Evaluation of quality consistency between dispensing granules and traditional decoction of Bombyx batryticatus based on peptidomics and in silico simulations.

The application of traditional Chinese medicine dispensing granules is becoming increasingly prevalent. However, the consistency of dispensing granules with traditional decoction remains controversial. In this study, the consistency of peptide composition and pharmacodynamics between dispensing granules and traditional decoction of Bombyx batryticatus (BB) were assessed. A peptidomics method based on LC-tandem mass spectrometry technology was used to evaluate peptide composition similarity between BB traditional decoction and dispensing granules. The results revealed notable differences in peptide sequences between the two dosage forms, with only 8.55% of peptides shared between them. To evaluate the potential pharmacodynamic effects of the two dosage forms on epilepsy, virtual screening was used to identify potential active peptides, including blood-brain barrier permeability, toxicity prediction, and molecular docking. BB traditional decoction demonstrated a higher number and greater abundance of potential active peptides than BB dispensing granules, suggesting that BB traditional decoction may have a more favorable effect in treating epilepsy compared with BB dispensing granules. Moreover, molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation studies confirmed the mechanism of action of active peptides to γ-aminobutyric acid transporter 1 (GAT-1). This study provides a scientific basis for the evaluation of quality consistency between BB traditional decoction and dispensing granules.

A Rapid Screening Method for Sibutramine Hydrochloride in Natural Herbal Medicines and Dietary Supplements.

Herbal weight loss drugs are becoming more widely used in the fight against obesity, but ineffective regulation of these products have resulted in harmful additives. These products may contain adulterants such as sibutramine hydrochloride that may result in serious adverse health events including death. This work established a color precipitation reaction-based rapid screening method for illegal adulteration of sibutramine hydrochloride in natural herbal medicines (NHM) and dietary supplements (DS). While a variety of chromatography- and electrophoresis-based systems have been reported to measure this analyte, they generally suffer from high costs, complicated sample preparation, and a costly analytical infrastructure. In contrast, we present a simple, handheld kit to assay for sibutramine. The performance metrics of this tool include an average detection time of approximately 3 minutes, which is markedly shorter than conventional methods (HPLC or HPLC-MS, etc.), a detection limit of 0.1 mg per aliquot, and an accuracy of 99.02% (n = 820). More strikingly, the sensitivity is 100% (n = 278), and the specificity is 98.52% (n = 542). The rapid test kit developed from this screening method was evaluated by FDA. In summary, this screening method is a rapid, simple, and low-cost tool for the detection of sibutramine in NHM and DS with superior selectivity and sensitivity. For these reasons, this method is especially suitable for underdeveloped settings because it can be employed onsite without any instrumentation. In addition, this approach could rapidly exclude most of the negative samples to boost efficiency in large-scale samples assay. If necessary, positive samples can undergo further alternate testing methods to confirm the positive results of sibutramine hydrochloride content.

Screening Aptamers that Are Specific for Beclomethasone and the Development of Quantum Dot-Based Assay.

We developed an aptamer that was specific for beclomethasone (BEC) via systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). Development was monitored by real-time quantitative PCR (Q-PCR) and the enriched library was sequenced by high-throughput sequencing. Forty-seven aptamer candidates were obtained; of these, BEC-6 showed the highest affinity (Kd = 0.15 ± 0.02 µM) and did not cross-react with other BEC analogs. We also developed a quantum dot-based assay (QDA) for the detection of BEC that was based upon a quantum dot (QD) composite probe. Under optimized reaction conditions, the linear range of this method for BEC was 0.1 to 10 µM with a low detection limit (LOD) of 0.1 µM. Subsequently, the method was used to detect BEC in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with a mean recovery of 81.72-91.84%. This is the first report to describe the development of an aptamer against BEC; BEC-6 can also be engineered into QDA for the detection of BEC.