Fine-Scale Characterization of Plant Diterpene Glycosides Using Energy-Resolved Untargeted LC-MS/MS Metabolomics Analysis.

Plant diterpene glycosides are essential for diverse physiological processes. Comprehensive structural characterization proved to be a challenge due to variations in glycosylation patterns, diverse aglycone structures, and the absence of comprehensive reference databases. In this study, a method for fine-scale characterization was proposed based on energy-resolved (ER) untargeted LC-MS/MS metabolomics analysis using steviol glycosides as a demonstration. Energy-dependent fragmentation patterns were unveiled by a series of model compounds. Distinct glycosylation sites were discerned by leveraging varying fragmentation energies for the precursor ions. The sugar moiety linkage at C19OOH (R1) exhibited facile and intact cleavage at low collision energies, while the sugar moiety at C13-OH (R2) demonstrated consecutive cleavage with increasing energy. Aglycone ions exhibited a higher relative intensity at NCE 50, with relative intensities ranging from 95% to 100%. Subsequently, aglycone candidates, R1 sugar composition, and R2 sugar sequence were deduced through ER-MS/MS analysis. The developed method was applied to Stevia rebaudiana leaves. A total of 91 diterpene glycosides were unambiguously identified, including 16 steviol glycosides with novel acetylglycosylation patterns. This method offers a rapid alternative for glycan analysis and the structural differentiation of isomers. The developed method enhances the understanding of diterpene glycosides in plants, providing a reliable tool for the in-depth characterization of complex metabolite profiles.

The effect of intercropping leguminous green manure on theanine accumulation in the tea plant: A metagenomic analysis.

Intercropping is a widely recognised technique that contributes to agricultural sustainability. While intercropping leguminous green manure offers advantages for soil health and tea plants growth, the impact on the accumulation of theanine and soil nitrogen cycle are largely unknown. The levels of theanine, epigallocatechin gallate and soluble sugar in tea leaves increased by 52.87% and 40.98%, 22.80% and 6.17%, 22.22% and 29.04% in intercropping with soybean-Chinese milk vetch rotation and soybean alone, respectively. Additionally, intercropping significantly increased soil amino acidnitrogen content, enhanced extracellular enzyme activities, particularly ß-glucosidase and N-acetyl-glucosaminidase, as well as soil multifunctionality. Metagenomics analysis revealed that intercropping positively influenced the relative abundances of several potentially beneficial microorganisms, including Burkholderia, Mycolicibacterium and Paraburkholderia. Intercropping resulted in lower expression levels of nitrification genes, reducing soil mineral nitrogen loss and N2 O emissions. The expression of nrfA/H significantly increased in intercropping with soybean-Chinese milk vetch rotation. Structural equation model analysis demonstrated that the accumulation of theanine in tea leaves was directly influenced by the number of intercropping leguminous green manure species, soil ammonium nitrogen and amino acid nitrogen. In summary, the intercropping strategy, particularly intercropping with soybean-Chinese milk vetch rotation, could be a novel way for theanine accumulation.

Novel Method for Comprehensive Annotation of Plant Glycosides Based on Untargeted LC-HRMS/MS Metabolomics.

Glycosides are a large family of secondary metabolites in plants, which play a critical role in plant growth and development. Due to the complexity and diversity in structures and the limited availability of authentic standards, comprehensive annotation of the glycosides remains a great challenge. In this study, using maize as an example, a deep annotation method of glycosides was proposed based on untargeted liquid chromatography-high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry metabolomics analysis. First, knowledge-based in silico aglycone and glycosyl/acyl-glycosyl libraries were built. A total of 1240 known and potential aglycones from databases and literature were recorded. Next, the MS parameters beneficial to aglycone ion-rich MS/MS were explored using 1782 high-resolution MS/MS spectra of glycosides from the MassBank of North America (MoNA) and confirmed by 52 authentic glycoside standards. Then, screening rules for aglycon ions in MS/MS were recommended. Glycoside candidates were further filtered by MS/MS-based chemical classification and MS/MS similarity of aglycon-glycoside pairs. Finally, the glycosylation sites of flavonoid mono-O-glycosides were recommended by characteristic fragmentation patterns. The developed method was validated using glycosides and nonglycosides from the MoNA library. The annotation accuracy rates were 96.8, 94.9, and 98.0% in negative ion mode (ESI-), positive ion mode (ESI+), and the combined ESI- & ESI+, respectively. The annotation specificity was 99.6% (ESI-), 99.6% (ESI+), and 99.2% (ESI- & ESI+). A total of 274 glycosides (including 34 acyl-glycosides) were tentatively annotated in maize by the developed method. The method enables effective and reliable annotation for plant glycosides.

A data processing pipeline for petroleomics based on liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry.

Online liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) has attracted much attention in the molecular characterization of crude oil. Neither open access nor commercially available petroleomics tools were developed specifically to process LC-HRMS data. Here, a novel data processing pipeline was specifically designed for LC-HRMS-based petroleomics data. A customizable formula database was established deriving from the detected sample, which could avoid the interference caused by a large number of redundant molecules in a conventionally theoretical molecular database. Molecular formula candidates were assigned by the formula database using a low noise threshold, and false-positive assignments were eliminated by the chromatographic retention behaviors. Multi-dimensional information was obtained, including heteroatom class, double bond equivalent (DBE), carbon number, retention time, and MS/MS spectra. The developed method was compared with a popular petroleomics software, similar relative abundance class distribution was obtained, and much more formulas of low abundant components were uniquely extracted by the developed method. Finally, it was applied to reveal variation between feed and product oils in hydrodenitrogenation. Significantly compositional and structural differences were revealed. The developed method provides a useful pipeline for molecular data mining of petroleum samples.

Combined berberine and probiotic treatment as an effective regimen for improving postprandial hyperlipidemia in type 2 diabetes patients: a double blinded placebo controlled randomized study.

Non-fasting lipidemia (nFL), mainly contributed by postprandial lipidemia (PL), has recently been recognized as an important cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk as fasting lipidemia (FL). PL serves as a common feature of dyslipidemia in Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), albeit effective therapies targeting on PL were limited. In this study, we aimed to evaluate whether the therapy combining probiotics (Prob) and berberine (BBR), a proven antidiabetic and hypolipidemic regimen via altering gut microbiome, could effectively reduce PL in T2D and to explore the underlying mechanism. Blood PL (120 min after taking 100 g standard carbohydrate meal) was examined in 365 participants with T2D from the Probiotics and BBR on the Efficacy and Change of Gut Microbiota in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes (PREMOTE study), a random, placebo-controlled, and multicenter clinical trial. Prob+BBR was superior to BBR or Prob alone in improving postprandial total cholesterol (pTC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (pLDLc) levels with decrement of multiple species of postprandial lipidomic metabolites after 3 months follow-up. This effect was linked to the changes of fecal Bifidobacterium breve level responding to BBR alone or Prob+BBR treatment. Four fadD genes encoding long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase were identified in the genome of this B. breve strain, and transcriptionally activated by BBR. In vitro BBR treatment further decreased the concentration of FFA in the culture medium of B. breve compared to vehicle. Thus, the activation of fadD by BBR could enhance FFA import and mobilization in B. breve and diliminish the intraluminal lipids for absorption to mediate the effect of Prob+BBR on PL. Our study confirmed that BBR and Prob (B. breve) could exert a synergistic hypolipidemic effect on PL, acting as a gut lipid sink to achieve better lipidemia and CVD risk control in T2D.

Effect of Sijunzi Pills on Pharmacokinetics of Omeprazole in Beagle Dogs by HPLC-UV: A Herb-Drug Interaction Study.

A sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC-UV) method for determination of omeprazole in beagle dog plasma was developed and to investigate the effect of Sijunzi pills (SJZPs) on the pharmacokinetics of omeprazole in beagle dogs. The beagle dog plasma was extracted with ethyl acetate and n-hexane under alkaline conditions. Omeprazole and internal standard (IS, fluconazole) were separated on an XDB-C18 column, and acetonitrile and 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid were used as the mobile phase. Omeprazole and IS were detected by using a diode array detector. This experiment adopts the experimental design of double-cycle self-control. In the first cycle (group A), six beagle dogs were given omeprazole 0.67 mg/kg orally in a single dose. In the second period (group B), the same six beagle dogs were orally given SJZPs 0.2 g/kg twice a day for 7 consecutive days, and then, omeprazole was orally given. At the different time points after omeprazole was given in the two periods, the blood samples were collected. The concentration of omeprazole was detected by the developed HPLC method. DAS 2.0 was used to calculate the pharmacokinetic parameters of omeprazole. Under the current experimental conditions, this UPLC method showed good linearity in the detection of omeprazole. Interday and intraday precision did not exceed 10%, and the range of accuracy values were from -1.43% to 2.76%. The results of extraction recovery and stability met the requirements of FDA approval guidelines of bioanalytical method validation. The C max of omeprazole in group B was 61.55% higher than that in group A, and the AUC(0-t) and AUC(0-∞) of omeprazole in group B were 63.96% and 63.65% higher those that in group A, respectively. At the same time, the clearance (CL) and apparent volume of distribution (Vd) decreased in group B. In this study, an HPLC method for the determination of plasma omeprazole concentration was established. SJZPs could inhibit the metabolism of omeprazole and increase the concentration of omeprazole in beagle dogs. It is suggested that when SJZPs are combined with omeprazole, attention should be paid to the herb-drug interactions and possible adverse reactions.

[Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolomics study of the efficacy of Chinese medicine asthma-relieving decoction on respiratory syncytial virus infection].

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can cause lower respiratory tract infections, such as bronchiolitis in infants. In China, traditional asthma-relieving medicine has numerous clinical applications in the treatment of RSV infections. However, due to the complexity of the traditional Chinese medicine system, its therapeutic mechanism and main pharmacological components remain unclear. Metabolomics can be used to analyze the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine to provide modern scientific evidence for such treatments. In this study, an animal model experiment was performed with seven groups of three-week-old rats. The model group and five intervention groups were inoculated nasally with RSV for three consecutive days, and the normal group was treated with the same amount of saline for three consecutive days under the same conditions. In parallel, the five intervention groups were treated separately with the following via intragastric administration for seven consecutive days: asthma-relieving traditional Chinese medicine decoction, its three constituent agents (ascending (xuan) therapy, descending (jiang) therapy, pyretic clearing (qing) therapy), and ribavirin. Both normal group and RSV model group were administered with normal saline via intragastric administration as controls for seven consecutive days. The fundus plasma of rats in each group was collected on day 0, day 3, and day 7. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomics analysis was performed to investigate the changes in the metabolome after RSV infection, the effects of the asthma-relieving decoction on the regulation of metabolites related to RSV infection, and the primary source of efficacy. The detected metabolite ions were corrected using internal standards. Multivariate analysis of ions with an RSD value of less than 30% in quality control (QC) samples was used to construct principal component analysis models to monitor the overall metabolic changes of each group. The results showed that, during RSV infection and treatment, the asthma-relieving decoction and the positive control ribavirin had similar effects on the overall metabolic regulation of RSV-infected rats. Among the three asthma-relieving decoction constituent agents, the ascending (xuan) therapy agents which was composed of ephedra and ginkgo had a closer metabolic regulation effect with asthma-relieving decoction, and might be the main source of pharmacological efficacy. Based on the retention time, m/z value and tandem mass spectra in the database established by our laboratory, a total of 150 metabolites were identified. Paired t-tests were performed using data of the identified metabolites before and after RSV infection in each group, and it was found that 83 metabolite levels significantly changed after RSV infection, indicating that RSV infection could lead to disorders of multiple metabolic pathways in rats. The altered pathways included aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis, primary bile acid biosynthesis, phenylalanine metabolism and sphingomyelin metabolism. On the third day, the asthma-relieving decoction had regulatory effects on several metabolites such as bile acids, amino acids, organic acids, lipids, etc. Among the three asthma-relieving decoction constituent agents, the ascending (xuan) therapy agents had more similar effects on the regulation of metabolites with the asthma-relieving decoction. On the other hand, the descending (jiang) therapy agents and pyretic clearing (qing) therapy agents down-regulated the abnormal increase in acylcarnitine caused by the RSV infection. Additionally, both asthma-relieving decoction and its constituent agents could maintain the stability of the immune system and metabolism of the intestinal flora in rats. This study used metabolomics to evaluate the efficacy of an asthma-relieving decoction and demonstrate the metabolites and the corresponding changes after asthma-relieving decoction-based treatment. It provides theoretical support for research on the therapeutic mechanism and active ingredients of asthma-relieving decoction.

Gut microbiome-related effects of berberine and probiotics on type 2 diabetes (the PREMOTE study).

Human gut microbiome is a promising target for managing type 2 diabetes (T2D). Measures altering gut microbiota like oral intake of probiotics or berberine (BBR), a bacteriostatic agent, merit metabolic homoeostasis. We hence conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with newly diagnosed T2D patients from 20 centres in China. Four-hundred-nine eligible participants were enroled, randomly assigned (1:1:1:1) and completed a 12-week treatment of either BBR-alone, probiotics+BBR, probiotics-alone, or placebo, after a one-week run-in of gentamycin pretreatment. The changes in glycated haemoglobin, as the primary outcome, in the probiotics+BBR (least-squares mean [95% CI], -1.04[-1.19, -0.89]%) and BBR-alone group (-0.99[-1.16, -0.83]%) were significantly greater than that in the placebo and probiotics-alone groups (-0.59[-0.75, -0.44]%, -0.53[-0.68, -0.37]%, P < 0.001). BBR treatment induced more gastrointestinal side effects. Further metagenomics and metabolomic studies found that the hypoglycaemic effect of BBR is mediated by the inhibition of DCA biotransformation by Ruminococcus bromii. Therefore, our study reports a human microbial related mechanism underlying the antidiabetic effect of BBR on T2D. (Clinicaltrial.gov Identifier: NCT02861261).

Analyses of gut microbiota and plasma bile acids enable stratification of patients for antidiabetic treatment.

Antidiabetic medication may modulate the gut microbiota and thereby alter plasma and faecal bile acid (BA) composition, which may improve metabolic health. Here we show that treatment with Acarbose, but not Glipizide, increases the ratio between primary BAs and secondary BAs and plasma levels of unconjugated BAs in treatment-naive type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients, which may beneficially affect metabolism. Acarbose increases the relative abundances of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium in the gut microbiota and depletes Bacteroides, thereby changing the relative abundance of microbial genes involved in BA metabolism. Treatment outcomes of Acarbose are dependent on gut microbiota compositions prior to treatment. Compared to patients with a gut microbiota dominated by Prevotella, those with a high abundance of Bacteroides exhibit more changes in plasma BAs and greater improvement in metabolic parameters after Acarbose treatment. Our work highlights the potential for stratification of T2D patients based on their gut microbiota prior to treatment.

Serum metabolomics study of Traditional Chinese medicine formula intervention to polycystic ovary syndrome.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a most common, heterogeneous, complex endocrinopathy disease. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used in the treatment of PCOS for many years. However, the mechanism underlying TCM remains obscure and challenging. In this study, 30 PCOS subjects were separated into normoinsulinemic group (NI=13) and hyperinsulinemic group (HI=17), and treated for three menstrual cycles with TCM Formula, Bushen Huatan Formula (BHF). A metabolomics approach based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with linear ion trap Orbi-trap mass spectrometer (LTQ Orbi-trap MS) is used to investigate serum metabolic changes of TCM intervention to PCOS. After BHF intervention for three menstrual cycles, the serum levels of glycerophosphorylethanolamine (GPEA), creatine, creatinine decreased in both NI and HI groups. Furthermore, in NI group, the main manifestation was the changes of phospholipid metabolism. While in HI group, lysine, phenol sulfate, phe-phe etc. decreased, and ornithine, proline, betaine, acetylcholine etc. increased. Combined with clinical biochemical data, BHF was proved effective to PCOS by reducing the inflammatory reaction and oxidative stress. This study also illustrates that the LC-MS based metabolomic approach is a helpful tool to evaluate curative effect and to understand the mechanisms of TCM.

Type 2 diabetes alters metabolic and transcriptional signatures of glucose and amino acid metabolism during exercise and recovery.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: The therapeutic benefit of physical activity to prevent and treat type 2 diabetes is commonly accepted. However, the impact of the disease on the acute metabolic response is less clear. To this end, we investigated the effect of type 2 diabetes on exercise-induced plasma metabolite changes and the muscular transcriptional response using a complementary metabolomics/transcriptomics approach. METHODS: We analysed 139 plasma metabolites and hormones at nine time points, and whole genome expression in skeletal muscle at three time points, during a 60 min bicycle ergometer exercise and a 180 min recovery phase in type 2 diabetic patients and healthy controls matched for age, percentage body fat and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2). RESULTS: Pathway analysis of differentially regulated genes upon exercise revealed upregulation of regulators of GLUT4 (SLC2A4RG, FLOT1, EXOC7, RAB13, RABGAP1 and CBLB), glycolysis (HK2, PFKFB1, PFKFB3, PFKM, FBP2 and LDHA) and insulin signal mediators in diabetic participants compared with controls. Notably, diabetic participants had normalised rates of lactate and insulin levels, and of glucose appearance and disappearance, after exercise. They also showed an exercise-induced compensatory regulation of genes involved in biosynthesis and metabolism of amino acids (PSPH, GATM, NOS1 and GLDC), which responded to differences in the amino acid profile (consistently lower plasma levels of glycine, cysteine and arginine). Markers of fat oxidation (acylcarnitines) and lipolysis (glycerol) did not indicate impaired metabolic flexibility during exercise in diabetic participants. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Type 2 diabetic individuals showed specific exercise-regulated gene expression. These data provide novel insight into potential mechanisms to ameliorate the disturbed glucose and amino acid metabolism associated with type 2 diabetes.

[Application of metabolomics in treating polycystic ovary syndrome with berberine based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry].

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex, heterogeneous disorder, which seriously impacts the health of reproductive age women. Thus reasonable individual-based treatment is important. In this study, the serum samples of 15 overweight PCOS patients before and after treatment with berberine for three months were collected for clinic biochemical test and metabolomic research. Metabolomic profiling based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (q-TOF MS) was used to investigate metabolic changes of PCOS. Compared with before treatment, the patients after berberine treatment can be separated into distinct clusters as displayed by the orthogonal signal correction partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OSC-PLS-DA) score plot with model parameter: R2Y = 0.892, Q2 (cum) = 0.577, which indicated changes in metabolites after berberine treatment. The differential metabolites related to berberine treatment were selected when their variable importance values were more than 1, and p < 0.05 with nonparametric test. These differential metabolites were all involved in lipids metabolism, including phosphatidylcholines, sphingomyelin, stearic acid and erucamide. The pharmacological results and metabolomic data revealed that berberine can strengthen the sensitivity of insulin and rectify the dyslipidemia of overweight PCOS patients. This study also illustrates that the LC-MS based metabolomic method is helpful for evaluating the treatment of traditional Chinese medicines.

Serum metabolic profiling study of lung cancer using ultra high performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Lung cancer is currently the leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. It is, therefore, important to enhance understanding and add a new auxiliary detection tool of lung cancer. In this work, serum metabolic characteristics of lung cancer were investigated with a non-targeted metabolomics method. The metabolic profiling of 23 patients with lung cancer and 23 healthy controls were analyzed using ultra high performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF MS). Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model of the metabolic data allowed the clear separation of the lung cancer patients from the healthy controls. In total, 27 differential metabolites were identified, which were mostly related to the perturbation of lipid metabolism, including choline, free fatty acids, lysophosphatidylcholines, etc. Choline and linoleic acid were defined as one combinational biomarker using binary logistic regression, which was supported by the validation with a smaller sample-set (9 patients and 9 healthy controls). These findings show that LC/MS-based serum metabolic profiling has potential application in complementary identification of lung cancer patients, and could be a powerful tool for cancer research.

Effect of a traditional Chinese medicine preparation Xindi soft capsule on rat model of acute blood stasis: a urinary metabonomics study based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Xindi soft capsule is a traditional Chinese medicine preparation which consists of sea buckthorn flavonoids and sea buckthorn berry oil. In this study, a urinary metabonomics method based on the ultra-performance liquid chromatography combined with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC Q-TOF MS) was used to evaluate the efficacy and study the mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine preparation to blood stasis. With pattern recognition analysis (principal component analysis and partial least squares-discriminate analysis) of urinary metabolites, a clear separation of acute blood stasis model group and healthy control group was achieved, the dose groups were located between acute blood stasis model group and healthy control group showing a tendency of recovering to healthy control group, high dose and middle dose were more effective than low dose. Some significantly changed metabolites like cholic acid, phenylalanine and kynurenic acid have been found and identified and used to explain the mechanism. The work shows that the metabonomics method is a valuable tool in the research mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine.

Serum metabolic profiling of abnormal savda by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.

Abnormal savda is a special symptom in Uigur medicine. The understanding of its metabolic origins is of great importance for the subsequent treatment. Here, a metabonomic study of this symptom was carried out using LC-MS based human serum metabolic profiling. Orthogonal signal correction partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OSC-PLS-DA) was used for the classification and prediction of abnormal savda. Potential biomarkers from metabonomics were also identified for a metabolic understanding of abnormal savda. As a result, our OSC-PLS-DA model had a satisfactory ability for separation and prediction of abnormal savda. The potential biomarkers including bilirubin, bile acids, tryptophan, phenylalanine and lyso-phosphatidylcholines indicated that abnormal savda could be related to some abnormal metabolisms within the body, including energy metabolism, absorption of nutrition, metabolism of lecithin on cell membrane, etc. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of abnormal savda based on serum metabolic profiling. The LC/MS-based metabonomic platform could be a powerful tool for the classification of symptoms and for the development of this traditional medicine into an evidence-based one.

[Applications and progresses of expert system on chromatography].

The expert system on chromatography has achieved great advancement in the past two decades, and is playing a more and more important role in solving analytical problems of complex samples. Research results of expert system on chromatography in authors' group are reviewed with 64 references. A brief introduction of the expert system on chromatography is presented. Applications of the expert system on chromatography are summarized in the fields of petrochemical online analysis, environmental air sample analysis, tumor diagnosis and traditional Chinese medicine analysis. The review followed the scientific foot steps in the authors' group, starting from the development of the expert system on gas chromatography, to the selection of multi-column systems in online industrial gas chromatographs in petrochemical plants, and to the employment of the new techniques in gas chromatography, liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis to solve the practical analytical problems in the nation's scientific and economic development.

[Multidimensional separations used in pharmaceutical and biological fields].

A review of multidimensional separations such as comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC x GC), comprehensive two-dimensional high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC x HPLC) and their applications in pharmaceutical and biological fields is presented with 71 references. A single CO2 cryo-jet loop modulator was developed for GC x GC and it can be used to modulate compounds higher than C6 effectively. Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC x GC/TOF-MS) analyses of traditional Chinese medicine volatile oils such as Pogostemon cablin Benth (Cablin Patchouli), Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl and Zedoary were reported also. As an emerging technology, multidimensional separations hold the promise and play an important role in the future pharmaceutical and biological fields.

[Pharmacodynamical research of Jingu Tongxiao granule].

OBJECTIVE: To study functions of Jingu Tongxiao granule (JGTXG, treatmenting ache of bones and muscles) in antiphlogistic and antalgic aspect, invigorating the circulation of blood and absorbing clots and antitraumatic soft tissue. METHOD: Animal models of inflammation, ache, gore and traumatic soft tissue were adopted, and pharmacodynamic actions of Jingu Tongxiao granule were observed. RESULT: JGTXG could conspicuously restrain inflammatory reactions of mouse ear tumid model treated by croton oil tumid and rat foot metatarsus tumid model treated by carrageenan, and restrain pain responses of mouse caused with whipping back end method by heat stimulating and of mouse caused with wriggling body method by acetic acid being injected in its abdominal cavity. It could significantly improve petechia degree in traumatic rat blood stasis model, and prominently improve raumatized limb's tumefaction degree and alleviate blood stasis, swelling and phlogistic cell soakage in traumatic rat soft tissue model. At the same time, it could prominently restrain platelet aggregation and improve whole blood viscosity. CONCLUSION: Jingu Tongxiao granule has antiphlogistic and antalgic functions, invigorating the circulation of blood and absorbing clots and antitraumatic soft tissue, and it could keep curative effect of original dosage form.