Differences in the chemical composition of Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo and Dendrobium crepidatum Lindl based on UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS and metabolomics / 药学学报

italic>Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo is a rare Chinese herbal medicine, while Dendrobium crepidatum Lindl is a local medicine in Yunnan, both of which have the function of nourishing yin and stomach. To reveal the differences in chemical composition between the two species, ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS) was used to analyze the chemical composition of stems and leaves of D. officinale and D. crepidatum. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were used to determine the differences in metabolites between species and parts of Dendrobium. Fifty-eight chemical compounds were identified in the two species. Analysis indicated that the side ring of alkaloids connected with nitrogen was readily cleaved during analysis. The results of PCA analysis showed that the stems and leaves of D. officinale and D. crepidatum could be easily differentiated, and the chemical constituents of D. officinale and D. crepidatum were significantly different. OPLS-DA analysis showed that there were 16 metabolite differences between the stems and 22 differences in metabolites between the leaves of D. officinale and D. crepidatum. The main metabolite differences in components between the two Dendrobium species were dendrocrepidine B, dendrocrepidine C and dendrocrepine. There were 14 differences in metabolites between the stems and leaves of D. crepidatum. In conclusion, the chemical compositions of D. officinale and D. crepidatum are quite different; the small molecular compounds of D. officinale are mainly terpenoids and flavonoids, and the content of alkaloids is low. There is no significant difference between stem and leaf. In contrast, D. crepidatum is mainly composed of alkaloids and terpenoids, with crepidamine and dendrocrepine as its unique components, and there are great differences in the components between stems and leaves. This study provides a theoretical basis for the development and utilization of Dendrobium resources.

Teaching research of Molecular Pharmacognosy for talent development in industry of Chinese medicinal materials under new situation / 中国中药杂志

The industry of Chinese medicinal materials is going through another high-level development stage with some important files issued by Chinese government in the past months, such as "the protection and development plans of Chinese medicinal materials (2015-2020)" and "the strategic development plans of Chinese medicine (2016-2030)". In addition, the effect of "TU Youyou" will not only improve the industry development, but also indicates the increasing international competition intensely. Therefore, one of the core problems of the sustainable-development industry is the training of senior talents under the "New Situation" with opportunity and intense competition. As one of the forefront courses of Chinese Pharmacology, Molecular Pharmacognosy (MP) is a new interdisciplinary science, which integrates the pharmacognosy and molecular biology, and combines many discipline theories and technological systems. MP not only inherits the traditional concepts,but also makes up for the shortages of pharmacognosy, and improves the development of pharmacognosy. Thus, these are importance of MP for cultivation of senior talents, and also the difficult teaching points of MP with no unified teaching mode. We will, in this paper, discuss the possible teaching modes through several aspects for talent cultivation and meeting the needs of social and industry development, such as teaching state of MP, the education of undergraduate and graduate students, social identity, and self renewal of curriculum theories and practice.

Anti-inflammatory Activities of Lupane-triterpenoids In Vitro and Their Phytochemical Fingerprinting from Leaves of Acanthopanax gracilistylus

The activities on the inhibition of NO on LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages were investigated in this work. A simple and sensitive method has been developed and validated for fingerprinting analysis of leaves of Acanthopanax gracilistylus W.W. Smith (AGS). The cytotoxicity and inhibition of NO on LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells of the extract and triterpenoids were determined. Optimal conditions of HPLC analysis were established as follows. The separation was performed with an ODS-C18 column at 30 degrees C, the detected wavelength was 210 nm, the flow rate was 1 mL/min, and the mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile (0.05% phosphoric acid) -0.05% phosphoric acid solution with gradient elution. Our results showed that impressic acid and acankoreaogenin was more effective on the inhibition of NO than the methanol extract and other compounds. There were seventeen peaks coexisted with similarities above 0.95 and nine lupane-triterpenoids including acankoreaogenin and impressic acid detected and identified. The result of anti-inflammatory activities provides a potential explanation for the use of AGS leaves as a herbal medicine in the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Our results also show that acankoreanogenin and impressic acid may be potentially useful in developing new anti-inflammatory agents. In addition, the fingerprint chromatography clearly illustrated and confirmed the material basis for the anti-inflammatory activities of this plant.

Difference in effect between asthma-based mouse model and Stemona tuberosa extracts / 中国中药杂志

In this study, OVA-induced asthma mice was taken as the model, and orally administered with different concentration of ethanol extracts of crude and processed Stemona tuberosa, in order to determine the cytokine level released from Th1 and Th2 in splenocytes. RT-PCR was carried out to determine the genetic expression of T-bet/GATA-3 in lung, and compare the differentiation between ethanol extracts of crude and processed S. tuberosa in therapeutic effect on asthma in mice. According to the results, compared with the crude samples, processed samples significantly increased the levels of inflammatory factor INF-gamma (P < 0.05) and decreased IL-5 (P < 0.05) in splenocytes. According to the RT-PCR results, the administration of processed samples could increase the ratio of T-bet/GATA-3 (P < 0.05). The experiment showed that ethanol extracts of both crude and processed S. tuberosa could treat asthma by regulating Th1/Th2 ratio, but processed samples showed more notable effect. This indicated that crude and processed S. tuberosa had significant pharmacological difference. Therefore, it was more rational to apply processed S. tuberosa in clinical treatment of asthma and chronic cough, which layed a foundation for further revealing the processing mechanism of S. tuberosa.

Effects of different dose berberine on hemodynamic parameters and Ca2+i of cardiac myocytes of diastolic heart failure rat model / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effects of different doses of berberine on hemodynamic parameters and calcium ion concentration ([Ca2+]i) of diastole heart failure rat models.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The mouse models of diastole heart failure were made by the imcomplete ligation of abdominal aorta. Forty Wistar heart failure rats were divided randomly into four groups, with 10 for each group (n = 10). Heart failure rats were treated according to different doses drugs as follows: Model (natrii chloride 2 mL), berberine (63 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)), berberine (42 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)), berberine (21 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)) ig, for each of the four groups respectively, 4 weeks after coarctation of ascending aorta operation; and 10 age matched sham operation group was taken as control (natrii chloridi, 2 mL). After administration four weeks, cardiac function was determined by catheter. Isolate single cardiomyocytes of rat which were loaded with Ca(2+)-sensitive fluorescent indicator Fluo-3/AM. [Ca2+]i represented by fluorescent intensity [FI] was measured by laser scanning cofocal microscope [LSCM].</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The rats of operation group have no significant changes with those of the control on left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP) and maximal rising rate of ventricular pressure (+dp/dt(max)), left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) was much higher in operation group (P < 0.01), but maximal falling rate of ventricular pressure (-dp/dt(max)) was depressed (P < 0.01), left ventricular relax time constant quantity (T) was markedly extended (P < 0.01). [Ca2+]i level in carkiac muscle cell was elevated markedly (P < 0.05). Compared with operation group, high dose of Ber can decrease LEVDP, improve (-dp/dt(max)) (P < 0.01), decurtate left ventricular relax time constant quantity (P < 0.01) and decrease [Ca2+]i level better than those of middle and low dose group (P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Berberine is an effective new potent drug for conspicuous symptom relief of heart failure with positive dose dependency and step down [Ca2+]i of myocardial cell.</p>

The effect of Hongjingtian (Gadol) injection on cardiac hemodynamics and myocardial oxygen consumption of dogs / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effect of Hongjingtian (Gadol) injection on cardiac hemodynamics and myocardial oxygen consumption for analyzing its underlying mechanism in the treatment of coronary heart disease.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>A total of 20 dogs anesthetized with pentobarbital sodium (30 mg x kg(-1), i.v.) were evenly randomized into control group, low-dose Gadol (LDG) group, high-dose Gadol (HDG) group and Herbesser Injection group. The blood flow volume (BFV) of the left coronary artery and cardiac output (CO), left ventricular pressure (LVP), maximum ascending rate (dp/dtmax) of LVP, mean arterial pressure (MAP) of the femoral artery, oxygen contents of the coronary artery and coronary vein (venous sinus), oxygen consumption index (OCI), cardiac index (CI), coronary artery resistance (CAR) and total peripheral resistance (TPR) as well as oxygen utilization rate (OUR) were detected respectively.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>After venous injection of Gadol, CAR, MAP, TPR, OCI, myocardial oxygen consumption and heart rate lowered significantly (P < 0.05-0.01), while BFV and blood oxygen content of the venous sinus increased considerably (P < 0.05-0.01) in comparison with pre-injection. No significant differences were found in LVP and myocardial contractivity between control group and LDG, and between control and HDG groups respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>It showed dilation of the coronary artery and reduction of the cardiac afterload after injection of Gadol. Besides, CO and stroke volume increased considerably and the cardiac effective work was raised without any significant simultaneous increase of both myocardial contractility and LVP. A decrease in the myocardial oxygen consumption and reduction of OCI indicates an improvement of the oxygen supply of the myocardium, and a favorable regulation of the compliance of the cardiac vessels. As a result, the cardiovascular performance was ameliorated. The abovementioned improvement of these indexes may contribute to the therapeutic effect of Gadol in the treatment of coronary heart disease in clinic.</p>