Pharmacokinetic investigation of principal active constituents in renal fibrotic rats after oral administration of crude and salt-processed eucommiae cortex extracts / 药学学报

A quantitative analysis method for six principal active constituents (acubin, geniposidic acid, chlorogenic acid, pinoresinol di-O-glucopyranoside, geniposide, and pinoresinol 4-O-glucopyranoside) of crude Eucommiae Cortex (EC) and its salt-processed product extracts was developed to investigate and compare their pharmacokinetic behaviors in adenine-induced renal fibrotic rats in vivo. UHPLC-QqQ-MS/MS technology was employed. Scan was conducted in negative ion mode and quantitative determination was carried out by MRM paired ion. The established method was fully validated by specificity, linearity, precision, accuracy, stability, recovery, and matrix effect, and the results of methodological investigation met the requirements of biological sample analysis. Then, a quick, sensitive, and accurate method was successfully established, which could simultaneously measure the contents of six active constituents of crude and salt-processed EC extracts in rat plasma. After a single administration to renal fibrotic rats of crude EC and its salt-processed product extracts, the plasma concentration of each constituent at different time points was measured, the pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated and the concentration time curves were structured. The experiment was approved by the experimental animal ethics committee from Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine (No. 202103A008). The results showed that compared to the crude Eucommiae Cortex group, the tmax of aucubin, pinoresinol di-O-glucopyranoside, geniposide, and pinoresinol 4-O-glucopyranoside in the salt-processed Eucommiae Cortex group rat plasma were significantly lower than those in the crude group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01); the Cmax and AUC0-48 h of chlorogenic acid, the Cmax, AUC0-48 h and AUC0-∞ of pinoresinol di-O-glucopyranoside, and the Cmax of geniposide and pinoresinol 4-O-glucopyranoside were significantly higher than those in the crude group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Our investigation found that compared to crude Eucommiae Cortex, a variety of active ingredients could play a role of quick effect with higher peak blood concentration and bioavailability after oral administration of salt-processed Eucommiae Cortex, which were consistent with the traditional Chinese medicine theory of "salt-processing enhancing drug into kidney meridian", providing an experimental basis for the selection of quality control indexes and the in-depth study of processing mechanisms and metabolic rules in vivo of Eucommiae Cortex and its salt-processed product.

Analysis of Chinese Medical Syndrome Features of Ischemic Stroke Based on Similarity of Symptoms Subgroup / 中国结合医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To derive the Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome classification and subgroup syndrome characteristics of ischemic stroke patients.@*METHODS@#By extracting the CM clinical electronic medical records (EMRs) of 7,170 hospitalized patients with ischemic stroke from 2016 to 2018 at Weifang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shandong Province, China, a patient similarity network (PSN) was constructed based on the symptomatic phenotype of the patients. Thereafter the efficient community detection method BGLL was used to identify subgroups of patients. Finally, subgroups with a large number of cases were selected to analyze the specific manifestations of clinical symptoms and CM syndromes in each subgroup.@*RESULTS@#Seven main subgroups of patients with specific symptom characteristics were identified, including M3, M2, M1, M5, M0, M29 and M4. M3 and M0 subgroups had prominent posterior circulatory symptoms, while M3 was associated with autonomic disorders, and M4 manifested as anxiety; M2 and M4 had motor and motor coordination disorders; M1 had sensory disorders; M5 had more obvious lung infections; M29 had a disorder of consciousness. The specificity of CM syndromes of each subgroup was as follows. M3, M2, M1, M0, M29 and M4 all had the same syndrome as wind phlegm pattern; M3 and M0 both showed hyperactivity of Gan (Liver) yang pattern; M2 and M29 had similar syndromes, which corresponded to intertwined phlegm and blood stasis pattern and phlegm-stasis obstructing meridians pattern, respectively. The manifestations of CM syndromes often appeared in a combination of 2 or more syndrome elements. The most common combination of these 7 subgroups was wind-phlegm. The 7 subgroups of CM syndrome elements were specifically manifested as pathogenic wind, pathogenic phlegm, and deficiency pathogens.@*CONCLUSIONS@#There were 7 main symptom similarity-based subgroups in ischemic stroke patients, and their specific characteristics were obvious. The main syndromes were wind phlegm pattern and hyperactivity of Gan yang pattern.

Vinegar-processed Euphorbiae Pekinensis Radix improves intestinal flora disorder and reduces colon toxicity / 中国中药杂志

The present study investigated the effect of Euphorbiae Pekinensis Radix(EPR) on intestinal flora structure before and after vinegar processing and explored the detoxification mechanism of vinegar-processed EPR. In this study, the extraction efficiency of casbane diterpenes from EPR with different solvents was investigated, and the optimal solvent was selected to enrich these components. After 14 days of intragastric administration of total diterpene extract of EPR and vinegar-processed EPR, 16 S rDNA sequencing technology was used to detect the structural changes of intestinal flora. The flora related to the intestinal toxicity of EPR was screened out based on the results of intestinal pathological damage by correlation analysis. The results showed that Soxhlet extraction with chloroform as extraction solvent could enrich Casbane diterpenes in EPR. As revealed by 16 S rDNA sequencing results, EPR could significantly change the structure of intestinal flora, which could be reversed by vinegar-processing EPR. Some intestinal flora candidates might be related to detoxification of vinegar processing. The correlation analysis of intestinal flora candidates and indexes related to intestinal mucosal injury showed that compared with EPR, vinegar-processed EPR could down-regulate the abundance of some pathogenic bacteria such as Mucispirillum, Bilophila, and Ruminiclostridium, and up-regulated some probiotics such as Enterorhabdus, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-014, Barnesiella, and Candidatus. The intestinal toxicity caused by EPR may be related to the disturbance of intestinal flora, and vinegar-processed EPR can improve intestinal flora disorder by up-regulating the abundance of probiotics and down-regulating the abundance of pathogenic bacteria to remodel the intestinal mucosal barrier and reduce toxicity.

Neurological Diseases Responding Specifically to Traditional Chinese Medicine / 中国实验方剂学杂志

In recent years， the incidence of neurological diseases has been increasing year by year. To give full play to the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） in the treatment of neurological disorders， identify the breakthrough point of integrating TCM with western medicine， and further standardize the clinical diagnosis and treatment of TCM， the China Association of Chinese Medicine organized neurologists in TCM and western medicine to carry out in-depth discussion on the neurological diseases responding specifically to TCM and integrated TCM and western medicine， such as stroke， headache， vertigo， multiple sclerosis， and epilepsy， aiming to formulate a well-recognized and integrated treatment protocol for TCM and western medicine and improve the efficacy of neurological disorders. Furthermore， the treatment suggestions of the corresponding diseases in TCM and western medicine were proposed to provide references for clinical practice and scientific research.

Efficacy of Modified Wuzhuyu Decoction Granule ( ) for Migraine Patients with Cold and Stasis Obstructing Meridian Syndrome: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the efficacy of modified Wuzhuyu Decoction Granule (, MWDG) in the treatment of migraine patients with cold and stasis obstructing meridian syndrome.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. A total of 78 migraine patients with cold and stasis obstructing meridian syndrome were recruited and randomly assigned by a ratio of 2:1 into a treatment group (51 cases) and a placebo group (27 cases). Patients in the treatment group were treated with MWDG while placebo granules were applied in the control group. The treatment course lasted for 12 weeks with a follow-up of 4 weeks. The primary outcome measures included frequency and days of migraine attacks and the secondary outcome measures were analgesics consumption and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores. All outcome assessments were conducted respectively at baseline, the 4th, 8th and 12th week, and the end of follow-up.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the treatment group, significant decrease in frequency of migraine attacks were observed since the 4th week and that of analgesics consumption since the 8th week (both P<0.05). While, in the placebo group, significant decrease in frequency of migraine attacks were observed since the 8th week and that of analgesics consumption since the 12th week (both P<0.05). No significant decrease in days of migraine attacks and VAS scores of migraine pain were observed in both groups. Between the two groups, there were significant differences in VAS scores and intensity of pain appeared in the 8th week (P<0.05). However, no significant differences were found in days and frequency of migraine attacks and analgesics consumption (P>0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>MWDG was probably effective in the treatment of migraine especially for alleviating pain intensity. Furthermore, MWDG could reduce the frequency of migraine attacks and analgesics consumption sooner than the placebo.</p>

Problems and solutions in modern research of traditional Chinese herbal pieces processing technology / 中国中药杂志

Chinese medicine processing is the main feature that distinguishes traditional Chinese medicine from natural medicine and plant medicine, and is the main feature in clinical medication of traditional Chinese medicine. The research of Chinese medicine processing technology is an important link to realize standardization and standardization of Chinese herbal pieces, with urgent need to attract high attention. At present, there are still many problems in the research of processing technology of Chinese herbal pieces, mainly including inconsistent processing technology, large differences in process technology parameters, and unstable production technology of Chinese herbal pieces, resulting in uncontrollable quality of Chinese herbal pieces and affecting the clinical efficacy of Chinese medicine. This paper focused on the establishment of a unified standard processing technology, and put forward the countermeasures for the processing technology of Chinese medicine based on a comprehensive analysis of the current situations of the processing technology of Chinese herbal pieces, with significance for guiding the establishment of a standardized processing technology of Chinese medicine.

Qualitative analysis of a sulfur-fumigated Chinese herbal medicine by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography and high-resolution time of flight mass spectrometry using colorized fuzzy difference data processing / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the chemical transformation of volatile compounds in sulfur-fumigated Radix Angelicae Sinensis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) and high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HR-TOF/MS) with colorized fuzzy difference (CFD) method was used to investigate the effect of sulfur-fumigation on the volatile components from Radix Angelicae Sinensis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Twenty-five compounds that were found in sun-dried samples disappeared in sulfur-fumigated samples. Seventeen volatile components including two sulfur-containing compounds were newly generated for the first time in volatile oils of sulfur-fumigated Radix Angelicae Sinensis.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The strategy can be successfully applied to rapidly and holistically discriminate sun-dried and sulfur-fumigated Radix Angelicae Sinensis. GC×GC-HR-TOF/MS based CFD is a powerful and feasible approach for the global quality evaluation of Radix Angelicae Sinensis as well as other herbal medicines.</p>

Effect of Qianlean Pill on IL-1β, IL-10, and TNF-α in Prostate Tissues of Chronic Nonbacterial Prostatitis Rats / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the effect of Qianliean Pill (QP) on inflammatory factors such as IL-1β, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in chronic nonbacterial prostatitis (CNP) model rats, and to explore its therapeutic mechanism.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>CNP rat model was established by castration and estradiol benzoate injection. Totally 50 rats were randomly divided into 5 groups, i.e., the model group, the positive medicine group, the high dose QP group, the medium dose QP group, and the low dose QP group, 10 in each group. Besides, 10 normal rats were recruited as a normal control group. Since the 8th day of castration, Pulean Tablet (PT) at 10. 80 g/kg was administered to rats in the positive medicine group by gastrogavage. QP at 11.00, 5.50, and 2.75 g/kg was administered to rats in high, medium, and low dose QP groups by gastrogavage. Distilled water at 2 mL/100 g was administered to rats in the model group and the normal control group by gastrogavage, once daily for 30 successive days. After 30 days of medication all rats were sacrificed and their prostate tissues were extracted. The prostatic index was calculated. Pathological changes of rat prostate were observed under light microscope. Meanwhile, levels of IL-1β, IL-10, and TNF-α were detected using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the normal control group, the prostate index obviously decreased, levels of IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-10 in the prostate tissue significantly increased in the model group (P < 0.01). Compared with the model group, the prostate index obviously decreased in high and medium dose QP groups, and the positive medicine group (P < 0.01); levels of IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-10 obviously decreased in each QP group and the positive medicine group (P < 0.01). Compared with the positive medicine group, the TNF-α level decreased more obviously in the high dose QP group (P < 0.05). Compared with the normal control group, inflammatory reactions occurred obviously in rats' prostate of the model group. Compared with the model group, inflammatory reactions were milder in rats' prostate of each QP group and the positive medicine group, and their degrees were improved to some extent.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>QP could treat CNP, which might be achieved by regulating local immune state of the prostate, relieving inflammatory reactions of the prostate, and lowering levels of IL-β, TNF-α, and IL-10 in the prostate tissue.</p>

Optimization of extraction process for Baizhu Shaoyao San by multi-index orthogonal experiment / 中国中药杂志

Baizhu Shaoyao San is a famous traditional Chinese medicine formula, which is efficient to diarrhea clinically. However, there are very few reports for extraction process of Baizhu Shaoyao San at present. In this article, an orthogonal test was conducted, with 10 major components and extractum of Baizhu Shaoyao San as indexes, and data was processed by the compound weight method, in order to detect four factors, including the concentration of ethanol, the dosage of ethanol, the soaking and extracting times, and optimize the extraction process of Baizhu Shaoyao San. The results showed that the optimal extraction process was adding 12-fold ethanol of 70% concentration, soaking for 1 hours, and extracting for twice, 2 hours each time. Among the indexes, the extracting time made significant impact. The optimized method is stable and reliable, and can provide reference for further development and utilization of the formula.

Rapid determination of harpagoside content in crude and processed Radix Scrophulariae by mid-infrared spectroscopy / 中国药学杂志

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the feasibility of using mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIRS) technology for rapid quantification of harpagoside contents in crude and processed Radix Scrophulariae by means of attenuated total reflectance. METHODS: HPLC was used as the reference method to determine the content of harpagoside, and multivariate calibration models based on PLS algorithm were developed to correlate the spectra and the corresponding values determined by the reference method. RESULTS: The determination coefficient of the calibration model for crude Radix Scrophulariae was r2 = 83.81, and the standard error of estimate (SEE) and the standard error of prediction (SEP) were 0.02155 and 0.05103, respectively. The determination coefficient of the calibration model for processed Radix Scrophulariae was r2 = 95.56, and the standard error of estimate (SEE) and the standard error of prediction (SEP) were 0.00730 and 0.03478, respectively. CONCLUSION: The proposed method is fast and nondestructive, and it provides a novel efficient and environmental friendly approach for the fast determination of the active components in crude and processed traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Copyright 2012 by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Tadalafil for ED after transurethral resection of the prostate: a report of 113 cases / 中华男科学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the efficacy of tadalafil in the treatment of ED after transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 113 patients with ED after TURP received 3 months of tadalafil treatment and were followed up for 6 months. The IIEF-5 scores of the patients and the number of successful penile intromissions and sustained penile erections in the patients' sexual life diary were compared before and after the treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The IIEF-5 scores were 9.83 +/- 3.96 before the medication, 20.23 +/- 3.25 after it, and 17.28 +/- 3.03 at 6 months after drug withdrawal, with statistically significant differences between pre- and post-treatment (P < 0.05). The patients' success rates of penile intromission and sexual intercourse were increased from 44.8% and 7.5% before the medication to 81.7% and 63.2% after it.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Tadalafil can be used as a first-line drug for the treatment of ED after TURP.</p>

Effect of qianlie huichun capsule on microstructure and ultranstructure of prostate glandular tissues in rats / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of Qianlie Huichun capsule on the microstructure and ultranstructure of prostate glandular tissue in the model rat.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Hynertophy of prostate model rat was established by injecting testosterone to gelding male rats. After having been fed with Qianlie Huichun capsule for 30 days, the rats were killed and prostate tissues were resected for pathomorphological studies with microscope and electromicroscope, and the diameter of glandular lumer and the height of glandular epithelial cells were measured under the microspcope for different groups of rats.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>In the model groups, the glandular epithelial cells mutiplycated notably, showing stratified and pseudostratified cells that made the glandular lumer cramped. Under the electromicroscope, the glandular epithelial cells became high columnor and the rough endoreticulum extremely expanded. But in treatment groups, the change of the diameter of the glandular lumer and the height of the glandular epithelial cells were less remarkable than those in model groups. So the differerence between the model group and the treatment groups was remarkable (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Qianlie Huichun capsule can depress the glandular epithelialceu multiplication of prostate gland in model rats.</p>

Effect of qianlie huichun capsular on Fas expression and cell apoptosis of prostate gland tissue in rat / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of Qianlie Huichun capsular on Fas expression and cell apoptosis of prostate gland tissue in the model rat.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Hypertrophy of prostate model rat was established by injecting testosterone to gelding male rats. After being treated with Qianlie Huichun ig 30 days, the rats were killed and prostate glands were resected for examination. The Fas expression was examined by immunobistochemical SABC. The cell apoptosis and the peak of cell apoptosis in the prostate gland of the rats were examined by flow cytometry. Compared with model group, the weight of prostage gland tissue in groups treated with Qianlie Huichun capsular was light (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Compared with model group, the Fas expression in all treatment groups increase(P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Compared with normal and model groups, cell apoptosis in all treatment groups increase at different level(P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The Qianlie Huchun capsular increases the Fas expression and cell apoptosis of model rats, and shows a definite treatment effect on the hypertrophy of prostate by promoting the apoptosis of prostate cell.</p>