Mechanism of Liuwei Dihuang Pills in treatment of mice with diminished ovarian reserve based on proteomics / 中国中药杂志

This study aims to investigate the efficacy and possible mechanism of Liuwei Dihuang Pills in the treatment of diminished ovarian reserve(DOR) by using proteomic techniques. Firstly, cyclophosphamide(60 mg·kg~(-1)) combined with busulfan(6 mg·kg~(-1)) was injected intraperitoneally to establish the mouse model of DOR. After drug injection, the mice were continuously observed and the success of modeling was evaluated by the disturbance of the estrous cycle. After successful modeling, the mice were administrated with the suspension of Liuwei Dihuang Pills by gavage for 28 days. At the end of the gavage, four female mice were selected and caged together with males at a ratio of 2∶1 for the determination of the pregnancy rate. Blood and ovary samples were collected from the remaining mice on the next day after the end of gavage. Hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining and transmission electron microscopy(TEM) were then employed to observe the morphological and ultrastructural changes in the ovaries. The serum levels of hormones and oxidation indicators were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Quantitative proteomics techniques were used to compare the ovarian protein expression before and after modeling and before and after the intervention with Liuwei Dihuang Pills. The results showed that Liuwei Dihuang Pills regulated the estrous cycle of DOR mice, elevated the serum levels of hormones and anti-oxidation indicators, promoted follicle development, protected the mitochondrial morphology of ovarian granulosa cells, and increased the litter size and survival of DOR mice. Furthermore, Liuwei Dihuang Pills negatively regulated the expression of 12 differentially expressed proteins associated with DOR, which were mainly involved in lipid catabolism, inflammatory response, immune regulation, and coenzyme biosynthesis. These differentially expressed proteins were significantly enriched in sphingolipid metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, ribosomes, ferroptosis, and cGMP-PKG signaling pathway. In summary, the occurrence of DOR and the treatment of DOR with Liuwei Dihuang Pills are associated with multiple biological pathways, mainly including oxidative stress response, inflammatory response, and immune regulation. "Mitochondria-oxidative stress-apoptosis" is the key to the treatment of DOR by Liuwei Dihuang Pills. YY1 and CYP4F3 may be the key upstream targets that trigger mitochondrial dysfunction and ROS accumulation, and the metabolism of arachidonic acid is the main signaling pathway of drug action.

Comparative proteomic profiling of hippocampi in mice treated with Jingui Shenqi Pills and Liuwei Dihuang Pills / 中国中药杂志

The effects of Jingui Shenqi Pills(Jingui) and Liuwei Dihuang Pills(Liuwei) which respectively tonify kidney Yang and kidney Yin on brain function have attracted great attention, while the differences of protein expression regulated by Jingui and Liuwei remain to be studied. This study explored the difference of protein expression profiles in the hippocampi of mice orally administrated with the two drugs for 7 days. The protein expression was quantified using LC-MS/MS. The results showed that among the 5 860 proteins tested, 151, 282 and 75 proteins responded to Jingui alone, Liuwei alone, and both drugs, respectively. The ratio of up-regulated proteins to down-regulated proteins was 1.627 in Jingui group while only 0.56 in Liuwei group. The proteins up-regulated by Jingui were mainly involved in membrane transport, synaptic vesicle cycle, serotonergic synapse, dopaminergic synapse and so on, suggesting that Jingui may play a role in promoting the transport of neurotransmitter in the nervous system. The proteins down-regulated by Liuwei were mainly involved in membrane transport, synapse, ion transport(potassium and sodium transport), neurotransmitter transport, innate and acquired immune responses, complement activation, inflammatory response, etc. In particular, Liuwei showed obvious down-regulation effect on the members of solute carrier(SLC) superfamily, which suggested that Liuwei had potential inhibitory effect on membrane excitation and transport. Finally, consistent results were obtained in the normal mouse and the mouse model with corticosterone-induced depressive-like behavior. This study provides an experimental basis for understanding the effect of Jingui and Liuwei on brain function from protein network.

Evaluation and analysis of high-quality products of Liuwei Dihuang Pills / 中国中药杂志

Liuwei Dihuang Pills is a typical traditional Chinese medicine with "the same product made by many manufacturers". The quality and price of products made in various factories was different obviously. In this study, the quality differences of Liuwei Dihuang Pills were evaluated over multi-dimensions and throughout the whole production cycle involving raw materials, production process, quality control and post-marketing re-studies based on the "Chinese patent medicine evaluation standard with quality at the core" established earlier by our research group. The research results showed that the product quality of various manufacturers was significantly different, and the product quality was positively correlated with the market shares of enterprises, indicating that enterprises with more market shares paid more attention to product quality; and the sales determined the concern degree of enterprises on products, which was in line with general cognition. During the single-item evaluation of Liuwei Dihuang Pills, the score of raw material selection was relatively low, and the enterprises paid less attention to the initial raw materials. The whole production process was better, and the national compulsory implementation of "Production Quality Management Standard"(GMP) had a positive effect in improving product quality. Quality control could basically guarantee product quality. Intelligent manufacturing promoted by the government was beneficial to ensure product uniformity. The score rate of "quality evaluation" item was basically qualified, which indicated that the quality control level of Liuwei Dihuang Pills was acceptable as a whole, but there was still room for improvement. "Re-evaluation and Brand Construction" had the lowest scores, reflecting that enterprises did not pay enough attention to in-depth study and re-evaluation of "the same product made by many manufacturers". The evaluation results were in line with expectations, provided a reference example for the evaluation of high-quality Chinese patent medicine, a basis for the high-quality and good price of Chinese patent medicine, scientific data for improving medical insurance bidding, and thus facilitated promoting the healthy development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry.

Current situation and consideration of patent protection in classical representative famous prescriptions in China / 中国中药杂志

Classical Representative Famous Prescription is the valuable cultural heritage of Chinese medicine. In November 2018,the State Council issued the " Intensive Implementation of the National Intellectual Property Strategy in 2018 to Accelerate the Construction of IP Strong Country",explicitly proposing to strengthen the intellectual property protection of Classical Representative Famous Prescription.How about the current situation of intellectual property protection of lassical Representative Famous Prescription in China? We selected Liuwei Dihuang Pills,Shengmai Powder and Guizhi Fuling Pills( three representative drugs on market) from Chinese Pharmacopoeia2015 Volume I issued by Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission to analyze their patent layout,reflecting its status quo of patent protection as follows: first,in recent years,the number of related patent applications for Classical Representative Famous Prescriptions has declined,which was positively correlated with the drug registration and approval policies in recent years,but the policy dividend has not been reflected in the patent application,which may be related to the long period of pharmaceutical R&D; secondly,the patent applicant in the field of Chinese medicine is mainly based on individuals,but the applicant of Classical Representative Famous Prescription is mainly of enterprises,and in addition,the company applicants have the highest authorization rate; thirdly,the main technologies are to improve preparation method and the dosage form in the research and development of Classical Representative Famous Prescription,but these two types of authorized patents have much difficulty in further application on the market. Therefore,the innovative entities shall look for a new breakthrough in secondary development and utilization of Classical Representative Famous Prescriptions.

Characteristics of materiome release kinetics and visual evaluation of different types of Liuwei Dihuang Pills / 中草药

Objective To investigate the characteristics of materiome release kinetics of Liuwei Dihuang Pills (LDP), and to evaluate its visualization. Methods According to the 2015 edition of Chinese Pharmacopia, using the evaluation methods of release kinetics of Chinese material medica to determine the materiomics release kinetics and the releasecharacteristic of LDP by the paddle method. Then f2 fit factor was calculated and evaluated on other types of LDP in comparison with water-bindered pills and condensed pills as, which are two most common preparations in the market. Moreover, materiome release spectrum and release increment spectrum were used, hoping to quantify, integrate and visualise the materiome release characteristics of different types of LDP. Results The kinetic characteristics of the LDP accord with the Weibull release model, T50 and Td were calculated, and there are significant differences between different types of pills (P < 0.05) in addition to condensed pills and water pills. Also, some differences and similarities in the materiomics release characteristic by f2 fit factor were found in the study. Materiome release spectrum and release increment spectrum can be used to quantify, integrate and visualise the materiome release characteristics of LDP on different types. Conclusion The materiomics release kinetics can be applied to quantify, integrate and visualise the materiome release characteristic of LDP on different types. Basically in agreement with the saying, “water pills from the facilitation, honey pills take the slow, paste pills from the late of, wax-wrapped pills take the difficult”.

Regulatory Effect of Liuwei Dihuang Pills on Connexin 43 Expression in Hepatocarcinoma CBRH7919 Cells in Vitro / 广州中医药大学学报

Objective To investigate the effect of Liuwei Dihuang Pills (LDP)on the expression of connexin 43 (Cx43) in rat hepatocarcinoma CBRH7919 cells. Methods LDP-containing serum was prepared by serum pharmacological method. The protein expression of Cx43 in CBRH7919 cells was determined by Western blotting method, indirect immuno-fluorescent staining labeled by fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-laser scanning confocal microscope technology and flow cytometry. And the mRNA expression of Cx43 in the hepatoma cells was detected by reverse transcription real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR). Results Compared with the blank serum control group,the protein and mRNA expression levels of Cx43 were increased by volume fraction of 2.5%, 5%, 10% LDP-containing serum (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Conclusion LDP play an anti-cancer role through promoting the expression of Cx43 in CBRH7919 cells, altering Cx43 membrane location, and improving the gap junctional intercellular communication(GJIC).

Effects of Liuwei Dihuang Pills on the Proliferation and Differentiation of Rat Preadipocytes / 中国中医药信息杂志

Objective To investigate the influence of Liuwei Dihuang pills on proliferation and differentiation of rat preadipocytes. Methods Rat preadipocytes were cultured, the influence of Liuwei Dihuang drug-containing serum on proliferation of rat preadipocytes was detected by MTT method, the influence of Liuwei Dihuang drug-containing serum on expression of GPDH was determined by enzyme tissue chemical method, the effect on lipid accumulation was determined by Oil Red O staining. Results Liuwei Dihuang drug-containing serum stimulated rat preadipocyte proliferation, inhibited GPDH up-regulation during differentiation, inhibited lipid accumulation in cell differentiation with the concentration below 10%. Conclusion Liuwei Dihuang pills stimulated rat preadipocyte proliferation, inhibited rat preadipocyte differentiation.

Effect of Liuwei Dihuang Pills Prepared by different Kinds of Techniques on Hemolysin Content in Mice / 中药新药与临床药理

Objective To compare the pharmacodynamic actions of Liuwei Dihuang Pills(LDP)prepared by four kinds of techniques on hemolysin contents in mice.Methods Sensitized by SRBC,immuno-inhibited mice models were induced by dexamethasone and cyclophosphane respectively.The hemolysin contents in the mice fed with LDP prepared by four kinds of techniques were observed to compare the pharmacodynamic actions.Results In experiment 1 that immuno-inhibited mice models were induced by cyclophosphane,the half hemolysin concentration(HC50)was low in the model group and LDP groups,especially in the LDP groups of techniqueⅡ,Ⅲ and Ⅳ.In experiment 2 that immuno-inhibited mice models were induced by dexamethasone,the difference of HC50 was insignificant between the blank control group,LDP groups of techniqueⅠand concentrated LDP group,the difference also being not significant in LDP groups of techniqueⅠat different dosages.Conclusion The dose of LDP can be reduced according to the experiment,however,the process technique of LDP needs to be improved.For this prescription is indicated for the treatment of yin-deficiency syndrome,dexamethasone can be used as the proposed drug for the establishment of the immuno-inhibited models.To confirm the reasonability of formula revolution,more parameters should be added to observe the pharmacodynamic actions.