Effective components screening and anti-myocardial infarction mechanism study of the Chinese medicine NSLF6 based on "system to system" mode

Effect of traditional Chinese medicine on metabolism disturbance in ischemic heart diseases

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Ischemic heart diseases (IHD), characterized by metabolic dysregulation, contributes majorly to the global morbidity and mortality. Glucose, lipid and amino acid metabolism are critical energy production for cardiomyocytes, and disturbances of these metabolism lead to the cardiac injury. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), widely used for treating IHD, have been demonstrated to effectively and safely regulate the cardiac metabolism reprogramming.

AIM OF THE REVIEW

This study discussed and analyzed the disturbed cardiac metabolism induced by IHD and development of formulas, extracts, single herb, bioactive compounds of TCM ameliorating IHD injury via metabolism regulation, with the aim of providing a basis for the development of clinical application of therapeutic strategies for TCM in IHD.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

With "ischemic heart disease", "myocardial infarction", "myocardial ischemia", "metabolomics", "Chinese medicine", "herb", "extracts" "medicinal plants", "glucose", "lipid metabolism", "amino acid" as the main keywords, PubMed, Web of Science, and other online search engines were used for literature retrieval.

RESULTS

IHD exhibits a close association with metabolism disorders, including but not limited to glycolysis, the TCA cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, branched-chain amino acids, fatty acid β-oxidation, ketone body metabolism, sphingolipid and glycerol-phospholipid metabolism. The therapeutic potential of TCM lies in its ability to regulate these disturbed cardiac metabolisms. Additionally, the active ingredients of TCM have depicted wonderful effects in cardiac metabolism reprogramming in IHD.

CONCLUSION

Drawing from the principles of TCM, we have pinpointed specific herbal remedies for the treatment of IHD, and leveraged advanced metabolomics technologies to uncover the effect of these TCMs on metabolomics alteration. In the future, further clinical experimental studies should be included to explore whether more TCM medicines can play a therapeutic role in IHD by reversing cardiac metabolism disorders; multi-omics would be conducted to explore more pathways and genes targeting such metabolism reprogramming by TCMs, and to seek more TCM therapies for IHD.

Multi-level advances in databases related to systems pharmacology in traditional Chinese medicine: a 60-year review

The therapeutic effects of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) involve intricate interactions among multiple components and targets. Currently, computational approaches play a pivotal role in simulating various pharmacological processes of TCM. The application of network analysis in TCM research has provided an effective means to explain the pharmacological mechanisms underlying the actions of herbs or formulas through the lens of biological network analysis. Along with the advances of network analysis, computational science has coalesced around the core chain of TCM research: formula-herb-component-target-phenotype-ZHENG, facilitating the accumulation and organization of the extensive TCM-related data and the establishment of relevant databases. Nonetheless, recent years have witnessed a tendency toward homogeneity in the development and application of these databases. Advancements in computational technologies, including deep learning and foundation model, have propelled the exploration and modeling of intricate systems into a new phase, potentially heralding a new era. This review aims to delves into the progress made in databases related to six key entities: formula, herb, component, target, phenotype, and ZHENG. Systematically discussions on the commonalities and disparities among various database types were presented. In addition, the review raised the issue of research bottleneck in TCM computational pharmacology and envisions the forthcoming directions of computational research within the realm of TCM.

Integrated plasma pharmacochemistry and network pharmacology to explore the mechanism of Gerberae Piloselloidis Herba in treatment of allergic asthma

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Gerberae Piloselloidis Herba (GPH), a commonly used traditional medicine in China, is derived from Gerbera piloselloides (Linn.) Cass. It is featured by its special bioactivities as antitussive, expectorant, anti-asthma, anti-bacterial, anti-tumor, uterine analgesia, and immunity-enhancing. With a long history of medication in ethnic minority areas in China, it is often used as an effective treatment for cough and sore throat as well as allergic asthma. Although our previous investigation also has discovered GPH performed effective treatment on allergic asthma, its underlying mechanism remains unclear.

AIM OF THE STUDY

This research aims to reveal the pharmacological mechanism of GPH in the treatment for allergic asthma through combination of plasma pharmacology and network pharmacology.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Firstly, the components of GPH in blood samples were identified using UHPLC- Q-Orbitrap HRMS. An interaction network of "compound-target-disease" was constructed based on the compounds confirmed in blood and on their corresponding targets of allergic asthma acquired from disease gene databases, predicting the possible biological targets and potential signal pathways of GPH with the network pharmacology analysis. Then, a molecular docking between the blood ingredients and the core targets was carried out using the Autodock Vina software. Subsequently, after establishing a mouse model with allergic asthma induced by ovalbumin (OVA), the effect of GPH on allergic asthma was evaluated by analyzing a series of indicators including behavior, lung pathological changes, inflammatory factors in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Finally, the key pathway and targets predicted by network pharmacology and molecular docking were further verified using Western blot analysis.

RESULTS

Eleven chemical constituents (such as arbutin, neochlorogenic acid, chlorogenic acid, etc.) were identified through the analysis of plasma samples, on which basis a total of 142 genes intersecting GPH and allergic asthma were collected by network pharmacology. After performing enrichment analysis of these genes in gene ontology (GO) and kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG), it was found that arbutin-related targets mainly focused on phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signal pathway, while luteolin and marmesin -related targets tended to locate at Interleukin-17 (IL-17) signal pathway. Meanwhile, the findings of molecular docking suggested that such components as arbutin, luteolin and marmesin entering into blood had good binding with the core targets related to PI3K/Akt and IL-17 pathways. In addition, GPH improved the OVA-induced asthma symptoms, the alveolar septa thickening and the infiltration of inflammatory cell around bronchi and bronchioles as well as reduced the levels of IgE, IL-8 and TNF-α in serum or BALF. Furthermore, GPH could inhibit the phosphorylation level of Akt and the expression of PI3K, an efficacy supported by the findings by way of Western blot which suggests that GPH in the treatment of allergic asthma was linked to PI3K/Akt signal pathway.

CONCLUSION

In this study, a comprehensive strategy to combine the UPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS with network pharmacology was employed to clarify the mechanism of GPH against allergic asthma, a finding where GPH may inhibit PI3K/Akt signal pathway to protect mice from OVA-induced allergic asthma. This study provides a deeper understanding of the pharmacological mechanism of GPH in treatment of asthma, offering a scientific reference for further research and clinical application of GPH in terms of allergic asthma.

Multi-omics analysis reveals the mechanisms of action and therapeutic regimens of traditional Chinese medicine, Bufei Jianpi granules: Implication for COPD drug discovery

BACKGROUND

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a serious public health challenge in the world. According to the treatment instructions by Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) 2020, bronchiectasis combine with inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting anti-muscarinic agents were recommended as the main prescription. However, this symptomatic treatment still has ineluctable limits because it ignored the most pathogenesis mechanism of COPD. As an alternative traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for COPD, Bufei Jianpi granules (BJG) can reduce the frequency and duration of acute exacerbation in COPD patients and improve their quality of life. The evidence demonstrated BJG acts as therapeutics that retarding the airway remodeling process, eliminating phlegm, thrombolysis and improving mitochondrial function. However, the detailed molecular mechanism is still urgently revealed.

PURPUSE

In this study, we aim to find out the active pharmacodynamic ingredients and reveal the treatment mechanism of active pharmacodynamic ingredients.

METHODS

Based on the pharmacodynamic evaluation and chemomic profiling of BJG in COPD rats, an integrated multi-omics analysis was performed, including molecular networking, metabonomics, proteomics and bioinformatics. Moreover, focus on the active compounds, we verified the molecular core mechanism by molecular biology methods.

RESULTS

Pachymic acid, shionone, peiminine and astragaloside A was verified as therapeutic agents for improving the condition of COPD by acting on the EGFR, ERK1, PAI-1 and p53 target, respectively.

CONCLUSION

In this study, our findings indicated that some compounds in BJG alleviates the pathological process of COPD, which is related to regulating lung function, mucus production, pulmonary embolism and energy metabolism and this will be a benefit complementary to GOLD guidelines.

Synergistic Effects of Natural Product Combinations in Protecting the Endothelium Against Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Endothelial dysfunction is an early hallmark of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Monotherapies are limited due to the complex, multifactorial pathways. The multi-component and multi-targeted approach of natural products have the potential to manage CVDs.

This review aims to provide a comprehensive insight into the synergistic mechanism of natural product combinations in protecting the endothelium against various cardiovascular risk factors.

Databases (PubMed, MEDLINE and EMBASE) and Google Scholar were searched, and studies in English published between January 2000 and February 2022 were collated. Clinical and pre-clinical studies of natural product combinations with or without pharmaceutical medicines, compared with monotherapy and/or proposing the underlying mechanism in protecting endothelial function, were included.

Four clinical studies demonstrated that natural product combinations or natural product-pharmaceutical combinations improved endothelial function. This was associated with multi-targeted effects or improved absorption of the active substances in the body. Seventeen preclinical studies showed that natural product combinations produced synergistic (demonstrated by combination index or Bliss independence model) or enhanced effects in protecting the endothelium against hyperlipidemia, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, platelet activation, oxidative stress and hyperhomocysteinemia. The molecular targets included reactive oxygen species, Nrf2-HO-1, p38MAPK, P13K/Akt and NF-κB.

Thus, the current available evidence of natural product combinations in targeting endothelial dysfunction is predominantly from preclinical studies. These have demonstrated synergistic/enhanced pharmacological activities and proposed associated mechanisms. However, evidence from larger, well-designed clinical trials remains weak. More cohesion is required between preclinical and clinical data to support natural product combinations in preventing or slowing the progression of CVDs.

Chinese Medical Injections for Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Network Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

The World Health Organization has indicated that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may become the third leading cause of death by 2030. Acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) is an important process in clinical treatment. Recent studies have shown that Chinese medical injections (CMI) are effective against AECOPD, but the effective difference among different CMIs remains unclear. The aim of this network meta-analysis (NMA) is to compare the therapeutic effect of various CMIs.

METHODS

We conducted an overall, systematic literature search in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, VIP, SinoMed, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases to retrieve randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of CMIs for AECOPD published up to January 2021. The Cochrane risk of bias tool was used to assess the risk of bias. Stata 13.1 and WinBUGS 14.3 were used for data analyses.

RESULTS

In total, 103 RCTs involving 8767 participants and 23 CMIs were included. The results indicated that among all treatments conventional Western medical therapy (WM) plus Dengzhanxixin injection (DZXX) led to the best improvement in the clinical efficacy and the ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) to forced vital capacity (FVC) (FEV1/FVC), with surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA)=80.47% and 98.55%, respectively. Moreover, Shenmai injection (SM) plus WM and Reduning injection (RDN) plus WM led to the best improvement in the FEV1 (SUCRA=80.18%) and the ratio of forced expiratory volume in one second to the predicted value (FEV1%, SUCRA=87.28%). Shengmai injection (SGM) plus WM led to the most considerable shortening in the length of hospital stay (SUCRA=94.70%). Cluster analysis revealed that WM+DZXX had the most favorable response for clinical efficacy and FEV1, as well as clinical efficacy and FEV1/FVC, WM+RDN had the most favorable response for clinical efficacy and FEV1%, WM+SGM had the most favorable response for clinical efficacy and length of hospital stay.

CONCLUSION

WM+DZXX, WM+RDN, and WM+SGM were noted to be the optimum treatment regimens for improving in clinical efficacy, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, FEV1% and reducing the hospital stay length of AECOPD patients. Considering the limitations this NMA may have, the current results warrant further verification via additional high-quality studies.

Anti-tumor activities of Panax quinquefolius saponins and potential biomarkers in prostate cancer

BACKGROUND

Prostate carcinoma is the second most common cancer among men worldwide. Developing new therapeutic approaches and diagnostic biomarkers for prostate cancer (PC) is a significant need. The Chinese herbal medicine Panax quinquefolius saponins (PQS) have been reported to show anti-tumor effects. We hypothesized that PQS exhibits anti-cancer activity in human PC cells and we aimed to search for novel biomarkers allowing early diagnosis of PC.

METHODS

We used the human PC cell line DU145 and the prostate epithelial cell line PNT2 to perform cell viability assays, flow cytometric analysis of the cell cycle, and FACS-based apoptosis assays. Microarray-based gene expression analysis was used to display specific gene expression patterns and to search for novel biomarkers. Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR were performed to demonstrate the expression levels of multiple cancer-related genes.

RESULTS

Our data showed that PQS inhibited the viability of DU145 cells and induced cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase. A significant decrease in DU145 cell invasion and migration were observed after 24 h treatment by PQS. PQS up-regulated the expression levels of p21, p53, TMEM79, ACOXL, ETV5, and SPINT1 while it down-regulated the expression levels of bcl2, STAT3, FANCD2, DRD2, and TMPRSS2.

CONCLUSION

PQS promoted cells apoptosis and inhibited the proliferation of DU145 cells, which suggests that PQS may be effective for treating PC. TMEM79 and ACOXL were expressed significantly higher in PNT2 than in DU145 cells and could be novel biomarker candidates for PC diagnosis.

The compatibility effects of sini decoction against doxorubicin-induced heart failure in rats revealed by mass spectrometry-based serum metabolite profiling and computational analysis

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Sini decoction (SND) is a famous Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formula composed of Acontium carmichaeli, Zingiber officinale and Glycyrrhiza uralensis, which is considered as an efficient formula against doxorubicin (DOX)-induced heart failure. But the compatibility mechanism of SND remains unclear.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The present study aimed to investigate the compatibility mechanism of SND against DOX-induced heart failure in rats.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Mass spectrometry-based serum metabolomics were performed. The relative distance values (RDVs) of SND, A. carmichaeli-free decoction (ACFD), Z. officinale-free decoction (ZOFD) and G. uralensis-free decoction (GUFD) treated groups from the control/DOX groups in multidimensional space were calculated to provide a measure of compatibility effect of SND. SND, ACFD, ZOFD, GUFD-targeted metabolic pathways were identified and compared to investigate the synergistic mechanism of SND by computational systems analysis. Real-time quantitative PCR was further employed to validate the key metabolic pathways at the level of the gene.

RESULTS

The RDVs combined with the hemodynamic and biochemical analysis showed that the protection effects were sorted as SND > GUFD > ZOFD > ACFD. It revealed that DOX-induced heart failure perturbed 16 metabolic pathways, and SND, GUFD, ZOFD and ACFD-treated groups could significantly reversed 12, 10, 7 and 6 metabolic pathways of these 16 metabolic pathways, respectively. Metabolic pathway and RT-PCR analysis indicated that both SND and GUFD could protect DOX-induced heart failure mainly by regulating PLA2-COX pathway and PLA2-CYP pathway.

CONCLUSION

It can be concluded that A. carmichaeli played an essential role in attenuation of DOX-induced heart failure among the three herb constituents of SND and the constituent herbs mutually reinforced each other. This work demonstrated that metabolomics combined with computational systems analysis was a promising tool for uncovering the compatibility effects of TCM.

Authentic compound-free strategy for simultaneous determination of primary coumarins in Peucedani Radix using offline high performance liquid chromatography-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy-tandem mass spectrometry

Herein, a strategy is proposed for the simultaneous determination of primary coumarins in Peucedani Radix (Chinese name: Qianhu). The methodology consists of three consecutive steps: 1) Semi-preparative LC in combination with a home-made automated fraction collection module to fragment the universal metabolome standard into ten fractions (Frs. I-X); 2) LC-accurate MS/MS and quantitative ¹H NMR spectroscopy conducted in parallel to acquire the qualitative and quantitative data of each fraction; 3) Robust identification and quantification of components by use of LC coupled to multiple reaction monitoring. In this final step, the most significant fractions (Frs. III-X) were pooled to serve as the pseudo-mixed standard solution. Meticulous online parameter optimization was performed to obtain the optimal parameters, including ion transitions and collision energies. Concerns were particularly paid onto pursuing the parameters being capable of monitoring regio-specific isomers, notably praeruptorin E vs. 3'-isovaleryl-4'-angeloylkhellactone. The quantitative performance of the method was validated according to diverse assays. Eleven primary coumarins (1-11) were unambiguously identified and absolutely quantified, even though no external reference compound was used. Above all, the integrated strategy not only provides a feasible pipeline for the quality assessment of Peucedani Radix, but more importantly, shows the potential for authentic compound-free quantitative evaluation of traditional Chinese medicines.

A full solution for multi-component quantification-oriented quality assessment of herbal medicines, Chinese agarwood as a case

The quality of herbal medicines (HMs) is the prerequisite for their pronounced therapeutic outcomes in clinic, and multi-component (also known as quality markers, Q-markers) quantification has been widely emphasized as a viable means for quality evaluation. Because of the chemical diversity, the quality control practices are extensively dampened by four principal technical bottlenecks, including the lack of authentic compounds, large polarity span, extensive concentration range, and signal misrecognition for those potential Q-markers. An attempt to promote the potential of LC-MS/MS is made herein to cope with those obstacles and Chinese agarwood was employed as a case study. Firstly, a home-made fraction collector was introduced to automatically fragment the entire extract into a panel of fractions-of-interest. Secondly, quantitative ¹H-NMR was deployed to offset the LC-MS/MS potential towards in-depth chemical profiling each fraction, and those well-defined fractions were then pooled and combined with some accessible authentic compounds to generate the pseudo-mixed standard solution. Thirdly, serial improvements were conducted for LC-MS/MS measurements. Reversed phase LC and hydrophilic interaction LC were serially coupled in respond to the large polarity window, and online parameter optimization, response tailoring, as well as RRCEC (relative response vs. collision energy curve) matching were integrated in MS/MS domain to advance the quantitative confidences. Simultaneous determination was conducted for 26 components, in total, in Chinese agarwood after method validation. In particular, authentic compound-free quantification was achieved for eight 2-(2-phenylethyl)chromone derivatives. Above all, the strategy is a promising solution to completely tackle with the technical barriers toward Q-marker quantification-oriented quality control of Chinese agarwood, as well as other HMs.

Correlation of drug-induced and drug-related ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry serum metabolomic profiles yields discovery of effective constituents of Sini decoction against myocardial ischemia in rats

A “system to system” strategy of correlating drug-related and drug-induced UHPLC-Q-TOFMS serum metabolomic profiles was developed to screen effective constituents.

Synergistic Effects of Chinese Herbal Medicine: A Comprehensive Review of Methodology and Current Research

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an important part of primary health care in Asian countries that has utilized complex herbal formulations (consisting 2 or more medicinal herbs) for treating diseases over thousands of years. There seems to be a general assumption that the synergistic therapeutic effects of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) derive from the complex interactions between the multiple bioactive components within the herbs and/or herbal formulations. However, evidence to support these synergistic effects remains weak and controversial due to several reasons, including the very complex nature of CHM, misconceptions about synergy and methodological challenges to study design. In this review, we clarify the definition of synergy, identify common errors in synergy research and describe current methodological approaches to test for synergistic interaction. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these models in the context of CHM and summarize the current status of synergy research in CHM. Despite the availability of some scientific data to support the synergistic effects of multi-herbal and/or herb-drug combinations, the level of evidence remains low, and the clinical relevancy of most of these findings is undetermined. There remain significant challenges in the development of suitable methods for synergistic studies of complex herbal combinations.

Evidence for Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral and Bone Disorder Associated With Metabolic Pathway Changes

Abnormalities in the levels of calcium, phosphorus, and parathyroid hormone (PTH) in serum are typical for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). They are used routinely to predict the onset of CKD-mineral and bone disorder (MBD). However, CKD-MBD associated with metabolic pathway imbalance is not well understood.The objective of the study was to identify endogenous metabolic signatures in patients with intact PTH using mass spectrometry-based metabolomics. This study was a cross-sectional study. Ultra performance liquid chromatography-Quadrupole Time-of-Flight/mass spectrometry-based metabolic profiling was employed to analyze serum samples from 19 disease controls (DCs) (intact parathyroid hormone [iPTH] 150-300 pg/mL) and 19 secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) patients (iPTH >300 pg/mL) (the training data set) to identify metabolic biomarkers for CKD-MBD. Then, another set of samples including 19 DCs (iPTH 150-300 pg/mL) and 19 SHPT patients (iPTH >300 pg/mL) (the test data set) were used to validate the potential biomarkers identified.Metabolic profiling analyses revealed different patterns of endogenous metabolites between the SHPT and the DC groups. A total of 32 unique metabolites were identified and 30 metabolites were elevated in the iPTH compared with control serum pools. Cytidine and L-phenylalanine were downregulated in the SHPT patients. The metabolic signatures identified were assessed respectively by an internal 10-fold cross validation with an accuracy of 91.4% and an external validation with an accuracy of 71.1%, a sensitivity of 73.7%, and a specificity of 68.4%.Mass spectrometry-based metabolomic analyses for SHPT patients promises immense potential for early diagnosis and therapy monitoring. Our results indicated that the onset of CKD-MBD is associated with pathway changes of protein synthesis and metabolism, amino acid metabolism, energy metabolism, and steroid hormone metabolism, with obvious promise for better understanding the pathogenesis of this disease. Several metabolic biomarkers were identified, which warrant further development.

Screening and evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine by microarray expression analysis

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Salvia miltiorrhiza is a Chinese medicinal herb, which is widely used for the treatment of cardiovascular disorders. In this article, we investigated the effects of Salvia miltiorrhiza and its hydrophilic and lipophilic components (HCS and LCS) on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and the molecular mechanism was explored by microarray gene expression profiling.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Cell proliferation and migration were used to evaluate the angiogenic effects of HCS, LCS and total extract of Salvia miltiorrhiza (TES). Microarray technology was applied to detect the gene expression of HUVECs treated with TES, HCS and LCS. Besides, quantitative real-time PCR was used to verify the microarray results.

RESULTS

Our results showed that LCS inhibited the proliferation and migration of HUVECs, HCS promoted the proliferation and migration of HUVECs, and TES did not affect the viability of HUVECs at the concentration of 5 µg/mL. From the result of principle component analysis (PCA) of microarray data, the effect of LCS on HUVECs was significantly different from the other components. Moreover, there were more differentially expression genes in LCS group than in the other groups, which meant LCS had a strong influence on HUVECs. Compared with untreated cells, 511 significantly changed genes had been detected in LCS treated cells and 236 (approximately 46%) of them were up-regulated. The mRNA expression of IL-6 was found to be increased significantly in LCS group.

CONCLUSIONS

In Salvia miltiorrhiza, HCS and LCS had opposite effects on HUVECs. LCS showed significantly inhibitory action on HUVECs proliferation and migration. It was proposed that LCS could apply in the diseases caused by vascular anomaly hyperplasia. In the mechanism of action of LCS on HUVECs, the pathways of ErbB, MAPK, p53, oxidative phosphorylation and inflammatory response were involved.