3-4-dihydroxyphenyllactic-acid and ferulic-acid

Radix et Rhizoma Salviae Miltiorrhizae (Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge., Lamiaceae, Danshen in Chinese) and Chuanxiong Rhizoma (rhizomes of Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort., Apiaceae, Chuanxiong in Chinese) both are important traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for activating blood and eliminating stasis. Danshen-chuanxiong herb pair has been used for more than 600 years in China. Guanxinning injection (GXN) is a Chinese clinical prescription refined from aqueous extract of Danshen and Chuanxiong at the ratio of 1:1 (w/w). GXN has been mainly used in the clinical therapy of angina, heart failure (HF) and chronic kidney disease in China for almost twenty years.. This study aimed to explore the role of GXN on renal fibrosis in heart failure mice and the regulation of GXN on SLC7A11/GPX4 axis.. The transverse aortic constriction model was used to mimic HF accompanied by kidney fibrosis model. GXN was administrated by tail vein injection in dose of 12.0, 6.0, 3.0 mL/kg, respectively. Telmisartan (6.1 mg/kg, gavage) was used as a positive control drug. Cardiac ultrasound indexes of ejection fraction (EF), cardiac output (CO), left ventricle volume (LV Vol), HF biomarker of pro-B type natriuretic peptide (Pro-BNP), kidney function index of serum creatinine (Scr), kidney fibrosis index of collagen volume fraction (CVF) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) were evaluated and contrasted. Metabolomic method was employed to analyze the endogenous metabolites changes in kidneys. Besides, contents of catalase (CAT), xanthine oxidase (XOD), nitricoxidesynthase (NOS), glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), the x(c)(-) cysteine/glutamate antiporter (SLC7A11) and ferritin heavy chain (FTH1) in kidney were quantitatively analyzed. In addition, ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was used to analyze the chemical composition of GXN and network pharmacology was used to predict possible mechanisms and the active ingredients of GXN.. The cardiac function indexes of EF, CO and LV Vol, kidney functional indicators of Scr, the degree of kidney fibrosis indicators CVF and CTGF were all relieved to different extent for the model mice treated with GXN. 21 differential metabolites involved in redox regulation, energy metabolism, organic acid metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, etc were identified. Aspartic acid, homocysteine, glycine, and serine, methionine, purine, phenylalanine and tyrosine metabolism were found to be the core redox metabolic pathways regulated by GXN. Furthermore, GXN were found to increase CAT content, upregulate GPX4, SLC7A11 and FTH1 expression in kidney significantly. Not only that, GXN also showed good effect in down-regulating XOD and NOS contents in kidney. Besides, 35 chemical constituents were initially identified in GXN. Active ingredients of GXN-targets-related enzymes/transporters-metabolites network was established to find out that GPX4 was a core protein for GXN and the top 10 active ingredients with the most relevant to renal protective effects of GXN were rosmarinic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, senkyunolide E, protocatechualdehyde, protocatechuic acid, danshensu, L-Ile, vanillic acid, salvianolic acid A.. GXN could significantly maintain cardiac function and alleviate the progression of fibrosis in the kidney for HF mice, and the mechanisms of action were related to regulating redox metabolism of aspartate, glycine, serine, and cystine metabolism and SLC7A11/GPX4 axis in kidney. The cardio-renal protective effect of GXN may be attributed to multi-components like rosmarinic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, senkyunolide E, protocatechualdehyde, protocatechuic acid, danshensu, L-Ile, vanillic acid, salvianolic acid A et al.

Topics: Animals; Chromatography, Liquid; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Fibrosis; Glycine; Heart Failure; Mice; Rosmarinic Acid; Salvia miltiorrhiza; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Vanillic Acid

We have used microarray technology to detect the effect of Guanxin No.2 decoction on gene expression in different areas of the myocardial infarcted heart of rats.. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (180-200 g) were randomly divided into three groups: sham-operated; coronary artery ligation; and coronary artery ligation plus administration of Guanxin No.2 decoction (10.0 g raw materials/kg per day by gavage). The experiment was carried out on day seven after ligation.. We found that the gene expression using microarray technology showed many differences in the border infarcted left ventricular area compared with the remote noninfarcted left ventricular area after administration of Guanxin No.2 decoction.. Guanxin No.2 decoction has a long history in treating ischaemic cardiomyopathy in China, but the molecular mechanism has been unclear. In this study we found that some important genes may have contributed to the cardioprotective effect of Guanxin No.2 decoction.

Topics: Animals; Benzaldehydes; Benzoates; Benzofurans; Bridged-Ring Compounds; Cardiotonic Agents; Carthamus tinctorius; Catechols; Chalcone; Coumaric Acids; Dalbergia; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Gene Expression; Gene Expression Profiling; Glucosides; Heart Ventricles; Hydroxybenzoates; Lactates; Ligusticum; Male; Monoterpenes; Myocardial Infarction; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Paeonia; Plant Extracts; Quinones; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Salvia miltiorrhiza

Danxiongfang (DF) is a new Chinese medicine formula used to treat atherosclerosis and vascular restenosis. The active ingredients in DF are danshensu (DSS), tanshinones (cryptotanshinone, CT) and ferulic acid (FA). The aim of present study was to evaluate the inhibitory effects of DF and its active ingredients on cell proliferation and protection against hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2))-induced injury in rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) in vitro.. VSMC proliferation was assayed by cell counting and measurement of cell viability using the 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol -2yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) method and protein content was measured by the Bradford method. The nitric oxide (NO) level was detected by an assay kit. The endothelin-1 (ET-1) level was measured by ELISA. The protective effects of DF and its active ingredients on H(2)O(2)-induced cell injury was evaluated in terms of cell viability (MTT assay), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Hydroxyl free radicals generated by the Fenton reaction was detected with the spin-trapping technique on an electron spin resonance spectrometer.. The results suggest that DSS, CT, FA and DF inhibited VSMC proliferation by increasing the NO level and decreasing the ET-1 content. In rat VSMCs exposed to H(2)O(2), FA, DSS, CT and the six formulations of DF increased cell viability and SOD activity, and reduced the levels of MDA and hydroxyl free radicals. These effects of FA, DSS and CT occurred in a dose-dependent manner. Of the six formulas, DF 4 and DF 5 had the more significant activities. The effects of DF were much greater than those of the individual ingredients, even though the concentrations of these ingredients in the DF formulas were much lower than the doses of the individual ingredients used in each study, indicating markedly synergistic effects of DSS, CT and FA in DF on rat VSMCs.. these findings provide a pharmacological foundation for the clinical use of DF in the prevention and treatment of hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis relevant to endothelial cell proliferation and damage.

Topics: Animals; Antioxidants; Aorta; Cardiotonic Agents; Cell Proliferation; Cell Survival; Cells, Cultured; Coumaric Acids; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Synergism; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Endothelin-1; Hydrogen Peroxide; Hydroxyl Radical; Lactates; Male; Malondialdehyde; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular; Myocytes, Smooth Muscle; Nitric Oxide; Phenanthrenes; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Superoxide Dismutase

A liquid chromatography-diode array detection-electrospray ionization ion trap mass spectrometry (LC-DAD-ESI-MS(n)) method was established for the analysis of danshensu, caffeic acid, ferulic acid and isoferulic acid in rat plasma, bile, urine and feces after oral administration or intravenous injection. Liquid-liquid extraction was employed for the preparation of biosamples, and the chromatographic separation was carried out using an Agilent Zorbax Extend C(18) reversed phase column and acetonitrile-0.1% formic acid as the mobile phase. Totally nineteen metabolites were detected and identified as prototype, methylated, hydroxylated, sulfated and glucuronized conjugates. The metabolism of the individual phenolic acids in biosamples was investigated, and the metabolic pathway was proposed. By comparing the metabolism of different compounds which shared similar structures, we were able to find that methylation was the main pathway of danshensu metabolism, and the double bond on the side chain was critical for the drug excretion via bile and the formation of glucuronized conjugates. The results proved that the established method was simple, sensitive and reliable, which could be used to detect and identify the structures of metabolites and to better understand their in vivo metabolism.

Topics: Animals; Caffeic Acids; Chromatography, Liquid; Cinnamates; Coumaric Acids; Feces; Lactates; Metabolic Networks and Pathways; Phenols; Rats; Reproducibility of Results; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A selective and sensitive reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of danshensu, ferulic acid, cryptotanshinone, and tanshinone IIA in rabbit plasma using p-hydroxybenzoic acid as internal standard. Liquid-liquid extraction was used for sample preparation. Chromatographic separation was successfully achieved on an Agilent HC-C(18) column using a mobile phase composed of methanol-water (from 20:80 to 80:20, v/v) containing 0.5% (v/v) glacial acetic acid. The mobile phase was employing gradient elution at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. The method showed good linearity and no endogenous material interfered with the marked compounds and I.S. peaks. The limit of quantification of danshensu, ferulic acid, cryptotanshinone, and tanshinone IIA were 0.1, 0.03, 0.05, and 0.05 microg/ml, respectively. The average extract recoveries of the four compounds from rabbit plasma were all over 60%. The precisions determined from 5 days were all within 10%. The established method has been successfully applied in the pharmacokinetic study and drug interaction of danshensu, ferulic acid, cryptotanshinone, and tanshinone IIA in rabbits after intravenous administration of danxiongfang, a useful compound preparation of traditional Chinese medicine.

Topics: Abietanes; Animals; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Coumaric Acids; Drug Interactions; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Lactates; Male; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Molecular Structure; Phenanthrenes; Rabbits; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet

Phenolic acids are the main active constituents of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. The metabolism of total phenolic acids from the roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza in rats was investigated. A sample preparation method combining the solid-phase extraction with liquid-liquid extraction was established to separate metabolites from the biological matrix. HPLC-UV and HPLC-MS methods were employed to analyze the metabolites. Five metabolites (M1-M5) were identified by HPLC-MS analysis and comparison with those of the reference standards. The fi ve metabolites were characterized as danshensu (M1), caffeic acid (M2), ferulic acid (M3), isoferulic acid (M4) and methylized ferulic acid (M5), respectively. The possible metabolic pathway of the phenolic acids is proposed.

Topics: Animals; Benzaldehydes; Caffeic Acids; Catechols; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Cinnamates; Coumaric Acids; Feces; Hydroxybenzoates; Lactates; Male; Plant Roots; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Salvia miltiorrhiza; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet