Objective To make the identification of medicinal herbs in Salvia L. quickly and accurately. Methods In this work,DNA barcoding and chemical fingerprint were compared for the identification of herbs in Salvia L. First, the nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacer region two amplified from 48 medicinal plants in Salvia L., and three other groups of medicinal plants in Lamiaceae were sequenced. A molecular phylogeny was constructed using the minimum evolution and maximum parsimony methods according to their sequence diversity. Second, the water-solution bioactive components and lipid soluble components were tested by HPLC. Then a chemical phylogeny was built using HPLC fingerprint data. Comparing the molecular and chemical phylogenetic trees revealed many similarities. Results DNA barcoding was sequencing based and could therefore provide more accurate results within a shorter time especially in large-scale studies. Conclusion The results show that ITS2 region is a novel DNA barcode for the authentication of the species in Salvia L. This is the first work to show the relationship between DNA barcoding and chemical components.

Objective To control the quality of Evodia rutaecarpa better. Methods An HPLC-DAD-MS/MS method was established for the rapid and efficient identification of bioactive constituents and for simultaneous quantitative analysis of four bioactive ingredients including evodiamine, rutaecarpine, dehydroevodiamine, and evodin in E.rutaecarpa, which was applied to evaluating eight samples of E. rutaecarpa and its varieties from different areas.Results Thirteen potentially bioactive constituents including one flavonoid glycoside, one limonin, four indoloquinazoline alkaloids, and seven quinolone alkaloids were identified in all samples and the contents of dehydroevodiamine, evodine, evodiamine, and rutaecarpine varied widely from 0.10% to 0.51%, 0.49% to 3.12%,0.07% to 1.56%, and 0.10% to 0.69%, respectively. Conclusion This method is found to be convenient, fast,accurate, and it is facilitated to improve the quality control standard of E. rutaecarpa and related products.

Objective To study the chemical constituents of Bombycis Feculae. Methods Chemical constituents were isolated BPLC-ELSD. The structures of the isolated compounds were determined by spectral means. Results Two compounds were isolated and identified as 1-deoxynojirimycin (1) and (2R,3R,5R)-2-(hydroxymethyl)piperidine-3,5-diol, named as 1,3-dideoxygalatonojirimycin (2). Conclusion Compound 2 is a new alkaloid. The extract of Bombycis Feculae, compound 1 and compound 2 show inhibitory activities against a-glucosidase.

Objective To study the rational daily administration times of Yinchenhao Decoction (YCHD) when it was used to treat experimental jaundice in rats based on pharmacodynamics/pharmacokinetics model.MethodsRats were modeled by 4％ 1-naphthylisothiocyanate (75 mg/kg) for 48 h,then YCHD was drenched with doses of 0.324 g/kg (extract,calculated with the clinical dosage) once,0.162 g/kg twice,and 0.108 g/kg thrice a day,respectively.The total bile and the flow rate of bile were observed after the first administration; Blood samples collected from the orbital sinus at different intervals were used to investigate the levels of liver enzymes (ALT and AST) and bilimbins (TBIL and DBIL),and determine the concentration of 6,7-dimethoxycoumarin (DME) in the plasma using UPLC at the same time,then we obtained the time-effect and time-dose curves.The rational daily administration times of YCHD when treating experimental jaundice were determined based on the comprehensive analysis of time-effect and time-concentration relationships.ResultsWithin 10 h the total bile of rats which were administered once daily (G1) was I.65 and 1.33 times higher than that of twice and thrice (G2 and G3) a day,respectively,and the four biochemical indexes (TBIL,ALT,DBIL,and AST) of Gl decreased faster than those of G2 and G3 (P ＜ 0.05).On the other hand,the blood drug level of DME when administrated once daily could maintain at a higher level for a longer time,and its Cmax and AUC0→t were higher than those of G2 and G3,which might be the main reason why its effect was the most significant.ConclusionIt is more appropriate to administrate once daily when YCHD is used to treat jaundice.

Objective Although principal components analysis profiles greatly facilitate the visualization and interpretation of the multivariate data,the quantitative concepts in both scores plot and loading plot are rather obscure.This article introduced three profiles that assisted the better understanding of metabolomic data.Methods The discriminatory profile,heat map,and statistic profile were developed to visualize the multivariate data obtained from high-throughput GC-TOF-MS analysis.Results The discriminatory profile and heat map obviously showed the discriminatory metabolites between the two groups,while the statistic profile showed the potential markers of statistic significance.Conclusion The three types of profiles greatly facilitate our understanding of the metabolomic data and the identification of the potential markers.

Objective Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is widely used as a spice in cooking and as a medicinal herb in traditional herbal medicine. The present study was to investigate the analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of ginger oil in experimental animal models. Methods The analgesic effect of the oils was evaluated by the acetic acid and hot-plate test models of pain in mice. The anti-inflammatory effect of the oil was investigated in rats, using rat paw edema induced by carrageenan, adjuvant arthritis, and vascular permeability induced by bradykinin, arachidonic acid, and histamine. Indomethacin (1 mg/kg), Aspirin (0.5 g/kg) and Dexamethasone (2.5 mg/kg) were used respectively as reference drugs for comparison. Results The ginger oil (0.25-1.0 g/kg) produced significant analgesic effect against chemically- and thermally-induced nociceptive pain stimuli in mice (P < 0.05, 0.01). And the ginger oil (0.25-1.0 g/kg) also significantly inhibited carrageenan-induced paw edema, adjuvant arthritis, and inflammatory mediators-induced vascular permeability in rats (P < 0.05, 0.001). Conclusion These findings confirm that the ginger oil can be used to treat pain and chronic inflammation such as rheumatic arthritis.

Objective To investigate the hepatoprotective effects of Paeoniae Radix Rubra (PRR) at different doses against α-naphthylisothiocyanate (α-NIT)-induced acute cholestatic hepatitis in rats.Methods Rats were ig administrated with vehicle or PRR [(1,9,18,36,54,72,and 81 g/(kg·d)] 3 d before and 2 d after α-NIT (60 mg/kg) ig administration.The general status of rats,histopathology of liver,serum alanine aminotransaminase,aspartate aminotransaminase,total bilirubin,direct bilirubin,and alkaline phosphatase levels,were observed at respective time points (24 and 48 h) after α-NIT administration.Using cluster analysis and correspondence analysis,the dose-effect-response relationships of PRR were evaluated.Results The results showed that compared with model group,the serum biochemistry index significantly decreased with the increasing of PRR dosage (P ＜ 0.01),and the change and necrosis of hepatic cellula,and inflammatory cell infiltration were gradually alleviated.However,the improvement was not obviously found in the low-dose group [1 g/(kg·d)].The cluster analysis and correspondence analysis results showed that different doses of PRR could significantly ameliorate α-NIT-induced acute cholestatic hepatitis of rats in a dose-dependent manner.Conclusion The experiments show that administration doses of PRR in clinical use should be added properly in order to gain the expectant therapeutic effect,especially in the treatment of heavy acute cholestasis hepatitis.

Objective To develop a sensitive, simple, and accurate method for the determination of shionone in rat plasma after ig administration of Asteris Radix petroleum ether extract (RAPE). Methods The separation was achieved by HPLC on a RP18 column (150 mm × 3.9 mm, 5μm) with a mobile phase composed of acetotitrile-0.05% phosphoric acid water (98: 2) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. UV Detector was set at 200 nm and friedelin was chosen as an internal standard. Results The linear range of the standard curves was (0.3443-22.0) μg/mL with the correlation coefficient of 0.9968. The intra- and inter-day precisions were all below 10% and the relative error was -3.5%-1.1%.Conclusion The developed method can be successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study. After ig administration of RAPE, T1/2(ka) is (33.09 ± 7.32) min and T1/2(ke) is (84.95 ± 22.34) min.

Objective Shunaoxin Dropping Pills (SDPs), a Chinese patent medicine, has been used widely in China for the treatment of headache, amnesia, and insomnia. The aim of the present study is to observe the effect of SDPs on inducing angiogenesis and neurogenesis in vitro. Methods The present testing system using the serum obtained from animals ig treated with SDPs and a co-culture system in vitro was used to investigate if SDPs promotes brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) tube formation and neural differentiation of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs), which plays important roles in angiogenesis and neurogenesis. Results The SDPs serum sampled from rats ig treated with SDPs for 3 d dose-dependently promoted the tube like structure formation of cultured BMECs, and enhanced the fraction of MAP-2 positive cells of NSPCs, which co-cultured with the BMECs and astrocyte. In addition, there was no significant change in the percentage of glial fibrillary acidic protein positive cells. Conclusion Our results show that SDPs serum can induce neural differentiation and BMECs tube formation in vitro.

Objective To investigate the protective effects of purified effective component group in extract from Xiaoshuan Tongluo(CGXT)formula on chronic brain ischemia in rats.Methods CGXT 75,150,and 300 mg/kg or vehicle were ig administered daily for four weeks to rats with bilateral common carotid arteries ligation(BCCAL).From the day 24 to 28 after BCCAL,Morris water maze was performed to assess the learning and memory impairment of rats.Four weeks after BCCAL,brain gray and white matter damage were assessed.Results In Morris test,the mean escape latency of rats in the CGXT(150 and 300 mg/kg)groups was significantly shorter than that in the vehicle group.CGXT also attenuated the neuronal damage in hippocampus and cortex and reduced the pathological damage in the optic tract and corpus callosum.Conclusion CGXT could improve learning and memory impairment resulted from BCCAL in rats.These results provide the experimental basis for the clinical use of CGXT in stroke treatment and may help in investigation of multimodal therapy strategies in ischemic cerebrovascular diseases including stroke.