Uncovering the key pharmacodynamic material basis and possible molecular mechanism of Xiaoke formulation improve insulin resistant through a comprehensive investigation.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Xiaoke formulation (XKF) has been utilized in clinical practice for decades in China as a treatment option for mild to moderate type 2 diabetes. However, there is still a need for systematic research to uncover the key pharmacodynamic material basis and mechanism of XKF. AIM OF THE STUDY: Aim of to investigate the distribution and metabolism of XKF in normal and insulin resistant (IR) mice were different, and elucidate its key pharmacodynamic material basis and mechanism of action. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ultra performance liquid chromatography/time of flight mass spectrometry technology was employed to investigate the differences in XKF absorption, distribution, and metabolism between normal and IR mice across blood, liver, feces, and urine samples. Further, network pharmacology was used to predict target proteins and their associated signaling pathways. Then, molecular docking was utilized to validate the activity of key pharmacodynamic components and targets. Finally, IR HepG2 cells were used to detect the glucose consumption under the action of key pharmacodynamic material basis. In addition, the expression of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (AKT) and phospho-protein kinase B (p-AKT) was determined using western blotting. RESULTS: The study demonstrates significant distinctions in plasma and liver number and abundance of alkaloids, organic acids, flavonoids, iridoids and saponins between normal and IR mice when XKF was administered. Further analysis has shown that the representative components of XKF, including berberine, chlorogenic acid, calycosin, swertiamarin and astragaloside IV have significantly different metabolic pathways in plasma and liver. Prototypes and metabolites of these components were rarely detected in the urine and feces of mice. According to the network pharmacological analysis, these differential components are predicted to improve IR by targeting key factors such as SRC, JUN, HRAS, NOS3, FGF2, etc. Additionally, the signaling pathways involved in this process include PI3K-AKT pathway, GnRH signaling pathway, and T cell receptor signaling pathway. In addition, in vitro experiments indicate that berberine and its metabolites (berberine and demethyleneberine), chlorogenic acid and its metabolites (3-O-ferulic quinic acid and 5-O-ferulic quinic acid), calycosin and swertiamarin could improve IR in IR-HepG2 cells by elevating the expression of PI3K and AKT, leading to an increase in glucose consumption. CONCLUSION: The key pharmacodynamic material basis of XKF, such as berberine and its metabolites (berberrubine and demethyleneberberine), chlorogenic acid and its metabolites (3-O-feruloylquinic acid and 5-O-feruloylquinic acid), calycosin and swertiamarin influence the glucose metabolism disorder of IR-HepG2 cells by regulating the PI3K/AKT signalling pathway, leading to an improvement in IR.

ß-Elemene in zedoary turmeric oil injection induces dyspnea by binding to hemoglobin and upregulating HIF-1α.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Zedoary turmeric oil injection (ZTOI) extracted from the rhizome extract of Curcuma phaeocaulis Valeton, Curcuma wenyujin Y. H. Chen et C. Ling or Curcuma kwangsiensis S. G. Lee et C. F. Liang, is widely used for the treatment of virus-induced upper respiratory tract infections, peptic ulcers, viral pneumonia, etc. However, it has attracted widespread attention because it often causes adverse drug reactions (ADRs), including dyspnea. However, little is known about the mechanism underlying dyspnea caused by ZTOI, which limits its clinical application. AIM OF THE STUDY: To investigate the major pathophysiologic signatures and underlying mechanism of ZTOI-related dyspnea. METHODS: Respiratory function detection was used to explore the pathophysiologic signature of dyspnea induced by ZTOI. UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry were applied to test the interaction between ZTOI and hemoglobin (Hb). GC‒MS was used to identify the main components in ZTOI. Molecular docking, surface plasmon resonance, and circular dichroism spectroscopy were employed to test the reaction between ß-elemene and Hb. Western blot was performed to investigate the effect of ß-elemene on the hypoxia signaling pathway. RESULTS: The results showed that ZTOI-induced dyspnea was related to a decreased oxygen carrying capacity of Hb. The molecular interaction between ZTOI and Hb was proven. Notably, ß-elemene in ZTOI exhibited high binding affinity to Hb and altered its secondary structure. Furthermore, it was found that ß-elemene downregulated the expression of prolyl hydroxylase-domain protein 2 and upregulated the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α. CONCLUSIONS: Our study is valuable for better understanding the pathophysiological characteristics and underlying mechanism of ZTOI to ensure its safe clinical application. We also provided a strategy to elucidate the underlying mechanism based on inspiration from clinical ADR phenotypes for investigating other medical products with ADRs in the clinic.

[Rationality evaluation of Shuanghuanglian Injection combined with Ampicillin Sodium for Injection based on sequential analysis].

The lack of rationality evaluation method for drug combination has long restricted its clinical application. In view of this, this study took Shuanghuanglian Injection as model drug and established a "physical-chemical-biological" sequential analysis method, which is expected to provide clues for improving the safety and effectiveness of clinical drug combination. With the methods of insoluble particle testing, isothermal titration calorimetry(ITC), and real time cellular analysis(RTCA), the rationality of Shuanghuanglian Injection combined with Ampicillin Sodium for Injection was assessed. The results showed that the number of insoluble particles>10 µm in the solution of the combination met the standard of Chinese Pharmacopoeia, while the number of insoluble particles>25 µm did not meet the standard. ITC detection demonstrated that the change of Gibbs free energy(ΔG) was less than 0 during the fusion process, indicating that the process was spontaneous and enthalpy-driven reaction. Therefore, the interaction between the two was mainly chemical reaction, and the internal substances may change. RTCA found that Shuanghuanglian Injection alone and Ampicillin Sodium for Injection alone basically had no inhibitory effect on the growth of HEK293 T cells, while the combination of the two suppressed the growth of HEK293 T cells, suggesting that the combination was toxic to HEK293 T cells. This study showed that Shuanghuanglian Injection and Ampicillin Sodium for Injection reacted, yielding toxicity. This suggested that the two should not be combined for application. With the "physical-chemical-biological" sequential analysis, the molecular interaction of drugs was clarified. The method can be further applied for evaluating the rationality of other Chinese and western medicine injections.

[Exploration on rationality evaluation approach of drug combination medication based on sequential analysis and machine learning].

Drug combination is a common clinical phenomenon. However, the scientific implementation of drug combination is li-mited by the weak rational evaluation that reflects its clinical characteristics. In order to break through the limitations of existing evaluation tools, examining drug-to-drug and drug-to-target action characteristics is proposed from the physical, chemical and biological perspectives, combining clinical multicenter case resources, domestic and international drug interaction public facilities with the aim of discovering the common rules of drug combination. Machine learning technology is employed to build a system for evaluating and predicting the rationality of clinical drug combinations based on "drug characteristics-repository information-artificial intelligence" strategy, which will be debugged and validated in multi-center clinical practice, with a view to providing new ideas and technical references for the safety and efficacy of clinical drug use.

Berberine treatment-emergent mild diarrhea associated with gut microbiota dysbiosis.

Berberine (BBR) is a non-prescription drug to treat various bacteria-associated diarrheas. However, BBR has also been reported to cause diarrhea in clinic, with underlying mechanisms poorly understood. Because altered gut microbial ecology is a potential basis for diarrhea, this study was conducted to investigate the impact of BBR on gut microbiota of treatment-emergent diarrhea. BBR treatment (200 mg/kg, i.g.) in normal rats exhibited no significant changes in serum biochemical parameters but mild diarrhea occurred, accompanied with the decreased gastrointestinal transit time and increased fecal moisture, suggestive of the local effects of BBR in the intestine. Colon histology revealed the decreased abundance of mucus-filled goblet cells in BBR group. Although BBR-treated rats had the enlarged cecum with watery caecal digesta, short-chain fatty acids concentration was significantly lower than control group. Additionally, BBR caused gut microbiota dysbiosis by evaluating the decreased observed species number and Shannon index. BBR increased the relative abundances of families Porphyromonadaceae and Prevotellaceae as well as genera Parabacteroides, Prevotellaceae_UCG-001 and Prevotellaceae_NK3B31_group. Spearman's correlation analysis revealed family Prevotellaceae and genus Prevotellaceae_UCG-001 as the most prominent drivers of the BBR treatment-emergent diarrhea, correlating positively with fecal moisture but negatively with gastrointestinal transit time. This study therefore demonstrated that the treatment-emergent mild diarrhea of BBR was most likely due to the dysbiosis of the gut microbiota.

Triptonide acts as a novel antiprostate cancer agent mainly through inhibition of mTOR signaling pathway.

BACKGROUND: The increasing incidence of prostate cancer (PCa) indicates an urgent need for the development of new effective drugs in PCa therapy. Triptonide has been reported to have a strong inhibition activity in cancers through screening of Chinese herbal medicine. This study aims to investigate the effects of triptonide on anti-PCa activity and its mechanisms. METHODS: Three human advanced PCa cell lines PC3, DU145, and LNCap, and a human normal prostate epithelial cell line RWPE were treated with a range (0, 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, and 320 nM) of triptonide concentrations for 72 hours respectively. Then, cell viability was assessed by cell counting kit-8. PCa cells were treated with different doses (0-20 nM) of triptonide for 72 hours. Cell cycle and apoptosis were assessed by flow cytometry assays. Nude mice bearing human PCa xenografts were intraperitoneally injected daily with either triptonide (10 mg/kg/d) or phosphate-buffered saline as a control for 35 days. RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed by an Illumina Hiseq Sequencing platform and confirmed by a real-time polymerase chain reaction. Gene Ontology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis, and ingenuity pathway analysis were used to analyze RNA-seq results. RESULTS: Triptonide effectively inhibits the proliferation of human PCa cells PC3, DU145, and LNCap in vitro with their IC50 values as 11.961, 10.259, and 12.012 nM, respectively. Triptonide (10 mg/kg) potently inhibits the growth of PCa cell xenografts in vivo at an inhibition rate of over 97.95%. Treatment with triptonide (5 nM) significantly promotes cell apoptosis and retaining cell-cycle arrest in the G2/M phase. RNA-seq data revealed that total of 936 genes were upregulated or downregulated in triptonide treated. Moreover, the phosphorylation of mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) and the downstream protein p70S6K were both inhibited, most obviously in PCa cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that triptonide can efficaciously suppress PCa growth in vitro and in vivo via inhibiting the phosphorylation of mTOR and the activities of related downstream signaling pathways.

A Chinese medicine formula (Jinqi Jiangtang Tablet): A review on its chemical constituents, quality control, pharmacokinetics studies, pharmacological properties and clinical applications.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Diabetes belongs to the category of "Xiao Ke Zheng" in the field of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and has been listed as one of the predominant diseases of TCM. Jinqi Jiangtang Tablet (JQJTT), a Chinese medicine formula composed of three herbs (Coptis chinensis, Astragalus membranaceus and Lonicera japonica), is an effective prescription for diabetes proved by randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. AIM OF THE REVIEW: To analyze systematic and up-to-date classification information on the study of JQJTT, explain the problems existing in the current research of classics formulas, and further propose the solution, providing a reference for future study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Literatures on JQJTT were collected from a variety of databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Wiley, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and WanFang Data. Information was also collected from books and reports, such as Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Chinese herbal classic books and reports of re-evaluation on post-marketing drugs conducted by companies. RESULTS: There are some problems for JQJTT: the quality control system is not perfect, the pharmacological functional mechanism is not fully explained, and clinical applications need to be reevaluated. A few of research directions for future research are proposed: (i) the chemical quality evaluation combined with bioassay to evaluate quality; (ii) interaction based on gut microbiota in vivo; (iii) the effects of interaction between components of the polypharmacy on pharmacokinetic studies; (iv) interaction mechanism between drugs and endogenous small molecules and biomacromolecules; (v) evidence-based medicine reconfirmation for clinical evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: The recent research status of JQJTT was summarized and analyzed from the aspects of chemical constituents, quality control, pharmacokinetics studies, pharmacological properties and clinical applications. This review takes JQJTT as an example, points out some typical problems and opinions about the TCM formulas, highlights the importance of the secondary development of classical formula, and lays a foundation for the further research.

Preparation and Characterization of Cellulose Grafted with Epoxidized Soybean Oil Aerogels for Oil-Absorbing Materials.

The absorbent materials synthesized from biosources with low cost and high selectivity for oils and organic solvents have attracted increasing attention in the field of oil spillage and discharge of organic chemicals. We developed a convenient surface-grafting method to prepare efficient and recyclable biobased aerogels from epoxidized soybean oil (ESO)-modified cellulose at room temperature. The porous network-like structure of the cellulose aerogel was still fully retained after undergoing hydrophobic modification with ESO. Moreover, the modified aerogels possessed excellent hydrophobicity with a water contact angle of 132.6°. Moreover, the absorbent ability of the hydrophobic cellulose aerogels was systematically assessed. The results showed that modified aerogels could retain more than 90% absorption capacity even after 30 absorption-desorption cycles, indicating that the ESO-grafted cellulose aerogels have practical applications in the oil-water separation from industrial wastewater and oil-leakage removal.

[Exploring research ideas of mechanism of dominant diseases in traditional Chinese medicine based on evidence-based medicine].

The prescription of clinical curative effect has promoted the formation and development of the dominant diseases in traditional Chinese medicine, but it has been controversial for a long time because its mechanism has not been effectively explained. Breaking the gap between animal/cell research and clinical research, and understanding the mechanism of dominant diseases in traditional Chinese medicine based on evidence-based medicine has become an important breakthrough in this scientific issue. Therefore, based on evidence-based medicine, we established the research concept that "originating from clinic, testing in experiment, returning to clinic". Taking the classic formula (Jinqi Jiangtang formula) treating diabetes as an example to find characteristic markers of diabetes supported by evidence-based medicine from clinic. We used the reverse analysis strategy of the response of characteristic markers to explore the intervention mechanism of Jinqi Jiangtang formula on characteristic markers. Then, we verified the key signaling molecules of the metabolic regulation of the Jinqi Jiangtang formula in clinic. The research ideas and key technologies for the mechanism of treatment of diabetes by Jinqi Jiangtang formula based on evidence-based medicine are formed, and it is expected to provide research reference for explaining the mechanism of dominant diseases in traditional Chinese medicine based on evidence-based medicine.