This study investigates the reproductive protective effect and potential mechanism of Cistanches Herba extract(CHE) on a rat model of kidney-Yang deficiency induced by adenine. Rats were randomly divided into five groups: normal, model, low-dose CHE(0.6 g·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)), high-dose CHE(1.2 g·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)), and L-carnitine(100 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)). The rats were administered adenine(200 mg·kg~(-1)·d~(-1)) by gavage for the first 14 days to induce kidney-Yang deficiency, while simultaneously receiving drug treatment. After 14 days, the modeling was discontinued, but drug treatment continued to 49 days. The content of components in CHE was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The adenine-induced kidney-Yang deficiency model was assessed through symptom characterization and measurement of testosterone(T) levels using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Pathological damage to the testis and epididymis was evaluated based on the wet weight and performing hematoxylin-eosin staining. Sperm density and motility were measured using computer-aided sperm analysis, and sperm viability was assessed using live/dead sperm staining kits, and sperm morphology was evaluated using eosin staining, thereby determining rat sperm quality. Metabolomics was used to analyze changes in serum metabolites, enrich related metabolic pathways, and explore the mechanism of CHE in improving reproductive function damage in rats with kidney-Yang deficiency syndrome. Compared to the normal group, the model group exhibited significant kidney-Yang deficiency symptoms, reduced T levels, decreased testicular and epididymal wet weights, and significant pathological damage to the testis and epididymis. The sperm density, motility, and viability decreased, with an increased rate of sperm abnormalities. In contrast, rats treated with CHE showed marked improvements in kidney-Yang deficiency symptoms, restored T levels, alleviated pathological damage to the testis and epididymis, and improved various sperm parameters. Metabolomics results revealed 286 differential metabolites between the normal and model groups(191 upregulated and 95 downregulated). Seventy-five differential metabolites were identified between the model and low-dose CHE groups(21 upregulated and 54 downregulated). A total of 24 common differential metabolites were identified across the three groups, with 22 of these metabolites exhibiting opposite regulation trends between the two comparison groups. These metabolites were primarily involved in linoleic acid metabolism, ether lipid metabolism, and pantothenic acid and coenzyme A biosynthesis, as well as metabolites including 13-hydroperoxylinoleic acid, lysophosphatidylcholine, and pantethine. CHE can improve kidney-Yang deficiency symptoms in rats, alleviate reproductive organ damage, and enhance sperm quality. The regulation of lipid metabolism may be a potential mechanism through which CHE improves reproductive function in rats with kidney-Yang deficiency. The potential bioactive compounds of CHE include echinacoside, verbascoside, salidroside, betaine, and cistanoside A.
Animals ; Male ; Rats ; Yang Deficiency/physiopathology* ; Metabolomics ; Kidney/physiopathology* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Cistanche/chemistry* ; Kidney Diseases/metabolism* ; Testis/metabolism* ; Humans ; Reproduction/drug effects* ; Testosterone/blood*

Based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-electrostatic field Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS) technology and molecular docking, the bitter-tasting substances(hereafter referred to as "bitter substances") in Cistanche deserticola extract were investigated, and the bitter taste and efficacy relationship was explored to lay the foundation for future research on de-bittering and taste correction. Firstly, UPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS was used for the qualitative analysis of the constituents of C. deserticola, and 69 chemical components were identified. These chemical components were then subjected to molecular docking with the bitter taste receptor, leading to the screening of 20 bitter substances, including 6 phenylethanol glycosides, 5 flavonoids, 3 phenolic acids, 2 cycloalkenyl ether terpenes, 2 alkaloids, and 2 other components. Nine batches of fresh C. deserticola samples were collected from the same origin but harvested at different months. These samples were divided into groups based on harvest month and plant part. The bitterness was quantified using an electronic tongue, and the content of six potential bitter-active compounds(pineconotyloside, trichothecene glycoside, tubulin A, iso-trichothecene glycoside, jinshihuaoside, and jingnipinoside) was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). The total content of phenylethanol glycosides, polysaccharides, alkaloids, flavonoids, and phenolic acids was determined using UV-visible spectrophotometry. Chemometric analyses were then conducted, including Pearson's correlation analysis, gray correlation analysis, and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA), to identify the bitter components in C. deserticola. The results were consistent with the molecular docking findings, and the two methods mutually supported each other. Finally, network pharmacological predictions and analyses were performed to explore the relationship between the targets of bitter substances and their efficacy. The results indicated that key targets of the bitter substances included EGFR, PIK3CB, and PTK2. These substances may exert their bitter effects by acting on relevant disease targets, confirming that the bitter substances in C. deserticola are the material basis of its bitter taste efficacy. In conclusion, this study suggests that the phenylethanol glycosides, primarily pineconotyloside, mauritiana glycoside, and gibberellin, are the material basis for the "bitter taste" of C. deserticola. The molecular docking technique plays a guiding role in the screening of bitter substances in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM). The bitter substances in C. deserticola not only contribute to its bitter taste but also support the concept of the "taste-efficacy" relationship in TCM, providing valuable insights and references for future research in this area.
Molecular Docking Simulation ; Taste ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Cistanche/chemistry* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Humans ; Mass Spectrometry

Cistanches Herba(CH) is a famous tonic traditional Chinese medicine, with the effects of tonifying kidney Yang, nourishing kidney Yin, replenishing essence and blood, and moistening the intestines to relieve constipation. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that CH has anti-aging, anti-fatigue, immunomodulatory, neuroprotective, and anti-aging activities, serving as an ideal raw material for the development of pharmaceuticals and health products. In 2023, CH was added in the catalog of medicinal and food substances, which provided policy support for its application in conventional food products and expanding pathways for industrial diversification. To comprehensively understand current development status of CH products, this review systematically investigated professional databases including Yaozhi(https://db.yaozh.com), Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Compendium of National Standards for Chinese Patent Medicines, and Kezhuang and collected market survey data to thoroughly review the applications of CH as a primary ingredient in domestic and international Chinese patent medicines, health foods, cosmetics, and common food products. Furthermore, this review points out challenges in the current industrial development and future potential market prospects, aiming to provide guidance for the development and industrialization of CH-based pharmaceuticals and health products, thereby promoting the vigorous growth of the CH industry.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Humans ; Cistanche/chemistry* ; Animals ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

To investigate the inhibitory effects and mechanism of Cistanche tubulosa ethanol extract( CTEE) against oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion( OGD/R)-induced PC12 cells neuronal injury. In this study,OGD/R-induced PC12 cells were used to explore the neuroprotective effects of CTEE( 12. 5,25,50 mg·L-1) by detecting cell viability with MTT assay,apoptosis with AO/EB and Hoechst 33258,mitochondrial membrane potential changes with JC-1 staining,mitochondrial oxidative stress with MitoSOX staining,as well as the apoptosis-related protein expression( PARP,cleaved PARP,caspase-3,cleaved caspase-3,Bax,Bcl-2) with Western blot. RESULTS:: showed that CTEE effectively protected OGD/R-induced neuronal injury and increased the survival rate of PC12 cells.AO/EB and Hoechst 33258 staining showed that CTEE could effectively inhibit apoptosis. Moreover,JC-1 and MitoSOX staining results showed that CTEE decreased mitochondrial stress and mitochondrial membrane potential imbalance in PC12 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Meanwhile,CTEE could obviously suppress the activation of key proteins in mitochondrial apoptosis pathway such as caspase-3 and PARP,and significantly inhibit the rise of Bax and down-regulation of Bcl-2. In conclusion,CTEE has obvious protective effects on OGD/R-induced PC12 cells neuronal injury,potentially via inhibiting mitochondrial oxidative stress and apoptosis-related signaling pathway.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Cistanche ; chemistry ; Ethanol ; Glucose ; Neuroprotective Agents ; pharmacology ; Oxidative Stress ; Oxygen ; PC12 Cells ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology ; Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1 ; metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 ; metabolism ; Rats ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; metabolism

Based on UPLC specific chromatogram and determination of seven main components,this study aimed at evaluating the quality of Cistanche deserticola,C. tubulosa and C. sinensis. Echinacoside,cistanoside A,verbascoside,tubuloside A,isoacteoside,2'-acetylacteoside,tubuloside B were used as reference substances. UPLC analysis was performed on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC HSS T3 column( 2. 1 mm×100 mm,1. 8 μm). The mobile phase was acetonitrile-0. 08% trifluoroacetic acid solution. The flow rate was0. 3 mL·min-1,and the injection amount was 10 μL. The column temperature was 40 ℃,and the detection wavelength was 330 nm.The UPLC specific chromatograms were processed with ChemPattern software. UPLC specific chromatograms of C. deserticola and C.tubulosa from different samples were of high similarity,but the similarities of their counterfeit C. sinensis were less than 0. 06. Both of cluster and principal component analysis can distinguish certified products and counterfeits. The content ratios of echinacoside/verbascoside and verbascoside/isoacteoside were quite different between C. deserticola and C. tubulosa,which had distinct significance.The UPLC specific chromatogram and contents of seven main components can provide a basis for quality evaluation of Cistanches Herba.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Cistanche ; chemistry ; classification ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; analysis ; standards ; Phytochemicals ; analysis ; Principal Component Analysis

In this study, taking Cistanche deserticola in Xinjiang as the experimental material, the optimal process for extracting polysaccharides from C. deserticola with water extraction was studied by using single factor and orthogonal experiment. Its effects on protein removal and polysaccharides retaining were investigated by using Sevag, enzymatic method or combination of these two methods, so as to determine the optimal method for protein removal from polysaccharides of C. deserticola; the decolorization and purification methods such as macroporous resin of AB-8 and activated Carbon were used to determine the optimal process. The results showed that the extraction rate of polysaccharides from C. deserticola was 18.40% during the optimal process of the water extraction as follows: extraction temperature 75 ℃, extraction time 165 min and solid-liquid ratio 1∶55. The protein removal rate can reach 31.40% and polysaccharide retention rate can reach 96.00% under the optimal protein removal process: temperature 50 ℃, time 2 h, and papain dosage 0.2%. The decolorization rate of activated Carbon and macroporous resin called AB-8 was 80.37% and 86.43%, and the recovery rate of polysaccharides was 77.05% and 91.93%, respectively, suggesting that macroporous resin was more suitable for decoloration. Macroporous resin named AB-8 increased the purity of the polysaccharide crude extract from 67.70% to 84.80% under the following conditions: concentration of the sample 4 g·L~(-1), concentration of the eluent 60% ethanol, and the flow rate 1 mL·min~(-1), showing significant purification effect.
Cistanche ; chemistry ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; Polysaccharides ; isolation & purification ; Temperature ; Water

In order to determine the chemical constituents of Cistanche deserticola cultured in Tarim desert, a systematically phytochemical investigation was carried out. The constituents were isolated by silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, MCI gel, ODS column chromatography, and semi-preparative HPLC. Their structures were determined on the basis of MS and NMR spectroscopic analyses, by chemical methods, and/or comparison with literature data. The anti-inflammatory activities of the isolates were evaluated for their inhibitory effects on the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in BV-2 mouse microglial cells. Nine iridoids were isolated and identified as cistadesertoside A (1), cistanin (2), cistachlorin (3), 6-deoxycatalpol (4), gluroside (5), kankanoside A (6), ajugol (7), bartsioside (8), and 8-epi-loganic acid (9). Compound 9 exhibited potent inhibition on the NO production with an IC50 value being 5.2 μmol·L(-1), comparable to the positive control quercetin (4.3 μmol·L(-1)). Compound 1 was a new iridoid, and compounds 5, 6, and 8 were isolated from this species for the first time.
Animals ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Cistanche ; chemistry ; Iridoids ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Mice ; Plant Stems ; chemistry

The distribution information of Cistanche deserticola was collected by interview investigation and field survey, and 55 related environmental factors were collected, the habitat suitability study was conducted based on geographic information system (GIS) and Maximum entropy model. The AUCs of ROC curve were both above 0.9, indicating that the predictive results with the maxent model were highly precise. The results showed that 14 major environmental factors have obvious influence on ecology suitability distributions of C. deserticola, including vegetation type et al, the suitable distribution areas are mainly concentrated in the central of Alxa Youqi, the north of Alxa Zouqi and the south-east of Ejin Banner, including Tamusu towns, Alateng towns et al, The zoning results basically coincide with the genuine producing areas, and further afford new suitable distribution areas, which can provide reference for the siting of introduction and cultivation of C. deserticola.
China ; Cistanche ; growth & development ; Ecosystem ; Environment ; Geographic Information Systems ; Rain ; Soil ; chemistry ; Temperature

In order to clarify the chemical constituents of Cistanche deserticola cultured in Tarim desert, a systematically phytochemical investigation was carried out. The chemical constituents were isolated by column chromatography, such as silica gel, Sephadex LH- 20, MCI gel, ODS and semi-preparative HPLC, and their structures were determined on the basis of MS, NMR spectroscopic analysis and/or comparison with literature data. Eleven lignans were isolated from the 85% ethanol extract of the stems of C. deserticola cultured in Tarim desert. Their structures were identified as (+)-syringaresinol-4'-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (1), (+)-isoeucommin A (2), eucommin A (3), (+)-pinoresinol monomethylether β-D-glucoside (4), lariciresinol 4'-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (5), lariciresinol 4-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (6), conicaoside (7), dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol 4-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (8), dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol γ'-O-β-D-glucoside (9), citrusin A (10), and alaschanioside A (11). Compounds 1, 3-7, 10 and 11 were isolated from this genus for the first time, and compounds 2, 8 and 9 were obtained from this species for the first time.
Cistanche ; chemistry ; growth & development ; Lignans ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Plant Stems ; chemistry

In this paper the species of ethnic medicinal plants Orobanche, Cistanche and Boschniakia, and their ethnopharmaceutical uses were comprehensively summarized by field investigation, systematical data analysis and comparison of relevant specimen and references. The results showed that six plants belonging to Orobanche were used as seven kinds of ethnic medicinal plants, two plants attributing Boschniakia were used as ten kinds of ethnic medicinal plants, two plants of Cistanche were used as three ethnic medicinal plants. The same plant was often used as different ethnic medicine in varied ethnic minorities. The effects of the ethnic medicines included yang-tonifying, hemostasis and analgesic activities. Hence, it is necessary to develop the rich plant resource of Orobanche for alleviation of Cistanche resources shortage.
Cistanche ; chemistry ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Orobanchaceae ; chemistry ; Orobanche ; chemistry ; Phytotherapy