Lentinus edodes Polysaccharides Alleviate Acute Lung Injury by Inhibiting Oxidative Stress and Inflammation.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a kind of lung disease with acute dyspnea, pulmonary inflammation, respiratory distress, and non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema, accompanied by the mid- and end-stage characteristics of COVID-19, clinically. It is imperative to find non-toxic natural substances on preventing ALI and its complications. The animal experiments demonstrated that Lentinus edodes polysaccharides (PLE) had a potential role in alleviating ALI by inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammation, which was manifested by reducing the levels of serum lung injury indicators (C3, hs-CRP, and GGT), reducing the levels of inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6), and increasing the activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD and CAT) in the lung. Furthermore, PLE had the typical characteristics of pyran-type linked by ß-type glycosidic linkages. The conclusions indicated that PLE could be used as functional foods and natural drugs in preventing ALI.

Efficacy and Safety of Zuojin Pill for the Treatment of Chronic Nonatrophic Gastritis: A Randomized Active-Controlled Clinical Trial.

Objective: Zuojin pill (ZJP) is used as the classical prescription for a wide variety of digestive diseases. However, there is a lack of direct evidence for its use in the treatment of chronic nonatrophic gastritis (CNG). In particular, there is a lack of rigorous trials of randomized controlled designs. In this study, a randomized active-controlled clinical trial was performed to verify the efficacy and safety of ZJP in detail. Methods: Patients with CNG were divided into the ZJP group and the Marzulene-S granule group. Patients were enrolled from September 2019 to February 2021 (ChiCTR2000040549). Endoscopy and histology scores were evaluated as the primary outcome measure. The Helicobacter pylori positive rate and the disappearance rate of symptoms were also measured to reflect the outcomes. Finally, adverse events were also calculated as the index of safety. Results: A total of 68 eligible patients were enrolled in this trial and randomly divided into two groups with baseline comparability. ZJP was able to improve the red plaques as well as bile reflux scores compared with Marzulene-S granule (P=0.043 and P=0.019, respectively). Moreover, it also remarkably alleviated the active chronic inflammation score (P=0.043). However, there was no difference between the Helicobacter pylori positivity rate (P=0.752). The symptom scores of abdominal distension (P=0.004), belching (P=0.010), and loss of appetite (P=0.019) were alleviated by ZJP, but nausea and vomiting were not (P=0.616). ZJP can also be considered safe with no obvious adverse effects. Conclusion: ZJP might decrease mucosal injury and alleviate symptoms in CNG. In addition, more large-scale clinical trials should be carried out to further confirm its clinical efficacy and safety.