Multiple Fingerprints and Spectrum-Effect Relationship of Polysaccharides from Saposhnikoviae Radix

Anti-LSSDS pharmacological components identification of YuHuangLian based on the combination of spectrum-effect analysis and network pharmacology as well as molecular docking

This research aimed to investigate the pharmacological components for liver stagnation and spleen deficiency syndrome (LSSDS) of Evodia rutaecarpa (also called Yu HuangLian [YHL]) by exploring the spectrum-effect relationship between fingerprints and pharmacological actions. The fingerprints of 17 batches of YHL with different preparation conditions according to Box-Behnken Design were generated and analyzed to identify the common peaks by HPLC and FT-IR. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (vip), substance P, and 5-HT levels in colon sample were measured by ELISA. Gray degree correlation and orthogonal partial least squares were employed to explore the correlation degree between components and pharmacologic activity. The presumed pharmacological components were further confirmed by network pharmacology, molecular docking, and qRT-PCR. The columbamine, jatrorrhizine, coptisine, berberine, rutecarpine, and evodiamine of the 14 common peaks in HPLC fingerprints were significantly correlated with the pharmacological indexes. Similarly, there was a strong correlation with -OH, δNC-H, and νC-O-C of the 10 common peaks in FT-IR fingerprints. PTGS2 and CHRM3 were the main targets intervening LSSDS, and the presumed pharmacological components could markedly increase the expression of CHRM3 and obviously reduce the expression of PTGS2 compared with the model group.

Comparative study on metabolite variations of two rose teas by plant metabolomics and revealing their skin-whitening candidates by spectrum-effect relationship analysis

INTRODUCTION

Rosa rugosa var. plena Rehd (CBR) and Rosa chinensis cv. "JinBian" (JBR) are two common species used in rose tea among different original species. CBR, the officially documented original plant of the rose species for food and medicinal purposes, is more costly than JBR. With increasing demand for different rose teas, it is meaningful to compare the chemical constituents for their quality control and reveal their skin-whitening components that will provide in-depth insights for the expansion of the rose tea industry.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to reveal the chemical variances between CBR and JBR and determine their skin-whitening components.

METHODOLOGY

A strategy obtained by combining MS-based plant-metabolomics with spectrum-effect relationship analysis has been proposed for unveiling chemical differences between CBR and JBR and further exploring their potential skin-whitening components.

RESULTS

A total of 2030 metabolites were found that revealed considerable differences between CBR and JBR. The results of bioactivity assay demonstrated that JBR exhibited stronger tyrosinase inhibition activity than CBR. Six potential skin-whitening compounds (di-O-galloyl-HHDP-glucoside, tri-O-galloyl-HHDP-glucoside, spiraeoside, quinic acid, rugosin A, and 1,2,3,6-tetra-O-galloyl-glucose) were discovered as potential tyrosinase inhibitors, via spectrum-effect relationship analysis. This is the first time that di-O-galloyl-HHDP-glucoside, tri-O-galloyl-HHDP-glucoside, rugosin A, and 1,2,3,6-tetra-O-galloyl-glucose have been reported with tyrosinase inhibitory activity. Additionally, molecular docking analysis was used to reveal the inhibition mechanism of these compounds toward tyrosinase.

CONCLUSION

The finding of this study will be of great importance for the quality control of the two types of rose teas, and the revealed active ingredients will provide in-depth insights for the expansion of the rose tea industry.

Structural characterization of a polysaccharide derived from Saposhnikovia divaricatee (Turcz.) Schischk with anti-allergic and antioxidant activities

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Saposhnikoviae Radix, the dry root of Saposhnikovia divaricatee (Turcz.) Schischk, is a traditional chinese medicine used for the treatment of cold, headache, and skin pruritus.

AIM OF THE STUDY

This study aimed to identify novel active polysaccharides from Saposhnikovia divaricatee (Turcz.) Schischk and clarify their structures and bioactivities.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The structure of polysaccharides was clarified by PMP-HPLC, methylation analysis, particle acid hydrolysis analysis and NMR analysis. The anti-allergic and antioxidant activities of polysaccharides were evaluated on allergic reaction model in RBL-2H3 cells and oxidative damage model of C. elegans.

RESULTS

We purified a novel homogenous polysaccharide named SP-3 from Saposhnikovia divaricatee (Turcz.) Schischk and its molecular weight was determined as 3.096 × 104 Da. Monosaccharide composition analysis revealed that SP-3 was composed of mannose, rhamnose, galacturonic acid, glucose, galactose, and arabinose (1.85: 5.22: 38.06: 2.36: 23.25: 29.26). The main linkage type of SP-3 was a repeat unit of →4,6)-β-D-Galp-(1 → 4)-α-D-GalpA-(1 → . The branches of SP-3 contained T-linked-α-L-Araf and 1,3,4-linked-α-L-Rhap. It was observed that SP-3 inhibited β-HEX release and inflammatory factors in RBL-2H3 cells subject to IgE stimulant. Meanwhile, SP-3 increased the mean lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans under oxidative stress, reduced ROS content and increased antioxidant enzyme activities of C. elegans, potentially through activating the SOD-3.

CONCLUSIONS

A novel homogenous polysaccharide was identified from Saposhnikovia divaricatee (Turcz.) Schischk, and this polysaccharide SP-3 played key roles for the anti-allergic and antioxidant activities.

Extraction, purification, structural characteristics and biological properties of the polysaccharides from Radix Saposhnikoviae: A review

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Radix Saposhnikoviae (R. Saposhnikoviae), commonly known as FangFeng, is a renowned medicinal herb in China extensively utilized in traditional Chinese medicine. It expels pathogenic wind from the body surface, alleviates pain by removing dampness, and relieves convulsion. Therefore, it is mainly used for treating exterior syndrome, itchy wind papules, rheumatic arthralgia, and splenic asthenia-induced dampness. R. saposhnikoviae has important medicinal value, and the polysaccharide component is one of its important active ingredients.

AIM OF THE REVIEW

This review summarizes the factors influencing the content of polysaccharides in R. Saposhnikoviae (PRSs), the techniques employed for their extraction, separation, and purification, their structural characterization, and their biological activities.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Relevant research reports on PRSs were collected from the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Web of Science, PubMed, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, China Master Theses Full-text Database, and China Doctoral Dissertations Full-text Database.

RESULTS

The content of PRSs can vary depending on cultivation methods and harvesting time. PRSs were extracted using various extraction techniques such as hot water, ultrasonic-assisted, microwave-assisted, and enzymatic extractions, as well as water extraction and alcohol precipitation. Effective purification methods involve protein removal using trifluoro-trichloroethane and the decolorization of the polysaccharide using column chromatography with D280 anion exchange resins. Current research highlights the significant pharmacological activities of PRSs in R. Saposhnikoviae, including immunomodulatory, antioxidant, anti-allergic, anti-cancer, and anti-osteoporotic effects as well as prevention of calcium loss and maintenance of mucosal function.

CONCLUSIONS

PRSs play a crucial role as bioactive constituents of R. Saposhnikoviae, exhibiting diverse biological activities and promising applications. A deeper understanding of PRSs will contribute to the improved utilization of R. Saposhnikoviae and the development of related derivatives of the active ingredients.

Application of Data Fusion in Traditional Chinese Medicine: A Review

Traditional Chinese medicine is characterized by numerous chemical constituents, complex components, and unpredictable interactions among constituents. Therefore, a single analytical technique is usually unable to obtain comprehensive chemical information. Data fusion is an information processing technology that can improve the accuracy of test results by fusing data from multiple devices, which has a broad application prospect by utilizing chemometrics methods, adopting low-level, mid-level, and high-level data fusion techniques, and establishing final classification or prediction models. This paper summarizes the current status of the application of data fusion strategies based on spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, chromatography, and sensor technologies in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in light of the latest research progress of data fusion technology at home and abroad. It also gives an outlook on the development of data fusion technology in TCM analysis to provide references for the research and development of TCM.

Spectrum-Effect Relationship in Chinese Herbal Medicine: Current Status and Future Perspectives

The quality of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) directly impacts clinical efficacy and safety. Fingerprint technology is an internationally recognized method for evaluating the quality of CHM. However, the existing quality evaluation models based on fingerprint technology have blocked the ability to assess the internal quality of CHM and cannot comprehensively reflect the correlation between pharmacodynamic information and active constituents. Through mathematical methods, a connection between the "Spectrum" (fingerprint) and the "Effect" (pharmacodynamic data) was established to conduct a spectrum-effect relationship (SER) of CHM to unravel the active component information associated with the pharmacodynamic activity. Consequently, SER can efficiently address the limitations of the segmentation of chemical components and pharmacodynamic effect in CHM and further improve the quality evaluation of CHM. This review focuses on the recent research progress of SER in the field of CHM, including the establishment of fingerprint, the selection of data analysis methods, and their recent applications in the field of CHM. Various advanced fingerprint techniques are introduced, followed by the data analysis methods used in recent years are summarized. Finally, the applications of SER based on different research subjects are described in detail. In addition, the advantages of combining SER with other data are discussed through practical applications, and the research on SER is summarized and prospected. This review proves the validity and development potential of the SER and provides a reference for the development and application of quality evaluation methods for CHM.

Spectrum-Effect Relationships as an Effective Approach for Quality Control of Natural Products: A Review

As natural products with biological activity, the quality of traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) is the key to their clinical application. Fingerprints based on the types and contents of chemical components in TCM are an internationally recognized quality evaluation method but ignore the correlation between chemical components and efficacy. Through chemometric methods, the fingerprints represented by the chemical components of TCM were correlated with its pharmacodynamic activity results to obtain the spectrum-effect relationships of TCM, which can reveal the pharmacodynamic components information related to the pharmacodynamic activity and solve the limitations of segmentation of chemical components and pharmacodynamic research in TCM. In the 20th anniversary of the proposed spectrum-effect relationships, this paper reviews its research progress in the field of TCM, including the establishment of fingerprints, pharmacodynamic evaluation methods, chemometric methods and their practical applications in the field of TCM. Furthermore, the new strategy of spectrum-effect relationships research in recent years was also discussed, and the application prospects of this technology were discussed.

A low-cost efficient online derivatization system for the determination of saccharides by high-performance liquid chromatograph-ultraviolet detector

In this study, a low-cost efficient online derivatization system was developed which allows for the detection of various types of mono- and oligo-saccharides only utilizing high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-ultraviolet detector (UV) system. In the proposed method, phenylhydrazine was used as the derivatization reagent and directly spiked in the mobile phase, allowing for the separation and detection of mono- and oligosaccharides in an accessible instrument system (HPLC-UV). And the online derivatization design of the proposed method has significantly reduced the potential harm of derivatization reagents to the analysts. Furthermore, critical chromatographic parameters were optimized via the Box-Behnken design strategy, culminating in the ideal response for saccharides. Finally, the methodology validation of the proposed method was conducted. The proposed method showed satisfactory linear ranges with acceptable correlation coefficients (R2  > 0.99), outstanding accuracy (Recovery: 95.3%-105.6%), high intra-day precision (relative standard deviation [RSD]: 1.4%-7.1%) and inter-day precision (RSD: 2.0%-7.4%). The robustness and ruggedness of the proposed method were proved as the recovery values in the range of 95.0%-104.6% and 95.1%-104.8% for robustness and ruggedness, respectively. These satisfactory validation results confirm the applicability and reliability of the proposed method for the analysis of saccharides in various complex real-world samples.

Dioscoreae Rhizoma starch improves chronic diarrhea by regulating the gut microbiotas and fecal metabolome in rats

Chinese yam (Dioscorea opposite Thunb.) has been used as food and medicine to treat diarrhea for thousands of years. This article aimed to elucidate the potential mechanism of Dioscoreae Rhizoma starch in alleviating chronic diarrhea induced by rhubarb based on gut microbiotas and fecal metabolome. The administration of the Dioscoreae Rhizoma aqueous extracts, crude polysaccharides, and starch could improve diarrhea and alleviate intestinal injury in chronic diarrhea rats. The Dioscoreae Rhizoma starch displayed the most apparent effect on regulating intestinal microbiotas by increasing the abundance and diversity of microbiotas. At the genus level, there were 17 changed intestinal microbiotas in model rats, and the treatment with Dioscoreae Rhizoma starch regulated 11 microbiotas. Metabolomics analysis revealed that Dioscoreae Rhizoma starch could regulate abnormal fecal metabolites to alleviate diarrhea, and these metabolites are involved in phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis; tyrosine metabolism; vitamin B6 metabolism; and purine metabolism. This study will contribute to the further research and development of Dioscoreae Rhizoma starch.

Multiple Fingerprint-Activity Relationship Assessment of Immunomodulatory Polysaccharides from Ganoderma lucidum Based on Chemometric Methods

Polysaccharides with molecular weights ranging from 1.75 × 10³ to 1.14 × 10⁴ g/mol were obtained from the fruit bodies of Ganoderma lucidum. The multiple fingerprints and macrophage immunostimulatory activity of these fractions were analyzed as well as the fingerprint-activity relationship. The correlation analysis of molecular weight and immune activity demonstrated that polysaccharides with molecular weights of 4.27 × 10³~5.27 × 10³ and 1 × 10⁴~1.14 × 10⁴ g/mol were the main active fractions. Moreover, the results showed that galactose, mannose, and glucuronic acid were positively related to immunostimulatory activity. Additionally, partial least-squares regression and grey correlation degree analyses indicated that three peaks (P2, P3, P8) in the oligosaccharide fragment fingerprint significantly affected the immune activity of the polysaccharides. Hence, these ingredients associated with activity could be considered as markers to assess Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides and their related products, and the study also provides a reference for research on the spectrum-effect relationship of polysaccharides in the future.