Screening and analysis of an antineoplastic compound in Rhizoma Chuanxiong by means of in vitro metabolism and HPLC-MS

Tumor Metabolism: A New Field for the Treatment of Glioma

The clinical treatment of glioma remains relatively immature. Commonly used clinical treatments for gliomas are surgery combined with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but there is a problem of drug resistance. In addition, immunotherapy and targeted therapies also suffer from the problem of immune evasion. The advent of metabolic therapy holds immense potential for advancing more efficacious and tolerable therapies against this aggressive disease. Metabolic therapy alters the metabolic processes of tumor cells at the molecular level to inhibit tumor growth and spread, and lead to better outcomes for patients with glioma that are insensitive to conventional treatments. Moreover, compared with conventional therapy, it has less impact on normal cells, less toxicity and side effects, and higher safety. The objective of this review is to examine the changes in metabolic characteristics throughout the development of glioma, enumerate the current methodologies employed for studying tumor metabolism, and highlight the metabolic reprogramming pathways of glioma along with their potential molecular mechanisms. Importantly, it seeks to elucidate potential metabolic targets for glioblastoma (GBM) therapy and summarize effective combination treatment strategies based on various studies.

Review on the Discovery of Novel Natural Herbicide Safeners

The phytotoxicity of herbicides on crops is a major dilemma in agricultural production. Fortunately, the emergence of herbicide safeners is an excellent solution to this challenge, selectively enhancing the performance of herbicides in controlling weeds while reducing the phytotoxicity to crops. But owing to their potential toxicity, only a tiny proportion of safeners are commercially available. Natural products as safeners have been extensively explored, which are generally safe to mammals and cause little pollution to the environment. They are typically endogenous signal molecules or phytohormones, which are generally difficult to extract and synthesize, and exhibit relatively lower activity than commercial products. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt rational design approaches to modify the structure of natural safeners. This paper reviews the application, safener effects, structural characteristics, and modifications of natural safeners and provides insights on the discovery of natural products as potential safeners in the future.

Ethyl ferulate protects against lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury by activating AMPK/Nrf2 signaling pathway

Ethyl ferulate (EF) is abundant in Rhizoma Chuanxiong and grains (e.g., rice and maize) and possesses antioxidative, antiapoptotic, antirheumatic, and anti-inflammatory properties. However, its effect on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) is still unknown. In the present study, we found that EF significantly alleviated LPS-induced pathological damage and neutrophil infiltration and inhibited the gene expression of proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6) in murine lung tissues. Moreover, EF reduced the gene expression of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and iNOS and decreased the production of NO in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells and BMDMs. Mechanistic experiments revealed that EF prominently activated the AMPK/Nrf2 pathway and promoted Nrf2 nuclear translocation. AMPK inhibition (Compound C) and Nrf2 inhibition (ML385) abolished the beneficial effect of EF on the inflammatory response. Furthermore, the protective effect of EF on LPS-induced ALI was not observed in Nrf2 knockout mice. Taken together, the results of our study suggest that EF ameliorates LPS-induced ALI in an AMPK/Nrf2-dependent manner. These findings provide a foundation for developing EF as a new anti-inflammatory agent for LPS-induced ALI/ARDS therapy.

The Protective Effects and Potential Mechanisms of Ligusticum chuanxiong: Focus on Anti-Inflammatory, Antioxidant, and Antiapoptotic Activities

Ligusticum chuanxiong (LC) is a Chinese materia medica which is widely used in clinical settings to treat headaches, blood extravasation, and arthritis. Recent studies demonstrate that LC possesses versatile pharmacological functions, including antiatherosclerosis, antimigraine, antiaging, and anticancer properties. Moreover, LC also shows protective effects in the progression of different diseases that damage somatic cells. Oxidative stress and inflammation, which can induce somatic cell apoptosis, are the main factors associated with an abundance of diseases, whose progresses can be reversed by LC. In order to comprehensively review the molecular mechanisms associated with the protective effects of LC, we collected and integrated all its related studies on the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antiapoptotic effects. The results show that LC could exhibit the mentioned biological activities by modulating several signaling pathways, specifically the NF-κB, Nrf2, protein kinase, and caspase-3 pathways. In future investigations, the pharmacokinetic properties of bioactive compounds in LC and the signaling pathway modulation of LC could be focused.

Comprehensive quality evaluation and comparison of Angelica sinensis radix and Angelica acutiloba radix by integrated metabolomics and glycomics

Angelica radix (Danggui in Chinese) used in China and Japan is derived from two species of Angelica, namely Angelica sinensis and Angelica acutiloba, respectively. The differences in quality between A. sinensis radix (ASR) and A. acutiloba radix (AAR) should be therefore investigated to guide the medicinal and dietary applications of these two species. Secondary metabolites and carbohydrates have been demonstrated to be the two major kinds of bioactive components of Danggui. However, previously, quality comparison between ASR and AAR intensively concerned secondary metabolites but largely overlooked carbohydrates, thus failing to include or take into consideration an important aspect of the holistic quality of Danggui. In this study, untargeted/targeted metabolomics and glycomics were integrated by multiple chromatography-based analytical techniques for qualitative and quantitative characterization of secondary metabolites and carbohydrates in Danggui so as to comprehensively evaluate and compare the quality of ASR and AAR. The results revealed that not only secondary metabolites but also carbohydrates in ASR and AAR were different in type and amount, which should collectively contribute to their quality difference. By providing more comprehensive chemical information, the research results highlighted the need to assess characteristics of both carbohydrates and secondary metabolites for overall quality evaluation and comparison of ASR and AAR.

Advances in the chemical analysis and biological activities of chuanxiong

Chuanxiong Rhizoma (Chuan-Xiong, CX), the dried rhizome of Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. (Umbelliferae), is one of the most popular plant medicines in the World. Modern research indicates that organic acids, phthalides, alkaloids, polysaccharides, ceramides and cerebrosides are main components responsible for the bioactivities and properties of CX. Because of its complex constituents, multidisciplinary techniques are needed to validate the analytical methods that support CX's use worldwide. In the past two decades, rapid development of technology has advanced many aspects of CX research. The aim of this review is to illustrate the recent advances in the chemical analysis and biological activities of CX, and to highlight new applications and challenges. Emphasis is placed on recent trends and emerging techniques.

[Analysis of volatile oils of Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. from different geographical origins by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry]

The volatile oils of 23 Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. samples from 4 different regions were analyzed by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC x GC/TOF MS). The group-type separation of 4 terpenoids and phthalides was well accomplished based on a DB-Petro x DB-17 column system. With the MS library search, 215 compounds were tentatively identified based on the NIST database and the 43 compounds of them were confirmed by using the retention index or comparing with the standard compounds in a typical sample from Xindu City. Twenty three samples were apparently classified into 4 groups by partial least square-discriminant analysis. A brief list of 20 differential compounds is presented, including cnidilide, 3-n-butylphthalide and butylidene phthalide. DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl), stable free radical scavenging assay was adopted to differentiate the antioxidative potency of these samples, which was expressed as EC50. Based on the orthogonal partial least square model the biochemical discrimination of samples was achieved with ligustilide, senkyunolide A and neocnidilide as important differential compounds according to geographical origins. All the results indicated that phthalides exert a great influence on the chemical and biochemical classifications of Rhizoma Chuanxiong, and the samples from Pengzhou City have the highest contents of phthalides.

Inhibitory Effects of Two Ferulates from Angelica Sinensis on Platelet Aggregation and Oxytocin-induced Uterine Contraction

Ferulic acid (FA) is widely considered as a biologically active component in Angelica sinensis, and used as one of the marker compounds for the quality control of Angelica sinensis. However, in A. sinensis, FA mainly exists as its ester, coniferyl ferulate (CF). CF is unstable and readily hydrolyzed into FA during conventional extraction. Herein, their antiplatelet aggregation activities and relaxant effects on oxytocin-induced mouse uterine muscle contraction were investigated and compared. The results showed that FA inhibited arachidonic acid (AA), adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and thrombin (THR)-induced platelet aggregation with IC50 values of 974.8 ± 97.5, 737.9 ± 40.2 and 244.6 ± 25.6 μg/ml, respectively. The potency of CF is much higher than that of FA, and the IC50 values for AA, ADP and THR were 7.1 ± 0.3, 276.4 ± 53.4 and 77.5 ± 23.1 μg/ml, respectively. IC50 of FA was 23.8 ± 6.2 μg/ml for oxytocin-induced uterine contraction in vitro. CF could only be tested at low concentration and its IC50 could not be calculated thereafter because of its strong hydrophobic property. So CF has more potent antiplatelet aggregation activity, while FA has stronger inhibitory effect on oxytocin-induced uterine contraction in vitro

Recent analytical approaches in quality control of traditional Chinese medicines--a review

Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) are gaining more and more attention all over the world, due to their specific theory and long historical clinical practice. But the uncontrollable quality is a bottleneck for its modernization and globalization. This paper reviewed the recent analytical methods in the quality control of TCMs, including screening strategies of bioactive markers from TCMs through biochromatographic methods, the traditional chromatographic methods, DNA methods, as well as the spectroscopic methods, including FT-IR, NIR and NMR. The comprehensive methods, such as fingerprint and multi-component quantification are emphasized; hyphenated techniques, like HPLC-MS, GC-MS, CE-MS, LC-NMR, chemometric methods, and combination of chemical and biological methods, such as biofingerprint, metabolic fingerprint are now more and more widely used in TCMs. In a few word, the analysis and quality control of TCMs are moving towards an integrative and comprehensive direction, in order to better address the inherent holistic nature of TCMs.

Identification and determination of the major constituents in Traditional Chinese Medicinal formula Danggui-Shaoyao-San by HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS

Danggui-Shaoyao-San (DSS), a famous traditional Chinese medicine formula consisting of six herbal medicines (Paeonia lactiflora, Angelica sinensis, Ligusticum chuanxiong, Poria cocos, Atractylodis macrocephalae and Rhizoma Alismatis), has been used as a classical gynecological remedy in China for centuries. However, its active substances have remained unknown. In this paper, an HPLC/DAD/ESI-MS/MS method was developed for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the major constituents in DSS. The ESI-MS/MS fragmentation behavior of the reference compounds was proposed for aiding the structural identification of components in DSS extract. Forty-one compounds including monoterpene glycosides, phenolic acids, phathalides, sesquiterpenoids and triterpenes were identified or tentatively characterized by comparing their retention times, UV and MS spectra with those of authentic compounds or literature data, and 14 of them (gallic acid, albiflorin, paeoniflorin, ferulic acid, benzoic acid, senkyunolide I, coniferyl ferulate, senkyunolide A, 3-butylphthalide, Z-ligustilide, Z-butylidenephthalide, atractylcnolide II, atractylcnolide I and levistolide A) were determined by HPLC-DAD using a C18 column and gradient elution of acetonitrile/water-formic acid (100:0.1, v/v). The linearity, precision, accuracy, LOD and LOQ were validated for the quantification method, which proved sensitive, accurate and reproducible. The study might provide a basis for the quality control of DSS extracts and preparations.

Optimization and comparison of five methods for extraction of coniferyl ferulate from Angelica sinensis

Coniferyl ferulate, which is noted for its multiple pharmacological activities and chemical instability, is abundant in Angelica sinensis. In this paper, five methods, namely sonication extraction (SE), pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), hydrodistillation (HD) and decoction (DC) for extraction of coniferyl ferulate, as well as ferulic acid, Z/E-ligustilide and Z/E-butylidenephthalide, from A. sinensis were optimized and compared. The results showed that the order of extraction efficiency was: PLE>>SE>SFE>>HD, DC. The compositions of the SE, PLE and SFE extracts, which had a high ratio of coniferyl ferulate, were very similar, while no coniferyl ferulate was obtained by HD and DC, though they had high selectivity for the extraction of ligustilide and ferulic acid, respectively. It was noteworthy that the content of ligustilide and coniferyl ferulate was not detectable in the decoction, the commonly used oral administration form of Traditional Chinese Medicines in clinical practice.

Identification of antioxidants in essential oil of radix Angelicae sinensis using HPLC coupled with DAD-MS and ABTS-based assay

Radix Angelicae sinensis (named danggui in Chinese), a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine, has multiple pharmacological activities. The essential oil of danggui is usually considered to be its main active fraction. However, to date, studies on the antioxidant potentials of danggui have focused on water-soluble compounds. In this paper, the antioxidant activity of the commercial essential oil of danggui was investigated by DPPH radical scavenging assay, ABTS radical scavenging assay, and beta-carotene bleaching test. Antioxidant constituents in the essential oil were identified using HPLC coupled with DAD-MS and ABTS-based assay. The results showed that the essential oil of danggui has concentration-dependent antioxidant activity, which can be attributed to its component (coniferyl ferulate). This is the first report on the antioxidant activity of essential oil from danggui; its antioxidant potential was lower than those of positive controls, ascorbic acid and BHA.