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Blaps rynchopetera Fairmaire has a long history of use as a folk medicine in China for treating fever, cough, gastritis, boils, and tumors. In the present study, the content analyses, monosaccharide composition analyses, and the macrophage phagocytic activity of rynchopetera polysaccharides (RPS) were reported. B. rhynchoptera is rich in polysaccharides (content value 3.97%). Through PMP (1-phenyl-3-methyl-5-pyrazolone) pre-column derivatization and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) testing, the results showed that RPS consist of 8 known monosaccharides, including D-mannose (Man), Rhamnose (Rha), D-glucuronic acid (GlcUA), D-galacturonic acid (GalUA), D-glucose (Glc), D-galactose (Gal), Arabinose (Ara), and Fucose (Fuc), with the total content of 171.70 mg g−1 and Glc has the highest content of 45.40 mg g−1. The phagocytic ability of mouse peritoneal macrophages was investigated after RPS stimulating alone and combined with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). RPS played an important role in the engulfment of mouse peritoneal macrophages and can significantly enhance the phagocytic ability of macrophages. However, no synergistic effects were observed when RPS combined with LPS.

The aim of this research was to quantitatively and comprehensively explore the therapeutic effects and mechanism of action of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulas, using Periplaneta americana as a monarch drug, against damp-heat ulcerative colitis (UC) in rats, by the application of multivariate statistical analysis. A high-sugar and high-fat diet was fed to Sprague Dawley (SD) male rats to develop the damp-heat physique. Trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) was then used on the damp-heat rats to induce UC. P. americana (P), Taraxacum mongolicum (T), and Poria cocos (F) have been in combination or individually adopted as ingredients in different TCM pharmaceutics to attenuate damp-heat physiques and/or to treat UC, because P. americana could promote blood circulation, nourish yin, and promote tissue regeneration, T. mongolicum has the effects on clearing heat and toxic materials, reduce swelling, and diuresis, while P. cocos possesses the function of clearing damp and promoting diuresis. Since these natural ingredients of TCM demonstrated overlapped effects against damp-heat UC, it calls the need to further illustrate the therapeutic effect and mechanism of action of P. americana as the monarch drug by comparing the effects of formulas of PT, PF, TF, and PTF. Each formula was administered by gastric lavage to four groups of randomly assigned laboratory animals for 14 consecutive days, while normal saline was given to the normal control and model control groups respectively. The damp-heat and UC indices, bio-marker levels in serum, and colonic mucosa were measured periodically, or the day after the last administration. The results of canonical correlation analysis and repeated-measures analysis of variance suggested that the therapeutic effects of formulas containing P. americana and T. mongolicum were better than those of the other formulas. The results of correspondence analysis suggested that the curative effects against damp-heat UC might be activated by reducing the expression of Interleukin-2 (IL-2) and increasing the level of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β). The organically combined use of multiple multivariate statistical methods allowed comprehensive evaluation of the therapeutic effects of TCM formulas against chronic diseases with complex pathogenic factors.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease. Wasp venom (WV), which is considered as a traditional folk medicine in Jingpo nationality in Yunnan, China, relieves rheumatoid arthritis. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of wasp venom ameliorating rheumatoid arthritis symptoms in experimental rats. We established a model of type II collagen- (CII-) induced arthritis (CIA) in SD rats and examined the inhibition of inflammation and autoimmune response. The antiarthritic effects of WV were evaluated through the paw swelling, and histopathological score and histopathology changes of the affected paw were assessed. The anti-inflammation effects were assayed by the level of IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, and the number of inflammatory cells in peripheral blood. The alteration of the T cell subset ratio in the spleen of rats was detected by flow cytometry, and at the same time, the viscera index and immune serum globulin levels were evaluated. The results suggested that various doses of WV (0.125, 0.25, and 0.5 mg/kg) significantly alleviated paw swelling and arthritis score in CIA rats with the untreated control (P<0.05). WV (0.25 and 0.5 mg/kg) relieved synovial tissue lesions of ankle joints and histopathology scores of synoviocyte hyperplasia and inflammatory cell infiltration with vehicle group (P<0.05). Regarding immunological regulation, 0.5 mg/kg WV lowered the immune serum globulin levels (P<0.05), and we further found that WV (0.5 mg/kg) suppressed the immune response of Th cells, while enhancing the functions of Tc cells and Treg cells in spleen cells markedly (P<0.05). The immunosuppressive action of WV displayed was analogous to its inhibitory effect on IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-8, IL-6, COX-2, and PGE2 levels in rat serum. In conclusion, these findings demonstrated that WV exhibited antiarthritic activity, which might be associated with their inhibitory effects on immunoregulation and anti-inflammatory action.