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Gentiana macrophylla Radix, commonly known as Qin-Jiao (QJ), was recorded alone to treat jaundice in Compendium of Materia Medica and has been frequently prescribed for treatment of liver disease in China. However, the underlying mechanism remains unknown. In the present work, QJ of 1,2 g/kg or silybin of 40 mg/kg (positive control) was orally given to rats for 7 days to verify the protective effect on acute liver damage induced by tetrachloride (CCl4). Together with serum biochemistry and histopathological examination, 1H-NMR based metabolomics work was carried out to investigate the efficacy. It turned out that QJ of 2 g/kg exerted comparable protective effect with positive control and partially recovered disturbed metabolism by CCl4. Multivariate analysis was conducted and metabolites altered significantly among groups were assigned and discussed, including betaine, glucose, lactate, creatine, and LDL/VLDL. Metabolic regulations involved in QJ or silybin treatment were as follows: tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, synthesis of LDL/VLDL, and gluconeogenesis were enhanced, while betaine metabolism, glycolysis, creatine metabolism, synthesis of ketone bodies, amino acids metabolism, and β-oxidation of fatty acids were suppressed. For the first time hepatoprotective effect of QJ on acute liver damage was revealed by 1H-NMR based metabolomics, prompting understanding of the underlying mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hulless barley planted in Tibetan area, China (also called highland barley) is well known for their high β-glucan content. This study investigated the proteomics of three highland barley cultivars differing in grain β-glucan content (high, BH; middle, BM and low, BL) to identify the proteins involved in β-glucan synthesis and accumulation and understand the mechanisms underlying the difference of β-glucan content among these cultivars. Totally 38, 167 and 177 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were detected from BH VS BM, BH VS BL and BM VS BL comparisons, respectively. These DEPs are mainly enriched in the categories related to β-glucan biosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, glucose and sucrose dissimilation. Many glycosidases and glycosyltransferases proteins involved in polysaccharide catabolism were significantly down-regulated in BH and BM cultivars in comparison with BL. The expression of some glycosidases proteins was further confirmed by Parallel Reaction Monitoring (PRM)-MS analysis. These results provide new insights into the proteins that might influence β-glucan levels in highland barley cultivars, which could be helpful for genetic improvement of β-glucan content in barley. • A proteomics approach was used to investigate the high β-glucan content of highland barley grains. • Higher β-glucan content consistent with the reduction of glycosidases and glycosyltransferases proteins. • Parallel Reaction Monitoring (PRM)-MS analysis validated the glycosidases proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we developed a sensitive and efficient analytical approach combining a 96-well plate-based protein precipitation strategy with ultra-performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) in order to assess the pharmacokinetic (PK) properties of sivelestat and its metabolite XW-IMP-A in samples of plasma from ALI/ARDS patients with SIRS. The samples were separated via gradient elution with a C18 column (Phenomenex Kinetex, C18, 2.6 μm, 100 Å, 50 × 2.1 mm) using 0.1 % formic acid aqueous solution (A) and acetonitrile-methanol (1:1, V:V) (B) as a mobile phase at a 0.6 mL/min flow rate. UPLC-MS/MS spectra were generated in positive ion mode, and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) was used to detect the following transitions: m/z 435.1 → 360.0 for sivelestat, m/z 469.0 → 394.0 for sivelestat-IS, m/z 351.0 → 276.0 for XW-IMP-A, and m/z 384.9 → 310.0 for XW-IMP-A-IS. This assay was run for 2.5 min in total, and achieved lowest limit of quantitation values of 2.0 ng/mL and 0.5 ng/mL for sivelestat and XW-IMP-A, respectively, while remaining highly linear from 2-500 ng/mL for sivelestat (r 2 ≥ 0.9900) and from 0.5-125 ng/mL for XW-IMP-A (r 2 ≥ 0.9900). These validated data were consistent with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) acceptance criteria. In addition, this method was successfully applied to the steady-state PK evaluation of ALI/ARDS patients with SIRS., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Appropriate Ethics Committee approval has been obtained for the data reported. This work has not been submitted for publication elsewhere either in print or electronically, including on a web site, nor has it been accepted for publication elsewhere or is under consideration by another journal. All of the authors listed on the title page have read and agreed to its submission to Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, have met the criteria for authorship as established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, believe that the paper represents honest work, and are able to verify the validity of the results reported. The authors declare no financial support or compensation has been received from any individual or corporate entity over the past three years for research or professional service and that there are no personal financial holdings that could be perceived as constituting a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)