Decoction is a classical dosage form of traditional Chinese medicines. In the process of decocting, various complex components produce physical interactions and chemical reactions, among which physical interactions include van der Waals force, hydrogen bond, electrostatic interaction, π-π stacking, etc., and chemical reactions include Maillard reaction, oxidation reaction, hydrolysis reaction, degradation reaction, polymerization reaction, etc. New substances and original ingredients from chemical reactions can be further activated. These effects form the basis of particle formation in the broth. The sizes of the particles in decoctions range from nanoscale to micron scale, mostly composed of polysaccharide, protein matrix, wrapped in water insoluble molecules, can increase the dispersion of insoluble components and the stability of unstable components, as well as reduce the volatile components and toxic components of volatile components, and ultimately achieve the purpose of efficient absorption and toxicity reduction. From the angle of physical change and chemical reaction in the process of decoction, this paper expounds the formation mechanism of particles in decoction, expounds the research method of particles, analyzes the components in particles and the interaction between components, and then explains the pharmacodynamic characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine decoction, which provides the foundation for the modernization of Chinese decoction.

Liquid-phase microextraction is a novel pretreatment technique for biological samples developed on the basis of liquid-phase extraction technology, which is simple, rapid, economical, and environmentally friendly, and has been widely used in the analysis of biological matrix samples such as blood, urine, and saliva. In this paper, we review the basic principles of the main modes of liquid-phase microextraction techniques, i.e., single-drop microextraction, dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction, and hollow-fiber liquid-phase microextraction, and the progress of their applications in biological sample pretreatment by reviewing the literature in the past five years, with a view to providing technical support and reference for sample pretreatment in the fields of in vivo drug analysis, pharmacokinetic studies and new drug development.

To study the material basis of cold and hot properties of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) in Lamiaceae and to establish a cold and hot properties identification model, a database of material components of TCMs in Lamiaceae was established. A three-level classification system of material components was used to obtain the material basis of cold and hot properties of the Lamiaceae family by using data mining methods such as frequency analysis, association rule analysis, logistic regression, and feature selection. Several identification models were established to recognize the cold and hot properties. The chi-square test results showed that the material composition ratios of cold and hot properties were significantly different at the first-level, second-level, and third-level classification (P < 0.05), and the differences varied as the levels of substance classification changed. The average coefficients of variation were 42.30%, 79.07%, and 91.51% at the first-level, second-level, and third-level classification levels, respectively. In other words, in terms of the percentage differences in material composition ratio, the first-level was smaller than the second-level, and the second-level was smaller than the third-level. The results of the association rule analysis showed that under the third-level classification, there were many effective association rules, and 27 core groups and 34 specific groups of chemical components were obtained based on these rules. 15 decisive groups were obtained from the feature selection results. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to successfully establish a cold and hot properties identification model with an overall accuracy of 89%. The material basis of cold and hot properties of TCMs in Lamiaceae is different and intersect with each other. Twenty-seven groups of chemical components, such as bicyclic diterpenes, are the core groups of cold and hot properties, of which 15 groups are the decisive groups. The cold and hot properties are often characterized by the interaction of multiple classes of substances, and a single class of substances often cannot be used to characterize the properties. The organic combination of multiple classes of substances is the material basis of cold and hot properties.

The oncogenic product of BCR-ABL is an abnormal tyrosine kinase that causes chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). With further research into the pathogenesis of CML, the discovery of compounds that selectively inhibit abnormal BCR-ABL tyrosine kinases is a research focus worthy of attention. The first three generations of BCR-ABL inhibitors are orthosteric inhibitors, which competitively block the binding of ABL protein tyrosine kinase to ATP and prevent it from activating downstream signals. The fourth-generation BCR-ABL inhibitors allosterically inhibit ABL protein tyrosine kinase by binding to the myristoyl pocket, providing greater selectivity and maintaining activity against drug-resistant mutations proteins. Novel drug design strategies such as proteolytic targeting chimera (PROTAC), covalent inhibitors and dual targeting inhibitors also provide new directions for the development of BCR-ABL kinase inhibitors. This paper reviews recent research advances on BCR-ABL kinase inhibitors and discusses drug design strategies for various novel BCR-ABL inhibitors.

The purpose of this research is to identify the chemical constituents of sea buckthorn leaves extract (SBLE) and explore its hypoglycemic biological activity. SBLE was prepared by hot reflux extraction with 65% ethanol, and its chemical composition was analyzed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (UHPLC-PDA-MS/MS) system. The animal experiments were compliant with ethical principles for animal use and had been approved by the Animal Experiment Ethics Committee of Jinan University. Mice were injected with streptozocin (STZ) to establish a hyperglycemic animal model, and SBLE (1.5 g·kg^-1) was administered by gavage for 5 weeks. The fasting blood glucose (FBG) and oral glucose tolerance were detected. Normal mice were given SBLE (1.5 g·kg^-1) by intragastric administration for 10 days, and blood was collected from the tail vein to detect the changes in blood glucose within 120 min after sucrose or starch loading. The mucous membrane of the small intestine of mice was taken to detect the activity of α-glucosidase (AG), and the activity of yeast-derived AG incubated with SBLE was evaluated. The glucose uptake by Caco-2 cells treated with SBLE was detected by fluorescence microscopy and cytometry, and the gene expression of sodium-dependent glucose transporter 1 (SGLT1) and glucose transporter 2 (GLUT2) in Caco-2 cells were detected by real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). A total of 18 compounds were identified, mainly including tannins and flavonoids. SBLE reduced FBG and increased oral glucose tolerance in STZ hyperglycemic mice. SBLE effectively inhibited the increase of blood glucose caused by starch intake in normal mice. SBLE exerted good inhibitory activity on yeast-derived AG (IC₅₀ = 16.94 μg·mL^-1) and small intestinal mucosa AG with an inhibition rate of 15.48%. SBLE (25-100 μg·mL^-1) dose-dependently inhibited glucose uptake by Caco-2 cells, and SBLE significantly reduced the mRNA level of SGLT1 without changing the expression of GLUT2. In conclusion, the UHPLC characteristic fingerprint of SBLE is established with 18 chemical components identified by mass spectrometry, and SBLE exerts hypoglycemic effect by inhibiting the activity of AG and the absorption of glucose by intestinal epithelial cells.

Epimedii Folium is a traditional non-toxic Chinese herbal medicine. However, liver injury caused by Chinese herb preparations, including Epimedii Folium, is frequently reported over the years. Based on ancient and modern literature, this paper systematically summarized and analyzed the safe application of Epimedii Folium from the perspectives of varieties, processing methods, clinical adverse reactions, pharmacological effects and toxic mechanism. Combined with our team work, we build the comprehensive prevention and control system "human-drug-application", for the safe and rational application of Epimedii Folium. This study is expected to provide support for scientific evaluation and precise prevention and control of the safety risk of Epimedii Folium.

The metabolism study of radiolabeled drugs plays an important role in the development of new drugs. It provides information on drug absorption, metabolism, tissue distribution and excretion, and plays an irreplaceable role in the metabolite safety evaluation and mass balance of new drugs. The new guidance draft on clinical trials of radiolabeled drugs recently released by the US FDA puts forward higher standards and has been widely concerned by the industry. In recent years, in the research and development of new drugs in China, ¹⁴C labeled drugs have been used to carry out clinical metabolism studies, which has overcome key technical bottlenecks and accumulated experience. This paper summarizes the above research progress, analyzes the existing problems, and preliminarily looks forward to the future technological development and application.

Ardisia crispa (Thunb.) A. DC. is a traditional Miao medicinal herb with significant therapeutic effects in the treatment of sore throat, tonsillitis, edema of nephritis and bruising and rheumatism, etc. Ardisia crispa var. amplifolia and Ardisia crispa var. dielsii are varieties of A. crispa. A. crispa var. amplifolia and A. crispa var. dielsii are controversial in terms of species evolutionary relationships and taxonomic identification. In this study, we sequenced the whole genome sequences of A. crispa var. amplifolia and A. crispa var. dielsii chloroplasts using Illumina platform, assembled, annotated and characterized them, compared the structural features and degree of variation among chloroplast genomes using bioinformatics methods, and also downloaded constructing phylogenetic trees to analyze the phylogenetic relationships of chloroplasts in Primulaceae and Myrsinaceae using whole genome sequence information. The results showed that the complete chloroplast genome sequences of A. crispa var. amplifolia and A. crispa var. dielsii were 156 749 bp and 156 748 bp in length, with 132 genes annotated, including 87 protein-coding genes; the codon preference of A/U was greater than that of G/C; The differences in the coding regions of rps15 and rpoB genes in the comparative genome analysis can be used as loci for molecular identification of the two species; the differences in the coding regions of ycf1, ycf2, rpoC1, ycf3, petD and rpl16 genes in the chloroplast genome compared with those of the same genus can be used as loci for identification of the genus. In the phylogenetic results, A. crispa var. amplifolia and A. crispa var. dielsii were clustered together with 100% support, indicating that they are closely related. In this research, we analyzed the chloroplast genome structure and phylogenetic relationships of A. crispa var. amplifolia and A. crispa var.dielsii, providing an important theoretical basis for their molecular identification, genetic variation, breeding and phylogenetic analysis.

Fourteen compounds were isolated from the n-butanol fraction of the 95% aqueous ethanol extract of the stems and twigs of Strychnos cathayensis by D101 macroporous resin, silica gel, ODS, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, and semipreparative RP-HPLC. Their structures were elucidated as ethyl 4-O-β-D-allopyranosyl-vanillate (1), n-butyl 4-O-β-D-allopyranosyl-vanillate (2), n-butyl 4-O-(6′-O-syringoyl)-β-D-allopyranosyl-vanillate (3), n-butyl 4-O-(6′-O-vanilloyl)-β-D-allopyranosyl-vanillate (4), n-butyl 4-O-(6′-O-syringoyl)-β-D-glucopyranosyl-vanillate (5), n-butyl 4-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-syringate (6), methyl 3-methoxy-4-(β-D-allopyranosyloxy) benzoate (7), pseudolaroside B (8), butyl syringate (9), glucosyringic acid (10), methyl syringate (11), methyl 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoate (12), clemochinenoside C (13), and clemoarmanoside A (14), respectively, on the basis of spectroscopic data interpretation and by comparison with literature information. Compounds 1-6 are artificial products of phenolic acid esterified by ethanol or n-butanol. It is noted that the precursors (4-O-(6′-O-syringoyl)-β-D-allopyranosyl-vanillic acid and 4-O-(6′-O-vanilloyl)-β-D-allopyranosyl-vanillic acid) of compounds 3 and 4 are new compounds. The hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of compounds 1-13 were evaluated in vitro at a concentration of 10 μmol·L^-1. Compounds 1, 2 and 6-10 exhibited potential hepatic protection effects with cell survival rates ranging from 53.6% to 55.5% (acetaminophen, 45.4% at 8 mmol·L^-1). Compound 4 demonstrated anti-inflammatory activity with nitric oxide inhibitory rate of 74.6%. Compounds 3 and 5 showed potential antioxidant activities with malondialdehyde inhibitory rates of 53.2% and 56.1%, respectively.

Xiaoyao pills are a famous traditional Chinese medicine collected in Welfare Pharmacy, which is a classic prescription for treating liver depression and spleen deficiency. However, its composition is complex. In order to better control the quality of Xiaoyao pills, in this study, HPLC-ion-trap time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-IT-TOF/MS) was used to identify the main ingredients of Xiaoyao pills, paeoniflorin, albiflorin, glycyrrhizic acid, saikosaponin A and saikosaponin B2. Then a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed for simultaneous determination and quantification of the main compounds. Fragmentation pathways of five active components were obtained. The method was validated. Five active ingredients in Xiaoyao pills had a good linear relationship, and the values of RSD (%) of repeatability were all less than 5%, the recovery ranges were between 90% and 115%, and the values of RSD (%) of each substance were less than 10% after the sample solution is placed for 24 hours. Three batches of Xiaoyao pills (concentrated pellets) and two batches of Xiaoyao pills (water pellets) were determined, the contents of paeoniflorin in concentrated pills were more than 4.0 mg·g^-1, and those in water pills were more than 2.5 mg·g^-1, which was accordance with Chinese Pharmacopoeia. However, other compounds behave differently. This method has high sensitivity and reliable measurement results, which provides basis for quality control of Xiaoyao pills and material basis for pharmacology research.