Because of many reasons, big changes occur in the varieties of ancient and modern Chinese herbs. Besides a significant increase in the number, there are many other features, such as significant differences among mainstream varieties, partly resolving the chaotic situation of uncoincidence of different herb names, increasing proportion of plant herbs, and herbal multi-polarization, etc.
China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; classification ; history ; History, Ancient ; Pharmacopoeias as Topic ; history ; Plants, Medicinal ; classification

OBJECTIVETo study the hepatotoxicity mechanism of rats that induced by Sophorae Tonkinensis Radix et Rhizoma.

METHODThe SD rats were randomly divided into the control and Sophorae Tonkinensis Radix et Rhizoma (RRST) group, given distilled water and RRST 10 g x kg(-1) separately by orally for 7 days, and RRST 20 g x kg(-1) for other days until the 26th day. Blood was drawn from abdominal aorta after the rats were anesthetized by 25% urethane, and then centrifugally processed to get the serum for detection of ALT and AST. The liver tissues of control and experimental group were taken to prepare liver homogenate with cold NS, and centrifugally processed to get the supernatant. The activities of SOD and GSH, the content of gamma-GT and MDA were detected according to the methods of kit. The tumor necosis factor(TNF-alpha) was detected by ABC-ELISA. The expression of ICAM-1 was detected by immunohistochemistry.

RESULTAfter the rats were given RRST by oral for 26 days, the ALT and AST activities in serum increased, the content of GSH and the ratio of SOD and MDA decreased, the content of gamma-GT and TNF-alpha, the masculine expression of ICAM-1 increased.

CONCLUSIONAfter the rats were given RRST, the liver can be damaged obviously, and the mechanism of hepatotoxicity perhaps related to free radical and inflammatory factor.

Administration, Oral ; Alanine Transaminase ; metabolism ; Animals ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; toxicity ; Female ; Free Radicals ; metabolism ; Glutathione ; metabolism ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; metabolism ; Liver ; drug effects ; enzymology ; metabolism ; Male ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rhizome ; chemistry ; Sophora ; chemistry ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; metabolism ; gamma-Glutamyltransferase ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate in vivo distribution and pharmacokinetics of ginsenoside Rb1 (Rb1), ginsenoside Rg1 (Rg1 ) and sanchinoside R1 (R1) after intratympanic administration (IT) or intravenous administration (IV) of Panax notoginseng saponions (PNS) solution, and provide a novel route for delivering traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to the brain.

METHODThe guinea pigs were employed as experimental animal. Perilymph (PL), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), brain tissue and plasma were collected periodically after IT and IV of PNS solution. The concentrations of Rb1, Rg1 and R1 were measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and statistic program DAS was applied to the calculation of pharmacokinetic parameters. The self-defined weighting coefficients based on area under curve (AUC) of each component were created to obtain the holistic pharmacokinetic profiles of PNS. The integrated pharmacokinetic parameters were then calculated from non-compartmental model analysis.

RESULTRb1, Rg1 and R1 diffused through the round window membrane into PL of the inner ear, and then transported to the brain after IT of PNS solution. However, the pharmacokinetic parameters showed significant differences between the three components. Based on the self-defined AUC weighting coefficients integration approach, the holistic pharmacokinetic profiles of PNS were obtained, from which the integrated pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated. The C(max) in CSF and brain tissues following IT were respectively 1.5 and 0.4-fold higher than those following IV. After IT, the AUC in CSF and brain tissues increased by 0.5 and 1.2 times compared with IV. Furthermore, the C(max) and AUC in plasma following IT were respectively 45.9% and 33.1% lower than those following IV.

CONCLUSIONThis novel intra-cochlear administration might serve as a potential and promising alternative to TCM delivery with enhanced brain-targeted efficiency.

Animals ; Brain ; metabolism ; Drug Administration Routes ; Ear, Middle ; metabolism ; Female ; Ginsenosides ; administration & dosage ; blood ; cerebrospinal fluid ; pharmacokinetics ; Guinea Pigs ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Panax notoginseng ; chemistry ; Perilymph ; metabolism ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Saponins ; administration & dosage ; blood ; cerebrospinal fluid ; pharmacokinetics

OBJECTIVEThrough establishing different blood deficiency animal model, to evaluate enriching blood effect changes of the drug pair of Angelicae Sinensis Radix and Chuanxiong Rhizoma and each single herb, and to explore the effect characteristics of their compatibility.

METHODThree different methods of acetyl phenylhydrazine (APH) hemolytic method, cyclophosphamide (CTX) chemical damage method, APH-CTX complex method were used respectively to copy different blood deficiency model mice. Changes of orbit blood routine, thymus index, spleen index and ATPase activity of red cell membrane of model mice were tested.

RESULTCompared with normal group, all indexes had significant differences in three model mice. The drug pair and each single herb had significant impact on most indexes of the APH-CTX complex model mice, and on the individual indexes of APH hemolytic model mice and CTX chemical damage model mice. Therefore, APH and CTX complex blood deficiency model was more suitable for the enriching blood mechanism study of the drug pair of Angelicae Sinensis Radix and Chuanxiong Rhizoma. Compared with the single herb of Angelicae Sinensis Radix and Chuanxiong Rhizoma, the drug pair of them had presented enriching blood effect at different extent with strengthening trend in regulating the invigorating blood indexes, immune organs and energy metabolic enzymes.

CONCLUSIONThe results of this research have provided scientific basis for revealing the mutual promotive composition law of the drug pair of Angelicae Sinensis Radix and Chuanxiong Rhizoma, and responded effectively the mult-link and mult-target effect characteristics of Chinese medicine bio-effect, to offer reference for the bio-effect research of the complicated substance group of Chinese medicine and traditional Chinese medicine formulae, and to supply demonstrative reference for researching the formulae compatibility law which takes the single drug-drug pair-formulae as main line.

Administration, Oral ; Angelica sinensis ; chemistry ; Animals ; Ca(2+) Mg(2+)-ATPase ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Cyclophosphamide ; pharmacology ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; Erythrocytes ; drug effects ; enzymology ; Female ; Hematologic Diseases ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Hemoglobins ; drug effects ; Leukocytes ; drug effects ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Mice ; Models, Animal ; Phenylhydrazines ; pharmacology ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Random Allocation ; Rhizome ; chemistry ; Sodium-Potassium-Exchanging ATPase ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Spleen ; drug effects ; immunology ; Thymus Gland ; drug effects ; immunology

OBJECTIVETo study the expression of HIF-1alpha and SDF-1/CXCR4 in repopulating H22 tumor tissue and the mechanism of angiogenesis of polypeptide extract from scorpion venom (PESV) during chemotherapy treatment.

METHODThe expression of HIF-1alpha and SDF-1/CXCR4 in H22 tumor tissue was monitored by immunohistochemistry, and the expression level was determined by Qwin V3 image analyzing software. The correlation between HIF-1alpha and SDF-1 was analyzed. SDF-1 content was detected by ELISA.

RESULTHIF-1alpha expression was found no difference in model group between 14 d and 21 d, and up-regulated in 28 d. There was no change of HIF-1alpha expression was observed in low-dose PESV group. In high-dose PESV group, the level of HIF-1alpha expression was high in 14 d and low in 21 d. ELISA detecting showed SDF-1 content increased slowly from 14 d to 21 d, highly from 21 d to 28 d. But in high-dose PESV groups, the content increased slowly all the time. The immunohitochemistry method got the same result with ELISA. Correlation analysis showed r = 0.805. CXCR4 expression down-regulated in two PESV treated groups, and no difference was found between these two groups.

CONCLUSIONHIF-1alpha and SDF-1 participated in VEGF expression and angiogenesis in tumor tissue during chemotherapy, while PESV could inhibit the expression of HIF-1alpha and SDF-I.

Animals ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Chemokine CXCL12 ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Down-Regulation ; drug effects ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Mice ; Peptides ; pharmacology ; Receptors, CXCR4 ; drug effects ; metabolism ; Scorpion Venoms ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Scorpions ; chemistry ; Time Factors

OBJECTIVETo investigate mechanism of inhibition on the lipopolysaccharide induced chronic inflammation of mangiferin by the regulation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway.

METHODSixty SD rats were randomly divided into normal control, model control, positive drug control (prednisone, 5 mg x kg(-10 x d(-1)) and mangiferin (200, 100, 50 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)) group. The chronic inflammation models were established by intermittent injection of lipopolysaccharide via the tail vein. The leucocyte count was measured. The levels of serum tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (sICAM-1) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was applied to evaluate the expressions of p38, ERK, JNK gene of leucocyte in MAPK signaling pathway.

RESULTCompared with the model control, not only the leucocyte count and the level of serum TNF-alpha, IL-6, sICAM-1 but also the expressions of ERK, JNK gene of leukocyte were markedly reduced in mangiferin (200 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)) group (P < 0.05). However, there was no statistics significance for the expression of p38 gene between the model control and the mangiferin (200 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)) group.

CONCLUSIONAs a possible mechanism, the regulation of mangiferin on the expressions of ERK, JNK gene of leukocyte in MAPK signaling pathway was involved in its great inhibition on the chronic inflammation induced by lipopolysaccharide.

Animals ; Chronic Disease ; Gene Expression ; Inflammation ; chemically induced ; drug therapy ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; blood ; Interleukin-6 ; blood ; Leukocyte Count ; Leukocytes ; metabolism ; Lipopolysaccharides ; toxicity ; MAP Kinase Signaling System ; drug effects ; genetics ; Male ; Mangifera ; chemistry ; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases ; genetics ; Models, Animal ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; blood ; Xanthones ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use

OBJECTIVETo investigate the state and distribution of Pb, Cd, Hg, As, Cu in Rhei Radix et Rhizoma and Chrysanthemi Flos.

METHODThe samples were prepared by modified Tessier sequential extraction; The elements of Cu, Pb, and Cd in the samples were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), while Hg, and As were analyzed by atomic fluorescence (AFS).

RESULTCu,Pb,Cd,Hg,As in Chrysanthemi Flos were 12.806, 10.478, 0.436, 0.231, 1.531 mg x kg(-1), respectively. Cu, Pb, Hg in Chrysanthemi Flos mainly existed in residual and organic states; Cd was priority to ion exchange state; the residual state was the main form of As, and ion exchange state and water soluble state also had a large proportion. Cu, Pb, Cd, Hg, As in Rhei Radix et Rhizoma were 10.530, 4.926, 0.478, 0.260, 0.750 mg x kg(-1), respectively. Cu, Pb and Hg of residual state were the highest ratio; Cd and As mainly existed in ion exchange state.

CONCLUSIONThe experiment results showed that sequential extraction can be applied in speciation analysis of the harmful elements of traditional Chinese medicine. The method can speciate the state and distribution of harmful elements and provide the information of harmful elements. It will provide reference to the production of Chinese traditional patent medicine and herb extracts, processing of medicine herbs, the development of new drugs and safety evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine.

Chrysanthemum ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; Flowers ; chemistry ; Metals, Heavy ; analysis ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Rheum ; chemistry ; Rhizome ; chemistry

OBJECTIVETo analyze the contents of harmful heavy metals, sulfur and trace elements from Paeoniae Radix Alba before and after sulfur-fumigated process.

METHODSamples were pretreated by wet digestion and then subjected to elements analysis by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES).

RESULTThe contents of Cu and S elements were increased, while the content of Zn element was decreased in Paeoniae Radix Alba after sulfur-fumigated process compared with the samples dried in the sun. Moreover, heavy metallic elements, such as As and Hg, were detected in Paeoniae Radix Alba after sulfur-fumigated process.

CONCLUSIONSulfur fumigated process may cause residual of heavy metals and sulfur which are harmful to human body and change the contents of some trace elements.

Fumigation ; methods ; Humans ; Metals, Heavy ; analysis ; Paeonia ; chemistry ; Spectrophotometry, Atomic ; methods ; Sulfur ; analysis ; metabolism ; Trace Elements ; analysis

OBJECTIVETo establish a new quantitative method for simultaneous determination of multi-coumarins in Fraxini Cortex by using one chemical reference substance, and validate its feasibilities.

METHODThe new quality evaluation method, quantitative analysis of multi-components by singer-marker (QAMS), was established and validated with Fraxini Cortex. Four main coumarins were selected as analytes to evaluate the quality and their relative correlation factors (RCF) were determined by HPLC-DAD. Within the linear range, the values of RCF at 340 nm of aesculin to asculetin, fraxin and fraxetin were 1.771, 0.799, 1.409, respectively. And the contents of aesculin in samples of Fraxini Cortex were authentically determined by the external standard method, and the contents of the three other coumarins were calculated by their RCF. The contents of these four coumarins in all samples were also determined by the external standard method.

RESULTWithin a certain range, the RCF had a good reproducibility (RSD 2.5%-3.9%). Significant differences were not observed between the quantitative results of two methods.

CONCLUSIONIt is feasible and suitable to evaluate the quality of Fraxini Cortex and its Yinpian by QAMS.

Anticoagulants ; analysis ; Biomarkers ; Coumarins ; analysis ; Drug Stability ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; chemistry ; Esculin ; analysis ; Feasibility Studies ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Reproducibility of Results

OBJECTIVETo study polar constituents of Mosla Chinensis.

METHODThe constituents were isolated and purified by various chromatographic techniques and their structures were elucidated by physico-chemicalproperties and spectroscopic data.

RESULTSeven glucosides were obtained and their structures were identified as 4-hydroxy-2,6-dimethoxyphenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside (1), 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside (2), 3, 4, 5-trimethoxypheyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside (3), 3-hydroxyestragole-beta-D-glucopyranoside (4), (6S,9R) -roseoside (5), adenosine (6), and p-hydroxybenzoicacid glucoside (7).

CONCLUSIONAll compounds were isolated from the genus Mosla for the first time.

Adenosine ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Glucosides ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Lamiaceae ; chemistry ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry