Fructus Amomi extract attenuates nasal inflammation by restoring Th1/Th2 balance and down-regulation of NF-κB phosphorylation in OVA-induced allergic rhinitis.

Fructus Amomi Cardamomi (FA) is the mature fruit of Amomum villosum Lour (family Zingiberaceae) and is commonly used in Chinese traditional medicine to treat various gastrointestinal disorders. FA's possible benefits as an allergic rhinitis (AR) treatment, however, have not been examined. We used an ovalbumin (OVA)-induced AR mouse model to identify any anti-allergic effects associated with the administration of 200 mg/kg FA or dexamethasone (Dex) 2.5 mg/kg by oral administration. The results of our testing confirm that FA ameliorated nasal symptoms and alleviated nasal epithelium swelling, reduced the goblet cell hyperplasia and eosinophil cell infiltration in the nasal epithelium, and inhibited lung tissue inflammation and Dex as well. Significantly decreased Th2 cytokine (interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-4, and IL-5) expression, and a correspondingly significant increase in Th1 cytokine (IL-12, interferon (IFN)-γ) production, was observed in nasal lavage fluid (NALF) taken from mice that received FA or Dex treatment. FA also reduced the presence of OVA-specific immunoglobulin (Ig) E, OVA-specific IgG1, and histamine levels in serum, and inhibited mast cell degranulation in vitro. In addition, these effects were involved with the reduction in NF-κB phosphorylation. These results suggest that FA restores Th1/Th2 balance and inhibits NF-κB phosphorylation and mast cell degranulation, thereby achieving a notable anti-inflammatory effect. Accordingly, it has the potential to be used as an efficacious therapeutic treatment for AR.

Cardamom fruits as a green resource for facile synthesis of gold and silver nanoparticles and their biological applications.

Gold (FA-AuNps) and silver (FA-AgNps) nanoparticles were synthesized at room temperature by aqueous extract of dried fruits of Amomum villosum, also known as Fructus Amomi (cardamom), in order to confer antioxidant, catalytic, antimicrobial activities and treatment effect against breast cancer cells. Fruit extracts served as both reducing agents and stabilizers in lieu of chemical agents. Ultra-violet visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, field emission transmission electron microscopy (FE-TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, elemental mapping, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were employed to characterize the biosynthesized nanoparticles. Both FA-AuNps and FA-AgNps exhibited free radical scavenging activity against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrzyl (DPPH). Additionally, biosynthesized nanoparticles successfully reduced methylene blue, a well-known redox indicator. FA-AgNps showed zones of inhibition against pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Finally, the biological activities and cytotoxicity of nanoparticles were subsequently investigated in vitro. FA-AuNps demonstrated a potential cytotoxic agent against breast cancer cells as evaluated by MTT assay. The study highlights a rapid synthesis of FA-AuNps and FA-AgNps by dried Fructus Amomi aqueous extract and evaluates their potential biological applications on medical platforms.

Quality and quantity classification models of Fructus Amomi applying electronic nose with multiple mathematical statistics methods / 国际药学研究杂志

Objective Fructus Amomi(Sharen) is derived from the dry ripe fruit of Amomum villosum Lour., A.villosum Lour. var. xanthioides T.L. Wu et Senjen and A.longiligulate T.L.Wu, which is widely utilized for its clinic effects on digestive system. However, Fructus Amomi from different species and habitats, possessing different quality, is difficult to identify. In this study, we aim to develop a simple, rapid and reliable method for authentication of Fructus Amomi. Methods Twenty-five batches of samples of Fructus Amomi were collected and electronic nose was introduced into analyzing their odor with multiple mathematical statistics methods. Na?ve bayes network (NBN), radical basis function (RBF) and random forest (RF) were applied to establish different classifiers while BestFirst+CfsSubsetEval (BC) was used to screen the attributes for searching sensor array with higher contributions. Results Firstly, after attribute-screening via BC, the established discriminative models via NBN, RBF and RF could successfully identify genuine and non-genuine samples, presenting correct judging ratios of 78% and 84% through ten-fold cross validation and external test set validation, respectively. Besides, quantity predictive models were constructed as well. In case of content of bornyl acetate, one of the effective components in Fructus Amomi, values were higher than 3.5 mg/g and lower than 1.8 mg/g with sensor response of 0.04 and 0.03, respectively. Conclusion In this paper, quality discriminative model and quantity predictive model of Fructus Amomi were established via electronic nose and multiple mathematical statistics methods. It indicates that electronic nose could be a promising method for quality evaluation of Chinese material medica.

Quality and quantity classification models of Fructus Amomi applying electronic nose with multiple mathematical statistics methods / 国际药学研究杂志

Objective Fructus Amomi (Sharen) is derived from the dry ripe fruit of Amomum villosum Lour., A.villosum Lour. var. xanthioides T.L. Wu et Senjen and A.longiligulate T.L.Wu, which is widely utilized for its clinic effects on digestive system. However, Fructus Amomi from different species and habitats, possessing different quality, is difficult to identify. In this study, we aim to develop a simple, rapid and reliable method for authentication of Fructus Amomi. Method- Twenty-five batches of samples of Fructus Amomi were collected and electronic nose was introduced into analyzing their odor with multiple mathematical statistics methods. Naïve bayes network (NBN), radical basis function (RBF) and random forest (RF) were applied to establish different classifiers while BestFirst+CfsSubsetEval (BC) was used to screen the attributes for searching sensor array with higher contributions. Results- Firstly, after attribute-screening via BC, the established discriminative models via NBN, RBF and RF could successfully identify genuine and non-genuine samples, presenting correct judging ratios of 78% and 84% through ten-fold cross validation and external test set validation, respectively. Besides, quantity predictive models were constructed as well. In case of content of bornyl acetate, one of the effective components in Fructus Amomi, values were higher than 3.5 mg/g and lower than 1.8 mg/g with sensor response of 0.04 and 0.03, respectively. Conclusion In this paper, quality discriminative model and quantity predictive model of Fructus Amomi were established via electronic nose and multiple mathematical statistics methods. It indicates that electronic nose could be a promising method for quality evaluation of Chinese material medica.

Analysis and determination of oestrogen-active compounds in fructus amomi by the combination of high-speed counter-current chromatography and high performance liquid chromatography.

Amomum longiligulare or Amomum villosum showed oestrogenic activity. In the present study, oestrogen-active components in fructus amomi, the seeds of A. longiligulare were separated by high-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) using stepwise elution of eight mobile phases with gradient polarity and advanced separation by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results yielded 17 compounds with the amount of 8-138mg and a purity of 94.3-99.8% from a 3g ethanolic extract of fructus amomi. The chemical structures of the compounds were identified by ESI-MS and NMR spectra, in which eight diarylheptanoids were demonstrated as the main oestrogen-active compounds in the fructus amomi. Determination of the diarylheptanoids in fructus amomi from various origins showed that fructus amomi contains more than 0.5% total diarylheptanoids. The results showed that fructus amomi is a diarylheptanoids-rich food resource possessing oestrogen-activity. The combination method of HSCCC and HPLC can be applied for the analysis of bioactive compounds by detecting the corresponding bioactivity in the HSCCC fractions and separating the target compounds with HPLC.

A Rapid SNP-based Identification Method for Distinguishing the Three Origins of Fructus Amomi / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

Medicinal plants of the Fructus Amomi containing three species (A momum villosum, A momum longiligu-lare, Amomum villosum var. xanthioides)are well-known, which are widely used as traditional medicines. The mor-phological characteristics of the three origins are very similar, especially in the form of seed. In this study, 60 sam-ples of Fructus Amomi were co llected, and 34 sequences of the Fructus Amomi and their adulterants from GenBank were analyzed. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected. All the ITS2 sequences here (including our ex-periments and GenBank data)were examined for SNPs at the interspecies level. Results from the study revealed that two stable bases at position 135 bp and 199 bp were found, which could be used as a unique marker to distinguish the three origins of Fructus Amomi. The two SNPs in the ITS2 were found to exist stably between the three species, and all the GenBank sequences of the Fructus Amomi. Our findings indicated that SNP-based DNA barcoding could be used as an efficient method for the rapid and accurate identification of the three origins of Fructus Amomi.

Quality Standard Research of Fengsui Pills / 中药新药与临床药理

Objective To establish the quality standard of Fengsui Pills. Methods The qualitative analysis of Fructus Amomi and Radix Glycyrrhizae in Fengsui Pills was carried out by TLC,and the content of berberine hydrochloride,an effective component of Cortex Phellodendri in Fengsui Pills was determined by HPLC. Results The chromatographic sports of Fructus Amomi and Radix Glycyrrhizae were identified without the interference of negative control. A linearity of berberine hydrochloride was obtained from 0.272?g to 1.360 ?g with a good correlation (r=0.999 9,n=5).The average recovery was 99.01 %and the RSD was 0.98%. Conclusion The qualitative and quantitative methods established in this study are simple and feasible,accurate and reproducible,and can be used as the quality control standard for Fengsui Pills.

Study on preparation of ?-cyclodextrin inclusion compound of volatile oil from Fructus Amomi Rotundus / 中成药

Objective: To study optimum inclusion process conditions for volatile oil from Fructus Amomi Rotunds. Methods: The study was carried out with orthogonal design. The process conditions were studied by determining the utilazision ratio of volatile oil from Fructus Amomi Rotundus. Results: The optimum preparation conditions for inclusion were established as: volatile oil:? CD was 1∶8, The inclusion temperature was at 50 ?C and inclusion time for 2h, The ultilizasion ratio of volatile oil was 79.7%. Conclusion: The method can be used for mass production.