Network Pharmacological Screening of the Active Ingredients and Hypoglycemic Effect of Isodon rubescens in the Treatment of Diabetes.

This study was firstly to study the relationship of "ingredient-target-pathway" and the pharmacological effects of Isodon rubescens for the treatment of diabetes. Based on a network pharmacology method, 138 active ingredients of Isodon rubescens were screened from the relative literatures, and their targets were confirmed by comparing these with the hypoglycemic targets in the DrugBank database. Results showed that Isodon rubescens contained 25 hypoglycemic ingredients, such as rabdoternin A, rabdoternin B, and epinodosinol. These ingredients could activate 6 hypoglycemic targets, including 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR), integrin α-L (ITGAL), integrin ß-2 (ITGB2), progesterone receptor (PGR), glucocorticoid receptor (NR3C1), and nuclear receptor subfamily 1 group I member 2 (NR1I2). These targets were involved in 94 signaling pathways, such as the Rap1, PI3K-Akt, and HIF-1 signaling pathways. The cell viability showed that the human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) treated with alcohol extract (1.00 g/L) and the water extract (0.13 - 0.50 g/L) exhibited high viability compared to the model group (p < 0.05), respectively. 0In animal experiments, the rats treated with water extract of Isodon rubescens showed significant hypoglycemic effects compared to rats in the model group (p < 0.05). Overall, this approach provides an efficient strategy to explore hypoglycemic ingredients of Isodon rubescens and other traditional Chinese medicine.

Effects of vinpocetine and ozagrel on behavioral recovery of rats after global brain ischemia.

Brain ischemia leads to severe disruption of the nervous system and recovery is often prolonged. Rehabilitative post-ischemia pharmacological treatment may therefore be important for behavioral recovery, especially for cognition and motor behavior. The present study investigated the effects of combined vinpocetine and ozagrel administration on the behavioral recovery of rats from global brain ischemia. The results suggest that the combined treatment leads to significantly better improvement compared to single drug administration. We conclude that the combined use of vinpocetine and ozagrel may provide beneficial effects to patients suffering from brain ischemia.