Anti-inflammatory effect and component analysis of Chaihu Qingwen granules.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: As prevalent acute respiratory condition in clinical practice, acute lung injury has a quick start and severe symptoms which can harm patients physically. Chaihu Qingwen granules (CHQW) is a classic formula for the treatment of respiratory diseases. Clinical observation shows that CHQW has good efficacy in treating colds, coughs, and fevers. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of CHQW on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) model in rats and to explore its potential mechanism, as well as to clarify its substance composition. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Male SD rats were randomly divided into the blank group, the model group, the ibuprofen group, the Lianhua Qingwen capsule group and the CHQW group (2, 4 and 8 g/kg, respectively). The LPS-induced acute lung injury (ALI) model in rats was established after pre-administration. The histopathological changes in the lung and the levels of inflammatory factors in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and serum of ALI rats were observed. The inflammation-related proteins toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), inhibitory kappa B alpha (IκBα), phospho-IκBα (p-IκBα), nuclear-factor-kappa B (NF-κB), and NLR family pyrin domain containing 3(NLRP3) expression levels were measured by western blotting analysis and immunohistochemical analysis. The chemical composition of CHQW was identified by liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight-mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF-MS). RESULTS: CHQW significantly ameliorated lung tissue pathological injury in LPS-induced ALI rats and decreased the release of inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-1ß, interleukin-17 and tumor necrosis factor-α) in BALF and serum. In addition, CHQW decreased the expression of TLR4, p-IκBα and NF-κB proteins, increased the level of IκBα, regulated the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway, and inhibited the activation of NLRP3. The chemical components of CHQW were analyzed by LC-Q-TOF-MS, and a total of 48 components were identified by combining information from the literature, mainly flavonoids, organic acids, lignans, iridoids and phenylethanoid glycosides. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that the pretreatment of CHQW had a strong protective effect on LPS-induced ALI in rats, reducing lung tissue lesions and decreasing inflammatory cytokines released in BALF and serum. The protective mechanism of CHQW may be related to the inhibition of the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway and NLRP3 activation. The main active ingredients of CHQW are flavonoids, organic acids, lignans, iridoids and phenylethanoid glycosides.

Physicochemical, structural and rheological properties of pectin isolated from citrus canning processing water.

In order to better utilize the citrus pectin (CP) resource, the crude citrus pectin (CCP), obtained from the citrus fruit canning processing waste water, was purified by cellulose DEAE-52 column, providing neutral polysaccharide CP0 and two acidic polysaccharides (CP1 and CP3). CP1 had the highest yield among the three fractions, being 44.29%. The chemical composition, structure and morphology of these pectin components were analyzed. Monosaccharide composition analysis revealed that arabinose was the most abundant composition in these pectin samples. CCP, CP1 and CP3 were mainly composed of rhamnogalacturonan-I (RG-I) regions. Compared with CP3, CCP and CP1 had longer side chains, which are mainly consisted of arabinose. FT-IR and NMR analysis indicated that α-type glycosidic bonds are the main linkage in the four pectin components. These CP samples were found to possess different conformation, but no triple-helical conformation was observed in all these CP fractions. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that CCP, CP1 and CP3 all had irregular sheet-like structures and partly porous structures. The four pectin components showed the characteristics of non-Newtonian fluids and possessed good viscoelasticity. Due to these properties, the pectin might have potential application in food industry as food thickening agent.