Effects of Jiaotai Pills on CUMS-induced depression model in mice based on changes of SIRT1 expression in hippocampus / 中国中药杂志

The present study investigated the effects and mechanisms of Jiaotai Pills on depressed mice induced by chronic unpredictable mild stress(CUMS). The CUMS-induced depression model mice were established and the depression behaviors of mice were evaluated by sucrose preference test, open field test, tail suspension test, and forced swimming test. Molecular docking was employed to simulate the interaction of six main active ingredients in Jiaotai Pills with SIRT1. Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the level of SIRT1 in the hippocampus of mice. Western blot was used to detect the protein expression levels of SIRT1, p-NF-κB p65, NF-κB p65, and FoxO1 in the hippocampus of mice. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) kits were used to detect the levels of interleukin(IL)-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF) in the hippocampus and serum of mice. Biochemical kits were used to detect superoxide dismutase(SOD) activity and malondialdehyde(MDA) and glutathione(GSH) levels in the hippocampus and serum of mice. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS) was used to detect the levels of dopamine(DA), 5-hydroxytryptamine(5-HT), and norepinephrine(NE) in the hippocampus and serum of mice. The results showed that the sucrose preference rate, movement distance, and the number of crossing centers were reduced in the model group(P<0.01), and the tail suspension time and swimming immobility time were increased(P<0.01). Molecular docking results indicated good binding of six main active ingredients in Jiaotai Pills to SIRT1. In the hippocampus, the expression level of SIRT1 was reduced(P<0.01), and the levels of p-NF-κB p65/NF-κB p65 and FoxO1 were increased(P<0.01). In the hippocampus and serum, the levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and MDA were increased(P<0.01), and the activity of SOD and the levels of GSH, DA, 5-HT, NE, and BDNF were reduced(P<0.01). The treatment with high-dose Jiaotai Pills increased the sucrose preference rate, movement distance, and the number of crossing centers(P<0.05), reduced tail suspension time and swimming immobility time(P<0.01), elevated hippocampal SIRT1 expression level(P<0.01), decreased hippocampal and serum IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and MDA levels(P<0.01), potentiated SOD activity, and up-regulated GSH, DA, 5-HT, NE, and BDNF levels in the hippocampus and serum(P<0.05, P<0.01) in model mice. In conclusion, the results showed that Jiaotai Pills could improve the depression behaviors of model mice with CUMS-induced depression, and the underlying mechanism was related to the up-regulation of SIRT1 in the hippocampus of mice to exert anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative stress effects.

Study on bile acid metabolism of sleep-deprived mice regulated by Jiaotai Pills based on LC-MS / 中国中药杂志

To investigate the changes of bile acid(BA) levels in mice with sleep deprivation and the regulatory effect of Jiaotai Pills(JTP) on bile acid metabolism, this study established an ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(UPLC-MS/MS) method for simultaneous determination of 23 BAs in mice. A total of 24 ICR mice were randomized into normal group, model group, and JTP group. Mice in the model group and JTP group were deprived of sleep at 20 h·d~(-1) by sleep deprivation apparatus for 8 consecutive days. Mice in the JTP group were given(ig, qd) JTP 3.3 g·kg~(-1) and those in the normal group and model group received(ig) the same volume of purified water. UPLC conditions are as follows: Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C_(18) column(2.1 mm×100 mm, 1.7 μm), gradient elution with the mobile phase of 0.1% formic acid in water-methanol. MS conditions are as below: negative-ion electrospray ionization, multiple reaction monitoring(MRM). Thereby, the content of 23 BAs in serum, liver, and ileum was determined and methodological investigation of the method was performed. The results showed that 23 BAs could be accurately determined within 15 min and the correlation coefficients were all higher than 0.99. The precision, accuracy, specificity, reproducibility, matrix effect, and recovery of BAs all met the requirement. The levels of BAs were significantly increased in the serum, liver, and ileum of sleep-deprived mice, but JTP can significantly reduce the levels. The UPLC-MS/MS method is simple, rapid, and accurate, which can be used for the determination of 23 BAs in biological samples, and JTP can adjust the elevated BA levels of sleep-deprived mice.

Review of chemical constituents, pharmacological effects and clinical applications of Jiaotai Pills and predictive analysis of its quality marker(Q-marker) / 中国中药杂志

Jiaotai Pills is a traditional medical prescription to treat the incompatibility of heart and kidney. It has the distinctive functions of heart and kidney communication, sedation and hypnosis, anti-anxiety and depression, as well as the improvement of insulin resistance. However, this pill is broadly used to cure insomnia, anxiety, depression, and diabetes in the contemporary clinical trials. Based on the article, it illustrates the research progress of the chemical ingredients, pharmacological actions, and clinical applications of Jiaotai Pills. With respect to the "five principles" of Q-marker in Chinese medicine, the Q-marker of Jiaotai Pills is comprehensively predicted and analyzed, noting that berberine, epiberberine, coptisine chloride, palmatine chloride, berberine chloride, berberrubine chloride, ferulic acid, cinnamic acid, cinnamaldehyde, proanthocyanidin B2 can be treated as the Q-marker of Jiaotai Pills. In addition, these components of Q-marker have been selected as indicators to provide a significant reference for the quality control and surveillance research of Jiaotai Pills.

Regulatory effect of Jiaotai Pills on central and peripheral neurotransmitters in rats with heart-kidney imbalance insomnia / 中国中药杂志

To explore the pathogenesis of heart and kidney imbalance insomnia and the regulatory effect of Jiaotai Pills, in order to study the changes of central and peripheral neurotransmitters in rat. Insomnia rats with heart and kidney imbalance were induced through intraperitoneal injection with p-chlorophenylalanine(PCPA, 400 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)), and the model rats were intragastrically administrated with Jiaotai Pills(3.3 g·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)) for 7 days. Nine neurotransmitters were determined by UPLC-MS/MS and principal component analysis(PCA) method in serum, urine, brain, heart, liver, kidney and adrenal gland of rats. The results showed that the ratio of 5-HT and 5-HIAA in platelet of insomnia rats was significantly lower than that in the normal group, and Jiaotai Pills had a significant up-regulatory or down-regulatory effect. Compared with the normal group, the changed neurotransmitters in blood of insomnia rats were 5-HIAA, E, NE, DA, Glu and ACH, and except ACH, the changes of 7 kinds of neurotransmitters in urine were more significant, Jiaotai Pills had a significant up-regulatory or down-regulatory effect. Compared with the normal group, all of the 8 neurotransmitters in insomnia rats except HVA were changed. Jiaotai Pills could regulate the neurotransmitters in each tissue of insomnia rats, especially in brain, liver and adrenal gland. In conclusion, insomnia is caused by not only a change of neurotransmitters in brain, but also a series of changes in peripheral tissues. It indicates that insomnia is a systematic imbalance of neurotransmitters. Jiaotai Pills not only regulates the central nervous system, but also has a certain protective effect on other organs, reflecting the multi-target and systematic effect of Jiaotai Pills in the treatment of insomnia.

Comparative brain pharmacokinetic study of Jiaotai pills in normal and insomnic rats using brain microdialysis combinated with LC–MS/MS / 中草药·英文版

Objective: To compare the brain pharmacokinetics of five protoberberine-type alkaloids (i.e. berberine, palmatine, coptisine, epiberberine, and jatrorrhizine), which were the main bioactive constituents of Jiaotai Pills (JTP), in normal and insomnic rats orally administrated with JTP. Methods: The detection was conducted by a fully validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry combinated with brain microdialysis method. Brain microdialysis probes were inserted into the hippocampus of rats. JTP extracts were administrated intragastrically and then brain microdialysates were collected at 30 min time intervals for 10 h. The separation of the five protoberberine-type alkaloids was carried out on a BDS Hypersil C18 column using a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and water (containing 5 mmol ammonium acetate adjusted to pH 5.0) within 4 min. The quantification was performed by multiple reaction monitoring with the transitions of m/z 336.0-320.1 for berberine, m/z 352.0-336.1 for palmatine, m/z 338.0-322.1 for jatrorrhizine, m/z 336.0-320.1 for epiberberine, m/z 320.0-292.1 for coptisine and m/z 356.4-192.1 for IS. Results: The lower limit of quantification for five protoberberine-type alkaloids was 0.05 ng/mL. Linearity, accuracy, precision, stability and matrix effect of five analytes were all satisfactory. Five protoberberine-type alkaloids were quickly distributed in the brain. Moreover, significant differences in the principal pharmacokinetic parameters such as AUC and T1/2 of the analytes were observed between two groups. Conclusion: The LC-MS/MS method combinated with microdialysis is useful in the brain pharmacokinetic study of five protoberberine-type alkaloids. The results indicated that the rates of analytes absorption in insomnic rats were significantly higher than those in normal rats. Besides, the protoberberine-type alkaloids could bring a direct effect on the neuron in the hippocampus.

Antidepressant effects of Jiaotai Pills based on NO-cGMP signal transduction pathway in chronic mild unpredictable stress depression rats / 中草药

Objective To investigate the effect of Jiaotai Pills on antidepressants in chronic mildly unpredictable stress (CUMS) depression model rats based on nitric oxide-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (NO-cGMP) signal transduction pathway. Methods The depression model of rats was induced by CUMS. On day 21 of the experiment, the rats in each group were treated with continuous ig administration for 14 d. The concentrations of NO and cGMP in hippocampus and plasma of rats were detected by Elisa method. The mRNA expression of NO synthase (including iNOS and nNOS) and NMDA receptor subunits NR1, NR2A, and NR2B in rat hippocampus was detected by RT-PCR. Results Compared with the control group, the levels of NO and cGMP in the hippocampus and plasma in the model group were significantly increased. The expressions of iNOS mRNA, nNOS mRNA, NR1 mRNA, NR2A mRNA, and NR2B mRNA in the hippocampus were significantly increased in the model group. Compared with the model group, Jiaotai Pills high, medium, and low dose and positive drug administration reversed the above changes. Conclusion Jiaotai Pills have the antidepressant effect on depression rats with CUMS by regulating NO-cGMP signal transduction pathway.

Simultaneous determination of six constituents in Jiaotai Pills by HPLC / 中成药

AIM To establish an HPLC method for the simultaneous content determination of six constituents in Jiaotai Pills (Coptidis Rhizoma and Cinnamomi Cortex).METHODS The analysis of 30％ methanol of this drug was performed on a 30 ℃ Agilent ZORBAX SB-C1s column (4.6 mm ×250 mm,5 μm),with the mobile phase comprising of acetonitrile-KH2PO4flowing at 0.8 mL/min in a gradient elution manner,and the detection wavelength was set at 276 nm.RESULTS Epiberberine,jatrorrhizine hydrochloride,coptisine hydrochloride,palmatine chloride,berberine hydrochloride and cinnamaldehyde showed good linear relationships within the ranges of 0.64-41.24 μg/mL (R2 =0.999 9),0.65-43.76 μg/mL (R2 =1.000 0),0.82-52.65 μg/mL (R2 =0.999 9),0.79-50.70 μg/mL (R2 =0.999 9),3.08-197.20 μg/mL (R2=0.999 8) and 0.65-41.65 μg/mL (R2 =0.999 9),whose average recoveries were 98.06％,102.76％,99.27％,99.75％,96.74％ and 101.33％ with the RSDs of 0.56％,0.54％,0.39％,0.55％,0.48％ and 2.14％,respectively.CONCLUSION This accurate,sensitive,stable and reproducible method can be used for the quality control of Jiaotai Pills.

An exploration on mechanism of antidepression of Jiaotai Pills based on network pharmacology / 中草药

Objective: To predict the action targets of antidepressant active ingredients of Jiaotai Pills to understand the "multi-components, multi-targets, and multi-pathways" mechanism. Methods: ADME/T calculation method was used to filtrate the active components of Jiaotai Pills, and then forecast the targets of the main active ingredients according to Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP), reverse molecular docking database (DRAR-CPI), and text mining tools (CooLGeN). Besides, the Gephi software was used to construct Jiaotai Pills ingredients-targets network, while Biological information annotation databases (DAVID) was used to analyze the molecular function and biological process of the action targets. Results: The network analysis indicated that total 28 active ingredients and their 38 targets were screened in Jiaotai Pills, which involved in regulation of actin cytoskeleton, MAPK signaling pathway, neurotrophin signaling pathway, Wnt signaling pathway, axon guidance, and ErbB signaling pathway. The antidepressant effect of Jiaotai Pills showed the features of traditional Chinese medicine in multi-components, multi-targets, and multi-pathways. Conclusion: This study provides new clues for further basic study on the antidepressant pharmacological mechanism of Jiaotai Pills.

Intervention effects of Jiaotai pills on PCPA-induced insomnia in rats / 中国中药杂志

To elucidate the intervention effects of Jiaotai pills(JTP) on p-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA)-induced insomnia in rats and its underlying mechanism, the insomnia model was established by single intraperitoneal injection with PCPA in rats. The locomotor activity of rats was observed, and the levels of nerve growth factor(NGF) in hypothalamus, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and serum of rats were determined by using ELISA. Moreover, a proton nuclear magnetic resonance(¹H-NMR)-based metabonomic approach was developed to profile insomnia-related metabolites in rat serum and hippocampus and analyze the intervention effects of JTP on changes in underlying biomarkers related to locomotor activity, NGF and insomnia. According to the results, JTP could significantly suppress the locomotor activity of insomnia rats, and increase the NGF levels in hypothalamus, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and serum of rats with insomnia. The disturbed metabolic state associated with PCPA-induced insomnia in rat serum and hippocampus could be intervened by JTP. Meanwhile, six and five potential biomarkers related to insomnia in rat serum and hippocampus were reversed by administration of JTP. In conclusion, the current study demonstrated that JTP had protective effects against PCPA-induced insomnia in rats, which was probably correlated with regulation of NGF level and metabolism of amino acids, lipids and choline.

Effect of Jiaotai Pills on Hypothalamic Orexin A and Gamma-aminobutyric Acid in Sleep Deprivation Rats / 广州中医药大学学报

Objective To observe the effect of Jiaotai Pills ( JP) on hypothalamic neurotransmitters of Orexin A and gamma-aminobutyric acid ( GABA) in rapid eye movement ( REM) sleep deprivation rats. Methods Rat model of REM-sleep deprivation was established by water small platform method. The rats were randomized into 6 groups, namely normal control group, model group, Diazepam group (3 mg/kg), and high-, medium-and low-dose JP groups ( JP in the dosage of 18.6, 9.3 and 4.6 g/kg respectively) . Enzyme-labeled instrument was used to detect the absorbance ratio of rat hypothalamic Orexin A content, and high performance liquid phase electrochemical detection method was adopted for the detection of hypothalamic GABA content. Results Compared with the normal control group, all of the rats in the model group suffered from insomnia, and the Orexin A content was increased ( P0.05) . Conclusion The sedative and hypnic mechanism of JP is probably related with the inhibition of hypothalamic Orexin A.