Research progress on therapeutic targets of active components in Chinese herbs for treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease / 中国中药杂志

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD) is a kind of metabolic liver injury, which is closely associated with insulin resistance and genetic susceptibility. Traditional Chinese herbs used in the treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease are widely investigated in recent years. A series of recent studies show that the effects of the active components in traditional Chinese herbs on NAFLD are associated with activating AMPK signaling pathway, improving insulin resistance, modulating the activity and expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities and regulating intestinal flora. In this review, the potential therapeutic targets of the active components from traditional Chinese herbs for NAFLD would be summarized to provide a new thought for further research and clinical treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

The estrogen-like protective effect of ginsenoside Rb3 on oxidative stress and dysfunction of endothelial cells induced by oxidized low-density lipoprotein / 药学学报

Ginsenoside Rb3 (GRb3) is one of the main components in plasma of Panax quinquefolius Saponin of stem and leaf (PQS), which can be into human plasma. Previous studies have found PQS has estrogen-like vascular protective effects. In the present study, we investigated the estrogen-like protective effect of GRb3 on oxidative stress and dysfunction of endothelial cells induced by oxidized low-density lipoprotein. The activities of SOD, NOS and the contents of MDA in the cell lysate were examined by enzyme method or spectrophotometry. The NO and ET-1 concentrations in the cell culture supernatant were measured by ELISA method. The iNOS and eNOS mRNA expression were measured by real time RT-PCR, while the phosphorylation levels of Akt was measured by Western blotting. The results showed that GRb3 could enhance the activity of SOD, reduce the content of MDA, increase the level of NOS, NO, ET-1 and iNOS mRNA expression while decrease the eNOS mRNA expression and the phosphorylation level of Akt. These effects were blocked by estrogen receptor antagonist ICI182780. GRb3 can play a role in protecting vascular endothelial cells by estrogen receptors, the protective mechanism is similar to 17-β estrodiol.