Anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects of acidic fraction of Pheratima extract in asthma mice induced by ovalbumin / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the effects of acidic fraction of Pheratima extract in an ovalbumin (OVA) induced asthma mouse model, and to provide the experimental evidences for the anti-asthmatic application of Pheratima extract with further purification and development.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Mice model of allergic asthma was established through the OVA challenge. To investigate the inflammatory cell level and Th1/Th2 levels as well as the therapeutic effects of acidic fraction from Pheratima extract, cell count of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was performed to evaluate the secretion of eosinophils (EOS) cells, and IgE, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, IFN-y levels were detected by ELISA.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Compared with control group, the EOS count of BALF in the model group was remarkably increased (P<0.01), and IgE, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13 levels were also increased (P<0.01), while IFN-gamma decreased (P<0.01). Acidic fraction from Pheratima (S) extract and its 30% ethanol washed fraction (S30) significantly inhibited the increase of EOS count (P<0.01), decreased the IgE, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13 levels (P<0.05), and inhibited the decrease of IFN-gamma level (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The results indicate that inhibition of the EOS secretion and balancing of the altered Th1/Th2 levels may be important mechanisms of Pheratima's therapeutic effect in asthmatic mice model, and S30 is pharmacologically effective as evaluated with the above mentioned parameters, as a representative fraction of the Pheratima extract.</p>

Effect of jinfu kang to experimental precancerous colon lesions and urinary metabolites in rat / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>: To profile urinary metabolite variations from 1, 2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH)-induced precancerous colon rats, Jinfu Kang treated rats and healthy controls.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>We used ethyl chloroformate derivatization and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) based metabonomic method to analyze rat urines.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The time-dependent variations of metabolite profile showed a progressive deviation of the metabolism in the model group from the initial pattern over time and a systemic recovery of the metabolism in the treatment group, which is consistent with the histological results. The in-depth analysis indicated that the disorder of tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA), tryptophan metabolism, polyamine metabolism and gut flora structure were associated with DMH intervention.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Metabolic study revealed that Jinfu Kang can effectively reverse metabolic departures in DMH-induced precancerous colon rat, which is consistent with pathological results.</p>

Analysis of matrine and oxymatrine in Kushensu injection by UPLC/Q-TOF-MS / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To develop a method for the determination of matrine and oxymatrine in Kushensu injection by ultra performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS).</p><p><b>METHOD</b>The analysis was performed on a Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column (2.1 mm x 100 mm, 1.7 microm) with the gradient elution of 10 mmol x L(-1) amine acetate (pH 8, adjusted by aqueous ammonia) and methanol. The flow rate was set as 0.30 mL x min(-1). The column temperature was maintained at 30 degrees C. The peaks were detected at 210 nm and the injection volume was 2 microL.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>The calibration curves showed good linearity within the test ranges of 0.084-3.36 microg for matrine and 0.086-3.44 microg for oxymatrine, respectively. The mean recoveries were 103.2%, 98.7%, and the RSD were 1.5%, 1.2%, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The established method is simple, rapid and sensitive, can be used for the quality control of matrine and oxymatrine in Kushensu injection through the manufacturing process and clinical implement.</p>

Application of metabolomics in research of plant metabolites / 中国中药杂志

Metabolomics, a branch of systems biology, has gained extensive attention and profound achievements in the plant. Although plant metabolomics is to be explored, it has been one of the most effective methods to study the physiological and biochemical process and gene modification in pattern plants. We herein summarized the concept, development, and application of metabolomics and prospected the potentials in the metabolite profiling for plant. Metabolomics provides an omics' methodology to elucidate the whole biological process, identify and quantify the complex components in the plant. A number of metabolites present in the plant are active components of traditional Chinese medicine, and these bioactive components are influenced by the multi-factors such as environment, species, and processing methods etc. Therefore, it is of great importance to analyze a wide spectrum of compositions with diverse chemical characteristics and varied concentration, which is the foundation to quality control, allowing the elucidation of the pharmacological effectiveness, and further exploiting of traditional Chinese medicine.