Simultaneous Determination of 11 Components in Yinzhihuang Preparations and Their Constituent Herbs by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode Array Detector

Luteolin: Nature's promising warrior against Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease

Neurodegenerative disorders (NDs) are defined as the slow loss of a group of neurons that are particularly sensitive. Due to the intricate pathophysiological processes underlying neurodegeneration, no cure exists for these conditions despite the extensive research and advances in our knowledge of the onset and course of NDs. Hence, there is a medical need for the creation of a novel therapeutic approach for NDs. By focusing on numerous signaling pathways, some natural substances derived from medicinal herbs and foods have demonstrated potent activity in treating various NDs. In this context, flavonoids have recently attracted increased popularity and research attention because of their alleged beneficial effects on health. By acting as antioxidant substances, nutritional supplements made up of flavonoids have been found to lessen the extent of NDs like Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). Luteolin is a flavone that possesses potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. As a consequence, luteolin has emerged as an option for treatment with therapeutic effects on many brain disorders. More research has focused on luteolin's diverse biological targets as well as diverse signaling pathways, implying its potential medicinal properties in several NDs. This review emphasizes the possible use of luteolin as a drug of choice for the treatment as well as the management of AD and PD. In addition, this review recommends that further research should be carried out on luteolin as a potential treatment for AD and PD alongside a focus on mechanisms and clinical studies.

Exploring the Multicomponent Synergy Mechanism of Yinzhihuang Granule in Inhibiting Inflammation-Cancer Transformation of Hepar Based on Integrated Bioinformatics and Network Pharmacology

Background

The Chinese patent drug Yinzhihuang granule (YZHG) is used to treat hepatitis B. This research is aimed at exploring the multicomponent synergistic mechanism of YZHG in the treatment of inflammation-cancer transformation of hepar and at providing new evidence and insights for its clinical application.

Methods

To retrieve the components and targets of Yinzhihuang granules. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of hepar inflammation-cancer transformation were obtained from TTD, PharmGKB, and GEO databases. Construct the compound-prediction target network and the key module network using Cytoscape 3.7.1.

Results

The results show that hepatitis B and hepatitis C shared a common target, MMP2. CDK1 and TOP2A may play an important role in the treatment with YZHG in hepatitis B inflammatory cancer transformation. KEGG pathway enrichment showed that key genes of modules 1, 2, and 4 were mainly enriched in the progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation signaling pathway and oocyte meiosis signaling pathway.

Conclusion

The multicomponent, multitarget, and multichannel pharmacological benefits of YZHG in the therapy of inflammation-cancer transition of hepar are directly demonstrated by network pharmacology, providing a scientific basis for its mechanism.

Analytical determinations of luteolin

Plants, through the photosynthesis process, produce the substances necessary for all the life cycles of nature, which are called "primary metabolites." Moreover, there are some plants that synthesize, in addition to these, other substances with more specific functions, which are known as "secondary metabolites." It is inside this group that flavonoids are located, whose main function is to protect organisms from damage caused by different oxidizing agents. Luteolin (3,4,5,7-tetrahydroxy-flavone) belongs to the sub-class of flavonoids known as flavones and is one of 10,000 flavonoids currently known, being one of the most bio-active flavonoids. Its various beneficial properties for health, together with the increasing reduction in the use of synthetic antioxidants, make the study of luteolin a very active field. Within this, the quantification of this molecule has become a subject of very special interest given that it is transversal to all fields. In this review article, we aim to give the reader a broad and deep vision of this topic, focusing on the events reported in the last 5 years and covering all possible techniques related to analytical determinations. We will discuss in terms of advantages and disadvantages between techniques, selectivity, sensitivity, costs, time consumption, and reagents as well as in the complexity of operations.

A bioinformatics investigation into molecular mechanism of Yinzhihuang granules for treating hepatitis B by network pharmacology and molecular docking verification

Yinzhihuang granules (YZHG) is a patented Chinese medicine for the treatment of hepatitis B. This study aimed to investigate the intrinsic mechanisms of YZHG in the treatment of hepatitis B and to provide new evidence and insights for its clinical application. The chemical compounds of YZHG were searched in the CNKI and PUBMED databases, and their putative targets were then predicted through a search of the SuperPred and Swiss Target Prediction databases. In addition, the targets of hepatitis B were obtained from TTD, PharmGKB and DisGeNET. The abovementioned data were visualized using Cytoscape 3.7.1, and network construction identified a total of 13 potential targets of YZHG in the treatment of hepatitis B. Molecular docking verification showed that CDK6, CDK2, TP53 and BRCA1 might be strongly correlated with hepatitis B treatment. Furthermore, GO and KEGG analyses indicated that the treatment of hepatitis B by YZHG might be related to positive regulation of transcription, positive regulation of gene expression, the hepatitis B pathway and the viral carcinogenesis pathway. Network pharmacology intuitively shows the multicomponent, multitarget and multichannel pharmacological effects of YZHG in the treatment of hepatitis B and provides a scientific basis for its mechanism of action.

Quantitative Analysis of Six Phenolic Acids in Artemisia capillaris (Yinchen) by HPLC-DAD and Their Transformation Pathways in Decoction Preparation Process

We aimed to establish a quantitative analysis method of six constituents (5-caffeoylquinic acid, 3-caffeoylquinic acid, 4-caffeoylquinic acid, 1,3-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3,4-dicaffeoylquinic acid, and 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid) in Artemisia capillaris (Yinchen) and its decoction by using HPLC coupled with DAD. Besides, the transformation paths of the six constituents were analyzed in decoction preparation processing. The analytical method was fully validated in terms of linearity, sensitivity, precision, repeatability, and recovery and applied to assess the transformation trend and quantitative analysis of the six constituents in Yinchen decoction. The contents of six constituents varied greatly in Yinchen herb and Yinchen decoction, and there were inextricable internal relationships between them. Presumably 3-caffeoylquinic acid was isomerized to generate 5-caffeoylquinic acid and 4-caffeoylquinic acid. Similarly, 1,3-dicaffeoylquinic acid and 3,4-dicaffeoylquinic acid were produced by isomerization of 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid. In conclusion, this study provides a chemical basis for quality control of Yinchen decoction, and the changes of selected markers in decoction could give us some novel perspectives to study the relationship between substances and drug efficacy.

A dilute-and-shoot multispectral integration approach towards nontargeted component profiling of traditional herbal Yin-zhi-huang using liquid chromatography-photodiode array-ion trap/time-of-flight characterization

Ying-zhi-huang Injection (YZH-I) is a classic intravenous formulation of polyherbal Chinese medicine which has been prescribed to treat severe jaundice and acute hepatitis for nearly 50 years. Despite some published data on its major components in the constituent herbs, the overall chemical profile of the potentially bioactive ingredients in YZH-I formula remains largely unknown. Here we developed a multispectral integration approach towards nontargeted phytochemical profiling of YZH-I by liquid chromatography-ultraviolet diode array detector coupled to ion trap/time-of-flight multistage mass spectrometry (LC-DAD-IT(MSⁿ)/TOF) with fast polarity-switching mode. A simple generic dilute-and-shoot procedure was introduced as a non-destructive pretreatment method for facile wide-scope component profiling of herbal injection samples. A total of 61 constituents were isolated and characterized by the multiplex data acquisition, among which 45 components were identified from YZH-I, including 21 organic acid derivatives, 8 iridoid glycosides, 15 flavones and adenosine. Of the 45 identified compounds, 8 were unequivocally confirmed by comparing authentic standards, and 37 were tentatively assigned by elucidating accurate MSⁿ spectra and retrieving published data. It is the first report of systematic chemical profiling of YZH preparations with online integration of dilute-and-shoot LC-DAD and accurate multistage mass spectra. This study is expected to present an effective integrated strategy to comprehensive quality control of complex herbal injection formulas.

Simultaneous quantification of eight organic acid components in Artemisia capillaris Thunb (Yinchen) extract using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection and high-resolution mass spectrometry

We aim to determine the chemical constituents of Yinchen extract and Yinchen herbs using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detection and high-resolution mass spectrometry. The method was developed to analyze of eight organic acid components of Yinchen extract (including neochlorogenic acid, chlorogenic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, 1,3-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3,4-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid and 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid). The separation was conducted using an Agilent TC-C18 column with acetonitrile – 0.2% formic acid solution as the mobile phases under gradient elution. The analytical method was fully validated in terms of linearity, sensitivity, precision, repeatability as well as recovery, and subsequently the method was performed for the quantitative assessment of Yinchen extracts and Yinchen herbs. In addition, the changes of selected markers were studied when Yinchen herbs decocting in water and isomerization occurred between the chlorogenic acids. The proposed method enables both qualitative and quantitative analyses and could be developed as a new tool for the quality evaluation of Yinchen extract and Yinchen herbs. The changes of selected markers in water decoction process could give us some novel idea when studying the link between substances and drug efficacy.