Advances in Traditional Medicine最新文献

It establishes that inflammatory disorder of Th1 and Th17 cells promotes alveolar bone damage during periodontitis. It is proved that Galla Turcica has the function of anti-inflammation and immuno-modulation. We are going to uncover the potential effect of Galla Turcica in bone protection and T helper cell regulation during periodontitis. Experimental periodontitis animal models were chosen for the presented research. We recorded the bleeding on probing, tooth mobility, the alveolar bone resorption rate of target teeth, proportion of CD4 + T-bet + , CD4 + ror-γt + subsets in gingiva and peripheral blood, L-2, IFN-γ, IL-17, RANKL concentration in GCF and peripheral blood sera. In addition, we performed cell culture experiments to illustrate how Galla Turcica affects Th1 and Th17 cell differentiation and function. The proportion of CD4 + T-bet + , CD4 + ror-γt + subsets, and the mRNA level and concentration of IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-17, and RANKL in cultured cells or culture media were detected by real-time PCR and ELISA. We established that Galla Turcica administration not just remedies periodontal bleeding and tooth movement, but reduce alveolar bone resorption rate. Also, we find Galla Turcica administration reduced gingiva Th17 cell proportion and GCF RANKL, IL-17 concentration. In cell culture experiments, Galla Turcica decreases Th17 cell differentiation, and IL-17 transcription and secretion. Moreover, our study showed that Galla Turcica reduces STAT expression and phosphorylation, which prevent Th17 cell differentiation. The outcomes of our study highlight the functions and possible mechanisms of Galla Turcica engaged in periodontal inflammations, and reveal the considerable effect of Galla Turcica in regulating Th17 cell differentiation and their likely contribution to alveolar bone resorption during periodontitis.

This quasi-experimental study aimed to investigate the impact of Damask rose (DR) aromatherapy on the sleep quality of mothers with preterm infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Seventy-five eligible mothers were non-randomly divided into intervention and control groups. The control group received routine care, while the intervention group received 10% DR aromatherapy 20 min before bedtime for 10 nights. Data collection included a demographic questionnaire and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Statistical analysis was conducted using Chi-square, Mann–Whitney, and Wilcoxon tests with a significance level of p < 0.05 (SPSS 16). Results revealed a significant improvement in sleep quality and its subscales in the intervention group (p < 0.05). Although both groups showed improved total sleep scores (p < 0.05), the intervention group exhibited a substantially greater improvement (8.31 ± 1.82 to 5.62 ± 1.91) compared to the control group (9.95 ± 2.89 to 9.47 ± 3.30), as indicated by the estimated effect size. This study demonstrates that DR aromatherapy can enhance the sleep quality of mothers with preterm infants in NICUs, suggesting its potential as a supportive intervention in neonatal care settings.

The world urgently needs to discover new drugs to meet the challenges that threaten human health. Marine molluscs are known as natural sources of various bioactive compounds. In the present study, to evaluate the biological activity of the marine snail Planaxis sulcatus, soft tissues of the snail were extracted using acetone (Me₂CO), ethanol (EtOH) and ethyl acetate (EtOAc). All extracts were tested for their total antioxidant capacity, total phenolic and DPPH free radical scavenging activity. The extracts were also tested in vitro for their antimicrobial activities. The results showed that, EtOAc extract of P. sulcatus had the highest antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content, followed by acetone extract. Concerning antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities of tested extracts, EtOH extract showed a good antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus and Proteus vulgaris. The most promising extract, EtOH extract, was processed for cytotoxicity testing and GC–MS analysis based on antimicrobial testing. Ethanol extract revealed a significant cytotoxic effect against hepatocellular carcinoma (HePG-2) and colorectal colon cancer cell lines. GC–MS analysis indicated the presence of 41 compounds in the EtOH extract with hexadecanoic acid, ethyl ester and octadecanoic acid, ethyl ester as the main ingredients consisting 16.55% and 14.56% of the total content, respectively. These data suggest that P. sulcatus could be a good source for many compounds with antimicrobial and anticancer potentials.

Kidney and blood refreshing recipe formula is usually used to effectively treat intrauterine adhesions (IUAs). However, little is known about the underlying mechanism of kidney and blood refreshing recipes. We investigated the pharmacological mechanism of Bushen Yixue recipe on IUA through pharmacological and experimental validation. By network pharmacological analysis, 183 active constituents of the kidney and blood refreshing recipe were screened out (retrieved from TCMSP and TCM-ID). According to Venn diagram analysis, there were 102 common targets of the kidney and blood refreshing recipe. PPI analysis of the above common targets showed that there were 102 nodes and 1678 edges. Subsequently, GO enrichment and KEGG pathway analyses were also performed, which resulted in 1582 biological processes, 111 molecular functions, 82 cell components, and 174 related pathways. The active component of the kidney and blood refreshing recipe was also determined by liquid mass spectrometry. Finally, a rat model of IUA was constructed and tested in vivo. After kidney and blood refreshing recipe treatment, HE staining, Masson staining and immunohistochemistry (TGF-β1, SDF-1, VEGF) were performed on the uterine tissues of rats. The results showed that fibrosis in the uterine tissue was inhibited. The kidney and blood refreshing recipe inhibits fibrosis by inhibiting the expression of genes typical of fibrosis.

A conventional plant flavonoid known as myricetin is well-known for its wide range of effects, including its strong anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and antioxidant characteristics. In this study, we examined anti-inflammatory potential of Myricetin (MN) by looking at the expressions of COX-2, IL-6 and TNF-α in leukemia cancer cell lines (THP-1). The THP-1 was cultured in Roswell Park Memorial Institute medium supplemented with 10% foetal bovine serum and penicillin (100 U/ml) for the purposes of the in-vitro investigations. Cell viability and cytotoxicity testing were done using the MTT assay. To prepare the ligand and proteins for the in-silico studies, The structures of the targeted anti-inflammatory proteins COX-2 (PDB ID: 5KIR), TNF- (PDB ID: 1TNF), and IL-6 (PDB ID: 1ALU) were retrieved from Protein Data Bank. Furthermore, docking experiments were carried out using the AutoDock Vina software. In comparison to the reference drug cisplatin (9.46 µg/ml) the IC50 value for MN was found to be 90.161 µg/ml. The cells pretreated with MN showed a significantly lower expression of anti-inflammatory components (COX-2, TNF-α and IL6) upon measured by geometric mean fluorescence intensity as compared to the LPS-induced control cells. Additionally, MN has shown a strong interaction with COX-2, TNF-α and IL-6 in simulation studies. To conclude, MN exhibits a potent anti-inflammatory effect both in-silico and in-vitro studies. Further, in vivo investigations are needed to gain more comprehensive understanding of the molecule.

Polyphenols are notable phytochemicals mostly found in plant-based foods, with many reported health benefits. Only limited information is available in the literature on polyphenolic lignans; hence, this review highlights the findings from an extensive open-ended search performed on many databases and search engines, using the keywords “phyllanthin” and “hypophyllanthin” inserted separately and jointly into these databases. Up to 2700 distinct articles were generated, most of which were related to plants of the Phyllanthus species. Plant extract-based articles were excluded. 468 original articles and bibliographic reviews that met the inclusion criteria were selected. Our search showed that both lignans were mostly isolated from plant sources, and some of their biological and pharmacological activities have been previously studied in in silico, in vitro and in vivo experimental models. Only a few human studies were reported, mainly in ex-vivo studies with blood samples and parasites. The antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory, cardiovascular and cardioprotective, antimicrobial, antiviral, antiparasitic, neuroprotective and neuroactive, anti-diabetic, reno-protective and uricosuric, hepatoprotective, metabolic as well as anticancer effects are well-documented and described in the different sections of this review, as summarized in Table 1. No direct toxicity and side effects were reported. The health benefits identified in the reviewed articles potentially provide some rationale for further scientific research on these lignans’ toxicology, safety profiles, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics, with a view to progressing through the clinical trial phases of the drug discovery and development process.

The notoriety of toxic metals has become a cause for concern across the world as their presence in the environment constitutes serious health hazard that affect not only the human populace but the ecosystem. This study aimed to explore the ameliorative potential of ethanol extract of Stachytarpheta cayennensis (SCE) leaf in Wistar rats exposed to arsenic, cadmium, and lead (ACL). Thirty Wistar rats were divided into five (5) groups of six (6) rats each. Group one served as the control group was given 300 ml of distilled water as their daily drinking water. Group two as ACL group was exposed to a combination of 30 mg/kg of lead, cadmium, and 1 mg/kg of arsenic, daily, via drinking water. Group three, four and five were the treatment groups administered a combination of 100 mg/kg of vitamins C and 30 mg/kg of vitamin E, 200, and 400 mg/kg of SCE with ACL in daily drinking water respectively. Experiment lasted for 28 days, the rats were sacrificed, blood and other organs were harvested for laboratory analysis. There were varying degrees of significant (P<0.05) amelioration of the heavy metals toxicity revealed by positive changes in the biochemical and hematological indices evaluated when the treated groups were compared to the ACL group. Therefore, the administration of SCE, vitamin C and E could potentially protect against the co-induced toxicity of arsenic, cadmium and lead in Wistar rats.

Except for South Africa, Africa recorded very low cases of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), and even lower deaths compared to other regions of the world. Several reasons were proposed to explain these low numbers. In this review, we appraise severe acute respiratory syndrome-2 (SARS-CoV-2) therapeutic targets and varying empirical evidence on the use of anti-COVID-19 herbal and bioactive agents in Africa and the role of geo-demographic factors associated with low morbidity and mortality in Africa. Many of the traditional medicinal plants Africans use in the fight against COVID-19 are thought to possess some intrinsic antiviral properties against SARS-CoV-2. Some others were used to treat COVID-19-related symptoms with positive testimonies, making it necessary for in-depth research of African traditional medicine. The adequate knowledge of medicinal plants, their activities, dosage and appropriate duration of use will further advance traditional medical care and help researchers to identify ideal promising drug candidates for accelerated drug development. COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa is extremely complex and involves numerous unknown variables as well as region-specific factors that have often been overlooked or underestimated. Traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine in the form of plant extracts and phytochemicals have significant inhibitory effects against SARS-CoV-2 as demonstrated by both in silico and in vitro models and thus could slow replication and transmission of the virus.

Chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment (CICI) is an impairment of memory, learning power, concentration, reasoning, executive function, attention, and visuospatial during and after chemotherapy exposures. No proven safe and effective therapeutic regimen are available to improve cognitive function in CICI patients. To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of curcumin extract to improve cognitive function in CICI patients. This study was a double-blind randomized controlled trial clinical trial in patients with cervical carcinoma who underwent a carboplatin-paclitaxel chemotherapy regimen from March to October 2021 at single center hospital. Subjects divided into two groups that received curcumin and placebo caplets by dose escalation method from 240 to 400 mg intermittently (14 days on and 7 days off) between chemotherapy cycles. Cognitive function was evaluated pre- and post-therapy using the AFI questionnaire, Stroop test, and MoCA-Ina. A total of 78 subjects were equally divided into the treatment and control groups. The percentage of drop-out, mortality, and adverse drug response were relatively comparable between each treatment arm. The group of subjects receiving curcumin extract experienced clinically and statistically significant improvements in cognitive function based on the Stroop test (∆ median 8.57 vs. 2.46; Z − 4.503 vs. − 1.762; p  < 0.0001 vs. 0.078) and MoCA- Ina (∆ mean 1.53 vs. 0.72; Z − 2.99 vs. − 2.05; p < 0.003 vs. 0.04) versus placebo in between-group and between-subject analyses, respectively. Administration of curcumin extract with intermittent dose escalation regimen proved to be safe and able to improve cognitive function of CICI patients clinically and statistically significant.

Melanins are widely distributed biopolymers that exhibit important biological activities. However, fruit melanins have been scarcely studied. In this work, the antibiofilm, cellular antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, cytotoxic, and antimutagenic activities of soluble melanins (SMs) isolated from the Randia echinocarpa fruit (papache) were evaluated. The SMs inhibited biofilm formation in Staphylococcus aureus MDR and ATCC 43300 up to 60% at 1000 µg/mL; they presented a cellular antioxidant activity (60.02%) at 50 µg/mL, were immunomodulatory by increasing the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) proliferation index (1.09 at 50 μg/mL), and inhibited HeLa cell proliferation by 77.39% (IC₅₀ = 9.34 µg/mL). SMs were neither toxic nor mutagenic in the Salmonella Typhimurium YG1024 strain and inhibited the 1-nitropyrene mutagenicity by 30.2%. The biological activities of papache SMs support their potential to be used in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical formulations.