Neolignans and Diarylheptanoids with Anti-Inflammatory Activity from the Rhizomes of Alpinia zerumbet.

The dried leaves and rhizomes of Alpinia zerumbet have been traditionally used as food and medicine. Anti-inflammatory activity-guided phytochemical investigation into the rhizomes of A. zerumbet led to the isolation of 17 compounds including 10 neolignans (1-10, 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4, and 5 are new compounds) and seven diarylheptanoids (11-17) in which 1-3 were three pairs of enantiomers. 4 was only one enantiomer and 5 was a racemic mixture. Compounds 1a, 1b, 2a, and 2b incorporated an 8',9'-dinorneolignan skeleton, which was rare in the lignan family. The planar structures of these compounds were elucidated by extensive analyses of spectroscopic data. The relative and absolute configurations were determined by the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT)-based electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculation method. The 95% ethanol extract and ethyl acetate extract of A. zerumbet were found to show anti-inflammatory activity against croton oil-induced ear edema in mice with inhibition rates of 20.0 and 47.6% at a dose of 80 mg/kg, respectively. Bioassays showed that compounds 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, and 12 moderately inhibited nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 cells with IC50 values of 3.62, 7.63, 6.51, 5.60, and 8.33 µM, respectively.

Aidi injection induces apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells through the mitochondrial pathway.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The incidence and mortality rates of hepatocellular carcinoma are very high all over the world, which seriously threatens human life and health. Aidi injection as a Chinese medicine preparation has a positive curative effect on hepatocellular carcinoma, but its mechanism remains unclear. AIM OF THE STUDY: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the anti-hepatocellular carcinoma effects of Aidi injection and explore its mechanism of action vitro and vivo. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The main components of Aidi injection were determined by LC-MS/MS. The effects of Aidi injection on the viability of HepG2 and PLC/PRF/5 cells were detected via CCK-8 analysis and Calcein AM/PI staining. DAPI staining and flow cytometry were applied to analyze the apoptosis-induced effects of Aidi injection on hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HCCs). The growth inhibition of Aidi injection on hepatocellular carcinoma was observed in nude mice bearing PLC/PRF/5 cells. The related signal transduction and apoptosis pathways were investigated through assays for JC-1 mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), RNA-seq, KEGG, PPI and WB. RESULTS: There were 12 main chemical components contained in Aidi injection, viz. cantharidin, syringin, calycosin-7-o-ß-Dglucoside, isozinpidine, ginsenosides Rd, Rc, Rb1, Re, and Rg1, astragalosides II and IV, and eleutheroside E. Aidi injection significantly inhibited the proliferation of HepG2 and PLC/PLF/5 cells with IC50 of 20.66 mg/ml and 27.5 mg/ml at 48h, respectively, increased the proportion of dead cells, induced cell apoptosis, suppressed the tumor growth of nude mice bearing PLC/PLF/5 cells, reduced MMP, activated PI3K/Akt and MAPK signal transduction pathways, down-regulated the expression of p-PI3K and Bcl-xL, and up-regulated the expression of p-JNK, p-p38 and Bim. CONCLUSION: Aidi injection inhibits the growth of liver cancer probably through regulating PI3K/Akt and MAPK signal transduction pathways, inducing MMP collapse to activate the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway, and then eliciting apoptosis of HCCs.

Effects of Preoperative Isokinetic Eccentric Training and Whey Protein Isolate Supplement on Quadriceps Strength and Knee Function in Patients with Anterior Cruciate Ligament Rupture.

Objective To explore the effect of preoperative isokinetic eccentric training with or not whey protein isolate supplement before operation on lower limb muscle strength and knee function in patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture. Methods A total of 22 male volunteers aged 18-40 years with ACL rupture were recruited in outpatient service. With randomized block design,subjects were randomly assigned to isokinetic eccentric training (IE) group and isokinetic eccentric training with whey protein isolate supplement (IE+WPI) group. The IE group received isokinetic eccentric training of the injured limb on an isokinetic dynamometer under the guidance of physiatrist in laboratory before operation. There were 3-4 sets per day with 8-10 repetitions for each set,twice a week,with at least one day between sessions. The IE+WPI group were supplied with whey protein isolate 22 g per day on the basis of isokinetic eccentric training,taking breakfast or 30-60 minutes after the training. The intervention lasted for 6 weeks. Isokinetic muscle strength of limbs,the function and laxity of knee,the circumferences of thigh and knee,and the body composition were measured before and after the treatment. Results Compared with baseline,the peak torque (PT) of isokinetic-eccentric contraction (IE group:41.0%,P=0.018;IE+WPI group:46.7%,P=0.008) and the concentric contraction (IE group:29.6%,P=0.018;IE+WPI group:38.9%,P=0.038) of quadriceps in the two training groups significantly increased after isokinetic eccentric training. The Lysholm score increased significantly in IE+WPI group compared with baseline (P=0.018). Conclusions Isokinetic eccentric training before operation for ACL rupture patients can increase the strength of quadriceps and improve the function of knees. Protein isolate supplement can improve such effect.

Evaluation of the add-on effect of chinese patent medicine for patients with stable or unstable angina: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been widely used as an adjunct to western medicine in treating angina in China. We carried out this systematic review to evaluate the effectiveness of CHM on top of western medicine for angina. This meta-analysis included 46 randomized control trials with 4212 patients. For trials that included stable angina patients, the CHM group had significant lower incidence of total heart events (relative risk (RR) = 0.50, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.33-0.78), myocardial infarction (RR = 0.32, 95% CI 0.14-0.72), heart failure (RR = 0.37, 95% CI 0.15-0.91), and angina (RR = 0.46, 95% CI 0.30-0.71) than that of control group. For trials that included unstable angina patients, CHM led to significantly lower occurrence of total heart events (RR = 0.46, 95% CI 0.32-0.66), myocardial infarction (RR = 0.37, 95% CI 0.26-0.54), and angina (RR = 0.36, 95%CI 0.26-0.51). Likewise, for trials that included stable or unstable angina patients, the rates of myocardial infarction (RR = 0.34, 95% CI 0.17-0.68) and angina (RR = 0.46, 95% CI 0.30-0.70) in CHM group were significantly lower than that in control group. In conclusion, CHM is very likely to be able to improve the survival of angina patients who are already receiving western medicine.