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
To study the effect of
Panax japonicus saponin Ⅳa (SPJ-Ⅳa) on nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) through miR-17-5p/MFN2 signaling pathway. The nonalcoholic steatohepatitis model was induced by a high-fat diet combined with CCl
4 in Balb/c male mice. The mouse serum and liver were collected, the body weight and liver weight were measured. The liver index was calculated, and the serum biochemical indicators, i.e., alanine amino transferase (ALT), triglyceride (TG), and glucose (Glu), were measured. The morphological changes in the liver were detected by HE and Masson staining; real-time PCR was used to detect lipid metabolism-related genes, inflammation-related genes interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1
β (IL-1
β), miR-17-5p and MFN2 expressions; Western blot was used to detect MFN2 protein expression level. Compared with the conditions in the normal group, the liver index in the HFD + CCl
4 group was significantly increased, and the contents of ALT, TG, and Glu were significantly increased; the morphology showed obvious steatosis and collagen fiber deposition; mRNA expression levels of lipid metabolism-related genes, inflammation-related genes and miR-17-5p increased significantly; the mRNA expression level of MFN2 decreased significantly; the protein level of MFN2 decreased. After intervention with SPJ-Ⅳa, the levels of ALT, TG and Glu decreased; morphological steatosis decreased; collagen fiber deposition decreased; mRNA expression levels of lipid metabolism-related genes, inflammation-related genes and miR-17-5p decreased. The mRNA expression level of MFN2 increased, and the protein level of MFN2 also increased. The results of this study indicated that miR-17-5p/MFN2 signaling pathway may be involved in the occurrence and development of NASH, and SPJ-Ⅳa had a protective effect on NASH. Its mechanism may be related to the regulation of miR-17-5p/MFN2 signaling pathway.
Tianzhi Granules have the effects of extinguishing liver wind, tonifying liver and kidney, and activating blood. At present, it is mainly used for the treatment of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). However, its efficacy and safety remain to be verified. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically analyze the efficacy and safety of Tianzhi Granules in the treatment of VCI. The databases including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chongqing Weipu Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals (VIP), Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, Chinese Biomedical Literature Service System (SinoMed), PubMed, and Cochrane Library were searched to obtain the published articles. The ClinicalTrials.gov was also searched to figure out the completed but unpublished trials according to the inclusion criteria. Two researchers independently used the risk of bias assessment tools for quality assessment, and extracted and checked the data. Cochrane systematic evaluation software RevMan 5.3 was used for data analysis. Twenty-seven articles involving 2 741 subjects were included. The intervention measure was monotherapy with Tianzhi Granules, and the control measure was monotherapy with western medicine or blank control. According to the results, Tianzhi Granules were better than blank control and brain metabolism promoter in improving the clinical efficacy rate and MMSE score, and better than blank control and nimodipine in improving the event-related potential P300. Within three months, Tianzhi Granules had better effects than western medicine and blank control, and the incidence of adverse events was lower. Tianzhi Granules can be recommended for clinical application. However, due to the low quality of the included articles, these potential benefits need to be confirmed in future standardized clinical trials with a large sample size.
In this study, the oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) model in the human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMECs) was used to simulate the ischemic neuronal damage, observe the inflammatory response, and explore the possible mechanisms for treating cerebral ischemia/reperfusion and improving memory impairment from the view point of inhibiting inflammatory response, which is of great reference significance for related Chinese medicine treatment of ischemic diseases. HBMECs were given with drugs at the same time of OGD injury, and reoxygenated for 2 h after treatment for 4 h. Cell supernatant was then collected, and the inflammatory factors in cell supernatant were detected. Immunofluorescence assay was used to detect HBMEC morphology and expression of p-nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B (p-NF-κB); Western blot was used to detect expression changes of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MYD88) and p-NF-κB. The results showed that, after OGD modeling, the levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-1
α, IL-1
β and tumor necrosis factor-
α (TNF-
α) were significantly increased; baicalin protected HBMECs, inhibited intranuclear transcription of p-NF-κB, significantly decreased HBMEC release of inflammatory factors caused by OGD injury, and inhibited the expression of TLR4, MYD88, and p-NF-κB. The studies suggested that baicalin had obvious protective effect on HBMECs damaged by OGD, and could inhibit inflammatory response. Its protection mechanism may be related to inhibiting TLR4 signaling pathways.
The soil fertility quality is one of the most critical indicators of soil productivity. It directly affects the yield, quality and agricultural efficiency of Chinese medicinal materials. In order to establish the American ginseng soil fertility quality evaluation method based on the effective components of American ginseng, Wendeng district, Weihai city, Shandong province, the main producing area of American ginseng, was cited as a case for the study. Twenty-two four-year-old American ginseng sampling sites are located at seven towns. The samples of soil and plant roots were collected in the autumn of 2017–2019. The saponin contents of American ginseng and 11 chemical properties of soil were measured. The minimum data set (MDS) for assessment of the quality of soil fertility quality was established by correlation analysis and principal component analysis. The evaluation indicators were normalized by membership function. Soil quality index (SQI) that indicates soil comprehensive fertility quality level was calculated according to the critical value of membership function and weight value of each soil index in MDS. The results showed that the total saponin (Rg
1 + Re + Rb
1) content of American ginseng in samples ranged from 1.76% to 7.94%. The yield of eight plots in 2019 ranged from 3 818.7 kg·hm
−2 to 8 996.4 kg·hm
−2. MDS includes soil organic matter (SOM), alkali-hydrolysable nitrogen (AN), exchangeable calcium (ECa), exchangeable magnesium (EMg), available iron (AFe), available copper (ACu), and available zinc (AZn). Based on the mean of 4.825% of total saponin, threshold value of SQI for the region was determined to be 0.15, and 86.36% of soil samples in the county were above the threshold value. The methods and parameters are applicable to selection of high quality American ginseng planting sites and guiding rational fertilization. It also provides a reference for the evaluation of soil fertility quality of other medicinal plants.
To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of Xinmailong Injection in the treatment of coronary heart failure. The Chinese databases including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform (WanFang), Chinese Biomedical Literature Service System (SinoMed), and Chongqing Weipu Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals (VIP) as well as foreign databases including PubMed, EMBase and Cochrane Library were searched to collect the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about Xinmailong Injection in the treatment of coronary heart failure, with the retrieval time set from the inception of each database to February 2020. The literature screening, data extraction, and quality evaluation were conducted by two researchers independently according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. RevMan 5.3 software was used for Meta-analysis. A total of 19 studies involving 1 922 patients were included, including 967 cases in the treatment group and 955 cases in the control group. All the clinical studies were low in quality. Meta-analysis results showed that Xinmailong Injection combined with routine basic treatment (RBT) could better reduce the BNP level (SMD = −3.34, 95% CI [−4.06, −2.63]) or NT-proBNP level, improve the heart function (RR = 1. 23, 95% CI [1.18, 1.29]) and LVEF (MD = 6.85, 95% CI [4.93, 8.76]), increase 6MWT (MD = 24.34, 95% CI [16.05, 32.64]) and VEGF (MD = 26.39, 95% CI [24.30, 28.49]), and decrease LVEDD (MD = −4.06, 95% CI [−6.33, −1.80]) in patients with coronary heart failure. Subgroup analysis suggested that the course of treatment may be related to the increase in LVEF. This study found that Xinmailong Injection can further alleviate clinical symptoms and relevant indicators of patients with coronary heart failure, without inducing serious adverse reactions. However, the evidence level concerning the effectiveness and safety of Xinmailong Injection in treating coronary heart failure needs to be further supported by more well-designed and standardized multi-center studies with a large sample size.
This study aimed at exploring the effect of Xiangdan Injection on anticoagulation of warfarin in rats in vivo. Rats were randomly assigned into different groups and then administered. Subsequently, the blood samples were collected at a set series of time points for the measurement of prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) values, and the international normalized ratio (INR) was calculated. The plasma concentrations of warfarin enantiomers were determined by UPLC-MS/MS technology, and pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated by DAS 2.0 software. Statistical analysis was performed to compare differences between the groups. Single-dose study of warfarin showed that Xiangdan Injection alone had no effects on PT, APTT or INR. When Xiangdan Injection was co-administered with warfarin, PT and INR values increased (
P < 0.01), while APTT was unaffected; after co-administration of the two drugs,
Cmax, AUC
0-
t, and AUC
0-∞ of
S-warfarin increased (
P < 0.01), and
t1/2 prolonged (
P < 0.01), while the pharmacokinetic parameters of
R-warfarin changed insignificantly. Steady-state study of warfarin showed that after co-administration of the two drugs, the PT and INR values increased (
P < 0.05), and the plasma concentration of
S-warfarin increased (
P < 0.01), while the plasma concentration of
R-warfarin changed insignificantly. The results have suggested that Xiangdan Injection itself has no effect on coagulation index while can enhance the anticoagulation of warfarin by delaying the metabolism of
S-warfarin.
Langmei is a relict tree species, whose fruit has good medicinal value. To understand the biosynthesis pathway of citric acid, the Illumina HiSeq XTen high-throughput sequencing technology was used to get the transcriptome from
Langmei. A total of 38 936 unigenes were obtained by assembling the fruit transcripts, of which 28 311 unigenes were successfully annotated in public databases; 15 193 unigenes were mapped to 265 KEGG metabolic pathways; 18 908 unigenes were classified into 59 GO functional subclasses. The 103 unigenes encoding 15 key enzymes involved in citric acid synthesis pathway were identified and analyzed. The structural model of citrate synthase in
Langmei showed that it was a homodimer and the secondary structure of each monomer was mainly composed of
α helices. Moreover, the residues in the active site of the citrate synthase were highly conserved. This study provides a valuable resource for identifying candidate genes involved in the citric acid biosynthesis pathway, and will promote the development and sustainable utilization of genetic resources of
Langmei.
