Traditional Chinese medicine network pharmacology: development in new era under guidance of network pharmacology evaluation method guidance / 中国中药杂志

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) has unique advantages in the prevention and treatment of diseases owing to its holistic view and more than 2 000 years of experience in the clinical use of natural medicine. The "holistic" characteristic of TCM gives birth to a new generation of research paradigm featuring "network" and "system", which has been developing rapidly in the era of biomedical big data and artificial intelligence. Network pharmacology, a representative research field, provides new ideas and methods for the research of the interdiscipline of artificial intelligence and medicine, the analysis of massive biomedical data, and the transformation from data to knowledge. TCM plays an important role in proposing the core theory of "network target" and promoting the establishment and development of network pharmacology, and has taken the lead in formulating the first international standard of network pharmacology--Network Pharmacology Evaluation Method Guidance. In terms of theory, network target can systematically link drugs and diseases and quantitatively interpret the overall regulatory mechanism of drugs. In the aspect of method, network pharmacology is developing towards a research model that combines computational, experimental, and clinical approaches. This review introduces the resent important progress of TCM network pharmacology in predicting drug targets, understanding the biological basis of drugs and diseases, and searching for disease and syndrome biomarkers. Under the guidance of Network Pharmacology Evaluation Method Guidance, the development of network pharmacology is expected to become more and more standardized and healthy. Network target will help produce more high-quality research outcomes in TCM and effectively boost the modernization and internationalization of TCM.

In vitro anti-platelet aggregation effects of fourteen fruits and vegetables

In the present study, the anti-platelet aggregation activity of 14 vegetables and fruits was tested in vitro. The aqueous, 90% ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts, as well as concentrated juices of 14 foods [fruits and vegetables] were prepared, and the anti-platelet aggregation activity of those extracts was analyzed on a platelet aggregation analyzer in vitro with adenosine 5'-diphosphate [ADP], bovine thrombin [THR] and arachidonic acid [AA] as aggregation inducers, respectively. Aspirin [ASP] was used as the positive control. A number of the tested foods had inhibitory effects in concentration-dependent manner on platelet aggregations induced by various agonists. Especially, some foods such as lemon, leek, garlic, scallion, ginger, tomato and grapefruit showed good anti-platelet aggregation effect similar or higher than that of positive control group i.e. aspirin [ASP]. The results of present study provide scientific reference for reasonable selection of daily dietary with supplementary curative effects or prevention of cardiovascular diseases [CVD]

SDS-PAGE and 2-DE protein profiles of Ganoderma lucidum from different origins

Ganoderma lucidum [Chizhi in Chinese] is one of the most valuable and widely used medicinal fungi in traditional Chinese medicines [TCMs]. Most of previous studies were focused on the triterpenoids and polysaccharides of G. lucidum, whereas less attention had been paid on the protein, which is another bioactive compound in it. In the present study, protein maps of fourteen G. lucidum samples were comprehensively analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate - polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis [SDS-PAGE] and two-dimensional electrophoresis [2-DE]. The results indicated that there were significant differences in protein profiles of G. lucidum samples from different origins. Furthermore, previous reported bioactive proteins from the fruiting bodies of G. lucidum, were mainly distributed in 4 taxa [A, B, C and D] based on their molecular weights on the 2-DE maps. The proteins should be considered as marker for the quality control of G. lucidum, because the proteomic variation may affect on their pharmacological activities

Synergistic effects of Chuanxiong-Chishao herb-pair on promoting angiogenesis at network pharmacological and pharmacodynamic levels / 中国结合医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the synergistic effects of Chuanxiong-Chishao herb-pair (CCHP) on promoting angiogenesis in silico and in vivo.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The mechanisms of action of an herb-pair, Chuanxiong-Chishao, were investigated using the network pharmacological and pharmacodynamic strategies involving computational drug target prediction and network analysis, and experimental validation. A set of network pharmacology methods were created to study the herbs in the context of targets and diseases networks, including prediction of target profiles and pharmacological actions of main active compounds in Chuanxiong and Chishao. Furthermore, the therapeutic effects and putative molecular mechanisms of Chuanxiong-Chishao actions were experimentally validated in a chemical-induced vascular insuffificiency model of transgenic zebrafifish in vivo. The mRNA expression of the predicted targets were further analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The computational prediction results found that the compounds in Chuanxiong have antithrombotic, antihypertensive, antiarrhythmic, and antiatherosclerotic activities, which were closely related to protecting against hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction and heart failure. In addition, compounds in Chishao were found to participate in anti-inflflammatory effect and analgesics. Particularly, estrogen receptor α (ESRα) and hypoxia-inducible factor 1-α (HIF-1α) were the most important potential protein targets in the predicted results. In vivo experimental validation showed that post-treatment of tetramethylpyrazine hydrochloride (TMP•HCl) and paeoniflorin (PF) promoted the regeneration of new blood vessels in zebrafifish involving up-regulating ESRα mRNA expression. Co-treatment of TMP•HCl and PF could enhance the vessel sprouting in chemical-induced vascular insuffificiency zebrafifish at the optimal compatibility proportion of PF 10 μmol/L with TMP•HCl 1 μmol/L.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The network pharmacological strategies combining drug target prediction and network analysis identified some putative targets of CCHP. Moreover, the transgenic zebrafifish experiments demonstrated that the Chuanxiong-Chishao combination synergistically promoted angiogenic activity, probably involving ESRα signaling pathway.</p>

Integrating qualitative and quantitative characterization of Prunellae Spica by HPLC-QTOF/MS and HPLC-ELSD / 中国天然药物

The present study was designed to analyze the major constituents in Prunellae Spica and establish a method for simultaneous determination of two constituents contained in Prunellae Spica. High performance liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-QTOF-MS/MS) technique was used to identify the constituents in the extractive of Prunellae Spica. High performance liquid chromatography coupled with evaporative light scattering detection (HPLC-ELSD) was used to simultaneously quantify two kinds of constituents contained in Prunellae Spica. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to compare the similarity and difference among samples from different regions of China. In the present study, 22 compounds were identified and some new fragmental pathways of triterpenic acids were discovered. An accurate and reliable HPLC-ELSD method was developed and validated for the first time to simultaneously quantify multiple constituents, including rosmarinic acid, maslinic acid, corosolic acid, betulin, oleanolic acid, and ursolic acid in the extract of Prunellae Spica. (PCA) revealed some similarities and differences among different samples from different regions of China. In conclusion, our results from this study would be helpful in establishing a scientific and rational quality control method for Prunellae Spica.

Mechanism study on preventive and curative effects of buyang huanwu decoction in Qi deficiency and blood stasis diseases based on network analysis / 中国中药杂志

In this study, researchers adopted the network analysis method to study Buyang Huanwu decoction at three levels, namely chemical ingredients, targets and diseases, and discovered the potential effect of Buyang Huanwu decoction in cancer treatment. Besides, they analyzed the "target-target" network of Buyang Huanwu decoction based on diseases, calculated four network indexes, namely node centrality, closeness centrality, betweenness centrality and eigenvector centrality for a comprehensive evaluation on the importance and significance of each target in the network. Afterwards, key targets of Buyang Huanwu decoction were excavated to obtain two important targets--COX-2 and PPAR-gamma, which may be important targets involved in the qi deficiency and blood stasis diseases. Meanwhile, the two targets were the basis to build the core network of "chemical component-target-disease" of Buyang Huanwu decoction, which provided reference for further studies on the effect of Buyang Huanwu decoction in treating qi deficiency and blood stasis diseases. According to the study, the network analysis method was helpful to excavate potential targets Buyang Huanwu decoction in treating qi deficiency and blood stasis diseases, and could provide methodological reference for revealing the mechanism of Buyang Huanwu decoction at multiple levels, with a guiding significance for interpreting mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicinal formulae and developing new drugs.

Globalization of acupuncture technology innovation: a quantitative analysis based on acupuncture patents in the U.S.A / 中国针灸

The structure of international flow of acupuncture knowledge was explored in this article so as to promote the globalization of acupuncture technology innovation. Statistical methods were adopted to reveal geographical distribution of acupuncture patents in the U.S.A. and the influencing factors of cumulative advantage of acupuncture techniques as well as innovation value of application of acupuncture patents. Social network analysis was also utilized to establish a global innovation network of acupuncture technology. The result shows that the cumulative strength on acupuncture technology correlates with the patent retention period. The innovative value of acupuncture invention correlates with the frequency of patent citation. And the U. S. A. and Canada seize central positions in the global acupuncture information and technology delivery system.