Inhibitory Effect of Salvia miltiorrhiza Extract and Its Active Components on Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplastic Cells

Alendronate Functionalized Bone-Targeting Pomolic Acid Liposomes Restore Bone Homeostasis for Osteoporosis Treatment

Introduction

Osteoporosis, characterized by dysregulation of osteoclastic bone resorption and osteoblastic bone formation, severely threatens human health during aging. However, there is still no good therapy for osteoporosis, so this direction requires our continuous attention, and there is an urgent need for new drugs to solve this problem.

Methods

Traditional Chinese Medicine Salvia divinorum monomer pomolic acid (PA) could effectively inhibit osteoclastogenesis and ovariectomized osteoporosis. However, its poor solubility and lack of targeting severely limits its further application. A novel bone-targeting nanomedicine (PA@TLipo) has been developed to reconstruct the osteoporotic microenvironment by encapsulating pomolic acid in alendronate-functionalized liposomes. Through a series of operations such as synthesis, purification, encapsulation, and labeling, the PA@TLipo have been prepared. Moreover, the cytotoxicity, bone targeting and anti-osteoporosis effect was verified by cell and animal experiments.

Results

In the aspect of targeting, the PA@TLipo can effectively aggregate on the bone tissue to reduce bone loss, and in terms of toxicity, PA@TLipo could increase the bone target ability in comparison to nontargeted liposome, thereby mitigating systemic cytotoxicity. Moreover, PA@TLipo inhibited osteoclast formation and bone resorption in vitro and reduced bone loss in ovariectomy-induced osteoporotic mice.

Conclusion

In this study, a novel therapeutic agent was designed and constructed to treat osteoporosis, consisting of a liposome material as the drug pocket, PA as the anti-osteoporosis drug, and ALN as the bone-targeting molecule. And our study is the first to employ a bone-targeted delivery system to deliver PA for OVX-induced bone loss, providing an innovative solution for treating osteoporosis.

Endophytic fungus Penicillium steckii DF33 promoted tanshinones biosynthesis in Salvia miltiorrhiza by regulating the expression of CYP450 genes

Salvia miltiorrhiza, a prominent traditional Chinese medicinal resource, has been extensively employed in the management of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular ailments. Ensuring the consistency of S. miltiorrhiza raw materials revolves around the imperative task of maintaining stable tanshinones content and composition. An effective approach in this regard involves the utilization of endophytic fungi as inducers. Within this context, our study spotlights an endophytic fungus, Penicillium steckii DF33, isolated from the roots of S. miltiorrhiza. Remarkably, this fungus has demonstrated a significant capacity to boost the biosynthesis and accumulation of tanshinones. The primary objective of this investigation is to elucidate the underlying regulatory mechanism by which DF33 enhances and regulates the biosynthesis and accumulation of tanshinones. This is achieved through its influence on the differential expression of crucial CYP450 genes within the S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots system. The results revealed that the DF33 elicitor not only promotes the growth of hairy roots but also enhances the accumulation of tanshinones. Notably, the content of cryptotanshinone was reached 1.6452 ± 0.0925 mg g-1, a fourfold increase compared to the control group. Our qRT-PCR results further demonstrate that the DF33 elicitor significantly up-regulates the expression of most key enzyme genes (GGPPS, CPS1, KSL1, CYP76AH1, CYP76AH3, CYP76AK1, CYP71D411) involved in the tanshinone biosynthesis pathway. This effect is particularly pronounced in certain critical CYP450 genes and Tanshinone ⅡA synthase (SmTⅡAS), with their expression levels peaking at 7 days or 14 days, respectively. In summary, endophytic P. steckii DF33 primarily enhances tanshinone biosynthesis by elevating the expression levels of pivotal enzyme genes associated with the modification and transformation stages within the tanshinone biosynthesis pathway. These findings underscore the potential of employing plant probiotics, specifically endophytic and root-associated microbes, to facilitate the biosynthesis and transformation of vital constituents in medicinal plants, and this approach holds promise for enhancing the quality of traditional Chinese medicinal materials.

Recent developments in Salvia miltiorrhiza polysaccharides: Isolation, purification, structural characteristics and biological activities

In recent years, natural polysaccharides have attracted more and more attention and research because of their value in the medicine, beauty and food fields. Salvia miltiorrhiza is a traditional Chinese herb that has been used for thousands of years and has antidiabetic, antifibrotic, neuroprotective, antioxidation, anti-inflammatory and other effects. It mainly includes rosmarinic acid, tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA, tanshinone IIB, procatechualdehyde, polysaccharide and salvianolic acids. Salvia miltiorrhiza polysaccharide is a polysaccharide extracted and isolated from Salvia miltiorrhiza and has diverse biological functions, including antioxidation, anti-tumor, hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, immune regulatory and cardioprotective effect. In this review, the extraction, purification, structural characterization and biological activity of SMPs are summarized and new perspectives for the future work of SMPs were also proposed, we hope our research can provide a reference for further research on SMPs.

Lignans from Mosla scabra Ameliorated Influenza A Virus-Induced Pneumonia via Inhibiting Macrophage Activation

The lower respiratory tract infection, induced by influenza virus, coronaviruses, and respiratory syncytial virus, remains a serious threat to human health that can cause a global pandemic. Thus, finding effective chemicals and therapeutic measures to advance the functional restoration of the respiratory tract after infection has been the emphasis of the studies on the subjects. Mosla scabra is a natural medicinal plant used for treating various lung and gastrointestinal diseases, including viral infection, cough, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, acute gastroenteritis, and diarrhoea. In this study, the antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects of total lignans (MSTL) extracted from the plant were investigated in influenza A virus (IAV)-infected mice and RAW 264.7 macrophages. MSTL could not only protect the macrophages against IAV-induced pyroptosis but also could lighten the lung inflammation induced by IAV in vivo and in vitro. The network pharmacology analysis revealed that differentially expressed genes, mainly involving in EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor resistance, endocrine resistance, HIF-1 signaling pathway, C-type lectin receptor signaling pathway, and FOXO signaling pathway, contributed to the IAV-induced alveolar macrophage dysfunction. It indicated that MSTL enhanced the function of alveolar macrophages and improved IAV-induced lung injury in mice.