Anti-coronavirus and anti-pulmonary inflammation effects of iridoids, the common component from Chinese herbal medicines for the treatment of COVID-19.

The practice of Chinese herbal medicines for the treatment of COVID-19 in China played an essential role for the control of mortality rate and reduction of recovery time. The iridoids is one of the main constituents of many heat-clearing and detoxifying Chinese medicines that were largely planted and frequently used in clinical practice. Twenty-three representative high content iridoids from several staple Chinese medicines were obtained and tested by a SARS-CoV-2 pseudo-virus entry-inhibition assay on HEK-293 T/ACE2 cells, a live HCoV-OC43 virus infection assay on HRT-18 cells, and a SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease inhibitory FRET assay followed by molecular docking simulation. The anti-pulmonary inflammation activities were further evaluated on a TNF-α induced inflammation model in A549 cells and preliminary SARs were concluded. The results showed that specnuezhenide (7), cornuside (12), neonuezhenide (15), and picroside III (21) exhibited promising antiviral activities, and neonuezhenide (15) could inhibit 3CL protease with an IC50 of 14.3 µM. Docking computation showed that compound 15 could bind to 3CL protease through a variety of hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions. In the anti-pulmonary inflammation test, cornuside (12), aucubin (16), monotropein (17), and shanzhiside methyl ester (18) could strongly decrease the content of IL-1ß and IL-8 at 10 µM. Compound 17 could also upregulate the expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 significantly. The iridoids exhibited both anti-coronavirus and anti-pulmonary inflammation activities for their significance of existence in Chinese herbal medicines, which also provided a theoretical basis for their potential utilization in the pharmaceutical and food industries.

Isolation, structure modification, and anti-rheumatoid arthritis activity of isopimarane-type diterpenoids from Orthosiphon aristatus.

Orthosiphon aristatus is a well-known folkloric medicine and herb for Guangdong soup for the treatment of rheumatism in China. Eight isopimarane-type and migrated pimarane-type diterpenoids (1-8), including a new one with a rarely occurring α,ß-unsaturated diketone C-ring, were isolated from O. aristatus. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic methods and quantum chemical calculations. Furthermore, the most abundant compound, orthosiphol K, was structurally modified by modern synthetic techniques to give seven new derivatives (9-15). The anti-rheumatoid arthritis activity of these diterpenoids were evaluated on a TNF-α induced MH7A human rheumatoid fibroblast-like synoviocyte model. Compound 10 showed the most potent activity among these compounds. Based on their inhibitory effects on the release levels of IL-1ß, the preliminary structure-activity relationships were concluded. Furthermore, western blot analysis revealed that 10 could increase the expression of IκBα and decrease the expression of NF-κB p65, and the expression levels of COX-2 and NLRP3 proteins were consequently down-regulated.

Lignan glucosides from Gentiana macrophylla with potential anti-arthritis and hepatoprotective activities.

Ten lignans, including six previously undescribed phenolic ester glycosyl lignans (1-6), were isolated from a well-known traditional Chinese medicine, Qin-Jiao, which is the dry root of Gentiana macrophylla Pall. (Gentianaceae). Their structures were determined by spectroscopic and chemical methods, especially 2D NMR techniques. Quantum chemical calculations of theoretical ECD spectra allowed the determination of their absolute configurations. Refer to its traditional applications for the treatment of rheumatic arthralgia and hepatopathy, these compounds were evaluated on a TNF-α induced MH7A human synoviocyte inflammation model and a D-GalN induced AML12 hepatocyte injury model. Compounds 1, 2, 5, and 6 significantly reduced the release of proinflammatory cytokine IL-1ß in MH7A cells at 15 µM and they also could strongly protect AML12 cells against D-GalN injury at 30 µM. Flow cytometry and Western blot analysis showed that compound 5 ameliorated D-GalN induced AML12 cell apoptosis by upregulating the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein and down-regulating the expression of pro-apoptotic Bax protein.

Terpenoid Glucosides from Gentiana macrophylla That Attenuate TNF-α Induced Pulmonary Inflammation in A549 Cells.

Four previously undescribed terpenoid glucosides, including one sesquiterpenoid di-glucoside (1), two new iridoid glucosides (2, 3), and a new triterpenoid tri-glucoside (4), were isolated from a 70% ethanol extract of the root of Gentiana macrophylla (Gentianaceae), along with eight known terpenoids. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic techniques, including 1D, 2D NMR, and HRMS (ESI), as well as chemical methods. The absolute configuration of compound 1 was determined by quantum chemical calculation of its theoretical electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectrum. The sugar moieties of all the new compounds were confirmed to be D-glucose by GC analysis after acid hydrolysis and acetylation. Anti-pulmonary inflammation activity of the iridoids were evaluated on a TNF-α induced inflammation model in A549 cells. Compound 2 could significantly alleviate the release of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1ß and IL-8 and increase the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10.

The Short Health Scale: A Valid and Reliable Quality-of-Life Scale for Mainland Chinese Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Background: The aim of our study was to translate and validate the mainland Chinese version of the short health scale (SHS), a disease-specific quality-of-life (QoL) scale for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods: The SHS was translated and validated according to the standard process: a translation and back-translation procedure and a reliability and validation study. Patients with IBD were enrolled, and their QoL was assessed using the SHS, the short inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire (SIBDQ), and the Bristol stool form scale. Reliability (internal consistency reliability, split-half reliability, and test-retest reliability) and validity analyses were performed to evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the SHS. The impacts of different severity of major symptoms on QoL were analyzed by comparing the scores of SHS. Results: A total of 112 patients with IBD (69 with ulcerative colitis and 43 with Crohn's disease) completed the mainland Chinese version of the SHS, and 34 patients completed the SHS a second time within one to two weeks. Cronbach's alpha value of the SHS was 0.90, and its split-half coefficient was 0.83. Intraclass correlation coefficients of the four items ranged from 0.52 to 0.72. All four items of the SHS were significantly associated with the corresponding domains of the SIBDQ, with correlation coefficients ranging from -0.52 to -0.69 (p < 0.001). The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit of the one-factor model, with comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.878, normed fit index (NFI) = 0.874, incremental fit index (IFI) = 0.880, and goodness of fit index (GFI) = 0.842. The patients with severe symptoms had higher scores in the SHS than those with no or mild symptoms. Conclusions: The SHS was simple and quick to be used. The SHS had good validity and reliability and was suitable for evaluating the QoL of patients with IBD in mainland China.

Six pairs of phenylpropanoid enantiomers from Cinnamomum mollifolium.

Six pairs of undescribed phenylglycerol benzoate enantiomers, (±)-mollifolines A-F, which can also be categorized into three two-pairs of epimers, were isolated from Cinnamomum mollifolium H. W. Li (Lauraceae). The relative configurations (threo or erythro) of the epimers were determined by conformational searching of the lowest energy conformers and analyses of the relationship between the dihedral angle of H-7'─C-7'─C-8'─H-8' and the 3JH-7', H-8' coupling constant according to the Karplus equation. Furthermore, intramolecular hydrogen bonds were proved to play an important role in stabilizing the lowest conformations by using reduced density gradient (RDG) method for noncovalent interactions. Chiral resolutions of these enantiomer pairs were accomplished by immobilized polysaccharide derivative-based chiral HPLC columns. Absolute configurations of the 12 optically pure isomers were finally determined by quantum chemical time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations of their electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra.

Synthesis and Evaluation of Coumarin-Chalcone Derivatives as α-Glucosidase Inhibitors.

Coumarin and chalcone, two important kinds of natural product skeletons, both exhibit α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. In this work, coumarin-chalcone derivatives 3 (a∼v) were synthesized, and their α-glucosidase inhibitory activity was screened. The results showed that all synthetic derivatives (IC50: 24.09 ± 2.36 to 125.26 ± 1.18 µM) presented better α-glucosidase inhibitory activity than the parent compounds 3-acetylcoumarin (IC50: 1.5 × 105 µM) and the positive control acarbose (IC50: 259.90 ± 1.06 µM). Among them, compound 3t displayed the highest α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (IC50: 24.09 ± 2.36 µM), which was approximately 10 times stronger than that of acarbose. The kinetic assay of 3t (K I = 18.82 µM, K IS = 59.99 µM) revealed that these compounds inhibited α-glucosidase in a mixed-type manner. Molecular docking was used to simulate the interaction between α-glucosidase and compound 3t.