Chi-Tang Ho

Lonicera japonica Thunb. (L. japonica), an edible medicinal plant that has been widely consumed in East Asian countries, including China, Japan, and Korea, for centuries, has long been regarded as a superior herb in traditional Chinese medicine and is an economically important crop commonly used in beverages, foods, and herbal medicines. Extensive studies have demonstrated that L. japonica possesses a broad spectrum of health-promoting properties, including antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, immunomodulatory, metabolic regulatory, and anti-endotoxin activities. This review comprehensively summarizes the distribution, cultivation, quality evaluation, cultivar identification, bioactive constituents, and health-promoting effects of L. japonica, while also highlighting key scientific questions that warrant further investigation. Furthermore, the molecular mechanisms responsible for the major pharmacological activities of L. japonica flowers—including anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects—are comprehensively discussed. This review provides an up-to-date scientific foundation and valuable insights to facilitate the continued development and diversified applications of L. japonica in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and functional food industries.

Fucoxanthin reduced amyloid pathology through autophagy–lysosomal modulation and attenuation of ferroptosis-associated lipid peroxidation.

Xinyang Maojian tea (XYMJ, Camellia sinensis), alternatively named Yu Maofeng, is classified as one of the most renowned teas across China.[1] Endowed with distinctive geographical provenance, typi...

Obesity induces skeletal muscle mitochondrial dysfunction, which is featured by impaired bioenergetics, enhanced oxidative stress, and disrupted mitochondrial quality control, all of which are key contributors to systemic metabolic dysregulation. Capsaicin (CAP), a major bioactive component derived from red chili peppers, has been demonstrated to exert potent anti-obesity effects. The present study explores the effects of CAP on obesity-associated skeletal muscle mitochondrial dysfunction and its underlying molecular mechanisms, using a high-fat and high-fructose diet (HFFD)-induced obese mice and free fatty acid (FFA)-treated C2C12 myotubes as experimental models. The results demonstrated that CAP supplementation effectively attenuated lipid metabolic dysregulation, improved pathological alterations in mitochondrial structure, and restored the circadian oscillation of mitochondrial genes as well as the core circadian gene Clock. In C2C12 myotubes transfected with Si-Clock, the CAP-mediated inhibition of abnormal lipid accumulation, improvement of mitochondrial function, and alleviation of mitochondrial circadian rhythm disturbance were significantly weakened, revealing that CAP alleviated mitochondrial dysfunction in skeletal muscle of obese mice and C2C12 myotubes through the involvement of Clock gene.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) urgently needs effective and safe therapeutic options. Natural procyanidins show promise, but the relationship between their degree of polymerization and anti-colitis efficacy remains unclear. The mature stem of Aganosma cymosa is a rich source of procyanidins, offering an ideal model to address this question. To compare the protective effects of a tetramer-enriched procyanidin oligomer (ACrGD) and its monomeric subunit (-)-epicatechin (ODG) from A. cymosa in a DSS-induced mouse colitis model, and to elucidate their distinct molecular mechanisms using multi-omics approaches, C57BL/6J mice with DSS-induced colitis were treated with ACrGD or ODG. Disease activity index (DAI), histopathology, inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress markers were evaluated. Gut microbiota and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing and targeted metabolomics. Colonic transcriptome and proteome were integrated, and splenic transcriptome was analyzed to construct a multi-omics regulatory network. Both ACrGD and ODG ameliorated DSS-induced colitis, but ACrGD more effectively elevated SCFA levels, particularly butyrate. Integrated colonic multi-omics revealed that ACrGD predominantly reversed genes/proteins involved in ferroptosis (Acsl4, Hmox1), extracellular matrix remodeling (Mmp3, Mmp9), and barrier function (Cldn12, Tjp1), whereas ODG mainly affected the NF-κB pathway. Splenic transcriptomics further demonstrated that ACrGD suppressed aberrant proliferation and ferroptosis in the spleen via the “gut-spleen axis”. The tetramer-enriched procyanidin oligomer alleviates colitis by rewiring the gut microbiota-SCFAs-ferroptosis axis, exerting both local and systemic effects. This study establishes a relationship between procyanidin polymerization degree and bioactivity, and provides a scientific basis for developing oligomeric procyanidins as functional foods or therapeutics for UC.

The rapid and targeted identification of bioactive constituents from complex natural product matrices remains a significant challenge in natural product research. This study employs an integrated biochemical metrology workflow combining ¹H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (¹H-NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS) to efficiently pinpoint antioxidant components from Aganosma cymosa. Systematic separation of the crude extract yielded 37 microfractions (MFs), which were subjected to both antioxidant activity evaluation and UHPLC-MS/MS profiling. An active molecular network was constructed by calculating Pearson correlation coefficients between MS feature abundances and the corresponding antioxidant activity data, enabling visualization of activity-correlated features within the GNPS platform. To address the limitation of MS-based annotation in distinguishing structural isomers, feature-based GNPS analysis was integrated with ¹H-NMR heterospectral covariance analysis (HetCA). The HetCA pseudo-spectra provided orthogonal validation and precise spectroscopic targets for subsequent isolation. Through this combined strategy, the main antioxidant constituents were successfully predicted, isolated, and structurally verified by NMR data. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the synergistic integration of GNPS active molecular networking and ¹H-NMR HetCA provides a powerful paradigm for the precise identification of bioactive components in complex plant matrices.