[Rapid prediction of flavonoid content in Epimedium sagittatum by infrared spectroscopy].

Epimedii Folium is a well-known Chinese herbal medicine with the effect of nourishing kidney and strengthening Yang. Its main active ingredients are flavonoids. In this study, 60 samples of Epimedium sagittatum were collected for the determination of total flavonoids(TF) including the total amount of epimedin A, epimedin B, epimedin C, and icariin(abbreviated as ABCI) specified in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia as well as rhamnosylicariside Ⅱ and icariside Ⅱ. The calibration parameters of "first derivativemultiva-riate scattering correction in 1 900-650 cm~(-1) band(4-point smoothing)" and "first derivativestandard normal variable correction in 4 000-650 cm~(-1) full band(4-point smoothing)" were confirmed respectively. The quantitative model was established via Fourier infrared spectroscopy plus attenuated total reflection(FTIR-ATR) accessory combined with partial least squares(PLS) method and then used to predict the flavonoid content of 11 validation sets. The average prediction accuracy for ABCI in calibration set and validation set was 98.985% and 96.087%, respectively. The average prediction accuracy for TF in calibration set and validation set was 98.998% and 94.771%, respectively. These results indicated that FTIR-ATR combined with PLS model could be used for rapid prediction of flavonoid content in E. sagittatum, with the prediction accuracy above 94.7%. The establishment of this method provides a new solution for the detection of a large number of E. sagittatum samples.

[Content correlation of eight phenolic acids and flavonoids in different medicinal parts of PA-type Perilla germplasms].

In this study, 10 PA-type Perilla germplasms were selected to detect the content of two phenolic acids, i.e., rosmarinic acid(RA) and caffeic acid(CA), and six flavonoids, including scutellarin-7-O-diglucuronoside(SDG), luteolin-7-O-diglucuronoside(LDG), apigenin-7-O-diglucuronoside(ADG), scutellarin-7-O-glucuroside(SG), luteolin-7-O-glucuroside(LG), and apigenin-7-O-glucuroside(AG) in leaves, stems, and fruits. The total content of phenolic acids and flavonoids in leaves was 3.991-12.028 mg·g~(-1) and 12.309-25.071 mg·g~(-1), respectively, which was much higher than that in stems(0.586-2.015 mg·g~(-1) and 0.879-1.413 mg·g~(-1), respectively) and fruits(0.004-2.222 mg·g~(-1) and 0.651-1.936 mg·g~(-1), respectively). RA was detected in five fruit samples, and RA content between leaves and fruits showed a significant negative correlation in the other five samples. For flavonoids, only LG and LDG could be detected in stems, and SG and SDG were not detected in fruits, while other flavonoids were not detected in some samples. The content of total flavonoids and LG in leaves and fruits was significantly positively correlated, and the content of LG in stems and fruits was significantly positively correlated. In 10 stem samples, seven met the standard that the content of RA in the stem should be not less than 0.1% specified in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia(2020 edition). Only one fruit sample reached the standard of RA content in the fruit not less than 0.25% specified in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia.

[Effects of light quality on growth and icariin flavonoid content of Epimedium pseudowushanense under different light intensity].

In this study, the growth index including plant height, compound leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf water content, number of branches, and leaf biomass per plant and the icariin flavonoids such as epimedin A, epimedin B, epimedin C and icariin of Epimedium pseudowushanense were determined on 30 d and 60 d under light intensity(18.2±2.5) µmol·m~(-2)·s~(-1)(L1) and(90.9 ±2.5) µmol·m~(-2)·s~(-1)(L2), and white light as control, red light, blue light and yellow light were used as three light quality treatments, to study the effect of light quality on the growth and flavonoids accumulation of E. pseudowushanense. The E. pseudowushanense was sui-table for growth under L1 light intensity, the blue light treatment significantly reduced the leaf area, but had little effect on the stem height, the red light treatment and the yellow light treatment had no obvious effect on the stem height and leaf area, but the yellow light treatment significantly increased the germination of new branches, and had a sustained promoting effect, and the biomass was significantly higher than the white light treatment at 60 d. The content of icariin flavonoids in red light, blue light and yellow light treatment was higher than that in white light treatment at 30 d and 60 d under L1 light intensity, while yellow light treatment promoted the synthesis of icariin flavonoids to the largest extent, which was 1.8 and 1.9 times of white light treatment(30 d and 60 d).Under L2 light intensity, the effect of strong light on promoting stem germination became the main factor, while the yellow light treatment showed no significant effect on promoting stem germination, and the red light treatment exhibited a significant effect on reducing leaf area. Icariin flavonoids under red light, blue light and yellow light treatment were all lower than that under white light treatment, that is, the effect of white light treatment on the synthesis of icariin flavonoids is better than red light, blue light and yellow light treatment. When the time of strong light treatment was longer, the degradation range of icariin flavonoids in other light treatment appeared, while red light treatment promotes the synthesis of icariin flavonoids. Therefore, the influence of light quality on E. pseudowushanense is quite different under different light intensity, no matter from growth index or flavonoid content index. The results support that the biomass and icariin flavonoid content can be increased by providing appropriate red and yellow light.

Renal targeted delivery of triptolide by conjugation to the fragment peptide of human serum albumin.

We have previously demonstrated that peptide fragments (PFs) of the human serum albumin could be developed as potential renal targeting carriers, in particular, the peptide fragment, PF-A299-585 (A299-585 representing the amino acid sequence of the human serum albumin). In this paper, we conjugated triptolide (TP), the anti-inflammatory Chinese traditional medicine, to PF-A299-585 via a succinic acid spacer to give TPS-PF-A299-585 (TP loading 2.2% w/w). Compared with the free TP, TPS-PF-A299-585 exhibited comparable anti-inflammatory activity in the lipopolysaccharide stimulated MDCK cells, but was significantly less cytotoxic than the free drug. Accumulation of TPS-PF-A299-585 in the MDCK cells in vitro and in rodent kidneys in vivo was demonstrated using FITC-labeled TPS-PF-A299-585. Renal targeting was confirmed in vivo in a membranous nephropathic (MN) rodent model, where optical imaging and analyses of biochemical markers were combined to show that TPS-PF-A299-585 was capable of alleviating the characteristic symptoms of MN. The collective data affirm PF-A299-585 to be a useful carrier for targeting TP to the kidney.