Characterization of in vitro metabolites of irisflorentin by rat liver microsomes using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry.

Belamcanda chinensis has been extensively used as antibechic, expectorant and anti-inflammatory agent in traditional medicine. Irisflorentin is one of the major active ingredients. However, little is known about the metabolism of irisflorentin so far. In this work, rat liver microsomes (RLMs) were used to investigate the metabolism of this compound for the first time. Seven metabolites were detected. Five of them were identified as 6,7-dihydroxy-5,3',4',5'-tetramethoxy isoflavone (M1), irigenin (M2), 5,7,4'-trihydroxy-6,3',5'-trimethoxy isoflavone (M3), 6,7,4'-trihydroxy-5,3',5'-trimethoxy isoflavone (M4) and 6,7,5'-trihydroxy-5,3',4'-trimethoxy isoflavone (M5) by means of NMR and/or HPLC-ESI-MS. The structures of M6 and M7 were not elucidated because they produced no MS signals. The predominant metabolite M1 was noted to be a new compound. Interestingly, it was found to possess anticancer activity much higher than the parent compound. The enzymatic kinetic parameters of M1 revealed a sigmoidal profile, with Vmax = 12.02 µm/mg protein/min, Km = 37.24 µm, CLint = 0.32 µL/mg protein/min and h = 1.48, indicating the positive cooperation. For the first time in this work, a new metabolite of irisflorentin was found to demonstrate a much higher biological activity than its parent compound, suggesting a new avenue for the development of drugs from B. chinensis, which was also applicable for other herbal plants. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Metabolic study of Angelica dahurica extracts using a reusable liver microsomal nanobioreactor by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Highly active and recoverable nanobioreactors prepared by immobilizing rat liver microsomes on magnetic nanoparticles (LMMNPs) were utilized in metabolic study of Angelica dahurica extracts. Five metabolites were detected in the incubation solution of the extracts and LMMNPs, which were identified by means of HPLC-MS as trans-imperatorin hydroxylate (M1), cis-imperatorin hydroxylate (M2), imperatorin epoxide (M3), trans-isoimperatorin hydroxylate (M1') and cis-isoimperatorin hydroxylate (speculated M2'). Compared with the metabolisms of imperatorin and isoimperatorin, it was found that the five metabolites were all transformed from these two major compounds present in the plant. Since no study on isoimperatorin metabolism by liver microsomal enzyme system has been reported so far, its metabolites (M1' and M3') were isolated by preparative HPLC for structure elucidation by (1) H-NMR and MS(2) analysis. M3' was identified as isoimperatorin epoxide, which is a new compound as far as its chemical structure is concerned. However, interestingly, M3' was not detected in the metabolism of the whole plant extract. In addition, a study with known chemical inhibitors on individual isozymes of the microsomal enzyme family revealed that CYP1A2 is involved in metabolisms of both isoimperatorin and imperatorin, and CYP3A4 only in that of isoimperatorin.

Selective extraction of berberine from Cortex Phellodendri using polydopamine-coated magnetic nanoparticles.

A new extraction agent featuring dopamine self-polymerized on magnetic Fe3 O4 nanoparticles has been successfully synthesized and evaluated for the SPE of berberine from the extract of the traditional Chinese medicinal plant, Cortex Phellodendri. The nanoparticles prepared possessed a core-shell structure and showed super-paramagnetism. It was found that these polydopamine-coated nanoparticles exhibited strong and selective adsorption for berberine. Among the chemical components present in C. Phellodendri, only berberine was adsorbed by the nanoparticles and extracted by a following SPE procedure. Various conditions such as the amount of polydopamine-coated nanoparticles, desorption solvent, desorption time and equilibrium time were optimized for the SPE of berberine. The purity of berberine extracted from C. Phellodendri was determined to be as high as 91.3% compared with that of 9.5% in the extract. The established SPE protocol combined advantages of highly selective enrichment with easy magnetic separation, and proved to be a facile efficient procedure for the isolation of berberine. Further, the prepared polydopamine-coated magnetic nanoparticles could be reused for multiple times, reducing operational cost. The applicability and reliability of the developed SPE method were demonstrated by isolating berberine from three different C. Phellodendri extracts. Recoveries of 85.4-111.2% were obtained with relative standard deviations ranging from 0.27-2.05%.

In vitro metabolic study of Rhizoma coptidis extract using liver microsomes immobilized on magnetic nanoparticles.

Although metabolic study of individual active compounds isolated from herbal plants has been intensive, it cannot truly reflect the fate of herbs because the herbal extracts in use have many constituents. To address this problem, whole extracts of herbs should be investigated. Microsomes have been heavily used in the in vitro metabolic study of drugs, and various materials have been used to immobilize microsomes to develop highly effective and reusable bioreactors in this field. In this work, rat liver microsomes were immobilized on magnetic nanoparticles (LMMNPs) to develop a highly active and recoverable nanoparticle bioreactor. Using this bioreactor, we investigated the in vitro metabolism of Rhizoma coptidis extract. Incubation of berberine, a major active ingredient of R. coptidis, with LMMNPs for 20 min produced two metabolites, i.e., demethyleneberberine and thalifendine, at high levels. From a comparison of the time courses of thalifendine formation obtained by ultraperformance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, it was found that LMMNPs had a higher biological activity than free liver microsomes in metabolizing berberine. Further, the activity of LMMNPs remained almost unchanged after six consecutive uses in the incubation tests. Metabolism of R. coptidis extracts by LMMNPs was studied. The same two metabolites of berberine, i.e., demethyleneberberine and thalifendine, were detected. After a thorough study seeking support for this observation, it was found that demethyleneberberine was the common metabolite of five protoberberine-type alkaloids present in R. coptidis extract, including palmatine, jatrorrhizine, columbanine, epiberberine, and berberine.

Monitoring immune function after rapid corticosteroid reduction in kidney transplant recipients / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Long-term use of steroid with large dosage might cause many adverse effects in kidney transplant patients; reducing steroid dosage to a low level for maintenance is helpful in avoiding the side-effects, but meanwhile, acute rejection may rise to be a main concern. The present research monitored the immune function changes and the incidence of acute rejection and infection after rapid steroid reduction to investigate the safety of this strategy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A prospective trial was conducted, using tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil as the basic immunosuppressive regimen, in addition to antibody induction with basiliximab. Corticosteroid dosage was rapidly reduced to 10 mg/d seven days post-transplantation in the experimental group, and the standard corticosteroid therapy was employed in the control group. Patient immunity was monitored by the Immune Cell Function Assay pre- and two weeks post-transplantation. The incidence of acute rejection and infection were compared between the experimental and control group.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Comparison of intracellular adenosine triphosphate (iATP) values detected two weeks post-transplantation for the control group ((324 ± 45) ng/ml) and the experimental group ((345 ± 91) ng/ml) did not reveal a significant difference (P > 0.05). The incidence of acute rejection was analogous between groups (P > 0.05), while an increased incidence of infection was observed in the control group (53% (n = 16)) versus the experimental group (22% (n = 6), P < 0.05). Overall, recipients in the control group had longer and more recurrent infections than those in the experimental group (P < 0.05). Patients in the control group had a lower immune response ((235 ± 35) ng/ml) than those in the experimental group ((286 ± 16) ng/ml) when infection occurred (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Rapid reduction of steroid early after kidney transplantation does not lead to a significant rise in patient immunity. It is a safe and effective therapy for kidney transplant patients.</p>