Chemistry, Bioactivity, and Prediction of the Quality Marker (Q-Marker) of Ferula Plants in China: A Review.

The genus of Ferula belongs to the family Apiaceae, and many Ferula plants are used as traditional Chinese medicines. Ferula plants were initially identified as early as the "Newly Revised Materia Medica" written in the Tang Dynasty (AD 659), and several of them are also recognized as the traditional medicines of the Uygur, Kazakh, and Mongolian. Ferula plants are distributed in China, Russia, India, Africa, Central Asia, and other places. Currently, the chemical components derived from Ferula plants are mainly coumarins, sesquiterpenes, and volatile oils. Ferula plants can exhibit diverse pharmacological activities such as anti-allergy, analgesia, relieving cough, anticoagulation, and anti-tumor. Therefore, this article summarized the domestic research conducted on the genus Ferula, appropriately combines the research status of the foreign genus Ferula, and describes the chemical composition, biological activity, toxicity issues, and Q-marker prediction. In addition, all the related studies about the genus Ferula are summarized by analyzing the various databases such as CNKI, Wanfang data, PubChem and SciFinder.

Structural characterization and in vitro hepatoprotective activity of a novel antioxidant polysaccharide from fruiting bodies of the mushroom Pleurotus ferulae.

In the present study, three novel antioxidant polysaccharides (G-1, AG-1, and AG-2) were isolated and purified from Pleurotus ferulae using mouse erythrocyte hemolysis inhibitory activity as an indicator. These components showed antioxidant activity at the chemical and cellular levels. Given that G-1 displayed superior performance in protecting the human hepatocyte L02 cells against oxidative damage caused by H2O2 compared to AG-1 and AG-2 and had a higher yield and purification rate, the detailed structure of G-1 was further characterized. G-1 mainly contains six kinds of linkage type units as A: →4,6)-α-d-Glcp-(1→, B: →3)-ß-d-Glcp-(1→, C: →2,6)-ß-d-Glcp-(1→, d: ß-d-Manp(1→, E: →6)-ß-d-Galp-(1→, F: →4)-ß-d-Glcp-(1→. Finally, the potential in vitro hepatoprotective mechanism of G-1 was discussed and elucidated. Results suggested that G-1 can protect L02 cells from H2O2-induced damage by reducing the leakage of AST and ALT from the cytoplasm, enhancing the activities of SOD and CAT, and suppressing lipid peroxidation and production of LDH. G-1 could further reduce the production of ROS, stabilize mitochondrial membrane potential and maintain cell morphology. Hence, G-1 could be a valuable functional food with antioxidant and hepatoprotective activities.