Effects of stand ages on soil enzyme activities in Chinese fir plantations and natural secondary forests.

Forest type and stand age are important biological factors affecting soil enzyme activities. However, the changes in soil enzyme activities across stand ages and underlying mechanisms under the two forest restoration strate-gies of plantations and natural secondary forests remain elusive. In this study, we investigated the variations of four soil enzyme activities including cello-biohydrolase (CBH), ß-1,4-glucosidase (ßG), acid phosphatase (AP) and ß-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG), which were closely associated with soil carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling, across Cunninghamia lanceolata plantations and natural secondary forests (5, 8, 21, 27 and 40 years old). The results showed that soil enzyme activities showed different patterns across different forest types. The acti-vities of AP, ßG and CBH in the C. lanceolata plantations were significantly higher than those in the natural secon-dary forests, and there was no significant difference in the NAG activity. In the plantations, AP activity showed a decreasing tendency with the increasing stand ages, with the AP activity in the 5-year-old plantations significantly higher than other stand ages by more than 62.3%. The activities of NAG and CBH decreased first and then increased, and ßG enzyme activity fluctuated with the increasing stand age. In the natural secondary forests, NAG enzyme activity fluctuated with the increasing stand age, with that in the 8-year-old and 27-year-old stand ages being significantly higher than the other stand ages by more than 14.9%. ßG and CBH enzyme activities increased first and then decreased, and no significant difference was observed in the AP activity. Results of the stepwise regression analyses showed that soil predictors explained more than 34% of the variation in the best-fitting models predicting soil enzyme activities in the C. lanceolata plantations and natural secondary forests. In conclusion, there would be a risk of soil fertility degradation C. lanceolata plantations with the increasing stand age, while natural secondary forests were more conducive to maintaining soil fertility.

Natural borneol enhances the anti-cerebral ischaemia efficacy of formononetin in MCAO/R rats by promoting its delivery in the brain.

Objectives Due to its high morbidity, high mortality, and high disability, stroke has been the first cause of death and the major cause of adult disability in China. Natural borneol has been widely utilized in Traditional Chinese Medicine to promote drug absorption. Formononetin is a natural isoflavonoid with potent neuroprotective activity but poor brain delivery. Methods This study aimed to screen the optimum proportion that natural borneol promotes formononetin entry into the brain, evaluate the anti-cerebral ischaemia efficacy of formononetin/natural borneol combination in middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion model rats, and clarify the possible mechanism for natural borneol's promoting formononetin delivery in the brain. Key findings Our studies exhibited that natural borneol remarkably promoted formononetin entry into the brain when combined with formononetin in a 1 : 1 molar ratio and notably improved neuro-behavioural scores and reduced the infarct of middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion model rats. This study further discovered that the enhanced anti-cerebral ischaemia effect resulted from natural borneol increasing the permeability of the blood-brain barrier to elevate formononetin concentration in the brain rather than the pharmacodynamic synergy or addition between formononetin and natural borneol. Conclusions The study provides a good strategy to screen drug combinations for the treatment of brain disease by combining natural borneol with other drugs.

LC-MS Metabolite Profiling and the Hypoglycemic Activity of Morus alba L. Extracts.

Morus alba L. is used in traditional Chinese medicine for its anti-diabetic activity; however, the part of the hypoglycemic activity and related active metabolites are still not fully clarified. In this study, the metabolites in the M. alba roots, leaves, twigs, and fruits extracts (70% ethanol extracts) were systematically identified, and their hypoglycemic activity was evaluated by the high-fat diet/streptozotocin-induced 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) mouse model. A total of 60 high-level compounds, including 16 polyphenols, 43 flavonoids, and one quinic acid, were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-Q-TOF-MS) combined with the fragmentation pathways of standards and the self-established database. Among them, 23 metabolites were reported for the first time from this plant. In contrast to the extracts of M. alba leaves and fruits, the extracts of roots and twigs displayed significant hypoglycemic activity The glycemia was significantly reduced from 32.08 ± 1.27 to 20.88 ± 1.82 mmol/L and from 33.32 ± 1.98 to 24.74 ± 1.02 mmol/L, respectively, after 4 weeks of treatment with roots and twigs extracts. Compound 46 (morusin), which is a high-level component identified from the extracts of M. alba roots, also displayed significant activity in decreasing the blood glucose level of T2D mice reduced from 31.45 ± 1.23 to 23.45 ± 2.13 mmol/L. In addition, the extracts of roots and twigs displayed significant activity in reducing postprandial glycemia. This work marks the first comparison of the metabolites and hypoglycemic activity of M. alba roots, leaves, twigs, and fruits extracts, and provides a foundation for further development of M. alba extracts as anti-diabetic drugs.

Danggui Niantong granules ameliorate rheumatoid arthritis by regulating intestinal flora and promoting mitochondrial apoptosis.

CONTEXT: Danggui Niantong Granules (DGNTG) are a valid and reliable traditional herbal formula, commonly used in clinical practice to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the mechanism of its effect on RA remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: An investigation of the therapeutic effects of DGNTG on RA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into four groups: control, model, DGNTG (2.16 g/kg, gavage), methotrexate (MTX) (1.35 mg/kg, gavage) for 28 days. The morphology of synovial and ankle tissues was observed by haematoxylin-eosin staining. The responses of mitochondrial apoptosis were assessed by qPCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemical staining. Rat faeces were analysed by 16S rRNA sequencing. RESULTS: Our results showed that DGNTG treatment reduced AI scores (7.83 ± 0.37 vs. 4.67 ± 0.47, p < 0.01) and paw volumes (7.63 ± 0.17 vs. 6.13 ± 0.11, p < 0.01) compared with the model group. DGNTG also increased the expression of Bax (0.34 ± 0.03 vs. 0.73 ± 0.03, p < 0.01), cytochrome c (CYTC) (0.24 ± 0.02 vs. 0.64 ± 0.01, p < 0.01) and cleaved caspase-9 (0.24 ± 0.04 vs. 0.83 ± 0.08, p < 0.01), and decreased bcl-2 (1.70 ± 0.11 vs. 0.60 ± 0.09, p < 0.01) expression. DGNTG treatment regulated the structure of gut microbiota. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: DGNTG ameliorated RA by promoting mitochondrial apoptosis, which may be associated with regulating gut microbiota structure. DGNTG can be used as a supplement and alternative drug for the treatment of RA; its ability to prevent RA deserves further study.

Vlasouliodes A-D, four new C30 dimeric sesquiterpenes exhibiting potential inhibition of MCF-7 cells from Vladimiria souliei.

As our ongoing interest to search bioactive dimeric sesquiterpenes from the genus Vladimiria (Asteraceae), the plant of Vladimiria souliei was studied. Based on the repetitive chromatographic fractionation, a chemical investigation on the roots of Vladimiria souliei led to the isolation and the identification of four previously undescribed sesquiterpene dimers, vlasouliodes A-D (1-4). Their chemical structures were elucidated by comprehensive analysis of spectroscopic data, including HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic data. The absolute configurations of them were unambiguously established by the experimental and calculated ECD data. In the in vitro biological activity evaluation, 1 and 3 displayed pronounced inhibitory activity against human breast adenocarcinoma cell lines (MCF-7) with IC50 values of 17.12 ± 0.42 µM and 13.12 ± 0.10 µM, respectively. Additionally, treatment with 1 and 3 induced cell apoptosis in MCF-7 cells, down-regulated the expression of Caspase-3 and up-regulated the expression of Cleaved-caspase-3.

A systematic review of community pharmacist practices in complementary medicine.

Background: The people who use complementary medicines (CMs) believe that these medicines are safe and harmless. They could easily access CMs like herbal or traditional medicines in community pharmacies. Therefore, community pharmacists are important professionals in advising the safe choices of CMs and providing evidence-based information for customers to decrease adverse effects of CMs. Objectives: To systematically review knowledge, attitude, and practices of community pharmacists about CMs, and the factors associated with CM practices of dispensing, recommending and counseling patients, and answering the patients' queries. Method: An electronic search was performed with four databases: PubMed, Scopus, SpringerLink and ScienceDirect, from 1990 to 19th May 2022. The inclusion criteria were studies 1) about knowledge, attitude, and/or practices of community pharmacists about CMs, 2) written in English, 3) conducted with quantitative methods, and 4) able to retrieve full text. Results: Twenty-three studies were included in this systematic review. Some studies showed that less than half of the pharmacists asked or counselled about CMs to their patients and answered the patients' queries about CMs. Only 20% of the pharmacists did report CM side-effects. Training or education about CMs was a common factor associated with the CM practice of dispensing, recommending, counseling, and answering the patients' queries about CMs. CMs recommended most by community pharmacists were vitamins & minerals, food or dietary supplements, fish oil and probiotics. The most common dispensed CMs were vitamins & minerals, herbs, food or dietary supplements, fish oil and essential oils. Lacks of reliable information sources and scientific evidence were common barriers for the CM practices. Being less expensive than conventional medicines motivated the pharmacists to recommend and discuss about CMs. The community pharmacists that participated in included studies suggested strengthening CM trainings and highlight the pharmacist role in CM therapy. Conclusion: A high percentage of community pharmacists did dispense CMs to their patients, while a low percentage of the pharmacists did report CM side effects. Pharmacists were most comfortable recommending and responding the patients' CM queries. Training or education about CMs associated with CM dispensing, recommending, discussing, and answering the patients' queries about CMs was recommended.