Mongolian medicine: History, development and existing problems / 中草药·英文版

Mongolian medicine (MM) is an important part of Mongolian culture. Exploration of MM can play a crucial role in the prevention and treatment of various diseases and can help provide better health care globally. In this article, we gave a brief introduction to the origin and development of MM, the theoretical system of MM, the principles of Mongolian materia medica formula, the modern research on Mongolian materia medica and the quality control of Mongolian materia medica. The present situation and outlook of MM were also discussed.

Chemical compositions and repellent activity of Clerodendrum bungei Steud. essential oil against three stored product insects.

BACKGROUND: Several species of Verbenaceae have been widely used in medicine, and some species of Verbenaceae have been observed good insecticidal activity, such as Lantana camara and Vitex negundo. There is no report about repellent activity of Clerodendrum bungei Steud. (C. bungei) against stored product insects. The chemical composition of C. bungei essential oil (EO) were identified, repellent activity of methanol extract, EO of C. bungei and two main components of EO against T. castaneum, L. serricorne and L. bostrychophila were evaluated for the first time. RESULTS: EO of C. bungei was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and GC. A total of 25 components of the C. bungei EO were identified. The principal compounds in the EO were myristicin (75.0%), 2,2,7,7-Tetramethyltricyclo[6.2.1.0(1,6)]undec-4-en-3-one (4.1%) and linalool (3.4%). Results of bioassays indicated that C. bungei EO exerted strong repellent activity against three target insects. As main constituents, myristicin and linalool also had certain repellency. CONCLUSION: This work suggests that the EO of C. bungei has promising potential to develop into botanical repellents for the control of pest damage in warehouses and grain stores.

Analysis of the soil microbial community of Cistanche deserticola and Cynomorium songaricum in the saline-alkali soil of Ebinur Lake / 药学学报

To explore the characteristics of soil microbial communities of Cistanche deserticola and Cynomorium songaricum, two typical parasitic medicinal plants that live in an extreme saline alkali environment, 16S PCR was used to sequence the soil microbial communities of C. deserticola and C. songaricum in Ebinur Lake, Xinjiang. Redundancy analysis and correlation analysis were carried out based on the abundance of core microbiome and ecoclimatic factors. The results show that the diversity of the soil microbial community of C. deserticola was significantly higher than that of C. songaricum. The core microbial groups of C. deserticola and C. songaricum were Marinomona, Halomonadaceae, Rhizobiales, Halomonas, and Acidimicrobiales. Six specific biomarkers were identified as Micrococcacea, Echinicola, Glutamicibacter, Galbibacter, Pseudoalteromonas, and Marinobacterium_ rhizophilum. The results of redundancy analysis and correlation analysis show that the average temperature in the driest season and the average temperature in the coldest season, and the clay content and soil texture classification were the main ecological factors affecting the composition of these soil microbial communities. This study provides a theoretical basis for finding molecular markers of C. deserticola and C. songaricum and promoting the quality of C. deserticola and C. songaricum.

Biopharmaceutical classification and transport mechanism of 4 alkaloids in Mongolian herbal medicine Sophorae Flavescentis Radix / 中国中药杂志

In this study, we studied the solubility and permeability of matrine, oxymatrine, sophoridine, and oxysophocarpine, four alkaloids in the Mongolian herbal medicine Sophorae Flavescentis Radix, and evaluated the absorption mechanism with the Caco-2 cell model, so as to provide a basis for the new drug development and efficacy evaluation of Sophorae Flavescentis Radix. The results showed that all the four alkaloids had high solubility and high permeability and can be well absorbed, belonging to the class-I drugs of Biopharmaceutical Classification System(BCS). The absorption(AP→BL) and excretion(BL→AP) of matrine and oxymatrine were not affected by the concentration while the absorption depended on P-gp protein. The absorption(AP→BL) and excretion(BL→AP) of sophoridine and oxysophocarpine were positively related to the concentration and time, and the absorption process was independent from P-gp protein. The results provide scientific reference and an experimental basis for the development of Mongolian medical prescriptions containing Sophorae Flavescentis Radix.

Toxicity and repellent activity of essential oil from Mentha piperita Linn. leaves and its major monoterpenoids against three stored product insects.

The essential oil (EO) from leaves of Mentha piperita was extracted by hydrodistillation. Twenty-one chemical components, accounting for 97.5% of the total oil, were determined by GC-MS and GC-FID. The major chemical components included menthol (41.6%), L-menthone (24.7%), isomenthol (6.3%), and limonene (5.0%). The bioactivity of the obtained EO and its two major components against Tribolium castaneum, Lasioderma serricorne, and Liposcelis bostrychophila adults were evaluated by fumigation, contact, and repellent activity bioassay. The EO showed significant fumigation and contact toxicity against T. castaneum (LC50 = 18.1 mg/L air and LD50 = 2.9 µg/adult, respectively), L. serricorne (LC50 = 68.4 mg/L air and LD50 = 12.6 µg/adult, respectively), and L. bostrychophila (LC50 = 0.6 mg/L air and LD50 = 49.8 µg/adult, respectively) adults. Meanwhile, the repellent effect of the EO on T. castaneum and L. serricorne adults was comparable to that of the positive control at the highest tested concentration. Menthol and L-menthone were two major components in total oil. Among them, L-menthone exhibited significant insecticidal activity on target insects, and menthol showed notable repellent effects. The results indicated that the EO of M. piperita leaves and two tested components have potential to be developed as natural insecticides and repellents for the control of stored product insect pests. Graphical abstract.

Contact toxicity and repellent efficacy of Valerianaceae spp. to three stored-product insects and synergistic interactions between two major compounds camphene and bornyl acetate.

In this work, the essential oil (EO) and supercritical CO2 fluid extract (SF extract) of four Valerianaceae plants (Valeriana officinalis L., Valeriana officinalis L. var. latifolia Miq., Valeriana jatamansi Jones and Nardostachys chinensis Bat.) were chemically characterized. GC-MS analysis identified 74 compounds, representing 35.2%-82.4% of the total EOs and SF extracts. The EO was dominated by low-molecular-weight components while the SF extract was rich in fatty acids. Bornyl acetate and camphene were the characteristic compounds in EO and SF extracts. The efficacy of six extracts against three stored-product insects was investigated. In contact assays, V. officinalis exhibited strongest toxicity to red flour beetle (LD50 = 10.0 µg/adult), and V. jatamansi EO was the most active one against the cigarette beetle (LD50 = 17.6 µg/adult), while V. officinalis var. latifolia EO showed outstanding efficacy against the booklouse (LD50 = 40.2 µg/cm2). Binary mixtures of two major compounds (camphene and bornyl acetate) were assessed for the contact toxicity to the red flour beetle. Additive effect existed in the natural proportion of V. officinalis, and synergism was observed in that of V. officinalis var. latifolia. This work confirmed the insecticidal efficacy of the species of the Valerianaceae family, and it would offer some information for the development of botanical insecticide.

SSR-based Analysis of Genetic Diversity and Quality Trait-related Markers of 69 Picria felterrae Germplasm Samples / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective::Sixty-nine germplasm samples of Picria felterrae collected from the main producing areas in Guangxi were subject to genetic diversity and genetic relationship analyses using the simple seguence repeat(SSR) molecular marker technology and good germplasm genes associated with the content of picfeltarraenins were screened so as to provide references for germplasm resource evaluation, phylogenetic analysis, and molecular mark assisted breeding of that species. Method::20 pairs of randomly selected primers were amplified based on the transcriptome sequencing technology. The genetic diversity of and genetic relationship between the 69 samples were analyzed using the genetic polymorphic information for each marker locus, and one-variable linear regression and multiple stepwise regression analyses were performed to screen molecular markers associated with the content of picfeltarraenins. Result::The amplification using the 20 pairs of SSR primers produced 76 alleles, 3.8 alleles for each locus on average, higher than effective alleles (1.969 2), and the rare allele rate was 38.2%, suggesting that the alleles distributed unequally. The polymorphism rates of alleles varied between 0-59%, with an average of 38.24%, showing a great difference among loci. The polymorphic information content (PIC) varied between 0-0.621 1, with an average of 0.378 0.Shannon polymorphic information index varied between 0-1.240 1, with an average of 0.759.Nei's gene diversity index (Nei) varied between 0-0.682 3, with an average of 0.440 9.P21 had the highest level accompanied with the lowest P7 for the above three indexes, and significant genetic diversity differences were identified among the loci. For all loci, the mean observed heterozygosity was 0.382 4, lower than the average expected heterozygosity of 0.442 5, suggesting the loss of heterozygosity, the average genetic differentiation coefficient (Fst) was 0.365 9 and the average gene flow Nm was 0.433 2, suggesting a high genetic divergence and a low gene flow. The results of one-variable linear regression and multiple stepwise regression showed that there were 5 loci related to each of the picfeltarraenin IA and IB, and only 1 loci was associated with the content of both. Conclusion::There were significant differences in the genetic diversity of 20 SSR marker sites, and the 69 germplasm samples were greatly genetically differentiated and had low gene flow. From the selected 20 SSR markers 9 marker loci associated with the content of picfeltarraenin IA and IB were selected. The results can be used as a reference for phylogenetic analysis and selective breeding of Picria felterrae.