Nature Identification of Chinese Herbal Medicine Compounds Based on Molecular Descriptors

BACKGROUND

The nature of Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) is a bridge between traditional Chinese medicine and clinical application. Accurate nature identification of CHMs is essential for guiding the clinical application of CHMs.

OBJECTIVE

To develop a new method for nature identification of CHMs according to compounds in CHMs.

METHODS

The nature of a CHM is a comprehensive manifestation of the properties of various compounds in the CHM. In this study, 2012 CHM compounds were extracted to construct a compound data set. Molecular descriptors were utilized to build an identification model for classification of the cold-hot-neutral nature of CHM compounds.

RESULTS

The predictive accuracy and confusion matrix were validated using the assembled data set. The best model produced accuracies of 96.5 ± 0.5% and 86.5 ± 1.5% on training set and test set, respectively. Furthermore, the identification model is robust in predicting the cold-hot-neutral nature of CHM compounds.

CONCLUSION

This work shows how a classification model for medical nature identification can be developed. The derived model can be utilized for the application of CHMs.

HIGHLIGHTS

To construct a nature identification model for analysis of the cold-hot-neutral nature of CHMs according to the compounds in CHMs.

Cold-hot nature identification based on GC similarity analysis of Chinese herbal medicine ingredients

The theory of cold-hot nature of Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) is the core theory of CHM. It has been found that the volatile oil ingredients in CHMs are closely related to their cold-hot nature. Guided by the scientific hypothesis that "CHMs with similar component substances should have similar medicinal natures", exploration of the intelligent identification of the cold-hot nature of CHMs based on the similarity of their volatile oil ingredients has become a research focus. Gas chromatography (GC) chemical fingerprints have been widely used in the separation of volatile oil ingredients to analyze the cold-hot nature of CHMs. To verify the above hypothesis, in this work, we study the quantification of the similarity of the volatile oil ingredients of CHMs to their fingerprint similarity and explore the relationship between the volatile oil ingredients of CHMs and their cold-hot nature. In this study, we utilize GC technology to analyze the chemical ingredients of 61 CHMs that have a clear cold-hot nature (including 30 'cold' CHMs and 31 'hot' CHMs). Using the constructed fingerprint dataset of CHMs, a distance metric learning algorithm is applied to measure the similarity of the GC fingerprints. Furthermore, an improved k-nearest neighbor (kNN) algorithm is proposed to build a predictive identification model to identify the cold-hot nature of CHMs. The experimental results prove our inference that CHMs with similar component substances should have similar medicinal natures. Compared with existing classical models, the proposed identification scheme has better predictive performance. The proposed prediction model is proved to be effective and feasible.

Reprogramming of glutamine metabolism via glutamine synthetase silencing induces cisplatin resistance in A2780 ovarian cancer cells

BACKGROUND

Cisplatin (CDDP) significantly prolongs survival in various cancers, but many patients also develop resistance that results in treatment failure. Thus, this study aimed to elucidate the underlying mechanisms by which ovarian cancer cells acquire CDDP resistance.

METHODS

We evaluated the metabolic profiles in CDDP-sensitive ovarian cancer A2780 cells and CDDP-resistant A2780cis cells using capillary electrophoresis-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (CE-TOFMS). We further examined the expression of glutamine metabolism enzymes using real-time PCR and Western blot analyses. Cell viability was accessed using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay.

RESULTS

The results showed that levels of glutamine, glutamate, and glutathione (GSH), a key drug resistance mediator synthesized from glutamate, were significantly elevated in A2780cis cells than those in A2780 cells. Furthermore, glutamine starvation decreased the GSH levels and CDDP resistance in A2780cis cells. Interestingly, the expression of glutamine synthetase (GS/GLUL), which synthesizes glutamine from glutamate and thereby negatively regulates GSH production, was almost completely suppressed in resistant A2780cis cells. In addition, treatment of A2780cis cells with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, a DNA-demethylating agent, restored GS expression and reduced CDDP resistance. In contrast, GS knockdown in CDDP-sensitive A2780 cells induced CDDP resistance.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that upregulation of GSH synthesis from glutamine via DNA methylation-mediated silencing of GS causes CDDP resistance in A2780cis cells. Therefore, glutamine metabolism could be a novel therapeutic target against CDDP resistance.

The Quantitative Ideas and Methods in Assessment of Four Properties of Chinese Medicinal Herbs

The purpose of this review is to summarize and reflect on the current status and problems of the research on the properties of Chinese medicinal herbs. Hot, warm, cold, and cool are the four properties/natures of Chinese medicinal herbs. They are defined based on the interaction between the herbs with human body. How to quantitatively assess the therapeutic effect of Chinese medicinal herbs based on the theoretical system of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) remains to be a challenge. Previous studies on the topic from several perspectives have been presented. Results and problems were discussed. New ideas based on the technology of biophoton radiation detection are proposed. With the development of biophoton detection technology, detection and characterization of human biophoton emission has led to its potential applications in TCM. The possibility of using the biophoton analysis system to study the interaction of Chinese medicinal herbs with human body and to quantitatively determine the effect of the Chinese medicinal herbal is entirely consistent with the holistic concept of TCM theory. The statistical entropy of electromagnetic radiations from the biological systems can characterize the four properties of Chinese medicinal herbs, and the spectrum can characterize the meridian tropism of it. Therefore, we hypothesize that by the use of biophoton analysis system, the four properties and meridian tropism of Chinese medicinal herbs can be quantitatively expressed.

[A complexity analysis of Chinese herbal property theory: the multiple expressions of herbal property]

Chinese herbal property is the highly summarized concept of herbal nature and pharmaceutical effect, which reflect the characteristics of herbal actions on human body. These herbal actions, also interpreted as presenting the information about pharmaceutical effect contained in herbal property on the biological carrier, are defined as herbal property expressions. However, the biological expression of herbal property is believed to possess complex features for the involved complexity of Chinese medicine and organism. Firstly, there are multiple factors which could influence the expression results of herbal property such as the growth environment, harvest season and preparing methods of medicinal herbs, and physique and syndrome of body. Secondly, there are multiple biological approaches and biochemical indicators for the expression of the same property. This paper elaborated these complexities for further understanding of herbal property. The individuality of herbs and expression factors should be well analyzed in the related studies.

[Use of zebrafish models for the research of traditional Chinese medicine]

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) exhibits a broad range of effects on biological activity that is probably due to interactions of complex chemical constituents with multiple targets in the body. Understanding the active chemical constituents in TCM is very important in providing rationales for the clinical usage of TCM. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has recently become a popular model in the field of drug screening, specifically emerging as an important vertebrate model for in vivo high-content drug screening of multiple efficacy parameters and whole-organism toxicity. The authors also discussed the advantages of the zebrafish model for evaluating drug metabolism. Zebrafish usage in TCM screening should be a viable approach that helps identify active chemical markers, biological pathways and mechanistic actions of TCM.