A novel strategy for the quality control of carbonized Typhae pollen using colorimeter, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and efficacy evaluation coupled with multivariate statistical analysis.

In this study, a novel quality control strategy was proposed, aiming to establish a multivariate specification for the processing step by exploring the correlation between colors, chemical components, and hemostatic effects of the carbonized Typhae pollen (CTP) using multivariate statistical analysis. The CTP samples were stir-fried at different durations. Afterward, the colorimeter and LC-MS techniques were applied to characterize the CTP samples, followed by the determination of bleeding time and clotting time using mice to evaluate their hemostatic effect. Then, principal component analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, and multi-block partial least squares were used for data analysis on colors, chemical components, and their correlation with the hemostatic effect. Consequently, 13 critical quality attributes (CQAs) of CTP were identified via multivariate statistical analysis-L*, a*, b*, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, 3-hydroxybenzoic acid, quercetin-3-O-glucoside, azelaic acid, kaempferol-3-O-glucoside, quercetin, naringenin, kaempferol, and isorhamnetin. The multivariate specification method involving the 13 CQAs was developed and visualized in the latent variable space of the partial least squares model, indicating that the proposed method was successfully applied to assess the quality of CTP and the degree of carbonization. Most importantly, this study offers a novel insight into the control of processing for carbonized Chinese herbal medicines.

Metabonomic study of intervention effects of Morinda officinalis on 'kidney-yang deficiency syndrome' / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the metabolic profile of hydrocortisone-induced 'Kidney-yang deficiency syndrome'in rats and the intervention effects of Morinda officinalis.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) technique was used to analyze the rat metabonome in serum. Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were processed to analyze the metabonome difference between the control and hydrocortisone treated samples. Twelve potential biomarkers were selected, via the parameter of variable importance in the projection (VIP). Principal components analysis (PCA) was employed to process the data from the M. officinalis. treatment group and the intervention effects of M. officinalis, was investigated through the selected potential biomarkers.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>After hydrocortisone treatment, the energy metabolism, amino acids metabolism and gut microflora environment were seriously disturbed and transmethylation was surpressed. M. officinalis could effectively alleviate the disturbance of energy and amino acids metabolism and enhance transmethylation, but could not modulate the gut microflora environment.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results obtained suggested that metabonomic studies could better reflect the whole status of metabolism in bio-systems, and could be treated as a potential powerful approach in pharmacological studies and investigation of the essence of 'syndrome' in traditional Chinese medicine.</p>

Effects of rhubarb aglycone combined with thrombolysis on brain microvascular basement membrane impairment in rats with thrombus-occluded cerebral ischemia / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the protective effects of rhubarb aglycone combined with urokinase (UK) thrombolysis on brain microvascular basement membrane impairment in rats with thrombus-occluded cerebral ischemia by regulating the expression of IgG, CoLIV and LN in rats brain, by which the level of injury of brain microvascular basement membrane could be detected.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Rats were randomly divided into sham-operated, model, thrombolysis, rhubarb aglycone and combination (rhubarb aglycone combined with thrombolysis) groups. Moreover, rats in model, thrombolysis, rhubarb aglycone and combination groups were randomly divided into 3, 6, and 9 h groups respectively. Model of thrombus-occluded cerebral ischemia was duplicated by using the combination of rats' auto-thrombus with inserting the nylon thread. Rats were administrated with thrombolysis therapy through artery at 3, 6, and 9 h after cerebral ischemia. At 24 h of administration through artery, intracranial hemorrhage ratio (ICHR) and mortality of rats were observed, and then the brain of rats was taken. In the study, expression of IgG, CoLIV and LN in rats brain were measured.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Thrombolysis at 9 h of cerebral ischemia made rats mortality and BHR increase, administration of combined therapy could make them decrease. Expression of IgG level in rats brain of 9 h and 6 h model groups increased, while CoLIV and LN expression decreased significantly. In each administration 9 h group, IgG level was lower, and CoLIV and LN were higher, such changes appeared significantly in rhubarb aglycone and association groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Brain microvascular basement membrane impairment could be caused by the therapy of delayed thrombolysis, which made the mortality and BHR increase. Rhubarb aglycone combined with the therapy of thrombolysis could perform the protective effects on brain microvascular basement membrane and then decrease the ICHR and mortality caused by thrombolysis after cerebral ischemia.</p>

Variation of Ferulic Acid Content in Naomaitong by Different Extraction Process / 中药新药与临床药理

Objective To compare the variation of ferulic acid contents in Naomaitong by different extraction processes.Methods With ethanol or water as extracting solvent,the four herbal medicines of Rhizoma Chuanxiong,Radix Ginseng,Radix Puerariae,Radix et Rhizoma Rhei,which consisted of Naomaitong prescription,were decocted together or decocted separately firstly then mixed together were evaluated.With ferulic acid extraction rate as the index,the above extraction processes were evaluated.Results The extraction rate of ferulic acid extracted by alcohol was higher than that by water,but the ferulic acid content showed no obvious difference by decocting together or decocted separately firstly then mixed together.Conclusion It is suggested that proper extraction solvents and extraction methods should be adopted according to the different physicochemical characteristics of chemical contents in herbal medicine during extraction.