TCM2COVID: A resource of anti-COVID-19 traditional Chinese medicine with effects and mechanisms.

In China, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely used for coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) prevention, treatment, and recovery and has played a part in the battle against the disease. A variety of TCM treatments have been recommended for different stages of COVID-19. But, to the best of our knowledge, a comprehensive database for storing and organizing anti-COVID TCM treatments is still lacking. Herein, we developed TCM2COVID, a manually curated resource of anti-COVID TCM formulas, natural products (NPs), and herbs. The current version of TCM2COVID (1) documents over 280 TCM formulas (including over 300 herbs) with detailed clinical evidence and therapeutic mechanism information; (2) records over 80 NPs with detailed potential therapeutic mechanisms; and (3) launches a useful web server for querying, analyzing and visualizing documented formulas similar to those supplied by the user (formula similarity analysis). In summary, TCM2COVD provides a user-friendly and practical platform for documenting, querying, and browsing anti-COVID TCM treatments, and will help in the development and elucidation of the mechanisms of action of new anti-COVID TCM therapies to support the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic. TCM2COVID is freely available at http://zhangy-lab.cn/tcm2covid/.

Emodin Prevented Depression in Chronic Unpredicted Mild Stress-Exposed Rats by Targeting miR-139-5p/5-Lipoxygenase.

BACKGROUND: The use of medicinal plant ingredients is one of the goals of developing potential drugs for treating depression. Compelling evidence suggests that anti-inflammatory medicines may block the occurrence of depression. We studied the effect of a natural compound, emodin, on the development of psychosocial stress-induced depression and the underlying mechanisms. METHODS: Chronic unpredicted mild stress (CUMS) for 7 weeks was performed to replicate psychosocial stress in rats. The sucrose preference test, force swimming test, and open field test were used to evaluate their behaviors. The differentially expressed proteins in the hippocampus were analyzed using proteomics. Nissl staining and Golgi staining were used to detect the loss of neurons and synapses, immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the activation of microglia, and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Western blotting, immunofluorescence, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction were also performed. RESULTS: Hippocampal inflammation with up-regulated 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) was observed in the depressed rats after CUMS exposure. The upregulation of 5-LO was caused by decreased miR-139-5p. To observe the effect of emodin, we screened out depression-susceptible (DeS) rats during CUMS and treated them with emodin (80 mg/kg/day). Two weeks later, emodin prevented the depression behaviors in DeS rats along with a series of pathological changes in their hippocampi, such as loss of neurons and spines, microglial activation, increased interleukin-1ß and tumor necrosis factor-α, and the activation of 5-LO. Furthermore, we demonstrated that emodin inhibited its excess inflammatory response, possibly by targeting miR-139-5p/5-LO and modulating glycogen synthase kinase 3ß and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2. CONCLUSION: These results provide important evidence that emodin may be a candidate agent for the treatment of depression and established a key role of miR-139-5p/5-LO in the inflammation of depression.

Protective effects of Da-cheng-qi decoction in rats with intracerebral hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), the most fatal subtype of stroke, has no disease-modifying treatment. Da-cheng-qi decoction (DCQ), composed of rhubarb, is one of the most commonly used Chinese traditional decoctions in ICH treatment. But the mechanism is not clear. Emodin is an active compound found in rhubarb. PURPOSE: To study the protective effects of DCQ on ICH and its possible mechanisms of action. METHODS: The ICH model was reproduced by injecting collagenase-VII into the left caudate putamen (CPu) of rats. DCQ and emodin were used to treat the ICH rats for 7 days. Behavior tests, proteomic analysis, morphological studies, and western blotting were performed. RESULTS: The neurological deficits in the ICH rats recovered with DCQ and emodin on the 14th day after ICH. The proteomics data revealed that DCQ significantly corrected the pathological signals in the CPu and hippocampus after ICH. The numbers of amoebic microglia in the CPu and M2 microglia in both CPu and hippocampus were significantly increased after DCQ and emodin treatment. The increase in GluN2B-containing NMDA receptor (NR2B) and postsynaptic density protein-95, activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signals in the CPu, and secondary neurodegeneration (SND) in the hippocampus were significantly recovered in DCQ-treated rats. Inhibition of MAPK p38 (p38) in the hippocampus was observed after DCQ and emodin treatment. CONCLUSION: The protective effects of DCQ on ICH were confirmed in this study, and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition of MAPK and activation of M2 microglia. These results are beneficial to the development of ICH therapeutic targets.

Clinical Efficacy and Transcriptomic Analysis of Congrong Shujing Granules () in Patients with Parkinson's Disease and Syndrome of Shen (Kidney) Essence Deficiency / 中国结合医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Congrong Shujing Granules ( , CSGs) in treating patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome of Shen (Kidney) essence deficiency, and to investigate the potential mechanism involving efficacy through a transcriptome sequencing approach.@*METHODS@#Eligible PD patients with syndrome of Shen essence defificiency were randomly assigned to a treatment group or a control group by a random number table, and were treated with CSGs combined with Western medicine (WM), or placebo combined with WM, respectively. Both courses of treatment lasted for 12 weeks. The Unifified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) score, the PD Question-39 (PDQ-39) score, CM Syndrome Scale score, and drug usage of all patients were evaluated before and after treatment. Safety was evaluated by clinical laboratory tests and electrocardiographs. Blood samples from 6 patients in each group were collected before and after the trial and used for transcriptomic analysis by gene ontology analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis. Differentially expressed genes were validated using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.@*RESULTS@#A total of 86 PD patients were selected from the Third Affifiliated People's Hospital of Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine between January 2017 and December 2017. Finally, 72 patients completed the trial, including 35 in the treatment group and 37 in the control group. When compared with the control group after treatment, patients in the treatment group showed signifificant decreases in UPDRS sub-II score, PDQ-39 score, CM syndrome score, and Levodopa equivalent dose (P0.05). A possible mechanism of clinical effificacy was proposed that involved regulating cell metabolism-related processes and ribosome-related pathways. Treatment with CSGs had shown to affect relevant gene loci for PD, including AIDA, ANKRD36BP2, BCL2A1, BCL2L11, FTH1P2, GCH1, HPRT1, NFE2L2, RMRP, RPS7, TGFBR1, WIPF2, and COX7B.@*CONCLUSIONS@#CSGs combined with WM can be used to treat PD patients with CM syndrome of Shen essence defificiency with a good safety. The possible mechanism of action and relevant gene loci were proposed. (Registration No. ChiCTR-IOR-16008394).

Effects of Shugan Hewei Decoction and active substance fractions on behavior and neurotransmitter levels in hypothalamus of depression model rats / 中国中药杂志

To investigate the effects of Shugan Hewei Decoction and its active substance fractions on behavior and neurotransmitter levels in hypothalamus of depression model rats,and preliminarily explore its possible mechanism. Male SD rats were randomly divided into blank control group,model group,fluoxetine( positive control) group,Shugan Hewei Decoction high and low dose groups,high and low dose groups of three different substance fractions. After 3 weeks' CUMS and social isolation to induce models,intragastrical administration lasted for 7 d. Behavioral experiments( sucrose consumption test,open-field test,and forced swimming test) were then performed to evaluate the depression status of rats. Several neurotransmitters in hypothalamus of rats were determined by LC-MS/MS method,including dapamine( DA),norepinephrine( NE),serotonin( 5-HT),5-indoleacetic acid( 5-HIAA),γ-aminobutyric acid( GABA),and glutamic acid( Glu). As compared with the blank control group,the sucrose consumption was reduced( P<0. 01); the total distance and the number of crossing the central area were also significantly reduced( P< 0. 01,P< 0. 01),while the resting time increased significantly( P<0. 01); the forced swimming time was significantly prolonged( P<0. 01); DA,5-HT,NE,5-HIAA and GABA levels in hypothalamus were significantly reduced( P < 0. 01),while Glue level was significantly increased( P < 0. 01) in model group. As compared with the model group,all the above indexes had changes in fluoxetine group,Shugan Hewei Decoction whole recipe groups,volatile oils group,polysaccharides group,and terpenoids group( P<0. 01 or P<0. 05). Shugan Hewei Decoction whole recipe and its active substance fractions can improve the behavior of depression model rats and may exert anti-depression effects by regulating the content of neurotransmitters in the hypothalamus.

Study on activities and protein and gene expression of renal H(+)-K(+)-ATPase in rats subchronic exposed to trimethyltin chloride / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the activity, protein and gene expression of renal HK-ATPase (HKA) in rats subchronic exposed to trimethyltin chloride (TMT).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>In subchronic toxic test (14-week), 55 female SD rats (age, 6 weeks) were divided randomly into 5 groups: control, low, medium, high and super high dosage, respectively, which drank water with TMT of 0, 8.20, 32.81, 131.25 and 262.50 microg x kg(-1) x d(-1) for 14 weeks. Then serum K+ levels were measured; the activities of HK-ATPase (HKA) in kidneys were detected by the method of determinated phosphorus content; Western Blot assay and real-time PCR were used to exam the protein and mRNA expression levels of HKA in kidneys, respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The serum K+ level in super-high dosage group was (5.6 +/- 0.4) mmol/L, which was significantly lower than that [(6.9 +/- 0.3) mmol/L] in control group (P < 0.01). The HKA enzymatic activity of kidneys in low and super high dosage groups was 4.50 +/- 1.45 and 4.55 +/- 0.72 micromolPi x mg prot(-1)h(-1), respectively, which were significantly lower than that (6.55 +/- 0.77 micromol Pi x mg prot(-1) h(-1)) in control group (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>When rats were exposed subchronic to TMT, the renal HKA activity could reduce, but the expression levels of HKA protein and mRNA did not decrease.</p>