Application of Natural Ingredients of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Pain Management： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Pain is one of the most prevalent health problems. Current medications for pain are mainly anticonvulsants， tricyclic antidepressants， and opioidergic drugs. However， their therapeutic effectiveness is limited during application， and some even have severe side effects. In recent years， research on natural ingredients from Chinese herbal medicine has been extensively conducted for their analgesic activities. A series of natural ingredients represented by alkaloids， coumarins， flavonoids， and terpenoids have shown great analgesic activity， and further studies on their analgesic mechanism have found that most natural products have multi-target analgesic mechanisms. It can exert analgesic effects by blocking ion channels， regulating related receptors， or inducing anti-inflammatory or antioxidant effects. In addition， many traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） formulas have shown great analgesic ability after clinical application and have multiple complex analgesic mechanisms. The drug cloud （dCloud） theory can better describe the mechanisms， and it can represent the complete therapeutic spectrum of multi-target analgesics from two dimensions， namely the "direct efficacy" that directly inhibits pain signals and the "background efficacy" that targets the root causes of pain. The authors summarized the research progress of natural ingredients with analgesic effects found in Chinese herbal medicine so far， as well as the analgesic efficacy and potential mechanisms of TCM formulas with great analgesic effects in clinical applications， so as to provide a new basis for searching for new analgesic drugs from TCM.

Erratum to "Identification of anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis agents targeting the interaction of bacterial division proteins FtsZ and SepFe" Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B 13 (2023) 2056-2070

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2023.01.022.].

Identification of anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis agents targeting the interaction of bacterial division proteins FtsZ and SepFe

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the deadly diseases caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), which presents a significant public health challenge. Treatment of TB relies on the combination of several anti-TB drugs to create shorter and safer regimens. Therefore, new anti-TB agents working by different mechanisms are urgently needed. FtsZ, a tubulin-like protein with GTPase activity, forms a dynamic Z-ring in cell division. Most of FtsZ inhibitors are designed to inhibit GTPase activity. In Mtb, the function of Z-ring is modulated by SepF, a FtsZ binding protein. The FtsZ/SepF interaction is essential for FtsZ bundling and localization at the site of division. Here, we established a yeast two-hybrid based screening system to identify inhibitors of FtsZ/SepF interaction in M. tuberculosis. Using this system, we found compound T0349 showing strong anti-Mtb activity but with low toxicity to other bacteria strains and mice. Moreover, we have demonstrated that T0349 binds specifically to SepF to block FtsZ/SepF interaction by GST pull-down, fluorescence polarization (FP), surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and CRISPRi knockdown assays. Furthermore, T0349 can inhibit bacterial cell division by inducing filamentation and abnormal septum. Our data demonstrated that FtsZ/SepF interaction is a promising anti-TB drug target for identifying agents with novel mechanisms.

Repurposing clinical drugs is a promising strategy to discover drugs against Zika virus infection / 医学前沿

Zika virus (ZIKV) is an emerging pathogen associated with neurological complications, such as Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults and microcephaly in fetuses and newborns. This mosquito-borne flavivirus causes important social and sanitary problems owing to its rapid dissemination. However, the development of antivirals against ZIKV is lagging. Although various strategies have been used to study anti-ZIKV agents, approved drugs or vaccines for the treatment (or prevention) of ZIKV infections are currently unavailable. Repurposing clinically approved drugs could be an effective approach to quickly respond to an emergency outbreak of ZIKV infections. The well-established safety profiles and optimal dosage of these clinically approved drugs could provide an economical, safe, and efficacious approach to address ZIKV infections. This review focuses on the recent research and development of agents against ZIKV infection by repurposing clinical drugs. Their characteristics, targets, and potential use in anti-ZIKV therapy are presented. This review provides an update and some successful strategies in the search for anti-ZIKV agents are given.

Transportation and Absorption of Thermo-sensitive Gel Mediated 5-FU Multiple Emulsion in Caco-2 Cell Monolayer Model / 中国药师

Objective: To develop 5-FU multiple emulsion entrapped into thermo-sensitive gel (5-FU-DEG) and detect the ab-sorption and transportation in Caco-2 cell monolayer model. Methods:The 5-FU multiple emulsion was prepared by a two-step emulsif-ying method. Poloxamer 407 (P407) was used as the thermo-sensitive material and sodium alginate (SA) was used as the bioadhesive material for the preparation of 5-FU-DEG. Caco-2 cell monolayer model was used to investigate the transportation and absorption of 5-FU. Results:5-FU-DEG gelled at the ambient temperature and turned into liquid below 10℃ The apparent permeability coefficient (Papp) of 5-FU-DEG was 1.47 ±0.11 ×10 -5(cm·s-1), which was about 6 times higher than that of 5-FU water solution(2.39 ± 0.21 ×10 -6 cm·s-1)(P<0.01). The cellular uptake rate of 5-FU-DEG was (17.1 ±0.24) %, which was 3.9 times greater than that of 5-FU water solution (4. 41 ± 0. 23%)(P<0. 01). Conclusion:5-FU-DEG can efficiently enhance the transportation and ab-sorption of drug in rectal site by using micro-emulsion technology combined with thermo-sensitive technology, which can be an effective rectal delivery system for 5-FU to treat rectal cancer.

Establishment of drug-resistant HBV small-animal models by hydrodynamic injection

In antiviral therapy of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, drug resistance remains a huge obstacle to the long-term effectiveness of nucleoside/tide analogs (NAs). Primary resistance mutation (rtM204V) contributes to lamivudine (LAM)-resistance, and compensatory mutations (rtL180M and rtV173L) restore viral fitness and increase replication efficiency. The evaluation of new anti-viral agents against drug-resistant HBV is limited by the lack of available small-animal models. We established LAM-resistance HBV replication mice models based on clinical LAM-resistant HBV mutants. Double (rtM204V+rtL180M) or triple (rtM204V+rtL180M+rtV173L) lamivudine-resistant mutations were introduced into HBV expression vector, followed by hydrodynamic injection into tail vein of NOD/SCID mice. Viremia was detected on days 5, 9, 13 and 17 and liver HBV DNA was detected on day 17 after injection. The serum and liver HBV DNA levels in LAM-resistant model carrying triple mutations are the highest among the models. Two NAs, LAM and entecavir (ETV), were used to test the availability of the models. LAM and ETV inhibited viral replication on wild-type model. LAM was no longer effective on LAM-resistant models, but ETV retains a strong activity. Therefore, these models can be used to evaluate anti-viral agents against lamivudine-resistance, affording new opportunities to establish other drug-resistant HBV small-animal models.