Our representative studies to achieve sustainable use of crude drugs and ensure their stable quality are introduced: comprehensive studies on genetic, chemical, and sometimes pharmacological ...diversity of Asian medicinal plants including
Paeonia lactiflora
,
Glycyrrhiza uralensis
,
Ephedra
spp.,
Saposhnikovia divaricata
, and
Curcuma
spp., as well as their related crude drugs. (1) For peony root, after genetic and chemical diversity analysis of crude drug samples including white and red peony root in China, the value-added resources with quality similar to red peony root were explored among 61 horticultural
P. lactiflora
varieties, and two varieties were identified. In addition, an optimized post-harvest processing method, which resulted in high contents of the main active components in the produced root, was developed to promote cultivation and production of brand peony root. (2) Alternative resources of glycyrrhiza, ephedra herb and saposhnikovia root and rhizome of Japanese Pharmacopoeia grade were discovered in eastern Mongolia after field investigation and quality assessment comparing Mongolian plants with Chinese crude drugs. Simultaneously, suitable specimens and prospective regions for cultivation were proposed. (3) Because of the wide distribution and morphological similarities of
Curcuma
species, classification of some species is debated, which leads to confusion in the use of
Curcuma
crude drugs. Molecular analyses of the intron length polymorphism (ILP) markers in genes encoding diketide-CoA synthase (DCS) and curcumin synthase (CURS) and
trn
K sequences, combined with essential oils analysis, were demonstrated as useful for standardization of
Curcuma
crude drugs. The above studies, representing various facets, can be applied to other crude drugs.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Neurodegenerative diseases commonly induce irreversible destruction of central nervous system (CNS) neuronal networks, resulting in permanent functional impairments. Effective medications against ...neurodegenerative diseases are currently lacking. Ashwagandha (roots of Withania somnifera Dunal) is used in traditional Indian medicine (Ayurveda) for general debility, consumption, nervous exhaustion, insomnia, and loss of memory. In this review, we summarize various effects and mechanisms of Ashwagandha extracts and related compounds on in vitro and in vivo models of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and spinal cord injury.
Puerarin (daidzein 8-C-glucoside) is an isoflavone C-glucoside contained in the roots of Pueraria lobata OHWI. We have previously isolated the human intestinal bacterium, strain PUE, which ...metabolizes puerarin to daidzein, though the enzyme which cleaves C-glycosidic bond has not been clarified. Here, we identified one of the intermediates of enzymatic puerarin C-deglycosylation reaction as 3″-oxo-puerarin (1): C-3 in the glucose moiety connecting to hydroxyl is oxidized to ketone group. 1 was easily isomerized to the mixture of 1, 2″-oxo-puerarin (2a) and cyclic acetal (2b) of 2a in non-enzymatic condition. We identified the putative puerarin-metabolizing operon of strain PUE composed of 8 genes (dgpA–H). Among them, DgpB–C complex was expressed in Escherichia coli, which cleaved the C-glycosidic bond in 1 but not puerarin. These results suggested that the puerarin C-deglycosylation reaction is a two-step enzymatic reaction, including the oxidation reaction at C-3″ in puerarin to give 1, and the subsequent C-deglycosylation of 1 to provide daidzein.
The emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic in 2019 has led to a global health crisis. Mutations of the SARS-CoV-2 genome have impeded the development ...of effective therapeutics and vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. Natural products are important for discovering therapeutics to treat the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In the present study, we investigated the antiviral activity of herbal drug extracts from Polygala Root, Areca, and Quercus Bark and natural compounds derived from herbal drug such as baicalin and glabridin, with IC
50
values of 9.5 µg/ml, 1.2 µg/ml, 5.4 µg/ml, 8.8 µM, and 2.5 µM, respectively, against SARS CoV-2 infection in vitro. Certain herbal drug extracts and natural compounds were found to inhibit viral RNA levels and infectious titers of SARS-CoV-2 in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, viral protein analyses showed that herbal drug extracts and natural compounds effectively inhibited SARS-CoV-2 in the various entry treatments. Our study revealed that three herbal drugs are good candidates for further in vivo and clinical studies.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Paclitaxel is a chemotherapeutic agent that causes peripheral neuropathy as its major dose-limiting side effect. However, the peripheral neuropathy is difficult to manage. A study we recently ...conducted showed that repetitive administration of aucubin as a prophylactic inhibits paclitaxel-induced mechanical allodynia. However, the mechanisms underlying the anti-allodynic activity of aucubin, which is a major component of Plantaginis Semen, was unclear. In addition to mechanical allodynia, aucubin inhibited spontaneous and mechanical stimuli-induced firing in spinal dorsal horn neurons; however, catalpol, a metabolite of aucubin, did not show these effects. Furthermore, paclitaxel induced the expression of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein homologous protein, a marker of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, in the sciatic nerve and a Schwann cell line (LY-PPB6 cells); however, this effect was inhibited by aucubin. These results suggest that aucubin inhibits paclitaxel-induced mechanical allodynia through the inhibition of ER stress in peripheral Schwann cells.
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) manifests as mechanical allodynia and hyperalgesia, and is one of the main adverse effects of chemotherapeutic agents. Currently available ...therapeutic drugs are not sufficiently effective for the management of this adverse effect in the clinic. Therefore, the development of novel therapeutic agents for treating CIPN is necessary. Our previous study suggested the potential of aucubin and pedicularis-lactone (
1
) as active compounds responsible for the anti-allodynic property of Plantaginis Semen. However, the activity of purified
1
has not been evaluated due to its low content in Plantaginis Semen. In the present study,
1
was isolated from Viticis Fructus, as well as viteoid I (
2
) and viteoid II (
3
) during the process of isolation. The purities of isolated
1
,
2
, and
3
were determined as 67.15%, 92.12%, and 86.72%, respectively, by quantitative
1
H-NMR, using DSS-
d
6
as an internal standard. Repeated daily oral administration of these three iridoids at a dose of 15 mg/kg significantly inhibited the PTX-induced mechanical allodynia in mice, suggesting the anti-allodynic activities of
1
,
2
, and
3
. This study provides confirmatory evidence for the anti-allodynic activity of purified
1
and also reveals two additional active iridoids from Viticis Fructus. These three iridoids could be potential candidates for the treatment of CIPN.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
•Use of MS/MS similarity network to generate a precursor list of triterpene saponins.•106 triterpene saponins including 49 potentially new ones were tentatively characterized.•The structural features ...of saponins in E. senticosus were summarized.•Distribution of triterpene saponins in E. senticosus leaves was investigated.
The targeted mass information of compounds accelerated their discovery in a large volume of untargeted MS data. An MS/MS similarity networking is advanced in clustering the structural analogues, which benefits the collection of mass information of similar compounds. The triterpene saponins extracted from Eleutherococcus senticosus leaves (ESL), a kind of functional tea, have shown promise in the relief of Alzheimer's disease. In this work, a target-precursor list (TPL) generated using MS/MS similarity networking was employed to rapidly trace 106 triterpene saponins from the aqueous extracts of ESL, of which 49 were tentatively identified as potentially new triterpene saponins. Moreover, a compound database of triterpene saponins was established and successfully applied to uncover their distribution features in ESL samples collected from different areas.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Peony root is an important herbal drug used as an antispasmodic analgesic. To evaluate peony roots with different botanical origins, producing areas, and post-harvest processing,
1
H NMR-based ...metabolomics analysis was employed. Five types of monoterpenoids, including albiflorin (
4
), paeoniflorin (
6
), and sulfonated paeoniflorin (
25
), and six other compounds, including 1,2,3,4,6-penta-
O
-galloyl-β-
d
-glucose (
18
), benzoic acid (
21
), gallic acid (
22
), and sucrose (
26
) were detected in the extracts of peony root samples. Among them, compounds
4
,
6
,
18
, and total monoterpenoids including
21
were quantified by quantitative
1
H NMR (qHNMR). Compound
25
was detected in
1
H NMR spectra of sulfur-fumigated white peony root (WPR) extracts indicating that
1
H NMR was a fast and effective method for identifying sulfur-fumigated WPR. The content of
26
, the main factor affecting extract yield, increased significantly in peony root after low-temperature storage for one month, whereas that in WPR did not increase due to the boiling treatment after harvesting. We investigated the impact of preprocessing methods to such analysis for NMR data from commercial samples, resulting that the data matrix transformed from qHNMR spectra and normalized to internal standard were optimum for multivariate analysis. The multivariate analysis demonstrated that among commercial samples derived from
P. lactiflora
, peony root samples in Japanese market (PR) had high contents of
18
and
22
, and red peony root (RPR) samples had high content of monoterpenoids represented by
6
; and among RPR samples, those derived from
P. veitchii
showed higher contents of
18
and
22
than those from
P. lactiflora
. The
1
H NMR-based metabolomics method coupled with qHNMR was useful for evaluation of peony root and would be applicable for other crude drugs.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Previously, to develop an objective identification method for Amomi Semen (AS), the nucleotide sequences of nrDNA ITS region and two cpDNA regions of nine
Amomum
taxa specimens from Southeast Asia ...and China were determined, and the generated phylogenetic tree showed six taxa specimens were divided into four groups. In this study, 51 crude drug samples of AS in Japanese markets were classified into four groups or species based on their ITS sequences. Approximately 67% of samples were derived from
A. villosum
var.
xanthioides
or
A. xanthioides
,
A. villosum
var.
villosum
and
A. longiligulare
prescribed in Japanese Pharmacopoeia, and the rest were mixed with
A. uliginosum
and
A. microcarpum
. Subsequently, the essential oil compositions of
Amomum
taxa specimens and AS samples were determined by GC–MS to characterize each group or species. Group 1(
A. xanthioides
) samples were characterized by containing higher amount of camphor(
6
) than bornyl acetate(
9
), and a specific germacrene
D
-4-ol; group 2(Chinese
A. villosum
var.
villosum
and var.
xanthioides
) by containing higher amount of
9
than
6
, a specific isobornyl acetate; group 3(Laotian
A. villosum
var.
villosum
and
A. longiligulare
) by containing higher amount of
6
than
9
, and a characteristic neointermedeol, except for
A. longiligulare
specimen from Hainan, China; group 4(
A. uliginosum
) by containing equivalent amount of
6
and
9
, and the specific (
E
,
E
)-farnesyl acetate and (
E
,
E
)-farnesol.
A. microcarpum
samples were discriminated from the above groups by absence of
6
and
9
, and with higher amount of (
E
)-nerolidol. There was a good correlation between genetic classification and chemical discrimination.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Intron length polymorphism (ILP) markers in genes encoding diketide-CoA synthase (DCS) and curcumin synthase (CURS) showed high identification rates in 13
Curcuma
species from Asia. However, the ...sequences of the intron regions have not yet been analyzed. To elucidate the sequence differences in intron regions of the
DCS
and
CURS
genes and to search for specific sequences suitable for the identification of
Curcuma
species, a large number of sequences were determined through subcloning coupled with sequencing analysis of six
Curcuma
plant specimens belonging to five species that showed distinct ILP patterns. More than 30 sequences of each region from each specimen were grouped into genes
DCS1
,
DCS2,
or
CURS1–3
and subsequently the sequences of the same genes were compared. Sequences belonging to the same gene showed inter-species similarity, and thus, these intron sequences were less informative within each single-gene region. The determined sequences from each specimen showed 3–5 kinds of sequence lengths in
DCS
intron I region, and 5–7 kinds of sequence lengths in
CURS
intron region. The length of determined sequences and the fragment number in each intron region were different among species, or specimens in
C. longa
, which were in accordance with the fragment lengths and numbers in their corresponding ILP patterns.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
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