Research on anti-tumor natural product diosgenin / 中国中药杂志

Diosgenin is widely distributed in many plants, such as Polygonatum sibiricum, Paris polyphylla, Dioscorea oppositifolia, Trigonella foenum-graecum, Costus speciosus, Tacca chantrieri, which has good anti-tumor activity and preferable effects on preventing atherosclerosis, protecting the heart, treating diabetes, etc. This review combed through the anti-tumor mechanisms of diosgenin encompassing lung, breast, gallbladder, liver, oral cavity, stomach, bladder, bone marrow, etc. Besides, it was discovered that diosgenin mainly exerts its effect by inhibiting tumor cell migration, suppressing tumor cell proliferation and growth, and inducing cell apoptosis. However, problems like low yield and bioavailability frequently exist in natural diosgenin. This review introduced methods such as structural modification, dosage form optimization and combination medication to improve the yield and anti-tumor activity of diosgenin. Via the summary of this paper, it is expected to provide theoretical basis for the rational exploitation and utilization of diosgenin.

Graded ethanol precipitation method on physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities of polysaccharides extracted from Astragalus Radix / 中国中药杂志

Astragalus polysaccharide has been widely used in food and medicinal industry owing to its health-promoting properties. In order to characterize better the relationship among molecular weight, structure-activity and activities, a simple method was used different concentration of ethanol including 30% (PW30), 50% (PW50), 70% (PW70), 75% (PW75), 80% (PW80) and 90% (PW90) to precipitate Astragalus polysaccharides into different molecular weight. As a result, PW90 showed smooth surface and the strongest antioxidant activity among these six fractions (P < 0.05). In conclusion, graded ethanol precipitation was a simple method to separate Astragalus polysaccharides into different molecular weight with different antioxidant activity fractions.

Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Structure-Cytotoxicity Relationship of Paridis Rhizome Saponin / 中草药·英文版

The rhizomes of Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis and P. polyphylla var. chinensis are used as traditional herbal medicines in many parts of China. The Paridis Rhizome saponin (PRS), as the active ingredient, has played an important role in hemostasis, antibacterial action, and inflammation counteraction, bearing some analogy to Gongxuening and Yunnanbaiyao in efficacy. Modern pharmacological experiments have proved that PRS possesses two main sapogenins: diosgenin and pennogenin, which could provide a lot of clinical treatment effects (anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, anti-apoptosis, anti-metastasis, and immunostimulant, etc.). In the past, several main steroid saponins have been studied in a number of randomized controlled trials for their effects and mechanisms mainly on antitumor performance. The extensive results have demonstrated that PRS was an effective group of active components to antitumor clinical trials. In this article, we reviewed the reported phytochemical, pharmacological, and toxicological properties of PRS and compared the structure-cytotoxicity relationship of PRS in antitumor effects. © 2013 Tianjin Press of Chinese Herbal Medicines.

Regularity of drugs compatibility of anti-hepatoma traditional Chinese medicine ancient prescriptions and risk evaluation of anti-hepatoma new drug research and development / 中国中药杂志

Traditional Chinese ancient prescriptions have been used for treatment of liver cancer for a long history and the scientific and rational compatibility is a great wealth for modern research and development (R&D) of new drugs. The research and development of new drugs are often accompanied with a large investment, a long cycle and a high risk, especially for the anti-tumor drugs R&D which are facing more risks and lower successful rate. In this research, the regularity of compatibility of drugs was analyzed from 124 anti-hepatoma ancient prescriptions by computer program. The results can offer help to the R&D of anti-hepatoma new drugs and reduce the risk of drug screening. In addition, we surveyed 22 companies in this field from six provinces such as Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and so on and obtained 240 risk assessment questionaires. Then we used qualitative analysis method to interpret the greatest impacts for the risks in the process of R&D, production and sales of anti-hepatoma new drugs. The study provides a basis for anti-liver cancer drugs R&D researchers, who can take effective measures to reduce the R&D risks and improve successful rate.

Dynamic monitoring risk of anti-hepatoma new drug development / 中国中药杂志

Risk monitoring of new Chinese patent anti-hepatoma drugs is tracking recognized risks and residual risks, identifying emerging risk and ensure the implementation of the plan, estimating the process of reducing effectiveness. The paper is mainly through understanding the status of Chinese patent anti-hepatoma drugs, the content, characteristic and analysis method of dynamic risk monitoring, and then select the risk control indicators, collect risk information. Finally, puts forward the thought of anti-hepatoma drugs listed evaluation in our country, and try to establish the model of dynamic risk management of anti-hepatoma drugs.

Protective effects of astragalus extract against intermittent hypoxia-induced hippocampal neurons impairment in rats / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Intermittent hypoxia is the main pathophysiological cause of the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Astragalus shows improvement of spatial learning and memory abilities under intermittent hypoxia. Our study aimed to investigate the protective effect of astragalus against intermittent hypoxia induced-hippocampal neurons impairment in rats and lay the theoretical foundation for the sleep apnea improvement in cognitive function by astragalus.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups: blank control group, normoxia group, intermittent hypoxia group and astragalus treated intermittent hypoxia group. After 6-week treatment, apoptosis of neurons was evaluated by terminal deoxynucleotidyl-transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) assay. Furthermore, the expression of HIF-1a was detected by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) at the mRNA level as well as by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Western blotting at the protein level.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>HPLC analysis indicated that astragaloside IV, astragaloside II and astragaloside I were the main compounds in astragals extract. Astragalus extract reduced the apoptosis of hippocampal neurons (P < 0.05) and decreased the expression of HIF-1a at both the mRNA and protein levels in hippocampus compared with non-treated groups (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Astragalus protects against intermittent hypoxia-induced hippocampal neurons impairment in rats.</p>

Chemical composition and pharmacological activities of astragali radix / 中国中药杂志

Astragali Radix, as a tonic with a long history, is one of the most common traditional Chinese medicines. Recently, chemical composition and pharmacological activities of Astragali Radix have been widely reported. Polysaccharide, triterpenes and flavonoids are regarded to its effective components. Pharmacological experiments and clinical reports show that Astragali Radix has good effects on immune-regulation, anti-tumor, anti-virus, diabetes, anti-aging and so on. Therefore, it shows a good prospect to make good use of its effective components.