Current Issue : July - September Volume : 2019 Issue Number : 3 Articles : 5 Articles
Sonchus arvensis L. is a nutritious vegetable and herbal medicine that is consumed\nworldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-fatigue effects and underlying effects\nof aqueous extract of Sonchus arvensis L. (SA). Male C57BL/6 mice from four groups designated\nvehicle, exercise, exercise with low dose (250 mg/kg) or high dose of SA (500 mg/kg), were trained\nby swimming exercise and orally administrated with SA every other day for 28 days. The anti-fatigue\nactivity was determined by exhaustive swimming test, as well as the muscle structure, levels of\nblood hemoglobin, and metabolites including lactate and urea nitrogen. SA alleviated mice fatigue\nbehaviors by eliminating metabolites, while improving muscle structure and hemoglobin levels.\nMoreover, SA enhanced glycogen synthesis of liver but not muscle via increasing GCK and PEPCK\ngene expressions. Importantly, SA improved antioxidant enzymes expression and activities in both\nliver and muscle, which was possibly related to its primary components polysaccharides and the\nantioxidant components including chlorogenic acid, luteolin, and chicoric acid. Taken together, the\nanti-fatigue effects of SA could be partly explained by its antioxidant activity and mediating effects\non glycogen synthesis and metabolites elimination. Therefore, SA could be a potential nutraceutical\nfor improving exercise performance and alleviating physical fatigue....
Guava (Psidium guajava L., Myrtaceae) leaves have been used as a folk herbal tea to treat\ndiabetes for a long time in Asia and North America. In this study, we isolated polysaccharides from\nguava leaves (GLP), and evaluated its antioxidant activity in vitro and anti-diabetic effects on diabetic\nmice induced by streptozotocin combined with high-fat diet. The results indicated that GLP exhibited\ngood DPPH, OH, and ABTS free-radical scavenging abilities, and significantly lowered fasting blood\nsugar, total cholesterol, total triglycerides, glycated serum protein, creatinine, and malonaldehyde.\nMeanwhile, it significantly increased the total antioxidant activity and superoxide dismutase (SOD)\nenzyme activity in diabetic mice, as well as ameliorated the damage of liver, kidney, and pancreas.\nThus, polysaccharides from guava leaves could be explored as a potential antioxidant or anti-diabetic\nagents for functional foods or complementary medicine....
The pairing of Sophora flavescens and Fructus Ligustri lucidi is taken from Shi Jinmo Medicine. The idea behind this pairing was\ninspired by the similarity in pharmacological effects of the two herbal drugs, both ofwhich are known to be effective in the treatment\nand protection against liver fibrosis. To quantitatively study the extent of the interaction between these drugs and the effect of pairing\non the treatment of liver fibrosis, an animal model of liver fibrosis mice was established by intraperitoneal injection of low-dose\ncarbon tetrachloride.The drugs were then administered individually, or in predefined compatibility ratio pairs, by gavage, and the\neffects on indexes of liver fibrosis were observed.The multisynthetic index method was adopted using Matlab software in order to\nconstruct a three-dimensional response surface map of the integration effect and conduct interaction analysis of Sophora flavescens\nand Fructus Ligustri lucidi. The quadratic surface fitting pattern was designed by quadratic regression to determine the optimal\nrange of each drug.The obtained results show that when the compatibility ratio of Sophora flavescens-Fructus Ligustri lucidi drug\npairs is less than or equal to 1:1, their therapeutic effect is enhanced by synergy (interaction value ranging between -0.2 and -1).\nOverall, the synergy of the high-dose drug pairs is stronger than that of the low-dose drug pairs. The optimal dose ranges are 6 to 12\ng and 8 to 17 g for Sophora flavescens and Fructus Ligustri lucidi, respectively....
Combination of Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata (FZ) and Paeoniae Radix Alba (BS) shows a significant effect in rheumatoid\narthritis (RA). This study aimed to investigate the efficacy enhancing and toxicity reducing mechanism of combination of them\nin adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) rats by metabolomics. Rats were randomly divided into seven groups, including A (healthy\ncontrol), B (model control), C1 (therapy group), C2 (efficacy enhancing group), D1 (toxicity group), and D2 (toxicity reducing\ngroup), and dexamethasone group was used as positive control. The plasma biochemical indexes showed that therapeutic dose of\nlipid-soluble alkaloids of FZ could significantly inhibit the concentrations........................
Curcuma longa L. is a rhizome plant often used as traditional medicinal preparations in Southeast Asia. The dried powder is\ncommonly known as cure-all herbal medicine with a wider spectrum of pharmaceutical activities. In spite of the widely reported\ntherapeutic applications of C. longa, research on its safety and teratogenic effects on zebrafish embryos and larvae is still limited.\nHence, this research aimed to assess the toxicity of C. longa extract on zebrafish. Using a reflux flask, methanol extract of C. longa\nwas extracted and the identification and quantification of total flavonoids were carried out with HPLC. Twelve fertilized embryos\nwere selected to test the embryotoxicity and teratogenicity at different concentration points. The embryos were exposed to the\nextract in the E3Mmedium while the control was only exposed to E3Mand different developmental endpoints were recorded with\nthe therapeutic index calculated using the ratio of LC50/EC50. C. longa extract was detected to be highly rich in flavonoids with\ncatechin, epicatechin, and naringenin as the 3most abundantwith concentrations of 3,531.34, 688.70, and 523.83micro g/mL, respectively.\nThe toxicity effects were discovered to be dose-dependent at dosage above 62.50micro g/mL, while, at 125.0micro g/mL, mortality of embryos\nwas observed and physical body deformities of larvae were recorded among the hatched embryos at higher concentrations.\nTeratogenic effect of the extract was severe at higher concentrations producing physical body deformities such as kink tail, bend\ntrunk, and enlarged yolk sac edema. Finally, the therapeutic index (TI) values calculated were approximately the same for different\nconcentration points tested. Overall, the result revealed that plants having therapeutic potential could also pose threats when\nconsumed at higher doses especially on the embryos. Therefore, detailed toxicity analysis should be carried out onmedicinal plants\nto ascertain their safety on the embryos and its development....
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