ABSTRACT
Areca catechu is a traditional Chinese medicine and an important medicine and food homologous variety, it’s widely distributed in tropical and subtropical provinces in southern China and other countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The fruitage of A. catechu is not only a kind of great fruit widely eaten to welcome guests, but also its peels and seeds can be used as medicines. Arecae Semen is one of the four precious “Southern Medicine” in China. Modern studies have shown that A. catechu contains alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, terpenoids and other chemical constituents. It has multiple activities in promoting digestion, lowering blood pressure and anti-depressant, anti-oxidation, anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic and bacteriostatic activities etc. In this paper, the research progress of chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of A. catechu in recent years was summarized, which provided research basis for the edible safety, research and development of traditional Areca products.
ABSTRACT
Oligopeptides are simple in composition, high in safety index and good in drug preparation, which are important components of biomedicine. However, due to the limitation of oligopeptide drug design theory and discovery pathways which are far less than other structural drugs, obtaining new bioactive oligopeptides is a hot and difficult topic in this field. As a natural oligopeptide library, Chinese materia medica (CMM) contains a large number of active oligopeptides. Oligopeptides of CMM have vital biological activities such as neuroprotection activity, liver protection activity, antitumor, anticoagulation, anti-oxidation, immunity enhancement, etc. In this paper, the sequence and biological activity of active oligopeptides discovered by scholars at home and abroad in the past 10 years were reviewed, and the relationship between active oligopeptides and classification of CMM was explored. It is preliminarily suggested that CMM such as tonifying deficiency drugs and promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis are the sources of natural oligopeptides. There are many research results easy to be successful in the research and development of new oligopeptide drugs, which provides directions and ideas for the development of new active oligopeptide drugs.
ABSTRACT
As a traditional Chinese medicine, Pithecellobium clypearia has been commonly used for hundreds of years. Its unilateral preparations are applied for the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections, pharyngitis, laryngitis, acute tonsillitis, acute gastroenteritis and other diseases. The present researches indicate that flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, organic phenolic acids, triterpenes, and steroids are the main chemical constituents of P. clypearia, which have a wide range of pharmacological activities, such as anti-oxidation, anti-virus, inhibition of T lymphocyte proliferation, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergy and so on. According to the domestic and foreign relevant literatures, the chemical composition, quality standards, pharmacological activity, and clinical application of P. clypearia were systematically summarized in this paper, which could provide the reference for the further investigation and development of this herbal plant.
ABSTRACT
As cyanobacteria with nitrogen-fixing ability, diazotrophic cyanobacteria can adapt to all kinds of habitat and produce many primary and secondary metabolic materials with unique chemical structures, diverse properties, and biological activities. As a nutritional supplement, diazotrophic cyanobacterium such as Nostoc has a long edible history in indigenous populations in China. In recent years, research results have shown that the bioactive substances produced by nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria are promising candidates for the prevention and control of some human diseases, and the mechanisms of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria to achieve health and disease prevention are gradually revealed. This paper reviewed the progress in research and its mechanism of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria in anti-oxidation, scavenging free radicals, antibiosis, antivirus, antitumor, antiinflammation, and anticoagulation in the past five years (2013-2017) at home and abroad. Moreover, the existing problems and the development directions in future were also discussed. We expect that it can provide reference for the further development of the related field in China.
ABSTRACT
Ginsenoside Rc is widely distributed in Araliaceae plants, especially in whole plant of Panax ginseng, roots of Panax quinquefolium, and flowers of Panax pseudoginseng var. notoginseng. And studies have shown that ginsenoside Rc has remarkable effects in anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidation, antitumor, lipid-lowering activities, prevention of diabetes, and protection of the nervous system. In this paper, the pharmacological effects and pharmacokinetics of ginsenoside Rc were reviewed in order to provide references for the development and application of drugs with rich ginsenoside Rc.
ABSTRACT
With the improvement of living standards, the population of obese people increased dramatically. Obesity can induce macrophage infiltration into adipose tissue, which can cause a series of physiological changes, resulting in chronic inflammation which would further develop into a variety of chronic diseases such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, cancer, etc. Flavonoids are a class of natural compounds widely found in plants. Flavonoids can prevent metabolic inflammation and corresponding chronic diseases through inhibiting macrophage infiltration, regulating signal transduction and anti-oxidation, etc. In this review, recent findings about the pathogenesis of obesity-induced inflammation and the effects of flavonoids on treatment of such chronic inflammation are summarized and discussed. Flavonoids have great application potentials in regulation of metabolic inflammation, thus screen more potential active flavonoids and elucidating their mechanism would have both theoretical and clinical significance.
ABSTRACT
Objective To study the Diels-Alder type adducts in the stem bark of Morus mongolica.Methods The compounds were isolated and purified by silic gel column chromatography,RP18 and Sephadex LH-20.The structures were identified by various spectral evidence.Results Six Diels-Alder type adducts were obtained and they were albanin F(Ⅰ),kuwanon L(Ⅱ),dimoracin(Ⅲ),kuwanon J(Ⅳ),mulberrofuran J(Ⅴ),mulberrofuran Q(Ⅵ).Conclusion Compounds Ⅱ,Ⅲ,and Ⅴ are isolated from the plant for the first time and compounds ⅣⅥ show the anti-oxidation activities.