Vinegar amount in the process affected the components of vinegar-baked Radix Bupleuri and its hepatoprotective effect.

BACKGROUND: Bupleuri Radix (in Chinese Chaihu), the dried roots of Bupleurum Chinense DC, is a traditional Chinese medicine widely used to treat fever, hepatitis, jaundice, nephritis, dizziness. When baked with vinegar, its effect is more focused on liver related disease. This paper was undertaken to determine the best vinegar amount in the processing and explore its key efficacy components. METHODS: Hepatoprotective effects of Radix Bupleuri after processing with different amount of vinegar (1:5, 2:5, 3:5) were investigated on liver hurt rats, and the change of constituents were analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). RESULTS: With the increasing amount of vinegar, the hepatoprotective effects of vinegar-baked Radix Bupleuri (VBRB) and the content of saikosaponin b2 increased. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that vinegar amount in the process affected the pharmacological effect of VBRB significantly and saikosaponin b2 may be the key efficacy component of it.

Selenium inhibits Staphylococcus aureus-induced inflammation by suppressing the activation of the NF-κB and MAPK signalling pathways in RAW264.7 macrophages.

Inflammation is the hallmark of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus)-induced mastitis. Given the interesting relationship between selenium levels and inflammation, this study aimed to demonstrate that selenium modulated the inflammation reaction by suppressing the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathways. RAW264.7 macrophages were treated with three different concentrations (1µmol/l, 1.5µmol/l, and 2µmol/l) of Na2SeO3 for 12h before infection with S. aureus for 6h, 8h, and 10h. The results showed that selenium significantly reduced the mRNA expression levels of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1ß), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Furthermore, the release of TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6 was decreased significantly with selenium supplementation. In addition, selenium influenced the NF-κB signalling pathway by suppressing the activation of NF-κB p65 and degradation of inhibitory kappa-B (IκB). Selenium also suppressed extracellular regulated protein kinase (Erk), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (Jnk), and p38 phosphorylation through the MAPK signalling pathway. In conclusion, selenium played an anti-inflammation role in RAW264.7 macrophages infected with S. aureus by suppressing the activation of the NF-κB and MAPK signalling pathways.

[Pharmacokinetic study on peoniflorin, astilbin, rosmarinic acid, isofraxidin and liquiritin in rat blood after oral administration of shaolin xiaoyin tablets].

To establish a method for the determination of astilbin, peoniflorin, rasmarinci acid, isofraxidin and liquiritin contained in Shaolin Xiaoyin tablets, in order to lay a foundation for designing late-stage dosage forms and clinical medication schemes. In this paper, efforts were made to establish a method for the determination of the blood concentration of the five components and study the in vivo pharmacokinetics in rats. The blood concentration was determined by HPLC. Phenomenex C18 column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) was adopted and eluted with methanol-acetonitrile-0.05% formic acid, the flow rate was 0.8 mL x min(-1), and the wavelength was 275 nm. The samples were processed by the solid phase extraction method. After oral administration of Shaoling Xiaoyin tablets, the rat bloods were collected at different time points to determine the blood concentrations. The experimental results showed that the baseline separation could be adopted for the five components, and astilbin, peoniflorin, rasmarinci acid, isofraxidin and liquiritin showed good linear relations within ranges of 2.48-248, 0.213 6-21.36, 0.531-53.1, 0.704-70.4, 0.253-25.3 mg x L(-1). All the five components could be absorbed in blood and excreted quickly. The method established in this paper is rapid and accurate, and could be used for in vivo analysis on preparations containing similar components. The main components in Shaoling Xiaoyin tablets could be absorbed and excreted quickly, and thus suitable to be made into sustained release tablets. Common preparations are required to be taken for 4-6 times a day.