Pharmacokinetics of five phthalides in volatile oil of Ligusticum sinense Oliv.cv. Chaxiong, and comparison study on physicochemistry and pharmacokinetics after being formulated into solid dispersion and inclusion compound

Revealing the potential bioactive components and mechanism of Qianhua Gout Capsules in the treatment of gouty arthritis through network pharmacology, molecular docking and pharmacodynamic study strategies

Recent clinical studies have confirmed the effectiveness of Qianhua Gout Capsules (QGC) in the treatment of gouty arthritis (GA). However, the specific regulatory targets and mechanisms of action of QGC are still unclear. To address this gap, we utilized network pharmacology, molecular docking, and pharmacodynamic approaches to investigate the bioactive components and associated mechanisms of QGC in the treatment of GA. By employing UPLC-Q Exactive-MS, we identified the compounds present in QGC, with active ingredients defined as those with oral bioavailability ≥30 % and drug similarity ≥0.18. Subsequently, the targets of these active compounds were determined using the TCMSP database, while GA-related targets were identified from DisGeNET, GeneCards, TTD, OMIM, and DrugBank databases. Further analysis including PPI analysis, GO analysis, and KEGG pathway enrichment was conducted on the targets. Validation of the predicted results was performed using a GA rat model, evaluating pathological changes, inflammatory markers, and pathway protein expression. Our results revealed a total of 130 components, 44 active components, 16 potential shared targets, GO-enriched terms, and 47 signaling pathways related to disease targets. Key active ingredients included quercetin, kaempferol, β-sitosterol, luteolin, and wogonin. The PPI analysis highlighted five targets (PPARG, IL-6, MMP-9, IL-1β, CXCL-8) with the highest connectivity, predominantly enriched in the IL-17 signaling pathway. Molecular docking experiments demonstrated strong binding of CXCL8, IL-1β, IL-6, MMP9, and PPARG targets with the top five active compounds. Furthermore, animal experiments confirmed the efficacy of QGC in treating GA in rats, showing reductions in TNF-α, IL-6, and MDA levels, and increases in SOD levels in serum. In synovial tissues, QGC treatment upregulated CXCL8 and PPARG expression, while downregulating IL-1β, MMP9, and IL-6 expression. In conclusion, this study applied a network pharmacology approach to uncover the composition of QGC, predict its pharmacological interactions, and demonstrate its in vivo efficacy, providing insights into the anti-GA mechanisms of QGC. These findings pave the way for future investigations into the therapeutic mechanisms underlying QGC's effectiveness in the treatment of GA.

Designing combinational herbal drugs based on target space analysis

BACKGROUND

Traditional oriental medicines (TOMs) are a medical practice that follows different philosophies to pharmaceutical drugs and they have been in use for many years in different parts of the world. In this study, by integrating TOM formula and pharmaceutical drugs, we performed target space analysis between TOM formula target space and small-molecule drug target space. To do so, we manually curated 46 TOM formulas that are known to treat Anxiety, Diabetes mellitus, Epilepsy, Hypertension, Obesity, and Schizophrenia. Then, we employed Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion, and Toxicity (ADMET) properties such as human ether-a-go-go related gene (hERG) inhibition, Carcinogenicity, and AMES toxicity to filter out potentially toxic herbal ingredients. The target space analysis was performed between TOM formula and small-molecule drugs: (i) both are known to treat the same disease, and (ii) each known to treat different diseases. Statistical significance of the overlapped target space between the TOM formula and small-molecule drugs was measured using support value. Support value distribution from randomly selected target space was calculated to validate the result. Furthermore, the Si-Wu-Tang (SWT) formula and published literature were also used to evaluate our results.

RESULT

This study tried to provide scientific evidence about the effectiveness of the TOM formula to treat the main indication with side effects that could come from the use of small-molecule drugs. The target space analysis between TOM formula and small-molecule drugs in which both are known to treat the same disease shows that many targets overlapped between the two medications with a support value of 0.84 and weighted average support of 0.72 for a TOM formula known to treat Epilepsy. Furthermore, support value distribution from randomly selected target spaces in this analysis showed that the number of overlapped targets is much higher between TOM formula and small-molecule drugs that are known to treat the same disease than in randomly selected target spaces. Moreover, scientific literature was also used to evaluate the medicinal efficacy of individual herbs.

CONCLUSION

This study provides an evidence to the effectiveness of a TOM formula to treat the main indication as well as side effects associated with the use of pharmaceutical drugs, as demonstrated through target space analysis.

In vitro evaluation of the anti‑breast cancer properties and gene expression profiles of Thai traditional formulary medicine extracts

Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Moreover, standard treatments are limited, so new alternative treatments are required. Thai traditional formulary medicine (TTFM) utilizes certain herbs to treat different diseases due to their dominant properties including anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, antigenotoxic, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer actions. However, very little is known about the anti-cancer properties of TTFM against breast cancer cells and the underlying molecular mechanism has not been elucidated. Therefore, the present study, evaluated the metabolite profiles of TTFM extracts, the anti-cancer activities of TTFM extracts, their effects on the apoptosis pathway and associated gene expression profiles. Liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectroscopy analysis identified a total of 226 compounds within the TTFM extracts. Several of these compounds have been previously shown to have an anti-cancer effect in certain cancer types. The MTT results demonstrated that the TTFM extracts significantly reduced the cell viability of the breast cancer 4T1 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. Moreover, an apoptosis assay, demonstrated that the TTFM extracts significantly increased the proportion of apoptotic cells. Furthermore, the RNA-sequencing results demonstrated that 25 known genes were affected by TTFM treatment in 4T1 cells. TTFM treatment significantly up-regulated Slc5a8 and Arhgap9 expression compared with untreated cells. Moreover, Cybb, and Bach2os were significantly downregulated after TTFM treatment compared with untreated cells. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR demonstrated that TTFM extract treatment significantly increased Slc5a8 and Arhgap9 mRNA expression levels and significantly decreased Cybb mRNA expression levels. Moreover, the mRNA expression levels of Bax and Casp9 were significantly increased after TTFM treatment in 4T1 cells compared with EpH4-Ev cells. These findings indicated anti-breast cancer activity via induction of the apoptotic process. However, further experiments are required to elucidate how TTFM specifically regulates genes and proteins. This study supports the potential usage of TTFM extracts for the development of anti-cancer drugs.

An application of citric acid as a carrier for solid dispersion to improve the dissolution and uric acid-lowering effect of kaempferol

Kaempferol (KPF) is a flavonoid compound, which has a variety of pharmacological activities, and widely exists in daily diet. However, its application is limited due to poor solubility. Citric acid (CA) is a common food additive with high solubility. In this study, solid dispersion (SD) was prepared with CA as the carrier to improve the solubility of KPF. KPF-CA-SD (weight ratio 1:20) was obtained by ultrasonic for 20 min at 40 °C. The in vitro dissolution of KPF in SD was increased from about 50% to more than 80%. The physicochemical characterizations were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscope. In hyperuricemia mice, KPF-SD (equivalent to 100 mg/kg KPF) can effectively reduce serum uric acid and exert nephroprotective effects. In conclusion, the preparation of SD with CA might provide a safe and effective selection to facilitate application of KPF in food and medicine.

Preparation, In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Nanoemulsion In Situ Gel for Transnasal Delivery of Traditional Chinese Medicine Volatile Oil from Ligusticum sinense Oliv.cv. Chaxiong

Ischemic stroke is a difficult-to-treat brain disease that may be attributed to a limited therapeutic time window and lack of effective clinical drugs. Nasal-brain administration is characterized by low systemic toxicity and is a direct and non-invasive brain targeting route. Preliminary studies have shown that the volatile oil of Chaxiong (VOC) has an obvious anti-ischemic stroke effect. In this work, we designed a nanoemulsion thermosensitive in situ gel (VOC-NE-ISG) loaded with volatile oil of Chaxiong for ischemia via intranasal delivery to rat brain treatment of cerebral ischemic stroke. The developed VOC-NE-ISG formulation has a suitable particle size of 21.02 ± 0.25 nm and a zeta potential of -20.4 ± 1.47 mV, with good gelling ability and prolonged release of the five components of VOC. The results of in vivo pharmacokinetic studies and brain targeting studies showed that intranasal administration of VOC-NE-ISG could significantly improve the bioavailability and had excellent brain-targeting efficacy of nasal-to-brain delivery. In addition, the results of pharmacodynamics experiments showed that both VOC-NE and VOC-NE-ISG could reduce the neurological deficit score of model rats, reducing the size of cerebral infarction, with a significant effect on improving ischemic stroke. Overall, VOC-NE-ISG may be a promising intranasal nanomedicine for the effective treatment of ischemic stroke.