ABSTRACT
Objective:To analyze the effective active ingredients of Belamcandae Rhizoma and Ephedrae Herba couplet medicines(BREH)in the treatment of bronchial asthma based on network pharmacology, in order to predict their potential targets and explore the mechanism. Method:Active ingredients and predict their targets were collected from traditional Chinese medicine system pharmacology(TCMSP) database. Drugs-components-targets network and Proteins interations network were built by STRING database and Cytoscape software. ClusterProfiler and ClueGO was used to enrich the biological function and metabolic pathway of core targets. Finally, candidate targets were mapped onto the pictures of correlative pathways. Result:The 38 effectively active ingredients were screened out, including luteolin, stigmasterol, diosmetin, naringenin, quercetin, iristectorigenin A, isorhamnetin. There were 214 candidate targets relating to bronchial asthma, and 55 core ones were selected to be mainly studied, including RAC-alpha serine/threonine-protein kinase (Akt1), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (MAPK1), vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA), interleukin-10 (IL-10), NF-kappa-B inhibitor alpha (NFKBIA), and a number of relevant gene ontology(GO) functions and Kyoto Encyclopedin of Genes and Genomes(KEGG) pathways were enriched. Conclusion:BREH may regulate the Th1, Th2 and Th17 cell differentiations, Asthma, IL-17, phosphatidylinositol-3-kinases(PI3K)/Akt, MAPK, NF-κB, VEGF signaling pathways, so as to interfere the process of cell metabolism, and inhibit gene expression of proinflammatory factor in the treatment of bronchial asthma.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To study the anti-asthma action and biological potency differences of Ephedra Herba from 37 different habitats. Methods: Taking the isolated tracheal smooth muscle from guinea pig to establish antiasthma pharmacological model, the ephedra decoction at different concentration was added to the sink by cumulative metrology method, antispasmodic percentage and biological potency value of Ephedra Herba from different habitats were calculated and the cluster analysis for the biological potency value of Ephedra Herba from different habitats was conducted. Results: Ephedra Herba had the antispasmodic acction to the isolated tracheal smooth muscle of guinea pig caused by histamine phosphate, and compared with the control medicine, Ephedra Herba from 20 habitats showed significant differences (P 0.05); Compared with the control medicine, the antiasthma biological potency of Ephedra Herba from 37 different habitats existed significant or very significant differences (P < 0.05, 0.01), and the antiasthma biological potency value was 22.35-489.04 U/g, while FL% was 13.15%-38.97%, which revealed that the high potency level had a difference of 21.88 times from the low one. And the antiasthma biological potency of Ephedra Herba had lowly significant correlation differences with the total determination of ephedrine and D-pseudephedrine; The Ephedra Herba with different antiasthma biological potency could be identified by cluster analysis method, in which the biological potency from 24 ones in total of 37 Ephedra Herba was higher than that in the control medicine and accounted for 64.86% of the total samples. Conclusion: The anti-asthma biological potency value of Ephedra Herba could quantitatively evaluate the quality of Ephedra Herba from different habitats.
ABSTRACT
The dosage of crude drugs described in the <i>Shanghanlun </i>has long been discussed, and a conversion ratio for 1 liang in the <i>Songban Shanghanlun </i>into modern grams has not been established yet. <i>Ekisai Kariya</i>, a bibliologist in Edo period Japan, claimed that the formulas in the <i>Songban Shanghanlun </i>could not be decocted when weighed with the “Han shu (lu li zhi)” scale (1 liang = 14 g, “regular scale”), and the weight scale in the text should be “Scale of Shen nong” (1/10 scale of the regular scale). This claim leads to the standards for Kampo prescription dosages. We inspected this matter by focusing on the amount of liquid absorbed by decoction residues, and demonstrated that the formulas in <i>Songban Shanghanlun </i>could actually be decocted when weighed with the “regular scale”. In addition, we calculated the quantities of Ephedra-alkaloids in the one-time dose of “Ma huang tang” of the several books written in the Song period, and the <i>Songban Shanghanlun </i>text, with results showing that Chinese doctors in the Song period recognized 1 liang in the <i>Songban Shanghanlun </i>as 14 grams in modern terms, and that the “regular scale” could be applied clinically. This strongly suggests that the metrological standard in the <i>Songban Shanghanlun </i>should be the “regular scale”.