Five novel and highly efficient endophytic fungi isolated from Huperzia serrata expressing huperzine A for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Huperzine A (Hup A) is an important drug for treating Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mainly extracted from the Huperzia serrata (Thunb.) Trevis. (Lycopodiaceae) (HS). Nevertheless, the content of Hup A in HS is very low of 0.007% with growing circle of 8 to 10 years, and the chemical synthesis of Hup A still has some insurmountable limitations in the industrialized production. So, the available resources of Hup A for clinical treatment of AD are scarce. The purpose of this work was to construct a biosynthesis platform based on the endophytic fungi from HS. In this work, five endophytic fungi Mucor racemosus NSH-D, Mucor fragilis NSY-1, Fusarium verticillioides NSH-5, Fusarium oxysporum NSG-1, and Trichoderma harzianum NSW-V were firstly found and isolated from the Chinese folk medicine HS, which were identified according to their morphological characteristics and nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS sequences. The highest efficient fungus could effectively biosynthesize Hup A in a liquid culture of 319.8 ± 0.17 mg/L which were 112 times higher than that of other reported conventional endophytic fungi. Moreover, these fungi with higher hereditary stability could possess the initial expressing ability of Hup A after 40 generations, and the expressed Hup A from these biosynthesis systems has prior physicochemical properties, a better inhibition activity of acetylcholinesterase and a lower cytotoxicity compared with the listed active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) of Hup A. These results provide promising alternative resources for producing Hup A at an industrial scale by biosynthesis, and it may also shed light on millions of AD patients. KEY POINTS: • Five novel endophytic fungi with high stability could highly express prior Hup A Graphical abstract.

The effects of essential oils of traditional Chinese medicine on the pharmaceutical properties of flexible nano-liposomes loaded with palmatine chloride / 药学学报

Flexible liposomes are an excellent drug delivery nanocarrier, however, the leakage of drugs from liposomes has become common technical obstacle in the industry and also hindered its further application seriously. It is very urgent and necessary to avoid or reduce the leakage of drugs from liposomes. In this work, five kinds of essential oils such as Folium Artemisiae Argyi oil (FA), Folium Eucalypti oil (FE), Arabian Jasmine oil (AJ), Syzygium Aromaticum oil (SA) and Fructus Forsythiae oil (FF) were encapsulated in the lipid bilayer of palmatine chloride (PC) loaded flexible nano-liposomes (PFL), then the optimal essential oil and its dosage level were determined by the external leakage curve of PC. The female Japanese white rabbits were used to evaluate the vaginal irritancy potential of liposomes samples. The pharmaceutical properties such as encapsulation efficiency, particle size, zeta potential, deformability and structure of liposomes samples were evaluated. In order to investigate the permeability of liposomes samples to deliver PC across skin and mucous membrane in vitro, the side-by-side diffusion cells were used. The results showed that the leakage of hydrosoluble PC from PFL was reduced at different degrees by the essential oils in the lipid bilayer of PFL, however, the reduction in leakage degree was obviously higher for FA than thoses of FE, AJ, SA and FF (P < 0.05), and the highest reduction in leakage degree was obtained when the FA and lipid mass ratio was 1:6. The encapsulation efficiency, particle size, zeta potential and deformability of PFL were not significantly changed after FA was encapsulated in the lipid bilayer of the PFL (P > 0.05), so did the lamellar structure of PFL. In addition, the transdermal and transmucosal permeability of PC were also enhanced obviously by encapsulating FA in the lipid bilayer of PFL, and there was no vaginal/vulvar irritation observed in the rabbits. In summary, the drug leakage was reduced by encapsulating suitable essential oil (such as FA) in the lipid bilayer of flexible liposomes, and the vaginal mucosa permeability were improved for the drug. These results provide a novel technique in the improvement of flexible nano-liposomes for drug delivery.

Application of micellar solubilization technology in pilot production of Chinese materia medica cataplasma containing volatile oil / 中草药

Objective: Through the studies on pilot production of the cataplasma of Chinese materia medica (CMM) containing volatile oil, to provide a rational and feasible preparation technology for the pilot production of CMM cataplasma, so as to promote the development of CMM cataplasma. Methods: The CMM containing volatile oil was extracted by steam distillation method (SDM), ethanol reflux extraction (ERE), and CO2 supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), respectively. The extracts were prepared to cataplasma in order to investigate the effects of extracting methods on the preparation process and quality of CMM cataplasma. The effects of micellar solubilization in the distilled liquid of STM on the quality of cataplasma such as adhesiveness, flexibleness, and stability were also investigated. Results: There was the significant difference among the groups of STM, ERE, and SFE on the quality of cataplasma. The extract by STM was beneficial to the preparation process and enhancement of the quality of cataplasma obviously, while the distilled liquid by STM would cause some limitations such as oil-water separation and volatile oil volatilization losses, which could contribute to obvious difference among batches. These disadvantages by STM would be overcome by the adoption of micellar solubilization technology and the stability would be increased (P < 0.01); segregation happened for the extract by ERE at room temperature, thereby, the water bath heating was needed in the preparation; this characteristics would cause the homogeneous appearance of cataplasma due to some black spots, lower flexibleness of matrix, and the preparation was not easy to control; the extract by SFE contained a lot of impurity of grease and performed half solid. As a result, it was very difficult to blend the extract by SFE with other materials uniformly, the adhesive force of cataplasma was also reduced. In addition, the cost of higher energy consumption and production was another disadvantage for SFE. Conclusion: The STM followed by micellar solubilization would be a feasible preparation technology for the pilot production of CMM cataplasma containing volatile oil, so it is worth popularizing and applying widely.