Latest ArticlesIn this study, the pharmacodynamic substance basis of the therapeutic activity of different origin sources of the Tibetan medicinal herb Zha xun was evaluated, and the protective effect of the Zha xun, from Habahe county of Altay region, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; Gilgit region, Pakistan; Lhozhag county of Lhozhag city, Tibet Autonomous Region; Lhorong county of Chamdo city, Tibet Autonomous Region; and Jiulong county of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, on 0.2% carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced acute liver injury in ICR mice was evaluated. The results showed that different sources of Zha xun significantly reduced serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the CCl4-induced acute oxidative liver injury model, improved liver histopathological damage. Among them, Zha xun from Habahe County, Altay Region, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; Gilgit Region, Pakistan; and Lhorong County, Chamdo City, Tibet Autonomous Region significantly reduced the malondialdehyde (MDA) content in liver tissues (P < 0.05), increased the glutathione (GSH) content (P < 0.01), improved the oxidative stress in liver tissues. The preliminary evaluation of the hepatoprotective activity of Zha xun from different origins was carried out using the model of HepG2 cell injury induced by acetaminophen (APAP). The results showed that Zha xun from different origins could significantly inhibit APAP-induced hepatocellular injury and improve the survival rate of hepatocytes. The present study demonstrated that the different origins of Zha xun had definite hepatoprotective activities in vivo and ex vivo, among which, Zha xun from Lhorong County, Chamdo City, Tibet Autonomous Region, had stronger hepatoprotective activities. The animals used in this experiment and the related dispositions were in accordance with the requirements of animal welfare, and the experiment was approved by the Committee of Laboratory Animal Management and Use of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (approval No. 00004024) before the experiment was carried out.
To establish a method for determining 26 inorganic elements in earthworm polypeptide and determine the elemental content in different batches of earthworm polypeptide, microwave digestion method was used to pre-treat the samples, and ICP-MS method was used to determine the content of 26 elements in different batches of earthworm polypeptide. The linear relationships of 26 elements were good in the range of 0-1 000 μg·L-1, with R2 greater than 0.999, precision RSD 0.21%-2.71%, repeatability RSD 0.19%-4.69%, stability RSD 0.11%-4.24%, and recovery rates of 82.41%-116.16%. The data was plotted using Origin 2022 software to characterize the distribution of elements content. SPSS 27.0 was used for principal component analysis, and SIMCA 14.1 software was used for OPLS-DA analysis. The results showed that among the 26 elements, the higher content of earthworm polypeptide was K, Na, and Ca, followed by Zn, Fe, Al, B and other trace elements, In, Sc, Co, Pb, Bi and other elements had little or no detectable content, and there were differences in the content of polypeptide in different batches. This study provides a theoretical basis for the production quality control, quality evaluation and drug efficacy application of earthworm polypeptide through the determination and analysis of the elements and content of earthworm polypeptide.
As the predominant toxic constituent within the Aconitum genus, Aconitum alkaloids (ATs) exhibit both significant pharmaceutical value and substantial toxicity, have been widely used in traditional Chinese medicine and the realm of contemporary clinical medicine. However, owing to their high toxicity, inappropriate employment of ATs in pharmaceuticals, edibles, and the environment will pose serious threats to human health, inciting a series of toxic incidents. Consequently, it is very important to develop effective analytical methods. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the advancements in research pertaining to the pretreatment and detection methods in common substrates, including high performance liquid chromatography, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and rapid detection methods. To explore the specific sources of ATs in actual poisoning cases, the comprehensive traceability strategy based on plant morphology, chemical fingerprint analysis and DNA barcoding technology was discussed, proposing a comprehensive prospect for the development of ATs analysis and traceability, in order to provide guidance for related research within the forensic science domain.
The n-butanol fraction of Alpinia oxyphylla Fructus 70% ethanol extract was separated and purified using column chromatography with MCI Gel CHP-20, Sephadex LH-20, ODS, and silica gel, combined with semi preparative liquid phase and TLC separation methods. One new halogenated 4, 5-seco-eudesmane sesquiterpenoid and two new eremophilane sesquiterpenoids were isolated and purified from the n-butanol fraction of Alpinia oxyphylla Fructus. The structures of the isolated compounds were identified using modern spectroscopic methods (1D, 2D NMR, UV, IR, MS, etc.), and the absolute configuration of the new compounds were determined using the methods of calculated ECD and induced ECD.
CD200 and its receptor CD200R constitute an endogenous inhibitory signal. The binding of CD200 and CD200R can regulate the immune response to pathogenic stimuli, which has received much attention in recent years. It has been found that CD200-CD200R is involved in the regulation of many kinds of pathological inflammation, including autoimmune diseases, cardiac cerebrovascular disease, infection and tumor. This paper reviews the protein structure, distribution, expression, biological function of CD200-CD200R and the correlation with diseases, and analyses the current status and development ideas of CD200-CD200R as drug targets. It aims to provide theoretical support for new drug research and development based on this target.
The study established a mouse itch model induced by acute opioid and non-opioid pruritogens. The effects and mechanism of partial opioid agonist thienorphine on acute scratching behavior caused by opioid and non-opioid pruritogens was demonstrated. The noninvasive scratching behavior analysis system was established to test scratching behavior induced by morphine, bombesin, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) or chloroquine in C57 BL/6J mice. The effect of thienorphine (0.75, 1.5, 3 mg·kg-1) on acute itch caused by above pruritogens were studied. The expression of protein kinase C δ (PKC δ) in mouse spinal cord was detected by Western blot after pruritogens addition with or without thienorphine pretreatment. All operations in the experiment were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences (IACUC-2021-017W). The scratching behavior increased significantly under morphine (1 nmol, i.t), bombesin (0.3 nmol, i.t), 5-HT (5 nmol, i.d) or chloroquine (20 nmol, i.d) treatment, respectively. Thienorphine (1.5 mg·kg-1) significantly inhibited the scratching behavior induced by the morphine, bombesin, 5-HT and chloroquine. Thienorphine significantly reversed the changes in PKC δ protein expression induced by morphine or 5-HT. In conclusion, the partial opioid agonist thienorphine could inhibit scratching behavior induced by opioid and non-opioid pruritogens. It might reverse PKC δ through different pathways to inhibit opioids and non-opioids induced scratching behavior, which provided a new idea for exploring and treating itch.
In this study, we have firstly investigated the feasibility of rhamnolipids as targeting ligands to develop drug delivery systems for active targeting of pancreatic cancer. Rhamnolipid-modified liposomes (RhaL-Lip) were prepared by a thin film hydration method, and were evaluated preliminarily for RhaL-Lip physicochemical properties, in vitro release characteristics, ex/in vivo targeting, and in vitro pharmacodynamics. RhaL-Lip exhibited excellent targeting ability of human pancreatic cancer (BxPC-3) cells and enhanced anti-tumor effects. On this basis, the natural structural analogue of rhamnolipid, Polyphyllin Ⅶ (PPVⅡ), as the targeting material and active ingredient, we explored the targeting and anti-tumor activity of Polyphyllin Ⅶ modified liposomes (PPVⅡ-Lip). The results showed that PPVⅡ-Lip has a homogeneous particle size and has a more robust targeting ability for solid tumor in vivo, which can achieve more enrichment at the tumor site. Compared with gemcitabine, the first-line chemotherapy drug for pancreatic cancer, PPVⅡ-Lip showed a stronger inhibitory effect. In conclusion, this targeted drug delivery strategy is expected to provide beneficial ideas for drug delivery studies in targeted therapy for pancreatic cancer. Animal experiments were conducted with approval from the Animal Ethics Committee of southwest university (approval number: IACUC-20210130-2).
Human viral respiratory disease is a kind of widely prevalent infectious disease. The incidence rate of respiratory virus infection occupies a major position in the overall structure of global incidence rate of residents, and is one of the main causes of acute and fatal human diseases. Natural products have diverse structures and novel mechanisms of action, which can regulate body immunity and resist respiratory viruses, and have unique advantages in the treatment of respiratory viral diseases. This article summarizes the current research progress of natural drugs in the prevention and treatment of respiratory viruses, classifies the action mechanism of the active components of natural drugs against respiratory viruses, to provide reference basis for clinical treatment and drug discovery of respiratory diseases in the future.
A novel series of 2-aryl substituted benzothiopyranone compounds was designed and synthesized based on our previously obtained benzothiopyranone scaffold with significant antituberculosis activity. All target compounds were evaluated for their antimycobacterial activity and preliminary druggability was subsequently investigated for some selected compounds with good activity. The results indicated that most compounds showed good activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. Among them, compounds 8g, 8h, 8q and 9f showed potent activity with MIC ranged from 0.2 to 0.4 μg·mL-1. Furthermore, some active compounds exhibited low cytotoxicity and cardiotoxicity risk. It is worth noting that compounds 8h and 8q with good liver microsome stability and low inhibition of CYPs 3A4/5 and 2C9 were suitable for combination drug regimen to treat tuberculosis.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a pathological syndrome characterized by the excessive deposition of lipids in hepatocytes but not caused by alcohol and other definite liver damage factors. The pathogenesis of NAFLD is complex. When the liver is damaged, a large amount of lipids deposited in hepatocytes will induce oxidative stress injury, endoplasmic reticulum stress and metabolic disorders in hepatocytes, and immune cells further secrete inflammatory cytokines and release them into the blood, causing systemic inflammation. In the process of NAFLD, the inflammatory response plays an important role. Macrophages are the most abundant non-parenchymal cells in the liver and play an important role in liver inflammatory injury. Hepatic macrophages include liver-native and monocyte-derived macrophages, and their activation and polarization processes are involved in the different development stages of NAFLD. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) compound and its active compounds have been found to regulate macrophages to participate in the process of inflammation, injury and recovery of NAFLD. Based on the existing research reports, this paper elaborates the relationship between the source, activation and polarization of macrophages and NAFLD as the breakthrough point, and systematically reviews the mechanism of TCM in the prevention and treatment of NAFLD by regulating the activation, recruitment and polarization of macrophages. This paper aims to provide new ideas for the discovery of novel NAFLD candidate drugs from TCM via targeting macrophages.