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Ethnopharmacological relevance Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs) are increasingly used in combination with Western medicine. Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi (Lamiaceae) is a widely used TCM in treating various diseases. However, the in vivo metabolism of its main bioactive flavonoids, baicalin, baicalein, wogonoside and wogonin, needs further study. Materials and methods A systematic method based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) technique combined with Metabolynx TM software was developed to speculate the metabolites and excretion profiles of the main flavonoids in S. baicalensis extract in rats bile, urine and feces samples after oral administration of the extract. Results Four parent components and a total of 15 metabolites were tentatively detected in vivo . All metabolites were detected including sulfate and glucuronide conjugates, hydroxylated, methylated, acetylated and deoxygenated products. Twelve metabolites were from the rat urine, five from the feces and two from the bile. Among them, several products were reported firstly. Conclusion The research provided useful information for further study of the pharmacology and mechanism of action of S. baicalensis extract in vivo and a proposed method which could develop an integrated template approach to analyze screening and identification of biological samples after oral administration of TCMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnopharmacological relevance The flower of Abelmoschus manihot (Linn.) Medicus ( A. manihot), as a traditional Chinese Herbal medicine, was used widely in China with efficacy of inducing diuresis for treating strangurtia, and subdhing swelling and detoxicating. It has been reported that Huangkui capsule, prepared by the extract of the flower of A. manihot , can reduce the content of urinary protein, serum creatinine and serum urea nitrogen in nephropathy rats and processes renoprotective activity, while the action mechanism need to illuminate deeply. Aims of the study In this study, we investigated the protection effect of Huangkui capsule on tubulointerstitial fibrosis in chronic renal failure (CRF) rats and its mechanism against high glucose-induced epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in renal tubular epithelial cells (HK-2) of its bioactive components. Materials and methods The animals were divided into normal group, CRF model group and Huangkui capsule-treated group. Hematoxylin eosin (HE) staining and Masson staining were applied to observe pathological changes in renal tissue of different groups. Biochemical indicators including serum urea nitrogen (BUN), urine protein (UP) and serum creatinine (Scr) were measured according to the manufacturer's instructions of kits. HK-2 cell damaged model was established to access the protection effect and action mechanism of five main flavonoids from Huangkui capsule. The experimental cells were divided into eight groups: control group, model group, positive drug group and five main flavonoids treated groups. The dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) assay was used to determine the reactive oxygen species (ROS) in different groups. Western blot was applied to analyze the expression of pathogenesis-related proteins in different groups. Results The results stated that Huangkui capsule significantly inhibited the elevation of Scr, BUN, UP, the expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), phosphorylation-extracellular signal-regulated kinase (p-ERK1/2), NADPH Oxidase 1, NADPH Oxidase 2 and NADPH Oxidase 4 in adenine-induced CRF rats. The main bioactive components of quercetin (QT), hyperoside (HY), isoquercitrin (IQT), gossypetin-8- O - β -D-glucuronide (GG) and quercetin-3′- O -glucoside (QG) at the dosage of 100 µM, like NADPH oxidase inhibitor diphenyleneiodonium, exhibited a significant effect on inhibiting the expression of α-SMA, p-ERK1/2, NADPH Oxidase 1, NADPH Oxidase 2 and NADPH Oxidase 4 in high glucose-induced HK-2 cells, especially GG. Conclusions These results demonstrated that Huangkui capsule and the flavonoids components prevent tubulointerstitial fibrosis in CRF rat involvement in the action mechanism of inhibiting NADPH oxidase/ROS/ERK pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel and generally applicable approach was established to hierarchically identify the bioactive components of a medicinal herb by preparative high-performance liquid chromatography (prep-HPLC) and a selective knock-out strategy. In this study, the targeted components of an herbal medicine were separated and knocked out using prep-HPLC. Subsequently, the contributions of the different target components to the overall effect of the medicinal herb were comparatively evaluated and differentiated by a heat map and a 3D score plot. This approach was successfully applied to investigate the bioactive constituents of safflower. The contributions of 11 components to the overall effect of safflower were as follows: anhydrosafflor yellow B ( 10) > 6-hydroxykaempferol 3,6-di- O - β - d -glucoside ( 8 ) > hydroxysafflor yellow A ( 3 ) > kaempferol 3- O - β -rutinoside ( 11 ) > 6-hydroxykaempferol 3- O - β -rutinoside ( 9 ) > 6-hydroxykaempferol 3,6-di- O - β - d -glucoside-7- O - β - d -glucuronide ( 4 ) > 6-hydroxyapigenin 6- O - β - d -glucoside-7- O - β - d -glucuronide ( 6 ) > cytidine ( 1 ) > 6-hydroxykaempferol 3- O - β -rutinoside-6- O - β - d -glucoside ( 7 ) > 6-hydroxykaempferol 3,6,7-tri- O - β - d -glucoside ( 5 ) > adenosine ( 2 ). These results demonstrate that quinochalcone C -glycosides ( 3 and 10 ) and some flavonoid glycosides containing C7-OH (such as 8 , 9 and 11 ) made a greater contribution to the overall effect of safflower than the other components that were knocked out. The results provided an important reference for improving quality control and further development of safflower products. And this approach should also be useful for investigating the bioactive constituents of other medicinal herbs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buddleoside (also known as linarin) as the major flavonoid in Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat., has been reported to possess a wide range of pharmacological activities. The human intestinal microbiota might have an important impact on drug metabolism and ultimately on the drug oral bioavailability. However, the interaction of the buddleoside with human intestinal bacteria remains unknown. In this study, the conversion of buddleoside by different bacteria from human feces was firstly investigated. A reliable, sensitive and rapid analytical method, ultra performance liquid chromatography was established and successfully applied to investigate the metabolites and metabolic profile of buddleoside by human intestinal bacteria. Among the isolated bacteria, four strains including Escherichia sp. 4, Escherichia sp. 34, Enterococcus sp. 45 and Bacillus sp. 46 showed more powerful conversion capability. Based on the accurate mass data and the characteristic MS n product ions, the parent and six metabolites were detected and tentatively identified compared with blank samples. The metabolites were produced by four main metabolic pathways including deglycosylation, acetylation, methylation and hydroxylation. Buddleoside could be firstly converted to its aglycon acacetin (M2) by the majority of the isolated intestinal bacteria. Subsequently, M2 was further metabolize to its methylated (M3), acetylated (M4), hydroxylated (M5) and hydrogenated product (M6). However, acacetin-7-glucosid (M1) was obtained only from the minor bacterial samples like Bacillus sp. 46. To further explain the metabolism of buddleoside, the β- d -glucosidase and α- l -rhamnosidase activities of four strains were analyzed. Bacillus sp. 46 could only produce α- l -rhamnosidase, while the other three strains showed two kinds of enzyme activities. Furthermore, the activities of α- l -rhamnosidase and β- d -glucosidase reached the highest level at 12–18 h and 10–12 h, respectively. The metabolic routes and metabolites of buddleoside produced by human intestinal microflora were firstly reported in this paper. The results will be very helpful for the further investigation of the pharmacokinetic research of buddleoside and to unravel how it works in vivo . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Ethnopharmacological relevance:: Abelmoschus manihot (L.) Medik. var. manihot is one of the most commonly used Chinese medicines and has played an important role in treating chronic glomerulonephritis and diabetic nephropathy. Aim of the study:: Metabolites identification of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a complex and time-consuming process due to the complicity of TCM and subsequent large number of detected ions. In this paper, UPLC–MS combined with pattern recognition analysis approach were used to simplify and quicken the identification of the metabolites of Abelmoschus Manihot. Materials and methods:: Rat urine samples were collected before (as control sample) and after Abelmoschus Manihot administration. Pattern recognition analysis method was used to differentiate components between Abelmoschus Manihot-treated group and its controlled comparison. These components could be considered as Abelmoschus Manihot-related metabolites in vivo. Results:: LC–MS based metabolomics could be an advanced tool to help us find metabolites with regards to its capacity of processing large datasets, differentiating and classifying of sample groups, as well as its indiscriminative nature of biomarker and metabolite identification. Using this method, seven metabolites were identified, which are flavonoid aglycone glucuronidation, sulfatation, and methylation metabolites. Conclusion:: Our results showed that UPLC–MS based- pattern recognition analysis approach can be used to quickly identify Abelmoschus Manihot related metabolites in biological fluids. Furthermore, this work demonstrates the potential application of combining the UPLC–MS approach with the metabolomics approach in identifying the metabolites of TCM. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The root of Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus is one of the most popular herbal medicines worldwide. In order to increase the yield of underground roots of A.membranaceus var. mongholicus, its flowers (AMF) have often been removed in their flowering stage, which produces the flowers as waste being discarded. To explore its phytochemicals and potential value for utilization, the antioxidant activities of extracts from AMF were evaluated by a free radical scavenging assay and reducing power assay. The total phenols and flavonoids, as well as the individual compounds, in different extracts of AMF were also investigated. The results showed that the extract ME obtained from AMF through macroporous resins separation exhibited strong antioxidant activities, which were close to those of positive control BHT. ME was rich in phenolic acids and flavonoids, and the contents reached 108.42 mg gallic acid equivalents/g and 265.70 mg rutin equivalents/g, respectively. A total of 31 compounds, including four phenolic acids, nineteen flavonoids, three isoflavones, two pterocarpans, and three saponins, were identified using UPLC-QTOF-MS in ME. Quantitative analysis of sixteen components in the extracts of AMF showed that flavonoids were the predominant constituents, especially for the compounds of hyperoside, rutin, and isorhamnetin-3-O-β-d-glucoside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]