Search

Ageing, an unanswered question in the medical field, is a multifactorial process that results in a progressive functional decline in cells, tissues and organisms. Although it is impossible to prevent ageing, slowing down the rate of ageing is entirely possible to achieve. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is characterized by the nourishing of life and its role in anti-ageing is getting more and more attention. This article summarizes the work done on the natural products from TCM that are reported to have anti-ageing effects, in the past two decades. The effective anti-ageing ingredients identified can be generally divided into flavonoids, saponins, polysaccharides, alkaloids and others. Astragaloside, Cistanche tubulosa acteoside, icariin, tetrahydrocurcumin, quercetin, butein, berberine, catechin, curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate, gastrodin, 6-Gingerol, glaucarubinone, ginsenoside Rg1, luteolin, icarisid II, naringenin, resveratrol, theaflavin, carnosic acid, catalpol, chrysophanol, cycloastragenol, emodin, galangin, echinacoside, ferulic acid, huperzine, honokiol, isoliensinine, phycocyanin, proanthocyanidins, rosmarinic acid, oxymatrine, piceid, puerarin and salvianolic acid B are specified in this review. Simultaneously, chemical structures of the monomers with anti-ageing activities are listed, and their source, model, efficacy and mechanism are also described. The TCMs with anti-ageing function are classified according to their action pathways, including the telomere and telomerase, the sirtuins, the mammalian target of rapamycin, AMP-activated kinase and insulin/insulin-like growth factor-1 signalling pathway, free radicals scavenging and the resistance to DNA damage. Finally, Chinese compound prescription and extracts related to anti-ageing are introduced, which provides the basis and the direction for the further development of novel and potential drugs. Linked Articles This article is part of a themed section on Principles of Pharmacological Research of Nutraceuticals. To view the other articles in this section visit http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bph.v174.11/issuetoc

Echinacoside (ECH) and acteoside (ACT), as the most and major active components of Cistanche tubulosa, were reported to possess cardioactive, neuroprotective and hepatocyte protective effects, as well as antibacterial, antioxidative effects. Recently, more studies have focused on their pharmacological activities. However, their metabolic profiles in vivo have not been sufficiently investigated. This study proposes an approach for rapidly identifying the complicated and unpredictable metabolites of ECH and ACT in rat plasma, bile, urine and feces, and systematically and comprehensively revealing their major metabolic pathways, based on powerful ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry. Plasma, bile, urine and feces were collected from rats after a single 200 mg/kg oral dose. A total of 49 metabolites were detected in rat biological samples. Through analyzing metabolites in bile samples, it was found that ECH and ACT were subjected to a marked hepatic first-pass effect in liver. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Echinacoside (ECH) is a major bioactive phenyethanoids in medicinal herba Cistanche and has been reported to have antiinflammatory activity and beneficial effect on wound healing in many experimental studies. This study was to test the efficacy of ECH-enriched extract of Cistanche tubulosa in the treatment of dextran sulphate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis, a preclinical model of ulcerative colitis. Oral administration of ECH extract significantly suppresses the development of acute colitis, indicated by lowering disease activity index (p

A field survey of the Orobanchaceae family members and their hosts in Jordan was carried out from 2003 to 2007. The intensity of parasite infection on different hosts and the severity of the infestation were evaluated. The results showed the presence of seven species of Orobanche and three species of Cistanche. The Orobanche species were found parasitizing 86 plant species belonging to 24 botanical families. Most of the species attacked by Orobanche were from the Compositae (20 species), Solanaceae (11 species), Leguminosae (nine species), Umbelliferae (seven species), Cruciferae (seven species), Cucurbitaceae (four species), Labiatae (four species), and Rosaceae (four species) families. Other families were represented by one-to-three species. Cistanche attacked 20 species of forage wild shrubs, fruit trees, and forest trees of seven families, mostly belonging to the Chenopodiaceae (seven species) and Leguminosae (three species) families. Previously unreported hosts for both genera include: Amygdalus communis, Olea europaea, and Quercus coccifera, which were parasitized by Orobanche palaestina; A. communis, O. europaea, Prunus armeniaca, and Prunus persica, which were parasitzed by Orobanche cernua; O. europaea and A. communis, which were parasitzed by Orobanche schultzii; Haloxylon persicum, which was parasitzed by Cistanche lutea; Punica granatum, Alhagi maurorum, Casuarina equisetifolia, Centaurea postii, and Prosopis farcta, which were parasitzed by Cistanche tubulosa; and Achillea spp., Anabasis syriaca, H. persicum, Haloxylon salicornicum, Suaeda spp., and Zilla spinosa, which were parasitzed by Cistanche salsa. Certain Orobanche species were completely destructive to the cultivated crops. The results indicated the high potential of both parasitic genera to spread and to attack new hosts, while the threat they impose to agriculture in Jordan will probably result from poor management and deficiences in farmers' training.

Three new analogues of the arylethyl (= phenylethanoid) glycoside echinacoside (5), namely cistantubulosides A (1), B1/B2 (2a/2b), and C1/C2 (3a/3b), and one new oligosaccharide, cistantubulose A1/A2 (4a/4b), were isolated from the stems of Cistanche tubulosa (Schenk) R. Wight, together with five known compounds, i.e., campneoside I, campneoside II (6), echinacoside (5), tubuloside, and cistanoside F. Among the compounds isolated, 2a/2b, 3a/3b, 4a/4b, campneoside I, campneoside II (6), and cistanoside F each consisted of a pair of epimers. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectral data.

Three iridoid glycosides, kankanosides L (I), M (II), and N (III), and two acyclic monoterpene glycosides, kankanosides O (IV) and P (V), are isolated from fresh stems of Cistanche tubulosa (Orobanchaceae) together with a multiplicity of known glycosides.

Isolation and structure elucidation of four new oligoglycosides, epimeric kankanosides J (I) and K (II), resp., are described.

Four new iridoid glycosides, kankanosides A (1), B (2), C (3), and D (4), a chlorinated iridoid, kankanol (5), and an acyclic monoterpene glycoside, kankanoside E (6), were isolated from the methanolic extract of dried stems of Cistanche tubulosa (SCHRENK) R. WIGHT (Orobanchaceae) together with 16 known compounds. The structures of these new compounds (1-6) were determined on the basis of the chemical and physicochemical evidence.