Prevention, treatment and potential mechanism of herbal medicine for Corona viruses: A review.

The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the SARS-coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2) virus has become the greatest global public health crisis in recent years,and the COVID-19 epidemic is still continuing. However, due to the lack of effectivetherapeutic drugs, the treatment of corona viruses is facing huge challenges. In thiscontext, countries with a tradition of using herbal medicine such as China have beenwidely using herbal medicine for prevention and nonspecific treatment of corona virusesand achieved good responses. In this review, we will introduce the application of herbalmedicine in the treatment of corona virus patients in China and other countries, andreview the progress of related molecular mechanisms and antiviral activity ingredients ofherbal medicine, in order to provide a reference for herbal medicine in the treatment ofcorona viruses. We found that herbal medicines are used in the prevention and fightagainst COVID-19 in countries on all continents. In China, herbal medicine has beenreported to relieve some of the clinical symptoms of mild patients and shorten the length of hospital stay. However, as most herbal medicines for the clinical treatment of COVID-19still lack rigorous clinical trials, the clinical and economic value of herbal medicines in theprevention and treatment of COVID-19 has not been fully evaluated. Future work basedon large-scale randomized, double-blind clinical trials to evaluate herbal medicines andtheir active ingredients in the treatment of new COVID-19 will be very meaningful.

Genistein stimulates the osteoblastic differentiation via NO/cGMP in bone marrow culture.

The soybean phytoestrogen, genistein (Gen), has anabolic effects on bone through mechanisms that remain to be elucidated. We examined the role of nitric oxide (NO) and its downstream effector guanylyl cyclase (GC) in mediating the effects of Gen on the proliferation and osteoblastic maturation of primary mouse bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). Gen (10(-8) approximately 10(-6) M) resulted in a dose-dependent increase in cell proliferation as measured by increased [3H]thymidine incorporation, and stimulated osteoblastic maturation as assessed by culture duration-dependent increments in alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, calcium deposition into extracellular matrix and Runx2/Cbfa1 gene expression in BMSCs cultures. Gen also resulted in a dose-dependent increase in NO synthase (NOS) activity, NO formation, and cGMP production in BMSCs cultures. The effects of Gen were mimicked by 17beta-estradiol (E2, 10(-8) M). Concurrent treatment with the estrogen receptor (ER) antagonist ICI182,780 (10(-7) M) or the NOS inhibitor L-NAME (3 x 10(-3) M) diminished the Gen (10(-6) M)-mediated increase in NOS activity, NO production, and cGMP content. In contrast, a soluble GC inhibitor 1H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo [4,3,-a]quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ, 10(-6) M) selectively blocked the Gen (10(-6) M)-mediated increase in cGMP content but not in NO production and NOS activity. Moreover, inhibition of ER, NOS activity or cGMP blocked Gen-induced proliferation and osteoblastic differentiation of BMSCs and Runx2/Cbfa1 gene expression in culture. Gen has estrogen-like activity and stimulates the proliferation and osteoblastic differentiation of mouse BMSCs at least in part through NO/cGMP pathway.

Phenotype distribution and gender-related differences of CYP2E1 activity in a Chinese population.

1. The aim was to investigate the phenotype distribution characteristic and gender-related differences of CYP2E1 activity in a healthy Chinese population. 2. Two hundred and three healthy Chinese subjects (105 men, 98 women) were enrolled in this study. 3. CYP2E1 activity was determined by plasma 6-hydroxychlorzoxazone-to-chlorzoxazone concentration ratio (CHZ-MR) 4h after chlorzoxazone dosing. The concentrations of 6-hydroxychlorzoxazone and chlorzoxazone in plasma were detected by reversed-phase HPLC. 4. The results showed an almost 9-fold variation of CYP2E1 activity at a range of from 0.23 to 1.99. The coefficient of variation CY % was demonstrated with skewness and kurtosis of the ratios in the studied population were 44%, 0.96 and 1.10, respectively. 5. CYP2E1 activity was normally distributed in logarithmic form of 6-OH-CHZ/CHZ as evaluated by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test of normality (p = 0.20). Probit plots of the CYP2E1 activity index of men shifted to the right as compared with that of women. The mean CHZ-MR in men was significantly higher than that in women (0.76 +/- 0.30 versus 0.60 +/- 0.28, p < 0.001), and this difference still existed when normalized by weight (0.73 +/- 0.28 versus 0.66 +/- 0.32, p = 0.016). Body weight correlated positively with CYP2E1 activity in the total group(r < 0.212, p < 0.01).

Inducibility of CYP1A2 by omeprazole in vivo related to the genetic polymorphism of CYP1A2.

AIMS: To evaluate the effect of the CYP1A2*1C and CYP1A2*1F polymorphisms on the inducibility of CYP1A2 by omeprazole in healthy subjects. METHODS: Mutations of CYP2C19 and CYP1A2 were identified by PCR-RFLP. Omeprazole, 120 mg day-1, was given to 12 extensive metabolizers (EM) with respect to CYP2C19 (six CYP1A2*1F/CYP1A2*1F and six CYP1A2*1C/CYP1A2*1F of CYP1A2) for 7 days. CYP1A2 activity was determined on three occasions, namely on day 1, day 9 and day 16 using the caffeine plasma index (the ratio of the concentrations of paraxanthine to caffeine), 6 h after oral administration of 200 mg caffeine. RESULTS: There was a significant difference (P = 0.002) between the caffeine ratios for CYP1A2*1F/CYP1A2*1F and CYP1A2*1C/CYP1A2*1F genotypes on day 9, but not on day 1 or day 16 (P > 0.05). The changes in the ratios from day 9 to day 1 (48% +/- 20%vs 19% +/- 20%) and from day 9 to day 16 (50% +/- 31%vs 15% +/- 22%) were significantly different (P < 0.05) between the CYP1A2*1F/CYP1A2*1F and CYP1A2*1C/CYP1A2*1F genotypes. CONCLUSION: The CYP1A2*1C and CYP1A2*1F genetic polymorphisms influenced the induction of CYP1A2 activity in vivo by omeprazole.

Genotype of CYP3AP1 associated with CYP3A activity in Chinese Han population.

AIM: To investigate the distribution of genotype of CYP3AP1 in Chinese Han population and the correlation with CYP3A activity. METHODS: Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was employed in CYP3AP1 genotype analysis; using midazolam as probe drug, CYP3A activity of 191 Chinese healthy subjects was measured by plasma 1'-hydroxymidazolam/midazolam (1'-OH-MDZ/MDZ) ratio at 1 h after oral administration of 7.5 mg midazolam. RESULTS: There was significant difference of CYP3A activity in different genotypes of CYP3AP1 in vivo (P <0.05). The activity of CYP3A in homozygous A(-44) (CYP3AP1*3/CYP3AP1*3) is lower than heterozygous A(-44)G (CYP3AP1*1/CYP3AP1*3), and the CYP3A activity in homozygous G(-44) (CYP3AP1*1/CYP3AP1*1) is t he highest. CONCLUSION: There was association between the genotype of CYP3AP1 and increased activity of CYP3A in vivo.