The flower buds are used for the treatment of cough, bronchitis and asthmatic disorders in TCM. Adulteration with rachis is frequently encountered. Antitussive and expectorant activities were ...compared and the chemical differences were determined.
Flower bud of Tussilago farfara L. is widely used for the treatment of cough, bronchitis and asthmatic disorders in the Traditional Chinese Medicine. However, due to the increasing demands, adulteration with rachis is frequently encountered in the marketplace. No report demonstrated the chemical and pharmacological differences between flower bud and rachis before.
The water extracts were orally administrated to mice. Ammonia induced mice coughing model was used to evaluate the antitussive activity. The expectorant activity was evaluated by volume of phenol red in mice's tracheas. Metabolites were identified directly from the crude extracts through 1D- and 2D-NMR spectra. A metabolic profiling carried out by 1H NMR spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis was applied to crude extracts from flower bud and rachis.
Flower bud significantly lengthened the latent period of cough, decreased cough frequency caused by ammonia and enhanced tracheal phenol red output in expectorant evaluation. Principal component analysis (PCA) yielded good separation between flower bud and rachis, and corresponding loading plot showed that the phenolic compounds, organic acid, sugar, amino acid, terpene and sterol contributed to the discrimination.
These findings provide pharmacological and chemical evidence that only flower bud can be used as the antitussive and expectorant herbal drug. The high concentration of chlorogenic acid, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, rutin in flower buds may be related with the antitussive and expectorant effects of Flos Farfara. To guarantee the clinical effect, rachis should be picked out before use.
Human ether-à-go-go-related gene (hERG) has an important role in the repolarization of the cardiac action potential. Our studies were to investigate the effects of oxymatrine (one of the natural ...constituents extracted from Chinese herb Sophora flavescens Ait) on hERG-encoded K(+) channels at different temperatures and its underlying mechanism.
The effects of oxymatrine were examined on hERG channels stably expressed in HEK293 cells using a whole-cell patch clamp technique.
At the temperature 30°C, oxymatrine inhibited hERG current in a concentration-dependent manner and the IC(50) was ∼665 μM. However at the temperature of 20°C, low concentration oxymatrine C≤100 μM increased hERG current density. However, high concentration oxymatrine C>100 μM inhibited the hERG current density significantly. Oxymatrine only affected the activation kinetic of hERG channels at all temperatures and had a high binding affinity for open state of hERG channels except the 300 μM-20°C group which had a high binding affinity for inactive state of hERG channels.
Oxymatrine is a low potency blocker of hERG K+ channels at 30°C, low concentration oxymatrine affect the hERG activation gating with accelerating hERG tail current at 20°C, oxymatrine is a potential hERG activator at low temperatures.
Tussilago farfara L. is a common herbal medicine which has been widely used to relieve cough and resolve phlegm. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the flower buds are used, while, in Europe, the ...leaves are preferred. In this study, the chemical profiles of its leaves and flowers were systematically characterized using gas chromatographic mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and multivariate analysis. Principle component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminate analysis (OPLS-DA) of GC–MS data provided a clear separation between those samples. The results obviously showed that the metabolome of leaves, flower buds, and fully open flowers are different, and the corresponding loading S-plots revealed that the differential metabolites between the leaves and flowers, and between the fully open flowers and flower buds, were picked out and identified. In conclusion, GC–MS spectroscopy in combination with multivariate analysis has a great potential for chemical comparison study of the metabolome of herbal drugs.
► Chemical comparison between leaves and flowers of T. farfara were first studied. ► A total of 30 nonpolar compounds were identified. ► GC–MS and multivariate analysis were applied to characterize the metabolic difference.
To explore the status of the resources of Astragali Radix, a survey on its germplasm resources was carried out. Some conclusions can be drawn for Astragali Radix: the major source is the cultivated ...Astragalus mongolicus. The new major cultivation areas for A. mongolicus and A. membranaceus are Shandong and Gansu province. The semi-wildly planting model in Shanxi province maintains the genuine trait of Astragali Radix, but its yield is limited, and now a combination model has been developed. The major problems for Astragali Radix are the selection of planting sites, the rot root and difficulty in collecting and processing. Several developmental proposals for Astragali Radix were put forward including rational distribution of planting areas, establishment of standard system, development and standardization of producing technologies.
Water quality criteria (WQC) is based on the results of scientific experiments and inferences, which prescribe a limit threshold value to pollutants and other harmful factors in water. The system of ...water quality criteria study is basically a blank circumstance. It's urgent to establish water quality criteria to adapt with the characters of China water environment to supply theoretic bases for revising water quality standards and managing environment. In this paper, an overview of the water quality criteria, as well as domestic and foreign research progress in theoretical methodology are systematically discussed, furthermore, considering current status of water quality criteria, comprehensive research were pointed out to be done in the future.
Purpose. To compare the clinical outcomes of aberration-free all surface laser ablation (ASLA) with and without the use of smart pulse technology (SPT) in high myopia. Methods. This study ...retrospectively analyzed 138 eyes (138 patients, only the right eye was selected) treated for high myopia (spherical equivalent ≥−6.00 diopters) using aberration-free ASLA (non-SPT group; 85 eyes) and aberration-free ASLA assisted by SPT (SPT group; 53 eyes). Examinations such as visual acuity, refraction, and haze were performed before the 12-month follow-up. Corneal epithelial healing time was assessed in the first postoperative day. Visual acuity and refraction examination were performed at 7 days and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. Corneal haze was evaluated in 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. Safety, efficacy, and corneal wavefront aberrations were assessed 12 months after the treatment. Results. At 12 months postoperatively, 60% versus 40% of eyes achieved 20/16 Snellen lines or better, and 92% versus 82% of eyes achieved 20/20 Snellen lines or better visual acuity in the SPT and the non-SPT groups, respectively. The average postoperative epithelial healing time was 3.75 ± 1.00 days in the SPT group and 3.73 ± 1.30 days in the non-SPT group (P≥0.05). The safety and the efficacy index of the SPT group were better than those of the non-SPT group in the follow-ups. The attempted spherical equivalent before the surgery and the achieved spherical equivalent at 12 months were comparable between the two groups. Regarding the aberrations, the results of Coma 90° in the SPT group were better than those in the non-SPT group (P≤0.05), but the increase of RMS HOAs (root mean square higher order aberrations), Coma 0°, and spherical aberration postoperatively had no statistical difference between the two groups (P≥0.05). Conclusions: Both aberration-free ASLA with and without SPT showed favorable safety, effectiveness, and predictability within 12 months for high myopia. And, ASLA using SPT might have potential advantages in the long-term visual quality.
Depression is a prevalent complex psychiatric disorder and its pathophysiological mechanism is not yet well understood. In this study, we investigated the metabolic profiling of urine samples from ...chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) rats to find potential disease biomarkers and research pathology of depression. Metabolome in urine was analyzed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) in conjunction with multivariate statistical techniques. The urine samples of male Sprague–Dawley rats were collected at different time points and then were derivatized by methoximation/silylation. Clear separation between the model and control group was achieved, and 15 metabolites were identified, which suggested that the depressed state may be related to neurotransmitter, energy metabolism and immunity. The time-dependent trajectory of metabolites pattern revealed that the maximum biochemical change happened on the 21st day, which was consistent with the results of behavior tests. The study suggested that the metabonomic approach could be used as a potentially powerful tool to investigate the biochemical change in certain physiopathological conditions, such as depression, as an early diagnostic means.
Plant metabolomics combined with GC-MS was used to investigate metabolic fingerprinting of Tussilago farfara at different growth stages.
Dried Samples were extracted by two-phase solvent system to ...obtain polar and nonpolar parts, which were subjected to GC-MS analysis. Metabolites were identified by NIST data base search and comparison with the authentic standards. The data were introduced into SIMCA-P 11.0 software package for multivariate analysis after pretreatment.
Fifty-four metabolites were identified, including 35 polar metabolites and 19 nonpolar compounds. The score plot for PCA showed clear separation of the different development stages of flower buds of T. farfara, showing a trend of gradual change. Samples of October, November, December were in close proximity on the plot, indicating that the metabolome of these three periods was similar, samples from September (early development) and March (after flowering) were far away, showing big chemical differences. Content comparison results of some representative metabolites reveals that, the content of proline, lysine and linoleic acid increased gradually to the highest in the medium term, but sharply decreased to the lowest after flowering; the content of malic acid and citric acid were the lowest in the medium term; sucrose content decreased gradually, and then reached the lowest level after blooming.
It is obvious that metabolites of the early development and flowering stage were quite different with those of the traditional harvest time, suggesting that they can not be used as traditional medicine. This study will provide a research basis for harvest time determination and bioactive compounds of T. farfara.
To investigate the effect of Nb on the dehydrogenation properties of Mg-Nb composite films,Mg/Nb eightlayer film and Mg-10 at% Nb alloy film with the similar Mgto-Nb atomic ratio were prepared by ...magnetron sputtering.Results show that both Mg/Nb eight-layer film and Mg-10 at% Nb alloy film exhibit excellent de/hydrogenation properties.Mg-10 at% Nb alloy film starts to release hydrogen at 108 ℃,and its desorption peak temperature is lower to 146 ℃,which is much better than that of pure MgH2 under the same condition.Scanning electron microscopy（SEM） results demonstrate that the dispersive Nb nanoparticles in Mg/Nb eightlayer film may serve as nucleation sites for MgMgH2 reactions,which can provide channels for H diffusion.For Mg-10 at% Nb alloy film,the uniform distributions of Nb can accelerate the hydrogen diffusion and effectively improve the dehydrogenation kinetics for MgH2.This study provides an enlightening way for designing and preparing Mg-based composite films with excellent dehydrogenation properties.
Colla corii asini (Ejiao), a gelatin-like food and drug obtained from Equus asinus Linnaeus , has been widely used in clinical hematic antianemic therapy for more than 2000 years. The elucidation of ...the characteristic metabolic alterations achieved during its treatment of anemia is critical to the screening of the biomarkers involved in anemia and improving the understanding of the hematinic effects of Ejiao. This work presents the first 1 H-NMR-based metabolomics coupled with a correlation analysis study of the characteristic metabolic profiles of APH-induced anemic rats subjected to Ejiao treatment. Significant differences in the metabolic profiles of the rats in the control, blood deficiency and treatment groups were observed, and the identified serum biomarkers including arginine, aspartate, choline and dimethylglycine, could be used for the diagnosis of anemia. The results also showed that Ejiao may play a hematinic role through regulating the lipid and lipoprotein metabolism, energy metabolism, gut microflora and amino acid metabolism, reflecting the multi-target therapeutic effect of traditional Chinese medicine, which may be helpful for understanding the hematinic mechanism of Ejiao.
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