Plant Pharmacophylogeny: Review and Future Directions / 中国结合医学杂志

Medicinal plants have provided numerous medicinal active ingredients for thousands of years and these ingredients have been used in Chinese medicine (CM) and traditional pharmacologies worldwide. Recently, the exploitation and utilisation of medicinal plant resources has increased significantly. The results of the studies have led to the identification of many active components, such as steroidal alkaloids, saponins, terpenoids, and glycosides, in various medicinal plants with different evolutionary levels. Moreover, research on the chemical classification, molecular phylogeny, and pharmacological activity of medicinal plants is increasing in popularity. Pharmacophylogeny is an interdisciplinary topic that studies the correlation between plant phylogeny, chemical composition, and curative effects (pharmacological activity and the traditional curative effect) of medicinal plants. In addition, it provides the basic tools to enable research and development of CM resources. This literature review, based on the genetic relationship between phytogroup and species, highlights the formation process, research content, applications, and future directions of pharmacophylogeny.

Application and modern research progress of sea buckthorn leaves / 中国中药杂志

Sea buckthorn(Hippophae rhamnoides) is widely distributed, with abundant resources, a long history of application, and rich nutrition and high medicinal value. Therefore, it has attracted extensive attention from researchers at home and abroad. The focus of attention is mainly on sea buckthorn fruit, but with weak research and development of sea buckthorn leaves. In order to develop and utilize abundant resources of sea buckthorn leaves, this paper systematically reviewed domestic and foreign literatures and summarized the current application, harvesting and processing, chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of sea buckthorn leaves. Sea buckthorn leaves have a wide development and utilization value in food raw materials(like a substituting-for-tea plant), pharmaceutical raw materials and animal feed. Modern studies have shown that the leaves of sea buckthorn are rich in polysaccharides, flavonoids, polyphenols, triterpenes and steroids, as well as vitamins(especially vitamin C), proteins, amino acids and mineral elements. It has various pharmacological effects, such as anti-obesity, hypoglycemia, anti-oxidation, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-cardiovascular diseases. Domestic and foreign studies have showed that sea buckthorn leaves have important development and utilization prospects, and are worth further study and development.

Material basis and mechanism of Huangqin Tea in prevention of colorectal cancer based on network pharmacology and molecular docking / 中国中药杂志

Colorectal cancer is a malignancy with high mortality. Huangqin Tea(HQT) can exert potential preventive and therapeutic effects on colorectal cancer. Flavonoids are the main compounds in HQT, but the pharmacodynamic material basis and mechanism are unclear. Network pharmacology and molecular docking were used to predict and analyze the targets and signaling pathways of HQT in the prevention and treatment of colorectal cancer. The active components of flavonoids in HQT were searched and screened out by literature review and FAFDrugs4. The related targets of active components were predicted by SwissTargetPrediction, STITCH, and TCMSP. Colorectal cancer-related genes were collected from OMIM, TTD, and GeneCards. The common targets were obtained as the potential targets of HQT in the prevention and treatment of colorectal cancer. Metascape was used for GO function enrichment and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses. Cytoscape was used to construct the protein-protein interaction(PPI) network and "component-target-disease-pathway" network to obtained and analyze core targets and key components. AutoDock Vina was used for molecular docking verification of key components and core targets. The results showed that apigenin, luteolin, wogonin, and baicalein were presumedly the key active components in the prevention and treatment of colorectal cancer, and core targets included TP53, AKT1, VEGFA, PIK3 CA, and SRC. The key KEGG signaling pathways mainly involved PI3 K-AKT, AGE-RAGE, p53, NF-κB, Wnt, Hippo, and calcium signaling pathways. Further molecular docking results showed that four key components showed strong hydrogen bonding ability with the five core targets. This study preliminarily reveals the pharmacodynamic material basis and potential mechanism of HQT in the prevention and treatment of colorectal cancer and provides a theoretical and scientific basis for the application of HQT.

Withania somnifera: a kind of food-medicine plant popular in world in recent years / 中国中药杂志

Withania somnifera, also known as Indian ginseng, is an important traditional medicine in the Ayurvedic medical system of India, which has a significant effect of adaptation. Modern studies have shown that the main chemical components of W. somnifera are withanolides, which have antioxidant, anti-tumor, enhancing immunity, cardiovascular protection, neuroprotection, anti-stress, anti-stress reaction and hypoglycemic activities. Studies on human, animal, mutagenesis, genotoxicity, reproductive toxicity and drug interaction showed that W. somnifera had good safety. Clinical trials have proved that W. somnifera is effective in treating a variety of human diseases. As a famous traditional medicine and modern dietary supplement, it has a high reputation and market in the international health product market, but in China, there is little scientific research, market development, product introduction and application. In this paper, the traditional application, chemical composition, pharmacological activity, safety evaluation and clinical study of the plant were introduced, so as to increase the understanding of the dual use of the plant, and to provide reference for the future introduction of the product, the service to the health of the Chinese people and the promotion of the "double cycle" of the trade of health products between China and the international community.

Simultaneous rapid detection of ten stilbenes in serum of mice by UPLC-MS/MS / 中国中药杂志

Stilbenes is a class of natural polyphenols with 1,2-diphenylethylene as the skeleton structure which have structural and active diversity. However, there are fewer studies on their metabolic process, which limits the in-depth research and development of such components. An UPLC-MS/MS method simultaneously determining contents of ten stilbenes was firstly established in this study and applied to study the ten stilbenes of peony seed coats in the serum of C57 mice.Piceatannol was the internal standard, and methanol was used for protein precipitation, UPLC-MS/MS with negative ion mode was used for analysis, and the method was validated.The serum samples were collected and detected after mice being oral administered with 800 mg·kg~(-1) peony seed coat extracts for 8 weeks. The results showed that suffruticosol A, suffruticosol B, suffruticosol C, trans-ε-viniferin, cis-gnetin H, trans-suffruticosol D and trans-gnetin H were detected in serum samples, and the highest is suffruticosol A. The method is simple and quick with high specificity and sensitivity, and it is suitable for quantitative determination of ten stilbenes in the serum of mice.

Morphological, microscopic, multiple-component assay and fingerprinting based systematic research on quality evaluation of Moutan Cortex(Paeonia suffruticosa) / 中国中药杂志

The purpose of this study was to combine morphological, microscopic, UHPLC multiple-component assay and fingerprinting studies in order to evaluate the quality of Moutan Cortex (MC) systematically. The root system of Paeonia suffruticosa was measured to compare the morphological variation and the chemical composition of different grades of MC was discussed according to previous studies. The difference between the main microscopic features of MC powder and the xylem powder is dramatic, the MC powder contains great amount of starch granules and clusters of calcium oxalate, while the xylem powder displays considerable vessels. Interestingly, the growth rings of P. suffruticosa was first reported in the xylem of the root transection, this can help to determine the growth years of the plant. Moreover, through the assay of 16 component, MC produced in Tongling and Bozhou in Anhui province were compared, content of PGG in MC produced in Bozhou was significantly higher than MC produced in Tongling (<0.01). MC with different growth years, MC with xylem and unprocessed MC and MC decoction pieces were compared respectively by combining the results of 16 compounds assay and fingerprinting. It is proposed that the quality evaluation standard include the assay of paeoniflorin. Above all, the holistic quality difference can be evaluated more comprehensively by combining multiple analytical methods.

Determination of ten stilbenes and their antioxidant activity of peony seed coat, seed kernel and seed coat extracts / 中国中药杂志

The seed of tree peony and herbaceous peony contained a variety of stilbenes which possess many pharmacological activities, such as antitumor, anti-inflammatory, allergy and neuraminidase inhibition. In order to develop and use peony seed resources, a simple and sensitive HPLC-DAD was developed for simultaneous determination of 10 stilbenes in peony samples, i.e.,suffruticosol A,suffruticosol B,suffruticosol C,trans-resveratrol,cis-ε-viniferin,trans-ε-viniferin,cis-suffruticosol D,cis-gnetin H,trans-suffruticosol D and trans-gnetin H. At the same time, the scavenging activity of DPPH free radicals was employed to evaluate their antioxidant effect. The results showed that the 10 stilbenes are mainly present in peony seed coat (total content of more than 16.7%) compared to peony seed kernel (total content less than 0.3%), and can be enriched in the extract of peony seed coat (total content of more than 75%) The extract of peony seed coat and 10 stilbenes exhibited significant antioxidant properties. This work provides a foundation for comprehensive utilization of the tree peony and herbaceous peony seed resources.

Mining chemodiversity from biodiversity: pharmacophylogeny of medicinal plants of Ranunculaceae / 中国天然药物

This paper reports a pharmacophylogenetic study of a medicinal plant family, Ranunculaceae, investigating the correlations between their phylogeny, chemical constituents, and pharmaceutical properties. Phytochemical, ethnopharmacological, and pharmacological data were integrated in the context of the systematics and molecular phylogeny of the Ranunculaceae. The chemical components of this family included several representative metabolic groups: benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, ranunculin, triterpenoid saponin, and diterpene alkaloids, among others. Ranunculin and magnoflorine were found to coexist in some genera. The pharmacophylogenetic analysis, integrated with therapeutic information, agreed with the taxonomy proposed previously, in which the family Ranunculaceae was divided into five sub-families: Ranunculoideae, Thalictroideae, Coptidoideae, Hydrastidoideae, and Glaucidioideae. It was plausible to organize the sub-family Ranunculoideae into ten tribes. The chemical constituents and therapeutic efficacy of each taxonomic group were reviewed, revealing the underlying connections between phylogeny, chemical diversity, and clinical use, which should facilitate the conservation and sustainable utilization of the pharmaceutical resources derived from the Ranunculaceae.

Essentials of pharmacophylogeny: knowledge pedigree, epistemology and paradigm shift / 中国中药杂志

Chinese materia medica resource (CMM resource) is the foundation of the development of traditional Chinese medicine. In the study of sustainable utilization of CMM resource, adopting innovative theory and method to find new CMM resource is one of hotspots and always highlighted. Pharmacophylogeny interrogates the phylogenetic relationship of medicinal organisms (especially medicinal plants), as well as the intrinsic correlation of morphological taxonomy, molecular phylogeny, chemical constituents, and therapeutic efficacy (ethnopharmacology and pharmacological activity). This new discipline may have the power to change the way we utilize medicinal plant resources and develop plant-based drugs. Phylogenomics is the crossing of evolutionary biology and genomics, in which genome data are utilized for evolutionary reconstructions. Phylogenomics can be integrated into the flow chart of drug discovery and development, and extends the field of pharmacophylogeny at the omic level, thus the concept of pharmacophylogenomics could be redefined in the context of plant pharmaceutical resources. This contribution gives a brief discourse of knowledge pedigree of pharmacophylogeny, epistemology and paradigm shift, highlighting the theoretical and practical values of pharmacophylogenomics. Many medicinally important tribes and genera, such as Clematis, Pulsatilla, Anemone, Cimicifugeae, Nigella, Delphinieae, Adonideae, Aquilegia, Thalictrum, and Coptis, belong to Ranunculaceae family. Compared to other plant families, Ranunculaceae has the most species that are recorded in China Pharmacopoeia (CP) 2010. However, many Ranunculaceae species, e. g., those that are closely related to CP species, as well as those endemic to China, have not been investigated in depth, and their phylogenetic relationship and potential in medicinal use remain elusive. As such, it is proposed to select Ranunculaceae to exemplify the utility of pharmacophylogenomics and to elaborate the new concept empirically. It is argued that phylogenetic and evolutionary relationship of medicinally important tribes and genera within Ranunculaceae could be elucidated at the genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic levels, from which the intrinsic correlation between medicinal plant genotype and metabolic phenotype, and between genetic diversity and chemodivesity of closely related taxa, could be revealed. This proof-of-concept study regards pharmacophylogenomics as the updated version of pharmacophylogeny and would enrich the intension and spread the extension of pharmacophylogeny. The interdisciplinary knowledge and techniques will be integrated in the proposed study to promote development of CMM resource discipline and to boost sustainable development of Chinese medicinal plant resources.

Pharmaphylogeny vs. pharmacophylogenomics: molecular phylogeny, evolution and drug discovery / 药学学报

With the surge of high-throughput sequencing technology, it is becoming popular to perform the phylogenetic study based on genomic data. A bundle of new terms is emerging, such as phylogenomics, pharmacophylogenomics and phylotranscriptomics, which are somewhat overlapping with pharmaphylogeny. Phylogenomics is the crossing of evolutionary biology and genomics, in which genome data are utilized for evolutionary reconstructions. Pharmaphylogeny, advocated by Prof. Pei-gen Xiao since 1980s, focuses on the phylogenetic relationship of medicinal plants and is thus nurtured by molecular phylogeny, chemotaxonomy and bioactivity studies. Phylogenomics can be integrated into the flow chart of drug discovery and development, and extend the field of pharmaphylogeny at the omic level, thus the concept of pharmacophylogenomics could be redefined. This review gives a brief analysis of the association and the distinguished feature of the pharmaphylogeny related terms, in the context of plant-based drug discovery and sustainable utilization of pharmaceutical resource.

Detection of TERC gene amplification by fluorescence in-situ hybridization in cervical intraepithelial lesions / 中华病理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the feasibility and practical value of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) detection of TERC gene amplification in cervical intraepithelial lesions (CIN) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Tissue microarray was constructed to cover 150 cases of various cervical conditions, including 24 cases of normal cervical mucosa, 78 cases of CINs (CINI, 25 cases; CINII, 21 cases and CINIII, 32 cases) and 48 cases of SCC. FISH was used to detect TERC gene amplification.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>TERC gene amplification was detected in 8% (2/25) CINI, 47.6% (10/21) CINII, 71.9% (23/32) CINIII and 87.5% (42/48) SCC. There were significant differences among these groups (P < 0.05). The amplification rates of TERC gene in SCC, CINIII and CINII were significantly higher than those of normal cervical epithelium and CINI (P < 0.05). Significant differences were also observed among CINI and CINII, CINIII and SCC (P < 0.05), and between CINII and SCC (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between normal cervical epithelium and CINI, CINII and CIN III, and between CINIII and SCC (P > 0.05). FISH detection of amplification of TERC gene in CINI and CINII-III demonstrated the following statistics: sensitivity of 62.3%, specificity of 92.0%, accuracy of 71.8%, positive and negative predictive values of 94.3% and 53.5%, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>FISH detection is a reliable method in detecting TERC gene amplification using paraffin tissue sections. When histological evaluation becomes difficult, TERC amplification detectable by FISH may offer a diagnostic distinction of CINI from CINII. Moreover, TERC amplification may be used as a biomarker in predicting CIN progression to invasive cancer.</p>

Expression features of P-glycoprotein, glutathione S transferase-pi and inhibitor of apoptosis proteins in lymph node metastases of gastrointestinal carcinomas / 中华外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the expression features of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), glutathione S transferase-pi (GST-pi) and inhibitor of apoptosis proteins like p53, survivin and bcl-2 in lymph node metastases of gastrointestinal carcinomas.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The expression of P-gp, GST-pi, p53, survivin and bcl-2 were determined by using immunohistochemistry technique in surgical specimens of primary tumor (PT) and lymph node metastases (LNMs) from 54 gastrointestinal cancer patients with metastasis of lymph nodes. The expression difference of 5 multi-drug resistance (MDR)-related factors between LNMs and PT were compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Significant difference was found in the expression of P-gp and GST-pi between the two groups (both P < 0.05), and expression of p53 and bcl-2 showed positive correlation between LNMs and PT (r = 0.7248, 0.5524; both P < 0.05), respectively. In LNMs, P-gp expression was positively correlated with GST-pi (r = 0.4062, P < 0.05) and survivin (r = 0.6169, P < 0.05), and also GST-pi expression was related positively with survivin (r = 0.4027, P < 0.05). Statistically positive correlations were noted between bcl-2 and P-gp (r = 0.3986, P < 0.05), bcl-2 and survivin (r = 0.2937, P < 0.05), as well as GST-pi and survivin (r = 0.4481, P < 0.01) in PT. Only a positive correlation between GST-pi and survivin expression was simultaneously shown in both LNMs and PT.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>There is significant heterogeneity of MDR-related factors expression in LNMs of gastrointestinal carcinomas. Effective adjuvant chemotherapy after operation should target on the metastatic loci of the disease.</p>

Expression of Twist in papillary thyroid carcinomas and its roles in differential diagnosis / 中华病理学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study Twist expression in thyroid papillary carcinoma (PTC) by immunohistochemistry and to assess its usefulness as marker in the differential diagnosis of PTC, follicular adenomas (FA) and benign papillary lesions (BPL).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty cases of PTC, 48 cases of FA and 47 cases of BPL were evaluated using manual tissue chip and SP immunohistochemical stain to detect the expression of Twist and HBME-1, and comparing the staining to that of cytokeratin 19 (CK19).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In PTC, positive rates of Twist, HBME-1 and CK19 were 100% (48/48), 94.0% (47/50) and 78.0% (39/ 50) respectively; in FA, positive rates were 0, 6.7% (3/45) and 0 respectively; in BPL, positive rates were 7.0% (3/34), 2.1% (1/47) and 0, respectively. The differences between PTC and FA and between PTC and BPL were both statistically significant (P = 0. 000). The sensitivity of Twist, HBME-1 and CK19 was 100%, 94.0% and 78.0%; the specifity was 96.4%, 95.7% and 100%; overall accurary was 97.7%, 95.1% and 91.9%, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Positive rates of Twist is higher than the other markers in PTC. Immunohistochemical staining of Twist has important significance in the differential diagnosis of thyroid lesions. Twist immunohistochemistry maybe helpful in diagnosis and differential diagnosis of PTC.</p>

Variation of ginsenosides in infected roots of American ginseng (Panax quinquefolium) / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>UNLABELLED</b>To study the infected root of Panax quinquefolium on the contents of ginsenosides.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The contents of three major ginsenosides Rg1, Re and Rb1 were determined by HPLC compared quantitatively between the different degree infected roots and normal root in the phloem and xylem.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Rg1 in phloem and xylem of varying degrees infected root showed no significant difference, but Rb1 decreased 26.3% and 28.3% respectively in medium and serious infected roots comparing to normal root. Re in phloem of seriously infected roots decreased in xylem significantly.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results indicate that the variation of ginsenosides in different degrees infected roots exists and the proportion of Rg1, Re and Rb1 in the total ginsenosides changes.</p>

Study on chemical constituents in herbs of Anoectochilus roxburghii II / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the chemical constituents of Anoectochilus roxburghii.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Silica gel and sephadex LH-20 column chromotography were used in the isolation from the ethanol extracts of the whole plant, the compounds were determined on the basis of various modern spectroscopic analysis and physical constants.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Five compounds were isolated from the CHCl3 soluble portion, identified as p-Hydroxybenzaldehyde (I), ferulic acid (II), quercetin (III), daucosterol (IV), cirsilineol (V).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>All these compounds were isolated from the plant for the first time, compound V was isolated from the Orchid Family for the first time, the other compounds were isolated from this genus for the first time.</p>

Study on HPLC-FPS of Pueraria of different sources / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To make comparative study on HPLC-FPS of several kinds of Pueraria lobata and P. thomsonii from different sources.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Kromasil C18 column was used, with mixture of acetonitrile and water as mobile phase in a gradient mode. The wavelength of measurement was 250 nm.</p><p><b>RESULT AND CONCLUSION</b>The fingerprints of P. lobata and P. thomsonii were obtained. This method can be used to identify P. lobata and P. thomsonii from different sources conveniently, and it may be practically valuable for the quality control of sample for P. lobata or P. thomsonii and its preparation.</p>