Chemical ingredient groups B and C in Kansui Radix stir-fried with vinegar affect diversity of gut microbiota in rat model of malignant ascites induced by Walker-256 cells / 中国中药杂志

This study aims to explore the effects of chemical ingredient groups B and C in Kansui Radix stir-fried with vinegar on the diversity of gut microbiota in the rat model of malignant ascites, identify the key differential microbial taxa, and reveal the biological mechanism of water-expelling effect of the two chemical ingredient groups. The rat model of malignant ascites induced by Walker-256 cells was established, and phenolphthalein was used as the positive drug. The rats were orally administrated with corresponding agents for consecutive 7 days. On day 6, fresh feces samples were collected from the rats, and 16 S rDNA high-throughput sequencing and GC-MS were employed to determine the composition of gut microbiota and the content of short-chain fatty acids, respectively. On day 7, serum and intestinal tissue samples were collected for the determination of related indicators. Compared with the control group, the model group showed decreased feces volume and urine volume(P<0.01), increased volume of ascites and levels of Na~+, K~+, and Cl~- in urine(P<0.01), down-regulated mRNA and protein levels of intestinal AQP8(P<0.01), lowered abundance of beneficial Lactobacillus(P<0.01) while risen abundance of potential pathogenic Lachnospiraceae and Anaeroplasma(P<0.01), and reduced content of short-chain fatty acids(P<0.01). Compared with the model group, administration with chemical ingredient groups B and C alleviated all the above indicators(P<0.01). In conclusion, chemical ingredient groups B and C in Kansui Radix stir-fried with vinegar could alleviate the disordered gut microbiota in rats with malignant ascites to expel water through increasing the abundance of beneficial Lactobacillus and reducing the abundance of harmful Lachnospiraceae and Anaeroplasma. This study can provide a reference for the reasonable clinical application of Kansui Radix stir-fried with vinegar.

Chemical constituent change regulation of processed aconite during decoction and discussion on time limit of decoction based on metabolomics / 中草药

Objective: To analyze the change regulation of chemical constituent groups in processed aconite during decocting, and also to discuss the scientificity connotation of decoction of processed aconite. Methods: An ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with time of flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS) was carried out to acquire the chemical constituents information in samples with different decoction time. High precise mass data were processed by multivariate statistical analysis techniques to discover and identify the constituents with significant difference. Furthermore, the content change, toxicity, and activity of these constituents were also discussed. Results: Fifteen chemical markers with significant difference were screened by partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and t test. By analyzing the change regulation of the different constituents during 4 h decocting process, we found that it mainly happened in the constituent dissolution and chemical transformation from monoester alkaloids to aconine alkaloids, which indicates the attenuation process is secondary. Conclusion: In terms of analgesic and anti-inflammatory effect, it suggests that 0.5 h of decoction would be fine, while in terms of cardiotonic effect, it needs the further systemic comparison for cardiac activity between monoester alkaloids and aconine alkaloids to be able to investigate the necessary and scientificity for long time decoction of the processed aconite.