ABSTRACT
It was found that intestinal flora could directly regulate mitochondria of intestinal epithelial cells or indirectly through the nucleus. This effect is associated with the flora metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and nitric oxide (NO). These metabolites are involved in mitochondria-related energy metabolic processes and the production of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS), and even in the immune response of the whole organism. Numerous studies have also shown that intestinal flora metabolites and mitochondria have become a hot spot for research on the mechanism of action of traditional Chinese medicine, but the research on the mechanism of association between them is not yet in-depth. In this review, we summarize the mechanism of mitochondrial regulation of intestinal epithelial cells by intestinal flora metabolites and herbal interventions to provide a theoretical basis for targeting intestinal microbes and mitochondria to regulate body metabolism and health.
ABSTRACT
The quality of Astragali Radix (AR) was closely related to the growth period. However, the current commodity grades of AR were only divided by diameter but not directly related to the growth period, which leads to the contradiction between the grade standard and the quality evaluation index. Therefore, solving this problem will be the key for the quality evaluation of AR. The present study established a potential quality evaluation approach for the absolute growth years' wild Astragali Radix (WAR) and transplanted Astragali Radix (TAR) based on the chemical components and anti-heart failure efficacy through adopting a bare-handed sections approach to rapidly identify the growth years of WAR. In this study, the absolute growth years of WAR were obtained by identifying the growth rings of 1-6 growth years root through the methods. The contents of flavonoids and saponins in 2-6 growth years' WAR were determined by HPLC-UV-ELSD. The contents of 12 chemical components and the anti-fatigue failure effects of WAR (4-year-old) and TAR were compared on rat models of heart failure induced by doxorubicin. Meanwhile, NMR-based untargeted metabolomics studies were performed to investigate the regulative effects of WAR and TAR. The result shows that the numbers of growth rings were consistent with the actual growth periods of AR. The HPLC-UV-ELSD determination indicated that the content of total flavonoids in WAR was significantly higher than that in TAR. Pharmacodynamics analysis revealed that the effects of WAR on cardiac function parameters (EF, FS and LVIDs), contents of serum CK and BNP were superior to those of TAR. 13 metabolites of heart were identified that had a higher rate of change in WAR group than TAR. Overall, a rapid identification method for the growth years of WAR was established, and the fact that WAR were significantly better than TAR in the heart failure rats was first proved in the paper. This study provided a scientific basis for establishing a novel commodity specification and grade of AR for clinical rational drug use.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To explore the receiuer operating characteristic(ROC) curve mathematical statistics method to establish the content limit of isoflavones glucoside contents in Astragali Radix,in order to distinguish the difference in isoflavones glucoside content between Hengshan wild-simulated Astragali Radix in Shanxi and cultivated Astragali Radix in Gansu. Method: A total of 225 samples of 45 batches of wild-simulated Astragali Radix in Hengshan and 210 samples of 42 batches of cultivated Astragali Radix in Gansu were selected as research objects,and isoflavones glucoside contents of these samples were determined by using the method in the edition 2015 Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Data was statistically analyzed, and the ROC curve was used to determine the critical value of wild-simulated Astragali Radix in Hengshan and transplanted Astragali Radix in Gansu. Result: The average contents of isoflavones glucoside in imitative wild Astragali Radix in Henshan and cultivated Astragali Radix in Gansu were 0.107%and 0.039%respectively,with statistically significant differences(PConclusion: ROC curve can be used to distinguish the critical value of the wild-simulated Astragali Radix in Hengshan and cultivated Astragali Radix in Gansu. The results reflected the regularity of "high quality and good price" in the market. The research provided a theoretical basis for the establishment of standard of high-quality Chinese herbal medicines.
ABSTRACT
A rapid and accurate method for determination of astragaloside Ⅳ was established,which was further applied to determine the contents of astragaloside Ⅳ in 87 batches of different origin and different grade of Astragali Radix. The ROC curve was used to analyze the contents of astragaloside Ⅳ in different origin. Simultaneous contents of astragaloside Ⅳ in different grade were compared with chemometrics. HPLC-ELSD method was used to determine the contents of astragaloside Ⅳ. A Vensil MP C18 column( 4. 6 mm×250 mm,5 μm) was used with acetonitrile-water( 32 ∶68) as the mobile phase at a flow rateof 1 m L·min-1. The column temperature was 25 ℃ with ELSD parameters as follows: gas flow rate was 2. 5 L·min-1,the drift tube heating temperature was set to 105 ℃,and the gain value was 4. 0. The optimized method avoided the problem that the consumable quality unstable and the recovery rate was not high. The contents determined by the optimized method were higher than the pharmacopoeia method,with less time and high recovery rate. The ROC curve analysis showed that there was no significant difference of contents of astragaloside Ⅳ between the top grade of Shanxi wild-simulated Astragali Radix top and the first grade of Gansu cultivated Astragali Radix. The contents of astragaloside Ⅳ in the second,third and fourth grade of Shanxi wild-simulated Astragali Radix was significantly higher than those of produced from Gansu.There was a significant negative correlation between the contents of astragaloside Ⅳ and grade in Shanxi Astragali Radix. While there was no correlation for Gansu Astragali Radix. This study provided the basis for the quality grade standard of Astragali Radix.
Subject(s)
Astragalus Plant , Chemistry , Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid , Drugs, Chinese Herbal , Saponins , TriterpenesABSTRACT
This study was designed to explore the intervention of muscle fatigue in rats with Astragali Radix using 1H NMR metabolomics methods. The fatigue model was induced in rats by forced swimming plus food restriction, and the effects of Astragali Radix (3, 6 and 12 g·kg-1) were investigated using the exhaustive time of rat swimming. After 3 weeks, the gastrocnemius was collected for 1H NMR detection, and the anti-fatigue effects of Astragali Radix were explored using multivariate statistical analysis. Astragali Radix significantly improved the exhaustive swimming time of rats. Compared with control group, the levels of isoleucine, leucine, creatine, phosphatidylcholine, trimethylamine oxide, taurine, guanidinoacetate, AMP, inosine, histidine, hypoxanthine, anserine in rat gastrocnemius of model group were increased. While the levels of lactate, acetone, choline, glycerophosphocholine, glycine were decreased. These 6, 11, 5 potential biomarkers could be reversely regulated by treatment with Astragali Radix (high dose, middle dose, low dose), respectively. Metabolomics analysis revealed that Astragali Radix has a certain anti-fatigue effects and the mechanism may be related to regulation of amino metabolism.
ABSTRACT
Astragali Radix is a classic Chinese materia medica with multiple effects including replenishing qi, consolidating exterior, promoting pus and discharge tissue regeneration, inducing diuresis to alleviate edema and other effects. Modern scientific researches have confirmed that different forms of Astragali Radix (single drug and compound) exhibit various pharmacodynamic effects on different pathological diseases, and their material basis are not the same. This review summarized the researches on the material basis of multi-effect Astragali Radix and provided new ideas for the related studies of material basis of Astragali Radix and its formula.
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Objective To address the protective role Huangqi Jianzhong Decoction (HQJZ) against chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) in rats with metabolites in serum, and illuminate its regulative approaches to the targets. Methods CAG rat model was constructed by alternant administrations of ammonia solution and sodium deoxycholate, combined with the hunger disorder method. Rats were randomly separated into five groups: control group, model group, positive group (teprenone), low-dose group, medium-dose group, and high-dose group of HQJZ for continuous ig administration for four weeks. Body weight, biochemical indexes, and histopathological exam were used to evaluate the efficacy of HQJZ after the model replicated successfully. 1H NMR-based metabonomics was employed to analyze the plasma metabolic features of HQJZ deviated from CAG rats. Partial least square regression analysis (PLS-RA) and MetPA analysis were utilized to explore the relevant pathways and the underlying mechanism involved in HQJZ against CAG. Results The pharmacodynamic results demonstrated that HQJZ possessed beneficial activities in treating CAG, which partially ascribed to the improvement of gastric PA and antioxidant system in vivo. A total of 18 plasma metabolites were selected as the potential biomarkers related to the development of CAG, 10 out of them including 3-hydroxybutyrate, lactate, acetate, succinate, etc. were significantly regulated by HQJZ. Three regulation pathways: arginine and proline metabolism, glycerolipid metabolism, and glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, were recognized to be the most relevant efficacy of HQJZ against CAG based on PLS-RA and MetPA analysis. Conclusion The efficacy of HQJZ against CAG were ascribed to the improvement of the pathological changes due to its regulation to the energy imbalance, excessive oxidative stress, immune disorders, as well as inflammation.
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This study was designed to establish an ultra-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method for the reliable identification the multiple chemical components in Huangqi Jianzhong Tang (HQJZ). The ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with hybrid quadrupole-orbitrap mass spectrometry method was applied to identify the chemical constituents in the HQJZ rapidly. A total of 71 compounds including two major categories of saponins and flavonoids were identified or tentatively deduced on the basis of their retention behaviors, fragments of multistage mass spectrometry or by comparing with reference substances and literatures. Among them, 20 compounds were from Astragali Radix, 14 were from Paeoniae Radix Alba, 37 were from Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma Praeparata cum Melle, 3 were from Rhizoma Zingiberis Recens, 2 were from Cinnamomi Ramulus and Jujubae Fructus, respectively. The LC-MS method was used to qualitatively analyze the chemical constituents of HQJZ, which provides a scientific basis for the quality control of HQJZ.
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To reveal the underlying mechanism of doxorubicin induced hepatotoxicity, an NMR-based metabolomic approach combined with multivariate statistical analysis was used to observe its metabolic alternations of rat liver. Sixteen differential metabolites between model rats and normal rats were characterized as potential pathological biomarkers related to doxorubicin induced hepatotoxicity. Six pathways, including phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis, phenylalanine metabolism, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, and tyrosine metabolism were regarded as the targeted metabolic pathways according to Metabolic Pathway Analysis (MetPA). The results suggested that the metabolic perturbations in rats with doxorubicin induced hepatotoxicity were mainly involved in amino acid metabolism, lipid pathways, purine metabolism, energy metabolism, dysfunction of biotransformation and oxidative stress. The investigation revealed the effects of doxorubicin on liver in a holistic metabolic way, which laid a foundation for further studies on its toxicity mechanism.