Anti-depressant components and mechanism of Rehmanniae Radix based on UPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS and network pharmacology / 中国中药杂志

This study aimed to explore the anti-depressant components of Rehmanniae Radix and its action mechanism based on network pharmacology combined with molecular docking. The main components of Rehmanniae Radix were identified by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole/Orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS), and the related targets were predicted using SwissTargetPrediction. Following the collection of depression-related targets from GeneCards, OMIM and TTD, a protein-protein interaction(PPI) network was constructed using STRING. GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis was performed by Metascape. Cytoscape 3.7.2 was used to construct the networks of "components-targets-disease" and "components-targets-pathways", based on which the key targets and their corresponding components were obtained and then preliminarily verified by molecular docking. Rehmanniae Radix contained 85 components including iridoids, ionones, and phenylethanoid glycosides. The results of network analysis showed that the main anti-depressant components of Rehmanniae Radix were catalpol, melittoside, genameside C, gardoside, 6-O-p-coumaroyl ajugol, genipin-1-gentiobioside, jiocarotenoside A1, neo-rehmannioside, rehmannioside C, jionoside C, jionoside D, verbascoside, rehmannioside, cistanoside F, and leucosceptoside A, corresponding to the following 16 core anti-depression targets: AKT1, ALB, IL6, APP, MAPK1, CXCL8, VEGFA, TNF, HSP90 AA1, SIRT1, CNR1, CTNNB1, OPRM1, DRD2, ESR1, and SLC6 A4. As revealed by molecular docking, hydrogen bonding and hydrophobicity might be the main action forms. The key anti-depression targets of Rehmanniae Radix were concentrated in 24 signaling pathways, including neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, neurodegenerative disease-multiple diseases pathway, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B pathway, serotonergic synapse, and Alzheimer's disease.

Formulation optimization of emodin nanostructured lipid carriers by Box-Behnken response surface method and in vitro quality evaluation / 中国中药杂志

Emodin nanostructured lipid carriers(ED-NLC) were prepared and their quality was evaluated in vitro. Based on the results of single-factor experiments, the ED-NLC formulation was optimized by Box-Behnken response surface method with the dosages of emodin, isopropyl myristate and poloxamer 188 as factors and the nanoparticle size, encapsulation efficiency and drug loading as evaluation indexes. Then the evaluation was performed on the morphology, size and in vitro release of the nanoparticles prepared by emulsification-ultrasonic dispersion method in line with the optimal formulation, i.e., 3.27 mg emodin, 148.68 mg isopropyl myristate and 173.48 mg poloxamer 188. Under a transmission electron microscope(TEM), ED-NLC were spherical and their particle size distribution was uniform. The particle size of ED-NLC was(97.02±1.55) nm, the polymer dispersion index 0.21±0.01, the zeta potential(-38.96±0.65) mV, the encapsulation efficiency 90.41%±0.56% and the drug loading 1.55%±0.01%. The results of differential scanning calorimeter(DSC) indicated that emodin may be encapsulated into the nanostructured lipid carriers in molecular or amorphous form. In vitro drug release had obvious characteristics of slow release, which accorded with the first-order drug release equation. The fitting model of Box-Behnken response surface methodology was proved accurate and reliable. The optimal formulation-based ED-NLC featured concentrated particle size distribution and high encapsulation efficiency, which laid a foundation for the follow-up study of ED-NLC in vivo.

Simultaneous Determination of Eleven Active Constituents in Zhenwutang Decoction by HPLC / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE： To establish a method for simultaneous determination of eleven active constituents in Zhenwutang decoction， such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural， （+）-cianidanol， paeoniflorin， benzoylaconitine， benzoylhypacoitine， benzoylpaeoniflorin， 6-gingerol， 8-gingerol， atractylenolide Ⅱ， 6-shogaol and pachymic acid. METHODS： HPLC method was adopted. The separation was performed on Phenomenex Kinetex C18 column with mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile-0.2 ％ phosphoric acid solution（gradient elution） at flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The detection wavelength was set at 285 nm （4.4-7 min， 5-hydroxymethylfurfural）， 203 nm [7-12 min，（+）-cianidanol]， 233 nm （12-50 min，paeoniflorin， benzoylaconitine， benzoylhypacoitine， benzoylpaeoni- florin）， 200 nm （50-62.3 min， 6-gingerol， 8-gingerol； 62.9-90 min， 6-shogaol， pachymic acid） and 222 nm （62.3-62.9 min， atractylenolide Ⅱ）. The column temperature was set at 35 ℃， and the sample size was 20 μL. RESULTS： The linear ranges of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural， （+） -cianidanol， paeoniflorin， benzoylaconitine， benzoylhypacoitine， benzoylpaeoniflorin， 6-gingerol， 8-gingerol， atractylenolide Ⅱ， 6-shogaol， pachymic acid were 0.62-12.47 μg/mL （r＝0.999 6），2.36-47.25 μg/mL （r＝0.999 7），200.80-4 016 μg/mL （r＝0.999 7），4.45-89.04 μg/mL （r＝0.999 6），4.28-85.54 μg/mL （r＝0.999 5），5.16-103.13 μg/mL （r＝0.999 9），5.53-110.66 μg/mL （r＝0.999 9），0.84-16.89 μg/mL （r＝0.999 8），0.60-12.04 μg/mL （r＝0.999 9），0.53-10.62 μg/mL （r＝0.999 5），1.04-20.78 μg/mL （r＝0.999 7）， respectively. The limits of quantitation were 0.155， 0.590， 1.210， 1.112， 1.070， 0.258， 0.553， 0.421， 0.153， 0.354， 0.431 μg/mL， respectively. The limits of detection were 0.047， 0.179， 0.134， 0.337， 0.324， 0.078， 0.168， 0.128， 0.046， 0.107， 0.131 μg/mL， respectively. RSDs of precision， stability and reproducibility tests were all lower than 3％. The average recovery rates were 96.06％-103.01％（RSD＝2.64％，n＝6）， 95.11％-101.57％（RSD＝2.58％，n＝6）， 97.22％-102.11％（RSD＝1.93％，n＝6）， 96.43％-102.78％（RSD＝2.35％，n＝6）， 96.42％-101.43％（RSD＝2.15％，n＝6）， 96.86％-102.05％（RSD＝2.10％，n＝6）， 95.32％-100.55％（RSD＝1.87％，n＝6）， 97.04％-103.25％（RSD＝2.22％，n＝6）， 96.78％-103.22％（RSD＝2.62％，n＝6）， 97.04％-103.14％（RSD＝2.28％，n＝6）， 97.08％-103.51％（RSD＝2.94％，n＝6）， respectively. CONCLUSIONS： The method is accurate and specific， and suitable for simultaneous determination 11 active components of Zhenwutang decoction.

Quantitative analysis of 16 components in Cyclocarya paliurus leaf by UPLC-QE-Orbitrap-MS / 中国中药杂志

Modern research showed that components in the dried leaf of Cyclocarya paliurus. had various biological activities. The current quality control research was focused on content determination of polysaccharides and flavonoids, while there were less research on quantitative analysis of terpenes and phenolic acids. In this paper, the contents of 16 components of 3 kinds in C. paliurus leaf were determined by UPLC-QE-Orbitrap-MS. The results were as following: good linear relationship of 16 analytes existed within the studied concentration rages (²>0.996), and RSDs were of <3.0% in the precision test and replicate test, with the average recovery rates 95.20%-104.4%, respectively. The results indicatod that the method is simple and accurate, which can be used for the comprehensive quality evaluation of C. paliurus leaf. The established method was applied to determine the contents of 12 batches of C. paliurus leaf from different areas, and the 16 analvtes contents in the samples could be different from several times to dozens times, which indicated that there might be significant quality difference in C. paliurus leaf from different areas.

Effect of cyclosporine A on the pharmacokinetics of ginkgolide B in rats / 药学学报

The paper is aimed to investigate the effect of cyclosporine A (CyA) on the pharmacokinetics of ginkgolide B (GB) in rats, and to look for the mechanism of the changes in pharmacokinetic behaviors of GB. GB concentration in plasma, brain homogenate and urine samples of rats was determined by LC-MS. Effects of CyA on plasma levels, brain distributions as well as urinary excretions after intravenous administration of GB were evaluated. CyA co administrated intravenously at 10 mg kg(-1) or 20 mg kg(-1) significantly increased AUC(0-360 min) (P < 0.01) and decreased total CL of GB in rats. While co administrated CYP3A inhibitor itraconazole (ICZ) has no appreciable effect on the pharmacokinetic behavior of GB. CyA increased the brain uptake of GB in a dose-dependent manner. The brain distribution of GB was significantly increased at 5 min by different doses of CyA (P < 0.001), while at 20 and 60 min only high dose of CyA could significantly increase the levels of GB in the brain (P < 0.01 and P < 0.001). Different P-gp inhibitors CyA or verapamil (VER) or digoxin (DGX) decreased the urinary GB excretion, the urinary excretion of GB in 0-8 h were about 34.8% (P < 0.001), 59.4% (P < 0.001) and 79.7% (P < 0.05) of the control, separately. No appreciable effect of ICZ was observed on urinary excretion of GB. Coadministration of P-gp inhibitors CyA could significantly increase the plasma level, accelerate the brain distribution and decrease the urinary excretion of GB.