Rapidly identifying bioactive compounds from Zhisou oral liquid by immobilized receptor-based high-performance affinity chromatography

Protective effects of bioactive components targeting β2-adrenergic receptors and muscarinic-3 acetylcholine receptor in Zhisou San on ovalbumin-induced allergic asthma

One promising approach to overcome drug resistance in asthma treatments involves dual-target therapy, specifically targeting the β2 adrenergic receptor (β2-AR) and muscarinic-3 acetylcholine receptor (M3R). This study investigated the anti-asthma effects and dual-target mechanisms of glycyrrhizic acid, hesperidin, and platycodin D (GHP) from Zhisou San. GHP administration effectively attenuated OVA-induced inflammatory infiltration and overproduction of mucus in asthmatic mice. Additionally, GHP treatment significantly suppressed M3R and promoted β2-AR activation, resulting in the relaxation of tracheal smooth muscle. These findings concluded that GHP mitigated asthma by targeting β2-AR and M3R to ameliorate airway inflammation and modulate airway smooth muscle relaxation.

Advances in receptor chromatography for drug discovery and drug-receptor interaction studies

Receptor chromatography involves high-throughput separation and accurate drug screening based on specific drug-receptor recognition and affinity, which has been widely used to screen active compounds in complex samples. This review summarizes the immobilization methods for receptors from three aspects: random covalent immobilization methods, site-specific covalent immobilization methods and dual-target receptor chromatography. Meanwhile, it focuses on its applications from three angles: screening active compounds in natural products, in natural-product-derived DNA-encoded compound libraries and drug-receptor interactions. This review provides new insights for the design and application of receptor chromatography, high-throughput and accurate drug screening, drug-receptor interactions and more. Teaser: This review summarizes the immobilization methods of receptors and the application of receptor chromatography, which will provide new insights for the design and application of receptor chromatography, rapid drug screening, drug-receptor interactions and more.

Protein superglue inspired in-situ one-step site-specific immobilization of beta2-adrenoceptor and its application in bioactive compound screening from Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis

The platforms based on immobilization of transmembrane proteins have become an effective way to study drug-protein interaction and identify new leads for drug discovery. Herein, we exploited the protein superglue (i.e. SpyTag-SpyCatcher chemistry) for site-specific, oriented, and in-situ one-step beta2-adrenoceptor (β₂-AR) immobilization. SpyCatcher was used as a fusion tag at the C-terminal of β₂-AR and the macroporous silica gels were functionalized with the SpyTag peptide. Immobilization was realized by immersing the gels into the E.coli cell lysate containing β₂-AR-SpyCatcher. Characterization of the functionalized gels was performed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and fluorescence microscopy. Adsorption energy distribution calculation, injection amount dependent analysis (IADA) and nonlinear chromatographic were used for receptor-ligand interaction analysis. The affinity rank order of four ligands to the receptor was tulobuterol> chlorprenaline> salbutamol> terbutaline, which showed highly consistent with data from the radioligand binding assay and the β₂-AR column prepared by HaloTag technology. Magnolol and honokiol were screened from Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis and proved to promote the expression of the receptor in human airway smooth muscle cells. Our work unraveled the great potential to generate good bioactivity of the immobilized β₂-AR through Spy toolbox. This technology can be extended to the immobilization of other functional proteins, providing a better alternative in the field of bioanalysis, biosensing, and separation science.

Early potential evaluation of lead compounds from a DNA-encoded library by the determination of their thermodynamics through a chromatographic method based on immobilized β2-adrenoceptor

Early potential evaluation of lead compounds is critical to decrease downstream lead-optimization cycle times and clinical attrition rates for drug development. This increasingly necessitates the methodologies for accurately evaluating the potential compounds. This work immobilized β₂-adrenoceptor (β₂-AR) onto microspheres through Halo-tag mediated reaction. Characterizing the resulting microspheres by elemental and functional analysis, we utilized the immobilized receptor to determine the thermodynamics of terbutaline, tulobuterol, clorprenaline, salbutamol, and methoxyphenamine. The association constants correlated to their capacity factors on the column containing the immobilized β₂-AR, thus providing a possibility for early potential evaluation of lead compounds from complex matrices like a DNA-encoded library. By this model, the lead compound (XC267) was predicted to have an association constant higher than terbutaline, salbutamol, and methoxyphenamine, but lower than tulobuterol and clorprenaline. The binding interaction between XC267 and β₂-AR is a spontaneous endothermic process with an association constant of (6.62 ± 0.13) × 10⁴ M^-1 at 37 °C. The change of Gibbs free energy(ΔG^θ), enthalpy change (ΔH^θ), and entropy change (ΔS^θ) was -28.49 kJ/mol, -10.58 kJ/mol, and 57.79 J/moL·K at 37 °C. By the semi-empirical rule of Ross, the driving force of the interaction between XC267 and β₂-AR was electrostatic interaction. Such binding force was also achieved by molecular docking. These results suggested that XC267 is a candidate to treat asthma by specific binding to β₂-AR. We reasoned that receptor chromatography is able to the early potential evaluation of lead compounds from complex matrices.

Screening the bioactive compound from Coptis chinensis inflorescence by immobilized Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma

Coptis chinensis inflorescence is a by-product of Coptis chinensis Franch and riches in alkaloids. We screened the bioactive compounds in the by-product through an immobilized peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma. The receptor was covalently immobilized on the macroporous silica gel through amino groups to generate the affinity stationary phase and was applied for screening. Berberine, palmatine, and jatrorrhizine were identified as the retained components of the herb on the affinity column. We evaluated the binding of the three bioactive compounds with the receptor by nonlinear chromatography and molecular docking. The affinities of the compounds to the receptor were (1.42±0.10) ×10⁸ M^-1 , (4.88±0.38) ×10⁷ M^-1 , and (1.65±0.13) ×10⁷ M^-1 for berberine, palmatine, and jatrorrhizine, with dissociation rate constants of (17.70±0.03) ×10^-3 S^-1 , (5.18±0.25) ×10^-2 S^-1 , and (15.7±0.05) ×10^-2 S^-1 , respectively. Cys285, Arg288, Ile326, Leu330, and His449 in the agonist binding pocket of the receptor participated in the formation of bioactive compound-receptor conjugates. These data indicated that the immobilized receptor is a reliable alternative for screening the bioactive compounds. In addition, Coptis chinensis inflorescence has the potential to be a source for drug discovery. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

A strategy to comprehensively analyze the bioactivity of complex herbal prescriptions via peak-by-peak cutting and knock-out chromatography: Qiliqiangxin capsule as an example

An herbal prescription is usually composed of several herbal medicines. The complex and diverse components bring great challenges to its bioactivity study. To comprehensively analyze the bioactivity of an herbal prescription, a new strategy based on peak-by-peak cutting and knock-out chromatography was proposed. In this strategy, active compounds were screened out via peak-by-peak cutting from an herbal extract, and the influence of a compound on the overall activity of the herbal extract was evaluated by knock-out chromatography. Qiliqiangxin capsule is an herbal prescription composed of 11 herbal medicines for the treatment of chronic heart failure. A total of 71 peaks were collected through peak-by-peak cutting, and each peak was identified by high-resolution mass spectrum. The bioassay against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl showed that two types of compounds namely salvianolic acids and caffeoylquinic acids were potent scavengers. Knock-out chromatography suggested that the removement of one single compound had no obvious influence on the overall activity of Qiliqiangxin capsule. After all the main peaks in Qiliqiangxin capsule were knocked out, the remaining part still exhibited a potent activity, indicating a high activity stability of Qiliqiangxin capsule. The proposed strategy is helpful for the comprehensive analysis of the bioactivity of other herbal prescriptions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.