Tang Yp

The protective effect of Zizyphus jujube fruit on carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatic injury in mice by anti-oxidative activities.

AIM OF THE STUDYnThe study was aimed to investigate the protective effect against hepatic injury induced by CCl(4) for the ethanolic extract of FZJ.nnnMATERIALS AND METHODSnThe alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were detected as biomarker in blood of hepatic injury. Product of lipid peroxidation (MDA), activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and reduced glutathione (GSH) contents were evaluated for oxidative stress in hepatic injury. Moreover, histopathological observation was assayed at the degree of hepatic injury.nnnRESULTSnAfter administrated the FZJ, the dose of 200mg/kg significantly decreased ALT and AST, and attenuated histopathology of hepatic injury, and ameliorated the oxidative stress in hepatic tissue. Partly assayed indexes were ameliorated after administrated FZJ at the dose of 100mg/kg.nnnCONCLUSIONnThese results indicated that hepatic protective effects of FZJ were very relevant to modulate the oxidative stress in hepatic injury.

Bioactive components in the fruits of Ziziphus jujuba Mill. against the inflammatory irritant action of Euphorbia plants

Chinese jujube (also known as Chinese date) is the fruit of Ziziphus jujuba Mill. (Rhamnaceae). As a famous folk medicine, it is used as antidote in traditional Chinese formula, Shi Zao Decoction, to relieve the drastic inflammatory irritant nature of Euphorbia species. The irritant activities may cause serious adverse effects in clinical practices. This study aimed to investigate the active components of Z. jujuba through the inhibitory effects on the inflammatory cells activated by Euphorbia kansui and prostratin, a phorbol ester isolated from Euphorbia fischeriana. Peritoneal macrophage of rat and splenic lymphocyte (splenocyte) of mouse were selected to evaluate these actions in vitro. Nitric oxide (NO) release of macrophage and the proliferation of splenocyte were examined through Griess method and MTT assay. TNF-α, as an important pro-inflammatory cytokines, was detected with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Six fractions extracted from Z. jujuba were evaluated and fraction F (triterpene acids fraction) was demonstrated to be the most active part, and then, 21 compounds isolated from Z. jujuba were tested at the concentrations range from 1 μg/ml to 100 μg/ml. The results show that 7 compounds of them are likely to be active compounds concerning to their pronounced inhibitory action on the activated inflammatory cells. These effects might be helpful to attenuate the irritant action of Euphorbiaceae plants and protect the gastrointestinal tissue from potent inflammatory injury, which should be beneficial to some diseases, like inflammatory bowel disease.

A new cytotoxic prenylated dihydrobenzofuran derivative and other chemical constituents from the rhizomes of Atractylodes lancea DC.

A new prenylated dihydrobenzofuran derivative (1), was isolated from the rhizomes of Atractylodes lancea DC (Asteraceae), along with ten known compounds, including atractylenolide II (2), φ-taraxasteryl acetate (3), taraxerol acetate (4), β-sitosterol (5), stigmasterol (6), β-eudesmol (7), atractylenolide III (8), atractylenolide IV (9), daucosterol (10), and stigmasterol 3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (11). The structure of the new compound (1) was elucidated as trans-2-hydroxyisoxypropyl-3-hydroxy-7-isopentene-2,3-dihydrobenzofuran-5-carboxylic acid by the combination of 1D, 2D NMR analysis and mass spectrometry, and it was the first reported 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran derivative having a carboxyl residue at C-5 and an isopentene moiety at C-7 contemporaneously. In addition, compound 1 exhibited significant cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines HCT-116 and MKN-45.

Hydrophilic interaction ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple-quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry for highly rapid and sensitive analysis of underivatized amino acids in functional foods

This work presented a new analytical methodology based on hydrophilic interaction ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple-quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry in multiple-reaction monitoring mode for analysis of 24 underivatized free amino acids (FAAs) in functional foods. The proposed method was first reported and validated by assessing the matrix effects, linearity, limit of detections and limit of quantifications, precision, repeatability, stability and recovery of all target compounds, and it was used to determine the nutritional substances of FAAs in ginkgo seeds and further elucidate the nutritional value of this functional food. The result showed that ginkgo seed turned out to be a good source of FAAs with high levels of several essential FAAs and to have a good nutritional value. Furthermore, the principal component analysis was performed to classify the ginkgo seed samples on the basis of 24 FAAs. As a result, the samples could be mainly clustered into three groups, which were similar to areas classification. Overall, the presented method would be useful for the investigation of amino acids in edible plants and agricultural products.

Screening and analyzing the potential bioactive components from Shaofu Zhuyu decoction, using human umbilical vein endothelial cell extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry

In this paper, a useful method for screening and analyzing the potential bioactive components in bioassay-guided fraction (SF-11) from Shaofu Zhuyu decoction was developed using human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with Q-TOF/MS spectrometry. In addition, the protective effects on HUVEC damage induced by adrenaline in vitro were also investigated. The results showed that SF-11 significantly inhibited the endothelin (ET) release and reversed the NO secretion of HUVEC (p < 0.05), and promoted the PGI(2) release of HUVEC (p < 0.05). Two effective components, paeoniflorin and typhaneoside, from SF-11 were screened and identified using live cell extract and HPLC coupled with Q-TOF/MS spectrometry. The compounds, paeoniflorin and typhaneoside, showed significantly inhibiting effects on the ET release and reversing of NO secretion of HUVEC (p < 0.05), with similar effects to SF-11, and promoting the PGI(2) release of HUVEC at the concentration of 0.208 and 0.013 micromol/mL, respectively (p < 0.05). These data indicated that the method of live cell extraction coupled with HPLC-MS technology is feasible, rapid and useful for screening and analyzing potential bioactive components from TCMs.

Hypothesis of active components in volatile oil from a Chinese herb formulation, ‘Shao-Fu-Zhu-Yu decoction’, using GC-MS and chemometrics

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with few or no side effects has increasingly attracted attention all over the world. However, the bioactive components and the therapeutic mechanisms are usually not understood because of the complex chemical compositions of these medicines. In this paper, GC-MS coupled with a chemometric method was developed for analysis of active components in volatile oil from a Chinese herb formulation, Shao-Fu-Zhu-Yu Decoction. The volatile oils, obtained by hydrodistillation from Shao-Fu-Zhu-Yu Decoction (SFZYD) and its constituent herbs with abundant volatile oil (Angelica sinensis, Ligusticum chuanxiong, Cinnamomum cassia, Foeniculum vulgare, Zingiber officinale), were chemically analyzed using GC-MS and bioassayed using oxytocin-induced uterine contraction assay in vitro. Then, a mathematic model relating the chemical compositions and their activities in inhibiting mice uterine contraction was established for hypothesis of the bioactive compounds based on chemometrics. As a result, nine compounds which might contribute to the inhibition of oxytocin-induced uterine contraction were selected, and the activities of some of them were further confirmed by our experiments and/or the literature. The data suggest that the developed method is helpful for screening bioactive components from complex mixtures, such as the extracts of TCM.

Direct determination of underivatized amino acids from Ginkgo biloba leaves by using hydrophilic interaction ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

Ginkgo biloba leaf extract has been widely used in dietary supplements and more recently in some foods and beverages. In addition to the well-known flavonol glycosides and terpene lactones, G. biloba leaves are also rich in amino acids. To determine the content of free amino acids, a reliable method has been established by using hydrophilic interaction ultra-HPLC coupled with ESI-MS. 20 free amino acids were simultaneously determined without derivatization in 12 min. The proposed method was fully validated in terms of linearity, sensitivity, repeatability, as well as recovery. Furthermore, the principal component analysis was applied to different G. biloba leaves collected in November (after fruit harvest season), which revealed that the samples from different production areas exhibited regional disparity in different clusters in accordance with their various hydrophilic interaction chromatograms coupled with mass profiles. The established approach could be helpful for evaluation of the potential values as dietary supplements and the quality control of G. biloba leaves, which might also be utilized for the investigation of other medicinal herbs containing amino acids.

Hydrophilic interaction ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple-quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC-UPLC-TQ-MS/MS) in multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) for the determination of nucleobases and nucleosides in ginkgo seeds.

In this study, a rapid, simple and sensitive analytical method was developed for the quantitative determination of 20 nucleosides and nucleobases in functional foods at trace levels using hydrophilic interaction ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple-quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC-UPLC-TQ-MS/MS) in multiple-reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. Under optimised chromatographic conditions, good separation of 20 target compounds was achieved using a Waters Acquity UPLC BEH Amide column and gradient elution in 11min. The limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) were between 0.02-42.54ng/mL and 0.05-98.18ng/mL for the 20 analytes, respectively. This is the first report about simultaneous analysis of nucleosides and nucleobases in functional foods using this method, which afforded good linearity, precision, repeatability and accuracy. The method developed was successfully applied to quantify target compounds in batches of ginkgo seeds. The method potentially could be used to determine polar and trace-level nucleosides and nucleobases in ginkgo seeds.

Effects of Aromatic Acids on Stimulating Blood Circulation and Removing Blood Stasis

Abstract Objective The aim of this study is to determine the effects of aromatic acids on stimulating blood circulation and removing blood stasis. Methods A systematic study of aromatic acids concentration in the herbs frequently used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formula to stimulate blood circulation and remove blood stasis is performed to help to establish a bio-activity basis and a compatibility principle for TCM formula. Results Through the study, we find that aromatic acids effect of stimulating blood circulation and removing blood stasis may be increased by combing with alkali. Besides, aromatic acid esters can better stimulate blood circulation and remove blood stasis. Whats more, the solubilization of aromatic acids helps stimulating blood circulation and removing blood stasis. Conclusions Aromatic acids have been proved to be effective in preventing platelet aggregation and anti-thrombus. On the one hand, they have a biological contribution to TCM formula and on the other hand they improve blood circulation through working with other elements in the TCM formula. Aromatic acids make a lot of contributions to the whole TCM formula.

Bioactive components from oils of Siwu Decoction and Xiangfu Siwu Decoction by gas chromatography: mass spectrometry and principle components analysis

Abstract To evaluate the correlativity between volatile components and bioactivity of ‘Si-Wu Decoction’ and ‘Xiang-Fu-Si-Wu decoction’ and their major constituting herbs. Firstly, the chemical compositions of essential oils, obtained by hydrodistillation from ‘Si-Wu Decoction’ and ‘Xiang-Fu-Si-Wu decoction’ and their major constituting herbs (Angelica sinensis, Ligusticum chuanxiong, Cyperus rotundus, Saussurea lappa), were analyzed by GC-MS. Secondly, oxytocin induced female mice uterine contraction animal model was applied to evaluate the bioactivity of ‘Si-Wu Decoction’, ‘Xiang-Fu-Si-Wu decoction’, and its major constituting herbs. Finally a mathematic model was built between chemical compositions and activity of inhibiting mice uterine contraction in vitro. And the correlativity between chemical compositions and bioactivity was analyzed by principal components analysis (PCA). The volatile components of ‘Si-Wu Decoction’ and ‘Xiang-Fu-Si-Wu decoction’ were mostly derived from Angelica sinensis and Ligusticum chuanxiong. And ‘Xiang-Fu-Si-Wu decoction’ oil components were partly from Cyperus rotundus and Saussurea lappa. Twenty two compounds, their contribution ratio for bioactivity are great or closely related to bioactivity, were obtained by PCA. The compounds, (Z)-ligustilide, cis-ocimene, γ-selinene, Spathulenol, 3-butylidenephathalide, (E)-ligustilide, mainly belong to ‘Si-Wu Decoction’. The components, Dehydrocostuslactone, Cyperene, β-caryophyllene, γ-selinene, Curcumene, α-elemene, β-cyperone, α-cyperone, (Z)-ligustilide, Squalene belong to ‘Xiang-Fu-Si-Wu decoction’. The method of GC-MS coupled with PCA is potential method to evaluate the bioactive components of TCM and TCM formulae.