Comparative analysis of phytochemical profile and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of four Gentiana species from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Gentiana species, known as the traditional Tibetan medicine "Bangjian," have been integral to clinical practice for millennia. Despite their longstanding use, our understanding of the variation in chemical constituents and bioactive effects among different species is limited. AIM OF THE STUDY: In the present study, we aimed to assess the differences in chemical profiles and bioactivities among four Gentiana species (G. veitchiorum, G. trichotoma, G. crassuloides, and G. squarrosa) and explore potential bioactive markers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The chemical composition of the four Gentiana species was analyzed using UPLC-QE-Orbitrap-MS. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was compared through DPPH, ABTS, and reducing power assays. The anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated by measuring the inhibitory effects on lipopolysaccharide-induced secretion of nitric oxide (NO), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) by RAW264.7 macrophages. Additionally, compounds strongly correlated with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities were identified through spectrum-effect relationship analysis. RESULTS: A total of 50 compounds were identified across the four Gentiana species. In vitro antioxidant assays demonstrated DPPH and ABTS scavenging abilities and reducing power within the concentration range of 62.5-2000 µg/mL. All four species inhibited the production of NO, IL-6, and TNF-α in RAW264.7 cells. Spectrum-effect relationship analysis revealed that gentiascabraside A, gentiatibetine, tachioside, lutonarin, and isotachioside were associated with the highest antioxidant activity; and swertiamarin, tarennoside, eleganoside C, and alpigenoside were associated with the highest anti-inflammatory activity. CONCLUSIONS: This study presents, for the first time, the chemical profiles and bioactivities of G. trichotoma, G. crassuloides, and G. squarrosa, which were comprehensively compared with those of G. veitchiorum. The findings provide novel insights to understand the traditional use and/or expand the current use of Gentiana species. Additionally, this research highlights the potential of Gentiana species as natural sources of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents, suggesting promising applications in tea production or medicinal contexts in the near future.

[Chemical constituents and anti-liver fibrosis mechanism of Meconopsis quintuplinervia based on UPLC-Q-Exactive-MS/MS and network pharmacology].

In this study, UPLC-Q-Exactive-MS/MS was used to rapidly analyze the chemical constituents of Meconopsis quintupli-nervia, and the anti-liver fibrosis mechanism of M. quintuplinervia was preliminarily analyzed by network pharmacology, molecular docking, and cell experiments. The chemical constituents of M. quintuplinervia were identified according to the information of MS~1 and MS~2, as well as the data in the literature and databases. SwissTargetPrediction and TargetNet were used to predict the potential targets. The targets related to liver fibrosis were collected from GeneCards and OMIM. The protein-protein interaction(PPI) network was constructed by STRING. Cytoscape 3.6.1 was used to construct and analyze the "constituent-target-disease" network to obtain key targets and their corresponding constituents in the network. DAVID 6.8 was used for GO analysis and KEGG signaling pathway enrichment analysis. Finally, the preliminary verification was carried out by molecular docking and cell experiments. As a result, 106 chemical constituents were identified from M. quintuplinervia, including 66 flavonoids, 16 alkaloids, 18 phenolic acids, 1 anthocyanin, and 5 other constituents. Among them, 3 constituents were identified as potential new compounds, and 59 constituents were reported in M. quintuplinervia for the first time. Network pharmacology analysis showed that M. quintuplinervia presumably acted on AKT1, SRC, JUN, EGFR, STAT3, HSP90 AA1, MAPK3, and other core targets through luteolin, isorhamnetin, quercetin, apigenin, kaempferide, amurine, 2-methylflavinantine, allocryptopine, the multi and other active compounds, thereby regulating the PI3 K/AKT signaling pathway, pathways in cancer, proteoglycans in cancer, FoxO signaling pathway, and other pathways to exert anti-liver fibrosis effects. M. quintuplinervia extract(MQE) could significantly down-regulate PI3 K and AKT protein levels in the HSC-T6 cell model induced by TGF-ß1, suggesting that MQE may have the ability to regulate the PI3 K/AKT signaling pathway. The findings of this study indicated that the anti-liver fibrosis effect of M. quintuplinervia had multi-constituent, multi-target, and multi-pathway characteristics, which may provide a scientific basis for the research on the pharmacodynamic materials, action mechanism, and quality markers of M. quintupli-nervia.