Based on the concept of network pharmacology, the main nephroprotective components in Erzhi Pill reported in previous studies, were used to predict the targets through the PharmMapper method. Molecular docking was applied to screen for potential targets and biological information annotation databases (DAVID) was used to analyze the molecular function and biological process of the action targets. The Cytoscape software was used to construct the "ingredient-target-pathway" network of Erzhi Pill for renal injury treatment. TTD and GAD database were then applied to screen for the targets of renal disease for building "ingredient-core target" network. We found that 17 major active ingredients of Erzhi Pill regulated 32 targets (including ESR1, ESR2, GCK, MMP3) and affected 6 pathways, such as PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, estrogen signaling pathway and purine metabolism. This study reflected the nature of traditional Chinese medicine as multi-ingredients, multi-targets and multi-path ways, providing new clues for basic science research on the nephroprotective pharmacological mechanism of Erzhi Pill.

A highly sensitive and selective bioluminescent probe for hydrazine (BPH) was designed, synthe sized and evaluated for detection of hydrazine in vitro and in vivo. BPH was designed to include a specific recogni tion group (acetyl) of hydrazine at an appropriate modification site of the optical reporter hydroxyluciferin (Dluciferin), which showed excellent performance both in selectivity and sensitivity to hydrazine. The results showed that the bioluminescent probe BPH developed in this study is an innovative and widely applicable tool for detecting hydrazine in complex natural environment or in animals.

Chemical investigation on the rice culture of Corynespora cassiicola J9, an endophyte inhabiting in Blumea balsamifera (L.) DC. resulted in isolation of eight compounds, including a new depsidone derivative, corynether C (1), and seven analogues, corynether B (2), corynetherlactone A (3), corynether A (4), diaryl ether (5), corynesidone C (6), corynesidone D (7), and corynesidone A (8). Their structures were deduced based on 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy, and HR-ESI-MS data. All of the isolated compounds were evaluated for inhibitory activities against Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus Kuschel by the leaf spray assay. Unfortunately, none of them showed inhibitory effects.

Snake venom has special pharmacological activities and contains a array of small polypeptides that can antagonize integrins, therefore called disintegrins. Disintegrins can block integrin-dependent platelet aggrega tion, tumor growth, and tumor metastasis. A disintegrin fraction was isolated and purified from the venom of snake Gloydius brevicaudus (GBV). Its physical and chemical properties were characterized, and its biological activities were investigated. The crude venom of GBV were isolated by Superdex 75 gel filtration chromatography. The antiplatelet aggregation activity of the fractions was screened by the Born method. The fraction that shown anti-platelet activity was further purified with Sephadex G-25 gel filtration, DEAE Sepharose Fast Flow ion exchange chroma tography, and Lichrospher C18 reversed-phase chromatography respectively. The purity of the active component was analyzed with SDS-PAGE (Tris-Tricine system) and high-performance liquid-phase chromatography (HPLC), with protein concentration determined by the Bradford method. The molecular weight was evaluated by the gel imaging method and mass spectrometry, and the isoelectric point was measured by disc isoelectric focusing electro phoresis. The protease activity was measured with the Rick method. The phospholipase A activity was determined by the automatic potentiometric titration method. Amino acid sequencing results were subjected to homology comparison using the BLAST program. Seven fractions (Ⅰ-Ⅶ) were isolated from GBV by gel filtration chroma tography on Superdex 75 column. The fraction Ⅳ inhibited the platelet aggregation induced by ADP with molecular weight lower than 10 000 Da, suggesting a disintegrin component. A disintegrin named GBV-Ⅳ 4 was purified from the fraction by Sephadex G-25 gel filtration, DEAE Sepharose Fast Flow ion-exchange and Lichrospher C18 reverse chromatography. It was homogeneous shown as a single band on SDS-polyacrylmide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE, Tris-Tricine system) with molecular weight 8 746 Da as calculated by Image Master VDS system. The isoelectric point of GBV-Ⅳ4 was 6.3 by disc polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. GBV-Ⅳ4 exhibited no detectable phospholipase A₂ (PLA₂) activity with the pH-stat technique or proteinase activity according to the method of Rick. GBV-Ⅳ4 is composed of 70 amino acids with RGD (Arg-Gly-Asp) active region and a molecular weight of 7 442 Dalton as assayed by Mass Spectrography. Characterization of GBV-Ⅳ4 is consistent with metachain disintegrin (70 amino acid sequence, six pairs of disulfide bond). Retrieved by Genbank, GBV-Ⅳ4 has high homology with other disintegrins. We concluded that GBV-Ⅳ 4 is a novel disintegrin contained RGD. GBV-Ⅳ4 showed dose-dependent inhibition of ADP-or thrombin-induced platelet aggregation with IC₅₀ 0.339 or 0.577 μg·mL^-1 respectively. In conclusion, a new disintegrin derived from the GBV snake venom and named GBV-Ⅳ4 containing RGD tripeptide sequence could inhibit platelet aggregation.

The method for analyzing the interaction between caffeine and human serum albumin (HSA) was established by capillary electrophoresis. Under physiological conditions, the interaction between ligand (caffeine)-receptor (HSA) was studied with frontier-analysis (FA) method, Hummel-Dreyer (HD) method and plug-plug kinetic (PPK) method. The interaction parameters of caffeine-HSA system were obtained using non-linear equation, Scatchard equation and Klotz equation. The results showed that FA, HD and PPK methods were suitable for caffeine-HSA system, among them, HD method was the best, and the Non-linear equation was the best theoretical model to caffeine-HSA system. Interaction parameter tests showed that caffeine-HSA interaction was a single site interaction and the binding stability was moderate. The mechanism of caffeine-HSA interaction has been elucidated, which can provide valuable information for further research of alkaloids.

Nitidine chloride (NC) is a compound with prominent anti-tumor activity. To determine potential cardiotoxicity of NC, this study was designed to investigate the distribution of NC in rat heart and the underlying mechanism. The animal studies were approved by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Zhejiang University Medical Center (2015-380-01) and complied with the standards of animal welfare in China. At 0.25, 0.5 and 2 h after a single intravenous injection (iv) of 5 mg·kg^-1 NC, the concentrations of NC in rat heart were 47.7, 71.1 and 63.2 μg·g^-1 respectively, which were 576, 1 352 and 1 212 folds of that in plasma. This study also revealed that the NC concentration in heart was 458.5 μg·g^-1 (7 336 folds of that in plasma) at 2 h after the last dose in rats, after daily iv administration of NC at 5 mg·kg^-1·day^-1 for successive 20 days. Further studies showed that the accumulations of NC in MDCK-hOCT1 and MDCK-hOCT3 cells were 16.1 and 4.99 folds higher than that of the mock cells, respectively. There is no significant difference between the accumulations of NC in MDCK cells transfected with hOCTN1, hOCTN2 or hPMAT and the mock cells. Additionally, quinidine, L-tetrahydropalmatine and Decynium 22, the inhibitors of OCTs, clearly reduced the accumulations of NC in primary cardiomyocytes and cardiac fibroblasts from neonatal rats. MTT assay showed that the LC₅₀ of NC on cardiomyocytes and cardiac fibroblasts were 10.9 and 10.4 μmol·L^-1, respectively. Moreover, treatment of the primary cardiomyocytes and cardiac fibroblasts with NC (1~15 μmol·L^-1) for 48 h resulted in significantly increased LDH enzyme leakage. These results indicated that NC can be highly accumulated in the heart, and accumulation is mediated by OCT1 and OCT3, but not by OCTN1, OCTN2 and PMAT. The accumulated NC has potential cytotoxicity as shown in the results from primary cardiomyocytes and cardiac fibroblasts.

The study was designed to synthesize a novel dendritic copolymer composed of polyamidoamine dendrimer G0 as the inner core and poly(L-glutamic acid) grafted low molecular weight polyethylenimine (PGLP) as surrounding arms for gene delivery vector. The molecular structure of PGLP was confirmed by ¹H NMR (proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy). The DNA combination capability of PGLP was examined by gel retarda tion electrophoresis. The particle sizes and zeta potentials of PGLP/pDNA complexes were determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS). The cytotoxicity of PGLP was evaluated by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and hemolysis assays, which was approved by Research Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University. The in vitro transfection efficiency of PGLP was measured by a flow cytometry. The results of physicochemical properties suggested that PGLP could self-assemble with DNA to form complexes with average particle sizes of about 105-200 nm and zeta potentials of about +10-+28 mV, which could protect DNA from serum degradation. The results of biological properties suggested that PGLP showed more higher transfection efficiencies but lower cytotoxicity than PEI 25K or Lipofectamine 2000 in various cell lines (HEK 293T, HeLa, BEL 7402, RASMC). Importantly, it was found that PGLP/pDNA complexes at w/w=8 showed more strong serum-resistant capacity than PEI 25K/pDNA complexes. Therefore, PGLP is a promising candidate vector for gene delivery.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is one of the new approaches for cancer treatment with high efficacy. However, applications of current photosensitizers are restricted to skin and superficial tumor due to poor in vivo targeting ability, poor water solubility and short wavelength excitement, which limits penetration therefore thera peutic depth. Here, a biodegradable polymeric micelle, methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-polylactide copolymer (mPEG-PDLLA), is employed as drug delivery system to co-encapsulate strong two-photon absorption compound (L_TPA) and photosensitizers. This delivery system is designed to target tumor passively, resulting in near infrared light with an approximately 808 nm wavelength becoming able to indirectly excite photosensitizers through fluores cence resonance energy transfer. Tumor cells and microvessels could be damaged by the generated singlet oxygen. The average size of drug loaded micelles was approximately 55 nm and showed a spherical shape. Both com pounds could be released simultaneously from micelles under either weak acid and neutral pH conditions. Reactive oxygen species was produced intracellularly during two-photon PDT process and induced cell apoptosis/necrosis, which was quantified by Annexin-V/FITC assays. Time-dependent ex vivo organ distribution and in vivo anticancer efficacy results suggested that the drug carriers could accumulate in tumors and suppress tumor growth by twophoton PDT. All animals experiments were performed in line with national regulations and approved by the Animal Experiments Ethical Committee of College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southwest University. In summary, we have employed two-photon PDT for breast cancer treatment successfully in a mouse model and have demonstrated the significance of delivery system in such therapeutics.

To accurately discriminate Stellariae Radix from its adulterants, four leading candidate DNA barcoding markers were evaluated. Sixty samples including Stellariae Radix and its adulterants have been newly collected and their total genomic DNA was extracted. Four DNA barcoding markers ITS, rbcL, psbA-trnH and matK were amplified and sequenced. Their sequence characteristic analyses, Kimura-2-parameter (K2P) distance calculation and Neighbor-joining (NJ) phylogenetic tree constructions were accomplished using the MEGA 7.0 software. DNA Barcoding gaps of the four DNA barcoding markers were estimated by the distributions of interand intra-sequence specific variations. Species identification efficiency was calculated using the BLAST method. The results showed that ITS had the highest (95.2%) while matK demonstrated the lowest (75%) PCR and sequencing efficiency. The length range of the four markers were in the ranger of 211-797 bp, and the G+C content of ITS was highest (54.35%). The identification efficiency of matK and ITS was 92% and 90% respectively. Barcoding gap could be found in ITS sequences. The NJ phylogenetic tree constructed using ITS sequences showed that samples of Stellariae Radix were separately formed into one clade, and samples of adulterants like Stellaria bistyla were clearly belong to different branches from Stellariae Radix, whereas NJ trees constructed using psbA-trnH, rbcL and matK could not differentiate Stellariae Radix from its adulterants. Therefore, ITS regions as DNA barcodes can stably and accurately distinguished Stellariae Radix from its adulterants, and provide a new technique for modern identification of Stellariae Radix.

The roots and flowers of Gentiana waltonii and Gentiana robusta are used as Tibetan herb Jie-Ji in traditional Tibetan medicine, with iridoids as the main active ingredient and index components. To study the pathway of iridoid biosynthesis, roots, stems, leaves and flowers of G. waltonii and G. robusta were subjected to a high-throughput transcriptomic sequencing analysis by Illumina HiseqXTen. After removing insignificant reads and de novo splicing, 79 455 and 78 466 unigenes were obtained from G. waltonii and G. robusta respectively, with average length as 834 bp and 862 bp. The unigene GO functions could be divided into three categories of 65 branches. The unigenes were aligned in KOG database and were classified into 25 classes according to function. In KEGG database, 315 and 340 unigenes of G. waltonii and G. robusta were implicated in 20 standard secondary metabolic pathways, respectively. Furthermore, 80 and 57 unigenes of the two species were analyzed to encode 24 key enzymes in the pathway related to iridoid biosynthesis. There were differences in gene expression among different organs. Based on sequence data, significant amounts of SSRs, SNPs and InDels were detected in each dataset. This study provides a platform for further development of molecular markers, excavation of functional genes, and research into metabolic pathways and their regulatory mechanism within G. waltonii and G. robusta.