Targeting TRPV1 and TRPA1: A feasible strategy for natural herbal medicines to combat postoperative ileus.

Under physiological or pathological conditions, transient receptor potential (TRP) channel vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) and TRP ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) possess the ability to detect a vast array of stimuli and execute diverse functions. Interestingly, increasing works have reported that activation of TRPV1 and TRPA1 could also be beneficial for ameliorating postoperative ileus (POI). Increasing research has revealed that the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is rich in TRPV1/TRPA1, which can be stimulated by capsaicin, allicin and other compounds. This activation stimulates a variety of neurotransmitters, leading to increased intestinal motility and providing protective effects against GI injury. POI is the most common emergent complication following abdominal and pelvic surgery, and is characterized by postoperative bowel dysfunction, pain, and inflammatory responses. It is noteworthy that natural herbs are gradually gaining recognition as a potential therapeutic option for POI due to the lack of effective pharmacological interventions. Therefore, the focus of this paper is on the TRPV1/TRPA1 channel, and an analysis and summary of the processes and mechanism by which natural herbs activate TRPV1/TRPA1 to enhance GI motility and relieve pain are provided, which will lay the foundation for the development of natural herb treatments for this disease.

Characterization of natural herbal medicines by thin-layer chromatography combined with laser ablation-assisted direct analysis in real-time mass spectrometry.

The characterization and quality control of natural herbal medicines, such as traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), is of great significance to ensure their potential efficacy and avoid severe side effects. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is a simple and classic approach for examining quality marker of natural products. Nevertheless, it is more difficult to further characterize the compounds adsorbed on the TLC plate. Herein, we reported a simple setup of laser ablation-assisted direct analysis in real-time mass spectrometry (LA-DART-MS), in which the coupling of mass spectrometry information to provide a predominant dimension in the identification of unknown chemical compositions separated on standard TLC plates, and it was applied for rapid characterization of various kinds of natural herbal medicines. The results showed that the introduction of low-cost small laser pointer had significantly improved the desorption process. The system was successfully applied in the analysis of alkaloids, flavonoids, anthraquinones, volatile oils, glycosides, organic acids, and eight different TCMs including Sophorae Flavescentis Radix, Angelicae Sinensis Radix, Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma, Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex, Picrasmae Ramulus et Folium, Gynura Japonica, Rhei Radix et Rhizoma and Dendrobii Caulis. The obtained limits of detection (LODs) of this method for various types of reference substances were in the range of 4.6-162.2 ng/band on TLC plates. Furthermore, the quality control and identification of different species of Dendrobii Caulis herb was achieved. This study combines the advantages of TLC and ambient mass spectrometry to provide a good choice for the screening and identification of active ingredients and the quality evaluation of botanical samples.

Recent advances of novel technologies for quality consistency assessment of natural herbal medicines and preparations.

Quality consistency is one of the basic attributes of medicines, but it is also a difficult problem that natural medicines and their preparations must face. The complex chemical composition and comprehensive pharmacological action of natural medicines make it difficult to simply apply the commonly used evaluation methods in chemical drugs. It is thus urgent to explore the novel evaluation methods suitable for the characteristics of natural medicines. With the rapid development of analytical techniques and the deepening understanding of the quality of natural herbs, increasing numbers of researchers have proposed many new ideas and technologies. This review mainly focuses on the basic principles, technical characteristics and application examples of the chemical evaluation, biological evaluation methods and their combination in quality consistency evaluation of natural herbs. On the bases of chemical evaluation and clinical efficacy, new methods reflecting their pharmacodynamic mechanism and safety characteristics will be developed, and gradually towards accurate quality control, to achieve the goal of quality consistency. We hope that this manuscript can provide new ideas and technical references for the quality consistency of natural drugs and their preparations, thus better guarantee their clinical efficacy and safety, and better promote industrial development.

Phytotherapeutic potential of natural herbal medicines for the treatment of mild-to-severe atopic dermatitis: A review of human clinical studies.

For many decades, natural herbal medicines, polyherbal formulations and/or decoctions of plant-derived materials have widely been accepted as alternative complementary therapies for the treatment, cure or prevention of a wide range of acute and chronic skin diseases including chronic herpes, prurigo, acute and chronic wounds, psoriasis and atopic dermatitis (AD). This review was aimed to summarize and critically discuss about the therapeutic viability and clinical applicability of natural herbal medicines for the treatment of AD in human. The critical analysis of the literature revealed that oral (in the form of capsules, syrup or granules) and/or topical application (alone or in conjunction with wet-wrap dressing and/or acupuncture) of natural herbal medicines exhibit remarkable potential for the treatment of mild-to-severe AD in adults, children, infants and in the pregnant women. In this review, the clinical efficacy of various herbal formulations such as Chinese herbal therapies, Korean medicines, Iranian medicines, honey, natural herbal oils (coconut oil, olive oil and mineral oil), beeswax, dodder seeds and whey for the treatment of AD has been discussed. The clinical anti-AD efficacy of these complementary therapies has been observed in terms of down-regulation in Scoring Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index, erythematic intensity, Children's Dermatology Life Quality Index (CDLQI), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), pruritus and itching frequency, transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and expression of AD-mediated chemokines. Conclusively, we recognized that natural herbal medicines demonstrate remarkable clinical efficacy when used alone or in conjunction with other complementary therapies for the treatment of AD in patients of all ages as well as pregnant women.