Differences in serum proteins in traditional Chinese medicine constitutional population: Analysis and verification.

Traditional Chinese medicine assigns individuals into different categories called "constitutions" to help guide the clinical treatment according to subjective physiologic, psychologic analyses, large-scale clinical observations, and epidemiologic studies. To further explore more objective expressions of constitutions, antibody microarrays were used to analyze the serologic protein profiles of two different constitutions, a balanced (or healthy) constitution (BC) and the dampness constitution (DC) comprising phlegm-dampness and damp-heat constitutions. The profiles of changing constitutions across time were also analyzed. Nineteen differentially expressed proteins between the two groups were identified, with known biologic functions involved in immunity and inflammation. This proteomic study may provide a biologic explanation why the BC is different than the dampness constitution.

Antiaging effect of a Jianpi-yangwei formula in Caenorhabditis elegans.

BACKGROUND: Jianpi-yangwei (JPYW), a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), helps to nourish the stomach and spleen and is primarily used to treat functional declines related to aging. This study aimed to explore the antiaging effects and mechanism of JPYW by employing a Caenorhabditis elegans model. METHODS: Wild-type C. elegans N2 worms were cultured in growth medium with or without JPYW, and lifespan analysis, oxidative and heat stress resistance assays, and other aging-related assays were performed. The effects of JPYW on the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the expression of specific genes were examined to explore the underlying mechanism of JPYW. RESULTS: Compared to control worms, JPYW-treated wild-type worms showed increased survival times under both normal and stress conditions (P < 0.05). JPYW-treated worms also exhibited enhanced reproduction, movement and growth and decreased intestinal lipofuscin accumulation compared to controls (P < 0.05). Furthermore, increased activity of SOD, downregulated expression levels of the proaging gene clk-2 and upregulated expression levels of the antiaging genes daf-16, skn-1, and sir-2.1 were observed in the JPYW group compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that JPYW extends the lifespan of C. elegans and exerts antiaging effects by increasing the activity of an antioxidant enzyme (SOD) and by regulating the expression of aging-related genes. This study not only indicates that this Chinese compound exerts antiaging effects by activating and repressing target genes but also provides a proven methodology for studying the biological mechanisms of TCMs.

Liangyi Gao extends lifespan and exerts an antiaging effect in Caenorhabditis elegans by modulating DAF-16/FOXO.

Liangyi Gao (LYG), a traditional Chinese medicine, is composed of Ginseng and Radix Rehmanniae Preparata, both of which have been shown to have antiaging properties. In Eastern countries, LYG is used to delay functional declines related to aging and has an obvious antiaging effect in clinical practice. However, little data from evidence-based medicine is available regarding whether LYG is beneficial overall, particularly with respect to lifespan, and how LYG functions. To address these issues, Caenorhabditis elegans, a useful organism for such studies, was employed to explore the antiaging effect and mechanism of LYG in this study. The results showed that LYG could obviously extend lifespan and slow aging-related declines in N2 wild-type C. elegans. To further characterize these antiaging effects and stress resistance, reproductive tests and other aging-related tests were performed. We found that LYG enhanced resistance against oxidative and thermal stress, reproduction, pharynx pumping, motility and growth in N2 wild-type C. elegans. In addition, we analyzed the mechanism for these effects by measuring the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the expression levels of aging-related genes. We found that LYG enhanced the activities of antioxidant enzymes and upregulated the genes daf-16, sod-3 and sir-2.1, which mediated stress resistance and longevity. In conclusion, LYG had robust and reproducible life-prolonging and antiaging benefits in C. elegans via DAF-16/FOXO regulation.