Progress in Mechanism of Astragalus membranaceus and Its Chemical Constituents on Multiple Sclerosis / 中国结合医学杂志

The primary chemical components of Astragalus membranaceus include polysaccharides, saponins, flavonoids, and amino acids. Recent studies have shown that Astragalus membranaceus has multiple functions, including improving immune function and exerting antioxidative, anti-radiation, anti-tumor, antibacterial, antiviral, and hormone-like effects. Astragalus membranaceus and its extracts are widely used in clinical practice because they have obvious therapeutic effects against various autoimmune diseases and relatively less adverse reaction. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of central nervous system (CNS), which mainly caused by immune disorder that leads to inflammatory demyelination, inflammatory cell infiltration, and axonal degeneration in the CNS. In this review, the authors analyzed the clinical manifestations of MS and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and focused on the efficacy of Astragalus membranaceus and its chemical components in the treatment of MS/EAE.

Animal Model Analysis of Multiple Sclerosis Based on Clinical Characteristics of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Based on the clinical characteristics of multiple sclerosis （MS） in traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） and western medicine and literature analysis， this paper aims to formulate the diagnostic criteria of TCM and western medicine for MS. Moreover， the modeling methods of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis （EAE）， animals for the modeling， and characteristics of the models were analyzed and summarized， and the consistency between the EAE models and the diagnostic criteria of TCM and western medicine was evaluated. The results showed that animal models had low consistency with the clinical characteristics in TCM （highest consistency 68%） and western medicine （highest consistency 60%）. Pathological models account for the majority of animal models for MS research， but there is a lack of intuitive performance indicators. Thus， it is difficult to comprehensively evaluate the models. The mental state， limb numbness， lack of strength， loss of muscle tone， tremor， and balance disorders of the mice are among the diagnostic criteria in western medicine. In TCM diagnostic criteria， the major symptoms which are reflected in animal behavior， such as physical fatigue， lack of strength， mental fatigue， distinclination to talk， and weak heavy numb limbs， are consistent with the western diagnostic criteria. The minor symptoms， including mental decline， bitter taste in mouth， frequent and urgent urination， fecal incontinence， and aggravated fever， are not well reflected in the models. According to TCM， MS is caused by deficiency of kidney essence and external contraction of pathogen， but no index is available for evaluating the external contraction of pathogen in existing animal models. The key to experimental research on MS is to establish an appropriate animal model based on the clinical pathogenesis and characteristics. However， there is a lack of MS animal model with TCM characteristics for syndrome classification. Therefore， renewed efforts should be made to prepare animal models with both TCM and western medicine characteristics that can be used in both basic experiments and clinical research.

Simultaneous determination of 8 bioactive isoflavonoids in Astragali Radix by UHPLC equipped with core-shell column / 中国中药杂志

This research aims to develop an UHPLC method, based on core-shell column(i.e. superficially porous particles), for simultaneous determination of eight isoflavonoids including formononetin,(6αR,11αR)-3-hydroxy-9,10-dimethoxypterocarpan, calycosin-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside,(3R)-7,2-dihydroxy-3,4-dimethoxyisoflavone, calycosin, ononin,(6αR,11αR)-9,10-dimethoxypterocarpan-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, and(3R)-7,2-dihydroxy-3,4-dimethoxyisoflavan-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside in Astragali Radix. The analysis was performed on an Agilent Poroshell EC-C_(18 )column(2.1 mm×100 mm, 2.7 μm) with 0.2% formic acid solution(A)-acetonitrile(B) as mobile phase for gradient elution. The flow rate was 0.5 mL·min~(-1), with column temperature of 40 ℃ and the wavelengths were set at 260 and 280 nm. According to the results, all calibration curves showed good linearity(R~2>0.999 8) within the tested concentration ranges. Both the intra-and inter-day precisions for 8 isoflavonoids were less than 0.80%, with the mean recovery at the range of 94.71%-104.6%. Thus, the newly developed UHPLC method using core-shell column owned the advantages in terms of rapid analysis, low column pressure and less solvent consumption, thus enabling the usage of conventional HPLC systems. Meanwhile, quantitative evaluation was carried out for 22 batches of commercial Astragali Radix. It has been found that great variations occurred for the content of the individual isoflavonoids among different batches; in contrast, the total content of total 8 isoflavonoids(>0.1%) was stable in most samples, indicating that it was reasonable to involve all isoflavonoids as the chemical markers for the quality control of Astragali Radix.

Effectiveness of moxibustion for exercise-induced fatigue--a systematic review for randomized controlled trials / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To review and assess the effect of single moxibustion for exercise-induced fatigue: (EIF).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Computer-search for 8 medical databases and 5 clinical trail registries were conducted for: randomized controlled trials (RCTs), added with hand-search for 10 Chinese acupuncture-moxibustion journals and additional references. Data from included RCTs were pooled by RevMan5.1. Methodology quality of RCTs was judged by Cochrane Collaboration assessment tool while quality of primary outcomes was evaluated by GRADE3.2.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Five RCTs were finally included, all reported in small sample size with high risk of: bias. Comparisons on single moxibustion and rest relief (without treatment) were studied. Six outcomes were reported, all favored moxibustion to rest relief for EIF. Primary outcomes showed as rating of perceived exertion (RPE) with mean difference (MD)=-0.49, 95% confidence interval (CI) [-0.80, -0.19], 800-m race performance with MD=-2.21, 95% CI [-3.57, -0.85], and Harvard Step Index (HSI) with MD=14.75, 95% CI [8.35, 21.15]. Moreover, all primary outcomes as RPE, 800-m race performance and HSI were rated low quality.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Single moxibustion might be considered effective for EIF. However, due to small samples of included RCTs, high risk of bias among studies and poor quality of primary outcomes and subjects restricted to Chinese athletes only, these results present limitation, and should be taken with caution for practice. More large-size studies with rigorous design are warranted to further test effectiveness of moxibustion for EIF.</p>

Impact of drug molecules on HP-β-CD compound inclusion / 中国中药杂志

To study the interaction of drugs of different properties, namely puerarin, borneol and catalpol in the process of in- clusion, in order to explore the inclusion regularity of multi-component and multi-property traditional Chinese medicine compound in- clusions. With HP-β-CD as the inclusion material, the freeze-drying method was used to prepare the inclusion. The inclusion between puerarin, borneol and catalpol was tested by measuring the inclusion concentration, DSC and X-ray diffraction. According to the find- ings, when insoluble drugs puerarin and borneol were included simultaneously, and puerarin was overdosed, puerarin included was almost equal to puerarin included, and borneol was not included. When puerarin was under-dosed, and HP-β-CD was overdosed, borne- ol was included, and the simultaneous inclusion was lower than the separate inclusion of borneol. When water-soluble drug catalpol was jointly included with puerarin or borneol, the simultaneous inclusion was almost the same with their separate inclusion, without charac- teristic peak of catalpol in DSC and X-ray diffraction patterns. There is a competition in the simultaneous inclusion between water-solu- ble drugs puerarin and borneol and a stronger competition in puerarin. The water-soluble drug catalpol could be included with HP-β-CD with no impact on the inclusion of puerarin or borneol.

Investigation of fungal populations in seven ochratoxin A contaminated root herbs / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To determine the fungal populations in seven ochratoxin A contaminated root herbs in Jiangxi province, and investigate the mycoflora associated with mycotoxin contamination in the root herbs.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Single spore isolation was used to obtain the strains from root herb's surface. Fungi were identified according to morphology and molecular evidence.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Seventeen fungal species belonged to six isolated genera, nine species of Penicillium, three species of Aspergillus, two species of Fusarium and three other species were identified.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Fungal contamination of root herbs demands urgent attention, ochratoxin A producing fungi possess specific distribution on herbs.</p>