China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica, the 1st in the field of TCM, is supervised by China Association for Science and Technology and sponsored by Institute of Chinese Pharmaceutical Association. The journal is China's earliest comprehensive core journal of traditional Chinese medicine, and always maintains the circulation top in the professional areas. The journal publishes the latest research and progress of traditional Chinese medicine and takes a leading position in numbers of articles published, downloads and citations among all journals in this discipline.
Its scope covers new achievements, technologies, methods, experiences and concepts resulting from the research on Chinese materia medica pursuant to Chinese medical and pharmaceutical theories, traditional experiences, and modern science and technology, including medicinal resources and identification, cultivation, processing, preparation, chemistry, pharmacology, theory of Chinese pharmacy and clinical practice, bencaological study.
The journal is included in CA, JST and CSCD.
Honorary Editor-in-Chief Xiao Peigen Editor-in-Chief Wang Yongyan
Associate Editors Zhang Boli, Hu Zhibi, Yao Xinsheng, Li Lianda, Li Dapeng, Yang Baofeng, Zhou Chaofan, Huang Luqi, Chen Shilin, Li He.
Executive Editorial Board Cai Shaoqing, Chen Shilin
Hyoscyamine and scopolamine are important secondary metabolites of tropane alkaloid in
Atropa belladonna with pharmacological values in many aspects. In this study, the seedlings of
A.belladonna were planted by soil culture and treated with different concentrations of methyl jasmonate (Me JA). The contents of hyoscyamine and scopolamine, the upstream products in alkaloid synthesis, and the expression levels of key enzyme genes
PMT,
TR Ⅰ and
H6
H in secondary metabolites of
A.belladonna seedlings were measured to clarify the mechanism of MeJA in regulating alkaloids synthesis. The results showed that Me JA (200 μmol·L
−1) was more favorable for the accumulation of alkaloids. The content of putrescine was almost consistent with the changed in key enzyme activities in the synthesis of putrescine, the both increasing first and then decreasing, with the increase in Me JA concentration, and the content of putrescine reached the highest in the 200 μmol·L
−1Me JA treatment group. Further detection of gene expression of
PMT,
TR Ⅰ and
H6
H in TAs synthesis pathway showed that no significant vibration in
PMT gene expression levels. The expression levels of
TR Ⅰ and
H6
H in leaves and roots under 200 μmol·L
−1 Me JA treatment condition were the highest. It could be speculated that the regulation of the formation of hyoscyamine and scopolamine by Me JA mainly achieved through affecting the expression of key enzyme genes. An appropriate concentration of Me JA increased the gene expression of
TR Ⅰ in both leaves and roots as well as
H6
H in roots, promoting the accumulation of alkaloids and the conversion of hyoscyamine into scopolamine.
An analytical method based on UFLC-QTRAP-MS/MS was established for simultaneous determination of thirty-three components including steroidal saponins, homoisoflavonoids, amino acids and nucleosides in Ophiopogonis Radix. Thirty-three target components of commercial medicinal materials of Maidong were comparative analyzed. Synergi
TMHydro-RP 100Å column (2.0 mm × 100 mm, 2.5 μm) was used with 0.1% formic acid solution–0.1% formic acid acetonitrile for gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.4 mL·min
−1. In addition, multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode was employed. The data were comprehensively processed and analyzed with hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) methods. All components showed good linearity (
r > 0.999 0) within the tested ranges. The average recoveries were between 96.23% and 102.0%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were less than 5%. The results showed that there were significant differences in components between Ophiopogonis Radix and Liriopes Radix, with seven components obviously different. This method was useful for providing basis for the comprehensive evaluation and intrinsic quality control of Ophiopogonis Radix and Liriopes Radix, and may provide a new method reference for the identification of Ophiopogonis Radix and Liriopes Radix.
This paper aimed to study the transcriptional regulation of six chemical components of
Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. (gallic acid, quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, resveratrol, apigenin) on pregnane X receptor (PXR) mediated CYP3A4. Based on the rapid screening technique, the effect of chemical components on the cell activity was detected by MTS cell method, and the value of IC
50 was calculated. The dual luciferase reporter system was used to co-transfect PXR reporter gene expression vector containing transcriptional regulation and CYP3A4 with Hep G2 cells, with 10 μmol·L
−1 rifampicin (RIF) as a positive control, and 10 μmol·L
−1 of ketoconazole (TKZ) as negative control. Gallic acid, quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, apigenin, and resveratrol (5, 10, and 20 μmol·L
−1) were used to incubate for 24 h, and the luciferase activity was detected. The results showed that when plasmid pc DNA3.1 was co-transfected with p GL4.17-CYP3A4, gallic acid and resveratrol had an inhibitory effect on the regulation of CYP3A4, and quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol had an inductive effect on CYP3A4. When pc DNA3.14-PXR was co-transfected with p GL4.17-CYP3A4, quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, apigenin, and resveratrol had an inductive effect. To sum up, the six reported liver injury components had inhibitory or activating effects on CYP3A4. After PXR plasmid was involved, five components had an inductive effect on CYP3A4, and the inductive effects of two components were significantly different. In this experiment, we found that two kinds of potential liver injury components in
Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. had been induced by CYP3A4, which was achieved through PXR regulation. It suggested that attention shall be paid to potential drug interactions when adopting
Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. with other drugs, so as to improve the safety and efficacy.
In order to increase the solubility of volatile oil from Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma, this study was to prepare self-nanoemulsion of volatile oil from Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma. The prescriptions were preliminarily screened by miscibility studies, excipient compatibility tests, and pseudo-ternary phase diagrams, and then the optimal formulation was obtained by using the Box-Behnken response surface method, with particle diameter and drug-loading rate as the indicators. The self-nanoemulsion prepared by optimal prescription was characterized and evaluated for in vitro dissolution. The results showed that the optimal prescription for this volatile oil self-nanoemulsion was as follows: 41.7% volatile oil, 46.8% Tween-80, and 11.5% PEG-400. The prepared self-nanoemulsion was clear and transparent, with drug-loading rate of (192.77 ± 1.64) mg·g
−1, particle diameter of (53.20 ± 0.94) nm, polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.230 ± 0.013, and zeta potential of (−12.2 ± 0.7) mV. The in vitro dissolution of self-nanoemulsion was higher than that of volatile oil. In this research, volatile oil served as the oil phase in self-nanoemulsion, so the prescription was simpler and the drug-loading rate was higher. The prepared self-nanoemulsion complied with the relevant quality requirements, providing a reference for the preparation of volatile oil formulations.
To investigate the hypoglycemic effects of baicalin, berberine, puerarin and liquiritin on the insulin resistance (IR) cells. The IR model of HepG2 cells was established by treatment with insulin and dexamethasone for 48 h. Glucose uptake, glycogen content and cell viability were detected after 24-h treatment with different concentrations of baicalin, berberine, puerarin, liquiritin in IR-HepG2 cells. Compared with IR model group, all treatment groups significantly increased the glucose consumption, except for the liquiritin groups and 1 μmol·L
−1 baicalin group. Moreover, 10, 20, and 50 μmol·L
−1 baicalin, 5, 10, 20, and 50 μmol·L
−1 berberine as well as 40, 80, and 160 μmol·L
−1 puerarin significantly elevated glycogen content in IR-HepG2 cells. Liquiritin did not show obvious hypoglycemic effect. Compared with normal group, the mRNA expression levels of GLUT1 and GLUT4 were decreased in IR-HepG2 cells according to qPCR results. 5 and 20 μmol·L
−1 berberine decreased the mRNA expression level of GLUT1 in IR-HepG2 cells, while 20, 40, and 80 μmol·L
−1 puerarin significantly elevated the mRNA expression level of GLUT1. Moreover, 10, 20, and 50 μmol·L
−1 baicalin and 20 μmol·L
−1 berberine increased the mRNA expression level of GLUT4. However, 40 and 80 μmol·L
−1 puerarin decreased the mRNA expression level of GLUT4. Western blot results suggested that 10, 20, and 50 μmol·L
−1 baicalin significantly increased the protein expressions of GLUT2 and GLUT4, whereas 20, 40, and 80 μmol·L
−1 puerarin significantly up-regulated GLUT1 and GLUT2 proteins. In addition, 20 μmol·L
−1 berberine increased the protein expressions of GLUT2 and GLUT4, whereas 10 μmol·L
−1 berberine up-regulated GLUT4 expression. The results preliminarily suggested that baicalin, berberine and puerarin have differentiated hypoglycemic effects, to accelerate glucose transport, increase glycogen synthesis, and regulate glucose metabolism for elevated hepatic insulin sensitivity.
The research is aimed to study of the influence of environmental factors on the yield and quality traits, and find out the regularity of the growth and development of
Perilla frutescen. The main environmental factor data in six ecological areas in Guizhou Province were collected, and the correlation analysis of the yield and quality traits of 15
P. frutescen strains was conducted. The results showed that the cultivation environment had significant effect on the yield and quality traits of
P. frutescen. The effect of environment on main yield components of grain number of the main spike, effective spike number per plant, plant height, main spike length, growth period, and 1 000-grain weight was degressive. Among the different environmental factors, latitude showed positive correlation with yield, growth period, and effective spike number per plant, and negative correlation with main spike length and grain number of the main spike. Altitude showed negative correlation with the growth period of
P. frutescen. The
P. frutescen yield increased at first and then decreased with the increase of altitude, reaching the maximum at the 800 m altitude. The 600–900 m altitude was suitable area for
P. frutescen. Except for positive correlation with the plant height, and negative correlation with main spike length, the longitude showed in apparent impact on other traits. Sunshine duration, temperature, and rainfall accumulation showed different effect on the different
P. frutescen strains. For yield components, the sunshine duration was negatively correlation with the plant length. The accumulated temperature and mean temperature showed negative correlation with the main spike length and rainfall showed negative correlation with growth period, plant height, and spike number per plant. The environmental impact on the oil compounds was in the descending order of oleic acid > stearic acid > linoleic acid >
α-linolenic acid > palmitic acid > oil content. Correlation analysis showed that the significantly negative correlation of the oil content and palmitic acid with linoleic acid content, and the positive correlation of oil content and palmitic acid with linolenic acid content. The
α-linolenic acid content showed significantly negative correlation with other fatty acids, and palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid showed significant positive correlation with each other. The influence of different environmental factors on the quality of
P. frutescen were as follows. The oil content was positively associated with altitude and sunshine duration. The
α-linolenic acid content showed negative correlation with longitude, latitude, accumulated temperature and mean temperature, but positive correlation with altitude, sunlight, and rainfall. The correlation of palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, and linoleic acid with environmental factors showed contrast character of α-linolenic acid. The influence of environmental factors on the quality of
P. frutescen was analyzed in this study, which provided the foundation of ecological planting technology and geoherbalism research of
P. frutescen.
