Palmatine, the main effective ingredient of Fibraurea recisa, is a typical berberine isoquinoline alkaloid with extensive anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities. In this work, the studies of metabolomics and transcriptomics were utilized to detect differentially expressed genes (DEGs) that are significantly associated with the synthesis of palmatine. In addition, eight of these DEGs were verified by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). A total of 106 alkaloids were detected in the metabolomics study, including 23 isoquinoline alkaloids. Palmatine ranked in the top ten of differential metabolites in the group of root vs leaf, and its relative content in root was about 47.5 times higher than that in leaf. In the transcriptomics study, a total of 188 genes were annotated to the pathway of isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis. Among them, there were 36 DEGs were significantly different. In the comparison group of root and leaf, a total of 33 DEGs were significantly different, and 30 DEGs were annotated on the biosynthetic pathway of palmatine. Finally, the results of the correlation analysis between metabolomics and transcriptomics showed that the expression patterns of four gene sequences were screened to be significantly correlated with palmatine. The results of qRT-PCR experiments showed that the expression trends of eight DEGs were consistent with the results of transcriptomic. This study not only enriched the omics data of F. recisa, but also established the foundation for the study of the synthetic biology of palmatine. It further provided a reference for the analysis of the key enzyme genes on the biosynthetic pathway of other isoquinoline alkaloids.

The purpose of this study was to enrich the genomic information and provide a basis for further development and utilization of Polygonatum kingianum. The fresh rhizome of P. kingianum was used as the experimental material, and the full-length transcriptome was sequenced by PacBio Sequel platform. The final measured polymerase reads were 1 120 485, with a total of 77.73 GB of data. In NR database, 41 864 homologous sequence alignments were aligned to 5 species; 40 506 were annotated in the KOG database and classified into 26 categories based on their functionality; 69 060 GO annotated 32 functional groups divided into 3 categories: cellular components, molecular functions, and biological processes; 45 779 annotations were added to 145 metabolic pathways in the KEGG database. Among them, there are 127 identified transcripts related to polysaccharide synthesis in the glycolysis/gluconeogenesis metabolic pathway, 144 in the starch and sucrose metabolic pathway, 85 in the amino acid sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolic pathway, and 69 in the fructose and mannose metabolic pathway. In addition, 1 781 transcription factors were detected, distributed in 37 transcription factor families; 180 293 SSR loci were detected, among which single base repeats accounted for the most, accounting for 30.48% of all base repeats, and at least five base repeats, accounting for only 0.14% of single base repeats. The results of this study provide important data supporting for enriching the genomic information of P. kingianum and exploring its effective biosynthetic pathway.

Natural products are important sources of drug discovery. However, the traditional methods of extraction and isolation, as well as chemical synthesis for obtaining natural products are associated with issues such as operational complexity, high costs, low efficiency, and environmental pollution. Constructing microbial cell factories through synthetic biology methods to produce medicinal natural products has the advantages of high efficiency, low cost, and environmental protection. Nevertheless, the scope and yield improvement of the products are limited by the limitations of enzymes in microbial cell factories. Protein engineering is considered one of the most effective approaches to overcome these limitations. This article introduces commonly used methods of protein engineering technology and summarizes its specific applications in improving enzyme performance, modifying the enzymatic environment, and promoting the development of synthetic biology tools in the field of pharmaceutical natural product synthesis. Furthermore, it analyzes the current bottlenecks and challenges in protein engineering and looks forward to its future application prospects, offering insights for the development and practical use of protein engineering technology.

Vascular calcification (VC) is a chronic systemic vascular disease characterized by abnormal deposition of hydroxyapatite minerals in the vascular system and is closely associated with aging, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and chronic kidney disease. Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT), a special type of adipose tissue that surrounds blood vessels, is thought to be a supportive component of the vascular structure and is capable of playing a role in homeostatic regulation during vasodilatation and contraction. Currently, there is growing evidence that perivascular adipose tissue acts as an endocrine and paracrine organ and interacts closely with cellular components of the vascular wall, which may be involved in the development of vascular calcification. This article reviews the role of perivascular adipose tissue in the pathophysiological process of vascular calcification and its potential as a target for therapeutic intervention, with the aim of providing new ideas for the prevention and treatment of vascular calcification.

Myocardial infarction (MI) is a fatal disease with high morbidity and mortality. Platelets are major players of thrombosis and inflammation after acute myocardial infarction. There is growing evidence that platelets mediate inflammation, participate in dead tissue removal and heart remodeling through direct or indirect interactions with immune cells post-MI. This paper reviews the type of interactions between platelets and immune cells after myocardial infarction, and summarizes the mechanism of platelet interaction with different immune cells, such as neutrophils, monocytes, and macrophages, to mediate cardiac injury and repair through up-regulation of surface receptors and release of immune regulatory mediators post-MI. Therapeutic strategies targeting the interaction between platelets and immune cells for myocardial infarction is also presented, to provide reference for the exploration of new immune therapy targets for myocardial infarction.

Drug nanocrystals self-stabilized Pickering emulsion (DNSPE) is a novel Pickering emulsion with drug nanocrystals as the stabilizer. There are more and more researches on DNSPE in the field of drug delivery in recent years. On the basis of summarizing the research status of DNSPE used as drug delivery systems, this paper comprehensively reviewed the research progress of three key issues, such as the main factors affecting construction of DNSPE, characterization methods of properties and structures, and in vivo fate, and looked forward to the industrialization prospect, which is beneficial to deepen the comprehensive research of DNSPE and promote its application in the field of drug delivery.

Through a compound induction method, combined with neurobehavioral, macroscopic characterization and objective pathological evaluation indicators, a murine depression model of liver depression transforming into fire syndrome was constructed and confirmed. The model was constructed using a combination of sleep deprivation, light exposure, and alternate-day food deprivation. Evaluation was conducted at three levels: face validity, constructs validity, and predictive validity. The establishment of the liver depression transforming into fire syndrome depression model was further validated through the counterproof of traditional Chinese medicine formulas. In terms of face validity, compared to the control group, mice in the model group exhibited typical depressive symptoms in neurobehavioral assessments; the general observation of the model group mice reveals disheveled and lackluster fur, along with delayed and easily agitated responses. Additionally, there is a substantial increase in water consumption. In the sleep phase detection of mouse, the model group showed a significant increase in the proportion of time spent in the wake phase during sleep, accompanied by a significant decrease in the proportions of time spent in both non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep phases. There are significant differences in physiological indicators such as average blood flow velocity, blood flow rate, tongue, urine, and claw color (r values) in the internal carotid artery. Structural validity demonstrated that levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), dopamine (DA), and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the hippocampus of model mice decreased significantly, while acetylcholine (ACh), tryptophan (Try), and glutamic acid (Glu) levels increased significantly. Treatment with Danzhi Xiaoyao San led to varying degrees of restoration in the aforementioned neurotransmitters. In terms of predictive validity, the antidepressant paroxetine effectively ameliorated depressive behaviors in the model mice, and the classic formula Danzhi Xiaoyao San demonstrated varying degrees of improvement in depression-related indicators. In conclusion, this study has established a novel animal model of liver-stagnation with the fire depression, thereby expanding the repertoire of traditional Chinese medicine depression models. This development contributes to the diversification of melancholic syndrome models in Chinese medicine, offering a broader spectrum of options for scientific exploration, efficacy evaluation, and drug screening in the future prevention and treatment of depression with traditional Chinese medicine. Animal experiments were conducted with the approval and supervision of the Animal Ethics Committee of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ethics number: 20230313040).

Cordycepin (Cpn), a natural active compound derived from the traditional Chinese medicine Cordyceps sinensis, has antifibrotic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effects, but the impact of Cpn on pulmonary fibrosis and the downstream molecular mechanism remain unclear. In this study, A549 cells were induced by transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1) in vitro, the viability of A549 cells was evaluated by CCK-8 assay; and migration of A549 cells were detected by wound healing assay, invasion of A549 cells were detected by transwell assay. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations were used to predict the interaction of histone deacetylase 7 (HDAC7) with vimentin and the association of Cpn with HDAC7. The pulmonary fibrosis model of mice was established by bleomycin in vivo to investigate the effect of Cpn on pathological changes of lung tissue. The impact of Cpn and molecular mechanism on pulmonary fibrosis were studied by Western blot assay, cell transfection assay, immunoprecipitation assay, immunofluorescence assay, immunohistochemistry and real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). All animal experiments were approved by the Shanghai Children's Medical Center Experimental Animal Ethics Committee (grant No. SCMC-LAWEC-2022-017). Results showed that Cpn had no toxic effect on A549 cells even at the concentration of 100 μmol·L^-1. Cpn inhibited migration and invasion of A549 cells and reduced deposition of collagen, the degree of lung inflammation and fibrosis in mice; in vivo and in vitro models, Cpn significantly reversed mRNA and protein expressions of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and lung fibrosis markers collagen Ⅰ, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), N-cadherin, vimentin and E-cadherin and HDAC7. Deficiency of HDAC7 suppressed TGFβ1-induced EMT and expression of collagen Ⅰ; vimentin interacted with HDAC7; and molecular docking experiment revealed that Cpn was interrelated with HDAC7. In conclusion, Cpn can target HDAC7 to mediate EMT and exert its anti-fibrotic effect, the inhibition of EMT and the improvement of pulmonary fibrosis provide a new idea and choice for the development of anti-pulmonary fibrosis drug.

Ten compounds were isolated from the 95% ethanol extract of the whole plant of Bidens pilosa L. by silica gel column chromatography, polyamide column chromatography, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, MCI column chromatography, and semi-preparative HPLC methods. Based on its physicochemical properties and spectral data (UV, IR, MS, NMR), the structures of the isolates were identified as bidpilaurone glycoside A (1), Z-6-O-(4″-O-acetyl-6″-O-p-coumarinyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl)-6, 7, 3′, 4′-tetrahydroxyaurone (2), okanin 4′-O-β-D-(4″, 6″-diacetyl) glucopyranoside (3), Z-6-O-(6″-O-acetyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl)-6, 7, 3′, 4′-tetrahydroxyaurone (4), 6, 7, 3, 4′-tetrahydroxyaurone (5), Z-6-O-(6-O-coumarinyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl)-6, 7, 3′, 4′-tetrahydroxyaurone (6), Z-6-O-(4, 6-acetyl-β-D-pyranosyl)-6, 7, 3, 4′-tetrahydroxyaurone (7), Z-6-O-(6″-O-p-coumarinyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl)-6, 7, 3′, 4′-tetrahydroxyaurone (8), luteolin (9), and 7-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-5, 3′-dihydroxy-3, 6, 4′-trimethoxyflavone (10). Among them, compound 1 was a new aurone glycoside from B. pilosa L. Compounds 4 and 9 could partially inhibit the lipid deposition induced by sodium oleate and palmitate in human liver HepG2 cells. Molecular docking technology predicts that the potential target for its hypolipidemic activity may be peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors γ (PPARγ).

Oral iron is a commonly used preparation for the treatment of iron deficiency and iron-deficiency anemia in children, but its undesirable taste has become a major factor affecting clinical adherence to the medication. No studies have been conducted to evaluate the palatability of oral iron supplements. Thirteen representative oral iron supplements were selected to evaluate the palatability of oral iron supplements from different perspectives of in vivo and ex vivo by combining the electronic tongue (e-tongue) test, FaceReader facial expression analysis technology and taste interviews. E-tongue test results showed that iron dextran granlues were closest to odorless potassium chloride solution, basically free of bitterness and astringency, which was superior to the other products. FaceReader facial expression results showed that 58.7% of the subjects valued iron dextran granlues for their emotional efficacy higher than that of iron proteinsuccinylate oral solution. Among 43 participants aged ≥ 5 years, the taste preference for iron dextran granlues was 83.7%, and 83.7% of participants chose to take iron dextran granlues again. This study found that iron dextran granlues have a better taste and their flavor is more popular among children, which provides a reference for pediatric clinical use of oral iron supplementation preparations and a new idea for the evaluation of palatability of medications for children. This in vivo palatability evaluation is an investigational clinical trial that was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Beijing Children's Hospital (No. 2021-149-Y).