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Potential mechanism of antisepsis actions of the five CHM based on pathophysiologic processes involved in sepsis. The dash line arrows indicate proposed action targets or signaling pathways that the five CHM probably involve; the solid
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Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection; the pathophysiology of sepsis is complex. The incidence of sepsis is steadily increasing, with worldwide mortality ranging between 30% and 50%. Current treatment approaches mainly rely on the timely and appropriate administration of antimicrobials an...
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... (originating from Dahuang; Figure 1) is the major constituent of XBCQ, and its potential target pathways are listed in Table 1. The potential mechanism of antisepsis actions of the five CHM based on pathophysiologic processes involved in sepsis is shown in Figure 2. The dash line arrows indicate proposed action targets or signaling pathways that the five CHM probably involve; the solid line arrows indicate cascade mechanism of pathophysiology in sepsis. ...
Citations
... However, the mortality rate of sepsis is still about 30% and can even reach more than 50% in patients with septic shock and severe sepsis [3]. Therefore, strengthening research on the pathogenesis of sepsis is crucial for finding effective treatment programs for this condition. ...
... However, studies have shown that Bleomycin, a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug for treating different types of human carcinomas, can cause pulmonary injury and fibrosis in both humans and experimental animal models [14]. Despite the significant advances in medical strategies made over the past few decades, there is still a lack of Chinese herbal medicines available for the prevention and treatment of lung injury [15]. Therefore, our study aimed to evaluate whether Mosla Chinensis Maxim extract (MCME) can protect against lung injury and to determine the possible underlying mechanisms of action. ...
Lung fibrosis is a common form of interstitial lung disease. Traditional Chinese medicinal plants have the ability to suppress lung inflammation, but there are relatively few studies on the relationship between Mosla Chinensis Maxim and lung injury. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether Mosla Chinensis Maxim extract (MCME) can alleviate lung injury. This study utilized lung epithelial cells, A549, treated MCME (0.25mg/mL), and analyzed the wound-healing ability, inflammatory cytokines, and cell-cell adheren junctions (E-cadherin). Bleomycin was used to induced lung fibrosis in an animal model, which were then treated with MCME. The results showed that MCME improved cellular repair capacity by 30% compared to the mock group, inhibited IL-8 by approximately 60%, and increased the E-cadherin expression compared to the lipopolysaccharide group. In an animal model, administration of MCME (50 mg/kg) for 14 days alleviated the bleomycin-induced pathological changes in the lungs and fibrosis. This study demonstrated that MCME improved lung injury.
... Many natural products with anti-inflammatory activity have been identified from medicinal plants, such as andrographolide [7,8], curcumin [9], fisetin [10], gossypol [11], and lycorine [12], suggesting that herbal medicine has therapeutic potential for treating sepsis [13]. Piper kadsura is a vine-like plant in southeast China and Taiwan [14][15][16], whereas its stem is widely used as a folk medicine for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, gouty arthritis, asthma, and cerebral ischemia [14]. ...
... The methanol extract was concentrated to dryness and partitioned between water and chloroform. The collected chloroform fraction was concentrated to dry powder (350 g) and then subjected to silica gel column chromatography (10 × 120 cm) with a gradient solvent constituted by ethyl acetate in n-hexane (0-100%) to obtain 14 fractions (No. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. A solid precipitate was separated from fraction 7 and recrystallized from methanol to provide galgravin (3.5 g), which was then stored at −20 • C. The purity of galgravin was assessed using the HPLC method. ...
Sepsis results from uncontrolled inflammation, characterized by cytokine storm and immunoparalysis. To assess whether galgravin, a natural lignan isolated from Piper kadsura, can be used to treat sepsis, models of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated macrophages and LPS-induced endotoxemia mice were used. Galgravin suppressed NF-κB activation in LPS-activated RAW 264.7 macrophages without causing significant cytotoxicity, in which proinflammatory molecules like TNF-α, IL-6, iNOS, and COX-2 were downregulated. In addition, the expression of TNF-α and IL-6 was also suppressed by galgravin in LPS-activated murine bone marrow-derived macrophages. Moreover, galgravin significantly downregulated the mRNA expression of TNF-α, IL-6, and iNOS in the lungs and decreased TNF-α and IL-6 in the serum and IL-6 in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of LPS-challenged mice. The COX-2 expression in tissues, including the lung, liver, and kidney, as well as the lung alveolar hemorrhage, was also reduced by galgravin. The present study reveals the anti-inflammatory effects of galgravin in mouse models and implies its potential application in inflammation diseases.
... [13]. Previous studies have shown that Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) contain a complex composition, and their pharmacological actions may be due to their synergistic effects on multiple ingredients [14]. Fortunately, since network pharmacology emerged, it has become a powerful tool for CHM. ...
Swertia cincta Burkill is widely distributed along the southwestern region of China. It is known as "Dida" in Tibetan and "Qingyedan" in Chinese medicine. It was used in folk medicine to treat hepatitis and other liver diseases. To understand how Swertia cincta Burkill extract (ESC) protects against acute liver failure (ALF), firstly, the active ingredients of ESC were identified using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), and further screening. Next, network pharmacology analyses were performed to identify the core targets of ESC against ALF and further determine the potential mechanisms. Finally, in vivo experiments as well as in vitro experiments were conducted for further validation. The results revealed that 72 potential targets of ESC were identified using target prediction. The core targets were ALB, ERBB2, AKT1, MMP9, EGFR, PTPRC, MTOR, ESR1, VEGFA, and HIF1A. Next, KEGG pathway analysis showed that EGFR and PI3K-AKT signaling pathways could have been involved in ESC against ALF. ESC exhibits hepatic protective functions via anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-apoptotic effects. Therefore, the EGFR-ERK, PI3K-AKT, and NRF2/HO-1 signaling pathways could participate in the therapeutic effects of ESC on ALF.
... The application of TCM places a strong emphasis on using herbal formulations to regulate immune responses to illness, such as clearing heat and toxin, facilitating blood circulation, enhancing gastrointestinal function, and strengthening body resistance (Fan et al., 2020). Herbal medicine is capable of regulating both intestinal flora composition and metabolism (Cheng and Yu, 2021). In the management of sepsis, numerous clinical study meta-analyses have demonstrated the necessity of herbal medicine (Liang et al., 2015;Wen et al., 2021). ...
Sepsis has a high mortality rate, and treating sepsis remains a significant challenge worldwide. In former studies, our group found that traditional Chinese medicine, Shen FuHuang formula (SFH), is a promising medicine in treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with the septic syndrome. However, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. In the present study, we first investigated the therapeutic effects of SFH on septic mice. To investigate the mechanisms of SFH-treated sepsis, we identified the gut microbiome profile and exploited untargeted metabolomics analyses. The results demonstrated that SFH significantly enhanced the mice’s 7-day survival rate and hindered the release of inflammatory mediators, i.e., TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β. 16S rDNA sequencing further deciphered that SFH decreased the proportion of Campylobacterota and Proteobacteria at the phylum level. LEfSe analysis revealed that the treatment of SFH enriched Blautia while decreased Escherichia_Shigella. Furthermore, serum untargeted metabolomics analysis indicated that SFH could regulate the glucagon signaling pathway, PPAR signaling pathway, galactose metabolism, and pyrimidine metabolism. Finally, we found the relative abundance of Bacteroides, Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group, Escherichia_Shigella, Blautia, Ruminococcus, and Prevotella were closely related to the enrichment of the metabolic signaling pathways, including L-tryptophan, uracil, glucuronic acid, protocatechuic acid, and gamma-Glutamylcysteine. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that SFH alleviated sepsis by suppressing the inflammatory response and hence reduced mortality. The mechanism of SFH for treating sepsis may be ascribed to the enrichment of beneficial gut flora and modulation in glucagon signaling pathway, PPAR signaling pathway, galactose metabolism, and pyrimidine metabolism. To sum up, these findings provide a new scientific perspective for the clinical application of SFH in treating sepsis.
... Furthermore, clinical trials of therapeutics have failed to obtain promising results, and it likely got even worse during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic due to the limited intensive care unit resources [7]. Given the lack of effective treatment for sepsis, Chinese herbal medicines, i.e., Chinese patent medicines, Chinese herbal prescriptions, and single Chinese herbs, have therapeutic actions promising in treating sepsis through multicomponent, multipathway, and multitargeting abilities [8]. ...
Sepsis is defined as a dysregulated immune response to infection that leads to multiple organ dysfunction. To date, though a growing body of knowledge has gained insight into the clinical risk factors, pathobiology, treatment response, and recovery methods, sepsis remains a significant concern and clinical burden. Therefore, further study is urgently needed to alleviate the acute and chronic outcomes. Berberine (BBR), a traditional Chinese medicine with multiple actions and mechanisms, has been investigated in cellular and rodent animal models of sepsis mainly based on its anti-inflammatory effect. However, the practical application of BBR in sepsis is still lacking, and it is imperative to systematically summarize the study of BBR in sepsis. This review summarized its pharmacological activities and mechanisms in septic-related organ injuries and the potential BBR-based therapeutic strategies for sepsis, which will provide comprehensive references for scientific research and clinical application.
... Lu et al. reported that TCM clears away heat and toxins, kills bacteria, and has a pivotal role in regulating immunity and promoting the reconstruction of the neuroendocrine system [6]. A growing number of studies revealed that TCM may enhance outcomes in the sepsis model by regulating infammation levels [7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Meanwhile, TCM's efcacy in treating sepsis was also validated in a meta-analysis of 10 randomized controlled studies conducted by Liang et al. [14]. ...
Background:
Sepsis is a common complication of severe trauma, burns, infection, or major surgery. This disease-related end-organ dysfunction results from systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). Acute kidney damage (AKI), also known as acute renal failure, is one of the most frequent and serious sequelae of sepsis. Nuclear transcription factor-κB (NF-κB) regulates the transcription of inflammation-related genes and operates as a mediator in the immune system. While parthenolide (PTL) has been reported to prevent harmful inflammatory reactions, its effects on sepsis-associated AKI are unknown. The current study investigates the effects of PTL in sepsis-associated AKI using cell and cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) models.
Methods:
Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated rat glomerular mesangial cells were treated with 10 μM PTL. Inflammatory mediators, including TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β, in the culture supernatants were measured by ELISA, and NF-κB levels were assessed by qPCR. After the generation of the septic CLP model, rats were intraperitoneally injected with 500 g/kg PTL and were euthanized after 72 h. Serum and kidney samples were analyzed.
Results:
TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 levels were elevated after LPS treatment of rat glomerular mesangial cells (p=0.004, p=0.002, and p=0.004, respectively) but were significantly reduced in the PTL treatment group (p ≤ 0.001, p=0.01, and p ≤ 0.001). NF-κB p65 levels were also increased after LPS treatment in this group and were reduced in the PTL treatment group. PTL treatment also reduced kidney damage after CLP induction, as shown by histological analysis and reductions in the levels of BUN, Cre, KIM-1, and NAGL. CLP-induced kidney inflammation together with increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines and inflammatory-related proteins. The elevated levels of renal TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β were downregulated after PTL treatment. The PTL treatment also reduced the CLP-induced activation of NF-κB p65 in the damaged kidneys.
Conclusion:
PTL reduced inflammation induced by CLP-induced AKI in rat models and LPS-induced damage to glomerular mesangial cells by suppressing NF-κB signaling.
... Xuebijing injection is a major herbal medication used to treat severe infections in China and is recommended as an add-on therapy for sepsis in Chinese guidelines (Cheng and Yu, 2021). In recent years, several clinical trials have demonstrated that Xuebijing treatment could significantly alleviate lung inflammation and alveolar destruction in patients with CAP (Qi et al., 2011;Wang et al., 2021). ...
Background:
Adjuvant Xuebijing therapy exhibited a protective effect on severe community-acquired pneumonia (SCAP) in previous studies. Blood inflammatory biomarkers related to the disease subtype and severity of SCAP might be associated with the effects of Xuebijing on clinical outcomes of SCAP.
Purpose:
To investigate whether neutrophils or lymphocytes are a useful biomarker of the therapeutic effect of Xuebijing on mortality and inflammation damage index.
Study design:
A post hoc analysis of a randomized, placebo-controlled and double-blinded clinical trial of Xuebijing in patients with SCAP (Clinical Trial Registration: ChiCTR-TRC-13003534).
Methods:
We compared 28-day mortality (primary outcome) and four clinical scores (secondary outcome), including pneumonia severity index (PSI) score, sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) score, and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score, according to the baseline strata of neutrophil count and lymphocyte count.
Results:
A total of 675 patients were included in the analyses, of which 334 received Xuebijing and 341 received the placebo. Xuebijing was more effective in SCAP patients with higher lymphocyte counts and lower neutrophil counts. In the lymphocyte-dominated inflammation (LDI) subgroup, defined as neutrophil count <13 × 109 cells/l and lymphocyte count ≥0.65 × 109 cells/l, Xuebijing reduced 28-day mortality by 15% while mortality of the neutrophil-dominated inflammation (NDI) subgroup decreased by 4.7% (p = 0.050). There was also greater improvement in the PSI, SOFA, APACHE II, and SIRS scores following Xuebijing treatment in the LDI subgroup compared with the NDI subgroup.
Conclusions:
Xuebijing treatment shows stronger protective effects in SCAP patients with higher lymphocyte and lower neutrophil counts. Our findings may facilitate the selection of the most appropriate treatments for individual patients with SCAP, including who will receive Xuebijing injections.
... While to the artificial flavors on market, liquid lipids or tinctures are not suitable for cigarettes, the aromas of solid flavors are hard to blend with that of tobacco, and harmful gas emitting on combustion make some of them be abandoned [7,8]. Now the studies on smoke taste enhancement are focusing on the natural plants with environment-friendly, especially more aromas about them can be further stimulated out after being treated with baking, carbonization and fermentation, but unfortunately, the adsorption capacities of these carbonized flavors are still weak [9,10]. Therefore, seeking other absorbent materials to make the composite is necessary to realize both actions of absorbing harmful constituents and enhancing aroma emitting, which is also a hot issue to be solved urgently in the development of low-hazard cigarettes. ...
To develop one porous additive material that can be assembled on cigarette filter, and achieve both functions of reducing hazard substances like tar and providing special aroma and moisture, this study innovatively selects the raw materials like baking-carbonized functional flavors with special aroma and konjac glucomannan (KGM) with properties of water absorption, gelling and film-forming, following the steps of casting into membrane shape, thermostatic crosslinking for strength enhancement and freeze-drying for pore creating to prepare 5 porous composite membranes based on baked-carbonized functional flavors and konjac glucomannan (KGM) were prepared. The composite structure, morphologies on the surface and the cross section, porosity structures including mesoporous and macropore of the porous composite membranes were characterized, the tensile performance and aroma constituents through solid phase microextraction and hazardous substances adsorption as packed into the commercial cigarette were also studied. Results showed that all baked-carbonized functional flavors were carbonized into amorphous, and contained the groups of aromatic components like ≡C-H, C=O, C-O-C (aldehydes, esters), cross-linking achieved the entanglement of KGM segments by deacetylation. When compounded, KGM acted as the framework to build the 3D porous network structure, and the functional flavor powders were wrapped into the KGM layer. All porous composite membranes owned some mechanical strength and the internal porosity over 90%, the mesopores and the macropores were ranged with 5–50 nm and 20–255 µm, respectively, which was satisfied for gas flowing and harmful substances adsorption. Aroma and resulting abundance of extracted constituents changed with timing, which equipped the membranes with a comprehensive aroma feeling. Among them, the membrane prepared with the raw material of dark plum showed a better comprehensive performance, especially it could significantly reduce the contents of harmful HCN and phenol in cigarette during smoking.
... DHI is widely used to treat stroke, coronary heart disease, angina pectoris, and protect endothelial cells [9,10]. XBJ is widely employed in sepsis in China and plays an important role in fighting coronavirus disease , as XBJ ameliorates the clinical symptoms and increase the survival rate [11,12]. In these injections, HSYA was the main contributor from safflower. ...
Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is cultivated in various countries for the flavonoid compounds it contains. These flavonoids have been used in many industries as drugs and/or dyes. Over 60 flavonoids have been isolated from safflower. These flavonoids can be divided into two groups: special and common, both of which are active pharmaceutical ingredients efficacious in the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Gene functions have been studied to figure out the biosynthesis of flavonoids in safflower. However, there is no comprehensive summary of the flavonoids in safflower. Research was recognised through systematic searches of ScienceDirect, PubMed, Web of Science, and CNKI databases by searching terms of “Carthamus tinctorius L.”, “safflower”, “flavonoid”, “pharmacology”, and “gene”. More than 200 research reports were included after eligibility checks. This study summarizes the application of flavonoids in medicine and other industries. Comprehensively collects the chemical structure information of the two groups of flavonoids, and organic acids, alkaloids, spermidine, polyacetylene, and polysaccharides. The mechanism of two groups of flavonoids in treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases was describe in detail, and pharmacological mechanisms of protecting liver, lung and bone, and anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory were also summarised. Besides, the study updated the latest information on the molecular biology of safflower flavonoids. It is found that two groups of flavonoids in safflower have obvious differences in application, chemical structure, pharmacological mechanism, and biosynthetic pathway. It is hoped that this summative research will provide a new insight to flavonoids research in safflower.
