Search

This study aimed to explore the pharmacodynamics and mechanisms of different processing methods of Ligustrum lucidum Ait. (LLA) in addressing kidney‐yin deficiency (KYD). Forty‐eight Sprague–Dawley rats were divided into eight groups based on their weight. The KYD model was established by intragastric administration of levothyroxine sodium. Each group was administered the corresponding treatment for 15 consecutive days. The general condition of the rats during the treatment period was observed. In addition, the levels of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), and the ratio of cAMP to cGMP in the serum of rats from different groups were measured. Serum samples were analyzed using the ultra‐performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)‐Orbitrap Fusion MS technique for metabolomics analysis. Compared with the model group, the general condition of the rats in the wine‐steamed L. lucidum group (WL) and salt‐steamed L. lucidum group (SSL) groups showed significant improvement. The serum levels of cAMP, cGMP, and the cAMP‐to‐cGMP ratio tended to return to normal. Metabolic analysis identified 38 relevant biomarkers and revealed 3 major metabolic pathways: phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis; phenylalanine metabolism; and sphingolipid metabolism. The different processing methods of LLA demonstrated therapeutic effects on KYD in rats, likely related to the restoration of disturbed metabolism by adjusting the levels of endogenous metabolites in the kidney. The SSL demonstrated significantly superior effects compared with the other four types of LLA processed products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, rose bengal‐derived carbon quantum dots (RB‐CQDs) was synthesized by a one‐step solvothermal method using rose bengal and 1,2‐phenylenediamine as precursors in ethanol at 180 °C for 10 h and purified by silica gel chromatography. The as‐synthesized RB‐CQDs disperses well in water with particle sizes ranging from 0.78 to 2.46 nm and exhibits excitation‐independent yellow fluorescent emission (529 nm), high quantum yield (44.3 %) and good biocompatibility. More importantly, the fluorescence of RB‐CQDs can be selectively quenched by Fe3+ ions with good linear correlation and the detection limit is 19.9 nM. The recoveries of this method in actual water samples are 90 % to 110 % with relative standard deviations less than 5 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A visible-light-promoted direct thiolation of α-C(sp3)–H in ethers with thiosulfonates was developed for the preparation of α-arylthioethers using easily availably Na2-eosin Y and TBHP as a photocatalyst and oxidant. This reaction occurred smoothly under the irradiation of 5 W blue light at room temperature and generated the corresponding products in good to excellent yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isochlorogenic acid A(ICA) is the main active component of several TCMs, such as Artemisiae Scopariae Herba. This study aims to identify the metabolites of orally administered ICA in rat plasma, urine, and feces, and to speculate on its potential metabolic pathways. Rats were administered ICA orally, and samples of plasma, urine, and feces were collected at different time points. High-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole Exactive Orbitrap-mass spectrometry(HPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap-MS) was used in combination with reference standards, retention time comparison, fragmentation pattern analysis, and literature data to identify the metabolites in the biological samples. A total of 39 metabolites(M1-M39) of ICA were preliminarily identified from rat samples, including 31 from plasma(M1-M10, M12-M24, M26-M28, M30, M34-M35, M38-M39), 34 from urine(M1-M11, M13-M15, M19-M25, M27-M39), and 11 from feces(M2-M3, M6, M15, M21-M23, M32, M34, M36-M37). The main metabolic pathways included hydrolysis, glucuronidation, methylation, and sulfonation reactions. This study revealed the metabolic profile of ICA in rat plasma, urine, and feces, providing references for the in-depth elucidation of its pharmacologically active components.

Introduction: Acute lung injury (ALI) is a common and devastating respiratory disease associated with uncontrolled inflammatory response and transepithelial neutrophil migration. In recent years, a growing number of studies have found that Ardisiae Japonicae Herba (AJH) has a favorable anti-inflammatory effect. However, its serum material basis and molecular mechanism are still unknown in ALI treatment. In this study, metabolomics and network analysis of serum pharmacochemistry were used to explore the therapeutic effect and molecular mechanism of AJH against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI. Methods: A total of 12 rats for serum pharmacochemistry analysis were randomly divided into the LPS group and LPS + AJH-treated group (treated with AJH extract 20 g/kg/d), which were administered LPS (2 mg/kg) by intratracheal instillation and then continuously administered for 7 days. Moreover, 36 rats for metabolomic research were divided into control, LPS, LPS + AJH-treated (5, 10, and 20 g/kg/d), and LPS + dexamethasone (Dex) (2.3 × 10 -4  g/kg/d) groups. After 1 h of the seventh administration, the LPS, LPS + AJH-treated, and LPS + Dex groups were administered LPS by intratracheal instillation to induce ALI. The serum pharmacochemistry profiling was performed by UPLC-Orbitrap Fusion MS to identify serum components, which further explore the molecular mechanism of AJH against ALI by network analysis. Meanwhile, metabolomics was used to select the potential biomarkers and related metabolic pathways and to analyze the therapeutic mechanism of AJH against ALI. Results: The results showed that 71 serum components and 18 related metabolites were identified in ALI rat serum. We found that 81 overlapping targets were frequently involved in AGE-RAGE, PI3K-AKT, and JAK-STAT signaling pathways in network analysis. The LPS + AJH-treated groups exerted protective effects against ALI by reducing the infiltration of inflammatory cells and achieved anti-inflammatory efficacy by significantly regulating the interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 levels. Metabolomics analysis shows that the therapeutic effect of AJH on ALI involves 43 potential biomarkers and 14 metabolic pathways, especially phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis and linoleic acid metabolism pathways, to be influenced, which implied the potential mechanism of AJH in ALI treatment. Discussion: Our study initially elucidated the material basis and effective mechanism of AJH against ALI, which provided a solid basis for AJH application., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Han, Tian, Liu, Zhao, Liu, Hu, Feng and Li.)

A photoexcited sulfenylation of C(sp 3 )-H bonds in amides is developed for the synthesis of sulfenyl amides using thiosulfonates as a sulfur source. In the presence of easily available and inexpensive Na 2 -eosin Y, TBHP and K 2 CO 3 , various sulfenyl amides can be obtained under the irradiation of blue light at room temperature.

Objective: To study the mechanistic effects of Tiaobu Feishen therapy (TBFS) on inflammation induced by cigarette smoke extract (CSE) in a human monocyte/macrophage cell line., Methods: The human monocyte/macrophage cell line THP-1 was stimulated with 10 % CSE in the presence or absence of Bufei Yishen formula (BYF), Bufei Jianpi formula (BJF) and Yiqi Zishen formula (YZF). All formulations contained serum. Pro-inflammatory cytokines were measured in the supernatants using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The activity of STAT3 DNA binding was detected using electrophoretic mobility shift assay and janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK/STAT) pathway activation was assessed using Western blotting., Results: The results showed that BYF, BJF and YZF treatment strongly decreased the CSE-induced secretion of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, tumor necrosis factor-α and matrix metalloproteinase-9 by THP-1 cells. Furthermore, BYF, BJF and YZF treatment attenuated STAT3 DNA binding capacity and JAK2 and STAT3 were shown to be phosphorylated., Conclusion: The data revealed that BYF, BJF and YZF effectively inhibited a CSE-induced inflammatory response in THP-1 cells by limiting activation of the JAK2/STAT3 pathway.

To establish high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) fingerprints for crude and processed Ligustri Lucidi Fructus,and to evaluate their quality through the similarity calculation and chemical pattern recognition. The separation was performed with Syncronis C_(18) column(4.6 mm × 250 mm, 5 μm), with acetonitrile(A) and 0.1% phosphoric acid solution(B) as the mobile phase for gradient elution, and a detection wavelength of 280 nm. HPLC was used to detect 22 batches of crude and processed Ligustri Lucidi Fructus,and the Similarity Evaluation System for Chromatographic Fingerprint of Traditional Chinese Medicine(2012 Edition) was used to evaluate the similarity among 22 batches. The research on pattern recognition was conducted with cluster analysis(CA), principal component analysis(PCA), and partial least squares discriminate analysis(PLS-DA). HPLC fingerprints of crude and processed Ligustri Lucidi Fructus were established, with similarity ranging from 0.9 to 1.0. The crude and processed Ligustri Lucidi Fructus can be obviously distinguished by using CA, PCA and PLS-DA. According to the results of PLS-DA,11 constituents including hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, specnuezhenide and oleuropein were the main marker components leading to the difference. The established fingerprint method is stable and reliable, and can provide method basis for quality control of crude and processed Ligustri Lucidi Fructus. Chemical pattern recognition is proved to be helpful in comprehensive quality control and evaluation of Ligustri Lucidi Fructus before and after the process.

Rhubarb is widely used in the treatment of obstipation, gastrointestinal indigestion and other diseases in China and other Asian countries for thousands of years. Anthraquinones are the major group of polyphenol constituents including aloe-emodin, rhein, emodin, chrysophanol and physcion. In order to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of five rhubarb anthraquinones, a high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) method for simultaneous determination of aloe-emodin, rhein, emodin, chrysophanol and physcion in dog plasma was established. Solid phase extraction (SPE) was applied to the extraction and purification of samples. The calibration curves of five anthraquinones showed good linearity with r greater than 0.9925. The average extraction recoveries, examined at three concentration levels, carried from 92.1% to 102.3%, and the accuracies ranged from 87.7% to 102.5% with precision (RSD) <10%. The pharmacokinetic paremeters of five anthraquinones were investigated systematically after orally administration the rhubarb extract. Five anthraquinones were rapidly absorbed and Tmax for aloe-emodin, rhein, emodin, chrysophanol and physcion was at 0.75, 1.50, 0.75, 1.0 and 2.0 h respectively. The Cmax of five anthraquinones was 0.031, 3.39, 0.27, 0.036 and 0.032 μg/mL while the AUC of five anthraquinones was 0.35 ± 0.058, 32.22 ± 8.29, 2.97 ± 0.66, 0.43 ± 0.10 and 0.41 ± 0.12 mg h/L, respectively.