Comparative Electropharmacological Actions of Some Constituents from Ginkgo biloba Extract in Guinea-pig Ventricular Cardiomyocytes

Ginkgo Biloba

Ginkgo biloba is a commonly used herbal supplement in the United States. We describe a 63-year-old man with a significant ventricular ectopic burden (32.7%) that was refractory to metoprolol tartrate (41.7%) and resolved (<1%) when Ginkgo was discontinued. This case supports a potential proarrhythmic side-effect of over-the-counter Ginkgo leaf extract. (Level of Difficulty: Beginner.)

Effect of Yin-Xing-Tong-Zhi Tablets on Improving Vascular Cognitive Impairment No Dementia

Objective

Observe the effect of the Chinese herbal extracts, Yin-Xing-Tong-Zhi, in tablet form, on improving vascular cognitive impairment no dementia (VCIND).

Methods

Sixty-eight patients with VCIND were divided randomly into treatment and placebo groups with oral administration of Yin-Xing-Tong-Zhi tablets (YXTZTs) or placebo, respectively, for 24 weeks. Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive (ADAS-Cog) subscale score, MMSE score, Clinician's Interview-Based Impression of Change Plus Caregiver Input (CIBIC-Plus) score, expression of interleukin- (IL-) 6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) α in serum, and variation of blood-lipid levels were evaluated at different time points.

Results

At weeks 12 and 24, the scores for the ADAS-Cog, CIBIC-Plus, and MMSE of the treatment group were significantly lower than those of the control group (P < 0.05). All clinical scales at week 24 of the control group were significantly different from those before treatment (P < 0.05). Expression of IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α in the two groups was reduced significantly with variation of the clinical scales of cognitive impairment.

Conclusion

YXTZTs may delay the development of cognitive impairment in VCIND patients by modulating expression of VCIND-associated proinflammatory factors.

Pharmacological effectiveness of the active phytochemicals contained in foods and herbs

Food ingestions generally regulate many physiological functions to maintain a healthy life. Furthermore, herbal medicine is prescribed for the prevention and the treatment of various diseases. There are not a few herbal medicine-derived drugs (phytochemicals) clinically using now. The phytochemicals such as digitalis, curare, morphine, quinidine, atropine, and so on are so much important drugs for clinical treatments. Herbal medicine and foods are composed of many constituents. The pharmacological actions that contain phytochemicals are exerted each by each mediated through different receptors, ionic channels, and cellular signal transductions. Thus, they produce multiple pharmacological and pathophysiological functions mediated by the complex interactions with lots of the ingredients.

Possible Involvement of Ca Activated K Channels, SK Channel, in the Quercetin-Induced Vasodilatation

Effects of quercetin, a kind of flavonoids, on the vasodilating actions were investigated. Among the mechanisms for quercetin-induced vasodilatation in rat aorta, the involvement with the Ca(2+) activated K(+) (K(Ca)) channel was examined. Pretreatment with NE (5 microM) or KCl (60 mM) was carried out and then, the modulation by quercetin of the constriction was examined using rat aorta ring strips (3 mm) at 36.5. Quercetin (0.1 to 100 microM) relaxed the NE-induced vasoconstrictions in a concentration-dependent manner. NO synthesis (NOS) inhibitor, NG-monomethyl-L-arginine acetate (L-NMMA), at 100 microM reduced the quercetin (100 microM)-induced vasodilatation from 97.8+/-3.7% (n=10) to 78.0+/-11.6% (n=5, p<0.05). Another NOS inhibitor, L-NG-nitro arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), at 100 microM also had the similar effect. In the presence of both 100 microM L-NMMA and 10 microM indomethacin, the quercetin-induced vasodilatation was further attenuated by 100 microM tetraethylammonium (TEA, a K(Ca) channel inhibitor). Also TEA decreased the quercetin-induced vasodilatation in endothelium-denuded rat aorta. Used other K(Ca) channel inhibitors, the quercetin-induced vasodilatation was attenuated by 0.3 microM apamin (a SK channel inhibitor), but not by 30 nM charybdotoxin (a BK and IK channel inhibitor). Quercetin caused a concentration-dependent vasodilatation, due to the endothelium-dependent and -independent actions. Also quercetin contributes to the vasodilatation selectively with SK channel on smooth muscle.

CAM and cell fate targeting: molecular and energetic insights into cell growth and differentiation

Evidence-based medicine is switching from the analysis of single diseases at a time toward an integrated assessment of a diseased person. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) offers multiple holistic approaches, including osteopathy, homeopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture, herbal and energy medicine and meditation, all potentially impacting on major human diseases. It is now becoming evident that acupuncture can modify the expression of different endorphin genes and the expression of genes encoding for crucial transcription factors in cellular homeostasis. Extremely low frequency magnetic fields have been found to prime the commitment to a myocardial lineage in mouse embryonic stem cells, suggesting that magnetic energy may direct stem cell differentiation into specific cellular phenotypes without the aid of gene transfer technologies. This finding may pave the way to novel approaches in tissue engineering and regeneration. Different ginseng extracts have been shown to modulate growth and differentiation in pluripotent cells and to exert wound-healing and antitumor effects through opposing activities on the vascular system, prompting the hypothesis that ancient compounds may be the target for new logics in cell therapy. These observations and the subtle entanglement among different CAM systems suggest that CAM modalities may deeply affect both the signaling and transcriptional level of cellular homeostasis. Such a perception holds promises for a new era in CAM, prompting reproducible documentation of biological responses to CAM-related strategies and compounds. To this end, functional genomics and proteomics and the comprehension of the cell signaling networks may substantially contribute to the development of a molecular evidence-based CAM.