Two new thymol derivatives from Eupatorium fortunei.

Two new thymol derivatives (1-2) were isolated from the aerial parts of Eupatorium fortunei. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of comprehensive spectroscopic data analysis as 8,9-dehydrothymol-3-O-ß-glucoside (1), and 9-(acetyloxy)thymol-3-yl (3-methylbut-2-enoate) (2). All isolates were evaluated for cytotoxic activities with IC50 values greater than 50 µM in vitro against MCF-7, HeLa, A549, and Hep G-2 cancer cells.

[Analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) fingerprint of raw and honey-fried licorice based on headspace-gas-chromatography ion-mobility spectrometry (HS-GC-IMS)].

Licorice is one of the most commonly used traditional Chinese medicine. In clinic, raw licorice and honey-fried licorice are used in medicines, with the main effects in clearing away heat and detoxifying, moistening lungs and removing phlegm. Honey-fried licorice has effects in nourishing the spleen and stomach and replenishing Qi and pulse. Because traditional Chinese medicine exerts the effects through multiple components and multiple targets, the index components used in the quality evaluation of licorice are often difficult to reflect their real quality. In addition, most of studies for the quality standards have shown that honey-fried licorice are the same as licorice, with a lack of quality evaluation standards that can demonstrate their processing characteristics. The quality of medicine is directly related to its clinical efficacy, so it is necessary to establish a more effective quality control method. Licorice has a beany smell, which is one of the main quality identification characteristics. In this study, by taking advantage of the odor characteristics, a headspace-gas chromatography-ion migration mass spectrometry technology was used to establish a quality evaluation method. A total of 76 volatile components were identified. Through the dynamic principal component analysis, 7 kinds of volatile substances in raw licorice and 13 kinds of volatile substances in honey-fried licorice were statistically obtained, and could be taken as index components for the quality evaluation of raw and honey-fried licorice, respectively. This study could help realize the combination and unification of modern detection and traditional quality evaluation methods, and make a more realistic evaluation for the quality of licorice.

[Study on internal and external quality control methods of Platycladi Cacumen Carbonisata based on QAMS and color recognition].

In order to effectively solve the over-processing problem of Platycladi Cacumen Carbonisata, which was commonly used as a hemostatic drug in clinical application, we used the quantitative analysis method of multi-components by single marker(QAMS) in this study, with quercetin as internal reference to simultaneously determine the content of six flavonoids which can be used to control the internal quality of Platycladi Cacumen Carbonisata. Based on the comparison of QAMS and external standard method(ESM) results, the limit standards of contents were established as follows: isoquercitroside ≥0.002 0%, quercitroside ≥0.050%, quercetin ≥0.030%, kaempferol and amentoflavone both ≥0.010%, hinokiflavone ≥0.050%. Based on the color detection of Platycladi Cacumen and Platycladi Cacumen Carbonisata with different processing degrees, the law of influence of different processing degrees on the color of Platycladi Cacumen Carbonisata was found. A new external quality standard of Platycladi Cacumen Carbonisata was established by fitting curve of color recognition for the external quality control, based on which the standard ranges of ΔL~*, Δb~* and ΔE were-50.00--44.00, 6.00-11.00 and 45.00-50.00 respectively. Effective combination of established internal and external quality control standards by this study can be used to evaluate the processing degree and quality of Platycladi Cacumen Carbonisata more comprehensively and objectively, which can guarantee its clinical efficacy. At the same time, this study also provides reference and basis for further improving the quality control standard of Platycladi Cacumen Carbonisata.

[Research progress on cycloartane triterpenoids of Actaea].

The genus Actaea plants are widely distributed in China, and the cycloartane triterpenoids are the characteristic constituents of this genus. They are divided into types of cimigenol, hydroshengmanol, shengmanol, cimiacerogenin, acteol, 16, 23-diketo, foetidonol, dahurinol, etc. Cycloartane triterpenoids show many biological activities, such as cytotoxicity, anti-osteoporosis, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti-nucleoside transport, neuroprotective, anti-oxidant, antibacterial activities. The present paper reviewed the distribution of the plant resources of Actaea, chemical structures and biological activities of cycloartane triterpenoids, aiming to provide a reference for the further research in the future.

[Optmization for cutting procedure of astragali radix with Box-Behnken design and response surface method].

Astragali Radix was firstly recorded in the "Shen Nong's Herbal Classic" as a top-grade and commonly used traditional Chinese medicine. Its frequently used slices include raw Astragali Radix and honey-processed products. In current studies, many reports were made on honey-processed Astragali Radix, whereas fewer study reports were made on the cutting process of Astragali Radix. Currently, because Astragali Radix is primarily cut by drug workers according to their operating experience, but with out specific cutting parameters, it is easy to cause the loss or mildew of active ingredients. As a result, the quality of Astragali Radix circulated in the market is not guaranteed, and the quality of their slices and preparations are hard to be controlled, which seriously impact the clinical efficacy. In response, this experiment was performed, in which the optimum cutting process of Astragali Radix was taken as the study objective, the Box-Benhnken central composite design in the response surface analysis was adopted, and the content and appearance character of astragaloside and calycosin-7-glucoside were regarded as the study indicators. Three factors, namely the softening time, the drying temperature and the drying time, were selected to optimize the cutting process of Astragali Radix and obtain the optimum cutting process parameters as follows: the softening time was 3 hours, the drying temperature was 50 degrees C, and the drying time was 4 hours. According to the verification test, the Astragali Radix cutting process is steady and feasible, which has certain significance for normalizing the cutting process of Astragali Radix.

[Study on content variation of gallic acid and ellagic acid in course of processing of charred Granati Pericarpium].

The method for determining the content of gallic acid and ellagic acid in Granati Pericarpium was established by HPLC. Using the method, the content of raw and charred Granati Pericarpium was determined. By comparison, it was found that the content of gallic acid and ellagic acid increased first and then reduced during processing. When processed on an appropriate degree, the content reached the maximum. The result indicated that gallic acid and ellagic acid can be used as indicators to control the processing degree of charred Granati Pericarpium.

[Comparative study of chemical composition of pomegranate peel pomegranates inside and pomegranate seeds].

An HPLC fingerprint of pomegranate peel was established. Using chromatographic conditions, we compared the chemical composition of pomegranate peel, inside and seeds, and simultaneously determined the contents of gallic acid and ellagic acid. By comparison, we found that there were no significant differences between pomegranate peel and inside, but there was a big difference between pomegranate seeds and another two. The contents of gallic acid and ellagic acid of pomegranate peel respectively were 0.33%, 0.59%, while in pomegranate inside the result respectively were 0.52%, 0.38%. Content of ellagic acid from pomegranate seeds was only 0.01%. By study, we thought that when pomegranate peel was processed, pomegranate seeds should be removed, while pomegranate inside could be retained on the premise of full drying.

Identification of the VIL2 enhancer in human embryonic kidney cells.

We previously demonstrated that the VIL2 -87/+134 region exhibited promoter activity in some human cells, and a region further upstream of this promoter might contain an enhancer. However, the properties and location of this VIL2 enhancer remain unclear. In this study, we cloned the VIL2 -1541/-706 segment and investigated its transcriptional regulatory properties via luciferase assays in transiently transfected HEK-293 cells (human embryonic kidney cells). The VIL2 -1541/-706 was found to exhibit promoter activity. Furthermore, when this segment was located upstream of the VIL2 or SV40 (simian virus 40) promoters in the forward orientation, the expression levels of luciferase were dramatically enhanced. However, this transcriptional enhancement disappeared when this segment was located upstream of the promoter in the reverse orientation or downstream of the reporter gene in the forward or reverse orientation. In deletion experiments, we found several potential regulatory regions within the VIL2 -1541/-706. When these regions were separately located upstream of the VIL2 or SV40 promoters, only the -1297/-1186 considerably enhanced the activity of these promoters. Although the other regulatory regions exhibited significant transcriptional regulation in deletion experiments, they weakly enhanced VIL2 promoter activity and/or did not regulate SV40 promoter activity. These results suggest that the DNA sequence upstream of the VIL2 promoter functions as an enhancer in a position- and orientation-dependent manner, and the VIL2 -1297/-1186, which acts as a key enhancer, probably regulates VIL2 transcription in combination with other potential regulatory regions located upstream of the VIL2 promoter.