A review of the botany, ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology and quality of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: The rhizomes of Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge., belonging to the family Liliaceae, are named 'Zhi-mu' according to traditional Chinese medicine theory. It is a medicinal plant that has long been used as a tonic agent in various ethnomedicinal systems in East Asia, especially in China, and also for treating arthralgia, hematochezia, tidal fever, night sweats, cough, dry mouth and tongue, hemoptysis, etc. THE ARM OF THE REVIEW: The review aims to provide a systematic overview of botany, ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology and quality control of Anemarrhena asphodeloides and to explore the future therapeutic potential and scientific potential of this plant. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was performed on Anemarrhena asphodeloides using scientific databases including Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, CNKI, Elsevier, SpringerLink, ACS publications, ancient books, Doctoral and master's Theses. Collected data from different sources was comprehensively summarised for botany, ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology and quality control of Anemarrhena asphodeloides. RESULTS: A comprehensive analysis of the literature as mentioned above confirmed that the ethnomedical uses of Anemarrhena asphodeloides had a history of thousands of years in eastern Asian countries. Two hundred sixty-nine compounds have been identified from Anemarrhena asphodeloides, including steroidal saponins, flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, alkaloids, steroids, organic acids, polysaccharides, benzophenones and other ingredients. Studies have shown that the extracts and compounds from Anemarrhena asphodeloides have extensive pharmacological activities, such as nervous system activity, antitumour, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antiosteoporotic, antiallergic, antiplatelet aggregation, antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-ageing, hair growth promoting, preventing cell damage, etc. Evaluating the quality and toxicity of Anemarrhena asphodeloides is essential to confirm its safe use in humans. CONCLUSION: Anemarrhena asphodeloides is widely used in traditional medicine and have diverse chemical constituents with obvious biological activities. Nevertheless, more studies should be carried out in animals and humans to evaluate the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in its biological activity and confirm its safe use.

Effect of Pheretima aspergillum on reducing fibrosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Pheretima aspergillum (common name: Earthworm, Chinese name: dilong) has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. Recently, a few scientific studies have investigated the antifibrotic effects of Dilong extract (DE) and produced controversial results. We conducted a meta-analysis to make an informed decision on the antifibrotic effects of Dilong extract. Methods: The studies on antifibrotic effects of Dilong extract published until July 2022 in the scientific databases [PubMed, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP database for Chinese Technical Periodicals, SinoMed and WanFang database] were reviewed. The RevMan 5.4.1 software was used for standardized mean difference (SMD) analysis. Two researchers independently reviewed all the studies, and their quality was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results: A total of 325 studies were found in the scientific databases; however, only 13 studies met the criteria for analysis. Dilong extract treatment was associated with antifibrotic effects via inhibiting the transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-ß1, SMD = -3.16, 95% CI: -4.18, -2.14, p < .00001) and alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA: SMD = -2.57, 95% CI: -3.47, -1.66, p < .00001). Conclusion: Dilong extract effectively reduces tissue fibrosis; thus, further scientific studies should be conducted to investigate and develop it for clinical use. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42022357141.

Defective transition metal hydroxide-based nanoagents with hypoxia relief for photothermal-enhanced photodynamic therapy.

Recently, phototherapy has attracted much attention due to its negligible invasiveness, insignificant toxicity and excellent applicability. The construction of a newly proposed nanosystem with synergistic photothermal and photodynamic tumor-eliminating properties requires a delicate structure design. In this work, a novel therapeutic nanoplatform (denoted as BCS-Ce6) based on defective cobalt hydroxide nanosheets was developed, which realized hypoxia-relieved photothermal-enhanced photodynamic therapy against cancer. Defective cobalt hydroxide exhibited high photothermal conversion efficacy at the near-infrared region (49.49% at 808 nm) as well as enhanced catalase-like activity to produce oxygen and greatly boost the singlet oxygen generation by a photosensitizer, Ce6, realizing efficacious dual-modal phototherapy. In vivo and in vitro experiments revealed that BCS-Ce6 can almost completely extinguish implanted tumors in a mouse model and present satisfactory biocompatibility during the treatment. This work sets a new angle of preparing photothermal agents and constructing comprehensive therapeutic nanosystems with the ability to modulate the hypoxic tumor microenvironment for efficient cancer therapy.