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Aim To systematically evaluate the heat-clearing mechanism of Arnebiae Radix on two mouse models of blood heat syndrome. Methods The drug-forming molecules were screened by comprehensive network pharmacology methods, and the correlation between drug efficacy and related factors and targets was evaluated on the mouse model of short effect blood heat syndrome constructed by 2, 4-dinitrophenol (DNP) and the mouse model of severe blood heat syndrome (heat stroke) constructed by high temperature combined with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Results A total of 277 shikonin related targets were collected, mainly involving biological processes such as inflammatory reaction, oxidation reaction and coagulation reaction. Shikonin, a representative compound, significantly improved the main syndromes of mice with blood heat syndrome, reduced the levels of inflammatory factors IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α in the two models, and reduced the contents of oxidative damage indexes LPO and MDA, and the two showed correlation. The main mechanism was to inhibit the expression of NF-ΚB p65 and up-regulate the expression of Nrf2. Conclusions Shikonin plays a pharmacological role in the prevention and treatment of blood heat syndrome by inhibiting inflammation and improving antioxidant capacity, which provides a pharmacological basis for shikonin in the prevention and treatment of blood heat syndrome.
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Arnebiae Radix is used widely in TCM external treatment. It has obvious curative effect on skin diseases， wound infection and local inflammation， and is used to treat water and fire burns， skin ulcers， eczema， psoriasis， vitiligo and atopic dermatitis， etc. The clinical and commercial preparations mainly include ointment， liniment and suppository. Modern research has proved that microcapsules， nano-micelles， nanofiber membranes， nanogels and other novel nanoformulations can significantly improve the stability of drug-effective substances， improve local drug concentration and targeting， and perform sound drug release properties in vitro. This paper reviews the variety and application of Arnebiae Radix traditional preparations for external use and the research progress of novel nanoformulations of Arnebiae Radix， from which we prospect to provide some valuable references for the future application and development of Arnebiae Radix external preparations.
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Objective: To evaluate the quality of Arnebiae Radix (AR) and Dictamni Cortex (DC) and study the efficacy of herbal extracts of these two herbs on the treatment of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD). Methods: Qualitative and quantitative analysis of effective components was performed using High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC), High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), and HPLC-Quadrupole Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-QTOF-MS). In vitro allergic ACD 3D model was established by incubating 3D reconstructed human epidermis (RHE) with skin sensitizer, potassium dichromate. A total of 65 gene expression that were associated with ACD, which included 24 antioxidant responsive element (ARE) and 41 SENS-IS genes were quantified by qRT-PCR. More than or equal to 10 ARE genes and 18 SENN-IS genes were induced by 1.3-fold, demonstrating the successful establishment of in vitro ACD model. Oil extracts of AR and DC were applied on the in vitro ACD model to study the efficacy. Results: Batch 3 of AR and batch 2 of DC showed presence of all active ingredients with the highest concentrations. Active ingredients of the herbs were extracted using a special oil and formulated into herbal oil extracts. The herbal oil extracts were able to down regulate the induced genes in the in-vitro ACD skin model, bringing the tissue back to homeostatic status. Conclusion: The oil extracts showed the potent efficacy of using AR and DC in ACD treatment. The combination study will be done to optimize the formulation ratio which will be developed into a topical cream.
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Objective::To establish an LC-MS/MS method for the determination of alcohol-soluble components and water-soluble components in Arnebiae Radix(L-shikonin, β, β′-dimethylacrylshikonin, β-acetoxy-isovalerylshikonin, lithospermic acid, caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid), for the purpose of quality control of the herb. Method::Chromatographic separation was carried out at 35 ℃ on Agilent ZORBAX SB C18 (4.6 mm×50 mm, 1.8 μm), with 0.1% formic acid acetonitrile (A)-0.1% formic acid solution (B) as the mobile phase for gradient elution (0-3 min, 5%-95%A; 3-7 min, 95%A; 7-7.01 min, 95%-5%A; 7.01-8.5 min, 5%A). The flow rate was 0.2 mL·min-1, and the injection volume was 5 μL. In a negative ionization mode, MRM scanning mode was adopted for quantification. Result::The calibration curves of L-shikonin, β, β′-dimethylacrylshikonin, β-acetoxy-isovalerylshikonin, lithospermic acid, caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid showed a good linearity, and the linear ranges of the above six compounds were 10.12-1 012 μg·L-1(r=0.998 1), 10.88-1 088 μg·L-1(r=0.991 2), 10.08-806.4 μg·L-1(r=0.997 6), 20.32-1 016 μg·L-1(r=0.996 6), 10.37-1 037 μg·L-1(r=0.999 6), 10.26-1 026 μg·L-1(r=0.997 8), respectively. The average recoveries of the analysts were 95.8%(RSD 3.2%), 103.5%(RSD 2.3%), 105.3%(RSD 2.1%), 96.1%(RSD 3.3%), 98.9%(RSD 2.7%), 100.8%(RSD 3.4%). The contents of six components in 13 batches of samples showed significant differences. Conclusion::The established method is feasible and simple, and provides a basis for comprehensive quality evaluation of Arnebiae Radix.
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Objective To analyze the main ingredients and investigate the anti-psoriasis effect in the standard decoction of Lithospermum. Methods The extraction rate was determined by extract determination method, and the content of total polysaccharide and total phenolic acid was evaluated by spectrophotometry. Moreover, the effects of different concentrations of the standard decoction of Lithospermum on skin lesions induced by imiquimod (IMQ) in psoriatic mice were observed. Results The extracting rate was 4.65 ％, the total polysaccharide content was 1.182 mg/ml and the total phenolic acid content was 3.506 mg/ml. The different concentrations of the standard decoction of Lithospermum could ameliorate the scales, erythema and psoriasis-like mice skin and reduce the thickness of epidermis. Conclusions The standard decoction of Lithospermum could improve the psoriasis-like lesions induced by imiquimod in mice and possess the anti-psoriasis effect.