Particle design for improving taste and homogeneity of traditional Chinese medicinal powder: taking Zhuhuang Chuihou Powder as an example / 中国中药杂志

Due to the complex source and different physical and chemical properties of traditional Chinese medicines(TCM) powder, there are many common pharmaceutical problems in its preparation, such as large particle size difference, poor mixing uniformity, and poor compliance with oral intake, which has directly affected the quality of solid preparations as well as their clinical efficacy and safety. This study observed the property of Zhuhuang Chuihou Powder and extract its pharmaceutical defects. It was found that realgar and calcined Borax in Zhuhuang Chuihou Powder were heavy in texture and toxic, and they were easy to be isolated, indicating the potential safety hazard. At the same time, Coptidis Rhizoma and Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex were the main sources of its bitterness. Therefore, based on the idea of "drug-excipients unity", the particle design technology was used to prepare core/shell-type composite particles with bitter medicines as the core and mineral medicines as shell. Both infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy results indicated the formation of composite particles, and the taste of these composite particles were improved. Compared with the physical mixtures, the composite particles exhibited significantly decreased RSD values in the content uniformity of berberine hydrochloride, arsenic disulfide, and sodium tetraborate and appearance uniformity. The introduction of particle design technology solved the problem of uneven dispersion of Zhuhuang Chuihou Powder, thus ensuring its uniform dispersion, stability, and control and improving the quality of the original preparation. This has provided a scientific basis for the quality control of TCM powder.

Application of design technology for preparing Lingzhu Powder particles based on solvent evaporation method / 中国中药杂志

Targeting the deficiencies of Lingzhu Powder, this study introduced the particle design technology to improve its quality. Based on the mechanism of particle design for powder and the characteristics of solvent evaporation method, composite particles consisting of Succinum, Cinnabaris, and artificial Bovis Calculus were prepared. And the powder properties of composite particles and physical mixtures as well as the content uniformity of toxic components were investigated for exploring the technological advantages of particle design in improving the quality of Lingzhu Powder. The results showed that the composite particles prepared using solvent evaporation method and particle design technology were micro-particles, and the stable agglomerate structure could be observed under SEM. Composite particles exhibited better fluidity and compliance in oral intake than physical mixtures. The differences in chromatism, bulk density, and content uniformity of the composite particles were smaller than those of physical mixtures, and the corresponding RSD values \[4.8%, 1.8%, 3.4%(bilirubin), and 0.63%(HgS), respectively\] were smaller. The solvent evaporation combined with particle design technology can be utilized to significantly improve the quality of Lingzhu Powder, which has provided new ideas for the optimization of the quality of traditional Chinese medicinal powder.

Innovation of pulvis modification technology in traditional Chinese medicine preparations: A case study of Shenling Baizhu Pulvis / 中草药

Objective: To study the powder properties and powder modification technology of Shenling Baizhu Pulvis (SBP), so as to lay a foundation for the study of the suitability of powder modification technology in the solid preparation of traditional Chinese medicine. Methods: The characterization and evaluation methods of powder in the field of materials science and pharmaceutical science were used for reference to evaluate the grouping of single medicinal materials in the particle design and the process rationality of composite particles. The preparation process of composite particles of SBP was optimized by L9(34) orthogonal test, and the surface properties of the composite particles were evaluated by SEM, IR and XRD. Results: The study on the powder properties of prescription raw materials showed that there was a good correlation between the grinding time and the particle size. Finally, the best process for composite particles was as following: the pulverization temperature for powders of Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma, Dioscoreag Rhizoma, Nelumbinis Semen, Lablab Semen Album, Coicis Semen and Platycodonis Radix was -10 ℃ for 45 min, and then pulverization for another 4 min after adding with Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma, Poria, Amomi Fructus and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma. The results showed that the composite particles were well formed and the preparation process was stable and feasible. Conclusion: The powder modification technology solves the powder defects in the preparation process of traditional powder, which provides experimental basis for powder modification technology to improve the quality of traditional Chinese medicine solid preparation and promote the development and upgrading of powder, pill and other traditional dosage forms.

Research progress on superfine grinding technique in field of Chinese materia medica / 中草药

With the continuous development of the modernization of Chinese materia medica (CMM), the superfine grinding technology has been continuously applied to the basic and applied research of raw materials and preparations, which has become an important way to improve and enhance the quality of traditional Chinese medicine decoction pieces and traditional preparations. This paper introduces the concept, the equipment, working principle and characteristics of superfine grinding, and expounds the general situation of application of superfine grinding technology in Chinese materia medica (CMM). The prospective application of superfine grinding technology in the field of CMM was analyzed and prospected. The problems that should be paid attention to in the future research and application of superfine grinding of CMM were put forward.

Clinical Observation of Scalp Acupuncture Combined with Electroacupuncture for Treatment of Aphasia After Ischemic Stroke / 中国中医药信息杂志

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of scalp acupuncture combined with electroacupuncture in the treatment of aphasia after ischemic stroke. Methods Totally 90 patients with aphasia after ischemic stroke were randomly divided into the control group and the treatment group, with 45 cases in each group. The control group received Schuell language training, 30 min each time, while the treatment group received scalp acupuncture plus electroacupuncture (Yifeng, Baihui, Houxi and Tongli), 20 min each time. The treatment for both group was 5 times a week and lasted for 16 weeks. The clinical efficacy was evaluated by aphasia degree, Chinese functional communication profile (CFCP) score and Western aphasia battery (WAB). Results There was statistical significance between the treatment group and the control group in the level of aphasia degree (P＜0.05). Compared with before treatment, the total scores of CFCP and WAB in both groups increased, with statistical significance (P＜0.05). The total scores of CFCP and WAB in treatment group were higher than control group, with statistical significance (P＜0.05). The total effective rate of the therapeutic effect was 91.11% (41/45) in the treatment group and 75.56% (34/45) in the control group, with statistical significance (P＜0.05). Conclusion Scalp acupuncture combined with electroacupuncture can obviously improve the language understanding and expression ability and language communication ability of aphasic patients after ischemic stroke.

Effects of PI3K/Akt-eNOS signaling pathway on total flavones in Clematis filamentosa post-conditioning alleviated of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats / 中国中药杂志

The aim of this paper was to study the effect of total flavones of Clematis filamentosa Dunn(TFCD) post-conditioning against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) and the role of PI3K/Akt-eNOS signaling pathway. Forty male SD rats were divided randomly into five groups: Sham group, model group (I/R), TFCD post-conditioning group (TFCD), TFCD post-condition-ing+LY294002 (a PI3K/Akt signaling pathway inhibitor) group (TFCD+LY), and LY294002 group (LY). At the end of reperfusion, hemodynamic parameters were recorded, morphology changes of myocardial tissue were evaluated by using HE staining, and myocardial infarct size were observed, blood samples were obtained to determine plasma activation of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK) nitric oxide (NO), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), maleic dialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px). The expressions of Akt, p-Akt, eNOS and p-eNOS proteins were assessed by using Western blot, and eNOS and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA was measured by RT-PCR. The results showed that, compared with the model group, TFCD post-conditioning remarkably improved hemodynamics function and myocardial structure, reduced myocardial infarct size and enhanced the contents of NO, eNOS, SOD and GSH-Px, and decreased the contents of LDH, CK and MDA, increased the levels of phosphorylation of Akt and eNOS protein expression, eNOS and iNOS mRNA expression significantly(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01). These effects were inhibited by LY294002, a blocker of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. The above experiments indicated that TFCD post-conditioning could significantly reduce MIRI in rats, the mechanism of which may be associated with increasing antioxidation, scavenging oxygen free radicals, regulating NO generation and activating PI3K/Akt-eNOS signaling pathway.

Chemical constituents of whole plant of Physalis angulata L / 中国药学杂志

OBJECTIVE: To study the chemical constituents of whole plant of Physalis angulata L. METHODS: The constituents were isolated and purified by chromatographic methods and their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods and physio-chemical analysis. RESULTS: Thirteen known compounds was isolated and identified as physalin A (1), physalin B (2), physalin E (3), physalin P(4), stigmast-5-en-3β-ol (5), ergost-5, 24 (28) -diene-3β-ol (6), brassicaaterol (7), stigmasta-22-en-3, 6-dione (8), pregn-5-en-3-ol-20-carboxylic acid (9), ergost-5, 24 (28)-diene-3β, 23S-diol (10), ergosta-5, 25 (26)-diene-3, 24ξ-diol(11), n-hexade-canoic acid (12), and n-heptadecanoic acid (13). CONCLUSION: All of the compounds except 2 and 3 are isolated from this plant for the first time, and compounds 5-10 and 12-13 are isolated from Physalis for the first time.

Morphological analysis on adhesion and invasion involved in endometriosis with tissue culture / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Endometriosis (EM) is a benign gynecologic disease predominantly found in women of reproductive age. However, its pathogenesis is still poorly understood. Our experiment was designed to establish a stable and reliable cultural environment for coculture of endometrium and peritoneum, so as to observe the adhesion/invasion ability of endometrium from patients with or without EM.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Endometria of secretory phase and peritoneum were sampled from 6 women with endometriois during laparoscopy. Six with ovarian teratoma or simple ovarian cyst were taken as control. We cocultured endometrium and peritoneum into four groups (endometrium from EM cultured with peritoneum from EM, endometrium from control cultured with peritoneum from control, endometrium from EM cultured with peritoneum from non-EM and the endometrium from control cultured with peritoneum from EM) to observe the adhesion/invasion process in gas-liquid surface culture and in-medium culture. Specimens were collected at 1 hour, 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, 2 days, 3 days, 4 days, 5 days, 6 days and 7 days for histology, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemical analysis on cytokeratin 8 (CK8) and CD10.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The gas-liquid surface culture was superior to in-medium culture for the maintenance of tissue morphology and survival of endometrium. CK8 immunoflurescence demonstrated no remarkable difference in adhesion process between patients with and without EM. CD10 immunochemistry manifested frequent invasion of endometrial stromal cells from EM patients into peritoneum of up to 3 days culture, while the endometriotic cells from non-EM patients did not invade into peritoneum.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Gas-liquid surface culture is a suitable model for observing the early events in EM lesion formation. Endometrium from patients with EM showed increased invasion capacity during coculture, which might help to explain the etiology of endometriosis.</p>

High-performance liquid chromatography for determination of psoralene, bergapten and apigenin in Ficus hirta Vahl / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To establish a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-based method for determining the contents of psoralene, bergapten and apigenin in Ficus hirta Vahl.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A Hypersil C18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) was used with the mobile phase of methanol-water (60:40), flow rate of 1.0 ml/min, detection wavelength of 268.7 nm and column temperature of 30 degrees celsius.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The calibration curve was linear within the range of 10.0-30.0 µg/ml for psoralene (r=0.9998), 15.0-45.0 µg/ml for bergapten (r=0.9998) and 5.0-15.0 µg/ml for apigenin (r=0.9992). The average recovery of psoralene was 99.7% (RSD=1.99%), that of bergapten was 99.9% (RSD=1.71%) and that of apigenin was 100.3% (RSD=1.78%).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The method is simple, economic and accurate with good reproducibility for the contents of psoralene, bergapten and apigenin.</p>

Effects of resveratrol on pig primary preadipocytes proliferation, differentiation and transcription expression of Sirt1 gene / 生物工程学报

1 approximately 3 days old Piglet's primary preadipocytes in vitro were cultured and treated with 0micromol/L (control group), 10microlmol/L (lower dose group), 20micromol/L(middle dose group) and 50micromol/L, 100micromol/L (higher dose group) RES. Cell proliferation and viability were analyzed by MTT assay. The degree of differentiation and adipogenesis were measured by Oil Red O staining extraction assay and the expression of Sirt1 (sirtuin) mRNA were detected by RT-PCR. The results showed the optical density (OD) of MTT and Oil Red O staining were all decreased, especially treated by 50micromol/L, 100micromol/L RES at 72h and 96h (P < 0.01); the ratio of OD of the expression of Sirt1 mRNA to that of beta-actin mRNA were increased after treated by 100micromol/L RES (P < 0.01). RES can inhibit proliferation and differentiation of pig preadipocytes in certain degree. Higher dose of RES can markedly decrease adipogenesis and prevent preadipocytes differentiation into adipocytes, which may be in part associated with its effect on increasing the expression of Sirt1 mRNA.

Isolation and structure identification of chemical constituents from Viscum liquidambaricolum / 药学学报

<p><b>AIM</b>To study the chemical constituents of Viscum liquidambaricolum Hayata.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Various chromatographic techniques were used to separate and purify the compounds. Their spectral data (MS,IR,NMR) were measured for structure identification.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Five compounds were isolated from Viscum liquidambaricolum and their structures were identified as trans-cinnamic acid (I), oleanolic acid (II), chrysin (III), eriodictyol (IV) and liquidamboside (V).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Liquidamboside (V) is a new compound, the known compounds I - IV were isolated from this plant for the first time, I, III, IV were isolated from Loranthaceae for the first time.</p>