Three neo-clerodane were isolated from the aerial parts of Salvia farinacea Benth., and were purified by various technologies, including silica gel, ODS, sephadex LH-20, and their structures were identified by modern spectroscopy techniques as 2β-hydroxy-7,8-dehydrobacchotricuneatin A (1), dugesin C (2), and tonalensin (3). Compound 1 was a new diterpenoid, and compounds 2 and 3 were isolated from this plant for the first time.

Seven triterpenoids were isolated and purified from the 95% aqueous EtOH extract whole plants of P. villosa by various chromatographic techniques, such as silica gel, ODS, Sephadex LH-20 gel column chromatography and preparative high performance liquid chromatography. Based on physicochemical properties and spectral analyses, the structures of the seven compounds were identified as 29-acetoxyoleanolic acid-3-O-α-L-arabinopyranoside (1), oleanolic acid (2), 3β-hydroxy-24-norursa-4(23), 12, 20(30)-trien-28-oic acid (3), 3β-hydroxy-24-nor-urs-4(23), 12-dien-28-oic acid (4), ursolic acid (5), hederagenin (6), oleanolic acid 3-O-arabinoside (7). Compound 1 is a new compound. Compounds 3, 4, 6, and 7 are isolated from P. villosa for the first time. All compounds were assayed for their anti-inflammatory activity by the prodution of NO in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. The results showed that compounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 significantly inhibited the NO release.

Urine nontargeted metabolomics technology was developed for investigating the effect and mechanism of improving learning and memory ability in APP/PS1 mice of Psoralea corylifolia. All animal experiments were approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine (Approval No.: 2020092502). Sixteen APP/PS1 mice were randomly divided into the model group and Psoralea corylifolia group (0.5 g·kg^-1), and eight male C57BL/6J mice of the same background were selected as control group, step-through test and novel object recognition were used as evaluation indexes. Changes in urine endogenous metabolites of mice from eachgroup were determined by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS), and differential metabolites were screened, and metabolic pathway enrichment analysis was performed. The results of pharmacodynamic investigation showed that Psoralea corylifolia can reduce the dark incubation period and number of errors in APP/PS1 mice (P < 0.01) and improve the new object recognition index of APP/PS1 mice (P < 0.01). Metabolomics analysis identified 15 differential metabolites, and 9 differential metabolites were significantly call back by Psoralea corylifolia. Metabolic pathway analysis showed that histidine metabolism, citric acid cycle, taurine and hypotaurine metabolism and glucose metabolism were the main metabolic pathways of Psoralea corylifolia in improving learning and memory ability. These studies suggest that Psoralea corylifolia improves the learning and memory ability of APP/PS1 mice, and its mechanism may be related to improving mitochondrial dysfunction, reducing peripheral histamine level, regulating energy metabolism disorders and antioxidant levels.

This study used kidney metabolomics to investigate the underlying mechanisms of Guilingji (GLJ) on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) rats. The rats were randomly divided into 6 groups (n = 8), i.e., control group, model group, positive drug (Ginkgo biloba tablet, donepezil) group, GLJ group (low and high dose group). The MCI rat model was replicated using subcutaneous injection of D-galactose into the back of the neck along with a semi-high-fat diet for a total of 8 weeks, and drug was administered from the 5th week for 4 weeks. The kidney function and renal pathological changes of each group of rats were tested. And LC-MS based kidney metabolomics coupled with multivariate data analysis were conducted to explore the potential biomarkers, and corresponding metabolic pathways were then determined. After administration of GLJ, the level of urea nitrogen was decreased compared with those of the model group, and the abnormalities of morphology in kidney tissues were improved. The positive drugs (ginkgo biloba tablet and donepezil) had no significant modulating effect on renal function indexes. Ginkgo biloba tablet can lessen the pathological injury of kidney tissue, and donepezil had no improvement on renal histopathology. A total of 23 MCI related differential metabolites were identified in kidney, and 17 metabolites were signifcantly restored by GLJ compared with those of the model group. Additionally, we found that the cysteine and methionine metabolism, nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism, taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism were significantly involved in the regulatory effect of GLJ. The results illuminate the "cong shen zhi nao" mechanism of GLJ, and also provide a research basis for the clinical use of GLJ for the treatment of MCI. The animal experiment of this study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shanxi University (approval number: 2020DW121).

Plasma metabolomics combined experimental verification was employed for investigating of the hypoglycemic effect of Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) on type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) mice. Forty C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into control and experimental groups after one week of adaptive feeding. The mice in control group were fed conventionally, and the T2DM model was established in mice of the experimental group by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin following twelve weeks of feeding on a high-fat diet (HFD). All experiments were approved by the Ethical Committee Experimental Animal Center of North Sichuan Medical College (NSMC2022023). After the failure cases during modeling were eliminated, the remaining mice were randomly divided into model group (T2DM), low dose [200 mg·kg^-1·d^-1] and high dose [300 mg·kg^-1·d^-1] PNS groups. Mice in normal and model groups were given equal amounts of normal saline by gavage. The mice were administered intragastrically with PNS for 6 weeks, and their body weight, food intake, water intake and fasting blood glucose (FBG) were measured weekly. Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed at the 5th week of administration. The changes of liver functions and blood lipids were detected by collecting blood from eyeballs. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels were detected in the blood and the activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were analyzed in the liver by kit, respectively. Subsequently, the changes in plasma endogenous metabolites from each group were determined based on metabolomics, and the pathway enrichment analysis of differential metabolites was performed using KEGG database. NF-κB signaling pathway, TNF-α and IL-6 in liver were detected by western blot, respectively. The results showed that T2DM mice were successfully constructed. High dose of panax notoginseng saponins (HPNS) can reduce the FBG in T2DM mice while low dose of PNS (LPNS) has no significant effect on FBG. HPNS improves the liver function, reduces the levels of blood lipids, TNF-α and IL-6, and increases the activity of GSH-Px, CAT and SOD in liver of T2DM mice. Metabolomics results showed that 45 metabolites were significantly changed in the plasma of model group compared with control, and 20 metabolites were significantly changed after HPNS treatment. Pathway enrichment indicated that arachidonic acid metabolism, linoleic acid metabolism, glutathione metabolism and carnitine synthesis were changed in the blood of T2DM mice, and HPNS improved the abnormal metabolism of arachidonic acid and linoleic acid in T2DM mice. Western blot showed that HPNS could inhibit the NF-κB pathway and reduce the expression of TNF-α and IL-6 in the liver of T2DM mice, suggesting that PNS may exert the antidiabetic effect by inhibiting NF-κB pathway, regulating arachidonic acid and linoleic acid metabolism to reduce inflammatory factors and oxidative stress, improve liver function in T2DM mice.

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.

Licorice-gypsum (gancao-shigao, GC-SG) drug pair was used as the research object, using supramolecular chemistry to explore the scientific connotation of combining herbal medicine GC with insoluble mineral medicine SG in clinical application of traditional Chinese medicine. ① The Tyndall effect, microscopic morphology and particle size of the single and co-decocted of GC and SG were observed, the paste content and conductivity were determined, and the interaction between GC and SG was detected by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and infrared absorption spectroscopy (IR). ② Calcium chloride (CaCl₂), a soluble calcium salt of equal gypsum quality, was used instead of SG with GC for co-decocting to explore the effect of calcium salt content on the water decocting, and the characteristics were combined with the Tyndall effect, microscopic morphology, paste content and conductivity. ITC and IR techniques were used to detect the interaction between the two, and the interaction between them was detected by ITC and IR. The zeta potential and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV-vis) of GC-SG and GC-CaCl₂ co-decoction were compared, and the inorganic and organic components in the co-decoction were detected by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results showed: ① Compared with the liquid phase of single decoction, GC-SG co-decoction had more obvious Tyndall effect, and showed uniform spherical nanoparticles under electron microscope. Physical characterization results such as paste content and conductivity showed that co-decoction promoted the dissolution of each other's components; ITC and IR results showed that there was strong interaction between GC and SG, which preliminatively indicated that GC and SG co-decoction promoted the formation of uniform and stable supramolecular system of traditional Chinese medicine. ② When soluble calcium salt was used to substitute insoluble SG with GC for co-decocting, a stronger but astigmatic light path appeared than single decocting solution, the zeta potential was reduced, and a large number of accumulated polymers were formed. The results of paste content and conductivity showed that the dissolution of the co-decocting component was reduced than the single decocting component. ITC, UV-vis and IR results showed that there was interaction between GC with Ca²⁺ and SG. The formation of polysink indicated that a large amount of soluble calcium salt would destroy the stability of supramolecular Chinese medicine. The results of ICP-OES and HPLC showed that the glycyrrhizic acid (GA) content of the former lower than the latter, which was related to the formation of a large number of polycondensates with the increase of Ca²⁺ concentration and the decrease of the dissolution of GA and other active ingredients. This study indicates that the compatibility of GC and SG can form a uniform and stable supramolecular system of traditional Chinese medicine. Calcium salt, the main component of SG, is taken as the starting point. Excessive soluble Ca²⁺ can promote the aggregation of active ingredients such as GA, so as to reveal the scientific connotation of the compatibility of GC and SG, an insoluble mineral medicine.

The breakage pattern of unit particles during the production of oral solid dosage forms (OSD) is closely related to the quality of intermediate or final products. To accurately characterize the particles and study the evolution law of particle breakage, the Bonding model of the discrete element method (DEM) was used to investigate the breakage patterns of model parameters, particle shape and process conditions (loading mode and loading rate) on the dynamic breakage, force-time curve, breakage rate, maximum breakage size ratio and fracture strength of particles. The results showed that the particle breakage force was positively correlated with normal strength and bonded disk scale, negatively correlated with normal stiffness per unit area and tangential stiffness per unit area, and weakly correlated with tangential strength. The particle breakage rate was negatively correlated with the aspect ratio of the particles, and the maximum breakage size ratio was positively correlated with the aspect ratio of the particles; among the three loading modes, the breakage rate of compression breakage model was the largest, the breakage rate of shear breakage model was the second largest, and the breakage rate of wear breakage model was the smallest; the maximum breakage size ratio was positively correlated with the loading rate, the loading mode and the loading rate had no mutual influence on particle breakage rate, but had mutual influence on the maximum breakage size ratio. The research results will provide a theoretical basis for the shift of OSD from batch manufacturing to advanced manufacturing.

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).

mRNA gene therapy has attracted much attention due to its advantages such as scalability, modification, no need to enter the nucleus and no integration of host genes. In gene therapy, safe and effective delivery of mRNA into cells is critical for the success of gene therapy. In this study, we designed and synthesized an amphiphilic cationic lipopeptide gene vector (dendritic arginine & disulfide bond-containing cationic lipopeptide, RLS) enriched with branched arginine. We achieved a 1.5-fold higher mRNA transfection efficiency in zebrafish compared to the commercial reagent Lipofectamine 2000, and confirmed its good biosafety by in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo biosafety. First, we characterized the chemical composition of the cationic lipid peptides by nuclear magnetic resonance hydrogen spectroscopy (¹H NMR) and time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MS). The results of particle size and potential tested by dynamic light scattering particle size analysis showed that at a nitrogen/phosphorus (N/P) ratio of 20, the RLS/mRNA composite assemblies formed homogeneous nanoparticles with an average particle size of about 220 nm and a surface ζ potential of about +21 mV. In vitro gene transfection, the transfection experiments demonstrated that RLS exhibited 1.2-fold higher transfection efficiency in human embryonic kidney 293 cells (HEK293) and 3-fold higher transfection efficiency in rat mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) compared to Lipofectamine 2000. In addition, after microinjection of RLS into zebrafish embryos, we evaluated the survival, hatching, and teratogenicity rates, all of which confirmed its favorable in vivo safety profile. Thus, this amphiphilic cationic lipid peptide RLS, enriched with branched arginine, exhibits excellent mRNA delivery properties and safety. These findings highlight its potential as a promising gene therapy tool.