Molecular mechanism of Shuguan Granules in treating angina based on integrative pharmacology / 中国中药杂志

The paper analyzed the combined administration of traditional Chinese medicine Shuguan Granules, and studied its six plant herbs, namely Polygoni Multiflori Radix, Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma, Polygonati Rhizoma, Chuanxiong Rhizoma, Epomedii Folium, and Carthami Flos by network pharmacology analysis, in order to define chemical constituents and drugs targets through integrated pharmacology platform. Based on the results, indications of Shuguan Granules were collected through the ETCM database. Therefore, the present study could determine the potential optimal indications of the drug. The results showed that chest apoplexy was the main traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) symptom treated by Shuguan Granules, whose monarch drug was Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma. Network pharmacology analysis found that the target enrichment results of Shuguan Granules were related to the indications of coronary heart disease, angina and atherosclerosis. According to the indications, angina may be the best indication for Shuguan Granules. The 229 components in Shuguan Granules involved a total of 109 core targets, of which TNF and MMP9 were the direct targets to the angina disease. In addition, Shuguan Granules could also indirectly intervene in the progression of angina through MAPK, NFKB, GF and other targets. The main pathways involving angina pectoris are PI3 K-Akt signaling pathway, RAS signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, Estrogen signaling pathway and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, which can intervene in many aspects of angina, such as inflammatory reaction, blood lipid metabolism and vasodilation.

Review of Promoting Teaching Level of Molecular Pharmacognosy Experiment Course Based on Transformation of Scientific Research Results / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Molecular Pharmacognosy is a new interdisciplinary subject formed by the organic integration of molecular biology and pharmacognosy. It is highly practical and innovative. In the course of teaching,both experimental teaching and theoretical teaching are of great significance. " Molecular Identification of Traditional Chinese Medicine" and the traditional teaching mode of confirmatory experiment are the preferred choices for the establishment of Molecular Pharmacognosy experimental courses in universities and colleges. Molecular Pharmacy is a forward-looking discipline with many emerging methods and technologies. Basic experimental teaching is not enough for students to learn this subject better,so it is especially important to introduce the latest scientific research results in experimental teaching. Experimental teaching based on the transformation of the latest scientific research results not only enables students to master basic experimental skills,but also broadens the breadth of students' knowledge,cultivates students' scientific research ideas,stimulates students' innovation spirit. Some suggestions and prospects have been put forward for the compilation of experimental teaching materials,the construction of experimental platform,the cultivation of teachers and academic exchanges. It is hoped that the contents of experimental textbooks will be developed from confirmatory experiments to comprehensive experiments,and the experimental platform for rational,standardized and efficient use will be built. Meanwhile,experimental courses involving multiple fields can be completed by multi-disciplinary teachers,and it is encouraged to actively carry out and participate in flexible,diverse,lively and interesting teaching practices. All the suggestions are intended to promote the development of Molecular Pharmacognosy.

Discovery and Application of Quality Marker of Traditional Chinese Medicine Based on Integrative Pharmacology / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Quality marker(Q-marker) is a new concept and pattern for quality control of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM),which will lead the development direction for quality control of TCM.Among them,how to characterize the overall quality attribute of TCM and its biological effect,is a critical scientific problem in the study of Q-marker.In this paper,integrated pharmacology is utilized to screen out and confirm the Q-marker from the complex system of TCM,so as to solve the critical scientific problem.System biology in vivo is firstly applied to establish the correlation of chemical fingerprints of TCM,their metabolic fingerprints,network targets,biological effects and efficacy of TCM,which is used to preliminary screen out Q-marker of TCM.Following that,a pharmacological method in vitro,including intestinal absorption in vitro coupled with bioactivity assessment,is employed to simultaneously determine the absorbed doses of TCM and evaluate their biological activity.Furthermore,data mining is utilized to establish the exact quantitative mathematic model between Q-marker of TCM and bioactivity.Meanwhile,two representative examples,including Yuanhu Zhitong tablets,Xinsuning capsules,are introduced to identify Q-marker of TCM and establish their quality standards related with bioactivity,which will be beneficial to improve the level of quality control of TCM and ensure the effectiveness and safety of clinical applications.

Study on relevance mining of "core drug action target" in Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine Prescriptions / 中国中药杂志

Based on the database of "Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine Prescriptions", high-frequency herbs of Xiaoke disease is mined by traditional Chinese medicine inheritance support system, and core herbs and combinations are discovered through association rules and cluster analysis. On this basis, based on the integrative pharmacology of traditional Chinese medicine to explore the herb-disease relationship, the "herb-compound-target" network is constructed and enriched for the analysis of key target gene functions, metabolic pathways, and their "core herb-target interactions". In order to explore the molecular mechanism of its prevention and treatment of diabetes, 341 diabetes prescriptions are collected, organized, and tapped in the Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine Prescriptions. Herb frequency statistics show that Licorice was the most commonly used, followed by Ophiopogonis Radix, Poria, Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma, Coptidis Rhizoma, etc., the medicinal properties are mostly cold, warm and ping, and the medicinal taste tends to be pungent, bitter, and sour, and they were attributed to lung meridian, stomach meridian, spleen meridian, etc. Among them, the 17 herbs were closely related. Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma, Ophiopogonis Radix, Poria and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma were the core Chinese herbs. Ophiopogonis Radix was the key node of Coptidis Rhizoma, Trichosanthis Radix and core Chinese medicine, and Ophiopogonis Radix was the key node for the connection between Coptidis Rhizoma and Trichosanthis Radix and the core Chinese herbs. Using integrated pharmacology platform analysis, 10 crucial core targets for the prevention and treatment of diabetes were obtained, including the known disease targets (PLCD1, PIK3R1, ENPP1), and potential herb targets(GNB1, ADCY1, AKT1, RAC1, PRKAA1, RHOA) , common target (GCK). There were seven similar targets in the 10 crucial core targets predicted with the combination of "Ophiopogonis Radix, Coptidis Rhizoma and Trichosanthis Radix", including PLCD1, PIK3R1, ENPP1, ADCY1, AKT1, PRKAA1, GCK. These genes were mainly located in the cytosol, plasma membrane, etc., involved in adenosine triphosphate binding, protein binding, platelet activation, etc., mainly involved in the endocrine system, signal transduction, chemokine signaling pathway, cancer pathway, and other metabolic pathways, and it is speculated that these genes were potentially associated with diabetes. In this study, Traditional Chinese Medicine Inheritance Support System and Integrative Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine are used to analyze the prescription law of Xiaoke prescription, and the correlation of "core herbs-functionary targets" is excavated, which provided the basis and reference for the screening and development of TCM prescriptions for the prevention and treatment of diabetes.

Analysis on "component-target-pathway" of Paeonia lactiflora in treating cardiac diseases based on data mining / 中国中药杂志

Based on the literature review and modern application of Paeonia lactiflora in heart diseases, this article would predict the target of drug and disease by intergrative pharmacology platform of traditional Chinese medicine (TCMIP, http://www.tcmip.cn), and then explore the molecular mechanism of P. lactiflora in treatment of heart disease, providing theoretical basis and method for further studies on P. lactiflora. According to the ancient books, P. lactiflora with functions of "removing the vascular obstruction, removing the lumps, relieving pain, diuretic, nutrient qi" and other effects, have been used for many times to treat heart disease. Some prescriptions are also favored by the modern physicians nowadays. With the development of science, the chemical components that play a role in heart disease and the interrelation between these components and the body become the research hotspot. In order to further reveal the pharmacological substance base and molecular mechanism of P. lactiflora for the treatment of such diseases, TCM-IP was used to obtain multiple molecular targets and signaling pathways in treatment of heart disease. ATP1A1, a common target of drug and disease, was related to energy, and HDAC2 mainly regulated cardiomyocyte hypertrophy gene and cardiomyocyte expression. Other main drug targets such as GCK, CHUK and PRKAA2 indirectly regulated heart disease through many pathways; multiple disease-associated signaling pathways interfered with various heart diseases including coronary heart disease, myocardial ischemia and myocardial hypertrophy through influencing energy metabolism, enzyme activity and gene expression. In conclusion, P. lactiflora plays a role in protecting heart function by regulating the gene expression of cardiomyocytes directly. Meanwhile, it can indirectly intervene in other pathways of heart function, and thus participate in the treatment of heart disease. In this paper, the molecular mechanism of P. lactiflora for treatment of heart disease was in computer prediction analysis level, and the specific mechanism of action still needs further experimental verification.

Data mining of the prescription containing Codonopsis and study on the molecular mechanism of prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal disease / 药学学报

The medication rules of high frequency herb-pairs containing Codonopsis pilosula (Dangshen) were analyzed with data mining tools, and the molecular mechanisms of these herb-pairs on the gastrointestinal diseases were predicted with the network pharmacology. The R language association rules were used to mine the high frequency herb-pairs from TCM formulae containing Dangshen, and these herb-pairs would be screened out, which satisfied the following requirements with support ≥ 0.3 and confidence ≥ 0.9 at the same time. Using the Integrated Pharmacology Platform of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCMIP) to predict the key core targets of the high frequency herb-pairs, the network of Chinese medicine-compound-target-pathway related to Dangshen were built to explore the preventing and treating molecular mechanism on gastrointestinal diseases. At last, the relation of the main active components from Dangshen and its herbal pairs with target proteins were validated by Systems Dock Web Site. The 185 formulae were selected from 543 formulae containing Dangshen, and 6 herbal pairs with Dangshen, which includes Angelica (Danggui), Licorice (Gancao), Atractylodes macrocephala (Baizhu), Poria cocos (Fuling), dried tangerine peel (Chenpi) and Astragalus membranaceus (Huangqi), were discovered with Apriori algorithm. The combination of 6 herbal pairs is similar to Bu Zhong Yi Qi Decoction; 6 herbal pairs with Dangshen were related to the target of POMC, OPRM1, CCR9 and HTR2C in TCMIP. The known targets (HTR2C, POMC, OPRM1, CCR9, OPRD1) and potential drug-targets (GNB1, GCK, SDHD, SLC25A2, DHRS4) for gastrointestinal diseases were predicted about the high frequency pairs with Dangshen. The results of GO enrichment analysis showed that the biological function was mainly located in the mitochondria and myelin sheath, and involved in the biological processes of three carboxylic acid cycle, platelet activation, and aspartic acid metabolism. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that the main metabolic pathways related with Dangshen pairs involved amino acid metabolism, energy metabolism and endocrine metabolism. The prediction results showed many targets of the frequency herbal pairs with Dangshen preventing and treating gastrointestinal diseases were related with nerve cells. These herbal pairs could prevent and treat the gastrointestinal diseases through the neuroendocrine system and the brain gut axis.

Discussion on scientific problems in standard decoction of traditional Chinese medicine / 中国中药杂志

Based on the reviewing of development and disadvantages of Chinese medicine formula granules, the concept of standard decoction of traditional Chinese medicine was proposed in this study, and it was used as the standard mode of Chinese medicine formula granules to standardize the production process and quality standards of formula granules. The standard was unified according to the principles of "standardization of medicinal materials, standardization of process, intellectualization of production, standardization of quality, normalization of packaging, and informatization of storage"; and consistency evaluation was carried out by the analysis of chemical components, pharmacological activities and clinical efficacy of the standardized decoction and the traditional decoction, interpreting the scientific questions to ensure the stability and uniformity of Chinese medicine formula granule as well as the safety and effectiveness of its clinical application.