人参皂甙的活性综述

人参皂甙(Compound—K简称CK,20-O-β-D-吡喃葡萄糖基原人参二醇)是一种非天然的人参皂甙成分。它是天然二醇型人参皂甙如ginsenoside-Rb1、Rb2口服后在肠道中的代谢产物。目前国内外学者对CK的药理学活性进行了多方面的研究,主要集中在其抗肿瘤方面,发现它具有抗突变、抑制癌细胞转移、细胞毒、诱导细胞凋亡、逆转药物耐药和抗肿瘤诱导的血管新生等多种药理活性,现就此作综述。     

质膜NADPH氧化酶的活化与H2O2的产生介导内源激发子诱导人参悬浮细胞中PAL活性的提高与人参皂甙的积累

利用纤维素酶降解人参(Panax ginseng C．A．Meyer)悬浮细胞的细胞壁制备了内源激发子(CDW)。CDW体外诱导了游离人参细胞质膜NADPH氧化酶的活性,激发了活体人参悬浮细胞产生H2O2。CDW还可以诱导提高苯丙氨酸解氨酶(PAL)活性,促进人参鲨烯环氧酶基因(sqe)的转录与人参皂甙的积累。NADPH氧化酶的抑制剂不仅可以抑制CDW体外诱导的质膜NADPH活性而且还可以抑制CDW诱导人参细胞产生H2O2。进而,这些抑制剂还可以抑制CDW诱导PAL活性的提高,以及sqe的转录与人参皂甙的合成。过氧化氢酶与H2O2的粹灭剂也可以抑制CDW激发产生的这些诱导效应。上述结果表明CDW激发质膜NADPH氧化酶的活化与H2O2的产生在介导CDW诱导人参细胞抗性反应中,包括PAL活性的提高与人参皂甙的积累,起了重要的信号转导作用。     

质膜NADPH氧化酶的活化与H2O2的产生介导内源激发子诱导人参悬浮细胞中PAL活性的提高与人参皂甙的积累

利用纤维素酶降解人参(Panax ginseng C.A.Meyer)悬浮细胞的细胞壁制备了内源激发子(CDW).CDW体外诱导了游离人参细胞质膜NADPH氧化酶的活性,激发了活体人参悬浮细胞产生H2O2.CDW还可以诱导提高苯丙氨酸解氨酶(PAL)活性,促进人参鲨烯环氧酶基因(sqe)的转录与人参皂甙的积累.NADPH氧化酶的抑制剂不仅可以抑制CDW体外诱导的质膜NADPH活性而且还可以抑制CDW诱导人参细胞产生H2O2.进而,这些抑制剂还可以抑制CDW诱导PAL活性的提高,以及sqe的转录与人参皂甙的合成.过氧化氢酶与H2O2的粹灭剂也可以抑制CDW激发产生的这些诱导效应.上述结果表明CDW激发质膜NADPH氧化酶的活化与H2O2的产生在介导CDW诱导人参细胞抗性反应中,包括PAL活性的提高与人参皂甙的积累,起了重要的信号转导作用.     

人参皂甙的抗肿瘤研究进展

人参是我国传统的名贵中草药材,人参皂甙是人参抗肿瘤作用的主要有效成分。对人参皂甙,特别是人参皂甙-Rg3和人参皂甙-Rh2在抗肿瘤方面研究的进展给予了综述,深入讨论了人参皂甙的抗肿瘤活性构效关系。详细讨论从其它人参皂甙通过糖基改造制备具有高的抗肿瘤活性的人参皂甙-Rg3和人参皂甙-Rh2的方法,对人参皂甙研究状况做了展望。     

人参和三七皂甙提取分离的一个简易生产工艺

人参(Panax ginseng C.A.Meyer)和三七(Panax notoginseng(Burk.)F.H.Chen)均富含具有生理活性的多种皂甙成分。由于皂甙的提取和分离技术繁复不适于大量制备,我们研究采用吸附树脂层析法进行皂甙的提取和分离。实验表明,这一简易、快速而经济的新工艺流程用于皂甙的提取和精制克服了一般经典方法(如正丁醇萃取法、沉淀法等)需要化学试剂种类多、耗量大、成本高、操作复杂等缺点,且皂甙得率高、质量稳定。吸附树脂层析法也可用于人参和三七皂甙的分组分离和主要皂甙单体的制备。我们将这一方法用于其他植物甙类成分的提取和分离也取得了一定的成功。兹简介如下:     

人参皂甙Rb3对大鼠海马神经细胞谷氨酸损伤作用及相关机制的研究

目的：利用原代培养的海马神经细胞,研究人参皂甙Rb3对谷氨酸兴奋性神经毒性的保护作用及有关机制。方法：采用原代培养的胚胎大鼠海马神经细胞谷氨酸毒性模型,观察人参皂甙Rb3对神经细胞形态、神经细胞活性、细胞外液中乳酸脱氢酶（lactate dehydrogenase,LDH）的漏出率及总一氧化氮合酶（nitrogen oxide synthase,NOS）、结构型N0s、诱导型NOS活性等的影响。结果：人参皂甙Rb3对神经细胞的谷氨酸毒性损伤具有保护作用。使细胞形态保持完整,活力增加,细胞膜损伤减轻;而且人参皂甙Rb3能增加神经细胞的结构型NOS活性。降低诱导型NOS的活性。结论：人参皂甙Rb,具有抗谷氨酸兴奋性毒性作用,其作用机制可能与降低诱导型NOS活性。增加结构型NOS的活性有关。     

人参皂甙药理作用研究进展

人参是我国传统名贵中草药,皂甙为其主要活性成分。近年对人参皂甙的研究进展及成果颇多,揭示了其在抗肿瘤、抗衰老、增加免疫、防治心血管疾病等方面的作用,本文将以近年来国内外研究人参皂苷的报道为基础,对其药理作用等研究进展进行综述,为进一步深入研究人参皂苷类药物提供思路。     

海星皂甙1对人胶质瘤U87细胞抗增殖作用的研究

目的:海星皂甙是一类从海星中分离、萃取出来的甾体苷类,被认为是海星体内毒素的主要成分.研究表明海星皂甙及其化学衍生物具有多种药理学活性,包括抗菌、抗病毒、抗肿瘤、抑制真菌活性等.本实验旨在研究海星皂甙1对人胶质瘤U87细胞的抗增殖作用和可能的机制.方法:不同浓度海星皂甙l处理人胶质瘤U87细胞后,采用MTT法检测细胞活力,TUNEL染色观察细胞凋亡情况,Westernblot检测内质网应激相关凋亡分子的活性.结果:①海星皂甙1显著抑制U87细胞的增殖,呈时间与剂量依赖性.②海星皂甙1诱导U87细胞发生凋亡.③海星皂甙1处理后U87细胞内质网相关凋亡分子活性明显增高.结论:海星皂甙1通过诱导细胞凋亡抑制人胶质瘤U87细胞的增殖,这种抗增殖作用可能是通过激活内质网应激相关凋亡分子实现的.     

人参皂甙对大鼠海马缺氧损伤的保护作用

人参主要的药理作用之一是对中枢神经系统的影响。人参皂甙是人参生物活性的重要成分。已有报道,人参皂甙对培养的大鼠大脑皮质神经元轴突的伸展具有促进作用。对培养的鸡胚背根节的神经元具有增加生长因子的作用。人参皂甙还能影响突触体对传递介质的摄取。也有人报道,人参皂甙可增加小鼠脑内RNA含量。以上报道表明,人参皂甙对中枢神经系统功能有活化作用,人参皂甙还能延长减压低氧动物的活存时间。本实     

真菌激发子对人参悬浮培养细胞的生长和人参皂甙生物合成的影响

真菌诱导子处理人参悬浮培养细胞后,人参皂甙的合成有明显增加,诱导处理改变人参皂甙的积累时程,促进人参细胞培养物中次生产物的外泌,同时增强细胞对蔗糖的摄取、吸收并引起细胞H~ 流的变化。     

In vitro and in vivo assessment of herb drug interactions

Herbal products contain several chemicals that are metabolized by phase 1 and phase 2 pathways and also serve as substrates for certain transporters. Due to their interaction with these enzymes and transporters there is a potential for alteration in the activity of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters in presence of herbal components. Induction and inhibition of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters by herbal component has been documented in several in vitro studies. While these studies offer a system to determine the potential for a herbal component to alter the pharmacokinetics of a drug, they cannot always be used to predict the magnitude of any potential effect in vivo. In vivo studies are the ultimate way to determine the clinical importance of herb drug interactions. However, lack of content uniformity and lack of documentation of the bioavailability of herbal components makes even in vivo human studies difficult to interpret as the effect may be product specific. It appears that St. John's wort extract is probably one of the most important herbal product that increases the metabolism and decreases the efficacy of several drugs. Milk thistle on the other hand appears to have minimal effect on phase 1 pathways and limited data exists for phase 2 pathways and transporter activity in vivo. Further systematic studies are necessary to assess the significance of herb drug interactions.     

Potential agents for cancer and obesity treatment with herbal medicines from the green garden

Many classes of bioactive drug-like molecules derived from traditional herbal plants are becoming attractive as alternative medicines for the treatment of severe chronic diseases such as cancer and obesity. A set of chemically synthesized drugs that is capable of both inhibiting cancer growth and reducing body weight for treatment of obesity have severe side effects including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea as well as producing increased blood pressure and headache, respectively. For decades, drug candidates from herbal plants have been considered as potential therapeutic agents because they are generally safer, less toxic, and have fewer lethal side effects than chemically synthesized or semi-synthetic drugs. Understanding the key factors affecting pharmacological effects and clinical outcomes has been a critical theme of natural product research. However, standardized sample preparation methods, well-controlled scientific studies, and validation studies are needed before herbal therapeutics can be introduced into the global market. This review will address the current advances in using traditional herbal plants, including the pharmacological effects and the challenges faced during the development of new drugs. The safety issues associated with toxicity and the effectiveness of the herbs in specific diseases such as cancer and obesity are also discussed.     

微量元素在寻找新活性物质中的应用研究

通过对31种中草药的微量元素分析,应用现代生物学和现代医学的观点讨论了微量元素的种类、含量以及不同微量元素谱在生理生化、药理药效上的相关性,提出应用微量元素测定方法寻找新的活性物质和中草药深层开发的可能性。     

Chinese Herbal Therapy and Western Drug Use,Belief and Adherence for Hypertension Management in the Rural Areas of Heilongjiang Province,China

Background

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) including Chinese herbal therapy has been widely practiced in China. However, little is known about Chinese herbal therapy use for hypertension management, which is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions in China. Thus we described Chinese herbal therapy and western drug users, beliefs, hypertension knowledge, and Chinese herbal and western drug adherence and determinants of Chinese herbal therapy use among patients with hypertension in rural areas of Heilongjiang Province, China.

Methodology and Principal Findings

This face-to-face cross sectional survey included 665 hypertensive respondents aged 30 years or older in rural areas of Heilongjiang Province, China. Of 665 respondents, 39.7% were male, 27.4% were aged 65 years or older. At the survey, 14.0% reported using Chinese herbal therapy and 71.3% reported using western drug for hypertension management. A majority of patients had low level of treatment adherence (80.6% for the Chinese herbal therapy users and 81.2% for the western drug users). When respondents felt that their blood pressure was under control, 72.0% of the Chinese herbal therapy users and 69.2% of the western drug users sometimes stopped taking their medicine. Hypertensive patients with high education level or better quality of life are more likely use Chinese herbal therapy.

Conclusions and Significance

Majority of patients diagnosed with hypertension use western drugs to control blood pressure. Chinese herbal therapy use was associated with education level and quality of life.     

Assessment of genotoxicity of herbal medicinal products: a co-ordinated approach

The submission of data on genotoxicity is a precondition for marketing authorisation respectively registration of herbal medicinal products (HMPs) with well established or traditional use in some countries. In European regulatory guidelines prepared by the Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC) of the European drug regulatory agency EMA, a test strategy is defined giving a pragmatic framework adapted to the assessment of the potential genotoxicity of HMPs. It describes a stepwise approach, including the possibility to reduce the number of extracts of a herbal drug to be tested by the use of a bracketing and matrixing approach. According to this strategy, Kooperation Phytopharmaka, a scientific society in the field of HMPs, has so far coordinated the conduction of genotoxicity tests for 30 herbal drugs within the frame of a joint project of several manufacturers of HMPs. Results are delivered to the cooperation partners for use in regulatory applications.     

Vitamin E and drug metabolism

Tocopherols and tocotrienols are metabolized by side chain degradation initiated by cytochrome P450 (CYP)-catalyzed omega-hydroxylation followed by beta-oxidation. Whereas alpha-tocopherol is only poorly metabolized, high amounts of the final products, carboxyethyl hydroxychroman (CEHC), are found from other tocols in HepG2 cells and in human urine. CYP3A4 and CYP4F2 were suggested to be involved in tocopherol degradation. CYP3A4 metabolizes most of the drugs and is induced by many of its substrates via the activation of the pregnane X receptor (PXR). Also tocopherols and in particular tocotrienols induce the expression of a PXR-driven reporter gene and the expression of endogenous CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 which is supported by sporadic publications spread over the last 30 years. The potential interference of vitamin E with drug metabolism is discussed in the light of related complications evoked by herbal remedies.     

Pharmacovigilance: Effects of herbal components on human drugs interactions involving Cytochrome P450

Cytochrome P450 (CYP P450) enzymes are a superfamily of mono-oxygenases that are found in all kingdoms of life. The CYP P450 enzymes constitute a large superfamily of haem-thiolate proteins involved in the metabolism of a wide variety of both exogenous and endogenous compounds. The CYP activities have been shown to be involved in numerous interactions especially between drugs and herbal constituents. The majority of serious cases of drug interactions are as a result of the interference of the metabolic clearance of one drug by yet another co-administered drug, food or natural product. Gaining mechanistic knowledge towards such interactions has been accepted as an approach to avoid adverse reactions. The inductions and inhibition of CYP enzymes by natural products in the presence of a prescribed drug has led to adverse effects. Herbal medicines such as St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum), garlic (Allium sativa), piperine (from Piper sp.), ginseng (Ginseng sp.), gingko (Gingko biloba), soya beans (Glycine max), alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and grape fruit juice show clinical interactions when co-administered with medicines. This review documents the involvement of CYP enzymes in the metabolism of known available drugs and herbal products. We also document the interactions between herbal constituents & CYP enzymes showing potential drug-herb interactions. Data on CYP450 enzymes in activation (i.e. induction or inhibition) with natural constituents is also reviewed.     

Mycotoxins of fungal strains from stored herbal plants and mycotoxin contents of Nigerian crude herbal drugs

The ability of fungi isolated from stored herbal drug plants to produce mycotoxins in semisynthetic media was studied. The results obtained show that aflatoxins and ochratoxin A, were produced by Aspergillus flavus, A. parasiticus and A. ochraceus isolates. The time-production courses of aflatoxins B₁, B₂, ₁ and ochratoxin A in crude herbal drug preparations show that more of these toxins were produced with increase in time of storage of the drugs. The results indicate that the potential exists for the toxigenic strains to elaborate mycotoxins in a large quantity in herbal drug substrates than in semisynthetic media.This revised version was published online in October 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Regulatory issues concerning the safety, efficacy and quality of herbal remedies

Herbal remedies and alternative medicines are used throughout the world, and in the past herbs were often the original sources of most drugs. Today we are witnessing an increase in herbal remedy use throughout the Western world raising the question as to how safe are these preparations for the unborn fetus? Many women use herbal products during pregnancy. The dilemma facing most regulatory authorities is that the public considers these products as either traditional medicines or natural food supplements. The user sees no reason for regulation. Most countries have laws concerning foods, drugs, and cosmetics, the details of which seldom clearly define to what section of the law and regulations alternative remedies belong. In most countries alternative remedies are regulated as foods, provided that no medicinal claim is made on the label. The global regulatory sector, however, is changing rapidly. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in Australia created a Complimentary Medicines Evaluation Committee in late 1997 to address this issue, and Canada has created a new Natural Health Products Directorate in the realigned Therapeutic Products and Foods Branch in 2000. In parallel, the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products has drafted test procedures and acceptance criteria for herbal drug preparations and herbal medicinal products. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration classifies these natural products as dietary supplements. Manufacturers must label a dietary supplement thus: “this statement has not been evaluated by the FDA [, and] this product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.” Whether these products are foods or drugs is undecided. To add complexity to this issue, most of the potential deleterious effects of natural products on the unborn may be related to hormonal effects (e.g., phytoestrogens) and nutriceutical drug interactions (e.g., St. John's Wort and antidepressants), rather than direct embryotoxicity per se. We suggest that ensuring quality of herbal products should receive immediate attention by regulatory authorities, before embarking on the more arduous tasks of safety and efficacy. Birth Defects Res B 68:505–510, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.