Discrimination and Prediction of Lonicerae japonicae Flos and Lonicerae Flos and Their Related Prescriptions by Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Combined with Multivariate Statistical Analysis.

LJF and LF are commonly used in Chinese patent drugs. In the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, LJF and LF once belonged to the same source. However, since 2005, the two species have been listed separately. Therefore, they are often misused, and medicinal materials are indiscriminately put in their related prescriptions in China. In this work, firstly, we established a model for discriminating LJF and LF using ATR-FTIR combined with multivariate statistical analysis. The spectra data were further preprocessed and combined with spectral filter transformations and normalization methods. These pretreated data were used to establish pattern recognition models with PLS-DA, RF, and SVM. Results demonstrated that the RF model was the optimal model, and the overall classification accuracy for LJF and LF samples reached 98.86%. Then, the established model was applied in the discrimination of their related prescriptions. Interestingly, the results show good accuracy and applicability. The RF model for discriminating the related prescriptions containing LJF or LF had an accuracy of 100%. Our results suggest that this method is a rapid and effective tool for the successful discrimination of LJF and LF and their related prescriptions.

[Calibration on chromone reference extract and application on quality control of Saposhnikoviae Radix].

The calibration of chromone reference extract(CRE) was conducted and a quality control method of Saposhnikoviae Radix(SR) was established based on CRE. Meanwhile, the quality control system of SR was improved and the feasibility of using reference extract as a substitute for single reference substance in quality control of Chinese medicine was discussed. In this study, the content of the prepared CRE was calibrated with prim-O-glucosylcimifugin, cimifugin, 4'-O-ß-D-glucosyl-5-O-methylvisamminol, and secO-glucosylhamaudol as indicators. Subsequently, an HPLC analytical method was developed to determine the content of four chromones in 20 batches of SR samples based on the CRE with known content as the standard substance. T-test was used for the comparison of the determination results of the two methods(single chemical component and CRE as reference substances, respectively), and the P values of prim-O-glucosylcimifugin, cimifugin, 4'-O-ß-D-glucosyl-5-O-methylvisamminol, and sec-O-glucosylhamaudol were 0. 16,0. 39, 0. 14, and 0. 42. The results demonstrated that there was no significant difference between the two methods. This study initially verified the feasibility that the CRE could be used as a substitute for single reference substance in quality control of SR. In conclusion,this study is expected to provide a scientific basis and a new research model for the application of reference extract in the quality control of Chinese medicine.

Screening out the anti-insomnia components from Prunella vulgaris L. based on plasma pharmacochemistry combined with pharmacodynamic experiments and UPLC-MS/MS analysis.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Prunella vulgaris L. (P. vulgaris) is a medicinal plant belonging to the Labiatae family, and its dried spikes is called as Xiakucao in China, which is a common traditional Chinese medicine with the activities of clearing the liver and expelling fire, improving eyesight, dispersing nodules and detumescence. Modern pharmacological studies have proved that P. vulgaris has various pharmacological activities such as immunomodulatory, antiviral, antibacterial and anti-insomnia activities. AIMS OF THIS REVIEW: P. vulgaris have been reported to have anti-insomnia effects. Nevertheless, the pharmacodynamic substance basis of this anti-insomnia effect is still unclear. The aim of this study was to identify the active components responsible for evoking the anti-insomnia effect of P. vulgaris and to evaluate its anti-insomnia effect. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we proposed a method combined with pharmacodynamic experiments, extraction and enrichment of chemical components, and the plasma pharmacochemistry to screen out the anti-insomnia components of P. vulgaris. Firstly, the active eluted fraction of the ethanol extract was screened out based on pharmacodynamic tracing method, and then the chemical composition was analyzed systematically by UPLC-MS/MS. Thirdly, pharmacodynamic tracing method and silica gel column chromatography were employed to screen out the active fraction of 70% ethanol eluted fraction, and its bioactive components in vitro and in vivo were identified by UPLC-MS/MS. Finally, screening out the anti-insomnia components of P. vulgaris by comparing the difference between in vivo and in vitro components, and three potentially bioactive ingredients were validated experimentally. RESULTS: It was confirmed that the fraction eluted with 70% ethanol from macroporous adsorption resin column was responsible for the anti-insomnia efficacy, and 55 compounds were identified or preliminarily identified. Then totally 9 compounds in vitro and 12 compounds in vivo from the active fraction of 70% ethanol eluted fraction were tentatively identified. Among them, mangiferin, rosmarinic acid and salviaflaside were the prototype components of P. vulgaris, which indicated that the three compounds might play the key role in the anti-insomnia activities. In vivo, compared to blank control group, the three compounds significantly shortened the sleeping latency and prolonged the sleeping time produced by pentobarbital sodium. CONCLUSIONS: This study clarified that mangiferin, rosmarinic acid and salviaflaside were considered as the anti-insomnia components of P. vulgaris. This is the first study on screening out the active ingredients responsible for evoking the anti-insomnia effect of P. vulgaris. The three compounds of P. vulgaris may help develop one or more drugs to prevent or treat insomnia. Further investigations are recommended to define the mechanism of the anti-insomnia activity of P. vulgaris.

Uses, chemical compositions, pharmacological activities and toxicology of Clematidis Radix et Rhizome- a Review.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Clematis chinensis Osbeck (C. chinensis), Clematis hexapetala Pall (C. hexapetala) and Clematis terniflora var. mandshurica Rupr (C. mandshurica) are collectively referred to as Clematidis Radix et Rhizome (CRR) in China. CRR is widely distributed in China, which is used as a traditional Chinese medicine to treat rheumatic arthralgia, limb numbness, tendon constriction and inconvenience in flexion and extension. AIMS OF THIS REVIEW: This review systematically summarized the research progress on uses, chemical components, pharmacological activities and toxicology of CRR, listed the chemical structures of main compounds for clarifying the differences in chemical compositions. Meanwhile, the review will provide a theoretical and practical basis for the further research and development of CRR. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The available information on CRR was collected using published materials and electronic databases, including ancient and modern books, Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Ph.D. and M. Sc. dissertations, CNKI, SciFinder, WanFang data, PubMed, ScienceDirect and Web of Science. The starting and ending years of references is 1965-2020, the search strategy was conducted by key words such as uses, chemical components, pharmacology and toxicology of CRR. RESULTS: Up to now, CRR has been used to treat various diseases/disorders, such as relieving rheumatism pain, treating cervical spondylopathy and scapulohumeral periarthritis, treating hepatic carcinoma and gastrointestinal, etc. In addition, more than 200 compounds have been isolated from the three plant species of Clematidis. Moreover, the crude extracts and isolated compounds of CRR have been reported to have a wide range of pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities, etc. Toxicity studies have shown that CRR can cause oral burning, swelling, abdominal pain or severe diarrhea, difficulty breathing, dilated pupils, renal tissue structural changes, and severe death. CONCLUSIONS: Researches in recent years mainly focused on C. chinensis and C. mandshurica, while there are a few reports on the pharmacological studies of C. hexapetala. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct further research on C. hexapetala. Meanwhile, it is important to pay attention to pursue research on the similarities and differences between the three plant species of Clematidis to find their respective advantages and make rational use of CRR. In addition, there is no report on the mechanism of toxicity research, which needs more attention.