Effect of Tianhuang Formula on Renal Injury and Fibrosis in Hyperuricemia Mice / 中国实验方剂学杂志

ObjectiveTo observe the protective effect and mechanism of Tianhuang formula (THF) against renal injury in hyperuricemia nephropathy (HN) mice through network pharmacology. MethodAll mice were randomly divided into a normal group, a model group, a febuxostat group (5 mg·kg-1), a low-dose THF group (L-THF, 60 mg·kg-1), and a high-dose THF group (H-THF, 120 mg·kg-1). The mice in the normal group were treated with 0.5% sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC-Na) by gavage daily. The HN model was induced by oral administration of 500 mg·kg-1 hypoxanthine and intraperitoneal injection of 200 mg·kg-1 oteracil potassium in mice except for those in the blank group. The mice in the groups with drug intervention were treated with corresponding drugs by gavage for three weeks. The levels of serum uric acid, creatinine, urea nitrogen, and 24-h albuminuria were measured. The renal injury was observed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and PAS staining, and renal fibrosis was observed by Sirius red staining. The effects and molecular mechanism of THF in HN mice were analyzed by Western blot, network pharmacology, and molecular docking. ResultBiochemical results indicated that compared with model group, BUN and 24 h urinary protein levels were significantly decreased in L-THF group (P<0.05), SUA and SCr levels were significantly decreased (P<0.01), and SUA, BUN, SCr and 24 h urinary protein levels in H-THF group were significantly decreased (P<0.01). The results of pathological staining showed that the kidney injury and interstitial fibrosis were improved in different doses of THF groups (P<0.05). Western blot results showed that the Nod-like receptor heat protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammatorome, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), fibronectin (FN), uric acid transporter 1 (URAT1), phosphorylated p65 (p-p65) and phosphorylated nuclear transcription factor (NF) -κB were inhibited in the H-THF group The expression of protein-producing α (p-IκBα) was reduced to the normal level (P<0.01), but the expression of IL-1β, URAT1 and p-IκBα in HN mice was not affected in the L-THF group. ConclusionTHF ameliorates renal inflammation and fibrosis by inhibiting the activation of NF-κB and NLRP3 inflammasomes to alleviate HN

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Elatostema stewardii Merr. (Urticaceae).

Elatostema stewardii is an important medicinal plant endemic to China. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome of E. stewardii was sequenced and assembled using next-generation sequencing technology. The complete chloroplast genome length of E. stewardii was 150,263 bp, including two inverted repeats (IRs) of 24,681 bp, which are separated by LSC and SSC of 83,791 bp and 17,110 bp, respectively. A total of 129 genes were included in the genome, consisting 85 protein-coding genes, eight rRNA genes, and 36 tRNA genes, the overall GC content of this genome was 36.3%. There are few studies on the genus Elatostema of Urticaceae, this chloroplast genome sequence will provide useful data for further research on solving the generic and familial relationships in Urticaceae.

Clinical trials and evaluation of Chinese patent medicine for influenza / 中国中药杂志

The clinical randomized controlled trial(RCT) of Chinese patent medicine in the treatment of influenza were reviewed and analyzed to provide basic information for clinical decision and related research. On the basis of the collection in the Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) Clinical Evidence Database System(EVDS), CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, SinoMed, EMbase, PubMed, and Cochrane Library were searched for RCTs of Chinese patent medicine for influenza published from database inception to July 25, 2021. The publication time, sample size, intervention and control measures, course of treatment, outcome indicators, and methodological quality of the trials were analyzed and evaluated. Ninety-two RCTs of Chinese patent medicine for influenza published between 2005 and 2021, were included, among which 17 RCTs(18.48%) had a sample size higher than 200 and the average sample size was about 145. Twenty-seven Chinese patent medicines were involved, including twenty-one oral medicines and six injections. The Chinese patent medicines in trials reported in more than five papers included Lianhua Qingwen Capsules/Gra-nules, Tanreqing Injection, and Reduning Injection. Fourteen intervention protocols were reported, of which Chinese patent medicine+western medicine+conventional treatment vs western medicine+conventional treatment(20.65%) was the most frequently employed. Additionally, 85.87% of the RCTs reported the course of treatment, and 80.43% of the RCTs determined 3-7 d as the intervention course. Forty-five outcome indicators were extracted, which were used 434 times, including symptoms/signs, physicochemical detection, safety events, TCM symptoms/syndromes, quality of life, long-term prognosis, and economic evaluation. Symptoms/signs(61.52%) exhibited the highest frequency. Methodological problems were prevalent in the included trials. The findings reveal that there are few clinical trials on influenza treatment by Chinese patent medicine, and the methodological problems are prominent, affec-ting the reliability and practicability of the trials. In the future research, the value characteristics of Chinese patent medicine should be highlighted and the quality control in the whole process should be strengthened based on the scientific and rigorous design.

Clinical trials and evaluation of Chinese patent medicine for pneumonia / 中国中药杂志

The present study reviewed the clinical randomized controlled trials(RCTs) of Chinese patent medicine for pneumonia to provide references for clinical research, guideline development, and policy formulation, and promote the quality improvement of clinical evidence. On the basis of the collection in the Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) Clinical Evidence Database System(EVDS), CNKI, Wanfang, SinoMed were searched for RCTs of Chinese patent medicine for pneumonia from database inception to December 31, 2019. A total of 1 245 RCTs were included, involving 84 Chinese patent medicines, including 45 oral medicines and 39 injections. Specifically, 85.9% of RCTs had treatment course not exceeding 14 d; 43.3% of RCTs had a sample size of more than 100 cases and 6.1% of RCTs more than 200 cases; 13 types of interventions/controls were included in the RCTs, with Chinese patent medicine + western medicine vs western medicine as the top one used(32.6%). In outcome indicators, symptoms/signs(3 285) and physicochemical detection(2 066) were the most frequently applied. In the methodological evaluation, "allocation concealment" was not clearly described or mentioned in 71.2% of RCTs, and "blinding" in 23.9% of RCTs met the normative standards. Registration and research ethics were not clearly reported. There are many methodological deficiencies in terms of design and implementation in included RCTs, which may impact the reliability and practicability of the results of RCTs. Additionally, key standards were unclear(such as disease classification methods and selection of core outcome indicators). In conclusion, RCTs should give priority to the preciseness and scientificity of the protocol, strengthening quality control of the processes and accelerating the standardized research of key links.

Clinical trials and evaluation of Chinese patent medicine for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 中国中药杂志

The clinical randomized controlled trials(RCTs) of Chinese patent medicine in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) were reviewed and analyzed to provide references for clinical research, guideline development, policy formulation, and quality improvement of clinical evidence. On the basis of the collection in the Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) Clinical Evidence Database System(EVDS), CNKI, Wanfang, SinoMed, Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase were searched for RCTs of Chinese patent medicine for COPD as a source of clinical evidence from database inception to December 31, 2019. The publication time, sample size, intervention and control measures, course of treatment, outcome indicators, and methodological quality of the trials were analyzed and evaluated. A total of 733 RCTs of Chinese patent medicine for COPD were included, among which 228 RCTs had a sample size higher than 100, accounting for 31.1% of total RCTs. Eighty-eight Chinese patent medicines were involved, including 40 oral medicines and 48 injections. A total of 327 RCTs mentioned intervention and control measures(Chinese patent medicine + conventional treatment vs conventional treatment), accounting for 43.0%. In addition, 94.40% of the RCTs reported the course of treatment, and 53.20% of the RCTs determined 8-14 d as the intervention course. The evaluation indicators adopted were numerous, among which physicochemical indicators(70.57%) and symptoms/signs(24.35%) were the most frequently employed. The operation of allocation concealment and blinding was not standard. Registration and the procedure related to ethics were mostly missing. The results indicate that there are prominent methodological problems in the clinical trials of Chinese patent medicine in the treatment of COPD, affecting the reliability and practicability of the trials. It is necessary to further standardize the design, implementation, and quality control of clinical trials of Chinese patent medicine in the treatment of COPD, highlight the clinical value of Chinese patent medicine for COPD, and improve the quality of evidence.

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Japanese buttercup Ranunculus japonicus Thunb.

Ranunculus japonicus is an important medicinal herb widely used in East Asia. In this study, we report the first complete chloroplast genome sequence of Ranunculus japonicus using next-generation sequencing technology. The chloroplast genome size of R. japonicus was 156,981 bp. A total of 129 genes were included, consisting 84 protein-coding genes, eight rRNA genes, and 37 tRNA genes. Thirteen protein-coding genes had intron (ycf3 gene, rps12 gene, rps12 gene, clpP gene contained two introns). A further phylogenomic analysis of Ranunculaceae, including 10 taxa, was conducted for assessing the placement of R. japonicus. It will provide valuable genetic information for this medicinally important species.

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of wild Japanese pepper Tubocapsicum anomalum Makino (Solanaceae).

As an important medicinal herb, no complete organelle molecular data has been reported for Tubocapsicum anomalum. In this study, the first complete chloroplast genome of Tubocapsicum anomalum Makino was sequenced and assembled. The genome is 155,802 bp in length and contained 124 encoded genes in total, including 75 protein-coding genes, 10 ribosomal RNA genes, and 39 transfer RNA genes. The phylogenomic analysis showed that Tubocapsicum anomalum was closely related to Withania somnifera according the current sampling extent.

Conservation Genomics of Wild Red Sage (Salvia miltiorrhiza) and Its Endangered Relatives in China: Population Structure and Interspecific Relationships Revealed From 2b-RAD Data.

Red sage (Salvia miltiorrhiza) is a widely used medicinal plant for treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Because of excessive excavation by huge market demand and habitat loss by human activities, the wild population resources of S. miltiorrhiza have reduced drastically in recent years. Meanwhile, population status of two closely related species S. bowleyana and S. paramiltiorrhiza were in a trend of decreasing due to their potential replacement of S. miltiorrhiza. Particularly, S. paramiltiorrhiza was threatened and endemic to a small region in eastern China. However, to date there has been no conservation genetic research reported for wild S. miltiorrhiza population and its endangered relatives. Assess the wild germplasm diversity for S. miltiorrhiza and its related species would provide fundamental genetic background for cultivation and molecular breeding of this medicinally important species. In the present study, we investigated the genetic diversity, population structure, and intra/inter-specific differentiation of S. miltiorrhiza and above two relatives using 2b-RAD genome-wide genotyping method. By investigating 81 individuals of S. miltiorrhiza, 55 individuals of S. bowleyana and 15 individuals of S. paramiltiorrhiza from 23 locations in China, we obtained 23,928 SNPs in total. A comparatively high genetic diversity was observed in S. miltiorrhiza (π = 0.0788, H e = 0.0783 ± 0.0007). The observed and expected heterozygosity in populations of these three species ranged from 0.0297 to 0.1481 and 0.0251 to 0.831, respectively. Two major lineage groups were detected in the examined S. miltiorrhiza populations. The results indicated that Dabie Mountain as a genetic diversity center of S. miltiorrhiza and possible complex inter-specific genetic exchange/hybridization occurred between S. miltiorrhiza and the two relatives. We suggest that strategic conservation and germplasm preservation should be considered not only for wild populations of S. miltiorrhiza, but also for its related S. bowleyana and S. paramiltiorrhiza.

Meta-analysis of clinical efficacy and safety of Compound Danshen Dripping Pills combined with conventional antihypertensive drugs in treatment of hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy / 中国中药杂志

To systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Compound Danshen Dripping Pills combined with conventional antihypertensive drugs in the treatment of hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy. China National Knowledge Infrastructure(CNKI), Wanfang, VIP, PubMed, EMbase, Cochrane Library, Ovid and Web of Science databases were searched by computer to retrieve the randomized controlled trials(RCTs) of Compound Danshen Dripping Pills combined with conventional antihypertensive drugs in the treatment of hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy from the establishment of databases to July 2020. After two researchers performed data retrieval, data extraction, and risk assessment of bias, they used RevMan 5.3 software for Meta-analysis. A total of 10 RCTs were included, with a total of 979 patients. Meta-analysis results showed that in terms of interventricular septal thickness(MD=-0.70, 95%CI[-1.15,-0.24], P=0.003), left ventricular posterior wall thickness(MD=-0.81, 95%CI[-1.41,-0.21], P=0.008), left ventricular mass index(MD=-8.75, 95%CI[-17.40,-0.10], P=0.05), systolic blood pressure(MD=-8.97, 95%CI[-13.46,-4.48], P<0.000 1), diastolic blood pressure(MD=-5.87, 95%CI[-8.39,-3.34], P<0.000 01) and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter(MD=-1.73, 95%CI[-2.38,-1.08], P<0.000 01), Compound Danshen Dripping Pills combined with conventional antihypertensive drugs was superior to conventional antihypertensive drugs. In terms of left ventricular ejection fraction(MD=0.41, 95%CI[-0.74, 1.55], P=0.49), there was no statistical difference in treatment between the two groups. Because of the small amount of literatures included in the safety aspect, it is impossible to give an accurate conclusion. The GRADE score showed that the level of evidence was low and extremely low. The results show that the Compound Danshen Dripping Pills combined with conventional antihypertensive drugs may effectively improve the clinical efficacy for hypertensive ventricular hypertrophy, and the safety needs to be further explored. Due to the low quality of the included literatures, more high-quality RCTs are needed for verification.

Acupoint selection rules of acupuncture for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy based on data mining / 中国针灸

OBJECTIVE@#To analyze the rules of acupoint selection in the acupuncture treatment of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy by data mining.@*METHODS@#The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) regarding acupuncture for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy published from July 15 of 2009 to July 15 of 2019 were retrieved from databases of CNKI, VIP, Wanfang, SinoMed, PubMed and EMbase. A database was established with Microsoft Excel 2016. The frequency and total effective rate of high-frequency acupoints, meridians and acupoint combinations were analyzed, and the association rules of acupoints and meridians were analyzed by Apriori algorithm.@*RESULTS@#A total of 87 RCTs were included, involving 104 acupoints with a total frequency of 921. Among them, the high-frequency acupoints were cervical Jiaji (EX-B 2, 87 times), Fengchi (GB 20, 70 times), Houxi (SI 3, 54 times), etc. The frequently-used acupoints were mainly distributed in the hand @*CONCLUSION@#It is feasible to explore the acupoint selection and compatibility rules of acupuncture for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy by data mining. This study could provide corresponding reference for clinical treatment.

Conbercept and Ranibizumab Pretreatments in Vitrectomy with Silicone Oil Infusion for Severe Diabetic Retinopathy.

PURPOSE: We compared the efficacies of intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) and intravitreal conbercept (IVC) as the adjuvant pretreatments for vitrectomy with silicone oil infusion for tractional retinal detachment (TRD) secondary to proliferative diabetic retinopathy. METHODS: This retrospective study comprised 74 patients (79 eyes) who underwent vitrectomy with silicone oil tamponade for diabetic TRD. They received IVC (37 eyes) or IVR (42 eyes) at standard doses 3-5 days preoperatively and were followed up for ∼6 months. Anatomic success rate, intra- and postoperative complications, and visual outcomes were compared between both groups. RESULTS: Initial (IVC vs. IVR: 97% vs. 98%) and final anatomic success rates (100% in each group) and mean visual acuity changes were not significantly different (P = 0.46). Intraoperative complications [iatrogenic retinal breaks (P = 0.58) and intraoperative bleeding (P = 0.66)], postoperative complications [fibrin formation (P = 0.51), postoperative preretinal bleeding (P = 0.88), progressing or persistent neovascular glaucoma (P = 0.63), progressive fibrovascular proliferation (P = 0.93), and recurrent retinal detachment (P = 0.93)], and surgical variables [surgical time (P = 0.53)] were similar between both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Conbercept and ranibizumab are equally effective surgical adjuvants for vitrectomy with silicone oil infusion in patients with diabetic TRD.

The complete chloroplast genome sequence of plumed cockscomb (Celosia argentea, Amaranthaceae).

The complete chloroplast genome of Celosia argentea, an important horticultural and medicinal herb, was identified and sequenced in this study. The genome size is 153,474 bp, the GC content is 36.7%. A total of 123 genes were identified, including 84 protein-coding genes, 8 rRNA genes, and 33 tRNA genes. Twenty-nine plastome accessions from Caryophyllales were selected to assess the phylogenetic placement of genus and the result showed that C. argentea is most closely related to Amaranthus hypochondriacus.

The complete chloroplast genome of Mexican marigold (Tagetes erecta L., Asteraceae).

Tagetes erecta is an important ornamental and medicinal plant indigenous to Mexico and Guatemala. The complete chloroplast genome of T. erecta was newly sequenced in this study. The total chloropalst genome size of T. erecta was 152,055 bp. In total, 123 genes were indetified, including 79 protein-coding genes, 8 rRNA genes, and 37 tRNA genes. Twelve genes are containing introns (ycf3 and clpP contained two introns). The overall GC content of this genome was 37.4%. A further phylogenomic analysis of Asteraceae, including 23 taxa, was conducted for the placement of genus Tagetes. The complete plastome of T. erecta will provide a valuable resource for further genetic conservation, evolution, and molecular breading studies in Asteraceae.

Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of summer snowflake (Leucojum aestivum, Amaryllidaceae).

Leucojum aestivum (Amaryllidaceae) is an important medicinal plant native to Europe, North Africa, and Central Asia. Its wild resources are Endangered because of excavation. In the present study, the chloroplast genome of L. aestivum was sequenced. The plastome length is 157,241 bp. A total of 132 genes were identified, consisting of 86 protein-coding genes, eight rRNA genes, and 38 tRNA genes. Thirty-four species from Asparagales were used for phylogenomic analysis.

San-Cao Granule () Ameliorates Hepatic Fibrosis through High Mobility Group Box-1 Protein/Smad Signaling Pathway / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the possible mechanism of San-Cao Granule (SCG, ) mediating antiliver fibrosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 60 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the normal control group, porcine serum-treated group, ursodesoxycholic acid (UDCA, 60 mg/kg), SCG (3.6 g/kg) group, SCG (1.8 g/kg) group and SCG (0.9 g/kg) group, with 10 rats in each group. Liver fibrosis was induced with porcine serum by intraperitoneal injection for 8 weeks, except for the normal control group. Then, the rats in the three SCG-treated groups and UDCA group were administered SCG and UDCA respectively for 4 weeks. The serum levels of alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), albumin (ALB), total bilirubin (TBIL), hyaluronic acid (HA), laminin (LN), and type IV collagen (IVC) were examined using commercial kits and hepatic histopathology was examined with hematoxylin and eosin and Masson staining. Moreover, the protein expression levels of high mobility group box-1 protein (HMGB1), transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), phosphorylated mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 3 (p-Smad3), Smad7, toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were determined by western blot, immunohistochemistry and real time quantitative-reverse transcription polymerase.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Both SCG (3.6 and 1.8 g/kg) and UDCA significantly ameliorated the liver fibrosis induced by porcine serum as indicated by retarding the serum levels increasing of ALT, AST, TBIL, HA, LN and IVC and preventing the serum level reducing of ALB compared with the model group (all P<0.01). Meanwhile, the collagen deposition was attenuated by SCG and UDCA treatment. Furthermore, SCG markedly reduced the expressions of HMGB1, TGF-β1, p-Smad3, TLR4, MyD88, NF-κB and α-SMA, and enhanced the expression of the Smad7 compared with the model group (all P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>SCG ameliorates hepatic fibrosis possibly through inhibiting HMGB1, TLR4/NF-κB and TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway.</p>

Application of anti-osteoporotic medications in osteoporotic fractures / 中国组织工程研究

BACKGROUND: Patients with osteoporosis are prone to develop fractures, and moreover some patients are first diagnosed with osteoporosis because of a fragility fracture. Therefore, it is critical to understand the correlation between osteoporotic medications and fracture healing. OBJECTIVE: To summarize the effect of anti-osteoporosis medications on osteoporotic fracture healing in order to promote its clinical application. METHODS: A computer-based online search of PubMed, CNKI, VIP and WanFang databases between January 2012 and July 2016 was performed to retrieve the related articles with the keywords of "osteoporotic fracture, healing, bone nutrition supplements, anti-resorptive agents, anabolic agents, dual effect agents, new targeted agents" in English and Chinese, respectively. Literature concerning the effect of anti-osteoporosis medications on fracture healing was selected, and the articles published lately in authoritative journals were preferred. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Most of anti-osteoporotic medications have no harmful influence on fracture healing, including bone nutrition supplements (calcium and vitamin D), anti-resorptive agents (bisphosphonate, denosumab, estrogen and selective estrogen receptor modulators, statins and calcitonin), anabolic agents (parathyroid hormone), and dual effect agents (strontium ranelate). Calcium and vitamin D are the basic drugs; anti-resorptive agents exert overt anti-osteoporotic effect; and the new targeted agents like cathepsin K inhibitor and sclerostin monoclonal antibody provide more choices for the therapy of osteoporotic fracture. Partial anti-osteoporotic agents inhibit the viability of osteoclasts, so their early application may be against fracture healing. The optimal time of anti-osteoporotic medications and the effect on acute and non-acute osteoporotic fractures need to be further explored.

[Teaching research of Molecular Pharmacognosy for talent development in industry of Chinese medicinal materials under new situation].

The industry of Chinese medicinal materials is going through another high-level development stage with some important files issued by Chinese government in the past months, such as "the protection and development plans of Chinese medicinal materials (2015-2020)" and "the strategic development plans of Chinese medicine (2016-2030)". In addition, the effect of "TU Youyou" will not only improve the industry development, but also indicates the increasing international competition intensely. Therefore, one of the core problems of the sustainable-development industry is the training of senior talents under the "New Situation" with opportunity and intense competition. As one of the forefront courses of Chinese Pharmacology, Molecular Pharmacognosy (MP) is a new interdisciplinary science, which integrates the pharmacognosy and molecular biology, and combines many discipline theories and technological systems. MP not only inherits the traditional concepts,but also makes up for the shortages of pharmacognosy, and improves the development of pharmacognosy. Thus, these are importance of MP for cultivation of senior talents, and also the difficult teaching points of MP with no unified teaching mode. We will, in this paper, discuss the possible teaching modes through several aspects for talent cultivation and meeting the needs of social and industry development, such as teaching state of MP, the education of undergraduate and graduate students, social identity, and self renewal of curriculum theories and practice.

Antihepatocarcinoma Effect of Portulaca oleracea L. in Mice by PI3K/Akt/mTOR and Nrf2/HO-1/NF-κB Pathway.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the pharmacological effects of Portulaca oleracea L. (Purslane) (PL) on N-nitrosodiethylamine- (NDEA-) induced hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) and explore its potential mechanism. Mice were randomly assigned to four groups: control group, NDEA group, NDEA + Purslane (100 mg/kg) group, and NDEA + Purslane (200 mg/kg) group. The animal of each group was given NDEA (100 ppm) in drinking water. 1 h later, Purslane dissolved in PBS was intragastrically administered for continuous seven days. The results showed that Purslane reduced the activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in liver and serum. Purslane also reduced the contents of interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1ß, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and methane dicarboxylic aldehyde (MDA) and restored the activity of superoxygen dehydrogenises (SOD) in serum. Purslane could obviously attenuate the hepatic pathological alteration. Furthermore, treatment with Purslane effectively inhibited the phosphorylations of phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (Akt), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), and inhibitor of NF-κBα (IκBα) and upregulated the expressions of NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and heme oxygenase- (HO-) 1. In conclusion, our research suggested that Purslane exhibited protective effects on NDEA-induced hepatocellular carcinomas by anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR and Nrf2/HO-1/NF-κB pathway.

Teaching research of Molecular Pharmacognosy for talent development in industry of Chinese medicinal materials under new situation / 中国中药杂志

The industry of Chinese medicinal materials is going through another high-level development stage with some important files issued by Chinese government in the past months, such as "the protection and development plans of Chinese medicinal materials (2015-2020)" and "the strategic development plans of Chinese medicine (2016-2030)". In addition, the effect of "TU Youyou" will not only improve the industry development, but also indicates the increasing international competition intensely. Therefore, one of the core problems of the sustainable-development industry is the training of senior talents under the "New Situation" with opportunity and intense competition. As one of the forefront courses of Chinese Pharmacology, Molecular Pharmacognosy (MP) is a new interdisciplinary science, which integrates the pharmacognosy and molecular biology, and combines many discipline theories and technological systems. MP not only inherits the traditional concepts,but also makes up for the shortages of pharmacognosy, and improves the development of pharmacognosy. Thus, these are importance of MP for cultivation of senior talents, and also the difficult teaching points of MP with no unified teaching mode. We will, in this paper, discuss the possible teaching modes through several aspects for talent cultivation and meeting the needs of social and industry development, such as teaching state of MP, the education of undergraduate and graduate students, social identity, and self renewal of curriculum theories and practice.

Research progress in construction of genetic linkage maps of medicinal plants in recent five years / 中草药

Genetic linkage mapping is one of the key steps in genomic research, which is the cornerstone of a wide spectrum of biotechnology applications, including gene localization, map-assisted cloning, molecular marker-assisted selection in breeding, and quantitative trait loci. Furthermore, the prospering of the molecular marker technology laid the technological foundation of constructing high density genetic linkage map. This paper briefly reviewed the procedure of genetic mapping, types of molecular markers, mapping populations, and research progress in construction of the genetic linkage maps of medicinal plants in recent five years. In addition, the existing problems and the future direction have been discussed in this field.