Mechanism of action of Orthosiphon stamineus against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: Insights from systems pharmacology and molecular docking approaches

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common complications of a metabolic syndrome caused by excessive accumulation of fat in the liver. Orthosiphon stamineus also known as Orthosiphon aristatus is a medicinal plant with possible potential beneficial effects on various metabolic disorders. This study aims to investigate the in vitro inhibitory effects of O. stamineus on hepatic fat accumulation and to further use the computational systems pharmacology approach to identify the pharmacokinetic properties of the bioactive compounds of O. stamineus and to predict their molecular mechanisms against NAFLD. Methods: The effects of an ethanolic extract of O. stamineus leaves on cytotoxicity, fat accumulation and antioxidant activity were assessed using HepG2 cells. The bioactive compounds of O. stamineus were identified using LC/MS and two bioinformatics databases, namely the Traditional Chinese Medicine Integrated Database (TCMID) and the Bioinformatics Analysis Tool for the Molecular Mechanism of Traditional Chinese Medicine (BATMAN-TCM). Pathway enrichment analysis was performed on the predicted targets of the bioactive compounds to provide a systematic overview of the molecular mechanism of action, while molecular docking was used to validate the predicted targets. Results: A total of 27 bioactive compounds corresponding to 50 potential NAFLD-related targets were identified. O. stamineus exerts its anti-NAFLD effects by modulating a variety of cellular processes, including oxidative stress, mitochondrial β-oxidation, inflammatory signalling pathways, insulin signalling, and fatty acid homeostasis pathways. O. stamineus is significantly targeting many oxidative stress regulators, including JNK, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), NFKB1, PPAR, and AKT1. Molecular docking analysis confirmed the expected high affinity for the potential targets, while the in vitro assay indicates the ability of O. stamineus to inhibit hepatic fat accumulation. Conclusion: Using the computational systems pharmacology approach, the potentially beneficial effect of O. stamineus in NAFLD was indicated through the combination of multiple compounds, multiple targets, and multicellular components.     

天麻素生物合成的研究进展

天麻素是我国名贵中药材天麻中的一种主要活性成分，具有降血压、抗癫痫、抑制肿瘤、保护神经等多方面的药理活性。随着市场对天麻素需求的不断增长以及传统获取方法固有的问题，导致急需新的方法来解决天麻素生产实际中面临的各项困难。生物合成法是一种有别于传统获取法的新方法，已在天麻素获取上取得了较大进展和成果，故现阶段有必要从天麻素生物合成途径、植物转化法和微生物转化法3个方面，对天麻素生物合成进行系统地阐述，从而为进一步改进和完善天麻素生产方法，以满足人们对其不断增长的需求提供有价值的参考。     

What a pooled data study tells us about the relationships between gender and knowledge of semantic categories

Introduction: Both the neuropsychological study of patients with category-specific semantic disorders (CSSD) and the experimental research on categorical processing in healthy subjects (HSs) have shown that men are mainly impaired with fruits and vegetables and women with animals and artifacts. Since this difference is more striking in patients with CSSD than in HSs, we hypothesized that the lack of power of some investigations conducted with HSs and the different methods used in studies conducted with HSs and patients with CSSD could explain some of these inconsistencies and that a study conducted with a very large number of HSs using visual naming tasks should strongly confirm the role of gender in categorical tasks.

Methods: Picture naming data gathered during the last ten years with our category-specificity paradigm from a large number (702) of HSs were reanalyzed.

Results: As predicted, men named significantly more animals and artifacts, while women named more plant life items.

Discussion: These data confirm that, if different domains of knowledge are studied in a very large sample of HSs using a picture naming task equivalent to the naming tasks used in most anatomo-clinical studies on CSSD, then the gender effects are highly significant.     

Epidemiological and clinical comparisons of paediatric and adult sporotrichosis in Jilin Province,China

Sporotrichosis is endemic in Jilin Province of Northeast China. While paediatric cases make a substantial contribution to the epidemiological profile of sporotrichosis, the differences in the epidemiology and clinical manifestations of sporotrichosis between paediatric and adult patients remain unclear. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 2968 cases of sporotrichosis (2113 adult patients aged ≥ 15 years and 855 paediatric patients aged < 15 years) over a nine-year period (01/01/2010-31/12/2018-). All the patients were diagnosed with sporotrichosis based on fungal culture of material from a skin lesion. In paediatric patients, the male:female ratio was 1.3:1, the incidence of sporotrichosis in the cold seasons was high (79.0%), most lesions occurred in the facial region (92.2%), and there was a preponderance of fixed cutaneous sporotrichosis (86.8%). In adult patients, the male:female ratio was 1:2.4, the incidence of sporotrichosis in the cold seasons was 66.0%, most lesions affected the extremities (48.6%) and the face (44.9%), and fixed cutaneous sporotrichosis was common (69.3%). The results indicate there were significant differences in the distribution of paediatric and adult sporotrichosis patients by sex, season with the highest occurrence of sporotrichosis, lesion sites and clinical types. Our results suggest that the epidemiology and clinical manifestations between paediatric and adult patients were different, and the route of infection of sporotrichosis in children may differ from that of adults in Jilin Province.     

Two new xyloketals from the endophytic fungus Endomelanconiopsis endophytica derived from medicinal plant Ficus hirta

Chemical examination of the liquid culture of Endomelanconiopsis endophytica A326 isolated from the Chinese folk medicine Ficus hirta resulted in the isolation of two new xyloketals named xyloketals K and L (1–2) and three known analogs (3–5) including a new natural product (5). Their structures were determined on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis. All compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against the SF-268, MCF-7, NCI-H460, and HepG-2 tumor cell lines. Nonetheless, no significant activity was observed.     

一株海绵共附生真菌Fusarium equiseti SCSIO 41019的次级代谢产物及其抑菌活性研究

目的 研究海绵共附生真菌Fusarium equiseti SCSIO 41019的次级代谢产物及抑菌活性。方法 采用中压硅胶柱色谱、中压反相ODS柱色谱及高效液相色谱等方法对发酵产物进行分离和纯化，运用核磁数据及文献对比的方法鉴定化合物结构。采用滤纸片琼脂扩散法、改良肉汤稀释法评价化合物的抑菌活性。结果 从其大米发酵产物中分离并鉴定了8个化合物，分别为equisetin(1)、5'-epiequisetin(2)、lumichrome(3)、N-乙酰基色胺(4)、亚油酸(5)、methyl (4-hydroxyphenyl) acetate(6)、methyl (2-hydroxyphenyl) acetate(7)和graminin B(8)。化合物1、2和5对金黄色葡萄球菌(Staphylococcus aureus)和耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌(methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA)分别具有不同程度的抑制作用，最小抑菌浓度(minimal inhibitory concentration, MIC)为2.0~125μg/mL，其中化合物1的抑菌活性最强(MIC值分别为2.0和3.9μg/mL)。结论 从菌株Fusarium equiseti SCSIO 41019分离得到两个具良好抑菌活性的化合物(1~2)，为将其开发为耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌的先导化合物提供一定参考。     

Plant-derived natural agents as dietary supplements for the regulation of glycosylated hemoglobin: A review of clinical trials

1. Download : Download high-res image (154KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

     

浅析南宁市餐厨垃圾资源化利用和无害化处理厂工程给排水设计

以南宁市餐厨垃圾资源化利用和无害化处理厂的给排水专业工程设计实例,简要介绍和分析餐厨垃圾资源化利用和无害化处理厂给排水设计中的思路和方法。