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Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Walnut kernel, a well-known TCM, is often used after being defatted in tradition. And defatted walnut powder extract (DWPE) has the actions of tonifying the liver and kidney, dissipating stagnation and removing blood stasis, which has the effect on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, the effective components of DWPE in vivo were unclear and the multiple mechanisms of DWPE against NAFLD have not been explored., Aim of the Study: The studies were performed to screen the effective substances in vivo by identification of the metabolites of DWPE in rats and to seek the potential mechanisms of DWPE on NAFLD by construction of the network pharmacology based on metabolites and verification of the highly correlated pathway., Materials and Methods: To explore the effective substances in vivo, the metabolites of DWPE were identified in SD rats' bio-samples through UPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap MS. To analyze the mechanisms of DWPE on NAFLD, a Metabolite-Target-Disease network was established and the potential mechanisms were predicted. Then, highly correlated pathway was verified in animal and cells studies., Results: A total of 52 metabolites of DWPE were identified in vivo, which were derived from gallic acid, ellagic acid (EA) and glansreginin A (Gla A). The possible metabolic pathways were phase Ⅰ (hydroxylation, hydrolyzation, etc) and phase Ⅱ metabolic reactions (methylation, sulfation and glucuronidation). Furthermore, in the network pharmacology, 54 core targets were enriched into pathways in cancer, nitrogen metabolism and other 9 pathways, which were essential pathways of DWPE against NAFLD. And the mechanism of nitrogen metabolism was verified in both of animal and cells studies. The results showed that DWPE could decline the concentration of ammonia and increase the expressions of carbonic anhydrase 2 (CA2) and carbamoylphosphate synthetase (CPS1) in nitrogen metabolism., Conclusion: Taken together, the study revealed the absorption components and their metabolic pathways and demonstrated the mechanism of nitrogen metabolism of DWPE on anti-NAFLD., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A new compound, 3β,18,19β-trihydroxylupane, was isolated from Garcinia tetralata, along with five known compounds, garcinexanthone B, morolic acid acetate, toxyloxanthone A, 6,11-dihydroxy-2,2-dimethylpyrano[3,2-c]xanthen-7(2H)-one, and 1,4-dihydroxy-5,6-dimethoxy-xanthone. The structure of the new compound was established by extensive spectroscopic techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morning glory seed (MGS), has been widely used in treating constipation especially towards children. Clinically, people usually take fried MGS (MGSF) in formulas to reduce its side effect. However, the safety of MGSF other than MGS has yet to be explored. The study aimed to reveal the potential mechanisms of using MGSF instead of MGS basing on chemistry, pharmacodynamics and toxicology. The chemical compositions of the extracts of MGS and MGSF were compared using UPLC-Q-TOF/MS method. Simultaneously, to prove the availability and safety of MGSF, we investigated the laxative effect and subchronic toxicity of MGS and MGSF and addressed the mechanism of laxative effect of them. In this study, less phenolic acids and more fatty acids were detected in MGSF compared with the compounds in MGS. Moreover, we found that MGS group had stronger laxative effect than MGSF group via downregulating the expression of AQP3 protein. As for subchronic toxicity test, the body weights of MGS group were lower than MGSF group. In serum biochemistry and histopathological examinations, MGS group could cause more serious toxicity in liver, kidney and colon than MGSF group with higher values of BUN, Cr, AST and ALP. Based on the findings in this study, MGSF with varied compounds contents could still keep the laxative effect while retain less subchronic toxicity, which emphasized the necessity of processing and provided an insight into the rational use of MGSF in clinical practice. Image 1 • 16 compounds were identified and compared between MGS and MGSF for the first time using UPLC-Q-TOF/MS. • MGS and MGSF groups exerted laxative effects via downregulating the expressions of AQP3 protein. • MGSF had less subchronic toxicity in the liver, kidney and colon than MGS while kept laxative effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]