Protective effects and mechanisms of Lizhong decoction against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in a rat model.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the protective effects and molecular mechanisms of Lizhong decoction (, LZD) against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). METHODS: Male Wistar rats were fed a high-fat diet for four weeks to induce NAFLD, and were administered LZD by gavage for four weeks. Potential therapeutic targets for NAFLD were analyzed using network pharmacology. Liver pathology was evaluated using Oil Red O and hematoxylin-eosin staining. Furthermore, mitochondrial function, lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and inflammatory response were examined. RESULTS: Rats with NAFLD exhibited high levels of hepatic damage and cholesterol deposition. Moreover, apoptosis was increased, superoxide dismutase and glutathione content were reduced, malondialdehyde content was increased, and the protein expression of inflammatory cytokines and p-c-Jun N-terminal kinase was increased. The LZD treatment ameliorated mitochondrial dysfunction, reduced liver damage, inhibited oxidative stress and inflammatory response, upregulated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ expression, and suppressed dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) expression in the liver. CONCLUSION: It was found that LZD alleviates NAFLD by activating PPAR-γ and inhibiting DPP4.

Study on molecular mechanism of Zuojin Pills for gastroesophageal reflux disease based on network pharmacology / 国际中医中药杂志

Objective:To analyze the possible mechanism of Zuojin Pills on gastroesophageal reflux disease based on network pharmacology. Methods:By searching for the active constituent and protein targets of Zuojin Pills in TCMSP database,the protein names were converted into gene names in Uniprot database. Cytoscape 3.7.1 was used to draw the active constituent-target-medicine network diagram of Zuojin Pills and analyze the topological parameters. Then find the target of gastroesophageal reflux disease through OMIM,GeneCards,DRUGBANK database, find the intersection target of medicine and disease, perform PPI network analysis on the intersection target in STRING 11.0, and use the Metascape database to enrich the intersection target for further analysis. Cytoscape 3.7.1 was used to draw a network diagram of the active constituent- target-pathway of the medicine and to conduct a topology parameter analysis. Results:The main active constituent of Zuojin Pills in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease are quercetin, Evodiamine, R-tetrahydroberberine, 1-methyl-2-nonyl-4-quinolone, berberine, etc. Targets include PTGS2, NOS3, MAPK1, EGFR, TNF, IL6, ERBB2, VEGFA, EGF, IL1B, etc., and these processes are mainly completed through inflammatory response, cancer, cell proliferation and apoptosis, cell connection, etc. Conclusions:The treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease with Zuojin Pills is a complex process with multiple constituent, multiple targets, and multiple pathways. It is hoped that it which could provide reference for the future research on its mechanism of action.

Chinese herbal medicine reduces mortality in patients with severe and critical Coronavirus disease 2019: a retrospective cohort study / 医学前沿

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) in patients with severe/critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this retrospective study, data were collected from 662 patients with severe/critical COVID-19 who were admitted to a designated hospital to treat patients with severe COVID-19 in Wuhan before March 20, 2020. All patients were divided into an exposed group (CHM users) and a control group (non-users). After propensity score matching in a 1:1 ratio, 156 CHM users were matched by propensity score to 156 non-users. No significant differences in seven baseline clinical variables were found between the two groups of patients. All-cause mortality was reported in 13 CHM users who died and 36 non-users who died. After multivariate adjustment, the mortality risk of CHM users was reduced by 82.2% (odds ratio 0.178, 95% CI 0.076-0.418; P < 0.001) compared with the non-users. Secondly, age (odds ratio 1.053, 95% CI 1.023-1.084; P < 0.001) and the proportion of severe/critical patients (odds ratio 0.063, 95% CI 0.028-0.143; P < 0.001) were the risk factors of mortality. These results show that the use of CHM may reduce the mortality of patients with severe/critical COVID-19.