Dahuang Zhechong pills inhibit liver cancer growth in a mouse model by reversing Treg/Th1 balance / 中国天然药物

The infiltration of immune cells into the hepatocellular carcinoma microenvironment is the main reason why hepatocellular carcinoma patients are prone to carcinoma recurrence and the disease are incurable. Notably, the infiltration of Treg cells is the main trigger. Dahuang Zhechong pill (DHZCP) is a traditional Chinese herbal compound successful in the treatment of hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. DHZCP can heal and nourish while slowing the onset of the disease, thereby strengthening the body's immune function. It can localize tumors and ultimately achieve the goal of eliminating tumors. In this study, an orthotopic liver cancer model of mice was used to explore the mechanism of DHZCP enhancing anti-tumor immunity, which showed more Th1 cells in the peripheral blood and spleen after DHZCP treatment, while more IFN-γ was secreted to activate CD8+ T cells and Treg cell production was inhibited, thereby suppressing the growth of HCC. Finally, we also analyzed the potential components of DHZCP from the perspective of modern targets using network pharmacology methods and experimental results.

Network pharmacology study on potential active components in volatile oil of Dictamni Cortex / 中国中药杂志

There are many chemical components in the volatile oil of Dictamni Cortex. The complex network relationship of "component-target-disease" can be revealed by using the network pharmacology method, and the mechanism of the efficacy of Dictamni Cortex can be revealed. In this study, we used Swiss Target Prediction database to predict the target of action, STRING database to build protein interaction network, and Cytoscape software to build "component-target-disease" network. The results showed that the antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antiallergic effects of Dictamni Cortex were closely related to the components of thymol methyl ether, elemenol, anethole, and the related targets of each component were cross-linked to play a multi-target pharmacodynamic role. This study laid a foundation for the study of the effective substance basis and quality control evaluation of the Dictamni Cortex, and provided a scientific basis for further revealing its mechanism.

UFLC-Q-TOF-MS fingerprints of rhizome of Curcuma phaeocaulis and its vinegar processed products and inhibitory effect on thrombosis / 中国中药杂志

Both raw and vinegar products of the rhizome of Curcuma phaeocaulis are common drugs for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis in traditional Chinese medicine,which could be reflected in the inhibition of tail thrombosis in mice. As the traditional processing theory instructs,vinegar tastes sour and bitter,but can activate blood circulation and remove stasis after being infiltrated into the rhizome of C. phaeocaulis as an excipient. In this study,under the help of the ultrafast liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-offlight mass spectrometry( UFLC-Q-TOF-MS),the spectrum-effect relationship between the inhibition of tail thrombosis in mice and the rhizome of C. phaeocaulis both before and after the vinegar processing,were established to explore the functional changes of blood circulation and stasis after vinegar process. Based on the peak area from the fingerprint of UFLC-Q-TOF-MS of the alcohol extracts from the raw and vinegar-processed rhizome of C. phaeocaulis and their efficacy for inhibiting tail thrombosis,the correlation between the chromatography of UFLC-Q-TOF-MS and the inhibition of tail thrombosis in mice were analyzed by orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis( OPLS-DA) method. The results,produced by Simca-P software,showed that effective components consisted of eight peaks 16,24( aromadendrene oxide),3,11,22( dehydro-α-curcumene),19[( R)-(-)-α-curcumene],23 and 10 from the fingerprint,making great contribution to distinguish C. phaeocaulis raw products and the corresponding vinegar processed products. Therefore,from the perspective of inhibiting the formation of tail thrombosis in mice,the marker components could be found through the spectrum-effect relationship to distinguish C.phaeocaulis raw and vinegar products. This study provided new basis to explain the difference between the raw and the processed products of traditional Chinese medicine in the functional change of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis.