Germacrane Sesquiterpene Dilactones from Mikania micrantha and Their Antibacterial and Cytotoxic Activity.

Four new germacrane sesquiterpene dilactones, 2ß-hydroxyl-11ß,13-dihydrodeoxymikanolide (1), 3ß-hydroxyl-11ß,13-dihydrodeoxymikanolide (2), 1α,3ß-dihydroxy-4,9-germacradiene-12,8:15,6-diolide (3), and (11ß,13-dihydrodeoxymikanolide-13-yl)-adenine (4), together with five known ones (5-9) were isolated from the aerial parts of Mikania micrantha. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis. Compound 4 is featured with an adenine moiety in the molecule, which is the first nitrogen-containing sesquiterpenoid so far isolated from this plant species. These compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antibacterial activity against four Gram-(+) bacteria of Staphyloccocus aureus (SA), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Bacillus cereus (BC) and Curtobacterium. flaccumfaciens (CF), and three Gram-(-) bacteria of Escherichia coli (EC), Salmonella. typhimurium (SA), and Pseudomonas Solanacearum (PS). Compounds 4 and 7-9 were found to show strong in vitro antibacterial activity toward all the tested bacteria with the MIC values ranging from 1.56 to 12.5 µg/mL. Notably, compounds 4 and 9 showed significant antibacterial activity against the drug-resistant bacterium of MRSA with MIC value 6.25 µg/mL, which was close to reference compound vancomycin (MIC 3.125 µg/mL). Compounds 4 and 7-9 were further revealed to show in vitro cytotoxic activity toward human tumor A549, HepG2, MCF-7, and HeLa cell lines, with IC50 values ranging from 8.97 to 27.39 µM. No antibacterial and cytotoxic activity were displayed for the other compounds. The present research provided new data to support that M. micrantha is rich in structurally diverse bioactive compounds worthy of further development for pharmaceutical applications and for crop protection in agricultural fields.

Rapid identification of chemical components in Zhizi Baipi decoction by ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry coupled with a novel informatics UNIFI platform.

Zhizi Baipi decoction is a classic traditional Chinese medicine formula for the treatment of jaundice and various liver diseases. The chemical components of Zhizi baipi decoction were not clear resulting of the paucity of relevant studies, which hindered the elucidation of the pharmacological mechanism, and the comprehensive development and utilization of Zhizi baipi decoction in clinical. In this study, ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry combined with the UNIFI natural product information analysis platform was used to rapidly analyze and identify the chemical components in Zhizi baipi decoction. A total of 122 chemical components, including 53 flavonoids, 16 alkaloids, 25 terpenoids, five phenylpropanoids, 14 organic acids, and seven others, were identified from Zhizi baipi decoction. These compounds may be the active components of Zhizi baipi decoction. The method established in this study can systematically, rapidly, and accurately resolve the chemical components in Zhizi baipi decoction, which lays the foundation for further establishment of the pharmacodynamic substance basis and quality control of Zhizi baipi decoction.

Ropivacaine and Lidocaine in Double Eyelid Blepharoplasty: A Comparative Analysis.

Double eyelid blepharoplasty is an operation of changing the structure of the eyelid and reshaping the eyelid to form a new upper eyelid fold. This prospective randomized controlled study aimed to compare and evaluate the effect of ropivacaine and lidocaine in double eyelid blepharoplasty. A total of 120 patients who underwent double eyelid blepharoplasty in the beauty department of our hospital from January 2019 to July 2021 were enrolled and randomized (1 : 1) into the control group (1% lidocaine-epinephrine mixture) and the study group (0.75% ropivacaine-epinephrine mixture) via the random number table method. The 0.75% ropivacaine-epinephrine mixture led to lower Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating visual analog scale score from 2 h to 1 d after surgery versus 1% lidocaine-epinephrine mixture (all P < 0.05). The operation time, intraoperative anesthetic drug dosage, and intraoperative blood loss were similar in the two groups (all P < 0.05). The 0.75% ropivacaine-epinephrine mixture resulted in a lower postoperative swelling score, but a higher patient satisfaction score versus 1% lidocaine-epinephrine mixture (all P < 0.05). The safety profiles of the two groups were similar (all P < 0.05). Both lidocaine and ropivacaine produce desirable anesthesia effects in double eyelid blepharoplasty. Ropivacaine can significantly reduce postoperative pain and mitigate postoperative swelling, with better satisfaction, and is thus worthy of further promotion.

Targets and Effective Constituents of ZhiziBaipi Decoction for Treating Damp-Heat Jaundice Syndrome Based on Chinmedomics Coupled with UPLC-MS/MS.

Background: Damp-heat jaundice syndrome (DHJS) is a diagnostic model of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that refers to jaundice caused by damp-heat pathogen invasion. DHJS is the most common clinical manifestation of TCM, with yellow skin, yellow eyes and anorexia. ZhiziBaipi Decoction (ZBD) is a classic TCM formula that is effective at treating DHJS and various liver diseases. However, the effective components of ZBD in the context of DHJS and the underlying mechanism are unclear. Purpose: This study of ZBD using the DHJS rat model aimed to elucidate the pathobiology of DHJS and the metabolic targets of therapeutic ZBD, construct the network relationship between the components of ZBD and endogenous biomarkers, and clarify the underlying mechanism of ZBD in preventing and treating DHJS. Methods: Using chinmedomics as the core strategy, an animal model was generated, and the therapeutic effect of ZBD was evaluated based on behavioral, histopathological and biochemical indicators. Metabonomics tools were used to identify biomarkers of DHJS, TCM-based serum pharmacochemistry was used to analyze the effective constituents of ZBD, and chinmedomics technology was used to identify ZBD components highly related to DHJS biomarkers. Results: A total of 42 biomarkers were preliminarily identified, and ZBD significantly affected the levels of 29 of these biomarkers. A total of 59 compounds in ZBD were characterized in vivo. According to chinmedomics analysis, the highly correlated components found in blood were isoformononetin, 3-O-feruloylquinic acid, glycyrrhizic acid, oxyberberine, obaculactone and five metabolites. Conclusions: Chinmedomics combined with UPLC-MS/MS was used to study the targets and effective constituents of ZBD for the treatment of DHJS.

Deciphering the Q-markers of nourishing kidney-yin of Cortex Phellodendri amurense from ZhibaiDihuang pill based on Chinmedomics strategy.

BACKGROUND: Cortex Phellodendri amurensis (CPA) has high medicinal value in the treatment of kidney-yin deficiency diseases. However, due to the lack of research on the therapeutic material basis of CPA, the current quality control standard for CPA is defective, and the effect of the nourishing kidney-yin of CPA was limited. PURPOSE: Based on the principle of correspondence between the syndrome and prescriptions, we studied the CPA in ZhibaiDihuang pill (ZBDH) to identify quality markers (Q-markers) of CPA in ZBDH for treating kidney-yin deficiency and seek the potential Q-markers of CPA under nourishing kidney-yin effect combined with the analysis of single CPA. METHODS: Taking Chinmedomics as the core strategy, metabonomics analysis and effective component identification were performed by UPLC-MS. RESULTS: A total of 121 chemical components of ZBDH were identified, among which the contents of berberine, palmatine, jatrorrhizine and magnoflorine changed the most obviously with the addition of CPA. Forty-five components were identified in the blood in the markedly effective state, including berberine, palmatine, jatrorrhizine and magnoflorine. The therapeutic material basis of ZBDH in the treatment of kidney-yin deficiency was found, and 6 components were found to derive from CPA, including magnoflorine and jatrorrhizine. In addition, seventeen components were identified in the blood in the single CPA treatment, including berberine, palmatine, jatrorrhizine and magnoflorine. CONCLUSIONS: Magnoflorine and jatrorrhizine were the Q-markers of CPA for treating kidney-yin deficiency in the formula of ZBDH and they were also potential Q-markers of the nourishing kidney-yin of CPA.

Synthesis a graphene-like magnetic biochar by potassium ferrate for 17ß-estradiol removal: Effects of Al2O3 nanoparticles and microplastics.

A graphene-like magnetic biochar (GLMB) was synthesized using lotus seedpod and potassium ferrate with simple step and applied for E2 adsorption. GLMB was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman, X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and BET surface area. Several common (solution pH, ionic strength, humic acid and foreign ions) and new (Al2O3 nanoparticles and microplastics (MPs)) water experiment conditions were investigated. Characterization results demonstrated that the sample was fabricated successfully and it possessed some graphene-like properties and a large surface area (828.37 m2/g). Adsorption results revealed that the pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm models could provide a better description for E2 uptake behavior. The E2 adsorption capacity could be influenced by solution pH, ionic strength and SO42- ions, and the effect of humic acid and background electrolyte (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, NO3-, PO43-) could be neglected. The presences of Al2O3/MPs significantly decreased the time to reach adsorption equilibrium for E2 adsorption on GLMB, but had no obvious improvement or inhibiting effects on E2 removal when the adsorption reached equilibrium. The adsorption mechanism for E2 adsorption on GLMB was multiple, which involving π-π interactions, micropore filling effects, electrostatic interaction. The regeneration experiments showed that GLMB possessed a good regeneration performance. Based on the experimental results and comparative analysis with other adsorbents, GLMB was an economical, high-efficiency, green and recyclable adsorbent for E2 removal from aqueous solution.

[Physiological Characteristics and Nitrogen and Phosphorus Uptake of Myriophyllum aquaticum Under High Ammonium Conditions].

Ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) at high concentrations is toxic to plants. In order to explore the NH4+-N tolerance of Myriophyllum aquaticum (M. aquaticum) and its ability of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) uptake, this study used a nutrient solution with three NH4+-N levels (70, 210, 420 mg·L-1) to incubate M. aquaticum for 21 d. The characteristics of plant physiology and N and P uptake of M. aquaticum were measured. At NH4+-N of 70 mg·L-1, M. aquaticum grew healthily, and shoot height and biomass linearly increased with the increase incubation time. Relative shoot height and biomass of M. aquaticum were 40.56 cm and 17.82 g·hole-1 on day 21, respectively. Compared to the control with 70 mg·L-1 ammonium, malondialdehyde (MDA) content of M. aquaticum was significantly increased; chlorophyll and soluble sugar contents were also high at NH4+-N of 210 mg·L-1. M. aquaticum suffered from the NH4+-N stress. However, the stress of 210 mg·L-1 NH4+-N did not affect its normal growth and there was no significant difference in the relative growth rate of the shoot height and biomass compared with the control. At NH4+-N of 420 mg·L-1, MDA contents of M. aquaticum doubled and the shoot height and biomass growth rate were only 27.4% and 17.9% of those for 70 mg·L-1 NH4+-N, indicating that M. aquaticum was subjected to serious stress that caused unhealthy growth or even death. At three NH4+-N levels, the ranges of N and P content of M. aquaticum were 30.7-53.4 mg·g-1 and 3.8-7.7 mg·g-1, respectively, which indicated that M. aquaticum had a high uptake capacity of N and P. M. aquaticum is an ideal wetland plant that has a good application prospect for constructed wetlands in biological treatment of high-ammonia wastewater.

Growth inhibition and oxidative damage of Microcystis aeruginosa induced by crude extract of Sagittaria trifolia tubers.

Aquatic macrophytes are considered to be promising in controlling harmful cyanobacterial blooms. In this research, an aqueous extract of Sagittaria trifolia tubers was prepared to study its inhibitory effect on Microcystis aeruginosa in the laboratory. Several physiological indices of M. aeruginosa, in response to the environmental stress, were analyzed. Results showed that S. trifolia tuber aqueous extract significantly inhibited the growth of M. aeruginosa in a concentration-dependent way. The highest inhibition rate reached 90% after 6 day treatment. The Chlorophyll-a concentration of M. aeruginosa cells decreased from 343.1 to 314.2µg/L in the treatment group. The activities of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase and the content of reduced glutathione in M. aeruginosa cells initially increased as a response to the oxidative stress posed by S. trifolia tuber aqueous extract, but then decreased as time prolonged. The lipid peroxidation damage of the cyanobacterial cell membranes was reflected by the malondialdehyde level, which was notably higher in the treatment group compared with the controls. It was concluded that the oxidative damage of M. aeruginosa induced by S. trifolia tuber aqueous extract might be one of the mechanisms for the inhibitory effects.