Recent advances in chemical analysis of licorice (Gan-Cao).

We, the Editors and Publishers of Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology have retracted the following article:Niyaz Ahmad, Abeer M. Al-Subaie, Rizwan Ahmad, Sonali Sharma, Md Aftab Alam,...

Brain-targeted glycyrrhizic-acid-loaded surface decorated nanoparticles for treatment of cerebral ischaemia and its toxicity assessment.

As the spectrum of diseases keeps changing and life pace keeps going faster, the probability and frequency of diseases caused by human inflammatory reactions also keep increasing. How to develop effective anti-inflammatory drugs has become the hotspot of researches. It has been found that alkaloids from Chinese medical herbs have anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antitumor, anticonvulsant, diuretic, and antiarrhythmic effects, among which the anti-inflammatory effect is very prominent and commonly used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and other rheumatic immune diseases, but its mechanism of action has not been well explained. Based on this, this paper will classify alkaloids according to structural types and review the plant sources, applicable diseases, and anti-inflammatory mechanisms of 16 kinds of alkaloids commonly used in clinical treatment, such as berberine, tetrandrine, and stephanine, with the aim of providing a reference for drug researches and clinical applications.

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Research Progress on Anti-Inflammatory Effects and Mechanisms of Alkaloids from Chinese Medical Herbs.

Infertility is defined as the failure to achieve a successful pregnancy after 12 months' sexual activity that affects 15%-17% of couples in the world and about 50% of them are related to female infertility factors. In this study, using the PRISMA checklist and MeSH keywords, 128 articles were extracted from various databases (PubMed, Cochrane library, WHO, Iranmedex, Science Direct, SID, and Google Scholar search engine) without language and time restrictions, and 128 articles were selected after eliminating duplicate studies. In this review, we present some solid evidence for role of herbal medicine in the treatment of female infertility. The results of this study showed that different parts of some plants are rich in polyphenolic compounds (isoflavones and flavonoids) and other compounds which are beneficial to in reproductive health in women. The compounds in these plants, along with regulating the female endocrine pathways, and improving symptoms of menopause, treat female reproductive disorders such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), premature ovarian failure (POF), endometriosis, hyperprolactinemia, and hypothalamic dysfunction; moreover, because of their anticancer, antioxidant, and antidepressant properties, they can be used in traditional medicine or in the pharmaceutical industry as safe compounds in women's health.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/fsn3.2523

Female infertility and herbal medicine: An overview of the new findings.

Ultra-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometric method for the determination of strychnine and brucine in mice plasma

Semen Strychni is known for its treatment of rheumatic arthritis with a low therapeutic index. Licorice contributes a lot in herb detoxification according to the traditional Chinese medicine theory. A simple, rapid and sensitive liquid chromatography–mass spectrometric method was developed and validated for simultaneous determination of main bioactive ingredients in licorice and Semen Strychni in rat plasma. Using moclobemide and cyproterone acetate as the internal standards, the analytes were pretreated via protein precipitation with methanol. An Ultimate AQ-C18 column (3.0 μm, 3.0×100 mm) was employed for chromatographic separation, combining with gradient elution. The mobile phase consisted of 0.07% formic acid and 0.12% ammonium acetate in aqueous phase (A) and acetonitrile in organic phase (B). The elution program was as follows: 0–0.5 min, 20% B; 0.5–1 min, 20–60% B; 1–7 min, 60–85% B; and 7–7.5 min, returned to 20% B, then continued to 12 min. Selected reaction monitoring was performed in both positive and negative ESI. Positive mode was adopted for detection of strychnine, brucine and moclobemide, while negative mode was used for glycyrrhizic acid, glycyrrhetinic acid, liquiritigenin, isoliquiritigenin, liquiritin and cyproterone acetate. The method was validated for specificity, linearity, matrix effect, recovery, precision, accuracy and stability. The results show that this method is sensitive, accurate and robust for biological matrix analysis. Moreover, the proposed method was applied to a pharmacokinetic study in Sprague-Dawley rats for investigating the mechanism of which liquorice detoxifies Semen Strychni.

An LC-MS/MS method for determination of bioactive components of liquorice and Semen Strychni in rat plasma: Application to a pharmacokinetics study.

Licorice, one of the most widely used medicinal herbs in East Asia, has effects such as anti-inflammation, antioxidant, and detoxifying. This study aimed to evaluate the protective effect of licorice on brucine-induced nephrotoxicity. Sprague Dawley rats were administered with brucine intraperitoneally for 7 consecutive days with or without treatment with licorice. The content of blood urea nitrogen and creatinine in serum, the activities of superoxide dismutase and content of glutathione, malonaldehyde in kidney tissue were detected. Hematoxylin-eosin staining was employed to observe the histopathological changes of kidney. The expression and phosphorylation levels of protein were evaluated by Western blotting and immunohistochemical analysis. The results illustrated that treatment with licorice extracts (LE) significantly protected against the brucine-induced nephrotoxicity by reducing the content of blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine, attenuating pathologic damage. The unbalance of oxidative stress was repaired by LE via increasing the level of glutathione, promoting the activities of superoxide dismutase and decreasing the content of malonaldehyde. In addition, LE overturned the influence of brucine on apoptosis-related protein and signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3) activation. Taken together, these data demonstrate that licorice may attenuate brucine-induced nephrotoxicity via inactivation of oxidative stress and mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis pathway. More importantly, the renoprotective effects may be mediated, at least partly, by preventing the activation of STAT3 protein.

Licorice Extracts Attenuate Nephrotoxicity Induced by Brucine Through Suppression of Mitochondria Apoptotic Pathway and STAT3 Activation.

Dexamethasone changes the pharmacokinetics of amitriptyline and reduces its accumulation in rat brain: The roles of P-gp and cyp3a2

Isoliquiritigenin Alleviates Semen Strychni-Induced Neurotoxicity by Restoring the Metabolic Pathway of Neurotransmitters in Rats

The detoxification effects of licorice are believed to be related to its pharmacokinetic (PK) interference. This paper aimed to evaluate the effects of licorice water extracts (LWE) on the pharmacokinetics of brucine. Rats were administered brucine and/or LWE. The pharmacokinetic behavior of brucine and bioactive components of licorice were quantified by HPLC-MS/MS. P-glycoprotein (P-gp) inhibitor verapamil, real time PCR, vesicular transport assay and everted gut sacs were employed to investigate its possible mechanism. We found LWE reduced the Cmax and AUC of oral brucine in a dose-dependent way. In contrast, the AUC values of intraperitoneal brucine showed no significant difference between LWE treated and untreated rats, which indicating the intestinal absorption of brucine was influenced by LWE. We found that high dose of LWE activated the transport activity of P-gp in vesicular transport assay, while the mRNA level of P-gp in the intestinal was not affected by licorice. Moreover, high dose of LWE decreased the intestinal absorption of brucine in the everted gut sacs model, which could over turned by verapamil. These results suggested that a single high dose of LWE could impair the intestine absorption of brucine, and its potential mechanism may be mediated by P-gp in intestine.

Jing Wen

Papers

An LC-MS/MS method for determination of bioactive components of liquorice and Semen Strychni in rat plasma: Application to a pharmacokinetics study.

Licorice Extracts Attenuate Nephrotoxicity Induced by Brucine Through Suppression of Mitochondria Apoptotic Pathway and STAT3 Activation.

Dexamethasone changes the pharmacokinetics of amitriptyline and reduces its accumulation in rat brain: The roles of P-gp and cyp3a2

Isoliquiritigenin Alleviates Semen Strychni-Induced Neurotoxicity by Restoring the Metabolic Pathway of Neurotransmitters in Rats

Effects of licorice extracts on the pharmacokinetics of brucine in rats and its possible mechanism