Guanxin V attenuates myocardial ischaemia reperfusion injury through regulating iron homeostasis.

CONTEXT: Guanxin V (GX), a traditional Chinese medicine formula, is safe and effective in the treatment of coronary artery disease. However, its protective effect on myocardial ischaemia reperfusion injury (MIRI) is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the cardioprotective effect of GX on MIRI and explore the potential mechanism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sprague-Dawley male rats were divided into Sham, MIRI and MIRI + GX groups. GX (6 g/kg) was administered to rats via intragastric administration for seven days before ischaemia reperfusion (IR) surgery. The infarct size, histopathology, serum enzyme activities, ultrastructure of the cardiac mitochondria were assessed. H9c2 cells were pre-treated with GX (0.5 mg/mL), and then exposed to hypoxia/reoxygenation (HR). The cell viability and LDH levels were measured. Network pharmacology was conducted to predict the potential mechanism. The related targets of GX were predicted using the TCMSP database, DrugBank database, etc. Finally, pharmacological experiments were used to validate the predicted results. RESULTS: In vivo, GX significantly reduced the myocardial infarct size from 56.33% to 17.18%, decreased the levels of AST (239.32 vs. 369.18 U/L), CK-MB (1324.61 vs. 2066.47 U/L) and LDH (1245.26 vs. 1969.62 U/L), and reduced mitochondrial damage. In vitro, GX significantly increased H9c2 cell viability (IC50 = 3.913 mg/mL) and inhibited the release of LDH (207.35 vs. 314.33). In addition, GX could maintain iron homeostasis and reduce oxidative stress level by regulating iron metabolism-associated proteins. CONCLUSIONS: GX can attenuate MIRI via regulating iron homeostasis, indicating that GX may act as a potential candidate for the treatment of MIRI.

Jing-an oral liquid alleviates Tourette syndrome via the NMDAR/MAPK/CREB pathway in vivo and in vitro.

CONTEXT: Jing-an oral liquid (JA) is a Chinese herbal formula used in the treatment of Tourette syndrome (TS); however, its mechanism is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of JA on amino acid neurotransmitters and microglia activation in vivo and in vitro. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into a control group and 5 TS groups. TS was induced in rats with intraperitoneal injection of 1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane (1 mg/kg) and in BV2 cells with lipopolysaccharide. Control and model rats were administered saline, whereas treatment groups were administered JA (5.18, 10.36, or 20.72 g/kg) or tiapride (a benzamide, 23.5 mg/kg) by gavage once daily for 21 days. Stereotypic behaviour was tested. The levels of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)/mitogen-activated protein kinase/cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB)-related proteins in striatum and BV2 cells were measured via western blots. CD11b and IBa1 levels were also measured. Ultra-high-performance liquid-chromatography was used to determine γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutamic acid (Glu), and aspartic acid (ASP) levels. RESULTS: JA markedly alleviated the stereotype behaviour (25.92 ± 0.35 to 13.78 ± 0.47) in rats. It also increased NMDAR1 (0.48 ± 0.09 to 0.67 ± 0.08; 0.54 ± 0.07 to 1.19 ± 0.18) expression and down-regulated the expression of p-ERK, p-JNK, p-P38, and p-CREB in BV2 cells and rat striatum. Additionally, Glu, ASP, GABA, CD11b, and IBa1 levels were significantly decreased by JA. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: JA suppressed microglia activation and regulated the levels of amino acid neurotransmitters, indicating that it could be a promising therapeutic agent for TS.

Potential Plasma Metabolic Biomarkers of Tourette Syndrome Discovery Based on Integrated Nontargeted and Targeted Metabolomics Screening Plasma Metabolic Biomarkers of TS.

Objective: Tourette syndrome (TS) is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by abnormal movements, phonations, and tics, but an accurate TS diagnosis remains challenging and indeed depends on its description of clinical symptoms. Our study was conducted to discover and verify some metabolite biomarkers based on nontargeted and targeted metabolomics. Methods: We conducted untargeted ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS) for preliminary screening of potential biomarkers on 30 TS patients and 10 healthy controls and then performed validation experiments based on targeted ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography triple quadrupole-MS (UHPLC/MS/MS) on 35 TS patients and 14 healthy controls. Results: 1775 differentially expressed metabolites were identified by partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), fold-change analysis, T-test, and hierarchical clustering analysis (adjusted p value <0.05 and |logFC| > 1). TS plasma samples were found to be differentiated from healthy samples in our approach. Furthermore, aspartate and asparagine metabolism pathways were considered to be a significant enrichment pathway in TS progression based on metabolite pathway enrichment analysis. For the 8 metabolites involved in this pathway that we detected, we then performed validation experiments based on targeted UHPLC/MS/MS. The t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were used to determine potential biomarkers. Ultimately, L-arginine and L-pipecolic acid were validated as significantly differentiated metabolites (p < 0.05), with an AUC of 70.0% and 80.3%, respectively. Conclusion: L-pipecolic acid was defined as a potential biomarker for TS diagnosis by the combined application of nontargeted and targeted metabolomic analysis.

Gastrodin attenuates neuroinflammation in DOI-induce Tourette syndrome in rats.

OBJECTIVE: Tourette syndrome (TS) is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder. Its clinical manifestations are involuntary and recurrent muscle twitch, resulting in motor twitch and occurrence twitch. Traditional Chinese medicine has obvious advantages in treating TS. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects and mechanism of gastrodin on 1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane (DOI)-induced TS in rats. METHODS: TS model was induced by DOI. Behaviors in TS rats were detected. The striatum, serum inflammatory factors interleukin-6, interleukin-1ß, and tumor necrosis factor-a were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Western blot technique was used to detect the expressions of TLR/NF-κB and TLR/MAPK signaling pathways in the striatum. RESULTS: Gastrodin can significantly improve behavioral changes of TS rats induced by DOI, reduce inflammatory factors in serum and striatum in TS rats, and inhibit activation of TLR/NF-κB and TLR/MAPK signaling in striatum in TS rats. CONCLUSION: Gastrodin can significantly relieve the TS induced by DOI in rats. Its mechanism is related to the inhibition of striatal TLR/NF-κB and TLR/MAPK signaling activation.

Sinomenine Inhibits the Progression of Rheumatoid Arthritis by Regulating the Secretion of Inflammatory Cytokines and Monocyte/Macrophage Subsets.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory arthropathy associated with articular damage and attendant comorbidities. Even although RA treatment has advanced remarkably over the last decade, a significant proportion of patients still do not achieve sustained remission. The cause of RA is not yet known despite the many potential mechanisms proposed. It has been confirmed that RA is associated with dysregulated immune system and persistent inflammation. Therefore, management of inflammation is always the target of therapy. Sinomenine (SIN) is the prescription drug approved by the Chinese government for RA treatment. A previous study found that SIN was a robust anti-inflammation drug. In this study, we screened the different secretory cytokines using inflammation antibody arrays and qRT-PCR in both LPS-induced and SIN-treated RAW264.7 cells followed by evaluation of the ability of SIN to modulate cytokine secretion in a cell model, collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mouse model, and RA patients. Several clinical indexes affecting the 28-joint disease activity score (DAS28) were determined before and after SIN treatment. Clinical indexes, inflammatory cytokine secretion, and DAS28 were compared among RA patients treated with either SIN or methotrexate (MTX). To explore the mechanism of SIN anti-inflammatory function, RA-associated monocyte/macrophage subsets were determined using flow cytometry in CIA mouse model and RA patients, both treated with SIN. The results demonstrated that SIN regulated IL-6, GM-CSF, IL-12 p40, IL-1α, TNF-α, IL-1ß, KC (CXCL1), Eotaxin-2, IL-10, M-CSF, RANTES, and MCP-1 secretion in vivo and in vitro and reduced RA activity and DAS28 in a clinical setting. Furthermore, SIN attenuated CD11b+F4/80+CD64+ resident macrophages in the synovial tissue, CD11b+Ly6C+CD43+ macrophages in the spleen and draining lymph nodes of CIA mice. The percentage of CD14+CD16+ peripheral blood mononuclear cells was reduced by SIN in RA patients. These data indicated that SIN regulates the secretion of multiple inflammatory cytokines and monocyte/macrophage subsets, thereby suppressing RA progression. Therefore, along with MTX, SIN could be an alternative cost-effective anti-inflammatory agent for treating RA.

Arenobufagin Induces Apoptotic Cell Death in Human Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Cells via the Noxa-Related Pathway.

Arenobufagin, an active component isolated from the traditional Chinese medicine Chan Su, exhibits anticancer influences in several human malignancies. However, the effects and action mechanisms of arenobufagin on non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are still unknown. In this study, we reported that arenobufagin acted through activation of Noxa-related pathways and promoted apoptotic cell death in human NSCLC cells. Our results revealed that arenobufagin-induced apoptosis was caspase-dependent, as evidenced by the fact that caspase-9, caspase-3 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) were cleaved, and pretreatment with a pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK inhibited the pro-apoptosis effect of arenobufagin. Mechanistically, we further found that arenobufagin rapidly upregulated the expression of the pro-apoptosis protein Noxa, and abrogated the anti-apoptosis protein Mcl-1, a major binding partner of Noxa in the cell. More importantly, the knockdown of Noxa greatly blocked arenobufagin-induced cell death, highlighting the contribution of this protein in the anti-NSCLC effects of arenobufagin. Interestingly, arenobufagin also increased the expression of p53, a direct transcriptional activator for the upregulation of the Noxa protein. Taken together, our results suggest that arenobufagin is a potential anti-NSCLC agent that triggers apoptotic cell death in NSCLC cells through interfering with the Noxa-related pathway.

[Effects of Jing'an Oral Liquid on the central neurotransmitter of multiple tics children].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of Jing'an Oral Liquid (JOL) on the central neurotransmitters of multiple tics (MT) children. METHODS: Sixty MT children patients were randomly assigned to the treatment group and the control group, 30 cases in each group. Another 30 healthy children were recruited as the health group. JOL and Tiapride Tablet (TT) was respectively given to patients in the treatment group and the control group. The treatment course was 2 months. The levels of central neurotransmitters [dopamine (DA), homovanillic acid (HVA), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), norepinephrine (NE), glutamic acid (GLU), aspartate (ASP), gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)] were measured using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) before and after treatment, and compared with the health group. RESULTS: Compared with the health group, the levels of 5-HT, HVA, GLU, and ASP significantly increased in the treatment group and the control group before treatment (P < 0.05), GABA significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Compared with before treatment in the same group, the levels 5-HT, HVA, and GLU significantly decreased in the treatment group (P < 0.05), while the levels of NE and GABA significantly increased (P < 0.05). The levels of DA, 5-HT, GLU, and ASP significantly decreased, while the levels of NE ang GABA significantly increased in the control group, showing statistical difference (P < 0.05). There was no statistical difference in each index between the treatment group and the control group before and after treatment (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: (1) The imbalance of a variety of monoamines and amino acid neurotransmitters can lead to MT, especially in the changes of 5-HT, HVA, GLU, ASP, and GABA. (2) JOL can significantly reduce the levels of 5-HT, HVA, and GLU, and significantly increase the levels of NE and GABA, which might be its pharmacodynamic mechanisms for treating MT.