Shouhui Tongbian Capsule in treatment of constipation: Treatment and mechanism development

Constipation is common in the diseases of the digestive system in clinics.With the change in diet structure and the increase in life pressure,the prevalence rate increases year by year.In traditional Chinese medicine(TCM),the location of the disease of constipation is in the large intestine,which is related to the dysfunction of lung,spleen,liver,kidney and other viscera.Its pathogenesis is conductive dysfunction of large intestine.Based on the theory,Shouhui Tongbian Capsule(SHTB)is composed of eight traditional Chinese medicines,including Polygoni multiflori Radix(Heshouwu in Chinese),Aloe(Luhui in Chinese),Cassiae Semen(Juemingzi in Chinese),Ginseng Radix et Rhizoma(Renshen in Chinese),Lycii Fructus(Gouqizi in Chinese),Asini Corii Colla(Ejiao in Chinese),Aurantii Fructus Immaturus(Zhishi in Chinese),and Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma(Baizhu in Chinese),which could help to release excessive turbid,and nourishing yin and supplementing qi in the treatment.This study has been carried out to review the latest advances of SHTB in the treatment of constipation.The results showed that significant effect of SHTB was found in the treatment of constipation,such as functional constipation,and constipation associated with tumor chemotherapy,colitis,type 2 diabetes and chronic cardiac failure.Besides,obvious adverse reactions were not observed.SHTB could effectively treat five types of constipation,provide direction for the future exploration of SHTB in the treatment of other types of constipation。

Lanthanum chloride or citrate is absorbed mainly via M cells in gastrointestinal tracts with lanthanum phosphates as the transformed species

In the present study, we investigated the transformed species and the absorptive mechanism of rare earth elements（REEs） in gastrointestinal（GI） tract, using La Cl3 and La Cit as representative compounds. Artificial gastric and intestinal fluids were used to simulate the environment of the digestive tract in vivo. The inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry（ICP-MS） result showed that more than 99.9% of La Cl3 and La Cit formed precipitation in artificial intestinal fluid, with the average size distribution of 200 nm（2-h incubation） increasing to 600 nm（24-h incubation） determined by dynamic light scattering（DLS）, indicating the aggregation of the particles. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FTIR） analysis demonstrated that the constituents of these particles were mainly in the form of lanthanum phosphates. To explore the transport mechanism of REEs in GI tract, the mice Peyer＇s patches（PPs） and intestinal epithelium were separated to evaluate the content of lanthanum by ICP-MS following oral administration with 2 or 100 mg/kg/day of La Cit for 7 d. The results showed that the amount of lanthanum phosphate particles absorbed by PPs was significantly greater than that of intestinal epithelium, indicating that lanthanum particles might be phagocytosed mainly by M cells located in the follicle-associated epithelium（FAE） overlying PPs. Furthermore, Caco-2 cell monoculture and Caco-2/Raji B cell coculture models were established to simulate intestinal epithelial cells and FAE, respectively. The result showed that the transport of lanthanum in Caco-2/Raji B coculture model was significantly higher than that in Caco-2 monoculture model（about 60 times higher）, and the level of lanthanum in the basal compartment of Caco-2 monoculture model was very low, supporting that M cells were the main route for lanthanum phosphate particles to be transported and absorbed. Taken together, these data suggested that La Cl3 and La Cit in GI tract were absorbed mainly via M cells with lanthanum phosphates as transformed species. The obtained results would provide the theoretical basis for the rational application of REEs in agriculture and medicine.