In silico approach to explore the mechanism of bioactive ingredients from Belamcandae rhizoma against COVID-19

Background:To date,the epidemic of COVID-19,which result from newly discovered virus named SARS-CoV-2,has spawned a heavy economic loss and continued to claim tens of thousands of lives.It’s urgent now that develop an ideal agent for suppressing the lifecycle of coronavirus while alleviate collateral severe inflammatory response.Belamcandae rhizoma,an herb which documented in various Chinese traditional medicine prescription,was reported to have effects of antiviral,anti-inflammatory and antipyretic.However,the relationship and related molecular mechanism between Belamcandae rhizoma and coronavirus are still unknown.Methods:Here,we achieved 14 kernel compounds from Belamcandae rhizoma and 261 validated“novel coronavirus pneumonia”correlative gene targets using a series of databases.Results:Subsequently,the pharmacology network and protein-protein interaction cluster,which constructed by the 20 overlapped genes targets between Belamcandae rhizoma and COVID-19,demonstrated that IL10,PTGS2,IL6,MAPK1,MAPK14 and CASP3 were as key targets in the treatment.The potential molecular mechanism involved IL-17,JAK-STAT and MAPK signaling pathways gained from gene enrichment analysis attract our attention.Molecular docking with 3CLpro of SARS-CoV-2 further suggested that luteolin and dinatin were the most bioactive compounds of Belamcandae rhizoma,among which luteolin connected with the maximum number of gene targets in above pharmacology network.Conclusion:Taken together,these findings provide deep insight into the putative therapeutic targets and underlying mechanism for COVID-19 treatment.

Differentiation of Belamcandae Rhizoma and Iridis Tectori Rhizoma by Thin-Layer Chromatography and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Objective:Belamcandae Rhizoma and Iridis Tectori Rhizoma are easily confused with each other.The main objective of this study is to distinguish them using chemical analysis.Materials and Methods:Thin-layer chromatography(TLC)and high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)fingerprint methods were established to compare the chemical profile,while HPLC quantitation was used to determine the contents of three isoflavones in thirty batches of Belamcandae Rhizoma and Iridis Tectori Rhizoma samples.Results:The two herbs could be distinguished by TLC using acetic acid-n hexane-ethyl acetate(1:90:80 v/v/v)as the mobile phase,according to the fluorescent band under 366 nm at R_(f) 0.2.In total,12 compounds were identified in the 24-min HPLC fingerprint.The similarity coefficient between the two herbs was 0.54±0.01.Mangiferin(1),tectoridin(2),iridin(3),irigenin(5),irisflorentin(6),and iristectorin A(9)were the main peaks in Belamcandae Rhizoma,while tectoridin(2)and tectorigenin(4)were the major peaks in Iridis Tectori Rhizoma.The contents of 2 in Iridis Tectori Rhizoma(2.50±0.20%)were 8.93 times higher than that of Belamcandae Rhizoma(0.28±0.08%),while the ones of 5 and 6 were slightly lower in Iridis Tectori Rhizoma.Conclusions:The study established fast and effective methods to distinguish Belamcandae Rhizoma from Iridis Tectori Rhizoma.