Simultaneous determination of five compounds of fried Radix Paeoniae Alba extract in beagle dogs plasma by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry and its application in a pharmacokinetic study.

In this present study, we developed a reliable and simple ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) assay for the simultaneous quantification of paeoniflorin, albiflorin, oxypaeoniflorin, benzoylpaeoniflorin and isomaltopaeoniflorin in beagle dog plasma. We also analyzed the pharmacokinetics of those components after oral administration of fried Radix Paeoniae Alba (FRPA) in beagle dogs. Plasma samples were processed by protein precipitation with methanol. Chromatographic separation was performed with a Waters HSS-T3 C18 column (100 × 2.1 mm, 1.8 µm, kept at 40°C) using multiple reaction monitoring mode. A gradient elution procedure was used with solvent A (0.02% formic acid-water) and solvent B (0.02% formic acid-acetonitrile) as mobile phases. Method validation was performed as US Food and Drug Administration guidelines, and the results met the acceptance criteria. The method we establish in this experiment was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study after oral administration of FRPA extract to beagle dogs.

Simultaneous determination and pharmacokinetic study of six components in beagle dog plasma by UPLC-MS/MS after oral administration of Astragalus Membranaceus aqueous extract.

Astragalus Membranaceus (AM) is widely applied in Chinese herbal compound formulas for treating various kinds of diseases. However, relative pharmacokinetics data on AM in nonrodents is still lacking. Here, an UPLC-MS/MS method for determining the six main compounds of AM was developed. The chromatographic separation was carried out by a Waters Acquity UPLC HSS T3 column (100 × 2.1 mm, 1.8 µm) with gradient elution of water-formic acid (99.98:0.02, v/v) and acetonitrile-formic acid (99.98:0.02, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.3 ml/min within 11 min. Analyses of all compounds were conducted in multiple reaction monitoring mode with a positive/negative ion-switching mode of an electrospray ionization source in a single run. The analytical method was validated in terms of specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, stability, etc. The method showed excellent linearity (r > 0.999) over certain concentration ranges. The intra-day and inter-day precisions were evaluated, and the RSD values were <12.4%. Furthermore, the validated method was successfully applied to determine the six components in plasma after oral administration of AM aqueous extract to beagle dogs and the pharmacokinetic parameters were obtained. Together, this study provides a reference for medication in the clinical practice of AM.

[Pharmacokinetic characteristics of psoralen,isopsoralen,psoralenoside and isopsoralenoside in rats after oral administration of Psoraleae Fructus extract].

Coumarins are the main active components in Psoraleae Fructus. To study the multi-component pharmacokinetics of Psoraleae Fructus, this study established a sensitive and rapid ultra-pressure liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry(UPLC-MS/MS) method for simultaneous determination of psoralen, isopsoralen, psoralenoside, and isopsoralenoside in rat plasma. After validation, the method was applied to the investigation of pharmacokinetics of psoralen, isopsoralen, psoralenoside, and isopso-ralenoside in rats after single and multiple administration of Psoraleae Fructus extract. The results revealed that the exposure of psoralen and isopsoralen in rat plasma was high after a single intragastric administration of Psoraleae Fructus extract, with an AUC_(0-∞) of 443 619-582 680 and 167 314-276 903 ng·mL~(-1)·h~(-1), respectively. Compared with these two compounds, the exposure of psoralenoside and isopsoralenoside was lower with marked gender difference. After 7-day administration of Psoraleae Fructus extract to rats, the AUC_(0-∞) of psoralen and isopsoralen was 29 701-81 783 and 39 234-89 914 ng·mL~(-1)·h~(-1), respectively, which was significantly lower than that at the first day(P<0.05), and that of psoralenoside and isopsoralenoside was 7 360-19 342 and 8 823-45 501 ng·mL~(-1)·h~(-1), respectively. There was no significant gender difference in exposure of psoralenoside and isopsoralenoside in male and female rats. However, the exposure of psoralenoside and isopsoralenoside in male rats was reduced(P<0.05), and the t_(1/2) and mean residence time(MRT) were shortened, suggesting that the removal of these two compounds from the body was accelerated.

[Rapid and simultaneous determination of 10 active components of Psoraleae Fructus in beagle dog plasma using UPLC-MS/MS and its application in pharmacokinetic study].

An UPLC-MS/MS method for rapid and simultaneous determination of psoralen, isopsoralen, apigenin, genistein, bavaisoflavone, neobavaisoflavone, bavachin, bavachinin, psoralenoside, and isopsoralenoside of Psoraleae Fructus in beagle dog plasma was established, and then the method was applied in the pharmacokinetic study after oral administration of Psoraleae Fructus extract to beagle dogs. The pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by the software of WinNonlin. A Waters HSS-T3 column(2.1 mm×100 mm,1.8 µm)was used for liquid chromatography separation with acetonitrile-water(containing 0.004% formic acid) as the mobile phase for gradient elution.The mass spectrometry was detected using electrospray ion source(ESI) under multi-reaction monitoring mode(MRM), as well as positive ion mode. Analysis time only takes 8.5 min. The methodological study in terms of specificity, accuracy, precision, linear range, recovery, matrix effect, and stability, was validated. The LC-MS analysis method established in this experiment was simple, specific, accurate, reliable, and meet the requirement of pharmacokinetic study in plasma after administration of Psoraleae Fructus extract to beagle dogs. Six beagle dogs received intragastric administration of Psoraleae Fructus extract, T_(max) of 10 chemical components is 1.92-5.67 h; among them, C_(max) of psoralen, isopsoralen, psoralenoside and isopsoralenoside is 383-3 613 ng·mL~(-1), and AUC_(0-∞) is 3 556-18 949 ng·h·mL~(-1), t_(1/2) is 2.45-4.83 h. C_(max) of the remaining six compounds is 0.81-19.9 ng·mL~(-1), AUC_(0-∞ )is 6.54-178 ng·h·mL~(-1), t_(1/2) is 2.95-7.29 h. The UPLC-MS/MS analysis method established in this study was proved to be accurate and sensitive that it can be applied to the pharmacokinetic study of beagle dogs after oral administration of Psoraleae Fructus extract.

Research Status and Comparison on Medicinal Plants of Callerya and Millettia in China / 中国实验方剂学杂志

The Leguminosae perennial vines of Callerya and Millettia have many species and wide distribution， not only can be used for medicines， but also they have ornamental and insecticidal effects. With increasing demand for Spatholobi Caulis， and the reserves of wild medicinal materials are on the verge of exhaustion， resulting in the increasing number of mixtures and substitutes in the market， which makes it urgent to study the origin of Spatholobi Caulis. By referring to related literature， there are three major origins of Spatholobi Caulis， including Callerya， Millettia and Spatholobus. Callerya is separated from Millettia， they are divided and united for many times， now the official website of Flora of China has accepted the revision of them as two genera. This paper intends to compare the chemical components and pharmacodynamic effects of Callerya and Millettia， aiming to explore the similarities and differences between the two genera， so as to determine the rationality and necessity of separating Callerya from Millettia. After comparing， it was found that the chemical composition and pharmacodynamic effects of the two genera were different， which supported the separation of Callerya from Millettia， and it was not recommended to mix use of them.

New oligomeric neolignans from the leaves of Magnolia officinalis var. biloba / 中国天然药物

Six new oligomeric neolignans including two trimeric neolignans (1 and 2) and four dimeric neolignans (3-6) were isolated from the leaves of Magnolia officinalis var. biloba. Their structures were determined based on HR-ESIMS and NMR data, as well as electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. Compound 1 is formed from two obovatol moieties directly linked to an aromatic ring of the remaining obovatol moiety, which is an unprecedented type of linkage between monomers. All isolates were assessed for their inhibitory effects on NO production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. Compounds 1 and 3 showed significantly inhibitory activities with IC

Employment status of interdisciplinary talents of English and acupuncture-moxibustion and / 中国针灸

The employment situation and advantages of interdisciplinary talents of English and acupuncture-moxibustion and

Molecular mechanism of Spatholobi Caulis in treatment of lung cancer based on network pharmacology and molecular docking / 中国中药杂志

In this paper, the molecular mechanism of Spatholobi Caulis in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) was studied through network pharmacology and molecular docking analysis. With traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) Spatholobi Caulis as the study object, active ingredients of Spatholobi Caulis and corresponding potential drug targets were obtained from Traditio-nal Chinese Medicine Pharmacology Platform(TCMSP) database; GeneCards database was used to collect cancer-related genes; Cytoscape software was used to build Spatholobi Caulis active ingredient-target-pathway relationship network. DAVID database was used for GO and KEGG enrichment analysis of targets, KEGG signaling pathway was visualized, and compounds were screened out for molecular docking. Finally, in vitro experiments on human lung cancer cells, A549 treated with luteolin and licochalcone A were used to preliminarily verify the core targets and pathways, cell proliferation was detected by CCK-8 method, and expressions of caspase-3 and Bax protein were detected by Western blot. A total of 23 active components and 170 potential drug targets were selected from Spatholobi Caulis, involving 127 pathways in total. Molecular docking results showed that licochalcone A,(Z)-3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-N-[2-(4-hydroxy-phenyl) ethyl] acrylamide, consumeclose grain successfully docked with the key target EGFR, and binding energy of the three compounds was less than-5 kcal·mol~(-1). CCK-8 results showed that luteolin, licochalcone A, and Spatholobi Caulis extract had the inhibitory effect on human lung cancer A549 cells. Western blot showed that luteolin, licochalcone A and Spatholobi Caulis extract could induce cell apoptosis by increasing the expressions of pro-apoptotic factors caspase-3 and Bax. In this study, the anti-lung cancer effect of Spatholobi Caulis was studied through network pharmacology and molecular docking, in order to provide ideas for the molecular mechanism of Spatholobi Caulis in the treatment of lung cancer.

pWGBSSimla: a profile-based whole-genome bisulfite sequencing data simulator incorporating methylation QTLs, allele-specific methylations and differentially methylated regions.

MOTIVATION: DNA methylation plays an important role in regulating gene expression. DNA methylation is commonly analyzed using bisulfite sequencing (BS-seq)-based designs, such as whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS), reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) and oxidative bisulfite sequencing (oxBS-seq). Furthermore, there has been growing interest in investigating the roles that genetic variants play in changing the methylation levels (i.e. methylation quantitative trait loci or meQTLs), how methylation regulates the imprinting of gene expression (i.e. allele-specific methylation or ASM) and the differentially methylated regions (DMRs) among different cell types. However, none of the current simulation tools can generate different BS-seq data types (e.g. WGBS, RRBS and oxBS-seq) while modeling meQTLs, ASM and DMRs. RESULTS: We developed profile-based whole-genome bisulfite sequencing data simulator (pWGBSSimla), a profile-based bisulfite sequencing data simulator, which simulates WGBS, RRBS and oxBS-seq data for different cell types based on real data. meQTLs and ASM are modeled based on the block structures of the methylation status at CpGs, whereas the simulation of DMRs is based on observations of methylation rates in real data. We demonstrated that pWGBSSimla adequately simulates data and allows performance comparisons among different methylation analysis methods. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: pWGBSSimla is available at https://omicssimla.sourceforge.io. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Exclusive enteral nutrition versus corticosteroids for treatment of pediatric Crohn's disease: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Many studies have examined the effects of exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) in children with Crohn's disease (CD), but corticosteroids are considered a superior therapy and are frequently used in China. This meta-analysis aims to compare the efficacy of EEN with corticosteroids in treating pediatric CD. METHODS: A comprehensive retrieval from medical databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Wanfang data, VIP and CNKI, was performed using the search terms "diet therapy", "exclusive enteral nutrition", "Crohn's disease", "inflammatory bowel diseases", "child" and "pediatrics" from January 1990 to April 2017. RESULTS: We included 18 studies from 1329 identified sources in this meta-analysis. EEN was as effective as corticosteroids in inducing remission rate of children suffering from CD (OR = 1.35; 95% CI 0.90, 2.10; P = 0.14). Nevertheless, patients who received EEN were more likely to achieve both endoscopic mucosal healing (OR = 5.24; 95% CI 2.06, 13.37; P = 0.0005) and histological mucosal healing (OR = 4.78; 95% CI 1.89, 12.08; P = 0.0009) than those who received corticosteroids; the Pediatric Crohn's Disease Activity Index was lower [mean difference (MD) = - 3.67; 95% CI - 4.91, - 2.43] and weight gain was higher (MD = 1.92; 95% CI 0.02, 3.83; P = 0.05) in those patients who received EEN than in those who received corticosteroids. No difference was found in relapse rate (OR = 0.57; 95% CI 0.25, 1.29; P = 0.18), height for age or body mass index between the patients treated with EEN and corticosteroids at the 1-year end point. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis reveals that there is no significant difference between EEN and corticosteroids in the efficacy of inducing remission rate of CD in a pediatric population, but EEN is superior to corticosteroids in improving short-term mucosal inflammation and reducing the PCDAI index.

Application of Real-Time Cell Electronic Analysis System in Modern Pharmaceutical Evaluation and Analysis.

Objective: We summarized the progress of the xCELLigence real-time cell analysis (RTCA) technology application in recent years for the sake of enriching and developing the application of RTCA in the field of Chinese medicine. Background: The RTCA system is an established electronic cellular biosensor. This system uses micro-electronic biosensor technology that is confirmed for real-time, label-free, dynamic and non-offensive monitoring of cell viability, migration, growth, spreading, and proliferation. Methods: We summarized the relevant experiments and literature of RTCA technology from the principles, characteristics, applications, especially from the latest application progress. Results and conclusion: RTCA is attracting more and more attention. Now it plays an important role in drug screening, toxicology, Chinese herbal medicine and so on. It has wide application prospects in the area of modern pharmaceutical evaluation and analysis.

[Qualitative characterization of flavonoids in Scutellariae Radix by using PREC-IDA-EPI].

Flavonoids are the most abundant constituents and induce these the rapeutic effects against inflammation, gastrointestinal infections, cardiovascular diseases, and respiratory. Most of these flavonoids have low content in Scutellarie Radix. It was difficult to detect some minor compounds by using LC-MS method with full scan. Based on the review of flavonoids that had been extracted from Scutellariae Radix, a method with PREC-IDA-EPI technique was developed and applied to Scutellariae Radix by using UPLC-MS/MS. A total of 97 flavonoids were identified, including 29 aglycones and 68 O-glycosides. This study laid the foundation for pharmacodynamicss of Scutellariae Radix.It is believed that an individual detection scheme based on the PREC-IDA-EPI technique could be used to identify unknown compounds.

Simultaneous determination of isochamaejasmin, neochamaejasmin A and aphnoretinin rat plasma by UPLC-MS/MS and its application to a pharmacokinetic study of Stellera chamaejasme L. extract.

Isochamaejasmin, neochamaejasmin A and daphnoretin derived from Stellera chamaejasme L. are important because of their reported anticancer properties. In this study, a sensitive UPLC-MS/MS method for the determination of isochamaejasmin, neochamaejasmin A and daphnoretin in rat plasma was developed. The analyte and IS were separated on an Acquity UPLC HSS T3 column (100 × 2.1 mm, 1.8 µm) using gradient elution with the mobile phase of aqueous solution (methanol-water, 1:99, v/v, containing 1 mm formic acid) and organic solution (methanol-water, 99:1, v/v, containing 1 mm formic acid) at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. Multiple reaction monitoring mode with negative electrospray ionization interface was carried out to detect the components. The method was validated in terms of specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, stability, etc. Excellent linear behavior was observed over the certain concentration ranges with the correlation coefficient values >0.99. Intra- and inter-day precisions (RSD) were <6.7% and accuracy (RE) ranged from -7.0 to 12.0%. The validated method was successfully applied to investigate the pharmacokinetics of three chemical ingredients after oral administration of S. chamaejasme L. extract to rats.

Orally delivered polycurcumin responsive to bacterial reduction for targeted therapy of inflammatory bowel disease.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis is a chronic autoimmune disease affecting nearly five million people worldwide. Among all drug delivery system, oral administration is the most preferable route for colon-specific targeting and the treatment of IBD. Herein, an amphiphilic curcumin polymer (PCur) composed of hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and hydrophobic curcumin (Cur) linked by disulfide bond was synthesized and characterized. The sufficient solubility, nano-scaled size and close to the neutral surface potential of PCur lead to preferential accumulation of the active drug in the inflamed regions of the gut. Moreover, PCur showed limited drug release and enhanced robustness under the physiological pH of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), and a significantly elevated release was observed when responding to a bacterial reduction in the colon. Furthermore, cellular studies confirmed PCur had low cytotoxicity and increased transmembrane permeability, resulting in improved oral bioavailability evidenced by in vivo pharmacokinetics of rats. Finally, with DSS-induced murine model of IBD, we demonstrated that orally administered PCur ameliorated the inflammatory progression in the colon and could protect mice from IBD. In conclusion, it is illustrated that the developed PCur conjugate could potentially be employed as a colon-specific candidate for IBD treatment.

Study on HPLC fingerprint of Callicarpa nudiflora and determination of ten components / 中国中药杂志

This study is to establish the HPLC fingerprint and determine eight components of Callicarpa nudiflora, and provide a scientific basis for the identification and quality control. The Waters sunfire C18 column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 µm) was used and the detection wavelength was 330 nm . The column temperature was 30 °C. The mobile phases were acetonitrile (A) and 0.1% formic acid (B) eluting in a gradient program at a flow rate of 1.0 mL · min(-1). The chromatographic fingerprint similarity evaluation system for tradition Chinese medicine(2012) was used for analysis. C. nudiflora from different samples were of high similarity in fingerprint and the separation of ten components was good. There was an obvious difference between other samples and C. nudiflora leaves. In quantitative analysis, the ten components showed good regression(R2 > 0 999 0) with linear ranges, and their recoveries were in the range of 96.0%-105.0%. The established qualitative and quantitative methods are highly specific, simple and accurate, which can be used for the identification and quality control of C. nudiflora.

High resolution melting and its application in identity study of traditional Chinese medicine / 药学学报

High resolution melting (HRM), based on melting curve analysis, requires not only saturating dyes that fluoresce in the presence of double-stranded DNA, but also higher resolution detection equipment. The melting curve is a novel method for sequence matching, genotyping and mutation scanning. The technology is simple, accurate, rapid, closed-tube, low-cost, and high-throughput, which make it gain more and more applications. This review article presents the basic principles, key factors and both the advantage and limitations of HRM. The potential application is discussed in the study of molecular identity of traditional Chinese medicine.

High resolution melting and its application in identity study of traditional Chinese medicine / 药学学报

High resolution melting (HRM), based on melting curve analysis, requires not only saturating dyes that fluoresce in the presence of double-stranded DNA, but also higher resolution detection equipment. The melting curve is a novel method for sequence matching, genotyping and mutation scanning. The technology is simple, accurate, rapid, closed-tube, low-cost, and high-throughput, which make it gain more and more applications. This review article presents the basic principles, key factors and both the advantage and limitations of HRM. The potential application is discussed in the study of molecular identity of traditional Chinese medicine.

Molecular identification of hairy antler by analysis of high resolution melting / 中国中药杂志

High resolution melting (HRM) , an important technology for genotyping and mutation scanning, has broad prospects in the authenticity of traditional Chinese medicine. This paper selected universal CO I primers and used HRM to establish a new method for authenticity of Hairy Antler. PCR was conducted at the annealing temperature of 60 °C and 45 cycles. The range of the DNA template concentration, the primer concentration and the Mg2+ ion concentration were further optimized. The results showed that the Tm values of Cervus nippon were (81.96 ± 0.07), (84.51 ± 0.03) °C and Cervus elaphus was(82.58 ± 0.13), (85.95 ± 0.05) °C with 10-100 mg · L(-1) DNA template, 0.2 µLmol · L(-1) primer, 2.0 mmol · L(-1) Mg2+. This method can authenticate of hairy antler and is simple, fast, high-throughput, visualization.

Study on in vitro metabolic rate and metabolites or 9-dehydro-17-dehydro-andrographolide / 中国中药杂志

To investigate the metabolic rate and metabolites of 9-dehydro-17-dehydro-andrographolide, which is the main active ingredient in Xiyanping injection, by using the in vitro rat liver microsome incubation system. 9-dehydro-17-dehydro-andrographolide was incubated together with liver microsome mixed with NADPH. Its metabolic rate was studied by determining its residual concentrations with the UHPLC-MS/MS method; Its metabolites were identified by the UPLC-TOF-MS(E) method. The results showed that 9-dehydro-17-dehydro-andrographolide was metabolized faster than rat liver microsomes mixed with coenzymes, with t½ and CL of (19.7 ± 0.5) min and (35.1 ± 0.8) mL x min(-1) x g(-1) (protein), respectively. Based on the high resolution mass spectrum data and information from literatures, altogether nine metabolites of 9-dehydro-17-dehydro-andrographolide were identified in the incubation system, particularly hydroxylated and dehydrogenized products. The results of identification would provide a basis for screening out more active andrographolide derivatives.

[Analysis of dissolution characteristics and content of metal elements in Scutellaria baicalensis].

ICP-OES analytical technique was used to determine the contents of Ca, Mg, Cu, Zn, Fe and Mn in S. baicalensis from different origins, and the dissolution characteristics and the contents of 6 elements were analyzed. There were significant differences in the contents among the prepared medical materials (p < 0.05) and their water extraction also differed significantly. The results showed that there was no relationship on the contents of the 6 elements between in the prepared medical materials and in their water extraction In the prepared medical materials, the contents of the elements were characterized as Mg>Ca>Fe>Mn>Zn>Cu, and the contents in the water extraction was rated from high to low as Mg, Ca, Mn, Zn, Fe and Cu. Most of the measured samples demonstrated lower Ca/Mg, higher Fe/Mn and lower Cu/Zn values, and these ratios were in relation to some efficacy of S. baicalensis, such as anti-hypertensive, anti-tumor activities. The results will provide a scientific basis for further enriching and developing the multi-index system for the quality evaluation.