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.     

参麦注射液质量影响因素的研究进展

参麦注射液是由红参、麦冬制得的中药注射剂,具有益气固脱、养阴生津、生脉的功效,临床上用于治疗气阴两虚型之休克、冠心病、病毒性心肌炎、慢性肺心病、粒细胞减少症。主要围绕与产品质量紧密相关的生产工艺、药材质量、辅料3个方面进行总结,为优化该产品的生产工艺、提高产品质量提供参考。     

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。     

中药调剂管理中药配方颗粒与中药饮片应用对比分析

目的:探讨中药调剂管理过程中,中药配方颗粒与中药饮片的应用效果差异。方法:对医院开具的中药处方情况以及23名工作人员和200例患者的调查结果进行分析,探讨中药调剂管理过程中,中药配方颗粒与中药饮片的应用效果差异。结果:使用中药配方颗粒的发药出错率和调配出错率均少于使用中药饮片的方式(P<0.05)。在对23名药房工作人员的调查结果中显示,工作人员对于中药配方颗粒的每项态度均优于中药饮片(P<0.05)。在对200名患者的调查结果中显示,患者对于中药配方颗粒的每项态度均优于中药饮片(P<0.05)。结论:在中药调剂的管理过程中,中药配方颗粒的管理方式具有较多的优势,得到患者与医务工作者双方的认可。     

欧盟草药药品监管模式对中国中药注册管理的启示＊

对药品实行注册管理制度是确保公众健康的全球通用的监管措施。中药作为承载中医药理论与用药实践的主要载体，对中药产品的注册管理又具有其特殊性。2017年正式实施的《中医药法》提出了建立符合中医药特点管理制度的发展方针，研究制定配套文件或修订现行规章以适应衔接其立法精神是当前重要的现实问题之一。欧盟在植物药监管领域取得了良好成效，本文旨在系统分析欧盟对其注册管理的法规体系，深入剖析其监管特点和对中国中药注册管理的启示，以期为当前《中医药法》背景下中药监管制度的改革提供参考。     

辛味中药在治疗消渴证中的应用价值及中药五味理论现代研究的思考

辛味是中药五味学说中的重要性味之一,通常具有“发散”“行气”和“行血”的作用,且辛味中药在传统医学临床应用中占有较大比例。结合中药辛味的功效内涵及传统中医理论对消渴证的认识,阐述辛味中药与消渴证治疗之间的内在联系,总结辛味中药对“消渴三消”的治疗意义与价值。并在此基础上,对中药五味理论的现代研究趋势和发展方向进行思考,为同行研究提供参考。     

中药材产业扶贫的空间格局及其主要影响因素探讨

通过对"全国中药资源普查及种质共享数据专题服务——中药材产业扶贫"数据资料及"康美中药网——中药全产业链服务平台"各贫困地区中药材资源信息的整理分析,构建中国贫困地区的中药材种植面积、产值等数据库,利用ArcGIS软件绘制贫困地区中药材种植情况空间分布图,从中发掘和总结当前我国中药材产业扶贫的空间格局特征和发展规律。在此基础上,通过参考"中国减贫数据库"及"国务院扶贫开发领导小组办公室"的相关报告,综合分析影响中药材产业扶贫成效的主要因素,并提出相应的建议,以期对贫困地区开展中药材产业扶贫工作提供参考。     

动物药材生产及产地加工技术标准体系建设

药用动物资源是中药资源的重要组成部分,是中医药发展的重要战略储备资源,在野生药用动物资源日渐匮乏的今天,大力开展药用动物人工养殖才能确保我国中医药产业的可持续发展。然而《中国药典》2015年版一部收载的106种药用动物中仅有22种(除家畜家禽外)有现行选育、养殖相关标准,共211项,其中除国家标准7项、行业标准(农业、水产)11项外均为地方标准,远远落后于同类型农业标准化程度,无法实现动物药材规范化生产。亟需对常见动物药材蟾酥、水蛭、全蝎等建立包括基础标准、产品标准、工艺过程标准、安全标准、环境保护标准、管理标准、工作标准在内的动物药材生产及产地加工技术标准体系,补充产业空白,从源头把控动物药材、动物类中药饮片及含有动物性成分中药产品质量。     

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.