Hongyuan Chen

Lilii Bulbus is a folk medicine for both culinary and medicinal purpose. In traditional medicine theory, Lilii Bulbus is usually used as an complementary therapy for nourishing the heart and lung, clearing heat in the treatment of mental instability and depression. In this study, NLPS-1a (Mw = 2610 Da, DP = 16), a water-soluble non-starch Lilii Bulbus polysaccharides, was isolated and purified. Structural analysis showed that NLPS-1a mainly contained Man and Glc with a molar ratio of 11.137 and 9.427. The glycosidic linkages of NLPS-1a were 1,3-Manp (59.93%), 1,2-Glcp (37.93%), T-Glcp (1.21%) and T-Manp (0.93%), indicating the highly-linear structures. In addition, NLPS-1a could significantly repair the injury of PC12 cells induced by corticosterone (CORT), reduce Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage and decrease the cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Above all, the results indicated that NLPS-1a had protective effects against CORT-induced neurotoxicity in PC12 cells, and might be a natural antidepressant, which enriched the study of the metabolic mechanism between herbal polysaccharides and antidepressant.

Three new hasubanan-type alkaloids, stephalonine Q (1), stephalonine R (2) and stephalonine S (3), together with four known alkaloids, isolonganone (4), eletefine (5), aurantiamide (6), N-cinnamoyltyramine (7), were isolated from the whole plant of Stephania longa. Their structures were identified by NMR, HR-ESI-MS, CD methods and x-ray crystallography, as well as by comparison with the literature data. All isolated compounds were evaluated for their antimicrobial activities against five bacteria in vitro. Compound 5 displayed inhibitory activity against only S. aureus, with an MIC value of 50 μg/mL. Graphical Abstract

Cyclophilins (Cyps) is a kind of ubiquitous protein family in organisms, which has biological functions such as promoting intracellular protein folding and participating in the pathological processes of inflammation and tumor. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC) are two common intestinal diseases, but the etiology and pathogenesis of these two diseases are still unclear. IBD and CRC are closely associated, IBD has always been considered as one of the main risks of CRC. However, the role of Cyps in these two related intestinal diseases is rarely studied and reported. In this review, the expression of CypA, CypB and CypD in IBD, especially ulcerative colitis (UC), and CRC, their relationship with the development of these two intestinal diseases, as well as the possible pathogenesis, were briefly summarized, so as to provide modest reference for clinical researches and treatments in future.

Proper regulation of innate immune response is important for individual health. The NF-κB signaling pathway plays crucial roles in innate immunity and inflammation, and its aberrant activation is implicated in diverse diseases and disorders. In this study, we report that calmodulin-like 6 (CALML6), a member of the EF-hand protein family, is a negative regulator of the NF-κB signaling pathway. CALML6 attenuated TNF-stimulated phosphorylation of proteins downstream of TGF-β–activated kinase 1 (TAK1) and inhibited TAK1-induced NF-κB activation. Further studies showed that CALML6 interacted with TAK1 and recruited the deubiquitylating enzyme cylindromatosis to repress the K63-linked polyubiquitination of TAK1. CALML6 transgenic mice had higher tolerances to lethal LPS treatment in vivo. These findings suggest that CALML6 is a negative regulator of the NF-κB signaling pathway, which is important for maintaining the balance of the innate immune response.

Honey‐processed Astragalus is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine that has a better effect on reinforcing “Qi” (vital energy) than the raw one. A comparative study of metabolites analysis between them in rat serum for finding the bioactive ingredients was carried out using serum pharmacochemistry and multivariate statistical analysis. The blood collection methods and time were optimized first. Then the prototypes and metabolites in serum samples after oral administration were investigated by ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry integrated with principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis. The contents of metabolites were also analyzed to evaluate the metabolic profile differences. As a result, nine prototypes and 36 metabolites were identified. Only two prototypes and 15 metabolites were different between raw and honey‐processed Astragalus. Their biotransformation reactions contained the process of oxidation, demethylation, and hydrolysis in phase I and glucuronide conjugation or sulfate conjugation in phase II. Most of the detected metabolites were transformed from isoflavones and isoflavanes. Our results expand the knowledge about the influence of honey‐processing on Astragalus and suggest the different curative effects between raw and honey‐processed Astragalus might due to their therapeutic material discrepancy.