Metabonomics and its application in Chinese medicine processing / 中国中药杂志

Chinese medicine processing is a procedure to process medicinal materials under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) theories by using unique methods in China. The medicinal materials can only be used clinically after proper processing. With the development of the modernization of TCM, it is difficult to solve the problems in the inheritance, development, and internationalization of Chinese medicine processing. Metabonomics, a new omics technology developed at the end of the last century, is used to infer the physiological or pathological conditions of the organism with the methods such as NMR and LC-MS via investigating the changes in endogenous small molecule metabolic network after the organism is stimulated by external environment. Metabonomics coincides with the holistic view of TCM because it displays the characteristics of integrity, comprehensiveness, and dynamics, and it has been widely applied in the field of Chinese medicine processing in recent years. This study summarized the application of metabonomics in the processing mechanism and quality control of Chinese medicine processing and prospected the development of this technology in the field of Chinese medicine processing.

Ameliorative effect of ginseng glycopeptide on cross-linking of rat tail tendon collagen / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the ameliorative effect of ginseng glycopeptide on cross-linking of rat tail tendon collagen.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>ELISA was used to determine the inhibitory effect of ginseng glycopeptide on cross-linking of rat tail tendon collagen in vitro. After ginseng glycopeptide was intraperitoneally administrated to streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats for 12 weeks, the acid solubility, limited pepsin degradation properties and solubility in SDS-2-mercaptoethanol of the rat tail tendon collagen were determined, and the effect of ginseng glycopeptide on the tail tendon collagen cross-linking was evaluated.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Ginseng glycopeptide inhibited significantly the cross-linking of rat tail tendon collagen in vitro. The solubility of the tail tendon collagen (in acid, pepsin and SDS-2-mercaptoethanol) was markedly decreased in diabetic rats and ginseng glycopeptide-treated diabetic rats had significantly an increase in the collagen solubility in the above-mentioned solutions, suggesting that ginseng glycopeptide decreased severity of the collagen cross-linking.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Ginsengglycopeptide exhibits an significantly ameliorative effect on cross-linking of rat tail tendon collagen.</p>