Application of Ultra-performance Liquid Chromatography with Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry for the Rapid Analysis of Constituents and Metabolites from the Extracts of Acanthopanax senticosus Harms Leaf

Acanthopanax senticosus (Rupr and Maxim) Harms (AS), a member of Araliaceae family, is a typical folk medicinal herb, which is widely distributed in the Northeastern part of China. Due to lack of this resource caused by the extensive use of its root, this work studied the chemical constituents of leaves of this plant with the purpose of looking for an alternative resource. In this work, a fast and optimized ultra-performance liquid chromatography method with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS) has been developed for the analysis of constituents in leaves extracts. A total of 131 compounds were identified or tentatively characterized including triterpenoid saponins, phenols, flavonoids, lignans, coumarins, polysaccharides, and other compounds based on their fragmentation behaviors. Besides, a total of 21 metabolites were identified in serum in rats after oral administration, among which 12 prototypes and 9 metabolites through the metabolic pathways of reduction, methylation, sulfate conjugation, sulfoxide to thioether and deglycosylation. The coupling of UPLC-QTOF-MS led to the in-depth characterization of the leaves extracts of AS both in vitro and in vivo on the basis of retention time, mass accuracy, and tandem MS/MS spectra. It concluded that this analytical tool was very valuable in the study of complex compounds in medicinal herb.

The first genetic map of a synthesized allohexaploid Brassica with A, B and C genomes based on simple sequence repeat markers

We present the first genetic map of an allohexaploid Brassica species, based on segregating microsatellite markers in a doubled haploid mapping population generated from a hybrid between two hexaploid parents. This study reports the first genetic map of trigenomic Brassica. A doubled haploid mapping population consisting of 189 lines was obtained via microspore culture from a hybrid H16-1 derived from a cross between two allohexaploid Brassica lines (7H170-1 and Y54-2). Simple sequence repeat primer pairs specific to the A genome (107), B genome (44) and C genome (109) were used to construct a genetic linkage map of the population. Twenty-seven linkage groups were resolved from 274 polymorphic loci on the A genome (109), B genome (49) and C genome (116) covering a total genetic distance of 3178.8 cM with an average distance between markers of 11.60 cM. This is the first genetic framework map for the artificially synthesized Brassica allohexaploids. The linkage groups represent the expected complement of chromosomes in the A, B and C genomes from the original diploid and tetraploid parents. This framework linkage map will be valuable for QTL analysis and future genetic improvement of a new allohexaploid Brassica species, and in improving our understanding of the genetic control of meiosis in new polyploids.

Chemical Discrimination of Cortex Phellodendri amurensis and Cortex Phellodendri chinensis by Multivariate Analysis Approach

Background:

As herbal medicines have an important position in health care systems worldwide, their current assessment, and quality control are a major bottleneck. Cortex Phellodendri chinensis (CPC) and Cortex Phellodendri amurensis (CPA) are widely used in China, however, how to identify species of CPA and CPC has become urgent.

Materials and Methods:

In this study, multivariate analysis approach was performed to the investigation of chemical discrimination of CPA and CPC.

Results:

Principal component analysis showed that two herbs could be separated clearly. The chemical markers such as berberine, palmatine, phellodendrine, magnoflorine, obacunone, and obaculactone were identified through the orthogonal partial least squared discriminant analysis, and were identified tentatively by the accurate mass of quadruple-time-of-flight mass spectrometry. A total of 29 components can be used as the chemical markers for discrimination of CPA and CPC. Of them, phellodenrine is significantly higher in CPC than that of CPA, whereas obacunone and obaculactone are significantly higher in CPA than that of CPC.

Conclusion:

The present study proves that multivariate analysis approach based chemical analysis greatly contributes to the investigation of CPA and CPC, and showed that the identified chemical markers as a whole should be used to discriminate the two herbal medicines, and simultaneously the results also provided chemical information for their quality assessment.

SUMMARY

Multivariate analysis approach was performed to the investigate the herbal medicine

The chemical markers were identified through multivariate analysis approach

A total of 29 components can be used as the chemical markers.

UPLC-Q/TOF-MS-based multivariate analysis method for the herbal medicine samples

Abbreviations used: CPC: Cortex Phellodendri chinensis, CPA: Cortex Phellodendri amurensis, PCA: Principal component analysis, OPLS-DA: Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis, BPI: Base peaks ion intensity

An integrated chinmedomics strategy for discovery of effective constituents from traditional herbal medicine

Traditional natural product discovery affords no information about compound structure or pharmacological activities until late in the discovery process, and leads to low probabilities of finding compounds with unique biological properties. By integrating serum pharmacochemistry-based screening with high-resolution metabolomics analysis, we have developed a new platform, termed chinmedomics which is capable of directly discovering the bioactive constituents. In this work, the focus is on ShenQiWan (SQW) treatment of ShenYangXu (SYX, kidney-yang deficiency syndrome) as a case study, as determined by chinmedomics. With serum pharmacochemistry, a total of 34 peaks were tentatively characterised in vivo, 24 of which were parent components and 10 metabolites were detected. The metabolic profiling and potential biomarkers of SYX were also investigated and 23 differential metabolites were found. 20 highly correlated components were screened by the plotting of correlation between marker metabolites and serum constituents and considered as the main active components of SQW. These compounds are imported into a database to predict the action targets: 14 importantly potential targets were found and related to aldosterone-regulated sodium reabsorption and adrenergic signaling pathways. Our study showed that integrated chinmedomics is a powerful strategy for discovery and screening of effective constituents from herbal medicines.

High resolution metabolomics technology reveals widespread pathway changes of alcoholic liver disease

The current study provides insights into the molecular mechanisms of ALD from widespread pathway changes.

Efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine for cooling blood and eliminating toxins and strengthening and purifying spleen in the treatment of refractory hepatitis C

This study was designed to observe the comprehensive efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) combined with interferon in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C (CHC), compare this combined therapy with interferon therapy alone and investigate its possible mechanism to provide a basis for the development of an integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine for the treatment of CHC. According to patient contraindications for antiviral treatment, patients who were suitable for interferon therapy and willing to use TCM were enrolled as combined traditional Chinese and Western medicine group, and 21 CHC patients were selected as Western medicine control group; patients who had contraindications for antiviral treatment were included in the TCM group. The three groups of patients were all diagnosed with positive hepatitis C virus - ribose nucleic acid (HCV-RNA). The treatment course lasted for one year and the patients were followed up for 12 months. Patients’ demographic data, course of disease, chronic liver disease questionnaire (CLDQ), genetic typing, biochemical indexes, HCV-RNA and side effects were compared between the groups. The efficacy, incidence of side effects and improvement in quality of life were analyzed in each group. Results showed that the combination of TCM and interferon could protect liver, reduce side effects and also improve quality of life of the patients, while the antiviral activity of TCM alone was not obvious.

Rapid and visual detection of human enterovirus coxsackievirus A16 by reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification combined with lateral flow device

In this study, a reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) combined with lateral flow device (LFD) technology to rapidly detect CVA16 was developed and evaluated. RT-LAMP assay was optimized to amplify VP1 gene of CVA16. Amplified products were analysed by LFD and capillary electrophoresis. The RT-LAMP-LFD assay showed 100% specificity in detecting CVA16, and showed analytical sensitivity of 0·55 TCID50 per reaction mixture. Comparison of the RT-LAMP-LFD assay with real-time RT-PCR developed previously in clinical specimens showed 93·3% agreement. The RT-LAMP-LFD assay is more sensitive in detecting CVA16 RNA. The RT-LAMP-LFD assay presented here might offer a rapid and simple alternative in clinical diagnosis of CVA16.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

Coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16) is one of the major causative agents of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). Rapid and reliable detection and typing of it can limit the spread. We developed a reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) combined with lateral flow device (LFD) technology to rapidly detect CVA16. The high sensitivity and specificity and its ease of use make this assay ideal for use in resource-limited settings such as primary care facilities and clinical laboratories in developing countries.

Metabolomics strategy reveals therapeutical assessment of limonin on nonbacterial prostatitis

Limonin has been found to possess significant anti-inflammatory properties in animal tests and with, human cells, however, its precise metabolism mechanism has not been well explored. The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of limonin in a nonbacterial prostatitis (NBP) animal model. Global metabolite profiling was performed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography combined with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/ESI-TOFMS) and in conjunction with multivariate data analysis and pathway analysis which were integrated to explore differentiating metabolites and clarify the mechanism of limonin against capsaicin-induced NBP. Limonin has a potential protective function revealed by the metabolic profiling of limonin-treated rats located closer to the normal group. Twenty potential biomarker candidates and several key metabolic pathways contributing to the treatment of NBP were discovered and identified. Among the pathways, the related glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism were acutely perturbed. The changes in metabolites were restored to their base-line levels after limonin treatment, which might be through regulating the perturbed pathways to the normal state. The results indicate that changed biomarkers and pathways may provide evidence and insight into limonin action mechanisms and enable us to increase research productivity toward metabolomics in therapeutical assessment and drug discovery.

Berberine ameliorates nonbacterial prostatitis via multi-target metabolic network regulation

Metabolomics has been increasingly applied to discovering biomarkers and identifying perturbed pathways. Berberine has been shown to exhibit anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer properties, but its mechanisms for treating nonbacterial prostatitis (NBP) remain unclear completely. We developed the untargeted metabolomics approach based on UPLC-Q-TOF-HDMS to profile the metabolite changes in urine samples in order to discover novel potential biomarkers to clarify mechanisms of berberine in treating a rat model of capsaicin-induced nonbacterial prostatitis (NBP). The changes in metabolic profiling were restored to their base-line values after berberine treatment according to the principal component analysis (PCA) score plots. Fourteen different potential biomarkers and five acutely perturbed metabolic pathways contributing to the treatment of NBP were discovered and identified. Specifically, the berberine-treated rats are located closer to the normal group, indicating that the NBP-induced disturbances to the metabolic profile were partially reversed by berberine treatment. After treatment with berberine, the relative contents of 12 potential biomarkers were effectively regulated, which suggested that the therapeutic effects of berberine on NBP may involve regulating disturbances to the metabolism. Our results show that the protective effect of berberine occurs in part through a reversal of the NBP-caused disturbances.

Long non-coding RNA MEG3 suppresses migration and invasion of thyroid carcinoma by targeting of Rac1

Thyroid cancer, the most common primary endocrine malignancy in adult, imperatively requires new therapeutic studies that could target the molecular regulatory mechanism. Even though emerging evidence showed that long noncoding RNAs (Lnc-RNAs) are involved in different biological characteristic of malignant tumor, such as cell growth and apoptosis as well as cancer progression and metastasis. Limited data are available on the function of Lnc-RNAs in thyroid cancer invasion and metastasis. Among the 5 tested lnc-RNAs , the present study demonstrates that MEG3 was significantly down-regulated in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) tissues with lymph-node metastasis than in primary thyroid cancer. Moreover, the down- regulated MEG3 was associated with lymph-node metastasis. Over-expression of MEG3 could strongly inhibit the cell migration and invasion in TPC-1 and HTH83 thyroid cancer cell lines. In addition, we also showed that Rac1 was negatively regulated by lncRNA-MEG3 at the posttranscriptional level, via a specific target site within the 3΄UTR by dual luciferase reporter assay. The expression of Rac1 was inversely correlated with lncRNA-MEG3 expression in PTC tissues. Thus, this study suggests that MEG3 acts as novel suppressor of migration and invasion by targeting Rac1 gene.

Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry screening and analysis of potential bioactive compounds from traditional chinese medicine Kai-Xin-San, using a multivariate data processing approach and the MetaboLynx tool

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been used in clinical practice for several thousand years, with an indispensable role in prevention and treatment of disease using multiple ingredients.