Penthorum chinense Pursh leaf tea debittering mechanisms via green tea manufacturing process and its influence on NAFLD-alleviation activities.

The green-tea manufacturing process showed good effect of flavor improving, debittering and shaping in making Penthorum chinensePursh leaf (PL) tea (PLT), which serves as a polyphenol dietary supplement and beverage raw material. GC-MS results showed that its unpleasant grassy odor decreased by 42.8% due to dodecanal, geranylacetone, and (E)-2-nonenal reduction, coupled with 1-hexadecanol increasing. UPLC-ESI-TOF-MS identified 95 compounds and showed that the debittering effect of green-tea manufacturing process was attributed to decreasing of flavonols and lignans, especially quercetins, kaempferols and luteolins, and increasing of dihydrochalcones which act as sweeteners bitterness-masking agents, while astringency was weakened by reducing delphinidin-3,5-O-diglucoside chloride, kaempferol-7-O-ß-d-glucopyranoside, and tannins. The increase of pinocembrins and catechins in aqueous extracts of PLT, maintained its hepatoprotective, NAFLD-alleviation, and hepatofibrosis-prevention activities similar to PL in high fat-diet C57BL/6 mice, with flavonoids, tannins, tannic acids, and some newfound chemicals, including norbergenin, gomisin K2, pseudolaric acid B, tanshinol B, as functional ingredients.

[Research on ontology construction of acupuncture effect based on ISO/TS 16843-6: 2022].

In order to specify the information expression of acupuncture effect and realize the knowledge reuse and sharing, in view of animal experiments and clinical trials, the relevant knowledge of acupuncture effect is allocated. Using seven-step method and Protégé5.5.0 tool, the ontology of acupuncture effect is constructed on the base of ISO/TS 16843-6: 2022. A total of 199 classes are constructed, including 7 categories (acupuncture point, acupuncture therapy, needling method, biological process, genes and gene products, disorder, and anatomic structure), 12 object properties, 1 108 instances and 5 123 axioms. A semantic network with the characteristics of acupuncture and moxibustion is established and the structured expression for the knowledge of acupuncture effects is obtained, which lays the foundation for the innovation and development in the field of acupuncture and moxibustion.

Premna microphylla Turcz leaf pectin exhibited antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages.

Premna microphylla turcz leaf juice with polysaccharides (PMPs) as its main component, are raw material of jelly-like Chinese traditional food "Guanyin tofu", which were also experiencedly used to relieve inflammation-related symptoms. Here three kinds of PMPs were extracted in alkaline (APMP), water (WPMP) and acidic (HPMP) conditions, being characteristic of RG I, high- and low-methoxyl HG pectin, respectively, in amorphous form with diverse surface microstructures, among which APMP predominantly composed of Glucose instead of galacturonic acid, showing wider molecular weight distribution and more branched chains. PMPs showed remarkable radical scavenging capability, and especially APMP at concentrations above 50 µg/mL effectively inhibited the reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages, by enhancing enzymatic activities of endogenous superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase, and accordingly alleviated inflammatory cytokines. Thus, PMPs could be promising non-toxic natural dietary supplement to improve chronic inflammation-induced diseases.

An ontological framework for the formalization, organization and usage of TCM-Knowledge.

BACKGROUND: The traditional Chinese Medicine Language System (TCMLS) is a large-scale terminology system, developed from 2002 on by the Institute of Information of Traditional Chinese Medicine (IITCM). Until now, more than 120,000 concepts, 300,000 terms and 1.27 million semantic relational links are included. Its top-level framework, called TCMLS-semantic network (SN), provides an important basis for the standardization and mapping of traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) terminology systems. Though, many data produced and stored in TCMLS have poor quality for historical reasons or because of human factors. There is a large number of classification errors or inconsistent expressions of terms remained in the current TCMLS- SN, which hamper an efficient utilization of the data stored in TCMLS in practical applications. METHODS: We start with analyzing the technical specification based on TCMLS, considering some obvious classification errors and problems of ambiguity of semantic expressions in TCMLS-SN, followed with using a top-down approach for building a middle level ontology which is based on the framework General Formal Ontology (GFO), take into account the compatibility with TCM related concepts, turn out the results of a modification of the current TCMLS-SN, called GFO-TCM. RESULTS: Through comparison with TCMLS-SN, according to viewpoints of GFO, some semantic types and relations were reconstructed within GFO-TCM. We propose a middle level ontology for TCMLS which may support entailment and ensure coherence, we also draw out a mapping which possess a more reasonable framework with a unified semantic criterion, it is application scenarios oriented and can be further updated and extended. CONCLUSIONS: The goal is to construct a formal middle-level ontology that is compatible with both the traditional medical terminology system and modern medical terminology standards. it is intended to satisfy functional requirements which are relevant for natural language processing, information extraction, semantic retrieval, clinical decision support in the field of traditional Chinese medicine. It also provides a foundation and methodology for building a large-scale, unified semantic and extensible knowledge graph platform.

Defining Acupuncture-Moxibustion: A Delphi Study Protocol.

BACKGROUND: With the worldwide use and modern development of acupuncture-moxibustion, there is disagreement on its basic definition. There has been an obstacle for clinical practice, research, and legislation. Considering this challenge, the World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies proposes to develop the definition and basic scope of acupuncture-moxibustion with a Delphi study. METHODS: A reactive Delphi method will be used to ask a group of experts to rate the relevance and clarity of a predesigned initial item list. This list was generated by the steering committee through a literature review and group discussion. Forty experts will be selected from many disciplines and continents to ensure appropriate representation. Predefined rules will be applied to modify the items until a consensus is achieved. After achieving the consensus on all items through the survey round, the steering committee will form the definition and basic scope of acupuncture-moxibustion by organizing a literal statement with a detailed explanation.

Anti-hyperglycemic effect of chebulagic acid from the fruits of Terminalia chebula Retz.

In the present study, we firstly compared rat intestinal α-glucosidase inhibitory activity by different ethanol-aqueous extractions from the dried fruits of Terminalia chebula Retz. The enzymatic assay showed that the 80% ethanol extract was more potent against maltase activity than both 50% and 100% ethanol extracts. By HPLC analysis, it was determined that the 80% ethanol extract had a higher content of chebulagic acid than each of 50% or 100% ethanol extract. Next, we investigated how efficiently chebulagic acid could inhibit sugar digestion by determining the glucose level on the apical side of the Caco-2 cell monolayer. The result showed that the maltose-hydrolysis activity was down-regulated by chebulagic acid, which proved to be a reversible inhibitor of maltase in Caco-2 cells. On the other hand, chebulagic acid showed a weak inhibition of sucrose-hydrolysis activity. Meanwhile, chebulagic acid did not have an obvious influence on intestinal glucose uptake and was not effective on glucose transporters. Further animal studies revealed that the oral administration of chebulagic acid (100 mg/kg body weight) significantly reduced postprandial blood glucose levels by 11.1% in maltose-loaded Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats compared with the control group, whereas the oral administration of chebulagic acid did not show a suppressive effect on postprandial hyperglycemia in sucrose- or glucose-loaded SD-rats. The results presented here suggest that chebulagic acid from T. chebula can be used to control blood glucose and manage type 2 diabetes, although clinical trials are needed.

Chemical composition, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities of essential oil from pine needle (Cedrus deodara).

UNLABELLED: The chemical composition of essential oil from pine needles (Cedrus deodara) was determined, and its antioxidant and antimicrobial activities were evaluated. Twenty-three components, representing 95.79% of the oil, were identified by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. The main components include α-terpineol (30.2%), linalool (24.47%), limonene (17.01%), anethole (14.57%), caryophyllene (3.14%), and eugenol (2.14%). Pine needle essential oil showed remarkable antioxidant activity in scavenging free radicals, in lipid peroxidation, and in reducing power assays. Moreover, the essential oil revealed strong antimicrobial activity against typical food-borne microorganisms, with minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration values of 0.2 to 1.56 and 0.39 to 6.25 µg/mL, respectively. Transmission electron microscope observation ascertained that the bactericidal mechanism of pine needle essential oil may be the induction of cytoplasmic outflow and plasmolysis. These results suggest that the essential oil from pine needles has potential to be used as a natural antioxidant and antimicrobial agent in food processing. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The present study provides a theoretical basis for the potential application of essential oil from pine needles (C. deodara) to be used as a natural resource of antioxidant and antimicrobial agents in food industry.

Antibrowning and antimicrobial activities of the water-soluble extract from pine needles of Cedrus deodara.

UNLABELLED: The antibrowning and antimicrobial activities of the water-soluble extract from pine needles of Cedrus deodara (CDE), a traditional Chinese medicine and raw materials of pine needle tea, was investigated. Total phenols of CDE were 31.4 ± 0.53 mg gallic acid equivalent/g, and total flavonoids were 23.1 ± 0.79 mg rutin equivalent/g. CDE showed a strong antioxidant activity against ABTS free radicals with IC(50) (the half-inhibitory concentration) of 25.5 ± 0.64 µg/mL. In mushroom tyrosinase inhibitory assay, IC(50) values were 2.1 ± 0.98 and 2.27 ± 0.93 mg/mL for monophenolase and diphenolase, respectively. Evaluated by detecting changes of L* (indicated the darkness of sample), a* (indicated the redness of sample), and b* (indicated the yellowness of sample) values in fresh-cut apple slices model, CDE showed a significant antibrowning effect when compared with ascorbic acid. In addition, it was discovered that CDE in combination with 0.5% ascorbic acid exhibited a synergistic antibrowning effect. Meanwhile, CDE was observed to show a potent antimicrobial effect on all of the tested Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. In conclusion, the results of the present research suggested that pine needles of C. deodara could be used as a natural resource of antibrowning and antimicrobial agents in food preservation. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: The present study provides a theoretical basis for the potential application of pine needles of C. deodara to be used as a natural resource of antibrowning and antimicrobial agents in food industry.

Chemical composition, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of essential oil from Gnaphlium affine.

The chemical composition of the essential oil from Gnaphlium affine was determined, and its antimicrobial and antioxidant activities were evaluated. Twenty-four compounds, representing 94.95% of the amount of total oil, were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Main constituents of the essential oil were found to be eugenol (18.24%), linalool (10.62%), trans-caryophyllene (8.86%), α-terpineol (5.97%), p-cymene (5.75%), hexadecanoic acid (5.63%), γ-cadinene (4.98%), δ-cadinene (4.22%), α-humulene (3.22%), and (-)-ß-elemene (3.15%). The essential oil revealed a remarkable antimicrobial effect against the tested food-borne microorganisms with the MIC and MBC values in the ranges of 0.2-1.56 µg/ml and 0.39-3.13 µg/ml, respectively. The essential oil showed a potent antioxidant activity in ABTS radical scavenging, lipid peroxidation and reducing power assay. It was suggested that the essential oil from G. affine may be a new potential source as natural antimicrobial and antioxidant agents applied in food systems.