Lovastatin derivative dehydrolovastatin ameliorates ulcerative colitis in mice by suppressing NF-κB and inflammatory cytokine expression

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is associated with intestinal immune imbalance and inflammatory response. Because dehydrolovastatin (DLVT), a derivative of lovastatin, has been recently shown to inhibit inflammation and relieve immune arthritis induced by chemical stimuli, we studied its effect and possible mechanism on UC induced by dextran sulfate sodium. The BALB/c mice were classified into six groups: normal control group, model group, DLVT high dose group, DLVT low dose group, salazosulfapyridine (SASP) group and lovastatin (LVT) group. The disease activity indices of UC and pathological changes were investigated. The myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in colon tissue and inflammatory factors such as IL-6, IL-10, IL-17, and TNF-α in the serum were analyzed by ELISA, while the expression of NF-κB p65 protein in colon tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry and western blot. DLVT relieved the disease activity indices and pathological damage of the UC mice. Furthermore, DLVT significantly decreased MPO activity and improved the imbalance of inflammatory cytokines through inhibiting the expression of NF-κB p65. Meanwhile, the positive drug of SASP has a similar effect to DLVT, but the effect of DLVT in both decreasing IL-17, TNF-α, and increasing IL-10 was significantly stronger than that of SASP. These results suggest that DLVT may ameliorates the symptoms of UC.

Simultaneous Determination of Eight Active Components in Material Benchmark of Shentong Zhuyutang by HPLC-DAD Wavelength Switching / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective::To develop high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) wavelength switching for simultaneously determining the contents of inosine, loganic acid, chlorogenic acid, amygdalin, hydroxysafflor yellow A, gentiopicroside, ferulic acid and liquiritin in 15 batches of material benchmarks of Shentong Zhuyutang. Method::The quantitative analysis was carried out on a Thermo Hypersil GOLD C18 column (4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm) with mobile phase of acetonitrile-0.1%phosphoric acid aqueous solution for gradient elution, the flow rate was 1.0 mL·min-1, the detection wavelengths were set as 248 nm (0-11 min, inosine), 235 nm (11-14 min, loganic acid), 324 nm (14-16 min, chlorogenic acid), 220 nm (16-19 min, amygdalin and hydroxysafflor yellow A), 274 nm (19-26 min, gentiopicroside), 247 nm (26-54 min, ferulic acid and liquiritin), the column temperature was maintained at 25 ℃. According to the contents of eight active components in 15 batches of material benchmarks, orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) in SIMCA 14.1 was used to evaluate the quality difference of each batch of samples. Result::Each component had good separations, the linear ranges of the above 8 components were 2.1-67.2, 1.812 5-58, 1.937 5-62, 5.212 5-166.8, 8.45-270.4, 7.075-226.4, 1.775-56.8, 3.875-124 mg·L-1, respectively (r≥0.999 6). The average recoveries of them were 99.23%, 100.09%, 99.33%, 98.85%, 99.15%, 98.75%, 99.42%, 98.96%, respectively (RSD<2%). The contents of the above eight components in 15 batches of material benchmarks were 0.183 5-0.250 3, 0.173 1-0.265 3, 0.069 5-0.169 8, 0.959 2-1.458 2, 1.905 4-2.553 3, 0.933 3-1.997 5, 0.084 6-0.143 4, 0.212 5-0.704 3 mg·g-1, respectively. Liquiritin, ferulic acid, gentiopicroside and hydroxysafflor yellow A were determined to have significant impact on the quality of different batches of material benchmarks of Shentong Zhuyutang through OPLS-DA. Conclusion::The established method for simultaneous determination of multi-components is reliable, simple and in line with the requirements of methodological verification. It is suitable for the quality control of research and development of compound preparations of Shentong Zhuyutang.

Active components and mechanism of Taohong Siwu Decoction in treatment of primary dysmenorrhea based on network pharmacology and molecular docking technology / 中国中药杂志

This paper aimed to investigate the active components and mechanism of Taohong Siwu Decoction in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea(PD) based on network pharmacology and molecular docking technology. Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform(TCMSP) was used to search the chemical compositions and targets of six herbs in Taohong Siwu Decoction. The targets for PD treatment were selected through the databases of DrugBank, OMIM, TTD and CTD, and gene annotation of the targets was conducted with UniProt database. Cytoscape 3.7.2 was then used to construct the drug-compound-target network. The protein-protein interaction(PPI) network was constructed based on STRING, and the core targets of Taohong Siwu Decoction in the treatment of PD were selected according to the topological parameters. David database was used for GO enrichment analysis and KOBAS 3.0 was used for KEGG enrichment analysis. The molecular docking technology was used to connect the components with higher medium values in the network with core targets. The results showed that the network contained 36 compounds such as quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin, myricanone and ferulic acid, and 99 targets such as PTGS2, PTGS2, PGR and PPARG. Totally 102 GO terms were obtained by GO functional enrichment analysis(P<0.01), and 228 signal pathways were obtained by KEGG pathway enrichment(P<0.05), mainly involving inflammatory factors, hormone regulation, central analgesia, amino acid metabolism and spasmolysis. The results of molecular docking showed that the main active components can spontaneously bind to the targets. This study preliminarily revealed the mechanism of Taohong Siwu Decoction for treatment of primary dysmenorrheal through multi-components, multi-targets and multi-pathways, providing theoretical references for further researches on mechanism of Taohong Siwu Decoction.

Lovastatin derivative dehydrolovastatin ameliorates ulcerative colitis in mice by suppressing NF-κB and inflammatory cytokine expression

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is associated with intestinal immune imbalance and inflammatory response. Because dehydrolovastatin (DLVT), a derivative of lovastatin, has been recently shown to inhibit inflammation and relieve immune arthritis induced by chemical stimuli, we studied its effect and possible mechanism on UC induced by dextran sulfate sodium. The BALB/c mice were classified into six groups: normal control group, model group, DLVT high dose group, DLVT low dose group, salazosulfapyridine (SASP) group and lovastatin (LVT) group. The disease activity indices of UC and pathological changes were investigated. The myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in colon tissue and inflammatory factors such as IL-6, IL-10, IL-17, and TNF-α in the serum were analyzed by ELISA, while the expression of NF-κB p65 protein in colon tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry and western blot. DLVT relieved the disease activity indices and pathological damage of the UC mice. Furthermore, DLVT significantly decreased MPO activity and improved the imbalance of inflammatory cytokines through inhibiting the expression of NF-κB p65. Meanwhile, the positive drug of SASP has a similar effect to DLVT, but the effect of DLVT in both decreasing IL-17, TNF-α, and increasing IL-10 was significantly stronger than that of SASP. These results suggest that DLVT may ameliorates the symptoms of UC.

Application of Problem-Based Learning Method in Teaching of Chinese Medicine Dermatology Based on Medical Records / 中国中医药信息杂志

Objective To explore the effects of problem-based learning (PBL) method on the efficiency of teaching of Chinese medicine dermatology based on medical records. Methods Undergraduate students who were in the same grade were divided into experimental group and control group. The experimental group was taught with the PBL method based on medical records. Teachers selected medical records, combed knowledge points, designed questions and carried out teaching in response to questions. The control group was taught with traditional teaching method. The teaching efficiency of two groups was evaluated by using test scores and questionnaire survey. Results The scores of syndrome differentiation scores, medication scores, and the overall score of experimental group were better than those in the control group. Compared with the control group, learning initiative, ability to involve in the teaching and master knowledge, and ability of logical analysis and communication of experimental group were all improved remarkably. Conclusion PBL method based on medical cases is beneficial for the improvement of the level of diagnosing and treating skin diseases based on syndrome differentiation and ability of solving problem.