Herbal medicines for insomnia through regulating 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors: a systematic review / 中国天然药物

Insomnia is a common sleep disorder without effective therapy and can affect a person's life. The mechanism of the disease is not completely understood. Hence, there is a need to understand the targets related to insomnia, in order to develop innovative therapies and new compounds. Recently, increasing interest has been focused on complementary and alternative medicines for treating or preventing insomnia. Research into their molecular components has revealed that their sedative and sleep-promoting properties rely on the interactions with various neurotransmitter systems in the brain. In this review, the role of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) in insomnia development is summarized, while a systematic analysis of studies is conducted to assess the mechanisms of herbal medicines on different 5-HT receptors subtypes, in order to provide reference for subsequent research.

Screening of immune cell activators from Astragali Radix using a comprehensive two-dimensional NK-92MI cell membrane chromatography/C18 column/time-of-flight mass spectrometry system / 药物分析学报

Astragali Radix(AR)is a clinically used herbal medicine with multiple immunomodulatory activities that can strengthen the activity and cytotoxicity of natural killer(NK)cells.However,owing to the complexity of its composition,the specific active ingredients in AR that act on NK cells are not clear yet.Cell membrane chromatography(CMC)is mainly used to screen the active ingredients in a complex system of herbal medicines.In this study,a new comprehensive two-dimensional(2D)NK-92MI CMC/C18 column/time-of-flight mass spectrometry(TOFMS)system was established to screen for potential NK cell acti-vators.To obtain a higher column efficiency,3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane-modified silica was synthesized to prepare the NK-92MI CMC column.In total,nine components in AR were screened from this system,which could be washed out from the NK-92MI/CMC column after 10 min,and they showed good affinity for NK-92MI/CMC column.Two representative active compounds of AR,isoastragaloside Ⅰ and astragaloside Ⅳ,promoted the killing effect of NK cells on K562 cells in a dose-dependent manner.It can thus suggest that isoastragaloside Ⅰ and astragaloside Ⅳ are the main immunomodulatory compo-nents of AR.This comprehensive 2D NK-92MI CMC analytical system is a practical method for screening immune cell activators from other herbal medicines with immunomodulatory effects.

Identifying potential anti-COVID-19 pharmacological components of traditional Chinese medicine Lianhuaqingwen capsule based on human exposure and ACE2 biochromatography screening

Lianhuaqingwen (LHQW) capsule, a herb medicine product, has been clinically proved to be effective in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia treatment. However, human exposure to LHQW components and their pharmacological effects remain largely unknown. Hence, this study aimed to determine human exposure to LHQW components and their anti-COVID-19 pharmacological activities. Analysis of LHQW component profiles in human plasma and urine after repeated therapeutic dosing was conducted using a combination of HRMS and an untargeted data-mining approach, leading to detection of 132 LHQW prototype and metabolite components, which were absorbed

Research progress on chemical composition and clinical efficacy of Lianhua Qingwen (LHQW) capsule, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) used to treat COVID-19 / 药学实践杂志

The outbreak of COVID-19 posed a huge threat to human health and social stability. With the rapid spread of the virus around the world, the drug development and related research of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) have become an urgent issue in the medical field. COVID-19 fails into the category of epidemics in the theory of TCM. LHQW capsule has repeatedly played an important role in many major epidemics. Previous studies have shown that LHQW capsule can inhibit the biological activity of varied viruses including MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV. The paper summarizes the relevant research data and achievements of LHQW capsule in the past few years, reviews the chemical constituents, clinical efficacy and pharmacological effects of LHQW capsule, and provides scientific basis for the anti-virus mechanism of LHQW capsule and clinical treatment of COVID-19.

Screening of potential active anti-cancer components of Brucea javanica by SMMC-7721 and Hep-G2 comprehensive two dimensional CMC-monolith chro-matography / 药学实践杂志

Objective To screen potential active anti-cancer components of Brucea javanica.Methods This research has em-ployed comprehensive two dimensional chromatographic technology and cell membrane chromatographic technology simultaneously with mass spectrometry as detector .Results Adenosine and Bruceine B were found to be potentially anti-cancer active .Conclusion This study has combined the advantages of online , high speed and high throughput for the screen of potential active components of traditional Chinese medicine .

Liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight and ion trap mass spectrometry for qualitative analysis of herbal medicines / 药物分析学报

With the expansion of herbal medicine (HM) market, the issue on how to apply up-to-date analytical tools on qualitative analysis of HMs to assure their quality, safety and efficacy has been arousing great attention. Due to its inherent characteristics of accurate mass measurements and multiple stages analysis, the integrated strategy of liquid chromatography (LC) coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) and ion trap mass spectrometry (IT-MS) is well-suited to be performed as qualitative analysis tool in this field. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview on the potential of this integrated strategy, including the review of general features of LC-IT-MS and LC-TOF-MS, the advantages of their combination, the common procedures for structure elucidation, the potential of LC-hybrid-IT-TOF/MS and also the summary and discussion of the applications of the integrated strategy for HM qualitative analysis (2006-2011). The advantages and future developments of LC coupled with IT and TOF-MS are highlighted.

Clinical application of transcatheter arterial thermo-chemotherapy and thermo-lipiodol embolization in treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma / 介入放射学杂志

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of thermo-chemotherapy and thermo-lipiodol embolization intreatment of primary hepatocellular carcinoma(PHC).Methods One hundred and sixteen cases of PHC were divided into three groups.Group A(38 cases)was treated with normal temperature chemotherapy and normal temperature lipiodol,Group B(40 cases)with thermo-chemotherapy and normal temperature lipiodol and group C(38 cases)with thermo-chemotherapy and thermo-lipiodol.Group B and group C were called the thermotherapy group.Results In the thermotherapy groups,the rates of tumor size reduction were significantly greater than those in the normal group.There were no significant different in the hepatic function tests among the three groups.The 6-,12-,18-,and 24-month survival rates of the normal group and thermotherapy groups were 97%,58%,39% and 18%,versus 99%,79%,57% and 36%,respectively.No significant differences were found in the rates of reduction of tumor size and survival rates between group B and group C.Conclusion Thermo-chemotherapy and thermo-embolization possess significant effect on PHC but without conspicuous damage to liver function.