Salvianolic acid B modulates hemostasis properties of human umbilical vein endothelial cells

Phospholipids of inhaled liposomes determine the in vivo fate and therapeutic effects of salvianolic acid B on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Since phospholipids have an important effect on the size, surface potential and hardness of liposomes that decide their in vivo fate after inhalation, this research has systematically evaluated the effect of phospholipids on pulmonary drug delivery by liposomes. In this study, liposomes composed of neutral saturated/unsaturated phospholipids, anionic and cationic phospholipids were constructed to investigate how surface potential and the degree of saturation of fatty acid chains determined their mucus and epithelium permeability both in vitro and in vivo. Our results clearly indicated that liposomes composed of saturated neutral and anionic phospholipids possessed high stability and permeability, compared to that of liposomes composed of unsaturated phospholipids and cationic phospholipids. Furthermore, both in vivo imaging of fluorescence-labeled liposomes and biodistribution of salvianolic acid B (SAB) that encapsulated in liposomes were performed to estimate the effect of phospholipids on the lung exposure and retention of inhaled liposomes. Finally, inhaled SAB-loaded liposomes exhibited enhanced therapeutic effects in a bleomycin-induced idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis mice model via inhibition of inflammation and regulation on coagulation-fibrinolytic system. Such findings will be beneficial to the development of inhalable lipid-based nanodrug delivery systems for the treatment of respiratory diseases where inhalation is the preferred route of administration.

Bioactive components and molecular mechanisms of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge in promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (SM) is an outstanding herbal medicine with various traditional effects, especially promoting blood circulation to remove blood stasis. It has been widely used for centuries to treat blood stasis syndrome (BSS)-related diseases. BSS is one of the basic pathological syndromes of diseases such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases in traditional East Asian medicine, which is characterized by disturbance of blood circulation. However, the bioactive components and mechanisms of SM in the treatment of BSS have not been systematically reviewed. Therefore, this article outlines the anti-BSS effects of bioactive components of SM, concentrating on the molecular mechanisms.

AIM OF THE REVIEW

To summarize the bioactive components of SM against BSS and highlight its potential targets and signaling pathways, hoping to provide a modern biomedical perspective to understand the efficacy of SM on enhancing blood circulation to remove blood stasis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A comprehensive literature search was performed to retrieve articles published in the last two decades on bioactive components of SM used for BSS treatment from the online electronic medical literature database (PubMed).

RESULTS

Phenolic acids and tanshinones in SM are the main bioactive components in the treatment of BSS, including but not limited to salvianolic acid B, tanshinone IIA, salvianolic acid A, cryptotanshinone, Danshensu, dihydrotanshinone, rosmarinic acid, protocatechuic aldehyde, and caffeic acid. They protect vascular endothelial cells by alleviating oxidative stress and inflammatory damage and regulating of NO/ET-1 levels. They also enhance anticoagulant and fibrinolytic capacity, inhibit platelet activation and aggregation, and dilate blood vessels. Moreover, lowering blood lipids and improving blood rheological properties may be the underlying mechanisms of their anti-BSS. More notably, these compounds play an anti-BSS role by mediating multiple signaling pathways such as Nrf2/HO-1, TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB, PI3K/Akt/eNOS, MAPKs (p38, ERK, and JNK), and Ca2+/K+ channels.

CONCLUSIONS

Both phenolic acids and tanshinones in SM may act synergistically to target different signaling pathways to achieve the effect of promoting blood circulation.

Insights into salvianolic acid B biosynthesis from chromosome-scale assembly of the Salvia bowleyana genome

Salvia bowleyana is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant that is a source of nutritional supplements rich in salvianolic acid B and a potential experimental system for the exploration of salvianolic acid B biosynthesis in the Labiatae. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-scale genome assembly of S. bowleyana covering 462.44 Mb, with a scaffold N50 value of 57.96 Mb and 44,044 annotated protein-coding genes. Evolutionary analysis revealed an estimated divergence time between S. bowleyana and its close relative S. miltiorrhiza of ~3.94 million years. We also observed evidence of a whole-genome duplication in the S. bowleyana genome. Transcriptome analysis showed that SbPAL1 (PHENYLALANINE AMMONIA-LYASE1) is highly expressed in roots relative to stem and leaves, paralleling the location of salvianolic acid B accumulation. The laccase gene family in S. bowleyana outnumbered their counterparts in both S. miltiorrhiza and Arabidopsis thaliana, suggesting that the gene family has undergone expansion in S. bowleyana. Several laccase genes were also highly expressed in roots, where their encoded proteins may catalyze the oxidative reaction from rosmarinic acid to salvianolic acid B. These findings provide an invaluable genomic resource for understanding salvianolic acid B biosynthesis and its regulation, and will be useful for exploring the evolution of the Labiatae.

Salvianolic Acid B Protects Against Fatty Acid-Induced Renal Tubular Injury via Inhibition of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress

Background/Aims: Obesity-related kidney disease is associated with elevated levels of saturated free fatty acids (SFA). SFA lipotoxicity in tubular cells contributes to significant cellular apoptosis and injury. Salvianolic acid B (SalB) is the most abundant bioactive molecule from Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae. In this study, we investigated the effect of SalB on SFA-induced renal tubular injury and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, in vivo and in vitro. Methods: C57BL/6 mice were assigned to five groups: a control group with normal diet (Nor), high-fat diet group (HFD), and HFD with three different SalB treatment doses, low (SalBL; 3 mg/kg), medium (SalBM; 6.25 mg/kg), and high (SalBH; 12.5 mg/kg) doses. SalB was intraperitoneally injected daily for 4 weeks after 8 weeks of HFD. After 12 weeks, mice were sacrificed and kidneys and sera were collected. Apoptosis and ER stress were induced in human proximal tubule epitelial (HK2) cells by palmitic acid (PA, 0.6 mM), tunicamycin (TM, 1 μg/ml), or thapsigargin (TG, 200 nM) in vitro. Results: C57BL/6 mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks exhibited increased apoptosis (Bax and cleaved caspase-3) and ER stress (BIP, P-eIF2α, ATF4, CHOP, ATF6, IRE1α, and XBP1s) markers expression in the kidney, compared with control mice, which were remarkably suppressed by SalB treatment. In vitro studies showed that PA (0.6 mM) induced apoptosis and ER stress in cultured HK2 cells. SalB treatment attenuated all the adverse effects of PA. However, SalB failed to inhibit TM or TG-induced ER stress in HK2 cells. Conclusion: The study indicated that SalB may play an important role in obesity-related kidney injury via mediating SFA-induced ER stress.

Development of simultaneous interaction prediction approach (SiPA) for the expansion of interaction network of traditional Chinese medicine

Background

Due to the lack of enough interaction data among compositions, targets and diseases, it is difficult to construct a complete network of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that comprehensively reflects active compositions and their synergistic network in terms of specific diseases. Therefore, mapping of the full spectrum of interaction between compounds and their targets is of central importance when we use network pharmacology approach to explore the therapeutic potential of the TCM.

Methods

To address this challenge, we developed a large-scale simultaneous interaction prediction approach (SiPA) integrated one interaction network based simple inference model (SIM), focusing on ‘logical relevance’ between compounds, proteins or diseases, and another compound-target correlation space based interaction prediction model (CTCS-IPM) that was built on the basis of the canonical correlation analysis (CCA) to estimate the position of compounds (or targets) in compound-protein correlated space. Then SiPA was applied to discover reliable multiple interactions for interaction network expansion of a TCM, compound Salvia miltiorrhiza. By means of network analysis, potential active compounds and their related network synergy underlying cardiovascular diseases were evaluated between expanded and original interaction networks. Part of new interactions were validated with existing experimental evidence and molecular docking.

Results

As evaluated with known test dataset, the established combination approach was proved to make highly accurate prediction, showing a well prediction performance for the SIM and a high recall rate of 85.2% for the CTCS-IPM. Then 710 pairs of new compound-target interactions, 24 pairs of new compound-cardiovascular disease interactions and 294 pairs of new cardiovascular disease-protein interactions were predicted for compound Salvia miltiorrhiza. Results of network analysis suggested the network expansion could dramatically improve the completeness and effectiveness of the network. Validation results of literature and molecular docking manifested that inferred interactions had good reliability.

Conclusions

We provided a practical and efficient way for large-scale inference of multiple interactions of TCM ingredients, which was not limited by the lack of negative samples, sample size and target 3D structures. SiPA could help researchers more accurately prioritize the effective compounds and more completely explore network synergy of TCM for treating specific diseases, indicating a potential way for effectively identifying candidate compound (or target) in drug discovery.

Flavopereirine Suppresses the Growth of Colorectal Cancer Cells through P53 Signaling Dependence

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The outcome of CRC patients remains poor. Thus, a new strategy for CRC treatment is urgently needed. Flavopereirine is a β-carboline alkaloid extracted from Geissospermum vellosii, which can reduce the viability of various cancer cells through an unknown mode of action. The aim of the present study was to investigate the functional mechanism and therapeutic potential of flavopereirine on CRC cells in vitro and in vivo. Our data showed that flavopereirine significantly lowered cellular viability, caused intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis, and induced G2/M-phase cell cycle arrest in CRC cells. Flavopereirine downregulated Janus kinases-signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAKs-STATs) and cellular myelocytomatosis (c-Myc) signaling in CRC cells. In contrast, the enforced expressions of constitutive active STAT3 and c-Myc could not restore flavopereirine-induced viability reduction. Moreover, flavopereirine enhanced P53 expression and phosphorylation in CRC cells. CRC cells with P53 knockout or loss-of-function mutation significantly diminished flavopereirine-mediated viability reduction, indicating that P53 activity plays a major role in flavopereirine-mediated CRC cell growth suppression. Flavopereirine also significantly repressed CRC cell xenograft growth in vivo by upregulating P53 and P21 and inducing apoptosis. In conclusion, flavopereirine-mediated growth suppression in CRC cells depended on the P53-P21, but not the JAKs-STATs-c-Myc signaling pathway. The present study suggests that flavopereirine may be efficacious in the clinical treatment of CRC harboring functional P53 signaling.

Salvia miltiorrhizaBurge (Danshen): a golden herbal medicine in cardiovascular therapeutics

Salvia miltiorrhiza Burge (Danshen) is an eminent medicinal herb that possesses broad cardiovascular and cerebrovascular protective actions and has been used in Asian countries for many centuries. Accumulating evidence suggests that Danshen and its components prevent vascular diseases, in particular, atherosclerosis and cardiac diseases, including myocardial infarction, myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury, arrhythmia, cardiac hypertrophy and cardiac fibrosis. The published literature indicates that lipophilic constituents (tanshinone I, tanshinone IIa, tanshinone IIb, cryptotanshinone, dihydrotanshinone, etc) as well as hydrophilic constituents (danshensu, salvianolic acid A and B, protocatechuic aldehyde, etc) contribute to the cardiovascular protective actions of Danshen, suggesting a potential synergism among these constituents. Herein, we provide a systematic up-to-date review on the cardiovascular actions and therapeutic potential of major pharmacologically active constituents of Danshen. These bioactive compounds will serve as excellent drug candidates in small-molecule cardiovascular drug discovery. This article also provides a scientific rationale for understanding the traditional use of Danshen in cardiovascular therapeutics.

Development of models for classification of action between heat-clearing herbs and blood-activating stasis-resolving herbs based on theory of traditional Chinese medicine

Background

Action (“gongxiao” in Chinese) of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is the high recapitulation for therapeutic and health-preserving effects under the guidance of TCM theory. TCM-defined herbal properties (“yaoxing” in Chinese) had been used in this research. TCM herbal property (TCM-HP) is the high generalization and summary for actions, both of which come from long-term effective clinical practice in two thousands of years in China. However, the specific relationship between TCM-HP and action of TCM is complex and unclear from a scientific perspective. The research about this is conducive to expound the connotation of TCM-HP theory and is of important significance for the development of the TCM-HP theory.

Methods

One hundred and thirty-three herbs including 88 heat-clearing herbs (HCHs) and 45 blood-activating stasis-resolving herbs (BAHRHs) were collected from reputable TCM literatures, and their corresponding TCM-HPs/actions information were collected from Chinese pharmacopoeia (2015 edition). The Kennard–Stone (K–S) algorithm was used to split 133 herbs into 100 calibration samples and 33 validation samples. Then, machine learning methods including supported vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbor (kNN) and deep learning methods including deep belief network (DBN), convolutional neutral network (CNN) were adopted to develop action classification models based on TCM-HP theory, respectively. In order to ensure robustness, these four classification methods were evaluated by using the method of tenfold cross validation and 20 external validation samples for prediction.

Results

As results, 72.7–100% of 33 validation samples including 17 HCHs and 16 BASRHs were correctly predicted by these four types of methods. Both of the DBN and CNN methods gave out the best results and their sensitivity, specificity, precision, accuracy were all 100.00%. Especially, the predicted results of external validation set showed that the performance of deep learning methods (DBN, CNN) were better than traditional machine learning methods (kNN, SVM) in terms of their sensitivity, specificity, precision, accuracy. Moreover, the distribution patterns of TCM-HPs of HCHs and BASRHs were also analyzed to detect the featured TCM-HPs of these two types of herbs. The result showed that the featured TCM-HPs of HCHs were cold, bitter, liver and stomach meridians entered, while those of BASRHs were warm, bitter and pungent, liver meridian entered.

Conclusions

The performance on validation set and external validation set of deep learning methods (DBN, CNN) were better than machine learning models (kNN, SVM) in sensitivity, specificity, precision, accuracy when predicting the actions of heat-clearing and blood-activating stasis-resolving based on TCM-HP theory. The deep learning classification methods owned better generalization ability and accuracy when predicting the actions of heat-clearing and blood-activating stasis-resolving based on TCM-HP theory. Besides, the methods of deep learning would help us to improve our understanding about the relationship between herbal property and action, as well as to enrich and develop the theory of TCM-HP scientifically.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s13020-018-0169-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Systems pharmacology exploration of botanic drug pairs reveals the mechanism for treating different diseases

Multi-herb therapy has been widely used in Traditional Chinese medicine and tailored to meet the specific needs of each individual. However, the potential molecular or systems mechanisms of them to treat various diseases have not been fully elucidated. To address this question, a systems pharmacology approach, integrating pharmacokinetics, pharmacology and systems biology, is used to comprehensively identify the drug-target and drug-disease networks, exemplified by three representative Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae herb pairs for treating various diseases (coronary heart disease, dysmenorrheal and nephrotic syndrome). First, the compounds evaluation and the multiple targeting technology screen the active ingredients and identify the specific targets for each herb of three pairs. Second, the herb feature mapping reveals the differences in chemistry and pharmacological synergy between pairs. Third, the constructed compound-target-disease network explains the mechanisms of treatment for various diseases from a systematic level. Finally, experimental verification is taken to confirm our strategy. Our work provides an integrated strategy for revealing the mechanism of synergistic herb pairs, and also a rational way for developing novel drug combinations for treatments of complex diseases.

Radix Puerariae lobatae (Gegen) suppresses the anticoagulation effect of warfarin: a pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics study

Background

Radix Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen) and Radix Puerariae lobatae (Gegen) are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat cardiovascular diseases. However, adverse herb-drug interactions were observed between warfarin and herbal remedies containing Danshen and Gegen. This study aims to investigate the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions between warfarin and the different components found in Danshen and Gegen.

Methods

Sixty Sprague–Dawley rats were used to investigate the effects of warfarin (0.2 mg/kg), Danshen (240 or 480 mg/kg) and Gegen (240 or 480 mg/kg) both in isolation and combination. The rats in the warfarin and Danshen/Gegen combination groups were given an oral dose of Danshen or Gegen 2 h after being given an oral dose of warfarin. After five consecutive days of treatment, the pharmacokinetic interactions between Danshen/Gegen and warfarin were investigated by simultaneously monitoring and comparing the cytochrome P450 (CYP) activities, mRNA and protein expression levels in the livers of the rats from the different treatment groups. The pharmacodynamic interactions were evaluated by monitoring and comparing the vitamin K epoxide reductase (VKOR) activities, mRNA and protein expression levels in the livers of rats from the different groups, as well as the thrombomodulin (TM) activities, mRNA and protein in the lungs of these animals. The rat plasma soluble thrombomodulin concentrations of the different treatment groups were also evaluated. Microsomes incubation, Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction and Western blot was applied respectively to study the activity, mRNA expression and protein expression of CYP, VKOR and TM.

Results

The activities and expression levels of the CYP and VKOR enzymes in the warfarin-Gegen combination groups increased by nearly 30 % (P = 0.02) compared with the warfarin-alone group, whereas those of TM decreased by almost 25 % (P = 0.02). The administration of Danshen did not lead to any changes in the activities or the expression levels of the CYP, VKOR or TM enzymes compared with those of the control group. Gegen induced several warfarin-metabolizing CYP enzymes and neutralized the effects of warfarin towards VKOR and TM.

Conclusion

Gegen, rather than Danshen at the same tested dosage, offsets the anticoagulant effects of warfarin by accelerating the phase I liver metabolism of warfarin, as well as increasing the activity, mRNA and protein expression of VKOR while decreasing those of TM.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13020-016-0078-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Salvia miltiorrhiza: Traditional medicinal uses, chemistry, and pharmacology

Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (SM) is a very popular medicinal plant that has been extensively applied for many years to treat various diseases, especially coronary heart diseases and cerebrovascular diseases, either alone or in combination with other Chinese plant-based medicines. Although a large number of studies on SM have been performed, they are scattered across a variety of publications. The present review is an up-to-date summary of the published scientific information about the traditional uses, chemical constituents, pharmacological effects, side effects, and drug interactions with SM, in order to lay the foundation for further investigations and better utilization of SM. SM contains diverse chemical components including diterpenoid quinones, hydrophilic phenolic acids, and essential oils. Many pharmacological studies have been done on SM during the last 30 years, focusing on the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular effects, and the antioxidative, neuroprotective, antifibrotic, anti-inflammatory, and antineoplastic activities. The research results strongly support the notion that SM has beneficial therapeutic properties and has a potential of being an effective adaptogenic remedy.

Selective β2-AR Blockage Suppresses Colorectal Cancer Growth Through Regulation of EGFR-Akt/ERK1/2 Signaling, G1-Phase Arrest, and Apoptosis

The stress-upregulated catecholamines-activated β1- and β2-adrenergic receptors (β1/2-ARs) have been shown to accelerate the progression of cancers such as colorectal cancer (CRC). We investigated the underlying mechanism of the inhibition of β1/2-ARs signaling for the treatment of CRC and elucidated the significance of β2-AR expression in CRC in vitro and in clinical samples. The impacts of β1/2-AR antagonists in CRC in vitro and CRC-xenograft in vivo were examined. We found that repression of β2-AR but not β1-AR signaling selectively suppressed cell viability, induced G1-phase cell cycle arrest, caused both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways-mediated apoptosis of specific CRC cells and inhibited CRC-xenograft growth in vivo. Moreover, the expression of β2-AR was not consistent with the progression of CRC in vitro or in clinical samples. Our data evidence that the expression profiles, signaling, and blockage of β2-AR have a unique pattern in CRC comparing to other cancers. β2-AR antagonism selectively suppresses the growth of CRC accompanying active β2-AR signaling, which potentially carries wild-type KRAS, in vitro and in vivo via the inhibition of β2-AR transactivated EFGR-Akt/ERK1/2 signaling pathway. Thus, β2-AR blockage might be a potential therapeutic strategy for combating the progressions of β2-AR-dependent CRC.

Salvianolic acid B attenuates apoptosis and inflammation via SIRT1 activation in experimental stroke rats

Silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1), a histone deacetylase, has been suggested to be effective in ischemic brain diseases. Salvianolic acid B (SalB) is a polyphenolic and one of the active components of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. Previous studies suggested that SalB is protective against ischemic stroke. However, the role of SIRT1 in the protective effect of SalB against cerebral ischemia has not been explored. In this study, the rat brain was subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Before this surgery, rats were intraperitoneally administrated SalB with or without EX527, a specific SIRT1 inhibitor. The infarct volume, neurological score and brain water content were assessed. In addition, levels of TNF-α and IL-1β in the brain tissues were detected by commercial ELISA kits. And the expression levels of SIRT, Ac-FOXO1, Bcl-2 and Bax were detected by Western blot. The results suggested that SalB exerted a cerebral-protective effect, as shown by reduced infarct volume, lowered brain edema and increased neurological scores. SalB also exerted anti-inflammatory effects as indicated by the decreased TNF-α and IL-1β levels in the brain tissue. Moreover, SalB upregulated the expression of SIRT1 and Bcl-2 and downregulated the expression of Ac-FOXO1 and Bax. These effects of SalB were abolished by EX527 treatment. In summary, our results demonstrate that SalB treatment attenuates brain injury induced by ischemic stoke via reducing apoptosis and inflammation through the activation of SIRT1 signaling.

The identification and pharmacokinetic studies of metabolites of salvianolic acid B after intravenous administration in rats

AIM

To identify and quantify the major metabolites of salvianolic acid B (SAB) after intravenous injection in rats.

METHODS

LC-IT/TOF-MS was used to identify the metabolites in rat bile, plasma, and urine; LC-MS/MS was used to quantify the two major metabolites.

RESULTS

In rat bile, plasma, and urine, nine metabolites were identified, including methylated metabolites of SAB, lithospermic acid (LSA), the decarboxylation and methylation metabolites of LSA, salvianolic acid S (SAS), and dehydrated-SAS. The t1/2 of monomethyl-SAB and LSA were both very short, and monomethyl-SAB had a larger AUC than LSA in rats.

CONCLUSION

Nine metabolites were found, the metabolic pathway was described, and the pharmacokinetic profiles of LSA and monomethyl-SAB were studied, thereby clarifying that methylation was the dominant metabolic pathway for SAB in rats.

Salvianolic acid B protects against acute ethanol-induced liver injury through SIRT1-mediated deacetylation of p53 in rats

Salvianolic acid B (SalB) is isolated from the traditional Chinese medical herb salvia miltiorrhiza. It has many biological and pharmaceutical activities. This study aimed to investigate the effect of SalB on acute ethanol-induced hepatic injury in rats and to explore the role of SIRT1 in this process. The results showed that pretreatment with SalB significantly reduced ethanol-induced elevation in aminotransferase activities, decreased hepatotoxic cytokine levels such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and increased the antioxidant enzyme activity. Moreover, SalB pretreatment reversed the increase in NF-κB, cleaved caspase-3 and decrease in B-cell lymphoma-extra large (Bcl-xL) caused by ethanol exposure. Importantly, SalB pretreatment significantly increased the expression of SIRT1, a NAD(+)-dependent deacetylase, whereas the increase in SIRT1 was accompanied by decreased acetyl-p53 expression. In HepG2 cells, SalB pretreatment increased SIRT1 expression in a time and dose-dependent manner and such an increase was abrogated by siRNA knockdown of SIRT1. Additionally, inhibition of SIRT1 significantly increased the acetylation of p53, and blocked SalB-induced acetylation of p53 down-regulation. Collectively, this study indicated that SalB can alleviate acute ethanol-induced hepatocyte apoptosis through SIRT1-mediated deacetylation of p53 pathway.

Updates on the clinical evidenced herb-warfarin interactions

Increasing and inadvertent use of herbs makes herb-drug interactions a focus of research. Concomitant use of warfarin, a highly efficacious oral anticoagulant, and herbs causes major safety concerns due to the narrow therapeutic window of warfarin. This paper presents an update overview of clinical findings regarding herb-warfarin interaction, highlighting clinical outcomes, severity of documented interactions, and quality of clinical evidence. Among thirty-eight herbs, Cannabis, Chamomile, Cranberry, Garlic, Ginkgo, Grapefruit, Lycium, Red clover, and St. John's wort were evaluated to have major severity interaction with warfarin. Herbs were also classified on account of the likelihood of their supporting evidences for interaction. Four herbs were considered as highly probable to interact with warfarin (level I), three were estimated as probable (level II), and ten and twenty-one were possible (level III) and doubtful (level IV), respectively. The general mechanism of herb-warfarin interaction almost remains unknown, yet several pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic factors were estimated to influence the effectiveness of warfarin. Based on limited literature and information reported, we identified corresponding mechanisms of interactions for a small amount of “interacting herbs.” In summary, herb-warfarin interaction, especially the clinical effects of herbs on warfarin therapy should be further investigated through multicenter studies with larger sample sizes.

A network pharmacology approach to understanding the mechanisms of action of traditional medicine: Bushenhuoxue formula for treatment of chronic kidney disease

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has unique therapeutic effects for complex chronic diseases. However, for the lack of an effective systematic approach, the research progress on the effective substances and pharmacological mechanism of action has been very slow. In this paper, by incorporating network biology, bioinformatics and chemoinformatics methods, an integrated approach was proposed to systematically investigate and explain the pharmacological mechanism of action and effective substances of TCM. This approach includes the following main steps: First, based on the known drug targets, network biology was used to screen out putative drug targets; Second, the molecular docking method was used to calculate whether the molecules from TCM and drug targets related to chronic kidney diseases (CKD) interact or not; Third, according to the result of molecular docking, natural product-target network, main component-target network and compound-target network were constructed; Finally, through analysis of network characteristics and literature mining, potential effective multi-components and their synergistic mechanism were putatively identified and uncovered. Bu-shen-Huo-xue formula (BSHX) which was frequently used for treating CKD, was used as the case to demonstrate reliability of our proposed approach. The results show that BSHX has the therapeutic effect by using multi-channel network regulation, such as regulating the coagulation and fibrinolytic balance, and the expression of inflammatory factors, inhibiting abnormal ECM accumulation. Tanshinone IIA, rhein, curcumin, calycosin and quercetin may be potential effective ingredients of BSHX. This research shows that the integration approach can be an effective means for discovering active substances and revealing their pharmacological mechanisms of TCM.

A network-based analysis of the types of coronary artery disease from traditional Chinese medicine perspective: potential for therapeutics and drug discovery

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Coronary heart disease (CAD) is one of the most dangerous threats to human health due to its high incidence and high mortality. CAD has several major types, such as blood stasis and qi deficiency according to the syndromes of diagnosis in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which are treated with different herbs or compound prescriptions. However, up to now a deep analysis of the relationship between CAD and its types both at molecular or systems levels is still unavailable, which greatly limits the combination of TCMs with Western drugs to form an integrative/alternative medicine for treatment of the complex disease.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this review, we attempt to decipher the underlying mechanisms of major types of CAD by connecting the drugs, targets and diseases to obtain the compound-target-disease associations for reconstructing the biologically-meaningful networks based on systems pharmacology method.

RESULTS

The results indicate that the herbs for eliminating blood stasis have pharmacological activity of dilating blood vessel, improving the microcirculation, reducing blood viscosity and regulating blood lipid, while qi-enhancing herbs have the potential for enhancing energy metabolism and anti-inflammation.

CONCLUSIONS

A systematic exploration of types of CAD may bring out the best between research on drug molecules and TCM phenotypic information, so as to accelerate development of network-based drug discovery as well as to facilitate the therapy of this disease.

Cardiovascular effects of salvianolic Acid B

Salvianolic acid B (SAB, Sal B) is the representative component of phenolic acids derived from the dried root and rhizome of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge (Labiatae) which has been used widely and successfully in Asian countries for clinical therapy of various vascular disturbance-related diseases for hundreds of years. However, its exact cardioprotective components and the underlying mechanism for therapeutic basis are still poorly understood. This paper discussed and elucidated the underlying biological mechanisms and pharmacology of Sal B and their potential cardioprotective effects.

A system-level investigation into the mechanisms of Chinese Traditional Medicine: Compound Danshen Formula for cardiovascular disease treatment

Compound Danshen Formula (CDF) is a widely used Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) which has been extensively applied in clinical treatment of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the underlying mechanism of clinical administrating CDF on CVDs is not clear. In this study, the pharmacological effect of CDF on CVDs was analyzed at a systemic point of view. A systems-pharmacological model based on chemical, chemogenomics and pharmacological data is developed via network reconstruction approach. By using this model, we performed a high-throughput in silico screen and obtained a group of compounds from CDF which possess desirable pharmacodynamical and pharmacological characteristics. These compounds and the corresponding protein targets are further used to search against biological databases, such as the compound-target associations, compound-pathway connections and disease-target interactions for reconstructing the biologically meaningful networks for a TCM formula. This study not only made a contribution to a better understanding of the mechanisms of CDF, but also proposed a strategy to develop novel TCM candidates at a network pharmacology level.

Pharmacological actions and therapeutic applications of Salvia miltiorrhiza depside salt and its active components

Salvia miltiorrhiza, a traditional medical herb known as danshen, has been widely used in China to improve blood circulation, relieve blood stasis, and treat coronary heart disease. S miltiorrhiza depside salt is a novel drug recently developed at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica; it contains magnesium lithospermate B (MLB) and its analogs, rosmarinic acid (RA) and lithospermic acid (LA), as active components. The drug has been used in the clinic to improve blood circulation and treat coronary heart disease. The pharmacological effects of the depside salt from S miltiorrhiza and its components have been extensively investigated. Experimental studies have demonstrated that magnesium lithospermate B possesses a variety of biological activities, especially protective effects in the cardiovascular system such as attenuation of atherosclerosis and protection against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. Rosmarinic acid and lithospermic acid also show beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system. This paper reviews the recent findings regarding the mechanisms underlying the pharmacological actions of the active components of S miltiorrhiza depside salt, based on published works and our own observations.

Salvianolic acid B suppresses maturation of human monocyte-derived dendritic cells by activating PPARγ

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Salvianolic acid B (Sal B), a water-soluble antioxidant derived from a Chinese medicinal herb, is known to be effective in the prevention of atherosclerosis. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the anti-atherosclerotic effect of Sal B might be mediated by suppressing maturation of human monocyte-derived dendritic cells (h-monDC).

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

h-monDC were derived by incubating purified human monocytes with GM-CSF and IL-4. h-monDC were pre-incubated with or without Sal B and stimulated by oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) in the presence or absence of PPARγ siRNA. Expression of h-monDC membrane molecules (CD40, CD86, CD1a, HLA-DR) were analysed by FACS, cytokines were measured by elisa and the TLR4-associated signalling pathway was determined by Western blotting.

KEY RESULTS

Ox-LDL promoted h-monDC maturation, stimulated CD40, CD86, CD1a, HLA-DR expression and IL-12, IL-10, TNF-α production; and up-regulated TLR4 signalling. These effects were inhibited by Sal B. Sal B also triggered PPARγ activation and promoted PPARγ nuclear translocation, attenuated ox-LDL-induced up-regulation of TLR4 and myeloid differentiation primary-response protein 88 and inhibited the downstream p38-MAPK signalling cascade. Knocking down PPARγ with the corresponding siRNA blocked these effects of Sal B.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

Our data suggested that Sal B effectively suppressed maturation of h-monDC induced by ox-LDL through PPARγ activation.

Salvianolic acid B suppresses IFN-γ-induced JAK/STAT1 activation in endothelial cells

INTRODUCTION

Dysfunction of the endothelium contributes to pathological conditions of the arterial wall including atherosclerosis as a result of immunological and/or inflammatory responses. Salvianolic acid B (Sal B), a pure and active compound extracted from the Chinese herb Salvia miltiorrhizae (SM) was characterized for its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties on vascular system.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Sal B pretreatment significantly inhibited the IFN-γ-induced phosphorylations of JAK2 (Tyr 1007/1008) and STAT1 (Tyr701 and Ser727). Consistently, IFN-γ-induced STAT1 downstream targets CXC chemokines' IP-10, Mig, and I-TAC were suppressed by Sal B pretreatment. Sal B inhibited promoter activities of IP-10 and the secretion of IP-10 protein. The monocyte adhesion to IFN-γ-treated ECs was observed to be reduced after Sal B pretreatment. ECs treated with Sal B alone also increased the expression of PIAS1 and SOCS1 which may also contribute to its inhibitory effect on JAK-STAT1 signaling pathways.

CONCLUSIONS

The anti-inflammatory properties of Sal B on IFN-γ-induced JAK-STAT1 activation were demonstrated in the present study which provides a molecular basis for possible therapeutic usage on vascular disorders.

Cardio-protection of salvianolic acid B through inhibition of apoptosis network

Targeting cellular function as a system rather than on the level of the single target significantly increases therapeutic potency. In the present study, we detect the target pathway of salvianolic acid B (SalB) in vivo. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was induced in rats followed by the treatment with 10 mg/kg SalB. Hemodynamic detection and pathological stain, 2-dimensional electrophoresis, MALDI-TOF MS/MS, Western blot, pathway identification, apoptosis assay and transmission electron microscope were used to elucidate the effects and mechanism of SalB on cardioprotection. Higher SalB concentration was found in ischemic area compared to no-ischemic area of heart, correlating with improved heart function and histological structure. Thirty-three proteins regulated by SalB in AMI rats were identified by biochemical analysis and were classified as the components of metabolism and apoptosis networks. SalB protected cardiomyocytes from apoptosis, inhibited poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 pathway, and improved the integrity of mitochondrial and nucleus of heart tissue during AMI. Furthermore, the protective effects of SalB against apoptosis were verified in H9c2 cells. Our results provide evidence that SalB regulates multi-targets involved in the apoptosis pathway during AMI and therefore may be a candidate for novel therapeutics of heart diseases.

A network-based multi-target computational estimation scheme for anticoagulant activities of compounds

Background

Traditional virtual screening method pays more attention on predicted binding affinity between drug molecule and target related to a certain disease instead of phenotypic data of drug molecule against disease system, as is often less effective on discovery of the drug which is used to treat many types of complex diseases. Virtual screening against a complex disease by general network estimation has become feasible with the development of network biology and system biology. More effective methods of computational estimation for the whole efficacy of a compound in a complex disease system are needed, given the distinct weightiness of the different target in a biological process and the standpoint that partial inhibition of several targets can be more efficient than the complete inhibition of a single target.

Methodology

We developed a novel approach by integrating the affinity predictions from multi-target docking studies with biological network efficiency analysis to estimate the anticoagulant activities of compounds. From results of network efficiency calculation for human clotting cascade, factor Xa and thrombin were identified as the two most fragile enzymes, while the catalytic reaction mediated by complex IXa:VIIIa and the formation of the complex VIIIa:IXa were recognized as the two most fragile biological matter in the human clotting cascade system. Furthermore, the method which combined network efficiency with molecular docking scores was applied to estimate the anticoagulant activities of a serial of argatroban intermediates and eight natural products respectively. The better correlation (r = 0.671) between the experimental data and the decrease of the network deficiency suggests that the approach could be a promising computational systems biology tool to aid identification of anticoagulant activities of compounds in drug discovery.

Conclusions

This article proposes a network-based multi-target computational estimation method for anticoagulant activities of compounds by combining network efficiency analysis with scoring function from molecular docking.

Effects of salvianolic Acid B on protein expression in human umbilical vein endothelial cells

Salvianolic acid B (Sal B), a pure water-soluble compound extracted from Radix Salviae miltiorrhizae, has been reported to possess potential cardioprotective efficacy. To identify proteins or pathways by which Sal B might exert its protective activities on the cardiovascular system, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis-based comparative proteomics was performed, and proteins altered in their expression level after Sal B treatment were identified by MALDI-TOF MS/MS. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were incubated at Sal B concentrations that can be reached in human plasma by pharmacological intervention. Results indicated that caldesmon, an actin-stabilizing protein, was downregulated in Sal B-exposed HUVECs. Proteins that showed increased expression levels upon Sal B treatment were vimentin, T-complex protein 1, protein disulfide isomerase, tropomyosin alpha, heat shock protein beta-1, UBX domain-containing protein 1, alpha enolase, and peroxiredoxin-2. Additionally, Sal B leads to increased phosphorylation of nucleophosmin in a dose-dependent manner and promotes proliferation of HUVECs. We found that Sal B exhibited a coordinated regulation of enzymes and proteins involved in cytoskeletal reorganization, oxidative stress, and cell growth. Our investigation would provide understanding to the endothelium protection information of Sal B.

Pro-angiogenic actions of Salvianolic acids on in vitro cultured endothelial progenitor cells and chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane model

AIM OF THE STUDY

Salvia miltiorrhiza (SM, also known as DanShen) is one of the well-known widely-used Chinese herbal medicines in clinical practice. In this study we aimed to demonstrate the pro-angiogenic effects of Salvianolic acids (SAs) to treat illnesses such as ischemic cardiovascular diseases, the main active components of aqueous extract of SM.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

To do this, new-born rat spleen mononuclear cells were isolated and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were expanded (not more than 24h) SD. Then the pro-angiogenic activities of SAs were evaluated on in vitro cultured EPCs and chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model. And the adherent cells were stained with DiI complexed acetylated low-density lipoprotein (DiI-acLDL) and fluorescein Ulex Europaeus agglutinin-1 (FITC-UEA-1), and then viewed by laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) to confirm EPCs lineage. EPCs identification was also tested by ultrastructural analyses. EPCs proliferation, migration and in vitro vasculogenesis activity were assayed with 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, transwell chamber assay and in vitro vasculogenesis kit, respectively. EPCs adhesion assay was performed by replating those on fibronectin-coated dishes, and then counting adherent cells.

RESULTS

EPCs phenotype was confirmed by the presence of double positive cells for DiI-acLDL uptake and lectin binding and identification of Weibel-Palade body in cytoplasm by ultrastructural analyses. Incubation of EPCs with SAs increased the number of EPCs and promoted EPCs migratory, adhesive and in vitro vasculogenesis capacity. SAs also promoted angiogenesis as evidenced by CAM model.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of the present study suggest that SAs may have utility for therapeutic postnatal vasculogenesis of ischemic tissue, contributing to the clinical benefit of SM therapy in patients with coronary artery disease.

Salvianolic acid B inhibits platelet adhesion under conditions of flow by a mechanism involving the collagen receptor alpha2beta1

Salvianolic acid B (SAB) is a component of Danshen, a herb widely used in Chinese medicine, and was previously shown to exert a number of biological activities including inhibition of platelet function, but the exact mechanisms involved are unclear. SAB dose-dependently inhibited platelet deposition from flowing, anticoagulated whole blood to immobilized collagen at both venous and arterial shear rate, whereas platelet deposition to immobilized fibrinogen was not affected. The inhibitory effect of SAB on platelet adhesion to collagen was independent of alphaIIbbeta3, since SAB still inhibited platelet deposition in the presence of a alphaIIbbeta3-blocking peptide. SAB inhibited static platelet adhesion to a synthetic peptide specific for the collagen receptor alpha2beta1, whereas platelet adhesion to a glycoprotein VI-specific peptide was not affected. SAB inhibited binding of an antibody against alpha2beta1 to platelets as studied by flow cytometry, and inhibited the interaction of soluble alpha2beta1 to immobilized collagen in a solid phase binding assay. These combined results indicate that SAB inhibits platelet adhesion to immobilized collagen by interfering with the collagen receptor alpha2beta1.

Salvianolic acids prevent acute doxorubicin cardiotoxicity in mice through suppression of oxidative stress

Although doxorubicin is an effective antitumor agent, the serious cardiotoxicity mediated by the production of reactive oxygen species has remained a considerable clinical problem. In China, salvianolic acids has been widely used for cardioprotection. To test whether salvianolic acids holds the potential to be protective against cardiotoxicity of doxorubicin, we created an acute cardiac injury mice model. Therapeutic treatment with salvianolic acids (40 mg/kg for 3 connective days) significantly reduced doxorubicin-induced (15 mg/kg) toxicity, including elevation of body weight and heart weight/tibia length ratio, decrease of creatine kinase, improvement of electrocardiography and heart vacuolation. Furthermore, the antioxidative effects of salvianolic acids were verified by oxygen radicals absorbance capacities assay in vitro and malondialdehyde detection in vivo, suggesting one possible mechanism of salvianolic acids on cardioprotection through blocking oxidative stress.

Structural characterization of metabolites of salvianolic acid B from Salvia miltiorrhiza in normal and antibiotic-treated rats by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

This study was conducted to compare the in vivo metabolites of salvianolic acid B (Sal B) between normal rats and antibiotic-treated rats and to clarify the role of intestinal bacteria on the absorption, metabolism and excretion of Sal B. A valid method using LC-MS(n) analysis was established for identification of rat biliary and fecal metabolites. And isolation of normal rat urinary metabolites by repeated column chromatography was applied in this study. Four biliary metabolites and five fecal metabolites in normal rats were identified on the basis of their MS(n) fragmentation patterns. Meanwhile, two normal rat urinary metabolites were firstly identified on the basis of their NMR and MS data. In contrast, no metabolites were detected in antibiotic-treated rat urine and bile, while the prototype of Sal B was found in antibiotic-treated rat feces. The differences of in vivo metabolites between normal rats and antibiotic-treated rats were proposed for the first time. Furthermore, it was indicated that the intestinal bacteria showed an important role on the absorption, metabolism and excretion of Sal B. This investigation provided scientific evidence to infer the active principles responsible for the pharmacological effects of Sal B.