The difficulty to eradicate the HIV-1, off-target effects together with the rapid emergence of multidrug-resistant strains have created an urgent need for more potent and less toxic therapies against other targets of HIV virus. From the point of view of medicinal chemistry, we summarizes and discusses current endeavours towards the discovery and development of novel inhibitors with various scaffolds or distinct mechanisms of action, and also provides examples illustrating new methodologies in medicinal chemistry that contribute to the identification of novel antiretroviral agents.

This study was designed to test the effect of short-term high-fat diet feeding on the cognitive impairment in a rat model of Alzheimer's disease. After establishment of Alzheimer's disease model, the rats were fed on a high-fat diet, and subjected to water maze (Morris water maze, MWM) behavioral test for learning and memory ability. Western blot was used to detect the expression of caspase-1 pathway. The results showed that short-term high-fat diet could alleviate the damage of okada acid in Morris water maze. The mechanism may be mediated by the regulation of the NLRP3/caspase-1 signaling pathway, which alleviates neuronal damage, resulting in a protective effect.

Extracellular acidity has been associated with many pathological states, such as cancer, ischemic stroke, neurotrauma and infection, which makes it an effective target for therapy and diagnosis of such diseases. As a polypeptide vector, pH low insertion peptides (pHLIPs) are endowed with high sensitivity to extracellular acidic environment, which can insert the membrane and deliver payload to pathological cells in a pH dependent manner. Here, theranostic applications of pHLIP in disease, are reviewed in two aspects:pHLIP-mediated single-molecule transporter and nano-sized carrier.

This study was aimed to explore the pharmacokinetics of epiberberine, jatrorrhizine, coptisine, palmatine, berberine of Jiaotai pill in the normal and depressed rats. According to 'Katz' method, the model of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) was established. The extract of Jiaotai pill was orally administered to rats, and the blood samples were collected via the the oculi chorioideae vein according to the time schedule. The concentrations of epiberberine, jatrorrhizine, coptisine, palmatine, berberine in rat plasma were determined by LC-MS/MS, and the pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by DAS1.0 software. Compared with normal rats, the C_max of palmatine, coptisine, berberine and jatrorrhizine in Jiaotai pill in depressed rats were 1.99, 2.14, 2.3, 1.82 times than the normal group, while the AUC_0−t were 1.23, 1.25, 1.29, 1.46 times and the AUC_0−∞ were 1.21, 1.25, 1.30, 1.43 times, which were significantly different.

Gambogic acid (GA), the main active ingredient in gamboge, has been reported to have good anti-tumor activity with excellent selectivity.However, its clinical application is limited by the poor water solubility.GA nanosuspensions were designed in this study in order to solve this problem.GA nanosuspensions were prepared by microprecipitation method based on pH adjustment.Suitable stabilizer was screened according to the size and polydispersity index (PDI) of the resultant nanosuspensions.Dynamic light scattering method was used to measure the particle size and transmission electron microscopy was used to observe the morphology.The stability was studied in different medium.The drug release was evaluated using a dialysis method.MTT assay was used to assess their cytotoxicity in vitro against cancer cell line.Anti-tumor effect in vivo was investigated on H22-bearing mice.In result, Poloxamer (P188) was found to be a good stabilizer.The resultant GA nanosuspensions (GA-NSps) were 135.9 ±5.1 nm in diameter, with PDI value being 0.26 ±0.01 and the zeta potential being -35.1 ±1.36) mV.GA-NSps were nearly spherical.They were quite stable in various physiological media.GA-NSps exhibited a sustained drug release pattern, with the cumulative release reaching 90.26% within 312 h.In MTT assay, GA-NSps had a stronger cytotoxicity against HepG2 cells than the free drug (IC₅₀, 0.851 8 μg·mL^-1 vs 2.104 μg·mL^-1, P < 0.05).The pharmacodynamics study suggest that the antitumor effect of GA-NSps was dose-dependent.The anti-tumor effect at the high dose is better than that of paclitaxel (72.35% vs 66.80%, P < 0.01).In summary, we prepared GA-NSps with high drug loading capacity, small particle size and good stability, and provided a solid basis for the effective dosage form of gambogic acid.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of behaviorally defined, etiologically heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impairment in social reciprocity, disturbances in language and various types of repetitive behaviors. The etiology and pathogenic mechanism of ASD are still unclear and there is no effective treatment available yet. ASD treatment includes behavioral and medicinal interventions. Behavioral interventions are the first line of treatment for ASD, alleviating core symptoms. Medicinal treatments, exert limited effect towards the core symptoms, represent an aide to the behavioral intervention and mainly apply to the so-called associated behavioral symptoms, such as irritability, aggression, self-injury, anxiety, insomnia, hyperactivity, low attention and compulsive behavior. A wide range of different agents are currently being tested in the preclinical and clinical studies, which include antipsychotics, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, anxiolytics, anti-infective drugs, glutamate receptor modulators, GABA receptor modulators, mTOR inhibitors and neuropeptides, etc. The purpose of present review is to cover the research advances in drug development and medicinal treatment of autism spectrum disorders.

This study was conducted to improve structural instability of a highly active DHODH inhibitor A found in our group. Twelve prodrugs were synthesized by modifying the carboxyl group. The enzyme activity test of 12 prodrugs A1-A12 demonstrated that A1-A5 displayed weak inhibitory activity, and A6-A12 displayed no activity, which met the action mechanism of designed prodrug. The structural stability of A1-A12 in methanol and pH 2.0, 9.0 buffers were tested, and the results showed that A12 could avoid intramolecular ring-formation in CH₃OH, A1-A8 were easily hydrolyzed under acidic conditions, and A9-A12 were inclined to hydrolyze under alkaline conditions. The cell proliferation inhibitory activity of 12 prodrugs were evaluated, in which compound A12 displayed excellent activity (IC₅₀=0.63 μmol·L^-1) similar to brequinar. These results laid a good foundation for conducting further vivo studies.

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was applied to this study to detect heavy metal contents in Coptidis Rhizoma from different habitats, for a comprehensive understanding of heavy metal residues in Coptidis Rhizoma.Decocting method and artificial gastrointestinal digestion model were used to determine transfer rates of heavy metals in assessment of health risk of heavy metals using the target hazard quotient (THQ) developed by the US EPA (1989).The results showed that excess rates of Cu, Pb, As, Cd and Hg of 17 batches of Coptidis Rhizoma were 0, 12%, 0, 0 and 0, respectively, under the ISO international standard of Chinese medicine-Chinese herbal medicine heavy metal.The transfer rates of Cu, Pb, As, Cd and Hg were 3.63%, 1.69%, 37.17%, 20.86% and 0 in decoction solution, respectively, and 59.15%, 29.98%, 67.55%, 104.59% and 0 in artificial gastrointestinal solution, respectively.The values of THQ under the two ways of administration in adults and children were 0.001 0, 0.005 3 and 0.000 7, 0.003 6, respectively, and the maximum residue limits (MRL) of heavy metals in Coptidis Rhizoma were higher than the contents of samples in this study.The research showed that the contents of heavy metals in Coptidis Rhizoma were in the safe ranges with no obvious risks to human body, indicating that the excessive of heavy metals in Coptidis Rhizoma might be attributed to the unduly strict standard.The contents of heavy metals in Coptidis Rhizoma of different habitats was estimated for health risks using international risk assessment model, which provides a reference for establishment of heavy metal standards in Coptidis Rhizoma.

The antioxidant activities of Vleriana jatamansi Jones were investigated and the relationship between the antioxidant effect and the chemical structure was explored. The free radical scavenging test, 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH^•), was used to evaluate the antioxidant activities of the extracts of Vleriana jatamansi Jones with 0−100% menthol as extraction solvents. The polar and nonpolar HPLC conditions were conducted to isolate the main chemical compositions. The DPPH^• tests were used in analysis of the free radical scavenging activities. Under polar HPLC separation conditions, 5 kinds of compounds were detected:chlorogenic acid, 3, 5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 4, 5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, hesperidin, and coffeic acid; under nonpolar HPLC separation conditions, acevaltrate, 1β-acevaltrate and valtrate were founded. Chlorogenic acid, 3, 5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, and 4, 5-dicaffeoylquinic acid presented high DPPH^• free radical scavenging activities. The results of antioxidant activity suggested that the coffee acyl from chlorogenic acid-like compounds had a high DPPH^• free radical scavenging ability. Our investigation indicated that structure of the ortho hydroxyl phenol of chlorogenic acid-like compounds play a significant role in antioxidant activities. In addition, this work can also provide method and theory reference for improving the antioxidant activities of Vleriana jatamansi Jones.

The flower bud of Tussilago farfara L. has been commonly used in the treatment of cough, bronchitis and asthmatic disorders in the Traditional Chinese Medicine. In Europe, the leaves were also used as herbal drugs with similar pharmacological activities. In order to utilize the leaves, it is important to conduct the chemical comparison between the flower buds and the leaves. In this study, ultra high liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with Q Exactive high resolution mass spectrometry (HR-MS) was used to compare the chemical composition of the flower buds and leaves of T. farfara L. forty three metabolites were identified by the combination of targeted and untargeted approach. The results suggest that the sesquiterpenes, such as tussilagone and 7β-(3'-ethyl-cis-crotonoyloxy)-1α-(2'-methylbutyryloxy)-3(14)-dehydro-Z-notonipetranone were higher in the flower buds. While the phenylpropanoids, such as cholorgenic acid and isochlorogenic acid were higher in the leaves. The flavonoids, such as hyperin and quercetin exhibited no difference between the flower buds and leaves, while the rutin and kaempferol were higher in the flower buds. The leaves and flower buds had similar chemical components, and the phenylpropanoids, which were closely related with the antitussive and expectorant activities, were found at higher concentrations in the leaves. The results presented here laid the basis for the rational utilization of the leaves of T. farfara L.