Objective: To simultaneously investigate the pharmacokinetics of gentiopicroside, sweroside, and swertiamarin, which are constituents of Gentianella acuta , by developing and validating a simple, sensitive, and fast ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method. Materials and Methods: Blood samples were collected from the forward limb veins of six beagle dogs following oral gavage with G. acuta, the whole plant extract (39.90 mg/kg). Plasma samples were processed using liquid–liquid extraction. The analytes and paeoniflorin (internal standard [IS]) were separated using an Acquity ® UPLC ethylene bridged hybrid amide column (2.1 mm × 100 mm, 1.7 μm) with isocratic elution using a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid in water (80:20, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. Quantification was performed using multiple reaction monitoring of the fragmentation transitions at m/z 401.1s594;179.0, 403.1→195.0, 419.1→179.0, and 525.2→449.1 for gentiopicroside, sweroside, swertiamarin, and the IS, respectively. Results: The linearity of the analytical response was good and the calibration curves were linear over concentration ranges of 1.20–192.0, 0.40–159.0, and 0.20–209.3 ng/mL for gentiopicroside, sweroside, and swertiamarin, respectively. The extraction recovery was in the range of 84.72%–91.34%, 84.58%–93.43%, and 82.75%–91.37% for gentiopicroside, sweroside, and swertiamarin, respectively. Conclusions: The method was successfully used to evaluate the pharmacokinetic parameters of gentiopicroside, sweroside, and swertiamarin in beagle dogs.

Objective: There are different geographic origins of Aconiti Kusnezoffii Radixs (AKRs) sold in the market with different quality. This study aims to establish a rapid analysis method to distinguish the different geographic origins of AKRs and to realize the rapid evaluation of their quality. Methods: An ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF MS) method was utilized to acquire the constituents' information of AKRs from different geographic origins. MS E data and Progenesis QI software were employed to identify the chemical constitutes. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to comparing MS data to find the chemical markers of AKRs from different geographic origins. Results: Twenty-three components were detected and 17 out of them were identified, including diester-diterpenoid alkaloids, monoester-diterpenoid alkaloids , and amine-diterpenoid alkaloids. Three pairs of isomers were detected and two of them were distinguished by the retention time of standard samples. Thirteen chemical markers were screened out through PCA and orthogonal partial least square discriminant analysis. Through detecting Napelline or isomer of Napelline (m/z 360.2530) and Aconifine (m/z 662.3170), AKRs from inner Mongolia autonomous could be screened. According to the existence of benzoylaconine (m/z 604.3108) and Indaconitine (m/z 630.3159), it could be confirmed that the AKRs are from Xinjiang Uygur autonomous. AKRs that cannot detect compounds above-mentioned could be from Liaoning or Shanxi Province. Conclusions: The chemical profile could be used not only to distinguish the AKRs from different geographic origins but also to identify the true and false of AKRs. This study lays a foundation for the study of efficacy and toxic of AKRs.

Objective: Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) are efficacious against ulcerative colitis (UC). In recent years, the number of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of TCM has increased. Thus, it is very important to summarize the basic characteristics, quality, and types of TCM interventions in published RCTs. This scoping review was performed to systematically identify and describe the current situations about RCTs of TCMs for treating UC. Hope to express the focus and specifics of nowadays research in TCM interventions in RCTs and evaluate their common disadvantages exposed to help advance in TCM researching. Materials and Methods: A scoping review was conducted according to the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews. We searched two English databases and four Chinese databases from the date of establishment of each database to January 2020. Data from RCTs focusing on any TCM treatment for patients with UC were extracted and evaluated. Selection and characterization were performed by two independent reviewers using predefined forms. All discrepancies were resolved by consensus discussion with a third reviewer. Microsoft Excel 2010 was used to extract the following data from the included studies: (1) basic information of the included studies including research ID, article title, publication language, journal, year of publication, and funding information; (2) patient information including gender, age, disease course, disease stage, severity, sample size; and (3) information on intervention measures, types of intervention measures, drug dosage forms, and treatment courses. Results: The search identified 2225 RCTs published between 1987 and 2020. These studies covered 36 provinces in China. The time frame of the RCTs was <28 days in approximately one-third of the RCTs (647, 29.08%). Only one RCT was published in English. Nearly three-quarters of RCTs (1665, 74.83%) did not report the severity of the disease. Three types of interventions were included in the RCTs: pharmacotherapy (2028, 91.15%), nonpharmacotherapy (57, 2.56%), and a combination of the two (140, 6.29%). The administration modes of the intervention groups were evaluated. Drug therapy involved 12 types of TCM dosage forms, which were decoctions, troches, powders, capsules, granules, pills, suppositories, ointments, injections, gels, oral liquids, and substitute tea according to the frequency of use. Nondrug intervention measures involved 10 treatment options, namely, acupuncture, moxibustion, hemospasia, auricular point, acupoint catgut embedding, acupoint injection, scrapping, tuina, acupoint application, and five-tone therapy according to the frequency of use. Most studies included in this review were low in quality. This underscores the need for improvement in the quality of trial methodology in TCM RCTs.

Objective: The objective was to study the potential substance basis and action mechanism of Chuanxiong Rhizoma (CX) and Angelicae Dahuricae Radix (AD) on analgesia through network pharmacology and molecular docking. Materials and Methods: The active components and targets of CX and AD and pain-related genes were retrieved through Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP) and GeneCards database. Then, the co-action targets were found, protein–protein interaction network was constructed by the String database. The Cytoscape 3.7.1 was used to construct “CX-AD-active components-pain” network. Further enrichment analysis of Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) was carried out to predict its mechanism of action, the top four active components in the network were docked with the targets. Results: There are 26 compounds, 45 targets in the network. Among them, (Z)-ligustilide and beta-sitosterol, respectively, have more potential targets in CX and AD, and prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase (PTGS2), PTGS1 have more ligands. GO analysis shows that molecular functions of CX and AD mainly performed through the G protein-coupled amine receptor activity, adrenergic receptor activity, and catecholamine binding. KEGG analysis indicates that they could exert analgesic effect on the pathways of regulating neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, serotonergic synapse, and cGMP-PKG signaling pathway. Molecular docking results show that the active compounds are highly compatible with the structure of the protein receptor, and they interact through the hydrogen bond and π–π bond between the ligand and the active site residues. Conclusions: Through network pharmacology and molecular docking, this study preliminarily revealed the main active components, targets, and potential regulation network of CX and AD, providing a reference for the subsequent experimental research.

Objective: To conduct a literature review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the use of acupuncture for hot flashes to analyze the characteristics of each study, draw a conclusion on the advantages and disadvantages of previous studies and provide the suggestions for future studies on the same topic. Methods: We searched English and Chinese databases for the literature published from 2009 to 2019 restricted in the English and Chinese language, and we included RCT using acupuncture as the main observational intervention for hot flashes by the criteria. Results: Twenty studies met our eligibility criteria. All the studies were of high quality and confirmed the clinical efficacy of acupuncture for hot flashes, although they used different controlled interventions. The acupuncture treatment and theory of acupoints selection were relatively consistent among the studies, and they had close trial designs. Conclusions: These RCTs on acupuncture were nonuniform, which made the studies on this topic lack coherence, leading to unsatisfactory research outcomes. Therefore, more professional research teams are needed to perform studies on a definite topic and draw a specific conclusion to previous studies before the next step is taken.

Objective: The objective of the study was to identify Nrf2 activators from differently treated Morinda citrifolia L. fruit juices and their cytotoxicity. Materials and Methods: Noni fruit juices were prepared by different treatments: unripe (T1), ripe (T2), purchased (T3), and Noni juices fermented with Lactobacillus plantarum (T4). These extracts were tested for Nrf2 activation and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) inhibition activities. These active extracts were further studied for their nuclear Nrf2 translocation and induction of HO-1 protein expression. Finally, the active extracts were purified using open column chromatography and RP-high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) techniques through bioassay-guided separation. Moreover, all Noni juice samples were tested for cytotoxicity using mammalian cell-based methylthiazoltetrazolium (MTT) assay. Results: Only purchased (T3) and ripe Noni fruit juices fermented with LP at 22°C (T4–22) showed strongest Nrf2 activation and NF-κB inhibitory activity. Further, these two extracts enhanced the nuclear accumulation of Nrf2 after 2 h and also promoted Nrf2 and HO-1 nuclear translocation. Induction of HO-1 gene expression of Hep G2/ARE cells treated with T3 confirmed that it is a potent inducer of the Nrf2 target gene HO-1. Bioassay-guided separation resulted in subfractions with high Nrf2 activity. The strongest Nrf2 active subfraction led to the identification of scopoletin as an Nrf2 activator. Moreover, none of the tested samples showed any cytotoxicity for the MTT assay. Conclusions: The presence of potential Nrf2 activators in the Noni fruit juices that were nontoxic in our MTT assay could mitigate the production of harmful reactive species in the biological systems, and thereby, could helpful in alleviating and prevention of chronic diseases.