Current Traditional Medicine - Volume 1, Issue 3, 2015

Isoflavonoids were rich in natural source and gained great attention due to their diverse activities such as antioxidant, estrogenic, radical scavenging and prevention of cardiovascular and coronary heart diseases. Numerous isoflavonoids, usually present as isomers, were found in traditional medicines and dietary supplements. For better understanding of the unknown components, thorough investigation on the known analogue compounds was essential and helpful. In the present study, a new developed fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS), named Orbitrap, which applied as a hybrid instrument with one type of linear ion trap (LTQ), was used. Collision induced dissociation (CID) and higher collision energy dissociation (HCD) were applied in both negative and positive ion modes. Association between fragmentation patterns and different substitution modes were clarified. In most cases, the key differences just lie in distinct abundance of the fragment ions. Therefore, comparative studies on series of spectra profiles were more useful than simple consideration of the fragmentation pathways sometimes. General fragmentation rules of isoflavonoinds and distinctive characteristic of some isomers were summarized by combined use of CID and HCD methods. The obtained results would be valuable for structural characterization of analogues in isoflavone rich traditional medicines and dietary supplements.

Objective: The case aims to show anti-proteinuric effect of Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) in a patient with heavy proteinuric non-IgA mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis (MsPGN). Subject: A 16-year-old boy was found edema in the lower limbs and a great quantity of urine protein for 4-months and diagnosed as non-IgA MsPGN via renal biopsy later, but there was no amelioration after receiving a shortdated comprehensive treatment including full amount of prednisone. Then he visited Prof. Ming Wan for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) therapy. Interventions and outcome: This patient was treated with the integrated treatment, mainly including empirical Chinese herbal formulas (500 mL/day for 3-months), multi-glycoside of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook.f. (GTW) (90 mg/day for 3-months) and Losartan (50 mg/day for 3-months). His heavy proteinuria and clinical conditions were significantly improved after continuous treatment for 3-months and basically stable for nearly 3-years during the follow-up. Conclusions: Based on a variety of conventional drugs in clinic, the combined treatment of empirical Chinese herbal formulas and GTW was significantly effective in reducing massive proteinuria in non-IgA MsPGN patients, which is different from hormonotherapy.

Medicinal combinations of Isaria japonica (Paecilomyces tenuipes, Paecilomyces japonica, and Isaria tenuipes) and the silkworm Bombyx mori are commercially available in Japan, China, and Korea. Isaria japonica exhibits host specificity for lepidopteran insects and can be cultured in the insect’s body. Recently, a hot-water extract of an I. japonica product (“IJE”) was shown to prevent brain function decline in aging mice. Therefore, evaluating the safety profile of IJE is worthwhile. Acute toxicity experiments were performed on adult female ICR mice (8-10 weeks old; 25-35 g). Sub-chronic toxicity experiments on adult female Wistar rats (8-10 weeks old; 130-150 g) assessed general behavior, mortality, body weight, food + water consumption, hematology, blood chemistry, relative organ weights and histopathology. IJE caused neither significant visible signs of toxicity nor mortality in ICR mice. In the sub-chronic toxicity analysis, administration of IJE to Wistar rats at doses of 25 and 500 mg/kg for 28 consecutive days did not cause mortality. No significant differences were found in food or water consumption, hematological parameters, or relative organ weights between the treated and control groups. IJE appears to be safe when administered orally.

Urolithiasis is the most painful disorder associated with formation of stone in the urinary system. In Indian Ayurvedic system, medicinal plants are preferred as natural drug resources. In the present study, aqueous extracts of Bryophyllum pinnatum (Lam.), Tribulus terrestris (L.), Phyllanthus niruri (L.), Abutilon indicum (L.) and tri-sodium citrates were used to investigate their antilithiatic potential for in vitro crystallization of calcium oxalate crystals (CaOx) in the urine assay. With this, we conclude that presence of T. terrestris extract showed the highest reduction in CaOx crystal size (2.70±0.41 μm2) and number (4.33±0.33) with the lowest IC50 (0.264 mg/ml) as compared to other plants in human urine (pH 6.0) with the minimum number of Calcium oxalate dihydrate (COD) 5.66±0.66. The experiment confirms the potential of therapeutic plant extracts in dissolving the sharp ends of Calcium oxalate monohydrate crystals (COM) making them oval to circular and facilitating their easy exit through urinary tract.

Kalanchoe thyrsiflora Harv. (Crassulaceae) is a medicinal plant traditionally used in South Africa. As previously shown, the methanolic extracts from leaves and roots of K. thyrsiflora have antitumor activity against some cell lines. This study aimed to investigate the phenolic constituents of K. thyrsiflora leaves with the goal of detecting potential new treatments for acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), the most frequent type of cancer in children. The phenolic compounds isorhamnetin 3-O-β- glucopyranoside (1), astragalin (2), isoquercitrin (3), gallic acid (4), isorhamnetin (5) and kaempferol (6) were identified in the ethyl acetate fraction, based on 1H and 13C NMR data. The phenolic profile of the leaf extract was analyzed by HPLC-DAD. Our findings indicated that the enriched polyphenolic fraction has important cytotoxicity against lymphocytic leukemia cells, with gallic acid mainly contributing to this effect. The ethyl acetate fraction also inhibited leukemia cell proliferation and induced them into apoptosis, but without toxicity to mononuclear cells of healthy humans. This is the first report on the phenolic profile of K. thyrsiflora species and its antileukemia potential.

Object: Curcuma amada Roxb, also known as Mango ginger (Zingiberaceae), is a rhizomatous aromatic herb, used for the healing of wounds in Indian folk medicine. The present study provides a scientific evaluation for the wound healing potential of various extract of Curcuma amada Rhizome. Materials and methods: Excision wounds were inflicted upon ten groups containing six rats each. Group-1 was assigned as control (white soft paraffin), Group-2 was treated with standard silver sulphadiazine (0.1%) ointment. Group-3 and Group-4 was treated with 5 and 10% petroleum ether extract ointment. Group-5 and Group-6 were treated with 5 and 10% ethyl acetate extract ointment. Group-7 and Group-8 were treated with 5 and 10% ethanol extract ointment. Group-9 and Group-10 were treated with 5 and 10% aqueous extract ointment. The parameters observed were percentage wound contraction, epithelization period and histopathological studies. Results: Topical application of ethanolic extract ointment of Curcuma amada rhizomes (10%) in excision wound model significantly (P < 0.001) increased the percentage of wound contraction (99%) compared with control (90.%), decreased the epithelialization time and histopathological changes. Conclusion: The 10% ethanolic extract of Curcuma amada rhizomes facilitated wound healing significantly, corroborating the folk medicinal use of this plant.