Search

Traditional Chinese medicine boasts aunique theoretical system and rich practical experience. However, traditional Chinese medicine has an unclear material basis, vague pharmacological mechanism, and potential toxicity, which is the key factor to hinder its modernization and wide application. Therefore, when the physico-chemical analysis of chemical components of traditional Chinese medicine is insufficient to reflect the characteristics and mechanisms, the multi-target biological system correlation analysis in conformity to the holistic view of the basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine has gradually attracted wide attention. Specifically, bile acids, as an important endogenous metabolite in the body, play an important role in regulating digestion, absorption and metabolism of nutrients, and greatly impact the health. In recent years, a number of studies have been made on the metabolism pathway of bile acids and their important regulatory effects in body metabolism, making bile acids as a significant target of traditional Chinese medicine on the body. In view of this, based on bile acid metabolism, the paper reviewed the biological functions of bile acids in regulating body metabolism and its interaction with intestinal microbiota, providing a basis for exploring the connotation of bile acid metabolism changes under physiological/pathological conditions of the body. The study progress of bile acid metabolism in traditional Chinese medicine efficacy/toxic mechanism is further reviewed, which provides a basis for exploring the efficacy and hepatotoxicity mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine with bile acid as a biomarker, thereby laying a foundation for the clinical safety of traditional Chinese medicine.

This article summarizes the research progress in recent years on interactions between Chinese medicines and gut microbiota based on the physiological functions of gut microbiota, including imbalance impacts of toxic/irritating Chinese medicines on gut microbiota, prognosis effects of Chinese medicines on gut microbiota imbalance, metabolism effects of gut microbiota on Chinese medicine components, and co-metabolism effects between gut microbiota and host. We would think and prospect the specific biological effects of Chinese medicines, gut microbiota structures and the relations between endogenous metabolites from "gut microbiota and host co-metabolism". All of these aim to investigate biological mechanisms and effective components of Chinese medicines based on gut microbiota and offer a new strategy for promoting safe and effective application of Chinese medicines., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.)

The GC-MS method was adopted to determine the contents of β-myrcene, limonene, menthone, menthofuran, pulegone, β-caryophyllene, 1-octen-3-one and 3-octanone in volatile in Schizonepetae Herba processed by traditional processing and integration processing methods. The efficacies of Schizonepetae Herba with different processing methods were detected based on the inhibition of ear swelling induced by dimethylbenzene in mice. The rationality of the integration processing was expounded based on the comparison of chemical constituents and their pharmacological effects. The results showed that the contents of the eight chemical components in the products processed with the integrated processing method were higher than those processed with the other method. And both of the processing methods could reduce the degree of swelling and the content of TNF-α/IL-1β/IL-6 in mice serum. However, the anti-inflammatory efficacy of the products processed with the integration processing method was superior to that processed with the other method. Compared with the traditional processing method, the integration processing method ensures the quality of decoction pieces, with lower time and labor costs and higher efficiency., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.)

Objective: To study the protective effect of different solvent extracts from Platycladi Cacumen Carbonisatum (PCC) on LPS-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cell damage, and discuss the effective extracts from PCC for protecting vascular endothelial cells and their possible active substances., Method: HUVECs were cultured in vitro; And LPS was adopted to establish the human umbilical vein endothelial cell damage model. MTT colorimetric method was used to determine cell activity; Xanthine oxidase method was adopted to detect the activity of superoxide dismutases (SOD) in the cell culture fluid; The TBA method was adopted to determine the content of malondialdehyde (MDA); The nitrate reductase method was used to detect the content of nitric oxide (NO); And UPLC/Q-TOF-MS was used to analyze the difference in flavonoids components among different solvent extracts from PCC., Result: Compared with the model group, N-butanol extract (100 mg x L(-1)) and ethylacetate extract (100, 50 mg x L(-1)) could significantly enhance the cell activity (P < 0.05), significantly reduce MDA and NO content, and increase SOD activity (P < 0.05). Among the four solvent extracts, the content of total flavonids were the highest in ethyl acetate extract, the lowest in water extract and equivalent in N-butanol and petroleum benzene extract. In terms of the contents of quercitrin and myricitrin, N-butanol extract were second only to ethyl acetate extract., Conclusion: Ethylacetate extract from PCC has a notable antagonistic effect in the damage induced by LPS to HUVECs, and thus is the most effective extract from PCC in protecting vascular endothelial cells. Quercitrin, myricitrin or multiple flavonoids that it contains may be their active substances for protecting vascular endothelial cells. Its mechanism may be related to the decrease in the production of NO and the inhibition of lipid peroxidation in cells.

Objective: To discuss the effect and mechanism of Platycladi Cacumen Carbonisatum (PCC) on rats with blood heat and hemorrhage syndromes., Method: Rats were fed with 15 g x kg(-1) water decoctions of Zingiberis Rhizoma and 5% alcohol for 15 days to establish the blood-heat and hemorrhage syndrome model. Yunnan Baiyao was taken as the positive control drug, and PCC decoctions (5.0, 10.0 g x kg(-1)) were given simultaneously, in order to detect changes in general physical signs of rats, such as body weight, daily diet, volume of daily drinking and urine and stool, and rectal temperature. Automatic hematology analyzers was used to determine white blood cell (WBC), red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin (HGB), and hematocrit (HCT), blood time by docking (BT). Blood rheometers was used to detect whole blood and plasma viscosities, thrombin time (TT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT) and fibrinogen content (FIB). Indexes related to thyroid functions, such as triiodothyronine (T3), tetraiodothyronine (T4), reverse triiodothyronine (rT3) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) were measured by radio-immunoassay, and changes in lung tissues were observed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) stain., Result: After modeling, rats witnessed slow-down in weight growth rate, significant increase in daily diet, volume of daily drinking, urine and temperature, significant decrease in stools and their water content (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), rise in plasma T4 level, notable growth in T3 and rT3 concentrations (P < 0.05), decline in TSH concentration. Additionally, their WBC, RBC, HGB and HCT remarkably increased (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), with significant increase in high, middle and low whole blood viscosities and plasma viscosity (P < 0.01); their BT, TT, APTT were notably prolonged (P < 0.01), with significant increase in FIB content (P < 0.01). After oral administration of Yunnan Baiyao or PCC, rats of all groups showed significant improvement in blood heat syndromes (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), and their blood coagulation indexes including BT, TT, APTT, FIB, thyroid function indexes including T4, T3, rT3, TSH, WBC, RBC, HGB, HCT, whole blood viscosity and plasma viscosity were getting normal (P < 0.05, P < 0.01)., Conclusion: PCC can ameliorate blood heat symptoms and pathologic hemorrhage among rats with blood heat and hemorrhage syndromes by inhibiting thyroid functions and correcting hemorheological and coagulation disorders.