Yuan Zhang

Shaanxi Normal University | SNNU

Background: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are emerging as potential drug carriers in the fight against COVID-19. This study investigates the ability of EVs as drug carriers to target SARS-CoV-2-infected cells. Methods: EVs were modified using Xstamp technology to carry the virus’s RBD, enhancing targeting ability to hACE2+ cells and improving drug...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a leading cause of chronic neurological dysfunction in young to middle-aged adults, affecting approximately 2.5 million people worldwide. It is characterized by inflammation, multifocal demyelination, axonal loss, and white and gray matter gliosis. Autophagy is a highly conserved protein degradation pathway. Polymorphisms...

Demyelination and failure of remyelination in the central nervous system (CNS) characterize a number of neurological disorders. Spontaneous remyelination in demyelinating diseases is limited, as oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), which are often present in demyelinated lesions in abundance, mostly fail to differentiate into oligodendrocytes, t...

Astrocytes are the most plentiful cell type in the central nervous system (CNS) and perform complicated functions in health and disease. It is obvious that different astrocyte subpopulations, or activation states, are relevant with specific genomic programs and functions. In recent years, the emergence of new technologies such as single-cell RNA se...

Exosomes are extracellular vesicles with the smallest diameter, usually divided into cellular sources and body fluid sources. Due to their special properties different from cell-derived exosomes, the application of milk exosomes as an oral drug delivery system has increased greatly. This article introduces the physical and chemical properties of ex...

Oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) originate in the ventricular zone (VZ) of the brain and spinal cord, and their primary function is to differentiate into oligodendrocytes (OLs). Studies have shown that OPCs and OLs are pathologically and physiologically heterogeneous. Previous transcriptome analyses used Bulk RNA‐seq, which compares average...

Retinoid-related orphan receptor γt (RORγt), a vital transcription factor for the differentiation of the pro-inflammatory Th17 cells, is essential to the inflammatory response and pathological process mediated by Th17 cells. Pharmacological inhibition of the nuclear receptor RORγt provides novel immunomodulators for treating Th17-driven autoimmune...

Astrocytes are highly heterogenic in their phenotype and function, which contribute to CNS disease, repair and aging; however, the molecular mechanism of their functional states remains largely unknown. Here we show that activation of sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), a protein deacetylase, plays an important role in the detrimental actions of reactive astrocytes...

Anacardic acid (AA) is a phenolic acid extract found in a number of plants, crops, and fruits. It exhibits a wide range of biological activities. This study displayed that AA effectively alleviated EAE, a classical mouse model of multiple sclerosis. AA administered to the EAE greatly decreased inflammatory cell infiltration to the CNS and protected...

Background and objectives: Demyelinating diseases in the CNS are characterized by myelin sheath destruction or formation disorder that leads to severe neurologic dysfunction. Remission of such diseases is largely dependent on the differentiation of oligodendrocytes precursor cells (OPCs) into mature myelin-forming OLGs at the demyelinated lesions,...

Atmospheric Particulate Matter (PM) is one of the leading environmental risk factors for the global burden of disease. Increasing epidemiological studies demonstrated that PM plays a significant role in CNS demyelinating disorders; however, there is no direct testimony of this, and yet the molecular mechanism by which the occurrence remains unclear...

Targeted and effective drug delivery to central nervous system (CNS) lesions is a major challenge in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have great promise as a drug delivery nanosystem given their unique characteristics, including a strong cargo-loading capacity, low immunogenicity, high biocompatibility, inheren...

The main pathological characteristics of demyelinating diseases are central nervous system (CNS) myelin damage, and the differentiation of oligodendrocyte precursor cells is the therapeutic target of myelin repair. Previous studies have found that a large number of platelet (PDGFRα) positive oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) accumulate in the...

Demyelination is a critical neurological disease, and there is still a lack of effective treatment methods. In the past two decades, stem cells have emerged as a novel therapeutic effector for neural regeneration. However, owing to the existence of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the complex microenvironment, targeted therapy still faces multiple...

Short-stranded miRNAs are single-stranded RNA molecules involved in the regulation of gene expression. miRNAs are involved in a variety of cellular physiological processes, including cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. miR-23b have been identified to act both as oncogenes and as tumor suppressors. In addition, miR-23b is related to...

Atmospheric Particulate Matter (PM) is one of the leading environmental risk factors for the global burden of disease. Increasing epidemiological studies demonstrated that PM plays a significant role in CNS demyelinating disorders; however, there is no direct testimony of this, and yet the molecular mechanism by which the occurrence remains unclear...

The lack of targeted and high-efficiency drug delivery to the central nervous system (CNS) nidus is the main problem in the treatment of demyelinating disease. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) possess great promise as a drug delivery vector given their advanced features. However, clinical applications are limited because of their inadequate targeting a...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that is mainly mediated by pathological T-cells. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is a well-known animal model of MS that is used to study the underlying mechanism and offers a theoretical basis for developing a novel therapy for MS. Good therapeutic effec...

Background Urolithin A (URA) is an intestinal microbiota metabolic product from ellagitannin-containing foods with multiple biological activities. However, its role in autoimmune diseases is largely unknown. Here, for first time, we demonstrate the therapeutic effect of URA in an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) animal model. Method...

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are heterogeneous cell-derived membranous structures that arise from the endosome system or directly detach from the plasma membrane. In recent years, many advances have been made in the understanding of the clinical definition and pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, but translation into effective treatments is...

Inducible conditional knockout mice are important tools for studying gene function and disease therapy, but their generation is costly and time-consuming. We introduced clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and Cre into an LSL-Cas9 transgene-carrying mouse line by using adeno-associated virus (AAV)-PHP.eB to rapidly kno...

Montelukast is a leukotriene receptor antagonist that is known to prevent allergic rhinitis and asthma. Blocking the Cysteinyl leukotrienes receptor (CysLTR1), one of the primary receptors of leukotrienes, has been demonstrated to be efficacious in ameliorating experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of multiple sclerosis (...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a CNS autoimmune disease characterized by demyelination and inflammatory infiltration with a high disability rate. Increasing evidence has demonstrated the importance of gut microbiota as an environmental risk factor in MS and its animal model experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Diet is the main determinant o...

Autoimmune diseases are conditions that emerge from abnormal immune responses to natural parts of the body. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membranous structures found in almost all types of cells. Because EVs often transport “cargo” between cells, their ability to crosstalk may be an important communication pathway within the body. The pathophysi...

T helper 17 (Th17) cells that express interleukin-17 (IL-17) act a key role in various inflammatory diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), and its animal model experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). The retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptors γt (RORγt) have an indispensable effect in the differentiation of this cell type, thu...

Significance Current immunomodulatory therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS) can effectively inhibit autoimmune response, but largely fail to promote myelin repair. This therapeutic deficiency is due mainly to the failure of treatment to promote remyelination in the central nervous system (CNS). Here we show that ursolic acid (UA), a natural triterp...

Jasmonates (JAs) regulate growth, development, and secondary metabolism in many economically significant crops. The lateral organ boundaries domain (LBD) protein family is a class of plant-specific transcription factors involved in the regulation of lateral organ development and jasmonate signaling. However, the functions of LBD genes in Salvia mil...

Since extracellular vesicles (EVs) were discovered in 1983 in sheep reticulocytes samples, they have gradually attracted scientific attention and become a topic of great interest in the life sciences field. EVs are small membrane particles, released by virtually every cell that carries a variety of functional molecules. Their main function is to de...

Wine processing is a specialized technology which involves sautéing crude herbal medicine using Chinese rice wine. Herein, we identified the changes in chemical profiles and antidiabetic effects of Corni Fructus (CF) after wine processing in high-fat diet (HFD) streptozotocin- (STZ-) induced diabetic mice. A novel high-efficiency method for simulta...

Scopoletin, a phenolic coumarin derived from many medical or edible plants, is involved in various pharmacological functions. In the present study, we showed that Scopoletin effectively ameliorated experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS), through novel regulatory mechanisms involving inhibition of...

Scope: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating autoimmune disorder, with increasing incidence worldwide but unknown etiology. 6-gingerol (6-GIN), a major dietary compound found in ginger rhizome, has immunomodulatory activity. However, its role in autoimmune diseases, as well as the underlying mechanisms, are unclear. In this stud...

Oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) are a subtype of glial cells responsible for myelin regeneration. Oligodendrocytes (OLGs) originate from OPCs and are the myelinating cells in the central nervous system (CNS). OLGs play an important role in the context of lesions in which myelin loss occurs. Even though many protocols for isolating OPCs have...

Diminished seizure frequency and improved ambulation of shiverer mice treated with FTY720 in combination with transplanted NSCs.

Seizure frequency of PBS-treated shiverer mice.

Phenolic acids from Salvia miltiorrhiza have drawn considerable attention in recent years because of their remarkable pharmacological activities. We previously reported that Arabidopsis thaliana transcription factor production of anthocyanin pigment 1 (AtPAP1) has strong capability to promote the production of phenolic acids in S. miltiorrhiza. How...

Iridoid glycosides (CIG) are the major component of Corni fructus. In this work, we researched the antioxidative, hypoglycemic and lowering blood lipids effects of CIG on diabetic mice induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) and streptozotocin (STZ). Furthermore, to investigate the molecular mechanism of action, the phosphorylation and protein expression...

Medicinal plants as a rich pool for developing novel small molecule therapeutic medicine have been used for thousands of years. Carnosol as a bioactive diterpene compound originated from Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary) and Salvia officinalis, herbs extensively applied in traditional medicine for the treatment of multiple autoimmune diseases (1)....

Transcription factors that include myeloblastosis (MYB), basic helix–loop–helix (bHLH), and WD-repeat protein, which often forms a ternary complex to regulate the phenylpropanoid pathway. However only a few MYB and bHLH members involved in the biosynthesis of salvianolic acid B (Sal B) have been reported, and little is known about Sal B pathway reg...

Nutshell of Xanthoceras sorbifolia, a waste product in the production of edible oil, is rich in health-promoting phenolic acids. However, the individual constituents, bioactivities, and mechanism of action are largely unknown. In this study, 20 phenolic compounds were characterized in nutshell extracts (NE) of X. sorbifolia by GC-MS. Four establish...

Bone marrow-derived neural stem cells (BM-NSCs) have therapeutic effect on EAE, an animal model of multiple sclerosis. However, the beneficial effect is suboptimal due to the limited immunomodulatory capacity of these cells. In this study, we engineered BM-NSCs with inducible TGFβ1, a potent immunosuppressive cytokine, to enhance their anti-inflamm...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs involved in immune response regulation. Specific miRNAs have been linked to the development of various autoimmune diseases; however, their contribution to the modulation of CNS-directed cellular infiltration remains unclear. In this study, we found that miR-23b, in addition to its reported functions in...

Nuclear receptor4 group A1 (Nr4a1), an orphan nuclear receptor, is down-regulated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (MNCs) of individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), and Nr4a1 deficiency results in severe experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS, caused by increased macrophage infiltration into the central nervou...

The chronic stage multiple sclerosis (MS), an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS), remains refractory to current treatments. This refractory nature may be due to the fact that current treatments are primarily immunomodulatory, which prevent further demyelination but lack the capacity to promote remyelination. Seve...

Drynariae Rhizoma is a kidney-tonifying herb that has a long history in clinical practice for the treatment of bone fractures and joint diseases in China. Flavonoids are considered to be its major active ingredients and are reported to ease bone loss in ovariectomized rats. However, the beneficial effects of the total flavonoids of Drynariae Rhizom...

FSD-C10, a Fasudil derivative, was shown to reduce severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS), through the modulation of the immune response and induction of neuroprotective molecules in the central nervous system (CNS). However, whether FSD-C10 can promote neuroregeneration remains unkno...

Estrogen deficiency is one of the major causes of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Drynariae Rhizoma is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of bone diseases. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic effects of the total Drynariae Rhizoma flavonoids (DRTF) on estrogen deficiency-induced bone loss using an ovariect...

Tanshinones are a group of active diterpenes with pharmacological properties, are widely used in treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Jasmonate (JA) acts as an elicitor to enhance tanshinone biosynthesis in Salvia miltiorrhiza. However, due to high labor costs and undesirable chemical characteristics, the use of JA elicitation is still in the expe...

Natural compounds derived from medicinal plants have long been considered a rich source of novel therapeutic agents. Baicalin (Ba) is a bioactive flavonoid compound derived from the root of Scutellaria baicalensis, an herb widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various inflammatory diseases. In this study, we investigate the effec...

Jasmonates (JAs) are plant-specific key signaling molecules that respond to various stimuli and are involved in the synthesis of secondary metabolites. However, little is known about the JA signal pathway, especially in economically significant medicinal plants. To determine the functions of novel genes that participate in the JA-mediated accumulat...

IFN-γ, the hallmark cytokine of Th1 cells, plays an important role in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of multiple sclerosis. Thus far, the role of IFN-γ in EAE has been largely studied through its effects on immune cells, whereas much less is known about its effects on CNS cells, especially in vivo. In this study, w...

Baicalin (Ba) is a bioactive flavonoid compound derived from the root of Scutellaria baicalensis. It is widely used for the treatment of various inflammatory diseases in traditional Chinese medicine. In this study, we demonstrated that Ba was efficacious in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model for multiple sclerosis. Tre...

Ursolic acid (UA) is a plant-derived triterpene with potent anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. In this study we investigated the potential therapeutic effect of UA on the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an accepted experimental model of multiple sclerosis. Treatment with UA at initiation or after the disease onset r...

Salinity and drought are important abiotic stresses limiting plant growth and development. Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are a group of proteins associated with tolerance to water-related stress. We previously cloned an LEA gene, SmLEA, from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that SmLEA belongs to Group LEA14, w...

Salvia miltiorrhiza is a well-known medicinal plant and functional food in Asia. The range of quality among its germplasms is irregular, which inevitably affects its health and economic benefits. We established a system comprising phenotypic characteristics, ISSR markers, and active constituents to facilitate the comprehensive evaluation of this sp...

To produce beneficial phenolic acids for medical and commercial purposes, researchers are interested in improving the normally low levels of salvianolic acid B (Sal B) produced by Salvia miltiorrhiza. Here, we present a strategy of combinational genetic manipulation to enrich the precursors available for Sal B biosynthesis. This approach, involving...

Hypericum perforatum L. (St. John's wort) is a medicinal plant with pharmacological properties that are antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anti-cancer, and antibacterial. Its major active metabolites are hypericins, hyperforins, and melatonin. However, little genetic information is available for this species, especially that concerning t...

Putative Type III PKSs in Hypericum perforatum . (XLS)

Gene-specific primers used for gene expression analysis by quantitative real-time PCR. (DOC)

Medicinal Salvia miltiorrhiza is a Chinese herb commonly used for treating cardiovascular diseases and neuroasthenic insomnia. However, little is known at the genetics level about how its compounds are synthesized in that plant. Here, we obtained 56,774 unigenes (average length = 467 bases) in its transcriptome by performing Solexa deep sequencing...

Phenolic acids are health-promoting but low content secondary metabolites in Salvia miltiorrhiza. Here, the Arabidopsis transcription factor Production of Anthocyanin Pigment 1 (AtPAP1) was expressed in S. miltiorrhiza and improved the antioxidant capacity in transgenic plants up to 3-fold. Salvianolic acid B (Sal B) biosynthesis was strongly induc...

Leaf of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, the waste part during the root harvest, is rich in health-promoting phenolics and is a novel resource of natural antioxidants. The acetone and methanol extracts of leaves (AL and ML, respectively) of S. miltiorrhiza were evaluated by various in vitro antioxidant assays. The total phenolic contents of AL and ML wer...

Gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were used to compare between the essential oil components from needles of Pinus armandii Franch versus P. tabulaeformis Carr., growing on the same site at Taibai Mountain, China. Under optimum extraction and analysis conditions, 65 and 66 constituents each were identified in P...

Two traditional Chinese medicines (Phlomis umbrosa Turcz. and Phlomis megalantha Diels), as well as five pure phenolic compounds (protocatechic, chlorogenic, benzoic, rosmarinic acid, and rutin) have been studied for antioxidant activities in acetone and methanol extracts from leaves. An HPLC method was developed to quantify the amounts of 14 pheno...

The essential oils of three wild-growing Phlomis species (Phlomis umbrosa Turcz., Phlomis megalantha Diels and Phlomis szechuanensis C.Y. Wu), collected from Qinling Mountains of China during the bloom stage, were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Under the optimu...

compositions of the essential oils are listed in Table 1 along with the retention indices of the identified compounds. As sho wn, all the essential oils were complex mixtures. A comparison of the compositions of the essential oils during the mentioned dryin g methods revealed both quantitative and qualitative differences. In total, 92, 46, 77, 63,...