemical structures. Hopefully, this review could provide some insights for further development of novel IDO1 inhibitors.

Anthraquinones are not only the main active constituents but also the index components for the quality control of Rhei Radix et Rhizoma. To study the anthraquinone biosynthesis, Rheum palmatum L. seedlings were subjected to a high-throughput transcriptomic sequencing analysis by Illumina HiSeq^TM 2000 150PE. The Illumina sequencing generated a total of 11.04 G clean data resulting in 736 309 74 clean reads, deposited in the sequence read archive (SRA accession SRP160030). Trinity do novo assembly yielded 93 646 unigenes, with an average of 1 108 nt. Functional annotation revealed that all unigenes were successfully annotated in the NR, NT, Swiss-port, PFAM, and KOG databases. GO enrichments showed that 57 subgroups were involved in biological process, cellular component, and molecular function. KEGG analysis indicated that 1 107 unigenes were implicated in 19 standard secondary metabolic pathways. 172 unigenes were analyzed to encode 28 key enzymes during the MVA, MEP, shikimic acid, and polyketide pathways related to anthraquinone biosynthesis. 125 CYP450 and 73 UGTs unigenes were related the modification of secondary metabolites in R. palmatum L. Furthermore, seven unigenes with full length cDNAs were successfully verified by RT-PCR and sequencing analyses. Then, MISA prediction produced a number of 18 885 simple sequence repeats (SSRs). Herein, the transcriptomic gene expression profiles of R. palmatum L. and candidate genes during the anthraquinone biosynthesis pathway were obtained for the first time. The results provided basic information for subsequent gene function characterization, secondary metabolic pathway analysis, and anthraquinone biosynthesis and regulation elucidation in R. palmatum L.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive cardiopulmonary disease with high mortality and increased prevalence. The target therapy of pulmonary hypertension is mainly dependent on vasodilation, but how to improve vascular remodeling with stem cell therapy has not been fully understood. Over the past ten years, the researches on endothelial progenitor cells, mesenchymal stem cells and pluripotent cells have brought the hope to patients with pulmonary hypertension. This article mainly introduces the latest progress of stem cell technology in the intervention of pulmonary hypertension, and discusses the problems in the application.