Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is the most prevalent chronic liver disease worldwide with complex pathogenesis and no approved specific therapy. Siraitia grosvenorii is a widely used medicinal and edible herb, yet its efficacy and underlying mechanisms against MAFLD remain poorly defined. This study explored the protective effects and potential mechanisms of aqueous extract of Siraitia grosvenorii (AESG) on MAFLD. Based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-linear trap quadrupole orbitrap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap-MS) analysis, 38 components in AESG were tentatively assigned, with tetracyclic triterpene saponins being the most abundant. In high-fat diet (HFD)-induced MAFLD mice, AESG significantly attenuated body weight gain, reduced plasma total cholesterol (T-CHO) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels, and dramatically decreased hepatic triglyceride (TG) accumulation from 0.0141 mmol/g in the model group to 0.0063 mmol/g in the low-dose AESG group, corresponding to a reduction of 55.00%. AESG also alleviated plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities, and improved hepatocyte steatosis. Furthermore, AESG restored HFD-induced gut dysbiosis by enriching beneficial bacteria including Akkermansia and suppressing harmful bacteria such as Ruminococcus. In free fatty acids (FFA) stimulated HepG2 cells, AESG suppressed de novo lipogenesis via downregulating Fatty Acid Synthase (FASN), Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase (ACC) and Sterol Regulatory Element-Binding Protein 1c (SREBP1c), and enhanced antioxidant capacity via activating the Nuclear Factor Erythroid 2-Related Factor 2 (Nrf2)/Heme Oxygenase 1 (HO-1)/Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) pathway, thereby attenuating lipid accumulation and oxidative stress. In conclusion, AESG ameliorates MAFLD by inhibiting lipogenesis, improving oxidative stress, and regulating gut microbiota. These findings support Siraitia grosvenorii as a promising natural dietary intervention for MAFLD prevention and adjuvant therapy.

Scutellariae Radix comprises two specifications: Zi Qin (ZQ) and Ku Qin (KQ). Traditionally, ZQ preferentially clears large intestine heat, whereas KQ targets lung and stomach heat. Both function as ministerial components in Da-Chai-Hu-Tang (DCHT) for intestinal and inflammatory diseases, but pharmacological differences remain unclear. Using a rat model of large intestine damp-heat syndrome, this study compared the effects of ZQ, KQ, and their DCHT combinations (ZQ-DCHT, KQ-DCHT). Treatments significantly reduced body temperature, normalized thymus and spleen index (p < 0.05), and alleviated ileum and colon pathology. Levels of interleukin-1β, interleukin-2, interleukin-6, interleukin-10, and secretory immunoglobulin A were reduced significantly (p < 0.05), with ZQ/ZQ-DCHT exhibiting greater efficacy than KQ/KQ-DCHT at equivalent doses. This correlated with ZQ's higher baicalin (17.76% vs. 14.64%) and lower wogonin (0.21% vs. 0.35%) than KQ. Network pharmacology analysis suggested components might act through the Janus kinase 2/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (JAK2/STAT3) pathway. All treatments suppressed colonic phosphorylated STAT3 (p-STAT3) expression, with ZQ/ZQ-DCHT demonstrating higher inhibition than KQ/KQ-DCHT (excluding low-dose groups). These results indicated enhanced effects of ZQ/ZQ-DCHT in reducing immune-inflammatory markers. The efficacy might be attributed to baicalin, which modulated the colonic immune response by inhibiting p-STAT3 expression, leading to alleviation of inflammatory reactions.

Although the co-occurrences of isomeric chalcones and dihydroflavones widely appear in medicinal plants, the differentiation of such isomerism seldom succeeds using MS/MS, attributing to totally identical MS/MS spectra. Here, efforts were paid to pursue an eligible tool allowing to address the technical challenge. Being inspired by that one more proton signal is observed in 1H NMR spectrum of isoliquiritigenin than liquiritigenin when employing DMSO‑d6 as solvent, hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX)-MS/MS was evaluated towards differentiating isomeric chalcones and dihydroflavones through replacing H2O with D2O to prepare the mobile phase. As a result, differences were observed for either MS1 or MS2 spectrum when comparing two pairs of isomers, such as liquiritigenin vs. isoliquiritigenin and liquiritin vs. isoliquiritin, because the isomeric precursor and fragment ion species owned different amounts of hydroxyl protons and those reactive protons could be partially or completely substituted by deuterium protons at the exposure in D2O to result in n × 1.006 mass increments. Moreover, utmost four hydrogen/deuterium exchanges occurred for a single glucosyl moiety. Thereafter, HDX-MS/MS was applied to characterize the flavonoids of Snow chrysanthemum, a precious edible herbal medicine that is rich in isomeric chalcones and dihydroflavones. Through paying special attention to the deuterium labeling styles of (de)protonated molecules as well as those featured fragment ions, five pairs of isomeric chalcones and dihydroflavones were confirmatively differentiated, in addition to that 28 flavonoids were structurally annotated by applying those well-defined mass fragmentation rules. Hence, this study offered an in-depth insight towards the flavonoids-focused characterization of Snow chrysanthemum, and more importantly, HDX-MS/MS is a superior tool to differentiate, but not limited to, isomeric chalcones and dihydroflavones.

Eleven undescribed isoquinoline analogues, namely edulisines A-K, along with sixteen known alkaloids, were isolated from the whole plants of Corydalis edulis. The structures of the isolated alkaloids were established on the basis of extensive spectroscopic data (1D and 2D NMR, UV, IR, and HRESIMS). Their absolute configurations were determined by single-crystal X-ray crystallographic analysis and ECD. Compounds (+)-1 and (-)-1 are a pair of undescribed isoquinoline alkaloids bearing a unique coupled pattern of coptisine and ferulic acid via Diels-Alder [4 + 2] cycloaddition, while compounds (+)-2 and (-)-2 feature benzo [1,2-d:3,4-d]bis [1,3]dioxole moiety. Compounds (+)-2, (-)-2, (-)-5, 10, 13, 15, 20, 22, and 23 significantly triggered the secretion of insulin in the HIT-T15 cells at a concentration of 40 mu M.

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Synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, and osteitis (SAPHO) syndrome is a rare chronic inflammatory disease. The main clinical manifestation of SAPHO syndrome is an osteoarthropathy with cutaneous involvement. Relapsing polychondritis (RP) characterized by chronic inflammation and cartilage degeneration is a rare systematic autoimmune disease. Here we report a RP case in a SAPHO syndrome patient, in which auricularitis happened 10 years after the diagnosed as SAPHO syndrome. Tofacitinib treatment can alleviate the symptoms.

Background: Malignant melanoma has high morbidity and mortality and limited treatment options. Traditional Chinese medicine has great potential in the clinical therapy of cancer, and the theory of compatibility is one core content of Chinese medical theory. Astragalus Membranaceus and Radix Trichosanthis are clinically effective for the treatment of various cancers.Methods: We verified the effects of AMD, RTD, and their "cocktail" on melanoma model in vitro and in vivo and the mechanism of its effect on the Akt-related signaling pathway by network pharmacology, MTT, flow cytometry, LDH, SOD, MDA assay, and Western blot.Results: The network pharmacology analysis indicated that the PI3K-Akt pathway plays a crucial role in the treatment of malignant melanoma with these two herbs. In addition, AMD, RTD, and their "cocktail" could inhibit the proliferation of A375 cells by reducing the survival rate in a concentration-dependent manner and by regulating the cell cycle, and the compatibility of two herbs also could inhibit melanoma growth. They could, respectively, induce apoptosis and inhibit migration by affecting the expression of Bcl-2, Bax, p53, snail, E-cadherin, and N-cadherin. Furthermore, LDH activity was decreased, while SOD increased and MDA reduced. The factors of the Akt-related signaling pathway, Akt and p-Akt, were decreased.Conclusion: This study showed that AMD, RTD, and their "cocktail" could regulate cell proliferation, apoptosis, and metastasis in A375 cells through the suppression of the Akt-related signaling pathway, and the "cocktail" groups had detoxification and additive effects. The best compatibility of the two herbs also can inhibit tumor growth and metastasis in vivo.

Cistanche deserticola has been historically used in traditional Chinese medicine for supplementing kidney (yang) function, benefiting blood and essence, and moistening intestines in order to pass stool. Its host, Haloxylon ammodendron, is an important pioneer plant used for windbreaks and sand dune fixation, which are strategies used for the control desertification. For a long time, it has been considered that C. deserticola can only parasitize H. ammodendron. In this study, morphological identification, gene barcoding identification and inoculation experiment were carried out, we finally found that C. deserticola can also parasitize Atriplex canescens. A. canescens is a species of Chenopodiaceae with a wide range of adaptability. Compared with H. ammodendron, it has more biomass and a wider range of ecological adaptability, making it more suitable for the industrial production of C. deserticola. In addition, we also found that the concentration of active components was higher in C. deserticola parasitized on A. canescens than in those parasitized on H. ammodendron; this finding further suggests that the application of C. deserticola on a larger scale warrants further exploration.

Ten phenylpropanoid amides were isolated from the whole plants of Corydalis edulis Maxim. by various of column chromatographies including silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, and ODS. Their structures were identified on the basis of physicochemical properties, MS, NMR, and IR spectroscopic data. These compounds were identified as N-trans-sinapoyl-3-methoxytyramine-4'-O-β-glucoside(1), N-trans-sinapoyl-3-methoxytyramine(2), N-trans-sinapoyltyramine(3), N-trans-p-coumaroyltyramine(4), N-trans-sinapoyl-7-hydroxytyramine(5), N-cis-feruloyltyramine(6), N-cis-p-coumaroyltyramine(7), N-trans-feruloyltyramine(8), N-trans-feruloyl-3-methoxytyramine(9), and N-trans-feruloyl-7-hydroxytyramine(10). Compound 1 is a new compound. Compounds 2-7 are obtained from the plants of Papaveraceae for the first time, while compounds 8-10 are firstly isolated from C. edulis.

Steroids, especially bile acids, along with eicosanoids and porphyrins in feces play pivotal roles for the clinical diagnosis of various diseases. However, their reliable measurement is extensively obstructed by poor stability, structural diversity, broad content ranges, and tedious sample preparation protocols that account for a majority of the measurement errors. In current study, in-depth component screening was initially carried out by flexibly integrating diverse modes, such as predefined multiple reaction monitoring, stepped multiple ion monitoring, neutral loss scan, and precursor ion scan on a hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometer, which also provided MS(2) spectra via enhanced product ion experiments. Meanwhile, a hybrid ion trap-time of flight mass spectrometer served as a complementary tool by providing accurate mass spectral information. Afterwards, because authentic compounds were unavailable for most analytes, an online optimization strategy was then proposed to optimize parameters, including precursor-to-product ion transitions and spectrometric parameters, notably collision energy. Finally, direct analysis of all detected components in feces was carried out by employing a platform integrating online pressurized liquid extraction, turbulent flow chromatography, and LC-MS/MS, and applying those optimized parameters. Seventy-one compounds, including 52 steroids and 13 eicosanoids, together with 6 porphyrins, were found and annotated in a fecal pool, and then relatively quantified in various fecal matrices. The quantitative dataset was subjected for multivariate statistical analysis and significant differences were observed among the quantitative chemome profiles of the fecal matrices from different groups. The findings obtained in the two parts demonstrated that the analytical platform in combination with the work-flow is qualified for not only directly simultaneous measurement of diverse endogenous substances, but widely targeted metabolomics of fecal matrices.

Incompatibility between the conventional pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) devices and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) extensively hinders direct and green chemical analysis of herbal materials. Herein, a facile PLE module was configured, and then it was online hyphenated with HPLC via a turbulent flow chromatography (TFC) column. Regarding PLE module, a long PEEK tube (0.13 × 1000 mm) was employed to generate desired pressure (approximately 13.0 MPa) when warm acidic water (70 °C) was delivered as extraction solvent at a high flow rate (2.5 mL/min), and a hollow guard column (3.0 × 4.0 mm) was implemented to hold crude materials. Effluent was collected from the outlet of PEEK tube, concentrated, and subjected onto HPLC coupled with hybrid ion trap-time of flight mass spectrometer to assess the extraction efficiency and also to profile the chemical composition of Cistanche deserticola (CD) that is honored as "Ginseng of the desert". Afterwards, a TFC column was introduced to accomplish online transmission of low molecule weight components from PLE module to HPLC coupled with diode array detection, and two electronic 6-port/2-channel valves were in charge of alternating the whole system between extraction (0-3.0 min) and elution (3.0-35.0 min) phases. Quantitative method was developed and validated for simultaneous determination of eight primary phenylethanoid glycosides in CD using online PLE-TFC-HPLC. All findings demonstrated that the home-made platform is advantageous at direct chemical analysis, as well as time-, solvent-, and material-savings, suggesting a robust tool for chemical fingerprinting of herbs.

Direct analysis is of great importance to understand the real chemical profile of a given sample, notably biological materials, because either chemical degradation or diverse errors and uncertainties might be resulted from sophisticated protocols. In comparison with biofluids, it is still challenging for direct analysis of solid biological samples using high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Herein, a new analytical platform was configured by online hyphenating pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), turbulent flow chromatography (TFC), and LC-MS/MS. A facile, but robust PLE module was constructed based on the phenomenon that noticeable back-pressure can be generated during rapid fluid passing through a narrow tube. TFC column that is advantageous at extracting low molecular analytes from rushing fluid was employed to link at the outlet of the PLE module to capture constituents-of-interest. An electronic 6-port/2-position valve was introduced between TFC column and LC-MS/MS to fragment each measurement into extraction and elution phases, whereas LC-MS/MS took the charge of analyte separation and monitoring. As a proof of concept, simultaneous determination of 24 endogenous substances including eighteen steroids, five eicosanoids, and one porphyrin in feces was carried out in this paper. Method validation assays demonstrated the analytical platform to be qualified for directly simultaneous measurement of diverse endogenous analytes in fecal matrices. Application of this integrated platform on homolog-focused profiling of feces is discussed in a companion paper. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Wild or cultivated Glycyrrhiza uralensis FISCHER (G. uralensis) are the main source of licorice, and they contain the similar compounds, such as the triterpenoid saponins and flavonoids, but above two kinds of the components contents are low level in the cultivated licorice. To produce the high quality cultivated licorices, researchers studied the affecting factors about the compounds producing in the plant of licorice, and then found that the growth years, genetic differences and water deficit are all the important factors. In this paper, we found that there were different distribution patterns of the main five active components (FAC) including glycyrrhizin, liquiritin, isoliquiritin, liquiritigenin and isoliquiritigenin in the taproot and stolon of G. uralensis and maybe they are also important influence factors to the FAC contents of the licorices. In wild G. uralensis, the contents of FAC tended to be lower in the younger parts of the stolon, and in the cultivated G. uralensis taproot, the contents of glycyrrhizin, liquiritin and isoliquiritin tended to increase from top to end, contrary to the contents of liquiritigenin and isoliquiritigenin, which increased first and then decreased. Our results will contribute to the analyses of factors which influence the quality of licorice, and provide some reference for cultivating high quality licorices for herbal medicine.

There are about 100 species in the genus Coreopsis which distributed in the America, south of Africa and Hawaiian Islands, and 7 species are distributed in China. The inflorescences of Coreopsis tinctoria Nutt. is the Uigur herb 'Snow chrysanthemum' which is named 'Shemuju' with the effects of heat-cleaning, detoxicating, dampness-dissipating and dysentery-curing in the Xinhua Herbal Scheme. The chemical constituents from Coreopsis plants mainly contain flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, sesquiterpenes, and sterols, which show anti-inflammatory activities in modern pharmaceutical research. This article presents an overview of the chemical constituents and pharmaceutical activities, prospects of development and exploitation of Coreopsis plants, hopefully to provide a basis for further research and development of Coreopsis plants.

OBJECTIVE:To establish a method for identifying Panax ginseng and P. quinquefolius with PCR-SSCP, on the basis of specific SNP identification sites of their ITS2 bar codes.METHOD:ITS2 sequences of P. ginseng and P. quinquefolius recorded in GenBank were searched to conduct a comparative analysis and screen out specific SNP identification sites of their ITS2 bar codes. Based on that, the Polymerase Chain Reaction-Single Strand Conformation Polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) method was adopted for analyzing 11 P. ginseng samples and 10 P. quinquefolius samples and verifying sequencing of their PCR products.RESULT:The P. ginseng and P. quinquefolius samples had the same agarose mages of PCR-SSCP with the standard medicines. There were significant differences between the PCR-SSCP agarose mages of P. ginseng and P. quinquefolius, with identifical identification results between PCR-SSCP and sequencing.CONCLUSION:Compared with the sequencing method, PCR-SSCP is so rapid and accurate that it can be used for identifying P. ginseng and P. quinquefolius medicines.

OBJECTIVE:To study the chemical constituents of the inflorescences of Coreopsis tinctoria and provide the chemical basis for development and utilization of this plant.METHOD:Various chromatographic techniques were employed for the isolation and purification of the constituents including silica gel, Sephadex LH-20 and pre-HPLC. The structures of compounds were elucidated by chemical and spectral analysis (NMR, IR, UV and MS).RESULT:Eight compounds have been isolated from the inflorescences of C. tinctoria, including three organic acids which are 3,4-dihydroxybenzoicacid (1), 4-hydroxybenzoicacid (2) and caffeic acid (3), one organic ester which is 4-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-p-coumaric acid methyl ester (4), two flavonones which are 2S-3',5',7-trihydroxyflavanone (5) and (2R,3R)-3,4',5,7-tetrahydroxylflavanone (6), two sterols which are stigmasterol-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (7) and beta-sitosterol (8).CONCLUSION:Compounds 1-7 were isolated from genus Coreopsis for the first time and compound 8 was isolated first from C. tinctoria.

Objective:Prepare and assay the third batch of national reference standard of menotropins.Method:Assay the biological potency of Menotropins in terms of ovary and seminal vesicle weight of impuberism rat,as well as regarded the fourth human FSH,LH as standard.Result:The biological potency of the third batch of national menotropins standard was 190IU/ampoule(FSH)and 242IU/ampoule(LH).Conclusion:The preparation of the third batch of national menotropins standard has been substituted the second batch of national menopause menotropins standard successfully and in use.

In this article,the interactions between hirudin and thrombin,and that between heparin and thrombin were investigated by using capillary electrophoresis.The binding constant between hirudin and thrombin was calculated to be 7.85×105 L/mol.A capillary zone electrophoretic method was applied to determine the interactions between natural products and thrombin.The samples containing the natural extractions and thrombin at various ratios were incubated at 25 ℃ and then were separated by CZE with Tris-acetate buffer at pH=7.2.Each run could be accomplished within 10 min.The experimental results show that the reported method by capillary zone electrophoresis for the determination of the interactions between natural products and thrombin is powerful,sensitive and fast,requires less amounts of reagents,and further,it can be employed as a reliable alternative to other methods.

To prepared and determine the 9th national standard of Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin(HCG).Determine the 9th national standard of HCG by young female mice uterus weight assay,which regarded the 4th the international standard of HCG(NIBSC Code:75/589).The potencies of the 9th national standard of HCG was 60 units per ampoule,which was combinative calculated 18 results from 4 laboratories.The 9th national standard of HCG was established successfully,whose lot was 150513-200409,and was distributed in June 2007.