The abuse of novel phenylcyclohexylpyridine drugs poses a significant threat to societal safety. The novel psychoactive substance 2-methyl-deschloroketamine (2-MDCK), belonging to the phenylcyclohexylpyridine class, has recently surfaced as a new compound. However, there is a lack of understanding regarding its metabolic pathways and the identification of suitable biomarkers. In this study, a human liver microsomal model was established, and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) technology was applied to investigate the in vitro metabolism and products of 2-MDCK. The results indicate that 2-MDCK undergoes various metabolic reactions, including dehydrogenation, deamination, hydroxylation, and demethylation, leading to the formation of eight metabolites. By conducting actual testing on hair samples from 2-MDCK abusers, the existence of six metabolites was confirmed. Comparing the metabolic products in the liver microsomal in vitro model, M3.1 and M4.1 were identified as biomarkers for 2-MDCK consumption. Five samples of abusers of 2-methyl-dechloroketamine were provided by the Anti-Drug Brigade of the Hangzhou Public Security Bureau. Negative hair samples were provided by laboratory volunteers, and all samples were obtained with the informed consent of the volunteers. These findings provide a scientific basis for the detection and identification of 2-MDCK and its metabolites, as well as crucial support for the study of the metabolic mechanisms of similar novel psychoactive substances in the phenylcyclohexylpyridine class. This research holds significant importance in addressing the issue of abuse of new psychoactive substances.

Coronaviruses of the genus Coronavirus contain a variety of human pathogenic viruses, and the development of anti-coronavirus drugs is of great value. The development of antiviral drugs targeting host cells is not only helpful for the development of new antiviral strategies, but also for solving problems such as drug resistance due to viral mutations. Our preliminary study identified that cell cycle-dependent protein kinases (CDKs) involved in coronavirus replication, for which they would be potential anticoronaviral targets. In this study, we found that the broad-spectrum CDK inhibitor flavopiridol significantly inhibited severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) activity. Further studies showed that flavopiridol suppressed the RNA synthesis efficiency of SARS-CoV-2 RdRp. In addition, flavopiridol effectively restricted the replication of human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43). Therefore, our study suggested that the CDK inhibitor flavopiridol may be a potential anticoronaviral drug.

The study utilized spectral correlation analyses combined with bioactivity evaluation to examine the effective components of antidepressants in the Baihe Dihuang decoction. Firstly, the chemical fingerprints for different extraction parts in the Baihe Dihuang decoction were achieved using HPLC and UHPLC-MS technology. Then, in order to evaluate the antidepressant effect of Baihe Dihuang decoction, the animal experimental protocol has been reviewed and approved by Laboratory Animal Ethics Committee of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine (No. LLBH-202104270001), in compliance with the Institutional Animal Care Guidelines. We recorded the distance of autonomous movement of mice in open field experiment, the immobility time of tail suspension test, and the forced swimming. Additionally, we measured the content of neurotransmitters. Finally, Pearson analysis, grey correlation analysis, and orthogonal partial least squares regression analysis were utilized to establish the correlation between antidepressant efficacy indicators and fingerprinting. The spectrum-effect relationship results were confirmed through the in vitro activity verification. This study demonstrated that regaloside A, B, C, catalpol, and Isoacteoside might be the main antidepressant components in Baihe Dihuang decoction. Furthermore, it was found that using diverse mathematical models and bioactivity evaluation could enhance the accuracy of the spectral correlation analyses results.

Salvia miltiorrhiza, a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine, has been widely recognized for its blood-activating and stasis-removing properties in the clinical treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The synthesis and regulatory mechanism of tanshinones, the key active constituents of Salvia miltiorrhiza, have been a hot topic of research. The paper summarized the research findings on the regulation of tanshinone biosynthesis by transcription factors such as AP2/ERF, bHLH, MYB, bZIP, and WRKY in recent years. The review identifies the existing issues in the transcriptional regulation studies of Salvia miltiorrhiza and discusses the research direction of transcription factors in the regulation of tanshinone biosynthesis, providing a theoretical basis for the further discovery and utilization of functional genes involved in the regulation of tanshinone bioactive constituents.

In recent years, the abuse of antibiotics has led to antibiotic tolerance in the process of bacterial treatment, the morbidity and mortality caused by drug-resistant bacterial infection have further increased significantly. Drug delivery systems can be precisely designed to achieve controlled drug release, thereby reducing the risk of antibiotic toxicity and resistance, it is urgent to seek novel drug delivery systems to address the challenges posed by bacterial infections. This review first outlines the epidemic and prevention situation of bacterial infection, and further summarizes living microorganisms and their derivatives-based drug delivery systems, focusing on their natural characteristics such as surface specific proteins, physiological signal sensing, directed movement, and secretion of antibacterial substances, which show great potential in the treatment of bacterial infectious diseases by demonstrating their antibacterial effects. This review aims to provide ideas for the development of novel drug delivery systems based on living microorganisms and their derivatives for the treatment of bacterial infectious diseases.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by chronic relapsing intestinal inflammation and encompasses ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). IBD has emerged as a global healthcare problem. Clinically efficacious therapeutic agents are deficient. This study concentrates on models of ulcerative colitis with the objective of discovering novel therapeutic strategies. Previous investigations have established that schisandrin A demonstrates anti-inflammatory effects in vitro, concurrently enhancing the transcriptional activity of farnesoid X receptor (FXR). FXR inversely modulates the transcriptional activity of NF-κB, which has an important role in regulating inflammatory responses. Consequently, the current study was to explore the safeguarding influence of schisandrin A on ulcerative colitis and delineate the mechanism by which it regulates this effect through the FXR signaling pathway. The effect of schisandrin A on the mRNA levels of inflammatory factors was evaluated in RAW264.7 cells. The dual luciferase reporter gene assay was used to verify the relationship between schisandrin A and FXR targeting. The animal experiments were performed in accordance with the regulations of the Animal Ethics Committee of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (approval No. PZSHUTCM2304250005). Acute ulcerative colitis was induced in wild-type or FXR knockout C57BL/6 mice by drinking 3% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) for 7 days, and schisandrin A was administered via gavage for a continuous treatment period of 7 days. The body weight and faecal were monitored daily. The mRNA levels of inflammatory factors in colon tissue and FXR target genes were measured by RT-qPCR. The findings revealed that schisandrin A, in vitro, impeded the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced elevation in mRNA levels of inflammatory factors and schisandrin A could augment transcriptional activity of FXR. In wild-type mice, schisandrin A significantly improved weight loss, colon shortening, loose stools and blood in stools in mice with acute ulcerative colitis, and schisandrin A significantly reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory factors genes and significantly increased the expression of FXR target genes in colon tissues. In FXR knockout mice, the administration of schisandrin A failed to yield ameliorative effect on acute ulcerative colitis in mice. In conclusion, schisandrin A can reduce intestinal inflammation through the FXR signaling pathway to alleviate acute ulcerative colitis in mice. Implications arise that Schisandra lignans could serve as lead compounds for drug development aimed at inflammatory bowel disease.

Microsporidia is a group of intracellular parasitic eukaryotic microorganisms that pose threats to livestock fish production and human health, but there is no special chemo-therapeutic drug available for the treatment of microsporidia currently. In this study, sulfonamide derivatives of spectinomycin were designed by taking into consideration the low toxicity of spectinomycin and the favorable pharmaceutical properties of sulfonamides. Through the exploration of reaction conditions, a total of 21 target molecules were synthesized with a yield of 52%-74% and their chemical structures were confirmed by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and high resolution mass spectrometry (HR MS). By screening in vitro, the host cell cytotoxicity and biological activity of target molecules to Encephalitozoon hellem, a representative of vertebrates infecting microsporidia, were studied. It was found that four target molecules each could inhibit or promote the proliferation of E. hellem. In this study, the synthesis method of sulfonamide derivatives of spectinomycin was established, and new compounds effective against E. hellem were discovered, which provided a new idea for the further derivatization of spectinomycin and the development of therapeutic drugs targeting microsporidia.

Cation exchange chromatography, as a commonly used separation and purification technique in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, is often employed for downstream processes to separate target monoclonal antibodies from their charge variants. For samples with complex and poorly resolved charge variant profiles, the collection solely based on ultraviolet detection does not provide specific compositional information for individual charge variants, making it challenging to determine the range of pooled fractions directly. Subsequent laborious fractionation analysis is then required to guide collection according to production requirements. A mechanistic model for the cation exchange chromatography process of the target monoclonal antibody's critical components was established, and it was employed to assist in product collection. The model accurately predicted the elution peak shapes of the modeled variants, with a root mean square error between predicted and actual values below 0.009. In comparison to the online ultraviolet-based collection method, the model-assisted collection method not only visualized the chromatographic process but also increased the relative productivity by fourfold while ensuring compliance rate.

Antisense oligonucleotides are a type of gene therapy that targets mRNA and inhibits gene expression. They have been applied in the treatment of various diseases, but there are still problems with poor enzyme stability and high dosage in vivo, due to the shortage of appropriate delivery system. Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) is a cell surface receptor with tyrosine kinase activity. Its expression is abnormal in a variety of malignant tumors. It mediates the malignant proliferation, migration and invasion of tumor cells through a variety of ways. In this study, an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO, N04) targeting IGF1R mRNA was designed and chemically modified (PS, 2'-OMOE), then neutral cytidine lipid DNCA and cystine backbone cationic lipid CLD (Mix) were used to encapsulate ASOs. The particle size, polymer dispersity index and ζ potential of the formulations were 151 nm, 0.18 and -3.9 mV. The nanoparticles entered liver cancer cells (HepG-2, Huh-7), silenced target mRNA, arrested cell cycle in S phase, promoted apoptosis, and inhibited the proliferation efficiently. These results indicate that Mix/N04_MOE5 has great potential in tumor treatment, which provides a basis for further research on novel agents against hepatocellular carcinoma.

WRKY transcription factor is a type of transcription factor unique to plants and plays an important role in various physiological processes of plants. This study is based on the transcriptome data of Atractylodes lancea, the correlation between the FPKM values of the AlWRKY gene and the AlTPS gene of Atractylodes lancea was analyzed. Combined with the analysis results, the candidate gene AlWRKY65 with a significant positive correlation with the expression levels of AlTPS1 and AlTPS6 genes and a relatively high FPKM value was screened. The candidate gene was cloned to obtain the open reading frame ORF of the AlWRKY65 gene, and the related information of its encoded protein was analyzed and the gene expression was studied. The results showed that AlWRKY65 contains a 681 bp open reading frame and encoding 226 amino acids. Through amino acid sequence homology analysis, it was found that AlWRKY65 amino acid sequence had high homology with several plants such as HaWRKY65 and LsWRKY65; AlWRKY65 protein had a typical WRKYGQK domain, belonging to IIe subgroup of WRKY transcription factor family; phylogenetic analysis indicated that AlWRKY65 protein had the higher homology with CcWRKY65 protein; the expression of AlWRKY65 gene in different tissues of two producing areas of Atractylodes lancea were assayed via real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR, and the results showed that all of them were highly expressed in leaves and also has tissue differences. The expression level of AlWRKY65 gene was down-regulated within 48 h of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) induction; subcellular localization and transcriptional activation assay suggested that AlWRKY65 was located in the nucleus and had no transcriptional activation activity. This study provides a reference for further elucidating the biological function of AlWRKY65 in Atractylodes lancea.