OBJECTIVE To analyze the prototype components absorbed into blood and brain of Lithocarpus litseifolius leaves， so as to provide a reference for clarifying the pharmacological material basis of its prevention and treatment of central nervous system dis eases. METHODS The ethanol extract of L. litseifolius leaves， as well as the gastric lavage fluid and perfusion solution were prepared. Using rats as subjects， plasma samples of intestinal wall metabolism， intestinal flora metabolism and hepatic metabolism were prepared via in situ intestinal perfusion and closed intestinal loop method； while comprehensive metabolic plasma samples， brain tissue samples， and cerebrospinal fluid samples were collected after intragastric administration. UPLC-HRMS technology was utilized to analyze and identify chemical components and prototype components absorbed into blood and brain of L. litseifolius leaves. RESULTS A total of 66 chemical constituents were identified in L. litseifolius leaves， primarily consisting of flavonoids， organic acids， and others. A total of 16， 13， 11， and 5 prototype components were identified in intestinal wall metabolism， intestinal flora metabolism， hepatic metabolism， and comprehensive metabolic plasma samples， respectively. Additionally， 4 prototype components were detected in brain tissue and 9 in cerebrospinal fluid. Phloridzin， trilobatin， phloretin-2- O -malonyl hexoside， and phloretin were identified as common components across all sample types. CONCLUSIONS Prototype components absorbed into blood and brain of L. litseifolius leaves， such as phloridzin， trilobatin， phloretin， and other components may serve as the pharmacological material basis for their therapeutic effects on central nervous system diseases.

Objective To establish a quality evaluation method for Abri Mollis Herba based on its morphological characteristics, microscopic features, and the determination of principal component contents. Methods The morphological characteristics of Abri Mollis Herba were identified by morphological authentication methods. Microscopic techniques were employed to observe the microscopic features of both the powdered form and cross-sectional tissue of Abri Mollis Herba. Additionally, a high-performance liquid chromatography （HPLC） method was developed to establish the quantify the main components, abrine and soyasaponin Bb, in Abri Mollis Herba. Results The morphological characteristics of Abri Mollis Herba were defined by numerous long pubescence on both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaflets, with indistinct veins and vein islands. The microscopic features mainly included non-glandular hairs, prismatic crystals, and crystal-sheathed fibers in the powdered form. In the root cross-section, xylem bundles, rays, vessels, and stone cells were visible. The stem cross-section displayed rays, vessels, and a hollow pith, while the leaf cross-section revealed collateral vascular bundles, vessels, and prismatic crystals. Conclusion The quality of Abri Mollis Herba could be effectively evaluated by the combination of morphological identification, microscopic authentication, and the quantification of main components abrine and soyasaponin Bb .

Panax species are mostly valuable medicinal plants. While some species' seeds are sensitive to dehydration, the dehydration tolerance of seeds from other Panax species remains unclear. The phospholipase D(PLD) gene plays an important role in plant responses to dehydration stress. However, the characteristics of the PLD gene family and their mechanisms of response to dehydration stress in seeds of Panax species with different dehydration tolerances are not well understood. This study used seeds from eight Panax species to measure the germination rates and PLD activity after dehydration and to analyze the correlation between dehydration tolerance and seed traits. Bioinformatics analysis was also conducted to characterize the PnPLD and PvPLD gene families and to evaluate their expression patterns under dehydration stress. The dehydration tolerance of Panax seeds was ranked from high to low as follows: P. ginseng, P. zingiberensis, P. quinquefolius, P. vietnamensis var. fuscidiscus, P. japonicus var. angustifolius, P. japonicus, P. notoginseng, and P. stipuleanatus. A significant negative correlation was found between dehydration tolerance and seed shape(three-dimensional variance), with flatter seeds exhibiting stronger dehydration tolerance(r=-0.792). Eighteen and nineteen PLD members were identified in P. notoginseng and P. vietnamensis var. fuscidiscus, respectively. These members were classified into five isoforms: α, β, γ, δ, and ζ. The gene structures, subcellular localization, physicochemical properties, and other characteristics of PnPLD and PvPLD were similar. Both promoters contained regulatory elements associated with plant growth and development, hormone responses, and both abiotic and biotic stress. During dehydration, the PLD enzyme activity in P. notoginseng seeds gradually increased as the water content decreased, whereas in P. vietnamensis var. fuscidiscus, PLD activity first decreased and then increased. The expression of PLDα and PLDδ in P. notoginseng seeds initially increased and then decreased, whereas in P. vietnamensis var. fuscidiscus, the expression of PLDα and PLDδ consistently decreased. In conclusion, the dehydration tolerance of Panax seeds showed a significant negative correlation with seed shape. The dehydration tolerance in P. vietnamensis var. fuscidiscus and dehydration sensitivity of P. notoginseng seeds may be related to differences in PLD enzyme activity and the expression of PLDα and PLDδ genes. This study provided the first systematic comparison of dehydration tolerance in Panax seeds and analyzed the causes of tolerance differences and the optimal water content for long-term storage at ultra-low temperatures, thus providing a theoretical basis for the short-term and ultra-low temperature long-term storage of medicinal plant seeds with varying dehydration tolerances.
Seeds/metabolism* ; Panax/physiology* ; Plant Proteins/metabolism* ; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant ; Phospholipase D/metabolism* ; Plants, Medicinal/enzymology* ; Germination ; Multigene Family ; Water/metabolism* ; Dehydration ; Phylogeny

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) resources are an important foundation for the theory and practice of TCM. Rare and endangered TCM, as a significant component of these resources, plays an essential role. Conducting research on substitutes for rare and endangered TCM resources is of great significance for alleviating resource shortages, promoting the sustainable utilization of TCM, and advancing TCM modernization. This paper reviews the conservation achievements of rare and endangered Chinese medicinal materials in China and organizes the substitution methods for these materials. Currently, the main substitution approaches include introduction and domestication, tissue culture, varietal replacement, and artificial synthesis. Furthermore, this paper proposes the following approaches for researching the application scenarios of rare and endangered medicinal materials, i.e., tracing the historical context of their use to clarify foundational principles; verifying disease classifications to strengthen the clinical application scenarios of these materials; analyzing the evolution patterns of prescription formulations to strengthen the mining of the compatibility application scenarios of rare and endangered medicinal materials; scientifically evaluating to strengthen the application scenario research and development of endangered Chinese patent medicine industry. These efforts aim to promote the scientific substitution and sustainable utilization of rare and endangered medicinal materials and their substitutes.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry* ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; China ; Plants, Medicinal/growth & development* ; Endangered Species ; Conservation of Natural Resources ; Animals

Case 1: A 19-day-old male infant presented with poor feeding and decreased activity for 2 weeks, worsening with poor responsiveness for 3 days. At 5 days old, he developed poor feeding and poor responsiveness, was hospitalized, and was found to have elevated blood ammonia and thrombocytopenia. Whole-genome genetic analysis revealed a pathogenic homozygous mutation in the PCCA gene, NM-000282.4: c.1834-1835del (p.Arg612AspfsTer44), leading to a diagnosis of propionic acidemia. Case 2: A 4-day-old male infant presented with poor responsiveness and feeding difficulties since birth, with elevated blood ammonia for 1 day. He showed weak sucking and deteriorating responsiveness, with blood ammonia >200 µmol/L. Genetic testing identified two heterozygous mutations in the MMUT gene: NM_000255.4: c.1677-1G>A and NM_000255.4: ex.5del, confirming methylmalonic acidemia. Case 3: A 20-day-old male infant presented with poor feeding for 15 days and skin petechiae for 8 days. He developed feeding difficulties at 5 days old and lower limb petechiae at 12 days old, with blood ammonia measured at 551.6 µmol/L. Genetic analysis found two heterozygous mutations in the PCCA gene: NM_000282.4: c.1118T>A (p.Met373Lys) and NM_000282.4: ex.16-18del, confirming propionic acidemia. In the first two cases, continuous hemodiafiltration was performed for 30 hours and 20 hours, respectively, before administering carglumic acid. In the third case, carglumic acid was administered orally without continuous hemodiafiltration, resulting in a decrease in blood ammonia from 551.6 µmol/L to 72.0 µmol/L within 6 hours, with a reduction rate of approximately 20-25 µmol/(kg·h), similar to the first two cases. Carglumic acid was effective in all three cases, suggesting it may help optimize future treatment protocols for organic acidemia.
Humans ; Male ; Infant, Newborn ; Propionic Acidemia/drug therapy* ; Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors/genetics* ; Mutation ; Methylmalonyl-CoA Decarboxylase/genetics* ; Citrates/administration & dosage* ; Carbon-Carbon Ligases/genetics* ; Glutamates

OBJECTIVES: To assess the preliminary efficacy and safety of a dose-intensified C5VD regimen (cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, vincristine, and doxorubicin) in children with locally advanced hepatoblastoma. METHODS: This prospective study enrolled 24 children with newly diagnosed, locally advanced hepatoblastoma who received the dose-intensified C5VD regimen at Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and Shanghai Children's Hospital between January 2020 and December 2023. Clinical characteristics, treatment outcomes, and chemotherapy-related toxicities were analyzed. RESULTS: Of the 24 patients, 13 were male and 11 were female, with a median age at diagnosis of 18.7 months (range: 3.5-79.4 months). All patients achieved complete macroscopic resection of hepatic lesions without liver transplantation. Serum alpha-fetoprotein levels decreased significantly after two chemotherapy cycles. During a median follow-up of 38.4 months (range: 15.8-50.7 months), all patients maintained continuous complete remission, with 3-year event-free survival and overall survival rates of 100%. Across 144 chemotherapy cycles, the incidence rates of grade 3-4 neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and infections were 97%, 77%, and 71%, respectively; no treatment-related deaths occurred. Notably, 5 patients (21%) developed Brock grade ≥3 hearing loss, of whom 1 required a hearing aid. CONCLUSIONS The dose-intensified C5VD regimen demonstrates significant efficacy with an overall favorable safety profile in the treatment of newly diagnosed, locally advanced pediatric hepatoblastoma. Grade 3-4 myelosuppression and infection are the predominant toxicities. However, high‑dose cisplatin-induced ototoxicity remains a concern, highlighting the need for improved otoprotective strategies.
Humans ; Hepatoblastoma/pathology* ; Male ; Female ; Infant ; Liver Neoplasms/pathology* ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use* ; Child, Preschool ; Prospective Studies ; Doxorubicin/adverse effects* ; Child ; Cisplatin/adverse effects* ; Vincristine/adverse effects* ; Fluorouracil/adverse effects*

Metformin has been demonstrated to attenuate hyperglycaemia by modulating the gut microbiota. However, the mechanisms through which the microbiome mediates metformin monotherapy failure (MMF) are unclear. Herein, in a prospective clinical cohort study of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients treated with metformin monotherapy, metagenomic sequencing of faecal samples revealed that Phocaeicola vulgatus abundance was approximately 12 times higher in nonresponders than in responders. P. vulgatus rapidly hydrolysed taurine-conjugated bile acids, leading to ceramide accumulation and reversing the improvements in glucose intolerance conferred by metformin in high-fat diet-fed mice. Interestingly, C22:0 ceramide bound to mitochondrial fission factor to induce mitochondrial fragmentation and impair hepatic oxidative phosphorylation in P. vulgatus-colonized hyperglycaemic mice, which could be exacerbated by metformin. This work suggests that metformin may be unsuitable for P. vulgatus-rich T2DM patients and that clinicians should be aware of metformin toxicity to mitochondria. Suppressing P. vulgatus growth with cefaclor or improving mitochondrial function using adenosylcobalamin may represent simple, safe, effective therapeutic strategies for addressing MMF.

AIM:To investigate the therapeutic ef-fect of crocetin on diabetic lower limb ischemia and explore its underlying mechanism.METHODS:Male C57BL/6J mice aged 8 weeks were used to es-tablish a diabetic mouse model through intraperito-neal injection of streptozotocin(STZ).Following successful induction of diabetes,femoral artery li-gation(FAL)surgery was performed to create a model of diabetic lower limb ischemia.Fourteen days after STZ injection,the mice were treated with crocetin(3 mg/kg and 6 mg/kg)by gavage for 21 consecutive days.Post-FAL surgery,Doppler flowmetry was employed to assess blood flow in the mice of each group.Immunofluorescence stain-ing techniques were utilized to observe the expres-sion levels of platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule(CD31),α-smooth muscle actin(α-SMA),and inflammatory-related factors including tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α),interleukin-1β(IL-1β),in-terleukin-6(IL-6),and transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β)in the gastrocnemius muscle of diabetic mice with lower limb ischemia.RESULTS:Com-pared to the normal group,the model group exhib-ited significantly elevated blood glucose levels and significantly reduced lower limb blood flow(P＜0.05).While CD31 and α-SMA expression showed no significant change,the expression levels of TNF-α,IL-1β,IL-6,and TGF-β were significantly in-creased(P＜0.05,P＜0.01,P＜0.05,P＜0.05).Com-pared to the model group,crocetin-treated groups showed no significant change in blood glucose lev-els but demonstrated significantly increased lower limb blood flow(P＜0.05).The high-dose crocetin group(6 mg/kg)significantly enhanced CD31 andα-SMA expression(P＜0.0001,P＜0.05)and signifi-cantly reduced the expression levels of IL-1β,IL-6,and TGF-β(P＜0.001,P＜0.05,P＜0.05).CONCLU-SION:Crocetin may exert its beneficial effects on diabetic lower limb ischemia through anti-inflam-matory and angiogenic mechanisms.

Objective:Using methylation characteristics of human genes to construct machine learning predictive models for screening cervical cancer and precancerous lesions.Methods:Human DNA methylation detection was performed on 224 cervical exfoliated cell specimens from the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Tianjin Central Hospital of Gynecology Obstetrics, Xinmi Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Henan Province, West China Second Affiliated Hospital of Sichuan University, and Heping Hospital Affiliated to Changzhi Medical College collected during April 2014 and March 2015. The hypermethylated gene fragments related to cervical cancer were selected by high-density, high-association, and hypermethylated gene fragment screening and the LASSO regression algorithm. Taking cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 (CIN2) or more severe lesions as the research outcome, machine learning predictive models based on the random forest (RF), naive Bayes (NB), and support vector machine (SVM) algorithm, respectively, were constructed. A total of 144 outpatient specimens were used as the training set and 80 cervical exfoliated cell specimens from women participating in the cervical cancer screening program were used as the test set to verify the predictive models. Using histological diagnosis results as the gold standard, the detection efficacy for CIN2 or more severe lesions of the three machine learning predictive models were compared with that of the human papilloma virus (HPV) detection and cytological diagnosis.Results:In the training set of 144 cases, there were 34 cases of HPV positivity, with a positive rate of 23.61%. Cytologically, there were 37 cases diagnosed as no intraepithelial lesion or malignancy (NILM), and 107 cases diagnosed as atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) or above. Histologically, there were 28 cases without cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or benign cervical lesions, 31 cases of CIN1, 18 cases of CIN2, 31 cases of CIN3, and 36 cases of squamous cell carcinoma. Seven hypermethylated gene fragments were selected from 45 genes, and three machine learning prediction models based on the RF, NB, and SVM algorithm, respectively, were constructed. In the validation set of 80 cases, there were 28 cases of HPV positivity, with a positive rate of 35.00%. Cytologically, there were 65 cases diagnosed as NILM and 15 cases as ASC-US or above. Histologically, there were 39 cases without cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or benign cervical lesions, 10 cases of CIN1, 10 cases of CIN2, 11 cases of CIN3, and 10 cases of squamous cell carcinoma. In the validation set, the area under the curve (AUC) values of the RF model, NB model, SVM model, HPV detection, and cytological diagnosis of CIN2 or above were 0.90, 0.88, 0.82, 0.68, and 0.45, respectively. The DeLong test showed that there was no statistically significant difference in the AUC values between the RF, NB, and SVM models (all P＞0.05), and the AUC values of the RF and NB models were higher than that of HPV detection (both P＜0.01), and the AUC values of the RF, NB, and SVM models were higher than that of cytological diagnosis (all P＜0.01). Compared with the NB model, the sensitivity of the RF model was similar (80.65% vs. 77.42%), but the specificity of the NB model was much higher than that of the RF model (93.88% vs. 73.47%). Conclusion:Among the machine learning prediction models for cervical cancer and precancerous lesions constructed based on human DNA methylation, the NB model has good predictive performance for CIN2 and above lesions, and may be used for screening of cervical cancer and precancerous lesions.