[Glucosides of chaenomeles speciosa attenuate ischemia/reperfusion-induced brain injury by regulating NF-κB P65/TNF-α in mouse model]

Phytochemistry and pharmacology of plants in the genus Chaenomeles

Chaenomeles plants belong to the Rosaceae family and include five species, Chaenomeles speciosa (Sweet) Nakai, Chaenomeles sinensis (Thouin) Koehne, Chaenomeles japonica (Thunb.) Lindl, Chaenomeles cathayensis (Hemsl.) Schneid and Chaenomeles thibetica Yu. Chaenomeles plants are found and cultivated in nearly every country worldwide. China serves as both the origin and distribution hub for the plants in the Chaenomeles genus, and all Chaenomeles species except for C. japonica are indigenous to China. Chaenomeles spp. is a type of edible medicinal plant that has been traditionally used in China to treat various ailments, such as rheumatism, cholera, dysentery, enteritis, beriberi, and scurvy. A variety of chemical constituents have been extracted from this genus, including terpenoids, phenolics, flavonoids, phenylpropanoids and their derivatives, benzoic acid derivatives, biphenyls, oxylipins, and alkaloids. The biological activity of some of these constituents has already been evaluated. Pharmacological investigations have demonstrated that the plants in the genus Chaenomeles exhibit anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant, antihyperglycemic, antihyperlipidemic, gastrointestinal protective, antitumor, immunomodulatory, antibacterial, antiviral, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective and other pharmacological activities. The objective of this review is to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date summary of the available information on the genus Chaenomeles to serve as a valuable reference for further investigations.

An Ethnopharmaceutical Study on the Hypolipidemic Formulae in Taiwan Issued by Traditional Chinese Medicine Pharmacies

Globally, approximately one-third of ischemic heart diseases are due to hyperlipidemia, which has been shown to cause various metabolic disorders. This study was aimed to disassemble and analyze hypolipidemic formulae sold by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) pharmacies. Using commonly used statistical parameters in ethnopharmacology, we identified the core drug combination of the hypolipidemic formulae, thereby exploring the strategy by which the Taiwanese people select hypolipidemic drugs. Most important of all, we preserved the inherited knowledge of TCM. We visited 116 TCM pharmacies in Taiwan and collected 91 TCM formulae. The formulae were mainly disassembled by macroscopical identification, and the medicinal materials with a relative frequency of citation (RFC) >0.2 were defined as commonly used medicinal materials. Subsequently, we sorted the information of medicinal materials recorded in the Pharmacopeia, searched for modern pharmacological research on commonly used medicinal materials using PubMed database, and visualized data based on the statistical results. Finally, the core hypolipidemic medicinal materials used in folk medicine were obtained. Of the 91 TCM formulae collected in this study, 80 traditional Chinese medicinal materials were used, belonging to 43 families, predominantly Lamiaceae. Roots were the most commonly used part as a medicinal material. There were 17 commonly used medicinal materials. Based on medicinal records in Pharmacopeia, most flavors and properties were warm and pungent, the majority traditional effects were “tonifying and replenishing” and “blood-regulating.” Besides, the targeted diseases searching from modern pharmacological studies were diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia. The core medicinal materials consisted of Astragalus mongholicus Bunge and Crataegus pinnatifida Bunge, and the core formulae were Bu-Yang-Huan-Wu-Tang and Xie-Fu-Zhu-Yu-Tang. In addition, 7 groups of folk misused medicinal materials were found. Although these TCMs have been used for a long period of time, their hypolipidemic mechanisms remain unclear, and further studies are needed to validate their safety and efficacy.