Application progress on anti-skin aging effect of traditional Chinese medicine / 药学学报

With the aging of population intensifies and the level of population health have improved, thus much attention has been directed to how to delaying or preventing skin aging. Skin aging is associated with age, ultraviolet and lifestyle, mainly characterized as skin sagging, wrinkles, pigmentation, so it is urgent to seek traditional Chinese medicine and related cosmetics to solve the problem of skin aging. Traditional Chinese medicine has the functions of anti-oxidation, enhancing human immunity, promoting body metabolism and regulating endocrine, therefore, it has become a research focus in anti-skin aging. This article reviews the skin aging mechanism and the research advances of traditional Chinese medicine anti-skin aging, in order to provide a reference for future research and development of anti-aging traditional Chinese medicine.

Research progress and thinking on improving physicochemical properties and efficacy of the active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine based on crystal structure / 药学学报

The active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine have been reported to possess significant pharmacological activity and played an important role in clinical treatments. However, lots of the active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine suffer from disadvantages such as low solubility, high melting point and low stability that results in low bioavailability and limit its clinical application. Crystal structure plays an important role in improving physicochemical properties and efficacy of the active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine. This review concludes the research advances of several crystal forms used in the active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine in terms of polymorph, cocrystal, amorphous/coamorphous and nanocrystal. And the effects of crystal forms on the physicochemical properties and efficacy of the active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine were reviewed. This research may be useful for the formulation preparation and development of the active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine.

Comparison of methods for stable co-expression of different subtype drug-matabolizing enzymes in HepG2 cells by piggyBac transposon / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

OBJECTIVE To study the methodology of achieving stable co-expression of drug-metab?olizing enzymes in the HepG2 cells by the piggyBac (PB) transposon system. METHODS N-terminal attachment of enhanced green fluorscent protein plasmid (pEGFP- N2) and 2A peptide linked recombinant PB transposon plasmid containing dual-genes encoding drug metabolizing enzymes cyto?chrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) and CYP2C19 (pPB-CYP3A4-2A-2C19) were transfected into HepG2 cells respectively by Lipofectamine?LTX reagent, GenJetTM (Ver.Ⅱ) reagent and Neon?Transfection System reagent, which were widely used for large-sized DNA fragments transfection. 48 h later, the transfection efficiency and cell toxicity were detected and compared between the three methods so as to find a method with relatively high efficiency and low toxicity for later transfection.Then,three groups of recombinant PB transposons-single-gene transposon (PB-CYP3A4), 2A peptide linked dual-gene transposon (PB-CYP3A4-2A-2C19) and multiple single-gene transposon mixture〔PB-CYP3A4, PB-CYP2C8, PB-CYP2A6, organic anion transporting polypeptide 1B1 PB transposon (PB-OATP1B1)〕-were transfected into HepG2 cells respectively with the above established method.The puromycin (Puro)-resistant and GFP positive cell clones were picked up and further cultured. The mRNA, protein and metabolic levels of drug-metabolizing enzymes in monoclonal cell lines were detected by quantitative real-time PCR,Western blotting and high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry respectively after screening by Puro and green fluorescence. Comparisons of different groups were made using statistical analysis. RESULTS The comparison of three different transfection methods indi?cated that the transfection efficiency of GenJetTMwas up to(94.2±2.5)% and (89.3±3.3)%,significantly higher than those of the other two methods (P<0.01), along with lower cytotoxicity. Then GenJetTMwas chosen for later transfection. In the Puro-resistant monoclonal cell lines of single transposon PB-CYP3A4,PB-CYP3A4-2A-2C19 groups,the mRNA,protein and enzyme activity levels of drug-metabo?lizing enzymes were significantly increased respectively.The recombinant transposon (PB-CYP3A4-2A-2C19) containing 2A peptide could achieve stable and efficient co-expression of two metabolizing enzymes CYP3A4 and CYP2C19,while the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes remained unbal?anced and random in those of multiple single-gene transposon mixture group (PB-CYP3A4, PB-CYP2C8,PB-CYP2A6,PB-OATP 1B1)(CYP3A4 was expressed in some cell clones only).CONCLUSION GenJetTM could be an effective method for the PB recombinant transposon transfection into HepG2 cells, by which the PB transposon could mediate stable expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes. In terms of multi-gene expression,a low and unbalanced expression is found by multiple transposons co-transfection method,which is different from that by virus mediated method.In contrast,mono-PB trans?poson linked by 2A peptide can achieve stable expression of multi-genes.

Experimental study on two-way application of traditional Chinese medicines capable of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis with neutral property in cold and hot blood stasis syndrome I / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the action characteristics of "two-way application and conditioned dominance" of traditional Chinese medicines with neutral property by observing the action characteristic of 10 traditional Chinese medicines capable of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis with neutral property in the microcirculation in rats with heat stagnation and blood stasis syndrome.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The rat model with heat stagnation and blood stasis syndrome was established by injecting carrageenan and dry yeast, and the rat model with cold stagnation and blood stasis syndrome was built by the body freezing method. Ten traditional Chinese medicines with neutral property, including 5 with hot property and 5 with cold property, were selected for intervention to observe blood flow rate and flow state indicators in rat auricles and make a comparative analysis on action characteristics of traditional Chinese medicines with neutral property.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>ANOVA showed that among the 10 traditional Chinese medicines with neutral property, 6 such as Typhae Pollen, Sappan Lignum and Vaccariae Semen can obviously increase the blood flow rate (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05) in the above two models; all of the 5 traditional Chinese medicines with cold property can increase the blood flow rate (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05) in the rat model with heat stagnation and blood stasis syndrome, but only Salvia miltiorrhiza can increase the blood flow rate (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05) in the rat models with cold stagnation and blood stasis syndrome, while other medicines showed no notable effect; among the 5 traditional Chinese medicines with hot property, Carthamus tinctorius and Ligusticum chuanxiong can increase the blood flow rate (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05) in the rat models with cold stagnation and blood stasis syndrome, but had no obvious effect to the blood flow rate in the rat models with heat stagnation and blood stasis syndrome. According to the analysis on average blood flow rate, traditional Chinese medicines with natural and cold properties showed similar effect on heat stagnation and blood stasis syndrome and better effect in increasing blood flow rate than those with hot property; those with natural and hot properties showed similar effect and better effect in increasing blood flow rate than those with cold property.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Under the condition of heat stagnation and blood stasis syndrome, traditional Chinese medicines with neutral property have the similar action characteristics with those with cold property; wile under the condition of cold stagnation and blood stasis syndrome, traditional Chinese medicines with neutral property have the similar action characteristics with the Chinese medicinal herbs with hot property. This indicates the action characteristics of "two-way application and conditioned dominance" of traditional Chinese medicines with neutral property to some extent.</p>

On-line detection of hydrocortisone concentration in rat subcutaneous adipose with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To develop a method for detecting the topical concentration of hydrocortisone (HC) in the subcutaneous adipose of rats using microdialysis sampling technique and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Topical samples were collected by applying the probe into the subcutaneous adipose of rats, with alcohol (5%)-ringers solution as the perfusion solution. A LC-MS/MS method was established for detecting the HC concentration in the dialysates.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The protonated precursor to produce ion transitions monitored for HC was m/z 363.2→121.1. The calibration curve was linear over the range of 0.5-1000 ng/ml, with the intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy within ∓15%, and no significant matrix effect was noted. The in vivo recovery of the probe was about 59%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>A selective and sensitive method has been successfully established for the on-line HC detection in the subcutaneous adipose of rats.</p>