Advances in Research of Toxic Traditional Chinese Medicines in the Treatment of Malignant Tumors

Combating poison with poison is an important method of traditional Chinese medicine to treat malignant tumors.This study reviews the experimental research on anti-tumor effects of toxic traditional Chinese medicines in recent years.It summarizes the action mechanism of toxic traditional Chinese medicines for the treatment of malignant tumors,including:inhibiting tumor cell proliferation and angiogenesis,inducing tumor cell apoptosis and differentiation,reversing tumor cell multidrug resistance(MDR),inhibiting tumor cell invasion and metastasis,and enhancing the body's immune functions.Finally,it discusses the research and development prospects of toxic traditional Chinese medicines as new anti-tumor drugs.

Tridepsides from the endophytic fungus colletotrichum gloeosporioides associated with a toxic medicinal plant tylophora ovata

Introduction:Bioactive secondary metabolites from the microbes living in frigid,toxic or other extreme environments are emerging as a new medicinal resource.Here,we report the discovery of new antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory compounds with novel structures from endophytic fungi hosted toxic medicinal plant.Methods:The endophytic fungus isolated from toxic plants was fermented and extracted.The obtained extracts were purified with preparative HPLC to yield pure compounds.The purified compounds were examined by PTP1b inhibition and NO inhibition assays to evaluate their bioactivities.Results:One new tridepsides(Compound 1),one new benzeneacetic acid derivative(Compound 3)and five known compounds(Compounds 2 and 4-7)were isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides,an endophytic fungus obtained from a toxic medicinal plant Tylophora ovata.Their structures were determined by spectroscopic data(1D and 2D NMR,HRESIMS)analyses.Compound 2 showed significant inhibitory activity against PTP1b with an IC50 value of 0.84μM.Compounds 2 and 3 exhibited moderate inhibitory activities against the NO(nitric oxide)release in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells at 10μM with percent inhibition of 39%and 33%,respectively.Conclusion:The Compound 2 has potent PTP1b inhibitory effect indicating its antidiabetic potential and thus might be considered a lead compound for antidiabetic drug development.

Scientific understanding of toxicity and safety of Chinese medicines

Traditional Chinese medicine is a treasure of traditional culture and medicine which should be inherited and developed. How to cor- rectly understand the toxicity of Chinese materia medica （CMM） is an important guarantee for safe drug use. The history of the applica- tion and research of the toxicity of CMM has been long, and the Chi- nese medicine community ,has never stopped exploring the issues related to the safety of CMM.

Acute and Sub-chronic Toxicity of Tetrandrine in Intravenously Exposed Female BALB/c Mice

Objective： To evaluate the acute and sub-chronic toxicity of intravenously administered tetrandrine（TET） in female BALB/c mice. Methods： The median lethal dose（LD_（50）） of intravenously administered TET was calculated in mice using Dixon＇s up-and-down method. In the acute toxicity study, mice were intravenously administered with TET at a single dose of 20, 100, 180, 260 and 340 mg/kg, respectively and were evaluated at 14 days after administration. In the sub-acute toxicity study, mice were intravenously administered various doses of TET（30, 90 and 150 mg/kg） each day for 14 consecutive days. Clinical symptoms, mortality, body weight, serum biochemistry, organ weight and histopathology were examined at the end of the experiment, as well as after a 1-week recovery period. Result： LD_（50） was found to be 444.67±35.76 mg/kg. In the acute toxicity study, no statistically significant differences in body weight, blood biochemistry, or organ histology were observed between the administration and control groups when mice were intravenously administered with single dose at 20, 100, 180, 260 and 340 mg/kg of TET（P〉0.05）. In the sub-acute toxicity study, no significant changes in body weight, biochemistry and organ histology were observed with up to 90 mg/kg of TET compared with the control group（P〉0.05）, however, in the 150 mg/kg administered group, TET induced transient toxicity to liver, lungs and kidneys, but withdrawal of TET can lead to reversal of the pathological conditions. Conclusions： The overall findings of this study indicate that TET is relatively non-toxic from a single dose of 20, 100, 180, 260 or 340 mg/kg, and that up to 90 mg/kg daily for 14 consecutive days can be considered a safe application dose.

Evaluation of adverse events reported in Traditional Iranian Medicine following administration of aqueous extract of Herba Portulacae Oleraceae seed

OBJECTIVE: To find scientific reasons for adverse events reported in Traditional Iranian Medicine (TIM) following administration of aqueous extract of Herba Portulacae Oleraceae seed including itching and tingling of whole body, tachycardia, anxiety, dyspnea and severe nausea. METHODS: Electronic databases including PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched up to April 2013 to find papers focused on phytochemistry and biological activities of this plant. RESULTS: Among chemical constituents present in Herba Portulacae oleraceae, catecholamines, adenosine and niacin can cause adverse events similar to those reported inTIM. CONCLUSION: Because of the short duration of action of adenosine, catecholamines and niacin seems to be the major role in appearance of ad-verse events reported in TIM for Herba Portulacae Oleraceae seed. Mechanisms with consideration of receptor types and pharmacokinetics of catecholamine and niacin are warranted to confirm this hypothesis.