The genus Eleutherococcus includes multiple medicinal plants that hold significant value in the fields of medicine, health, economy, and food. The resources of this genus are widely distributed and rich in secondary metabolites. The secondary metabolites reported in Eleutherococcus plants include various types, such as terpenoids, phenolic acids, flavonoids, and lignans, which exhibit pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, antioxidant, and neuroprotective effects. Among these, the triterpenoid components in Eleutherococcus plants have garnered significant attention. This review summarized the research progress on the resource distribution, species classification, secondary metabolites, and pharmacological activities of Eleutherococcus plants and discussed their ecological significance, pharmacological development, and future research directions, with the aim of providing references for species conservation, drug development, and disease treatment involving Eleutherococcus plants.
Eleutherococcus/chemistry* ; Secondary Metabolism ; Humans ; Plants, Medicinal/metabolism* ; Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Flavonoids/chemistry*

Neurodegenerative diseases are global public health problems that seriously affect the quality of human life. The incidence of neurodegenerative diseases is increasing year by year and there has been no effective treatment. Acanthopanax senticosus is a Chinese medicine for tonifying kidney and has a long medicinal and edible history. It contains many active ingredients such as saponins, coumarins, flavonoids, organic acids and polysaccharides, with pharmacological effects of anti-oxidation, anti-age, anti-inflammation, anti-fatigue and immune regulation. Modern medical studies have found that A. senticosus can act on the central nervous system, and its extracts and active ingredients can improve learning and memory ability, playing vital roles of anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, anti-apoptosis, antagonizing against amyloid β protein(Aβ) toxicity, modulating neurotransmitter release, signaling pathways and brain energy metabolism, maintaining the structure and function of mitochondria, and epigenetic regulation. It treats neurodegenerative diseases via multiple components, multiple targets, and multiple pathways, with the characteristics of low toxic side effects. This study reviewed the pharmacological reports of A. senticosus on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and ischemic stroke in China and abroad in recent ten years, and summarized the active ingredients and the mechanism underlying the neuroprotective effects of A. senticosus. Additionally, the significant advantages of A. senticosus in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and the limitations of the reports were discussed from the aspects of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) theory and modern medical research. This study provided theoretical support for the drug development and clinical application of A. senticosus in treating neurodegenerative diseases and also facilitated the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases by kidney-tonifying method in TCM.
Amyloid beta-Peptides ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; Eleutherococcus/chemistry* ; Epigenesis, Genetic ; Humans ; Neurodegenerative Diseases/prevention & control* ; Plant Extracts/therapeutic use*

The present study was conducted to explore the effect of endophytic fungi fraction on growth and anti-oxidative activity of Eleutherococcus senticosus. The growth,yield,contents of MDA,and antioxidant activities were assessed in E. senticosus under five fungi fractions,namely BZ,MH,DT,JS,and XFZ. The results showed that fungi fractions and component significantly affected the growth,low concentration of DT fungi fraction significantly increased the biomass of E. senticosus,reduced the MDA content in cells,and the antioxidant activities of the aqueous extracts were superior to the others. The results indicated that low concentration of DT fungi fraction was the optimum fraction to achieve high yield and quality of E. senticosus.
Antioxidants ; metabolism ; Eleutherococcus ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Fungi ; chemistry ; Malondialdehyde ; metabolism ; Oxidative Stress

The aim of this paper was to discuss the protective effect and mechanism of Acanthopanax senticosus polysaccharides( ASPs) on immunological liver injury caused by conanavalin A( Con A). BALB/c mice were randomly divided into seven groups: control group,model group( Con A),low-,medium-,and high-dose( 36. 25,72. 5,145 mg·kg~(-1)) ASPs groups,bifendate( 200 mg·kg~(-1),positive drug) group and pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate( PDTC,NF-κB inhibitor,200 mg·kg~(-1)) group. ASPs groups and bifendate group were given with corresponding drugs by ig administration once daily for 7 d. Control group,model group and PDTC group were given with normal saline by ig administration once daily for 7 d. After the last ig administration,PDTC was given in DTC group by iv administration( 200 mg·kg~(-1)); 0. 5 h after that,Con A( 20 mg·kg~(-1)) was injected via the tail vein to induce immunological liver injury in all the mice except normal control group. The mice were killed 8 h later and their liver tissues were collected for histopathological examination. The contents of nitric oxide( NO),superoxide dismutase( SOD),malondialdehyde( MDA),reduced glutathione( GSHPX),interleukin( IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor( TNF-α) in liver tissues were detected by kit assay. Western blot method was used to detect TNF-α,intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1( ICAM-1),inducible nitric oxide synthase( i NOS) and nuclear factor( NF-κB) protein expression in liver tissues. As compared with model group,ASPs not only could reduce the activity of MDA,NO,IL-1β and TNF-α,but also increase the content of GSH-PX and SOD; at the same time,the protein expression levels of TNF-α,ICAM-1,i NOS and NF-κB were reduced in liver tissues; in addition,inflammatory cell infiltration was alleviated,hepatocyte cytoplasm was loose and swollen,and nuclear condensation and staining were improved. ASPs has a protective effect on immunological liver injury,and the mechanism may be associated with regulating secretion of inflammatory cytokines and the expression of adhesion factor through NF-κB signaling pathway.
Animals ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury ; drug therapy ; Cytokines ; metabolism ; Eleutherococcus ; chemistry ; Liver ; drug effects ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred BALB C ; NF-kappa B ; metabolism ; Peptides, Cyclic ; Polysaccharides ; pharmacology ; Random Allocation ; Signal Transduction

The kaurenoic acid-type diterpenoids in Acanthopanacis Cortex have been reported to be the major active components. However, the diterpenoids are present as position isomers that exacerbate the challenges in obtaining standards compounds. Little work has been done on the quantitative analysis of the diterpenoids in the herb. In the present study, two diterpenoid isomers ent-16βH,17-isovalerate-kauran-19-oic acid (1) and ent-16βH,17-methyl butanoate-kauran-19-oic acid (2) with high purity were separated by analytical HPLC, followed by recrystallization in acetone. Furthermore, an HPLC-ELSD method was developed and validated for simultaneous determination of 1 and 2 in 9 batches of Acanthopanacis Cortex samples. The HPLC separation and quantification was achieved in 40 min using an Agela Promosil C column eluted with a gradient of water and acetonitrile. The calibration curves showed good linearity (r ≥ 0.999 9) within the test ranges. The LOD ranged from 0.407 2 to 0.518 0 μg and LOQ ranged from 1.018 0 to 1.295 0 μg. The precisions (%RSD) were within 1.47% for the two isomers. The recovery of the assay was in the range of 98.78%-99.11% with RSD values less than 2.76%. It is the first time to establish a quantitative HPLC method for the analysis of the bioactive kaurenoic acid isomers in the herb.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Diterpenes ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Eleutherococcus ; chemistry ; Isomerism ; Plant Roots ; chemistry

In order to find the characteristics of two members of gene family of squaleneexpoxidase (SE) , a quantitative real time PCR method was developed to analyze the expression of Eleutherococcus senticosus SE1 and SE2 gene from different growth periods and in different organs. The result indicated that all the expression of SE2 more than SE1 in the whole growth period and organs of E. senticosus. And in the whole growth period, expression of SE1 showed a low-high-low characteristic. Both expression of SE2 and growth period showed the same trend. The lowest content of the expression was in the roots. SE1 expression have been improved more than SE2 when treated with MeJA. The expression of E. senticosus SE1 and saponins content had significantly positive correlation (P < 0.05) and the correlation coefficients was 0. 858, while the correlation was not significant for SE2. That indicated that SE1 played a key enzyme gene in the biosynthesis of triterpenoidsaponins
Eleutherococcus ; chemistry ; enzymology ; genetics ; growth & development ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Peroxidase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Plant Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Saponins ; analysis ; metabolism ; Transcriptome

There are reports about the chemical compounds of Ciwujia herbs, but with no study report about the chemical material basis of Ciwujia injection (CWJI). In this study, LC-MS(n) and LC-Q-TOF-MS techniques were adopted for a qualitative analysis on phenylpropanoids in CWJI. The Ultmate XB-C18 column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) was adopted and eluted with the mobile phase of 0.5% formic acid-water and acetonitrile, with the flow rate at 0.8 mL x min(-1) and the column temperature at 20 degrees C. Based on the data of high-resolution and multi-stage MS, control products and literatures, altogether 54 phenylpropanoids were identified in Ciwujia Injection, including 34 phenylpropanoids, 16 ligans and 4 coumarins. Among them, 28 were reported for the first time in Ciwujia, and 14 compound structures were identified in comparison with the control products. The method established in this study could be used to simply and rapidly identify phenylpropanoids in CWJI. The findings provide scientific data for defining the chemical material basis of CWJI.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; methods ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Eleutherococcus ; chemistry ; Mass Spectrometry ; methods ; Molecular Structure

Effects of six kinds of Chinese herb extracts, including Folium Crataegi extract, Herba Epimedii extract, Folium Acanthopanacis Senticosi extract, Trifolium pratense L. extract, Folium Ginkgo extract and Radix Puerariae extract, on the activities of CYP450 isozymes (CYP1A2, CYP2C, CYP2E1, CYP2D, CYP3A) in rat hepatic microsomals were studied by using a UPLC-MS/MS (MRM) and cocktail probe substrates method. The results showed that effects of six kinds of Chinese herb extracts on each CYP450 isozyme activity were inhibitory. The IC50 of Folium Crataegi extract for the inhibition of rat microsomal CYP2D activity was only for 4.04 microg x mL(-1), which showed the highest inhibition; Trifolium pratense L. extract had strong inhibitory action to CYP2D, the IC50 value was 5.73 microg x mL(-1); Folium Crataegi extract also had strong inhibitory action on CYP2E1, the IC50 value was 10.91 microg x mL(-1). Furthermore, the IC50 of Folium Ginkgo extract for the inhibition of rat microsomal CYP3A, 2D, 2E1 activities were 45.12, 35.45 and 22.41 microg x mL(-1), respectively, and the IC50 of Folium Acanthopanacis Senticosi extract on the inhibition of rat microsomal CYP2E1 activity was 32.89 microg x mL(-1). In addition, mechanism of inhibition experimental results showed that the inhibiting abilities of Folium Crataegi extract and Radix Puerariae extract on each CYP450 isozyme increased with the increasing of the preincubation time, therefore, the inhibitory effects were a mechanism-based inhibition.
Animals ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Crataegus ; chemistry ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP1A2 ; metabolism ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP2E1 ; metabolism ; Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A ; metabolism ; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Eleutherococcus ; chemistry ; Epimedium ; chemistry ; Ginkgo biloba ; chemistry ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; Male ; Microsomes, Liver ; enzymology ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Pueraria ; chemistry ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Trifolium ; chemistry

To screen the harmful substance 5-hydroxymethyl furfural content in commercially available traditional Chinese medicine injection which are commonly used, and to preliminarily evaluate the quality of these injections, 5-hydroxymethyl furfural was taken as an index. The contents of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural in 56 samples which consist of 23 kinds of traditional Chinese medicine injections and glucose injection were determined using LC-MS/MS, and 5-hydroxymethyl furfural was detected in 52 of these samples. The minimal content was 0.0038 microg x L(-1) and the maximum content was 1420 microg x mL(-1). The contents of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural were significantly different in traditional Chinese medicine injection which came from different kinds, manufacturers or batches. The results showed the quality difference of commercially available traditional Chinese medicine injection is significant taking 5-hydroxymethyl furfural content as assessment index. More attention should be paid to the safety of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural in traditional Chinese medicine injection, and unified limitation standard should be set to improve medication safety of traditional Chinese medicine injection.
Chromatography, Liquid ; Drug Combinations ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; Eleutherococcus ; chemistry ; Furaldehyde ; analogs & derivatives ; analysis ; Glucose ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; Injections ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Plant Extracts ; administration & dosage ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry

OBJECTIVETo clone calmodulin (CaM) gene in Eleutherococcus senticosus, and study the effect of endophytic fungi on expression amount of CaM gene.

METHODThe CaM full length cDNA sequence was cloned by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). The gene was analyzed and corresponding structure and functions were predicted by the bioinformatics methods. The expression amount of CaM gene affected of endophytic fungus P116-1a, P116-1b, P1094 and P312-1 was detected by RT-PCR.

RESULTThe full length of CaM cDNA was 856 bp containing an ORF of 450 bp that encoded a protein of 149 amino acids. The homologous of predicted protein was almost 100% with plants like Panax ginseng and Daucus carota. RT-PCR results showed that endophytic fungus improved CaM expression amount significantly (P<0.05). The highest expression amount of CaM occurred 90 d after reinoculated with endophytic fungi P1094, up to 2.96 times of the control.

CONCLUSIONThe CaM gene of E. senticosus was successfully cloned for the first time. The results demonstrated that endophytic fungus of E. senticosus improved CaM expression amount significantly.

Calmodulin ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Cloning, Molecular ; Eleutherococcus ; classification ; genetics ; metabolism ; microbiology ; Endophytes ; physiology ; Fungi ; physiology ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phylogeny ; Plant Proteins ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism