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The main pharmacological effects of sedative agents are sedation, hypnosis, antianxiety, and antidepression. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a long history of clinical experience in treating insomnia. This review focuses mainly on the role of active ingredients from TCM in the treatment of insomnia. Single herbs and their active ingredients from TCM with hypnotic effects are summarized through reviewing the relevant literature published in the past 20 y. The active ingredients are divided into alkaloids, terpenoids, and volatile oils, flavonoids, lignanoids and coumarins, saponins, and others. Current studies on TCM in treating insomnia are described from the aspects of active ingredients, sources, experimental models and methods, results, and mechanisms. In addition, Chinese compound prescriptions developed from a variety of single herbs with sedative-hypnotic effects are introduced. The acting pathways of TCM are covered from the perspectives of regulating central neurotransmitters, influencing sleep-related cytokines, and improving the structure of the central nervous system., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Penthorum chinense Pursh is rich in flavonoids, which have strong antioxidant and anticomplement activities. In order to optimize their extraction conditions, various extraction parameters were chosen to identify their effects on flavonoids extraction. Single factor and Box-Behnken experimental designs consisting of 24 experimental runs and five replicates at zero point were applied to obtain the optimal extraction yield. The optimization conditions for flavonoids extraction were determined as follows: ethanol concentration 60.89%, extraction time 68.15 min, temperature 52.89 °C and liquid/solid ratio 19.70 : 1. The corresponding flavonoids content was 7.19%. The regression equation was found to fit well with the actual situation. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity (the free radical scavenging ability and ferric reducing/antioxidant power) and anticomplement ability of the flavonoids from P. chinense were determined. Results showed that the flavonoids of P. chinense displayed significant antioxidant and anticomplement activities. Its antioxidant activity can compete with ascorbic acid (Vc), whereas its anticomplement activity (IC50 = 111.6 μg ml(-1)) surpassed the effect of heparin (IC50 = 399.7 μg ml(-1)) which was used as the positive control, suggesting that P. chinense flavonoids and their related products could potentially be used as a promising natural agent in the treatment of humoral effector inflammation.

Objective: To observe the effect of Dingguier umbilical paste on rats with functional dyspepsia and mice with splenic asthenia, and investigate the related mechanism., Method: Functional dyspepsia models of rats were made by irregular food intake plus diluted hydrochloric acid. Successional treatments were offered for 14 days. The rats weights, contents of serum NO, AChE and MC were measured. The rats with splenic asthenia were made by rhubarb feed, and observed the affection of gastric emptying., Result: Compared with those in the model control group, the weight of rats in all dosages Dingguier umbilical paste groups increased obviously (P < 0.05), pepsin activity of rats in the dosage (1.34 g x kg(-1)) Dingguier umbilical paste groups was significantly higher and the contents of NO and quantities of MC in the dosage (2.67 g x kg(-1)) Dingguier umbilical paste groups decreased clearly (P < 0.05), and the contents of serum AChE in all dosages Dingguier umbilical paste groups rose apparently. The weight of mice with splenic asthenia increased obviously, accelerated gastric emptying, and improved the symptom., Conclusion: Dingguier umbilical paste has significant improvement of indigestion. The related mechanism may be to reduce the content of serum NO and the quantity of MC and enhance the content of serum AChE.

Introduction: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is widely used around the world. However, with its wide use has been the identification of a number of toxicological issues that have severely restricted its use in clinical treatment. The identification of these toxic substances within TCM has become somewhat of a hot topic in recent years., Areas Covered: This article reviews literature published on professional authoritative journals in the last 10 years on the toxic constituents and toxicology of TCM, including chemical structures, absorption and metabolism. The literature search for this article was based, but not limited to, toxic constituents including: alkaloids, glycosides, toxic proteins, polypeptide, amino acids, phenols or organic acids, terpenes and lactones. The authors discuss the toxic substances referring to their toxicity on organs, tissues and systems., Expert Opinion: More and more toxic constituents from different TCMs have been identified, in addition to information on how they act in the body at a molecular level. However, the toxicology of TCMs is very complex, and although some progress has been made, a lot work is still needed in order to put an end to toxic incidents.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has undergone a long history of clinical practice, which can arrive at ideal therapeutic effects by regulating the body's overall function. However, the complex nature of TCM determines a difficult study on the mechanism and material base of TCM. The current investigations of TCM indicate that the development of modern biotechnology will offer a strong arm in the process of the study. This review focused on the application of the modern biotechnology, including transgenic, gene knockout, cell membrane chromatography (CMC), molecular biochromatography (MBC), gene chips, proteomics, etc. in the research of pharmacodynamic effects of TCM at levels of whole animal, cell and molecular models over the past decade. The whole animal models established by the transgenic and gene knockout technology can truly reflect the characteristics of the target gene activity. Thereby the created animal model could share the pathology of maximum degree of approximation. Cellular models are especially suitable for the situation that functional proteins, enzymes, or drug targets are difficult to separate, or the characteristics of the drugs are unidentified. The utilization of MBC can not only achieve high-throughput screening, but also directly detect the chemical composition of the active components relative to the receptors. Based on the remarkable progress of genomics and proteomics and the technique of gene chips, the bioactive components of TCM can be screened through observing the changes of genes or proteins before and after the compounds acting on the cells.

Objective: To explore the effects of xue-bao capsules on injury of radio-or chemo-therapy in mice, in order to provide rationale behind clinical trials., Method: xue-xu (deficiency of blood) model in mice was induced by radiation or cyclophosphamide. Leucocyte (WBC), erythrocyte (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb) and platelet (Pt) in peripheral blood as well as CFU-E and CFU-Gm in bone marrow were counted., Result: CFU-E and CFU-Gm in normal mice were promoted by this drug. The reduction of WBC, RBC and Hb in peripheral blood as well as CFU-E and CFU-Gm in bone marrow owing to the 3.5 Gy of 60Co radiation were antagonized by the drug. It had also antagonized cyclophosphamide induced the reduction of WBC, RBC and Pt in peripheral blood., Conclusion: xue-bao capsules has the effects against the adverse reactions of radio-or-chemo-therapy.

Objective: Using animal anemia models to observe the antianemia effect of Shengxuesu, and to afford an experimental basis for preventing and treating anemia., Method: Rat model of iron deficiency induced by denutrition and mouse model of nemorrhagic anemia by blood lefting were established. Indices of hemoglobin(HB), red blood cell count(RBC), hematocrit(HCT), mean corpuscular hemoglobin count(MCHC), serum iron(SI), serum ferritin (SF) and total iron-binding capacity(TIBC) were monitored., Result: A dosage of Shengxuesu 0.5-2 g.kg-1 was given to the rat model of hypoferric anemia by gavage for 15 days, and to the mouse model of hemorrhagic anemia by gavage for 7 days. The result shows that HB, RBC, HCT, MCHC in blood and iron, ferroprotein in serum were elevated significantly; but total bounding iron in serum was decreased. Meanwhile, diet amount, diet consumption and general activity of the model rats were increased.