Investigation on therapeutic potential and molecular mechanisms of Kunxian capsule against diabetic kidney disease via reversing the imbalance of "immune-inflammation" network / 药学学报

Drug repositioning provides new clinical indications for existing drugs. The imbalance between body's "immune-inflammation" regulation is one of the important factors in the occurrence and development of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Chinese patent medicine Kunxian capsule is clinically used for treating rheumatoid arthritis with satisfying immune-modulatory and anti-inflammatory actions. Notably, accumulating clinical evidence based on small cohorts had shown that Kunxian capsule may be used to treat DN. But the underlying pharmacological mechanisms remain unclear. Therefore, this study integrated "drug target-disease gene-biological pathway-function module" multi-level associated network analysis, and in vivo and in vitro experiments, to verify the pharmacological effects of Kunxian capsules in DN and to elucidate its molecular mechanisms. The experimental protocol was reviewed by the Laboratory Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, and it complies with the relevant regulations on laboratory animal welfare and ethics. As a result, the network analysis showed that the candidate targets of Kunxian capsule against DN were significantly involved into various functional modules which were related to modulation of immune-inflammation system, basement membrane lesion, abnormal hemorheology, energy metabolism and hormone metabolism, and the number of targets enriched by PI3K/AKT/NF-κB pathway is the largest. In addition, both in vivo and in vitro experiments demonstrated that Kunxian capsule by gavage effectively reduced blood glucose, improved insulin resistance, reduced blood lipid, inhibited renal extracellular matrix protein production and renal inflammation, improved renal function and pathological damages, and inhibited the activity of PI3K/AKT/NF-κB/TNF-α/IL-1β pathway in diabetic nephropathy rats. Collectively, these findings suggest the therapeutic potentials of Kunxian capsule to alleviate DN by regulating the imbalance of immune-inflammation system.

Quantification of aristolochic acids and their DNA adducts in mice kidney and liver by HPLC-MS/MS / 中国中药杂志

This study aims to establish a quantitative method of 4 aristolochic acids-DNA adducts in mice kidney and liver based on high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(HPLC-MS/MS) for monitoring the content changes of aristolochic acids-DNA adducts. A Shiseido Capcellpak AQ C_(18) column(3 mm×100 mm, 3 μm) was used, with a mixture of 0.2% acetic acid-5 mmol·L~(-1) ammonium acetate as the aqueous phase and methanol as the organic phase for gradient elution. The multiple reaction monitoring(MRM) scanning method under positive mode by electrospray ionization(ESI) was performed for the detection of the aristolochic acids-DNA adducts which formed by combining aristolochic acid Ⅰ/Ⅱ with deoxyadenosine, deoxyguanosine, and deoxycytidine, respectively. Balb/c mice were given Guanmutong extract by gavage, and the relative content of aristolochic acids-DNA adducts in liver and kidney samples were analyzed within 60 days. It was found that the concentration of 4 aristolochic acids-DNA adducts in the kidney was significantly higher than that in the liver, and there were about 15.87 adducts in per 1×10~6 normal deoxynucleosides, which was 4.5-7.5 times than that of the liver. What's more, some adducts can still be detected on the 30 th day after administration. The concentration of the adducts in the liver was highest on the first day after administration, and a second peak appeared during the 7 th to 14 th days. The results indicated that aristolochic acids-DNA adducts are difficult to eliminate in vivo, and it is of great significance to study the mechanism of liver and kidney injury of aristolochic acid.

Determination of 25 characteristic components in Danhe Granules by LC-MS and consistency analysis of preparations / 中草药

Objective: A high performance liquid chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole mass spectrometry method (HPLC- MS/MS) was established to simultaneously determine the content of 25 characteristic components (gallic acid, tanshinol, catechin, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, epicatechin, rutin, polydatin, hyperin, astragalin, naringin, hesperidin, rosmarinic acid, resveratrol, salvianolic acid B, quercetin, emodin-8-O-β-D-glucoside, isorhamnetin, emodin, coclaurine, nuciferine, cryptotanshinone, tanshinone I, dehydronuciferine, tanshinone IIA) in Danhe Granules (DG), and the consistency between different batches was investigated. Methods The analysis was conducted on Agilent Rapid Resolution HD C18 column (50 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.8 μm) with the mobile phase of 0.1% formic acid water-0.1% formic acid acetonitrile. The dynamic multi-response detection (dMRM) scanning mode was used in the mass spectrometry. Results: Based on the established HPLC-MS/MS method, the simultaneous quantitative analysis of 25 characteristic components could be completed within 10 min, with the quantitative limits of isorhamnetin, coclaurine, and dehydronuciferine of 0.025 ng/mL; emodin and tanshinone I of 0.050 ng/mL; emodin-8-O-β-D-glucoside of 0.200 ng/ml; gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, epicatechin, rutin, hyperin, astragalin, resveratrol, quercetin, nuciferine, tanshinone IIA of 0.250 ng/ml; catechin, rosmarinic acid, and cryptotanshinone of 0.500 ng/mL; tanshinol, hesperidin, and salvianolic acid B of 1.000 ng/mL; polydatin of 2.000 ng/mL; naringin of 5.000 ng/mL, respectively. The linear relationships of the 25 constituents within their respective mass concentrations were good, with the average recovery of 85.16%-113.46% and the RSD of 2.01%-8.80%. Furthermore, this method also included the main components named monarch, minister, assistant and guide of herbs in a relatively comprehensive way. The total content of the 25 components was 31.49 mg/g, among which the content of salvianolic acid B (9.44 mg/g) and hesperidin (7.60 mg/g) was the highest, and the content of isorhamnetin (0.79 μg/g) was the lowest. According to boxplot analysis, the content of 25 components in 10 different batches of DG fluctuated (P value) within 75% < P < 125%; and the RSD value of 25 components ranged from 2.58% to 13.10% by statistical analysis. The above results showed that the consistency of the component content among 10 batches of DG was acceptable. Conclusion: The analytical method established in this study is fast and sensitive. Furthermore, the results of this study are reliable and can provide scientific methods and basis for quality control and consistency analysis of DG.