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Codonopsis Radix, a popular food homology medicine, is widely used in clinical traditional Chinese medicine and food supplement, raw products and three types of processed products are the main forms of decoction pieces in China. However, there is no scientific basis for comprehensive chemical characterization of raw and three types of processed products. Herein, we investigated qualitatively and quantificationally secondary and primary metabolites in raw Codonopsis Radix and three types of processed products by metabolomics and glycomics employing multiple chromatography-mass spectrometry technology combined with chemometric analysis further to look for differential compounds and propose the processing-induced chemical mechanisms. The results indicated that Codonopsis Radix became dark-colored and the smell of burnt incense odor was observed after processing. The principal component analysis demonstrated that secondary metabolome and glycome were significantly altered between raw and processed products, and 36 differential secondary metabolites and 11 differential primary metabolites were finally screened through orthogonal partial least-squares-discriminant analysis. The main types of compounds are alkaloids, terpenoids, glycosides, amino acids, monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, and furfural derivatives. Meanwhile, Chemical mechanisms could be involved, including oxidation, glycosidic hydrolysis, esterification, dehydration, and Maillard reaction. This work supplies a chemical basis for the application of various types of Codonopsis Radix decoction pieces.

Objective “Same treatment for different diseases” is a unique treatment strategy under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory. Codonopsis Radix (Codonopsis pilosula, Dangshen in Chinese) with spleen-fortifying effect was employed to understand the strategy of “Same treatment for different diseases”, based on its common mechanism in the treatment of gastric diseases including gastric ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer via network pharmacology research. Methods Network pharmacology research methods were used to analyze the interaction network and potential mechanisms of Dangshen in treating gastric ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer. The active components and their target proteins of Dangshen were integrated from TCMSP, BATMAN-TCM databases. The targets of gastric ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer were collected through GeneCards, PubMed, TDD and DisGeNET Database. Through screening, the key components and the key targets of Dangshen in treating gastric ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer were obtained. After KEGG pathway analysis and GO analysis, the important pathways and biological processes were analyzed. Results Through data and literature mining, the common and specific pharmaceutical effects and mechanism of Dangshen were summarized in these three gastric lesions. It was shown that Dangshen mainly acted on gastric ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer through the overall regulation of the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway. With the development of the disease, it will gradually increase the control of inflammation through TNF, NF-κB and other inflammation-related signaling pathways to reduce inflammatory damage. For tumorigenesis, it pays more attention to inhibiting the ErbB signaling pathways to reduce the proliferation and migration of tumor cells. In addition, Dangshen's regulation of HIF-1 signaling pathway may also be beneficial for the treatment of gastric ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer. Conclusion Dangshen achieves spleen-fortifying effect on gastric diseases including gastric ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer through multiple targets in multiple pathways, especially PI3K-AKT pathway and HIF-1 pathway. It could provide a scientific basis for understanding the strategy of “Same treatment for different diseases” in traditional Chinese medicine.

The present study investigated the influence of heating and honey addition on the appearance, chemical component content, and pharmacological activity of Codonopsis Radix decoction pieces in the honey-frying process, and explored the processing mechanism of honey-fried Codonopsis Radix. The color, sweetness, and content of macromolecular components(e.g., oligosaccharides and polysaccharides) and small molecular components(e.g., lobetyolin and atractylenolide Ⅲ) of raw Codonopsis Radix, fried Codonopsis Radix, honey-mixed Codonopsis Radix, and honey-fried Codonopsis Radix were determined, and the antioxidant activities in vitro of their water extract, polysaccharide extract, and oligosaccharide extract were compared. The results showed that in terms of color and sweetness, compared with the raw Codonopsis Radix, the fried Codonopsis Radix slightly changed, the honey-mixed Codonopsis Radix changed significantly, and the honey-fried Codonopsis Radix changed with high significance. In terms of the content of lobetyolin, atractylenolide Ⅲ, and polysaccharides, the samples were ranked as raw Codonopsis Radixgt; fried Codonopsis Radixgt; honey-mixed Codonopsis Radixgt; honey-fried Codonopsis Radix, which indicated that heating and honey addition could reduce the content of these three components. In terms of the content of oligosaccharides, the samples were ranked as honey-fried Codonopsis Radix ≈ honey-mixed Codonopsis Radixgt; fried Codonopsis Radix ≈ raw Codonopsis Radix, indicating that honey addition could increase the content of oligosaccharides. In terms of antioxidant activity in vitro, ABTS radical scavenging ability of water extract, polysaccharides, and oligosaccharides of honey-fried Codonopsis Radix was most potent, while the change of antioxidant activity in vitro of each extract in the other three processed products was different. In short, both heating and honey addition can affect the appearance, chemical component content, and antioxidant activity in vitro of Codonopsis Radix decoction pieces, but the effect of the combination of the two factors is the best. The comprehensive analysis of the effects of heating and honey addition on Codonopsis Radix decoction pieces indicates that honey addition followed by heating at high temperature is the necessary condition for honey-fried Codonopsis Radix to enhance its activity.

A new taraxerane-type triterpenoid, codopimodol A (1), together with two known triterpenoids (2 and 3), were isolated from the EtOH extract of the roots of Codonopsis pilosula var. modesta (Campanulaceae). The structure of the new compound was identified by high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and extensive spectroscopic analyses, particularly one-dimensional and two-dimensional NMR and IR. All the compounds were first isolated from C. pilosula var. modesta. Compounds 1 and 3 exhibited potential α-glucosidase inhibitory activities.

The ethanol extract of the roots of

The ethanol extract of the roots of Codonopsis pilosula was subjected to chromatographic fractionation, which result in the isolation and characterization of two new aromatic derivatives 2,3-dihydroxypropyl 2,4-dihydroxy-3,6-dimethylbenzoate (1) and 2-oxopropyl 3-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzoate (2), along with three known compounds pilosulinene A (3), pollenfuran B (4) and (+)-pinoresinol (5). Their structures were demonstrated by HRESIMS and spectroscopic methods including NMR and IR. It is worth noting that compound 4 was isolated for the first time from the genus Codonopsis. The potential hypoglycemic properties of compounds 2–5 were evaluated by measuring their α-glucosidase inhibitory effects. As a result, compounds 2 and 3 showed weak α-glucosidase inhibitory activities with IC50 values of 154.8 ± 11.0 μM and 24.0 ± 2.2 μM, respectively.

"Same treatment for different diseases" is a unique treatment strategy under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory.Network pharmacology research methods were used to analyze the interaction network and potential mechanisms of Dangshen in treating gastric ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer. The active components and their target proteins of Dangshen were integrated from TCMSP, BATMAN-TCM databases. The targets of gastric ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer were collected through GeneCards, PubMed, TDD and DisGeNET Database. Through screening, the key components and the key targets of Dangshen in treating gastric ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer were obtained. After KEGG pathway analysis and GO analysis, the important pathways and biological processes were analyzed.Through data and literature mining, the common and specific pharmaceutical effects and mechanism of Dangshen were summarized in these three gastric lesions. It was shown that Dangshen mainly acted on gastric ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer through the overall regulation of the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway. With the development of the disease, it will gradually increase the control of inflammation through TNF, NF-κB and other inflammation-related signaling pathways to reduce inflammatory damage. For tumorigenesis, it pays more attention to inhibiting the ErbB signaling pathways to reduce the proliferation and migration of tumor cells. In addition, Dangshen's regulation of HIF-1 signaling pathway may also be beneficial for the treatment of gastric ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer.Dangshen achieves spleen-fortifying effect on gastric diseases including gastric ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer through multiple targets in multiple pathways, especially PI3K-AKT pathway and HIF-1 pathway. It could provide a scientific basis for understanding the strategy of "Same treatment for different diseases" in traditional Chinese medicine.

In this study, the porous graphene (PG) with excellent structure was successfully prepared by a simple pyrolysis process, and applied to construct electrochemical sensor (PG@GCE) for detection of calycosin (CYS). PG was characterized by Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Also, the electrochemical properties of the proposed sensors were characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and the results indicated that sensors had relatively large specific surface area and higher electron transport rate. Based on all those characteristics, CYS, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) active ingredient, displayed a great response on the surface of PC@GCE. Under the optimized conditions, the sensors displayed a good linear relationship between the peak current and the CYS concentration in the range of 1.8 × 10–7–4.4 × 10–5 M with the detection limit of 5.8 × 10–8 M (S/N = 3). This study provided a novel analytical method for detection of CYS, rapid identification of Radix Hedysari and Radix Astragali, and gave another way for the trace analysis of CYS in biological samples. Furthermore, it would also deepen the application of PG in the field of pharmaceutical analysis.

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-chl-10.1177_1747519820979967 for Triterpenoids with α-glucosidase inhibitory activities from the roots of Codonopsis pilosula var. modesta by Bing Li, Ru-Yue Wang, Ye Zhao, Yi-Fan Yu, Zhan-Xin Zhang, Fang-Di Hu, Kun Gao and Dong-Qing Fei in Journal of Chemical Research

The electrochemical behaviors of shikonin at a poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) functionalized graphene sheets modified glass carbon electrode(PDDA-GS/GCE) have been investigated. Shikonin could exhibit a pair of well-defined redox peaks at the PDDA-GS/GCE located at 0.681 V(E pa) and 0.662 V(E pc)[vs. saturated calomel electrode(SCE)] in 0.1 mol/L phosphate buffer solution(pH=2.0) with a peak-to-peak separation of about 20 mV, revealing a fast electron-transfer process. Moreover, the current response was remarkably increased at PDDA-GS/GCE compared with that at the bare GCE. The electrochemical behaviors of shikonin at the modified electrode were investigated. And the results indicate that the reaction involves the transfer of two electrons, accompanied by two protons and the electrochemical process is a diffusional-controlled electrode process. The electrochemical parameters of shikonin at the modified electrode, the electron-transfer coefficient(α), the electron-transfer number(n) and the electrode reaction rate constant(k s) were calculated to be as 0.53, 2.18 and 3.6 s−1, respectively. Under the optimal conditions, the peak current of differential pulse voltammetry(DPV) increased linearly with the shikonin concentration in a range from 9.472×10-8 mol/L to 3.789×10-6 mol/L with a detection limit of 3.157×10−8 mol/L. The linear regression equation was I p=0.7366c+0.7855(R=0.9978; I p: 10−7 A, c: 10−8 mol/L). In addition, the modified glass carbon electrode also exhibited good stability, selectivity and acceptable reproducibility that could be used for the sensitive, simple and rapid determination of shikonin in real samples. Therefore, the present work offers a new way to broaden the analytical application of graphene in pharmaceutical analysis.

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fingerprint has been commonly used in the quality control and assessment of herbal medicines, and two-dimensional (2D) fingerprint obtained by means of HPLC-diode array detector (HPLC/DAD) can provide higher reliability. In this paper, an approach to the analysis of the 2D HPLC/DAD fingerprints, which was based on digital image recognition techniques, was developed for the first time. First, wavelet transform was employed to eliminate noise signal in the 2D fingerprint, and then the 2D fingerprint was converted into grayscale image. Second, several features of the image were calculated, and hierarchical clustering. This approach was applied to the qualitative analysis of the different samples of coptis chinensis, and the clustering result of samples was all highly consistent with the real situation. Based on the densities in grayscale image, three components in standard samples were quantitative analyzed, and the obtained correlation coefficients between concentration and grayscale density were more than 0.999. Our study indicated that the analysis of the 2D HPLC/DAD fingerprint was successful based on the idea and techniques of digital image recognition techniques, and this proposed approach provided a new pathway for the analysis of two-dimensional spectrums.

A HPLC method with photodiode array detection (PDA) was developed for the determination and a pharmacokinetic study of eleutheroside E (ELU E) and eleutheroside B (ELU B) in rat plasma and tissue following an eleutherococcus injection. The analysis was performed on a Kromasil C18 column, using water-acetonitrile as the gradient mobile phase and 0.8 mL/min flow rate. Detection wavelengths of ELU E and ELU B were 220 and 206 nm, respectively. Protein from the biological sample was deposited using acetonitrile. ELU E and ELU B were extracted from the biological samples using acetonitrile, separated by solid-phase extraction, and eluted from the cartridge using 60% methanol. The extraction recovery of ELU E and ELU B was 91.2 and 88.8%, respectively. The limit of detection was 37.6 ng/mL for ELU E and 37.0 ng/mL for ELU B (S/N = 3) in plasma. Blood drug level-time cuvers of ELU E and ELU B in Wister rats following administration of an eleutherococcus injection into femoral vein were shown to fit a three-compartment model. The half-life (t1/2) was 4.662 h for ELU E and 2.494 h for ELU B. Following administration of a single eleutherococcus injection, the concentration of ELU E and ELU B in the tissue was Cliver > Ckidney > Cspleen > Cheart and Ckidney > Cliver > Cheart. We believe the method described in the present paper is accurate and reliable and can be used for pharmacokinetic studies of ELU E and ELU B in rats. In addition, the method for sample preparation, using solid phase extraction, is precise, simple and rapid.