Design of Traditional Chinese Medicine Extraction Workshop Process and Automation System

Objective: This paper takes the example of a Panax notoginseng extraction workshop and designs an automated production workshop with advanced domestic capabilities. Methods: 1) Based on the small-scale Panax notoginseng extraction process, the feasibility of the workshop production process is demonstrated. 2) The workshop process design for Panax Notoginseng saponin extraction is completed, including production organization plans and the selection of key equipment. 3) For the Panax notoginseng extraction workshop process, an automated production control system is designed. Conclusion: Through optimized design of the production process and automation system, continuous and automated production of traditional Chinese medicine extraction is achieved, leading to improvements in drug quality and production efficiency.

Investigation of Heavy Metal Contents in Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine Peristrophe roxburghiana Collected from Northwest of Guangxi

Objective] This study was conducted to evaluate the product quality and safety of Peristrophe roxburghiana_ col ected from different places in Hechi City, northwest of Gunagxi, so as to provide basic data for further development and uti-lization of the characteristic plant resource P. roxburghiana. [Method] Contents of 9 kinds of heavy metals including Cd, Mn, Pb, Zn and Cu in the herb were deter-mined by the method of wet digestion-flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry and atomic fluorescence spectrometry, respectively. [Results] Heavy metal contents of Cd, Mn, Pb, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Hg and Se were 1.62-17.25, 8.93-142.53, 4.37-18.43, 103.7-242.81, 2.55-5.35, 85.40-146.30, 0.07-0.54, 0.00-0.08 and 0.00-0.47 mg/kg, respectively. According to the national food safety standards and Green Trade Standards of lmporting ＆amp; Exporting Medicinal plants ＆amp; Preparations, the heavy metal contents of the P. roxburghiana_samples col ected from different coun-ties in Hechi City exceeded standards or at the critical values. Among which, Cd, Pb and Zn contents of the samples are seriously higher than the standards. [Con-clusion] Therefore, the impact of soil heavy metal pol ution on the safety of edible plants in the northwest of Guangxi should be highly concerned.

The Globalization of Traditional Medicines: Perspectives Related to the European Union Regulatory Environment

In the Member States of the European Union (EU), a harmonized legislation on medicinal products has been enforced, which specifically defines herbal medicinal products and traditional herbal medicinal products. The scope was to create a regulatory environment that takes into account the particular characteristics of herbal medicinal products. The harmonization of standards is intended to harmonize assessment and facilitate access to the market in different Member States. The standards defined by the EU herbal monographs of the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC) and the quality requirements laid down in the European Pharmacopoeia represent an excellent model of multinational harmonization of the regulatory environment for herbal and traditional medicines. It has also been demonstrated that this framework is at least partially applicable for herbal and traditional medicines from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to gain access to the EU market. Moreover, the HMPC provides specific guidance documents and pilot projects on monographs on the safety and efficacy of Chinese herbal drugs. In the European Pharmacopoeia, the number of quality monographs of herbal drugs with an origin in TCM is continuously growing. These developments indicate that globalization of traditional medicines is an ongoing process. Communication and cooperation between regulators, the scientific community, and interested stakeholders will set the stage for the convergence of diverse regulatory environments. This will contribute to worldwide availability of traditional medicines based on appropriate standards.

Potential prospects of Chinese medicine application in diabetic retinopathy

Current treatment strategies for diabetic retinopathy(DR),an eye condition that can lead to blindness,have mainly focused on proliferative DR,including vitreous injection,retinal photocoagulation,and vitrectomy.Vitreous injections mainly depend on anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy.In this editorial,we comment on the article by Sun et al.We focus specifically on the mechanisms of the protective effect of genipin on the retina.Genipin is a gardenia extract used in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM).In their study,the authors suggest that controlling advanced glycosylation by the intraocular injection of genipin may be a strategy for preventing retinopathy.The innovative use of a Chinese medicine extract injected into the eye to achieve a curative effect has attracted our attention.Although TCM is effective in treating DR,the topical application of DR,especially intraocular injections,is not yet feasible.Herein,we present a brief analysis of effective Chinese medicines for the treatment of DR.The effectiveness of local injections of TCM applied directly into the eyes holds promise as an effective treatment approach for DR.

Integrating traditional Chinese (herbal) medicines into risk based regulation-With focus on non-clinical requirements to demonstrate safety

Within the public health sector of Hong Kong(China),there is a consensus around the important role of traditional Chinese medicines.For Hong Kong(China)to play a bridging role to bring Chinese medicines to the global market requires a concerted effort from the government,academic institutes and industries.The release of the final version of the European Medicines Agencies guidance document,which details the acceptance of minimum requirements to nonclinical package in bibliographical applications,grants the opportunity for well-established and traditional herbal medicines to demonstrate an‘acceptable safe’status for registration in the European Union.It is anticipated that this minimum nonclinical package can be applied to demonstrate the safe use of many traditional Chinese medicines regardless of their eligibility to be registered under the simplified procedure within the European Union.This paper conceptualizes an integration of a simplified evaluation route for eligible proprietary Chinese medicines(pCm)with long history of use into the existing drug regulatory framework in Hong Kong(China).Such integration utilizing the minimum nonclinical package,based on bibliographical data or expert report,as proof of evidence to demonstrate safety for pCm with long history of use requires less demand in scientific resources.With Hong Kong(China)conducting‘first hand’review for eligible pCm,it provides an option for overseas and local pharmaceutical companies to register their products in Hong Kong(China)without the need to rely on issuance of Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product from other countries.This could bring eligible pCm with long history of use to reach international risk-based standard and to be marketed globally as‘medicines’to reach their full therapeutic potential.An important process to positioning Hong Kong(China)to compete with other countries in promoting importation and exportation of pCm to better serve the global health.

Annual advances of traditional Chinese medicine on tumor immunity regulation in 2021

Traditional Chinese medicine has been used to treat more than 70%of cancer patients in China.Traditional Chinese medicine treatment includes the application of traditional Chinese medicine monomers,extracts,classical Chinese medicine compounds,self-made compounds,acupuncture,etc.Mechanisms of the anti-tumor effects of traditional Chinese medicine are related to their immune-regulatory roles.Some traditional Chinese medicines improve the sensitivity of chemotherapeutic drugs,enhance tumor-suppressive effects,and decrease adverse reactions.In 2021,research papers from China accounted for about two-thirds of all the papers on traditional Chinese medicine and anti-tumor immunity.China continues to lead the world in the field of anti-tumor immunity of traditional Chinese medicine,and the efficient and productive academic cooperation between China and other countries has promoted the rapid development of this field.In this review,we summarize the research progress of traditional Chinese medicine in the field of tumor immunity in 2021 to provide new insights into mechanisms underlying the anti-tumor effects of traditional Chinese medicine.

A review on cocrystal of active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine

In the development of new drugs products,especially the development of traditional Chinese medicine active ingredients,solubility and oral bioavailability are the main factors which are restricting the development of new drugs,whereas the physicochemical properties of active ingredients are the key element to affecting these factors.Pharmaceutical cocrystal provides an excellent opportunity to develop new drugs with excellent physical and chemical properties such as melting point,solubility,stability and bioavailability while retaining the pharmacological properties of individuals active pharmaceutical ingredients among pharmaceutical cocrystal compounds.Traditional Chinese herbal medicine has the characteristics of multiple pathways and multiple targets,mainly because it contains many active ingredients,like cocrystals thereof with many components.The active ingredients extracted from traditional Chinese herbal medicine have a wide range of pharmacological activities,but most of the active ingredients affect the development of traditional Chinese medicine active ingredients due to their physical and chemical properties such as solubility.Traditional Chinese medicine pharmaceutical cocrystals can not only improve the physical and chemical properties of drugs without changing the internal structure of drugs,so as to provide a new scheme for the development of traditional Chinese medicine active ingredients.This paper reviews the research progress of active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine pharmaceutical cocrystal.The preparation methods of cocrystals are summarized and the advantages of cocrystals are illustrated with examples.

Key Technologies of Traditional Chinese Medicine Traceability Based on Internet of Things

Compared with western medicine, there are many complicated factors affecting the intrinsic quality of traditional Chinese medicine, because its production needs to be planted, harvested, processed, transported, stored, and sold, etc. Therefore, the internet of things is integrated into the traceability of traditional Chinese medicine, and its key technologies are studied. An XMLbased traceability information exchange model was constructed for traditional Chinese medicine and modeled the traceability process by the finite state machine (FSM). Furthermore, the specific electronic product code (EPC) coding scheme of traditional Chinese medicine was proposed based on the EPC coding structure model. Finally, the effectiveness of the above models and schemes is verified by an example of a traditional Chinese medicine traceability prototype system.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Automated Diagnosis Based on Knowledge Graph Reasoning

Syndrome differentiation is the core diagnosis method of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM).We propose a method that simulates syndrome differentiation through deductive reasoning on a knowledge graph to achieve automated diagnosis in TCM.We analyze the reasoning path patterns from symptom to syndromes on the knowledge graph.There are two kinds of path patterns in the knowledge graph:one-hop and two-hop.The one-hop path pattern maps the symptom to syndromes immediately.The two-hop path pattern maps the symptom to syndromes through the nature of disease,etiology,and pathomechanism to support the diagnostic reasoning.Considering the different support strengths for the knowledge paths in reasoning,we design a dynamic weight mechanism.We utilize Naïve Bayes and TF-IDF to implement the reasoning method and the weighted score calculation.The proposed method reasons the syndrome results by calculating the possibility according to the weighted score of the path in the knowledge graph based on the reasoning path patterns.We evaluate the method with clinical records and clinical practice in hospitals.The preliminary results suggest that the method achieves high performance and can help TCM doctors make better diagnosis decisions in practice.Meanwhile,the method is robust and explainable under the guide of the knowledge graph.It could help TCM physicians,especially primary physicians in rural areas,and provide clinical decision support in clinical practice.

Annual advances of traditional medicine on tumor immunity regulation in 2020

Tumor burden remains a global health problem that threatens human life worldwide.Over the past few years,the evolution of immune checkpoint inhibitors has represented one of the most successful approaches in the field of tumor therapy.Drugs regulating tumor immune microenvironment or enhancing body immunity have indicated a novel perspective to treat tumors.Therefore,an increased number of scientists have been shifting their research focus to explore the immunity regulation effects of anti-tumor traditional medicine or natural products.In this review,we summarize the research progress of traditional medicines on tumor immunity regulation in 2020.Our findings suggest that more herbal medicine-derived phytochemicals and formulas were derived from traditional Chinese medicine,and more papers were published in comprehensive journals.Traditional medicine can comprehensively regulate the tumor immune microenvironment,including natural killer cells,dendritic cells,CD4+/CD8+T lymphocytes,regulatory T cells,myeloid-derived suppressor cells,tumor-associated macrophages,immunosuppressive factors,and immune checkpoints.In 2020,a greater number of research papers focused on active ingredients and formulas that regulate tumor-associated macrophages and immune checkpoints.Active ingredients such as flavonoids became a global hotspot in 2020.Certain natural products were also found to exert synergistic anti-tumor activity with immune checkpoint inhibitors,such as curcumin.However,a distinct lack of high-quality experimental and clinical studies remains a prevalent and challenging issue that hinders the further development of traditional medicine.

HPLC-Q-TOF法测定降糖类中成药及保健食品中14种非法添加药物

目的建立快速、准确的HPLC-Q-TOF法测定降糖类中成药及保健食品中14种非法添加药物。方法样品采用50%乙腈提取,色谱柱为Thermo syncronis C18(150mm×4.6mm,5μm),流动相:0.1%甲酸-乙腈梯度洗脱,流速:0.3ml·min^(-1),柱温:30℃。采用ESI源,正离子扫描模式。结果 14种非法添加化合物在0.01~1μg·ml^(-1)范围内峰面积与浓度均呈良好的线性关系,r>0.998,回收率在78.0%~98.6%,RSD在2.3%~8.3%,检出限均在0.03~0.10μg·g^(-1)范围内。结论本方法快速准确,灵敏度高,能够同时满足对降糖类中成药及保健食品中14种非法添加药物的定性定量分析。

Herbal medicines and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD), which is characterized by excessive fat accumulation in the liver of patients who consume little or no alcohol, becomes increasingly common with rapid economic development. Long-term excess fat accumulation leads to NAFLD and represents a global health problem with no effective therapeutic approach. NAFLD is considered to be a series of complex, multifaceted pathological processes involving oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, and metabolism. Over the past decades, herbal medicines have garnered growing attention as potential therapeutic agents to prevent and treat NAFLD, due to their high efficacy and low risk of side effects. In this review, we evaluate the use of herbal medicines(including traditional Chinese herbal formulas, crude extracts from medicinal plants, and pure natural products) to treat NAFLD. These herbal medicines are natural resources that can inform innovative drug research and the development of treatments for NAFLD in the future.

Natural products as a crucial source of anti-inflammatory drugs: recent trends and advancements

Natural active molecules are key sources of modern innovative drugs. Particularly, a great amount of natural active molecules have been reported to possess promising therapeutic effects on inflammatory diseases, including asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, hepatitis, enteritis, metabolic disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. However, these natural active molecules with various molecular structures usually exert anti-inflammatory effects through diversiform pharmacological mechanisms, which is necessary to be summarized systematically. In this review, we introduced the current major anti-inflammatory natural active molecules based on their chemical structures, and discussed their pharmacological mechanisms including anti-inflammatory molecular signaling pathways and potential target proteins, which providing a referential significance on the development of novel anti-inflammatory drugs, and also revealing new therapeutic strategies for inflammatory diseases.

An approach to optimize the batch mixing process for improving the quality consistency of the products made from traditional Chinese medicines

The efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)is based on the combined effects of its constituents.Variation in chemical composition between batches of TCM has always been the deterring factor in achieving consistency in efficacy.The batch mixing process can significantly reduce the batch-to-batch quality variation in TCM extracts by mixing them in a well-designed proportion.However,reducing the quality variation without sacrificing too much of the production efficiency is one of the challenges.Accordingly,an innovative and practical batch mixing method aimed at providing acceptable efficiency for industrial production of TCM products is proposed in this work,which uses a minimum number of batches of extracts to meet the content limits.The important factors affecting the utilization ratio of the extracts(URE)were studied by simulations.The results have shown that URE was affected by the correlation between the contents of constituents,and URE decreased with the increase in the number of targets and the relative standard deviations of the contents.URE could be increased by increasing the number of storage tanks.The results have provided a reference for designing the batch mixing process.The proposed method has possible application value in reducing the quality variation in TCM and providing acceptable production efficiency simultaneously.

Control of autoimmune arthritis by herbal extracts and their bioactive components

Autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cause significant morbidity and loss of productivity. Many potent conventionally used drugs are available for these diseases, but their prolonged use is accompanied by severe adverse effects besides a high cost.Therefore, there is an unmet need for effective but less expensive medications for RA and other autoimmune diseases. Natural plant products belonging to the traditional systems of medicine, such as the traditional Chinese medicine and Indian Ayurvedic medicine, offer a vast and promising resource in this regard. However, herbal medicinal products are often poorly characterized for their composition as well as mechanisms of action. We review here the results of our systematically performed studies aimed at defining the anti-arthritic activity of three herbal extracts, namely, modified Huo-luo-xiao-ling dan (HLXL), Celastrus aculeatus Merr., and polyphenolic fraction of green tea (Camellia sinensis), as well as a purifiedcompound Celastrol, a bioactive component of Celastrus. Specifically, we examined the effects of these herbal products on the immunological, biochemical and molecular biological effector pathways in autoimmune arthritis. We have also reviewed here related studies on these herbal products by other investigators. Taken together, we suggest further testing of these herbal products in RA patients.

中成药和保健食品中18种非法添加降压药物的HPLC-QTOF/MS定性检测

目的:建立降压类中成药和保健食品中非法添加18种降压药物的液相色谱串联四级杆飞行时间质谱(HPLC-QTOF/MS)快速定性检测方法。方法:采用Agilent Eclipse plus C_(18)(50 mm×2.1 mm,1.8μm)色谱柱进行分离,以0.5%甲酸水-乙腈为流动相梯度洗脱,流速为0.2 ml·min^(-1),离子源为ESI源,正离子检测模式,对降压类中成药及保健品中非法添加的该18种化学药物进行定性检测。结果:18种化学药物的检出限分别为0.2~2.5 ng·ml^(-1),12批供试品中有1批检测到添加了利血平。结论:该方法专属性强、灵敏度高,适用于降压类中成药及保健品中非法添加该18种化学药物的定性分析。

Recent advances in research on natural product inhibitors of SREBPs

Sterol regulatory element-binding proteins(SREBPs)are a class of cholesterol-sensitive transcription factors that play important roles in lipid metabolism.Natural product inhibitors of SREBPs have been shown to inhibit the synthesis of free fatty acids and cholesterol,promote the burning of brown fat,and relieve insulin resistance by inhibiting different links during the synthesis,cleavage,and transport of SREBPs,thereby improving obesity,diabetes,atherosclerosis,and other metabolic diseases and disorders.There are numerous Chinese herbal medicines with verified efficacy in the treatment of metabolic diseases,including Coptis chinensis Franch.and Pueraria peduncularis Grah.for diabetes,Pueraria peduncularis Grah.,Epimedium brevicornum Maxim.,and Panax ginseng C.A.Meyer for osteoporosis,and Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.and Poria cocos(Schw.)Wolf.for obesity.Present-day research on the mechanisms underlying the activity of traditional Chinese medicine has indicated that certain chemical components of these traditional preparations can be used to treat metabolic diseases by inhibiting SREBPs.Progress in the research on natural product SREBP inhibitors is continuing apace,and the mechanisms of action of certain small molecules have become well established.In this study,we review recent progress in the research on natural small-molecule inhibitors of SREBPs,including flavonoids,saponins,triterpenoids,and alkaloids,which we hope will provide a useful reference for future research and development of drugs for the treatment of metabolic diseases.

Medicinal properties and anti-inflammatory components of Phytolacca(Shanglu)

Phytolacca(Shanglu)is a well-known traditional herbal medi-cine that has been used for thousands of years in China.Phytolacca is also used worldwide in different traditional phyto-medicines and homeopathic preparations.The present work re-viewed advances in the traditional uses,plant origin,chemical constituents,pharmacology,and medicinal properties of Phytolacca.Phytolacca is usually made from the roots of Phytolacca acinosa and P.esculenta,but the invasive plant P.americana(American pokeweed)is also widely used.Different types of medicinal products made with Phytolacca are available,as well as various types of Phytolacca extracts,showing a range of pharmacological activities including antioxidant,anti-inflammat-ory,anti-parasitic,antifungal,anticancer,and insecticidal effects.The marked anti-inflammatory activity of Phytolacca extracts supports its use in treating diseases such as arthritis,nephritis,and rheumatism,as well as in combatting cancer.Several bioact-ive natural products have been identified from Phytolacca,in-cluding glycosylated saponins such as esculentosides and phytolaccosides,as well as a few flavones(cochliophilin A)and phytosterols(α-spinasterol),which contribute to Phytolacca’s anti-inflammatory and/or anticancer effects.A quality evaluation of Phytolacca-based extracts and products is highly recommen-ded;nevertheless,the use of Phytolacca can be encouraged to help regulate cytokine production and combat inflammatory dis-eases.

新质生产力赋能中医药传承创新发展的策略与思考

文章探讨了新质生产力在推动中医药传承创新发展方面的策略与思考。科技创新交叉融合突破所产生的新质生产力,为中医药领域带来了前所未有的发展机遇。文章探讨了新质生产力在医药领域的潜力和发展方向,强调了其在推动中医药传承创新中的重要作用;分析了现代信息技术对中医药传承创新发展的影响,重点介绍了中药材大数据云服务平台、人工智能赋能、先进设备智能制造、大数据超算以及中医药循证研究证据库等方面的应用;展望了人工智能大模型在医药领域的发展方向,为未来中医药传承创新发展提供了新的视角和思路。