scholarly journals Efficacy and Safety of Sophora flavescens (Kushen) Based Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis: Clinical Evidence and Potential Mechanisms

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingjun Chen ◽  
Yuxuan Ding ◽  
Zhanqi Tong

Background: Radix Sophorae flavescentis (Kushen), a Chinese herb, is widely used in the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) with damp-heat accumulation syndrome (DHAS) according to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory.Objective: The aim of this study was to illuminate the clinical efficacy and potential mechanisms of Kushen-based TCM formulations in the treatment of UC with DHAS.Materials and Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in the PubMed, EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical Literature database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure database, Chongqing VIP Information database, and Wanfang database for articles published between January 2000 and July 2020 on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that used Kushen-based TCM formulations in the treatment of UC with DHAS. A network pharmacology approach was conducted to detect the potential pathways of Kushen against UC with DHAS.Results: Eight RCTs with a total of 983 subjects were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with the control subjects (5-aminosalicylic acid therapy), those who received Kushen-based TCM formulations for the treatment of UC showed a significantly higher clinical remission rate (RR = 1.20, 95% CI: [1.04, 1.38], p = 0.02) and lower incidence of adverse events (RR = 0.63, 95% CI [0.39, 1.01], p = 0.06). A component-target-pathway network was constructed, indicating five main components (quercetin, luteolin, matrine, formononetin, and phaseolin), three major targets (Interleukin-6, Myc proto-oncogene protein, and G1/S-specific cyclin-D1) and one key potential therapeutic pathway (PI3K-Akt signaling) of Kushen against UC with DHAS.Conclusion: Kushen-based TCM formulations provide good efficacy and possess great potential in the treatment of UC. Large-scale and high-quality clinical trials and experimental verification should be considered for further confirmation of the efficacy of Kushen-based formulations.

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Liu ◽  
Xin Zheng ◽  
Jiajun Li ◽  
Xiong Li ◽  
Ruimei Wu ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective: The traditional Chinese medicine Caulis Sargentodoxae is widely used in the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC), but the mechanism remains unknown. The present study aims to reveal its effective components, targets and pathways through network pharmacology and bioinformatics approaches. Materials and methods: Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP) was used to identify effective components. The ligand-based targets prediction was achieved through SwissTargetPrediction and TargetNet. UC-related targets were identified using Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data and DisGeNET. The common targets of disease and components were constructed and analyzed by PPI network. Lastly, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses are used to explain the functions of these common targets. Components-Targets-Pathways network was visualized and analyzed to further reveal the connection between the components and targets. Results: Eight active components and 102 key targets were identified to play an important role in UC. These targets were related to regulation of protein serine/threonine kinase activity, positive regulation of cell motility, response to molecule of bacterial origin, response to toxic substance, ERK1 and ERK2 cascade, peptidyl-tyrosine modification, inositol lipid-mediated signaling, cellular response to drug, regulation of inflammatory response and leukocyte migration. Moreover, HIF-1 signaling pathway and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway were the key targets involved in UC-related signaling pathways. Conclusion: The eight active components of Caulis Sargentodoxae mainly play a therapeutic role for UC through synergistic regulation of HIF-1 signaling pathway and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway.


AMB Express ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingjiang Hu ◽  
Nana Xu ◽  
Xi Yang ◽  
Xi Hu ◽  
Yunliang Zheng ◽  
...  

Abstract Nigella A, also named Sieboldianoside A, has been extracted from many kinds of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), such as Nigella glandulifera, Stauntonia chinensis DC., and the leaves of Acanthopanax sieboldianus. Nigella A exhibited potential analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, and antioxidant activities. However, whether Nigella A could treat ulcerative colitis (UC) is still unknown. As saponins always be regarded as the kinds of ingredients that could regulate immunity and intestinal flora. This research aimed to investigate the therapeutic effect of Nigella A on UC and explore its effect on intestinal flora. We noted that Nigella A and Sulfasalazine (SASP) could significantly improve the signs and symptoms, alleviate colonic pathological injury in DSS-induced mice. The changing of many specific bacterial genus such as Lactobacillus, Porphyromonadaceae, Bacteroides and Escherichia might closely related to the recovery of intestinal inflammatory response. This study initially confirmed the therapeutic effect of Nigella A and SASP on DSS-induced colitis by improving the diversity of intestinal microbial composition. Nigella A has the potential to be developed for the treatment of UC and other disorders related to the imbalance of intestinal flora.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zefeng Wang ◽  
Haitong Wan ◽  
Jinhui Li ◽  
Hong Zhang ◽  
Mei Tian

With the speeding tendency of aging society, human neurological disorders have posed an ever increasing threat to public health care. Human neurological diseases include ischemic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and spinal cord injury, which are induced by impairment or specific degeneration of different types of neurons in central nervous system. Currently, there are no more effective treatments against these diseases. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is focused on, which can provide new strategies for the therapy in neurological disorders. TCM, including Chinese herb medicine, acupuncture, and other nonmedication therapies, has its unique therapies in treating neurological diseases. In order to improve the treatment of these disorders by optimizing strategies using TCM and evaluate the therapeutic effects, we have summarized molecular imaging, a new promising technology, to assess noninvasively disease specific in cellular and molecular levels of living models in vivo, that was applied in TCM therapy for neurological diseases. In this review, we mainly focus on applying diverse molecular imaging methodologies in different TCM therapies and monitoring neurological disease, and unveiling the mysteries of TCM.


Author(s):  
Jian Liang ◽  

Ritual is one of the most classic research topics in the field of Anthropology, and rituals have close connection with medial practice. However, the research on this topic from the experience of Traditional Chinese Medicine is limited. This paper presents the whole story that a patient suffering from infertility got cured got cured by a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) and finally became a mother. With the detailed description of each medical practice, including pulse-taking, traditional Chinese herb therapy, and postpartum confinement, this paper analyzes the ritualized elements in the whole process, interprets how ritual play a role in the practice of TCM, and points out ritual’s essential significance in contributing to human’s well being and adjusting the relationships between individual and the world.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Shuhan Zhou ◽  
Yanjun Duan ◽  
Yu Deng ◽  
Miao Wang ◽  
Chaoqun Huang ◽  
...  

Chronic gastritis (CG) places a considerable burden on the healthcare system worldwide. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formulas characterized by multicompounds and multitargets have been acknowledged with striking effects in the treatment of CG in China’s history. Nevertheless, their accurate mechanisms of action are still ambiguous. In this study, we analyzed the effective compounds, potential targets, and related biological pathway of Lianpu Drink (LPD), a TCM formula which has been reported to have a therapeutic effect on CG, by contrasting a “compound-target-disease” network. According to the results, 92 compounds and 5762 putative targets of LPD were screened; among them, 8 compounds derived from different herbs in LPD and 30 common targets related to LPD and CG were selected as candidate compounds and precision targets, respectively. Meanwhile, the predicted common targets were verified by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) signaling pathway analysis and pharmacological experiments. The results demonstrated that quercetin, ephedrine, trigonelline, crocetin, and β-sitosterol were major effective compounds of LPD responsible for the CG treatment by inhibiting the activation of the JAK 2-STAT 3 signaling pathway to reduce the expressions of cyclin D1 and Bcl-2 proteins. The study provides evidence for the mechanism of understanding of LPD for the treatment of CG.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Songwei Yang ◽  
Yantao Yang ◽  
Cong Chen ◽  
Huiqin Wang ◽  
Qidi Ai ◽  
...  

The Chinese herb couple Fuzi and Ganjiang (FG) has been a classic combination of traditional Chinese medicine that is commonly used clinically in China for nearly 2000 years. Traditional Chinese medicine suggests that FG can treat various ailments, including heart failure, fatigue, gastrointestinal upset, and depression. Neuroinflammation is one of the main pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative diseases in which microglia cells play a critical role in the occurrence and development of neuroinflammation. FG has been clinically proven to have an efficient therapeutic effect on depression and other neurological disorders, but its mechanism remains unknown. Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a serious threat to the quality of life of cancer patients and is characterized by both physical and psychological fatigue. Recent studies have found that neuroinflammation is a key inducement leading to the occurrence and development of CRF. Traditional Chinese medicine theory believes that extreme fatigue and depressive symptoms of CRF are related to Yang deficiency, and the application of Yang tonic drugs such as Fuzi and Ganjiang can relieve CRF symptoms, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. In order to define whether FG can inhibit CRF depression-like behavior by suppressing neuroinflammation, we conducted a series of experimental studies in vitro and in vivo. According to the UPLC-Q-TOF/MSE results, we speculated that there were 49 compounds in the FG extraction, among which 30 compounds were derived from Fuzi and 19 compounds were derived from Ganjiang. Our research data showed that FG can effectively reduce the production of pro-inflammatory mediators IL-6, TNF-α, ROS, NO, and PGE2 and suppress the expression of iNOS and COX2, which were related to the inhibition of NF-κB/activation of Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathways. In addition, our research results revealed that FG can improve the depression-like behavior performance of CRF model mice in the tail suspension test, open field test, elevated plus maze test, and forced swimming test, which were associated with the inhibition of the expression of inflammatory mediators iNOS and COX2 in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of CRF model mice. Those research results suggested that FG has a satisfactory effect on depression-like behavior of CRF, which was related to the inhibition of neuroinflammation.


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