[Overview of systematic reviews of Chinese herbal injections for sepsis].

In this study, an overview of systematic reviews/Meta-analysis(SR/MA) of Chinese herbal injections for sepsis was performed to provide references for clinical practice and promote the quality improvement of clinical evidence. Eight Chinese and English databases such as CNKI, Medline, and EMbase were electronically searched for SR/MA of Chinese herbal injections for sepsis from database inception to June 2022. AMSTAR 2, PRISMA 2020, and GRADE system, combined with Recommendations for Clinical Evidence Grading on Traditional Chinese Medicine Based on Evidence Body, were applied to evaluate the methodological quality, reporting quality, and evidence quality of the included articles. Twenty-seven articles of SR/MA were included, containing four Chinese herbal injections(Xuebijing Injection, Shenfu Injection, Shenmai Injection, and Shengmai Injection). AMSTAR 2 checklist showed that the methodological quality of the SR/MA ranged from moderate to very low. Item 2(prior study design) was the critical item with poor scores, and the non-critical items with poor scores were items 3(explain the selection of the study designs), items 10(report on the sources of funding), and items 16(conflicts of interest stated). In terms of PRISMA 2020, items in eight topics with complete reporting of missing>50%, including search strategy, certainty assessment, results of syntheses, certainty of evidence, registration and protocol, support, competing interests, availability of data, code and other materials. The included SR/MA involved 30 outcome indicators. Evidence quality of mortality, APACHE Ⅱ, and safety, the top three outcome indicators, was evaluated, and all of them were graded as the medium level. The lack of random allocation sequence, allocation concealment mechanism, blinding, and trial sample size was the main reason for the reduction of the evidence level. The available evidence shows that Chinese herbal injections can serve as an effective and safe adjunctive treatment for sepsis, which can reduce mortality, inhibit inflammation, improve coagulation function, and regulate immune function, tissue perfusion, and oxygenation in patients with sepsis. However, the quality of SR/MA was suboptimal, and more high-quality SR/MA is needed to provide evidence to support the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal injections in the treatment of sepsis.

A strategy to discover lead chemome from traditional Chinese medicines based on natural chromatogram-effect correlation (NCEC) and natural structure-effect correlation (NSEC): Mahonia bealei and Mahonia fortunei as a case study.

Lead compound is an important concept for modern drug discovery. In this study, a new concept of lead chemome and an efficient strategy to discover lead chemome were proposed. Compared with the concept of lead compound, lead chemome can provide not only the starting point for drug development, but also the direction for structure optimization. Two traditional Chinese medicines of Mahonia bealei and Mahonia fortunei were used as examples to illustrate the strategy. Based on natural chromatogram-effect correlation (NCEC), berberine, palmatine and jatrorrhizine were discovered as acetylcholinesterase (AchE) inhibitors. Taking the three compounds as template molecules, a lead chemome consisting of 10 structurally related natural compounds were generated through natural structure-effect correlation (NSEC). In the lead chemome, the IC50 values of jatrorrhizine, berberine, coptisine, palmatine and epiberberine are at nanomolar level, which are comparable to a widely used drug of galantamine. Pharmacophore modeling shows that the positive ionizable group and aromatic rings are important substructures for AchE inhibition. Molecular docking further shows that pi-cation interaction and pi-pi stacking are critical for compounds to maintain nanomolar IC50 values. The structure-activity information is helpful for drug design and structure optimization. This work also expanded the traditional understanding of "stem is the medicinal part of Mahonia bealei and Mahonia fortunei". Actually, all parts except the leaf of Mahonia bealei exhibited potent AchE-inhibitory activity. This study provides not only a strategy to discover lead chemome for modern drug development, but also a reference for the application of different parts of medicinal plants.

Dendrobium polysaccharides attenuate cognitive impairment in senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 mice via modulation of microglial activation.

Dendrobium is one of the most important traditional Chinese medicinal foods used to treat age-related disorders. However, it remains unclear whether Dendrobium affects the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In the present study, we investigated the effects of Dendrobium officinale polysaccharides (DOP) on the BV2 microglial cell line and the senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) mouse strain. In vitro experiments showed that DOP pretreatment contributed to BV2 cells shifting from proinflammatory to anti-inflammatory phenotypes with enhanced Aß clearance in response to Aß insults. For the in vivo study, mice were chronically treated with DOP in drinking water from 4 to 7 months of age. The results showed that DOP remarkably attenuated cognitive decline in SAMP8 mice. DOP also inhibited the increased hippocampal microglial activation in SAMP8 mice with downregulation of interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), while interleukin-10 (IL-10), neprilysin (NEP) and insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) were upregulated. The accumulation of hippocampal Aß42 and phosphated Tau proteins in SAMP8 mice was also reduced. Taken together, our data suggest that Dendrobium has the potential to provide neuroprotection against AD-related cognitive impairment via modulation of microglial activation.

Effect of Rhizoma Polygonati on 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-acetate-induced ear edema in mice.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Rhizoma Polygonati is originated from the dried rhizomes of Polygonatum sibircum Red. It has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of inflammatory disorders. AIM OF THE STUDY: The present study aims to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of aqueous extract of Rhizoma Polygonati (ERP) in a mouse model of inflammation induced by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-acetate (TPA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The anti-inflammatory effect was evaluated by measuring the ear thickness and activity of myeloperoxidase (MPO). The anti-inflammatory mechanism was explored by determining the protein and mRNA levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1ß, and IL-6. RESULTS: The results showed that ERP significantly decreased the ear thickness and MPO activity in mouse model of inflammation induced by TPA. In addition, ERP also remarkably inhibited the protein and mRNA levels of iNOS, COX-2, TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that ERP has potential anti-inflammatory effect on TPA-induced inflammatory in mice, and the anti-inflammatory effect may be mediated, at least in part, by inhibiting the mRNA expression of a panel of inflammatory mediators including iNOS, COX-2, TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6.