TCM chemical biology--emerging interdiscipline of "TCM chemistry" and "biology" / 中国中药杂志

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) is a research area with highly original innovation features,and is also a Chinese name card to the world. However,TCM owns a unique theoretical system which is quite different from western modern medicine,leading to an awkward situation of deficient modern social identity as well as poor international spread. Therefore,how to establish a research strategy in line with the characteristics of TCM itself to systematically interpret the unique scientific connotation of TCM is always a public hot topic. Based on persistent practical exploration and scientific consideration in TCM,our group firstly promoted the concept of traditional Chinese medicine chemical biology(TCM chemical biology,TCMCB). The major idea of TCMCB is to clarify the nature of TCM regulating life progress to link TCM to modern medicine by using TCM components as chemical tools. Notably,TCMCB mainly focuses on TCM target identification and TCM-guided disease molecular mechanism exploration,further to clarify the basic law of TCM mediating disease process. Finally,TCMCB-guided scientific studies can help explain TCM theory and promote the developmentof modern innovative drugs based on identified targets using TCM active components. Moreover,TCMCB is of vital importance for investigating the scientific nature of biological progress and the pattern of disease occurrence and development,indicating a key significance for modern life science and medicine. This review introduces the definition of TCMCB as well as its academic thought,research method,technology system and scientific significance,for providing new research ideas and scientific thoughts for TCM development.

Anti-hepatic Fibrosis Mechanism of Cordyceps Polysaccharide / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Hepatic fibrosis is a repair process of the liver in response to various chronic injuries. The unbalanced proliferation and decomposition of fibrous tissue in the liver causes the excessive deposition of fibrous connective tissue in the liver. Hepatic fibrosis is a common intermediate link in a variety of chronic liver diseases. In this pathological process, the interaction between cells and cytokines leads to the disorder of liver extracellular matrix metabolism, which results in excessive deposition of fibrous tissue in the liver, and eventually causes liver fibrosis. After continuous deterioration, it would gradually develop into liver cirrhosis and even liver cancer. Because liver fibrosis and liver cirrhosis can be reversed in the early stage, it is very important to control the reversible process of liver fibrosis for the prevention and treatment of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Cordyceps, as one of valuable medicinal fungi in China, has been given widespread attention from scientific workers, with broad pharmacological actions. Cordyceps polysaccharide is the highest content of bioactive substances in Cordyceps. Recent studies have found that it has an anti-hepatic fibrosis effect. With the application of molecular biology technology, researches on the anti-liver fibrosis mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine at home and abroad have been gradually deepened into the cellular and molecular levels. This paper will investigate the preventive effect of Cordyceps polysaccharide in terms of cell basis, cytokines, collagenase and lipid peroxidation level that are related to liver fibrosis, so as to clarify the specific action mechanism on anti-hepatic fibrosis, and provide a reference for the development of anti-hepatic fibrosis drugs.

Chemical constituents of Euphorbia tibetica and their biological activities.

AIM: To investigate the chemical constituents and their biological activities of the aerial parts of Euphorbia tibetica. METHOD: Compounds were isolated and purified by various chromatographic methods, and their structures were elucidated through the use of extensive spectroscopic techniques including 2D-NMR, the structures of compounds 5 and 6 were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Bioactivities of all the isolated compounds were evaluated by the MTT method on A549 and anti-angiogenesis assay. RESULTS: One new compound, methyl 4-epi-shikimate-3-O-gallate (1), together with twenty-three known constituents (2-24) were isolated from the aerial parts of E. tibetica. CONCLUSION: Compound 1 is new, and the other compounds were isolated from this plant for the first time. Compounds 5-7, 9, 11, 17, 18 and 20 exhibited inhibitory effects on the growth of human lung cancer cell A549 and compounds 5, 7, 12, 13, 17 and 19 showed anti-angiogenic effects in a zebrafish model.

Chemical constituents of Kadsura oblongifolia and evaluation of their toxicity / 药学学报

To study the chemical constituents of K. oblongifolia, silica gel column chromatography, MCI and Sephadex LH-20 were used to separate the 70% acetone extract of the stems of K. oblongifolia. The structures of the isolated compounds have been established on the basis of physicochemical and NMR spectroscopic evidence as well as ESI-MS in some cases. Twenty compounds were obtained and identified as heteroclitalignan A (1), kadsulignan F (2), kadoblongifolin C (3), schizanrin F (4), heteroclitalignan C (5), kadsurarin (6), kadsulignan O (7), eburicol (8), meso-dihydroguaiaretic acid (9), kadsufolin A (10), tiegusanin M (11), heteroclitin B (12), (7'S)-parabenzlactone (13), angeloylbinankadsurin B (14), propinquain H (15), quercetin (16), kadsulignan P (17), schizanrin G (18), micrandilactone C (19) and (-)-shikimic acid (20). Compouds 1, 5, 8, 11-15, 18 and 20 were isolated from this plant for the first time. Toxicity of compounds 1-10 were evaluated with zebrafish model to observe the effect on its embryonic development and heart function. The results showed that compounds 7, 9 and 10 caused edema of zebrafish embryo and decreased the heart rate of zebrafish, which exhibited interference effect on heart development of zebrafish.

Chemical constituents of Euphorbia tibetica and their biological activities / 中国天然药物

AIM@#To investigate the chemical constituents and their biological activities of the aerial parts of Euphorbia tibetica.@*METHOD@#Compounds were isolated and purified by various chromatographic methods, and their structures were elucidated through the use of extensive spectroscopic techniques including 2D-NMR, the structures of compounds 5 and 6 were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Bioactivities of all the isolated compounds were evaluated by the MTT method on A549 and anti-angiogenesis assay.@*RESULTS@#One new compound, methyl 4-epi-shikimate-3-O-gallate (1), together with twenty-three known constituents (2-24) were isolated from the aerial parts of E. tibetica.@*CONCLUSION@#Compound 1 is new, and the other compounds were isolated from this plant for the first time. Compounds 5-7, 9, 11, 17, 18 and 20 exhibited inhibitory effects on the growth of human lung cancer cell A549 and compounds 5, 7, 12, 13, 17 and 19 showed anti-angiogenic effects in a zebrafish model.