Phytochemical Analysis最新文献

Introduction: The role of macromolecular components in traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) decoction remains poorly understood, primarily because of their structural complexity and limited systemic bioavailability. In the modernization of TCMs' decoctions, macromolecular components are often removed as "poor bioavailable impurities" by ethanol precipitation that might attenuate the efficacy thereof.

Purpose: A novel strategy integrating LC-MS-based serum pharmacochemistry, network pharmacology, and pharmacodynamics was developed to reveal the role of macromolecular components in TCMs' decoction, using Qi-Huo-Yi-Fei decoction (QH) treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as a case study.

Materials and methods: QH was separated into macromolecular components (QH-M) and small molecular components (QH-S) by ethanol precipitation. The absorbed components of QH and QH-S in serum were qualitatively and semiquantitatively analyzed by UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS. The differences in targets and pathways of the absorbed components were predicted by network pharmacology analysis. The therapeutic effects on pulmonary function, histopathology, and inflammation of QH, QH-S, and QH-M were comparatively investigated on a COPD rat model.

Result: A total of 103 components were identified in QH and QH-S, whereas 86 and 72 were detectable in QH- or QH-S-treated serum, respectively. The highest levels of absorbed components appeared from 15 to 60 min for QH-S and at 15 min for QH. The concentrations of most absorbed components of QH were twofold higher than those of QH-S. Their protein-protein interaction (PPI), herb-component-target networks, and GO/KEGG enrichment pathways were quite different, mainly in inflammatory, immunity, and cell apoptosis processes. QH-M improved pulmonary function, histopathology, and inflammatory infiltration, mainly on FVC (p < 0.05), thickness/external diameter (p < 0.01), Wac/Pbm (p < 0.01), TNF-α (p < 0.01), and IL-17 (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, QH was more effective than QH-S, mainly on FEV0.3/FVC, MAN, GC/CC, TNF-α, and IL-17.

Conclusion: QH-M was not only effective independently on COPD but also showed integrative effects with the coexisting QH-S in improving their absorption, thus strengthening the component-target interactions, and consequently contributing to the COPD therapeutic effects of QH. Therefore, it was confirmed that QH-M was essential for QH's COPD therapy and should not be removed during the modern preparation development.

Background: Saposhnikovia divaricata (Turcz.) Schischk. (S. divaricata), a traditional Chinese medicine, is renowned for its dried roots rich in phenolic compounds, which exhibit significant medicinal values in anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and other therapeutic fields. Cultivating medicinal plants has been validated as an effective strategy to enhance the supply of phenolic-rich raw materials. However, the efficient fertilization strategy of nitrogen-a key nutrient-and its regulatory mechanisms on plant growth and phenolic metabolism in S. divaricata remain unclear.

Purpose and study design: This study aimed to explore nitrogen's effects on S. divaricata growth and phenolic accumulation. Field experiments used four nitrogen treatments: no nitrogen fertilization (CK), low nitrogen fertilization (9 g/m^²), medium nitrogen fertilization (18 g/m^²), and high nitrogen fertilization (27 g/m^²). Growth indices and phenolic metabolites were analyzed via UPLC-MS and multivariate statistics.

Results: The results showed that the medium nitrogen treatment (18 g/m^²) significantly promoted the growth of S. divaricata, with plant height and single-plant biomass reaching 26 ± 0.3 cm and 19.04 ± 0.96 g, respectively, and optimal root development (root length 14.7 ± 0.2 cm). Additionally, nitrogen application significantly promoted the synthesis of phenolic compounds and enhanced the tolerance of S. divaricata to nitrogen stress, which is conducive to safeguarding and elevating its medicinal value. For specific bioactive substances, the contents of prim-o-glucosyl-cimifugin, 4'-o-β-glucosyl-5-o-methylvisamminol, cimifugin, and sec-o-glucosylhamaudol in S. divaricata under medium nitrogen concentration were notably higher than those in the no-nitrogen fertilization group.

Conclusion: This study confirms that medium nitrogen levels can synergistically enhance the growth and accumulation of medicinal active components in S. divaricata, providing a theoretical basis for the precise application of nitrogen fertilizers and quality regulation in medicinal plant cultivation.

Background: Goat bezoar (Houzao in Chinese, also called "monkey" bezoar or Caprae Calculus) is a valued traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) used in the treatment of pediatric cough for centuries. However, its undefined chemical composition hinders quality control and mechanistic understanding, limiting its modernization and further development.

Objective: This study aims to comprehensively characterize the chemical composition of goat bezoar and develop a robust quality control method.

Method: UPLC-qTOF-MS was first utilized to analyze the methanol extract of goat bezoar reference material. Markers specific to the medicinal portion were identified by comparing the chemical profiles with the non-medicinal portion and 50 co-formulated TCMs. Amino acid composition and ash content were also determined. Validated quantitative methods for these markers were subsequently developed using both UPLC-qTOF-MS and UPLC-DAD and applied to assess the quality of 13 batches of raw goat bezoar material and 38 batches of commercial products.

Results: Eight characteristic markers, including ellagic acid and seven of its gut microbial metabolites (urolithins), were identified exclusively within the medicinal portion. Ellagic acid (72.72%-89.41%) and total urolithins (2.14%-5.13%) were major components. These, along with amino acids (1.19%-5.91%) and total ash (2.09%), account for over 90% of the medicinal portion's composition. The analysis of commercial materials and products using this method revealed that goat bezoar may be absent in 20 commercial products while all the goat bezoar powder samples were authentic.

Conclusion: This study provides the first comprehensive chemical characterization of goat bezoar, revealing its unique composition and establishing it as the only known TCM with urolithins. Validated quantitative methods for ellagic acid and urolithins provide a crucial quality control tool, paving the way for further research, development, and modernization of this valuable TCM.

Introduction: Tangerine peel tea, a bioactive-rich plant beverage containing hydrophobic flavonoids (hesperidin, naringin, and neohesperidin), faces analytical challenges in quality control due to poor aqueous solubility.

Objectives: In order to determine the hydrophobic flavonoids components in tangerine peel tea and evaluate its quality, this experiment was carried out.

Method: An eco-friendly offline-online capillary electrophoresis stacking strategy integrating polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based aqueous biphasic extraction with borate complexation-assisted micelle-to-cyclodextrin stacking was developed. Critical parameters influencing separation, enrichment, and extraction efficiency were systematically optimized. The method was subsequently validated for accuracy, precision and green evaluation.

Results: Following single-factor optimization, the online stacking parameters were defined as 90 mmol/L sodium tetraborate and 35% (v/v) methanol in the background solution, with injection times fixed at 40 s (SDS), 20 s (cyclodextrin), and 200 s (sample). Offline pretreatment employed a salt PEG sample aqueous biphasic system (ABS) for extraction. Under optimized conditions, the method demonstrated excellent linearity (r ≥ 0.998) and low detection limits (40-50 ng/mL), achieving a 723-fold sensitivity enhancement over conventional detection. Greenness assessment confirmed superior sustainability, and the method successfully quantified three hydrophobic targets (hesperidin, naringenin, and neohesperidin) in tangerine peel tea and spiked rat urine with high accuracy.

Conclusion: The proposed strategy establishes a robust analytical platform for nutraceutical quality control, resolving critical challenges in quantifying poorly soluble bioactive compounds through optimized online stacking and aqueous biphasic extraction.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common forms of dementia among the elderly in the world. With the increase of human life expectancy, its incidence is also increasing year by year. Tacrine (TAC) is the first acetylcholine inhibitor approved for the treatment of AD. Although TAC has obvious anti-AD activity, it was eventually delisted due to acute liver injury caused by its strong hepatotoxicity. Rosmarinic acid (RA) has shown good activity in both neuroprotection and hepatoprotection.

Purpose and study design: In this study, the combination of RA and TAC was explored, and a high dose of d-galactose was used to build an AD mouse model, which was given at the same time for 4 weeks in order to alleviate TAC hepatotoxicity and enhance the intervention of AD in mice through RA. In particular, we pay attention to the key role of Aβ and microglia in the pathogenesis of AD, so we evaluate the ability of RA combined with TAC in alleviating chronic neuroinflammation induced by Aβ plaque in the brain of AD mice and enhancing the ability of microglia to clear Aβ plaque.

Results: The results show that the combination of RA and TAC has the best intervention effect on AD compared with the single use of the two drugs, and it is basically positively correlated with RA dose. RA + TAC significantly improved body weight, organ index, and behavioral state of AD mice. Further analysis showed that RA + TAC enhanced the antioxidant level of hippocampus and serum of AD mice, alleviated the pathological damage of hippocampus, significantly improved cholinergic system, reduced the expression levels of AB plaque and neurotoxic Aβ1-41 and Aβ1-42 in the brain, and significantly increased the level of neuroprotective protein trigger receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2), which mediated the phagocytosis of microglia. More importantly, the combination therapy of RA and TAC decreased the expression of M1 microglia marker (ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 [Iba-1]), increased the expression of M2 microglia marker Arg-1, and promoted the release of anti-inflammatory compounds. In addition, RA + TAC also inhibited the mRNA expression of TLR4 and NF-κB related to neuroinflammation. In the aspect of liver function, RA reduced cell death mediated by Caspase-3 by regulating the expression of bcl-2/bax, alleviated TAC-induced liver injury in mice, and made the serum indexes of ALT, AST, ALP, TBIL, and γ-GT reflecting liver function closer to the normal range.

Conclusion: The combination of RA and TAC shows the potential to reduce the hepatotoxicity of TAC and is expected to enhance its therapeutic effect on AD.

Introduction: Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is valued in the food and pharmaceutical industries for its unique aroma, owing to oxygenated monoterpenoids such as linalool, linalyl acetate, lavandulyl acetate, 1,8-cineole, and terpinene-4-ol, which contribute to the quality of lavender essential oil (LEO). It is rich in flavonoids and phenolics like rosmarinic acid. LEO and phenolic yields depend on agronomic attributes, processing techniques, and extraction methods.

Objectives: This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the newly developed technologies and their optimization parameters to maximize oil yield, aroma quality, and phenolic content.

Methods: Related sufficient evidence has been collected from prominent scientific databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. Data concerning the phytochemistry, biological impacts, agricultural aspects, and processing approaches of Lavender were collected and assessed.

Results: The diverse aspects of LEO production, including agricultural factors, climatic conditions, and processing techniques, are reviewed to identify the optimal parameters. Furthermore, technologies including GC/MS, HPLC/MS, and IR highlight the relevance of metabolomics in lavender quality control and analysis. In addition, lavender's anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and enzyme-inhibiting properties are highlighted.

Conclusions: Metabolomic analyses offer comprehensive insights into the biochemical composition of lavender, allowing researchers to identify metabolites linked to favorable agricultural traits, disease resistance, optimized oil extraction, superior quality attributes, and potential nutraceutical value; these data-driven findings guide targeted breeding, cultivation strategies, and product development. Lavender (L. angustifolia) is widely recognized for its aroma and health-promoting compounds, including monoterpenoids and phenolics like rosmarinic acid. Essential oil yield and quality depend on cultivation methods and extraction techniques. This review evaluates recent technological advances to optimize oil production, aroma, and phenolic content, using metabolomics techniques to comprehensively analyze lavender constituents. This comprehensive profiling reveals lavender's defensive mechanisms by linking its constituents to considerable health benefits. The findings help improve lavender quality and use in health and well-being.

Introduction: Postmenopausal osteoporosis, a skeletal disorder induced by estrogen deficiency, is commonly addressed in clinical practice through the use of Cuscutae semen and its compound formulations, owing to their significant therapeutic efficacy.

Objective: This study sought to systematically identify bioactive compounds present in Cuscutae semen that interact with estrogen receptor β (ESR2) using Affinity Ultrafiltration combined with Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole-Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-QE-Orbitrap-MS) to find possible therapy options for PMOP.

Methods: The Cuscutae semen extract was fractionated using a C18 column to obtain fractions based on distinct polarity. Preliminary evaluation of anti-osteoporotic activity was conducted in MC3T3-E1 cells by assessing osteoprotegerin (OPG) expression. Affinity Ultrafiltration integrated with UPLC-QE-Orbitrap-MS was utilized to screen for ligands binding to ESR2, followed by molecular docking to validate the interaction mechanisms. The osteogenic effects of the identified compounds were further confirmed through CCK-8 proliferation assays, OPG quantification, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity analysis.

Results: The fraction of Cuscutae semen extract eluted with 100% methanol exhibited significant anti-osteoporotic activity. Three flavonoids-Astragalin, Isorhamnetin, and Quercitrin-that interact with ESR2 were successfully identified. In vitro validation demonstrated the efficacy of these compounds.

Conclusion: This study presents a comprehensive strategy that integrates Affinity Ultrafiltration, UPLC-QE-Orbitrap-MS, and bioactivity validation to efficiently identify ESR2-targeted postmenopausal osteoporosis compounds in Cuscutae Semen. The findings offer both theoretical and empirical foundations for the development of innovative therapeutics for postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Background: Uncariae Ramulus cum Uncis (URCU) is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for treating neurodegenerative disorders. The Chinese Pharmacopeia recognizes five Uncaria species as authorized botanical sources of URCU; however, there is currently no established quality control method for individual species. Furthermore, significant variations in the chemical profiles among these species have been reported.

Objective: Chemical analysis methods were established to evaluate the five species in terms of chemical profile and resource availability, as to determine which species should be preferred as the official source(s).

Method: Ten batches of URCU sample were collected from various regions of China for each of the five species of URCU. Among five species, only UR can be obtained from herbal medicine market, whereas the other four species were sourced from the wild. All samples identities were confirmed by herbarium specimen authentication, morphological identification, and microscopic identification. Twelve alkaloids were identified in the five species, and a UPLC-DAD assay method targeting six marker alkaloids was developed and validated.

Results: Only UR and UM demonstrated the most stable chemical profiles and agreement with published literature. UR mainly contains corynoxeine, isocorynoxeine, rhynchophylline, and isorhynchophylline, whereas corynoxine, corynoxine B, rhynchophylline, and isorhynchophylline dominate in UM.

Conclusion: This study comprehensively evaluated the chemical variations among the five officially recognized URCU species using a UPLC-DAD method. It brings important implications for quality control and standardization of URCU. Considering chemical stability and supply availability, UR is recommended as the sole botanical source for URCU.

Introduction: The roots of Lindera aggregata (Sims) Kosterm named "Wuyao" in Chinese, showed significant antidiabetic bioactivity detected by the insulin resistance HepG2 cells. However, efficient identification of the new antidiabetic compounds has been lacking.

Objective: To develop a guided discovery strategy for new antidiabetic compounds from L. aggregate with activity labeled molecular networking (ALMN).

Methodology: The constructed ALMN could clearly visualize the activities and the structure nodes, which can facilitate the annotation of the active candidates.

Results: Eight new sesquiterpenoids (1-8) were obtained from the roots of Lindera aggregate according to the ALMN workflow showed antidiabetic activity. As for the new compounds, 1 was characteristic of 15-nor-lindenane type, which was reported for the first time, 2 and 3 of aconitane type, 4 of germarane type, 5-8 of eudesmane type sesquiterpenes.

Conclusion: As results indicated, all the eight compounds showed significant antidiabetic effects, which were consistent with the obtained activity annotations by ALMN. The mechanism of the antidiabetic activity for 1-8 were further delved via Akt/GSK3β signal pathway, which can be observed as potential agents against the insulin resistance for the insulin resistance Type II diabetes.

Introduction: Eleutherococcus senticosus, a traditional Chinese medicine, has shown potential in treating glioblastoma (GBM). However, its main active components and mechanisms of action remain unclear.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the inhibitory effects of E. senticosus on GBM cell proliferation and migration using in vitro cellular experiments.

Methods: Transcriptome sequencing and metabolome analysis were performed on GBM cells treated with E. senticosus. Network pharmacology and correlation analysis identified the main active components and their targets, which were further verified using molecular biology experiments. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays and molecular docking analyses were used to analyze the binding ability and mechanisms of action of transcription factors and promoters.

Results: E. senticosus significantly inhibited GBM cell proliferation and migration. Treatment with E. senticosus caused significant changes in ferroptosis-related genes and metabolites in GBM cells, significantly reducing the levels of glutathione, an antagonist of ferroptosis, and its synthetic substrates. GPX4, FTH1, and TFR1 were identified as core targets of ferroptosis induction in E. senticosus-induced GBM cells. Quercetin had similar biological effects on GBM cells as E. senticosus and is its main active component. E. senticosus and quercetin changed the binding ability of transcription factors SIX1 and MYBL2 to the promoters of GPX4, FTH1, and TFR1.

Conclusion: E. senticosus changed the binding ability of SIX1, MYBL2, and promoters of target genes via quercetin, which led to changes in the expression of GPX4, FTH1, and TFR1, finally resulting in ferroptosis induction in GBM cells.