Zhusha Anshenwan is a classical traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） formula originating from LI Dongyuan's Treatise on the Differentiation of Endogenous and Exogenous Injuries （Nei Wai Shang Bian Huo Lun） of the Jin-Yuan period. It is composed of five medicinal ingredients： Cinnabaris （Zhusha）， Coptidis Rhizoma （Huanglian）， Angelicae Sinensis Radix （Danggui）， Rehmanniae Radix （Shengdihuang）， and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma （Gancao）. Under the guidance of TCM theory， this formula is used to treat syndromes of disturbed spirit， including insomnia， palpitations， and anxiety， caused by hyperactivity of heart fire and deficiency of Yin-blood， and it also exerts auxiliary anticonvulsant effects in epilepsy and related conditions. However， the potential neurotoxicity， hepatotoxicity， and nephrotoxicity of its monarch drug， Cinnabaris （mainly composed of mercuric sulfide， HgS）， together with the risk of in vivo accumulation， have rendered its clinical application controversial， and it has not yet been formally included in the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China. In addition， restrictions imposed by the Minamata Convention on Mercury have led to an increasing shortage of natural medicinal Cinnabaris resources， making the evaluation of the efficacy and safety of synthetic Cinnabaris particularly urgent. This contradiction highlights the complexity of safety evaluation for traditional medicines. Existing studies indicate that Zhusha Anshenwan exhibits definite pharmacological activities in calming the mind， improving sleep， and regulating emotional disorders. Moreover， other components of the formula may exert antagonistic effects on the toxicity of Cinnabaris， and reports of severe mercury poisoning caused by standardized clinical use of this prescription are extremely rare. Research suggests that other ingredients in the compound formula， such as Rehmanniae Radix， Coptidis Rhizoma， and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma， may effectively alleviate the hepatorenal toxicity of Cinnabaris through mechanisms including modulation of the gut microbiota， formation of mercury complexes， and direct protection of target organs. This article aims to systematically review the progress in pharmacodynamic research on Zhusha Anshenwan， to explore its mechanisms of action in depth， and to analyze the toxicokinetic characteristics and safety risks of Cinnabaris， as well as the scientific connotations of toxicity reduction and efficacy enhancement achieved through compound compatibility. In addition， it compares Zhusha Anshenwan with other commonly used sedative formulas， with the aim of providing a scientific basis and forward-looking perspectives for the safe and rational application and in-depth development of this classical prescription in a modern context， and of emphasizing the important value of holistic research on TCM compound formulas in addressing the challenges of single-component toxicity.

This study investigates the pharmacokinetics and metabolic characteristics of three marine-derived piericidins as potential drug leads for kidney disease: piericidin A (PA) and its two glycosides (GPAs), glucopiericidin A (GPA) and 13-hydroxyglucopiericidin A (13-OH-GPA). The research aims to facilitate lead selection and optimization for developing a viable preclinical candidate. Rapid absorption of PA and GPAs in mice was observed, characterized by short half-lives and low bioavailability. Glycosides and hydroxyl groups significantly enhanced the absorption rate (13-OH-GPA > GPA > PA). PA and GPAs exhibited metabolic instability in liver microsomes due to Cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) and uridine diphosphoglucuronosyl transferases (UGTs). Glucuronidation emerged as the primary metabolic pathway, with UGT1A7, UGT1A8, UGT1A9, and UGT1A10 demonstrating high elimination rates (30%-70%) for PA and GPAs. This rapid glucuronidation may contribute to the low bioavailability of GPAs. Despite its low bioavailability (2.69%), 13-OH-GPA showed higher kidney distribution (19.8%) compared to PA (10.0%) and GPA (7.3%), suggesting enhanced biological efficacy in kidney diseases. Modifying the C-13 hydroxyl group appears to be a promising approach to improve bioavailability. In conclusion, this study provides valuable metabolic insights for the development and optimization of marine-derived piericidins as potential drug leads for kidney disease.
Animals ; Male ; Mice ; Aquatic Organisms/chemistry* ; Biological Availability ; Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System/metabolism* ; Glucuronosyltransferase/metabolism* ; Microsomes, Liver/metabolism* ; Molecular Structure ; Biological Products/pharmacokinetics* ; Pyridines/pharmacokinetics*

Aim To elucidate whether Astragaloside Ⅳcould ameliorate pathological myocardial hypertrophy and fibrosis via the EGR1-SIRT1-PPARα-SCAD signa-ling pathway in TAC mice.Methods After randomi-zing mice into groups,the Sham+AS-Ⅳ group and TAC+AS-Ⅳ group were intragastrically administered 20 mg·kg-1AS-Ⅳ once daily,whereas the Sham+NS group and TAC+NS group were given equivalent saline.Six weeks post-surgery,an evaluation of cardiac function was conducted,heart weight index was compu-ted,morphological alterations in heart were noted,vari-ations in collagen and myocardial hypertrophy indexes were analyzed,ATP content,free fatty acid content,hydroxyproline content,SCAD expression,and enzyme activity were measured,and an initial investigation into the protein expression of EGR1-SIRT1-PPARα-SCAD in myocardial tissues was undertaken.Results After AS-Ⅳ intervention,the heart weight index of TAC mice decreased(P＜0.01),LVAWd,LVAWs,LVPWd and LVPWs values decreased(P＜0.01,P＜0.05),EF％and FS％values increased(all P＜0.01),myocardial hypertrophy markers and collagen area decreased,FFA content,HYP content and collagen expression de-creased(all P＜0.01),SCAD enzyme activity and ex-pression increased(P＜0.01,P＜0.05),and ATP content increased(P＜0.01).The expression of EGR1 protein decreased,and the expression of SIRT1 and PPARα protein increased(all P＜0.01).Conclu-sions AS-Ⅳ may improve fatty acid oxidation via the EGR1-SIRT1-PPARα-SCAD signaling pathway,thereby ameliorating pathological myocardial hypertrophy and fibrosis in TAC model mice.

Objective:To observe the application effect of hyperbaric oxygen combined with task oriented training in hemiplegic patients after cerebral infarction.Methods:106 hemiplegic patients after cerebral infarction admitted to Xinglin Hospital of Xiamen from March 2022 to June 2024 were prospectively selected and randomly divided into control group(received task oriented training,n=53)and observation group(received hyperbaric oxygen combined with task oriented training,n=53).Berg balance scale(BBS),clinical spasticity index(CSI),national institute of health stroke Scale(NIHSS),motor function[fugl-meyer motor function assessment scale(FMA),motor assessment scale(MAS)],walking ability[functional ambulation category(FAC),6-minute walking distance(6MWD)],quality of life and self-care ability[quality of life scale for stroke(SS-QOL),activity of daily living(ADL)]before intervention and 8 weeks after intervention were compared between the two groups.Result:Compared with control group 8 weeks after intervention,the observation group had higher BBS,FMA,MAS,FAC,SS-QOL,ADL scores,and 6MWD,while had lower NIHSS and CSI scores(P＜0.05).Conclusion:Hyperbaric oxygen combined with task oriented training in hemiplegic patients after cerebral infarction,can effectively improve patients' motor function,balance ability,and self-care ability,enhance their quality of life,and reduce neurological damage.

This paper aims to contribute to guaranteeing the stable development and enhancing the understanding of ecological agriculture of Chinese materia medica so that the national strategy and industrial demand can be better served. It first introduces current traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)policy and industrial development status from five aspects, including policy guarantee, theoretical support, technological innovation, standardization system, and brand influence. Then, the paper analyzes the development dilemma of TCM agriculture in production and quality increase and ecological environment protection. It also proposes the development goals of ecological agriculture of Chinese materia medica that meet the current industrial development demand, which are reducing chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and carbon emissions, improving quality, increasing efficiency, and protecting ecological environment. In addition, the new development goals are interpreted through case studies. Finally, this paper proposes four development strategies for ecological agriculture of Chinese materia medica: conducting research on the pattern and spatial and temporal variations of nationwide TCM production areas; studying the internal and external ecological memories of medicinal plant growth from the perspectives of genetic variations and environmental adaptation variations and elucidating their contributions to the formation of quality; carrying out selection and breeding of stress-resistant varieties for ecological agriculture of Chinese materia medica, the optimization of key technologies for soil improvement and restoration and green prevention and control against diseases and pests, and the improvement of quality; carrying out research on the quality assurance and value realization of ecological products made from TCM. This research can provide guidance for policy formulation, theoretical development of the discipline, and the enhancement of industrial technology for ecological agriculture of Chinese materia medica.
Agriculture/methods* ; China ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; Plants, Medicinal/chemistry* ; Ecosystem ; Materia Medica ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional

Dipsaci Radix is a commonly used Chinese herbal medicine in China, with triterpenoid saponins as the main active components. β-Amyrin synthase, a member of the oxidosqualene cyclase superfamily, plays a crucial role in the biosynthesis of oleanane-type triterpenoid saponins. Asperosaponin Ⅵ is an oleanane-type triterpenoid saponin. To explore the β-amyrin synthase genes involved in the biosynthesis of asperosaponin Ⅵ in Dipsacus asper, this study screened the candidate genes from the transcriptome data of D. asper. Two β-amyrin synthase genes, Da OSC1 and Da OSC2, were identified by phylogenetic analysis and correlation analysis. The coding sequences of Da OSC1 and Da OSC2 were 2 286 bp and 2 295 bp in length, encoding 761 and 764 amino acids,respectively. Multiple sequence alignments showed that Da OSC1 and Da OSC2 had three conserved motifs( DCTAE, QW, and MWCYCR) unique to the oxidosqualene cyclase family. Real-time quantitative PCR results showed that Da OSC1 and Da OSC2 had the highest expression levels in the roots. Compared with normal growth conditions, the low-temperature treatment significantly upregulated the expression of Da OSC1 and Da OSC2. Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression of Da OSC1 and Da OSC2 in Nicotiana benthamiana resulted in the production of β-amyrin, which suggested that Da OSC1 and Da OSC2 were able to catalyze the synthesis of β-amyrin. This study clarified the catalytic functions of two β-amyrin synthases in D. asper, analyzed their expression patterns in different tissue and at low temperatures. The findings provide a foundation for further studying the biosynthetic pathway and regulatory mechanism of asperosaponin Ⅵ in D. asper.
Intramolecular Transferases/chemistry* ; Phylogeny ; Plant Proteins/chemistry* ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Dipsacaceae/classification* ; Saponins/metabolism* ; Oleanolic Acid/metabolism*

To determine the optimal cultivation duration and harvest period for cultivated Notopterygium incisum and promote its industrial development, this study established a characteristic chromatographic profile of cultivated N. incisum and employed chemometrics combined with entropy-weighted grey correlation analysis to assess differences in agronomic traits and quality indicators across different cultivation years and harvest periods. By comparing with reference substances, ten common peaks were identified, including chlorogenic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, marmesinin, nodakenin, isochlorogenic acid B, notopterol, phenethyl ferulate, isoimperatorin, and falcarindiol. The similarity between the characteristic chromatographic profiles of N. incisum at different cultivation years and the reference profile was all above 0.932. Principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA) revealed that the quality of 1-to 3-year-old cultivated N. incisum was highly dispersed and unstable, whereas the quality of 4-year-old cultivated N. incisum remained relatively stable across different harvest periods. This suggests that the accumulation of relevant compounds in the medicinal material had reached a plateau, confirming that the optimal cultivation period for N. incisum is four years. Entropy-weighted grey correlation analysis indicated that the quality of 4-year-old cultivated N. incisum across different harvest periods ranked from highest to lowest as follows: November, December, October, August, July, and September, demonstrating that November is the optimal harvest time. The findings of this study establish the suitable cultivation duration and optimal harvest period for N. incisum, providing a scientific basis for cultivation guidance and quality standardization.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods* ; Apiaceae/chemistry* ; Entropy ; Chemometrics/methods* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Principal Component Analysis ; Quality Control

Moringa oleifera, widely utilized in Ayurvedic medicine, is recognized for its leaves, seeds, and velamen possessing traditional effects such as vātahara(wind alleviation), sirovirecaka(brain clearing), and hridya(mental nourishment). This study aims to identify the medicinal part of ■ in the Sārasvata ghee formulation as described in the Bower Manuscript, while investigating the ameliorative effects of different medicinal parts of M. oleifera on learning and memory deficits in mice and elucidating the underlying molecular mechanisms. A total of 144 male ICR mice were randomly assigned to the following groups: control, model(scopolamine hydrobromide, Sco, 2 mg·kg~(-1)), donepezil(donepezil hydrochloride, Don, 3 mg·kg~(-1)), M. oleifera leaf low-, medium-, and high-dose groups(0.5, 1, 2 g·kg~(-1)), M. oleifera seeds low-, medium-, and high-dose groups(0.25, 0.5, 1 g·kg~(-1)), and M. oleifera velamen low-, medium-, and high-dose groups(0.31, 0.62, 1.24 g·kg~(-1)). Learning and memory abilities were assessed using the passive avoidance test and Morris water maze. Nissl and HE staining were employed to examine histopathological changes in the hippocampus. Transcriptomics and targeted metabolomics were used to screen differential genes and metabolites, with MetaboAnalyst 6.0 and O2PLS methods applied to identify key disease-related targets and pathways. RESULTS:: demonstrated that M. oleifera leaf(1 g·kg~(-1)) significantly ameliorated Sco-induced learning and memory deficits, outperforming M. oleifera seeds(0.25 g·kg~(-1)) and M. oleifera velamen(1.24 g·kg~(-1)). This was evidenced by improved behavioral performance, reversal of neuronal damage, and reduced acetylcholinesterase(AChE) activity. Multi-omics analysis revealed that M. oleifera leaf upregulated Tuba1c gene expression through the synaptic vesicle cycle, enhancing glutamate(Glu), dopamine(DA), and acetylcholine(ACh) release via Tuba1c-Glu associations for neuroprotection. M. oleifera seeds targeted the dopaminergic synapse pathway, promoting memory consolidation through Drd2-ACh associations. M. oleifera velamen was associated with the cocaine addiction pathway, modulating dopamine metabolism via Adora2a-DOPAC, with limited relevance to learning and memory. In conclusion, M. oleifera leaf exhibits superior efficacy and mechanistic advantages over M. oleifera seeds and velamen, suggesting that the ■ in the Sārasvata ghee formulation is likely M. oleifera leaf, providing scientific evidence for its identification in ancient texts.
Animals ; Moringa oleifera/chemistry* ; Male ; Mice ; Seeds/chemistry* ; Plant Leaves/chemistry* ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Memory Disorders/psychology* ; Transcriptome/drug effects* ; Memory/drug effects* ; Learning/drug effects* ; Metabolomics ; Humans ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/administration & dosage* ; Maze Learning/drug effects*

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) is the pillar for the development of motherland medicine, and animal medicine has a long history of application in China, characterized by wide resources, strong activity, definite efficacy, and great benefits. It has significant potential and important status in the consumption market of raw materials of TCM. In the context of global climate change, farming system alterations, and low renewability, the depletion of wild medicinal animal resources has accelerated. Accordingly, the conservation and sustainable utilization of wild resources of animal medicinal materials has become a problem that garners increasing attention and urgently needs to be solved. This paper summarizes the current situation of domestic and foreign medicinal animal breeding and research progress in industrial application in recent years and points out the issues related to standardized breeding, germplasm selection and breeding, and quality evaluation standards for medicinal animals. Furthermore, this paper discusses standardized breeding, quality standards, resource protection and utilization, and the search for alternative resources for rare and endangered medicinal animals. It proposes that researchers should systematically carry out in-depth basic research on animal medicine, improve the breeding scale and level of medicinal animals, employ modern technology to enhance the quality standards of medicinal materials, and strengthen the research and development of alternative resources. This approach aims to effectively address the relationship between protection and utilization and make a significant contribution to the sustainable development of medicinal animal resources and the animal-based Chinese medicinal material industry.
Animals ; Breeding ; China ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Conservation of Natural Resources

OBJECTIVE: To explore the early clinical outcomes of 3D printed individualised customised prostheses for in hip revision in patients with combined severe bone defects. METHODS: Twenty-two patients from January 2021 to May 2023 underwent hip revision using 3D printed personalised customised prostheses were retrospective analyzed, including 10 males and 12 females, age 28 to 78 with a mean of (58.9±12.8) years old. All of patients were combined with severe bone defects (Parprosky type Ⅲ). Among of them, 9 patients had periprosthetic infections and 13 patients had aseptic prosthesis loosening. All patients were treated with a 3D printed personalised prosthesis protocol, patients with the periprosthetic infection received a second stage revision after infection control. The operation time, preoperative waiting time, intraoperative and postoperative complications were recorded, and the clinical efficacy were evaluated at the final follow-up using the visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, the Harris hip score. RESULTS: One patient was lost to follow-up and the remaining 21 patients were followed up for 10 to 15 with a mean of (12.91±1.44) months after surgery. All patients completed surgery as planned, with an operative time of 135 to 390 with a mean of (165.4±39.3) minutes and a preoperative waiting time of 7 to 16 with a mean of (10.5±3.3) days. Regarding patient complications:one patient had a severe intraoperative periprosthetic femoral fracture due to the combination of severe osteoporosis; one patient had an intraoperative greater trochanteric femur fracture. At the latest follow-up, all patients had good position of the custom-made prosthesis and no loosening of the prosthesis;all patients had good wound healing and no local redness or swelling. The total Harris score at the final follow-up (85.86±7.04) was significantly improved compared to the preoperative (44.86±2.36), P<0.001. The VAS at the last follow-up (2.19±0.87) was significantly improved compared with preoperative (7.41±0.96), P<0.001. CONCLUSION The clinical efficacy of 3D-printed personalised customised prosthesis in combined severe bone defect hip revision is satisfactory, but due to the increased preoperative waiting time of the patients and certain risks, certain indications should be mastered when applying in the clinic.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Printing, Three-Dimensional ; Middle Aged ; Aged ; Adult ; Retrospective Studies ; Hip Prosthesis ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; Reoperation ; Prosthesis Design ; Treatment Outcome