Herbal decoctosome is a novel form of medicine

Traditionally, herbal medicine is consumed by drinking decoctions produced by boiling herbs with water. The functional components of the decoction are heat stable. Small RNAs(sRNAs) were reported as a new class of functional components in decoctions. However, the mechanisms by which sRNAs survive heat treatment of the decoction and enter cells are unclear.Previous studies showed that plant-derived exosome-like nanoparticles(ELNs), which we call botanosomes, could deliver therapeutic reagents in vivo. Here, we report that heat-stable decoctosomes(ELNs) from decoctions have more therapeutic effects than the decoctions in vitro and demonstrate therapeutic efficacy in vivo. Furthermore, sRNAs, such as HJT-sRNA-m7 and PGY-sRNA-6, in the decoctosome exhibit potent anti-fibrosis and anti-inflammatory effects, respectively. Decoctosome is comprised of lipids, chemical compounds, proteins, and s RNAs. A medical decoctosome mimic is called bencaosome. A single lipid sphinganine(d22:0) identified in the decoctosome was mixed and heated with the synthesized sRNAs to form the simplest bencaosome. This simple bencaosome structure was identified by critical micelle concentration(cmc) assay that sRNAs coassembled with sphinganine(d22:0) to form the lipid layers of vesicles. The heating process facilitates co-assembly of sRNAs and sphinganine(d22:0) until a steady state is reached. The artificially produced sphinganine-HJT-sRNA-m7 and sphinganinePGY-sRNA-6 bencaosomes could ameliorate bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis and poly(I:C)-induced lung inflammation, respectively, following oral administration in mice. Our study not only demonstrates that the herbal decoctosome may represent a combinatory remedy in precision medicine but also provides an effective oral delivery route for nucleic acid therapy.

Dihydrosphingosine-lnduced Programmed Cell Death in Tobacco BY-2 Cells Is Independent of H2O2 Production

Sphinganine or dihydrosphingosine （d18：0, DHS）, one of the most abundant free sphingoid Long Chain Base （LCB） in plants, has been recently shown to induce both cytosolic and nuclear calcium transient increases and a correlated Programmed Cell Death （PCD） in tobacco BY-2 cells. In this study, in order to get deeper insight into the LCB signaling pathway leading to cell death, the putative role of Reactive Oxygen Species （ROS） has been investigated. We show that DHS triggers a rapid dose-dependent production of H2O2 that is blocked by diphenyleniodonium （DPI）, indicating the involvement of NADPH oxidase（s） in the process. In addition, while DPI does not block DHS-induced calcium increases, the ROS production is inhibited by the broad spectrum calcium channel blocker lanthanum （La^3＋）. Therefore, ROS production occurs downstream of DHS-induced Ca^2＋ transients. Interestingly, DHS activates expression of defense-related genes that is inhibited by both La^3＋ and DPI. Since DPI does not prevent DHS-induced cell death, these results strongly indicate that DHS-induced H2O2 production is not implicated in PCD mechanisms but rather would be associated to basal cell defense mechanisms.