Effects of natural organic soil amendments on quality of Panax notoginseng / 中国中药杂志

The effects of four natural organic soil amendments on the quality and pesticide residues of Panax notoginseng were investigated through field experiments and the suitable dosage ratio of each soil amendment was selected to provide a new idea for the pollution-free cultivation of P. notoginseng. The four natural organic soil amendments used in this study were Jishibao, Jihuo, Fudujing, and omnipotent nutrients, which were produced by mixed fermentation of aboveground parts of different plants, biological waste residue, and biochar. During the experiments, only four soil amendments were applied to P. notoginseng instead of any pesticides and fertilizers. The experiment was designed as four factors and three levels. There were three dosage gradients(low, medium, and high) for Jishibao(A), Jihuo(B), Fudujing(C), and omnipotent nutrients(D). When the dosage of one soil amendment changed, the do-sage of the other soil amendments remained medium. There were 10 groups in addition to the soil amendment-free group as control(CK). The results showed that the four soil amendments could significantly improve the growth environment of P. notoginseng and increase the seedling survival rate and saponin content of P. notoginseng. The seedling survival rates of the treatment groups increased by 8.24%-30.05% as compared with the control group. Furthermore, the content of pesticide residues in P. notoginseng was too low to be detected, and that of heavy metals in P. notoginseng was far lower than the specified content in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia(2020). The optimal effect was achieved at medium dosage for all the soil amendments with the highest content of saponins, high seedling survival rate, and significantly reduced heavy metals, such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury.

Comprehensive antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of alcohol extracts from Chrysanthemum indicum in different areas based on entropy weight and TOPSIS methodology / 中国中药杂志

The study is aiming at investigating the application of entropy weight TOPSIS method in the comparison of the scavenging effect of DPPH, ABTS and hydroxyl radical and the inhibition effect of xanthine oxidase(XOD) and lipoxygenase(LOX) of Chrysanthemum indicum. The DPPH, ABTS, salicylic acid and spectrophotometry were used to determine the scavenging effect of DPPH, ABTS and hydroxyl radical and the inhibition effect of xanthine oxidase(XOD) and lipoxygenase(LOX) of Ch. indicum from 31 different areas in vitro. Take the half inhibition rate of as the evaluation index, two principal components were extracted by the principal component analysis, and their cumulative contribution rate reached at 92.4%. The different areas of Ch. indicum could be divided into Dabei Mountain and Qinling-Taihang Mountain by use principal component to analysis. The entropy weight TOPSIS method was used to objectively assign weights to five indexes, calculate the weight of each index and set up the best and worst scheme of the evaluation object, and the relative proximity(C_i) was used as the measure to construct the multi-index comprehensive evaluation model of Ch. indicum. And then sort with the relative proximity value. The results showed that the relative proximity was between 0.098 and 0.983 which represents there were significant differences in the scavenging effect of DPPH, ABTS and hydroxyl radical and the inhibition effect of xanthine oxidase(XOD) and lipoxygenase(LOX) between extracts of Ch. indicum from different areas. The Ch. indicum from Dabie Mountain area have a relatively high relative degree of measurement and high-quality ranking. Taken together, the quality of Ch. indicum.from the Dabie Mountain area is better. The index weight coefficient and the classification result of producing area are basically consistent with the result of principal component analysis. The results show that the TOPSIS method based on entropy weight method can be used to evaluate the comprehensive quality of Ch. indicum.

Mangiferin exerts neuroprotective activity against lead-induced toxicity and oxidative stress via Nrf2 pathway / 中草药·英文版

Objective: The study was designed to assess the beneficial role of mangiferin (MGN) in lead (Pb)-induced neurological damages in the activation of Nrf2-governed enzymes, genes and proteins. Methods: A total of 96 weaned Wistar rats (48 males and 48 females, 26- to 27-day-old), weighing 50−80 g were used. The experiment was performed in six groups: normal group (control, n = 16), model group (chronic Pb exposed, n = 16), Dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA)-treated group (positive control, Pb + DMSA, n = 16), three MGN-treated groups with different doses (Pb + MGN, n = 48). Normal group freely had access to purified water. DMSA-treated group was given DMSA, which was clinically used as the standard treatment for moderate Pb poisoning, at 50 mg/kg (2 mL suspension with purified water) by intragastric gavage (ig) 4 continual days a week for 4 weeks, MGN-treated groups were given MGN at 50, 100, or 200 mg/kg (2 mL suspension with purified water) by ig daily for 4 weeks. At the end of the treatment, all rats were sacrificed and the brain samples were collected. The haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was used for observation of histopathology. Commercial kit, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), Western-blot and immunohistochemistry (IHC) detection were used to detect the mRNA and protein expression. Results: Eight weeks exposure to Pb-containing water resulted in pathological alterations, anti-oxidative system disorder in the brain, all of which were blocked by MGN in a Nrf2-dependent manner. Nrf2 downstream enzymes such as HO-1, NQO1, γ-GCS were activated. Nrf2, GCLC, GCLM, HO-1 mRNA and total Nrf2, Nuclear Nrf2, γ-GCS, HO-1 protein expression were affected too. Conclusion: MGN ameliorated morphological damage in the hippocampus. Its neuroprotective effects were achieved by the activation of the Nrf2 downstream genes. The data from this in vitro study indicates that MGN targeting Nrf2 activation is a feasible approach to reduce adverse health effects associated with Pb exposure. Thus, MGN could be an effective candidate agent for the Pb-induced oxidative stress and neurotoxicity in the human body.