Danshen-Shanzha formula for the treatment of atherosclerosis: ethnopharmacological relevance, preparation methods, chemical constituents, pharmacokinetic properties, and pharmacological effects.

Danshen-Shanzha Formula (DSF) is a well-known herbal combination comprising Radix Salvia Miltiorrhiza (known as Danshen in Chinese) and Fructus Crataegi (known as Shanzha in Chinese), It has been documented to exhibit considerable benefits for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, and was used extensively in the treatment of atherosclerotic cardiac and cerebral vascular diseases over decades. Despite several breakthroughs achieved in the basic research and clinical applications of DSF over the past decades, there is a lack of comprehensive reviews summarizing its features and research, which hinders further exploration and exploitation of this promising formula. This review aims to provide a comprehensive interpretation of DSF in terms of its ethnopharmacological relevance, preparation methods, chemical constituents, pharmacokinetic properties and pharmacological effects. The related information on Danshen, Shanzha, and DSF was obtained from internationally recognized online scientific databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Baidu Scholar, ScienceDirect, ACS Publications, Online Library, Wan Fang Database as well as Flora of China. Data were also gathered from documentations, printed works and classics, such as the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Chinese herbal classics, etc. Three essential avenues for future studies were put forward as follows: a) Develop and unify the standard preparation method of DSF as to achieve optimized pharmacological properties. b) Elucidate the functional mechanisms as well as the rationality and rule for the compatibility art of DSF by focusing on the clinic syndromes together with the subsequent development of preclinic study system in vitro and in vivo with consistent pathological features, pharmacokinetical behaviour and biomarkers. c) Perform more extensive clinical studies towards the advancement of mechanism-based on evidence-based medicine on the safety application of DSF. This review will provide substantial data support and broader perspective for further research on the renowned formula.

An E-nose and Convolution Neural Network based Recognition Method for Processed Products of Crataegi Fructus.

BACKGROUND: The manual identification of Fructus Crataegi processed products is inefficient and unreliable. Therefore, efficient identification of the Fructus Crataegis' processed products is important. OBJECTIVE: In order to efficiently identify Fructus Crataegis processed products with different odor characteristics, a new method based on an electronic nose and convolutional neural network is proposed. METHODS: First, the original smell of Fructus Crataegis processed products is obtained by using the electronic nose and then preprocessed. Next, feature extraction is carried out on the preprocessed data through convolution pooling layer LCP1, convolution pooling layer LCP2 and a full connection layer LFC. Thus, the feature vector of the processed products can be obtained. Then, the recognition model for Fructus Grataegis processed products is constructed, and the model is trained to obtain the optimized parameters: filters F1 and F2, bias vectors B1, B2, B3, and B4, matrices M1 and M2. Finally, the features of the target processed products are extracted through the trained parameters to achieve accurate prediction. RESULTS: The experimental results show that the proposed method has higher accuracy for the identification of Fructus Crataegis processed products, and is competitive with other machine learning based methods. CONCLUSION: The method proposed in this paper is effective for the identification of Fructus Crataegi processed products.

Radix Puerariae and Fructus Crataegi mixture inhibits renal injury in type 2 diabetes via decreasing of AKT/PI3K.

BACKGROUND: Radix puerariae (RP) is a herbal medicines for diabetes, mainly because of anti-oxidative, insulin resistance and hypoglycemic effect. Fructus crataegi (FC) also possesses strong antioxidant activity in vitro. This study focused on the effects of herbal mixture of RP and FC (RPFC) on renal protection through a diabetic rat model. METHODS: Type 2 Diabetic model was established with high fat diet followed by injecting rats a low dose of STZ (25 mg/kg body weight). Rats were randomly divided into five groups: normal, high fat diet, diabetes mellitus, high fat diet plus RPFC prevention, and RPFC prevention before diabetes mellitus. RPFC was given to rats daily by intragastric gavage. The blood bio-chemical index and renal pathological changes were examined. The later includes hematoxylin and eosin staining, periodic acid schiff staining, and Masson trichrome staining. Protein levels of were determined by Western blot and immunohistochemical staining. mRNA levels were detected by RT-PCR. RESULTS: Rats prevented with RPFC resulted in decreasing blood glucose with corresponding vehicle treated rats. Glomerulus mesangial matrix expansion, renal capsule constriction, and renal tubular epithelial cell edema were less severe following RPFC prevention. Moreover, RPFC prevention reduced protein levels of PI3K, AKT, α-SMA and collagen IV in the kidney of diabetic rats. CONCLUSION: Combined prevention with RPFC may inhibit the PI3K/AKT pathway in the kidney, thereby prevent renal injury in diabetic rats.

Alcohol Extracting Technology for Fructus Crataegi in Jiangzhibao Capsules and Its Quality Control Method / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE: To study the optimal alcohol extracting technology for Fructus Crataegi in Jiangzhibao capsules and to study its quality control method. METHODS: The content of Hyperoside and the yield of alcohol extract were studied. An orthogonal design of L9( 34) was carried out with concentration, dosage and extracting time of alcohol as three factors, and three levels of each factor were chosen for the experiment. The content of Hyperoside was determined by HPLC. RESULTS: The optimum alcohol extracting procedure was as follows: 70% alcohol was added and the solid-liquid ratio was 1∶ 10, refluxing for 1h. The process The process was repeated once again. The linear range of Hyperoside was 1. 024～ 30. 72? g? mL-1. CONCLUSION: The alcohol extracting technology is reasonable and feasible, and the preparation obtained is controllable in quality.

Optimizing the Purification Technics of the Effective Blood-fat Dropping Parts from Radix Puerariae and Fructus Crataegi by Orthogonal Test / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To study the feasibility of purifying the effective blood-fat dropping parts from radix puerariae and fructus crataegi and to optimize the technical conditions and parameters.METHODS:Absorption capacities of four different macroporous resins on pueraria total isoflavones,crataegi total flavonoids and crataegi total triterpenic acid were compared.With adsorption quantity as index,optimization of the technics of purifying the effective blood-fat dropping parts from radix puerariae and fructus crataegi with macroporous resins were performed.RESULTS:AB-8resin showed a best adsorbability on the effective blood-fat dropping parts from radix puerariae and fructus crataegi,its optimum purification condition was the following,the concentration of the stock solution was0.13g crude drug/ml with a flow rate at0.5ml/min,and its pH value at about3.5(the same as the stock solution);80%ethanol solution was taken as the eluting solvent at an eluting flow rate of2ml/min.The purity coefficient of the purified effective portions was above85%.CONCLUSIONS:AB-8macroporous resin could be used for the purification of the effective blood-fat dropping parts from radix puerariae and fructus crataegi,the process is feasible and the reproduction of resin is easy.

Effects of serum-drug of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae and Fructus Crataegi extracts on cholesterol metabolism / 中草药

Objective To study the mechanism of blood-lipid regulation of the effective fractions from the extracts of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae(RSM)or Fructus Crataegi(FC),as well as their interaction.Methods The serum-drug of RSM and FC extracts were prepared by orthogonal design L_16(215).Amphotercin B cell model and RT-PCR method were used to examine the effects of the serum-drug of RSM and FC extracts on endogenous cholesterol biosynthesis in Chinese hamster ovary(CHO)cells and the expressions of cholesterol 7?-hydroxylase(CYP7A)mRNA in BRL cells.Results Ethanol(75%)and ammonia extracts of RSM obviously increased the absorbance(A)in the experiment of amphotercin B cell model and the expression of CYP7A mRNA in BRL cell line.The extracts of FC had no direct effect on cholesterol metabolism by themselves,but they were in synergism with the extracts of RSM.ConclusionThe extracts of RSM have a blood-lipid regulation by inhibiting endogenous cholesterol biosynthesis and increasing CYP7A mRNA expression,and maybe have a better effect when the extracts of FC are used together.

Comparison of Effects of Xiaoyu Tablets and its Constituents on Endothelin-1 and Nitric Oxide in Atherosclerotic Rabbits / 中成药

Objective: To determine the rationality of prescription of Xiaoyu tablets. Methods: The effects of Xiaoyu tablets and its single constituents on endothelin-1(ET-1) and nitric oxide(NO) in atherosclerotic rabbits were observed. Results: Xiaoyu tablets showed stronger actions than its single constituents (extract of radix salviae miltiorrhizae or fructus crataegi) in decreasing the contents of ET-1 in plasma and atherosclerotic vessel wall and increasing the contents of NO in serum and atherosclerotic vessel wall. Conclusion: There was the obvious synergism on reduction of ET-1 and elevation of NO in atheroscleerotic rabbits when both extracts of the Chinese herbal medicines were simultaneously used.

Study on Processing of Fructus Crataegi / 中成药

In this experiment, the crude Fructus Crataegi, its baked product, the products baked to dark brown and baked to charcoal were compared regarding the gastrointestinal promote function of rat, the content of free acids in stomach, total acids, pepsin and nitrite as indices. As a result, the crude and the fried product possessed greater effects on the digestive ability of rats, but their nitrite content was lower. It was preliminary suggested that adding the crude and the fried product into digestant be an optimum selection

Determination of Flavonoids in Fructus Crataegi by Colorimetry / 中成药

Objective: To establish a new method and limit of detection for Flavonoids content in Fructus Crataegi. Methods: Flavonoids in Fructus Crataegi in 10 regions was determined by colorimetry. Results: Content of Flavonoids in samples selected from 10 regions ranged 0.84%～3.62%. Content of hyperoside by colorimetry is correlative to that by HPLC. Conclusion: The method is simple, quick and reproducible. Flavonoid content in Fructus Crataegi was designed no less than 1.0%, extraction must be performed under 60?C and dried to constant weight for 6 hours.

Study on Organic Acid Content in Different Processed Products of Fructus Crataegi / 中成药

Objective: To study the effect of processing on the content of organic acids in the different processed products of Fructus Crataegi. Methods: The determinations of the crude Fructus Crataegi, five kinds of different processed products and newly fried product were carried out by titration. Results: There were significant differences in organic acid contents among different processed products and the crude. Conclusion: Different processed method and temperature can effect the contents of organic acid on Fructus crataegi.

Study on Preparation and Quality Standard of Tongmailing Granules / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE: To prepare Tongmailing Granules and establish a quality standard thereof. METHODS: To prepare Tongmailing Granules by reflux extraction, identify the nature of Fructus Crataegi and Radix Puerariae in the granules by TLC, and determine the content of Ursolic Acid through thin layer scanning. RESULTS: TLC identification of Fructus Crataegi and Radix Puerariae is a highly specific approach. Ursolic Acid had a linear calibration curve ranging 0. 990～ 4. 950? g? mL-1 ( r=0. 999 8) , with recovery rate reaching 99. 91% ( RSD=2. 3% ) . CONCLUSION: This preparation technique is workable, and reliable in quality control.

Study on Quality Standard of Jianpi Cake / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To improve the quality standard for Jianpi cake.METHODS:The pericarpium citri reticulatae and fructus crataegi in this preparation were identified by TLC and hesperidin was determined by HPLC.RESULTS:The peri?carpium citri reticulatae and fructus crataegi in samples were positive in TLC.The average content of hesperidin was0.0186%and the average recovery rate was97.75%(RSD=1.60%).CONCLUSION:The established method is accurate,and provides a method for the quality control of Jianpi cake.