Optimization and mechanism of postponing aging of polysaccharides from Chinese herbal medicine formula

To study the extraction technology of polysaccharides (AAP) from Chinese herbal medicine formula and its mechanism of delaying aging. First, L9(3)4 orthogonal test was used to optimize the optimal enzyme-assisted extraction parameters of polysaccharides. And the anti-aging effects was evaluated by detecting mitochondrial function, protein, DNA, adhesion molecules and cell cycle in aging rats. The optimal extraction process parameters were the cellulase concentration of 1.5%, the pH at 5, the enzyme temperature at 50°C and the extraction time of 180 min. The anti-aging results showed that AAP can effectively increase the activities of malate dehydrogenase, succinate dehydrogenase and superoxide dismutase. It also can decrease the activity of monoamine oxidase and methane dicarboxylic aldehyde levels in the brain tissue. Meanwhile, the polysaccharides enhanced telomerase activity while reduced p16 protein expression of the brain mitochondria. In addition, the polysaccharides continued to improve heart damage and significantly lessen mitochondrial DNA concentrations. For a certain period of time, it also enhanced the activity of superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione, glutathione peroxidase and decreased protein carbonyl and methane dicarboxylic aldehyde content of kidney in D-galactose-induced aging rats. Furthermore, the polysaccharides restored the number of cells in the peripheral blood lines and BMNC through inhibiting the drop of the number of red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets in the peripheral blood and bone marrow mononuclear cell of the aging rats. At the same time, AAP accelerated G1 phase cell to enter S phase in cell cycle in aging rats. Our research suggests that the polysaccharides may be a potential anti-aging agent and can be further developed as a functional food or new drug to delay aging or treat aging-related diseases.

Untargeted Metabolomics Profiling and Global Semi-quantitation of a Prescription Chinese Herbal Medicine Formula Yinqiaosan Using UPLC-QTOF-MS with a Single Exogenous Reference Internal Standard

Yinqiaosan is a classic Chinese herbal medicine formula that has been used to treat various bacterial and viral infections by Chinese medicine doctors for over two centuries. In this work, we developed a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative method for identification, quantitation, and quality assessment of chemical constituents of Yinqiaosan formula in four different preparation forms (i.e., decoction, granule, pill, and tablet), which employed ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry with a single exogenous reference internal standard for untargeted metabolomics profiling and global semiquantitative analysis. The use of a single exogenous reference internal standard permitted not only qualitative and quantitative analyses of multiple herbal components in a single instrument run, but also cross-comparison of chemical contents in between all four Yinqiaosan preparation forms. The acquired mass chromatograms were analyzed, quantitated, and compared using multivariate data analysis for similarities and differences of chemical constituents in four Yinqiaosan preparation forms. For the first time, we were able to identify over 100 chemical constituents from each preparation form using the available database. Among the 49 commonly identified compounds in the 4 Yinqiaosan preparation forms, 16 have been reported to have pharmacological activities, which may be used in a network pharmacology study of Yinqiaosan for exploring the underlying mechanism of the herbal formula.