[Mechanism of Cordyceps militaris against non-small cell lung cancer: based on serum metabolomics].

This study investigated the potential mechanism of Cordyceps militaris(CM) against non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) based on serum untargeted metabolomics. Specifically, Balb/c nude mice were used to generate the human lung cancer A549 xenograft mouse model. The tumor volume, tumor weight, and tumor inhibition rate in mice in the model, cisplatin, Cordyceps(low-, medium-, and high-dose), and CM(low-, medium-, and high-dose) groups were compared to evaluate the influence of CM on lung cancer. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS) was used for the analysis of mouse serum, SIMCA 13.0 for the compa-rison of metabolic profiles, and MetaboAnalyst 5.0 for the analysis of metabolic pathways. According to the pharmacodynamic data, the tumor volume and tumor weight of mice in high-dose CM group and cisplatin group decreased as compared with those in the model group(P<0.05 or P<0.01). The results of serum metabolomics showed that the metabolic profiles of the model group were significantly different from those of the high-dose CM group, and the content of endogenous metabolites was adjusted to different degrees. A total of 42 differential metabolites and 7 differential metabolic pathways were identified. In conclusion, CM could significantly inhibit the tumor growth of lung cancer xenograft mice. The mechanism is the likelihood that it influences the aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, the metabolism of D-glutamine and D-glutamate, metabolism of alanine, aspartate, and glutamate, metabolism of glyoxylate and dicarboxylic acid, biosynthesis of phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan, arginine biosynthesis as well as nitrogen metabolism. This study elucidated the underlying mechanism of CM against NSCLC from the point of metabolites. The results would lay a foundation for the anticancer research and clinical application of CM.

Information integration research on cumulative effect of 'Siqi, Wuwei, and Guijing' in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

OBJECTIVE: To study the morphological basis of the role of Siqi (cold as winter, cool as autumn, warm as spring, hot as summer), Wuwei (five flavors: sweet, pungent, salty, sour, and bitter), and Guijing (meridian tropism) through the use of information integration. METHODS: A 14C-2-deoxy-glucose autoradiography method was adopted to determine the overall impact of treatment with 39 herbs on functions of various tissues and organs. Data was measured at 4 hs after a single dose and following the last treatment of repeated doses for a week. Least-squares estimation was used and fitted for each herb regression effect of organs and tissues after single and repeated treatment. The slope of the regression line represented the cumulative trend of the effect of the herbs (ß), and the standard deviation of the slope (Sß) was compared with those of the untreated animals (t 'test). All significantly cumulative effect trends were applied with an artificial neural network, which integrated the relationship among Siqi, Wuwei, and Guijing with tissues and organs. RESULTS: There is a certain relationship among the Siqi, Wuwei, Guijing and the anatomy of organs and tissues, but the different scores indicate that influence of Siqi, Wuwei, Guijing to anatomy of organs and tissues was a nonlinear state. CONCLUSION: Results demonstrated that the effects of Siqi, Wuwei, and Guijing have a morphological basis, and each concept was associated with multiple anatomical structures.