The Potential Role of Vitamin E and the Mechanism in the Prevention and Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, and it is a multifactorial disease of the intestinal mucosa. Oxidative stress damage and inflammation are major risk factors for IBD. Vitamin E has powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Our previous work and other investigations have shown that vitamin E has a positive effect on the prevention and treatment of IBD. In this paper, the source and structure of vitamin E and the potential mechanism of vitamin E's role in IBD were summarized, and we also analyzed the status of vitamin E deficiency in patients with IBD and the effect of vitamin E supplementation on IBD. The potential mechanisms by which vitamin E plays a role in the prevention and treatment of IBD include improvement of oxidative damage, enhancement of immunity, maintenance of intestinal barrier integrity, and suppression of inflammatory cytokines, modulating the gut microbiota and other relevant factors. The review will improve our understanding of the complex mechanism by which vitamin E inhibits IBD, and it also provides references for doctors in clinical practice and researchers in this field.

Fabrication of a bio-based polymer adsorbent and its application for extraction and determination of glycosides from Huangqi Liuyi decoction.

Huangqi Liuyi Decoction, a famous classical Chinese prescription, shows significant curative effect on diabetes and its complications, in which calycosin-7-glucoside, liquiritin and glycyrrhizic acid are the main components that playing these mentioned pharmacological activity, under the synergistic action of various other ingredients in the decoction. However, there are significant differences in the content of active compounds in Chinese medicinal materials, which mainly due to origin, picking seasons, and processing methods. Hence, the accurate content of the glycosides is the prerequisite for ensuring the pharmacological efficacy. Aiming at establishing an efficient extraction and determination method for accurate quantitative analysis of calycosin-7-glucoside, liquiritin and glycyrrhizic acid in Huangqi Liuyi Decoction, an on line solid-phase extraction-high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed, using a homemade bio-based monolithic adsorbent. The bio-based adsorbent was prepared in a stainless steel tube, using bio-monomers of methyleugenol and S-allyl-L-cysteine, which effectively reduced the dependence of the polymer field on non-renewable fossil resources and reduced carbon emissions. Furthermore, the prepared adsorbent owned abundant chemical groups, which can produce interactions of hydrogen bond, dipole-dipole, π-π and hydrophobic force with the target glycosides, thus improving the specific recognition ability of the adsorbent. The experiments were carried out on an LC-3000 HPLC instrument with a six-way valve. Methodology validation indicates that the recovery is in the range of 97.0%-103.4% with the RSD in the range of 1.6%-4.0%, due to the specific selectivity of the bio-based monolithic adsorbent for these three glycosides, and good matrix-removal ability for Huangqi Liuyi decoction. The limit of detection is 0.17, 0.50 and 0.33 µg/mL for calycosin-7-glucoside, liquiritin and glycyrrhizic acid, respectively, and the limit of quantitation is 0.50, 1.50 and 1.00 µg/mL, respectively, with the linear range of 2-200 µg/mL for calycosin-7-glucoside, and 5-500 µg/mL for liquiritin and glycyrrhizic acid. The present work provided a simple and efficient method for the extraction and determination of glycosides in complex medicinal plants.

Functional Perspective of Leeks: Active Components, Health Benefits and Action Mechanisms.

Leek (Allium fistulosum L.), a common and widely used food ingredient, is a traditional medicine used in Asia to treat a variety of diseases. Leeks contain a variety of bioactive substances, including sulfur compounds, dietary fiber, steroid compounds and flavonoid compounds. Many studies have shown that these active ingredients produce the following effects: promotion of blood circulation, lowering of cholesterol, relief of fatigue, anti-inflammation, anti-bacteria, regulation of cell metabolism, anti-cancer, anti-oxidation, and the lowering of fat and blood sugar levels. In this paper, the main bioactive components and biological functions of leeks were systemically reviewed, and the action mechanisms of bioactive components were discussed. As a common food, the health benefits of leeks are not well known, and there is no systematic summary of leek investigations. In light of this, it is valuable to review the recent progress and provide reference to investigators in the field, which will promote future applications and investigations of leeks.

Traditional Chinese medicine baoxin decoction improves cardiac fibrosis of rats with dilated cardiomyopathy.

We investigated the effect of baoxin decoction (BXD) on myocardial fibrosis and clarified the possible mechanism of action. Dilated myocardiopathy was induced by doxorubicin injected intraperitoneally for 6 weeks. Rats that demonstrated dilated myocardiopathy were randomly divided into five groups plus a control group. Three groups were treated with BXD (7.5/kg, 15 g/kg and 30 g/kg) daily for 4 weeks. One group was treated with 8.75 g/kg of captopril (positive control), and with physiologic saline (negative control). Cardiac function was evaluated using echocardiography. Hematoxylin and eosin, and Massons trichrome staining were performed, PICP and PIIINP were assessed by ELISA, the expression of galectin-3 and collagen types I and III was evaluated with reverse transcription-quantitative PCR, and interrelated proteins were detected by western blot analysis. BXD downregulated galectin-3, collagen I and III and was correlated with a high expression of fibrosis markers. It also significantly decreased myocardial collagen volume fraction (CVF), together with markedly preventing the upregulation of collagen I and III. In addition, BXD downregulated the expression of TGF-ß1 and Smad3 in the myocardial fibrosis rats. Therefore, BXD treatment significantly improved cardiac function and alleviated myocardial fibrosis in a rat model of doxorubicin-induced dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), which is the mechanism that may be associated with inhibiting the TGF-ß1 signaling pathway.