With the increasing prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and obesity, the incidence of kidney diseases is also increasing, resulting in a serious public burden. Conventional treatments for kidney diseases have unsatisfactory effects and are associated with adverse reactions. Traditional Chinese medicines have good curative effects and advantages over conventional treatments for preventing and treating kidney diseases. Astragali Radix is a Chinese herbal medicine widely used to treat kidney diseases.To review the potential applications and molecular mechanisms underlying the renal protective effects of Astragali Radix and its components and to provide direction and reference for new therapeutic strategies and future research and development of Astragali Radix.PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science were searched using keywords, including "Astragali Radix," "Astragalus," "Astragaloside IV" (AS-IV), "Astragali Radix polysaccharide" (APS), and "kidney diseases." Reports on the effects of Astragali Radix and its components on kidney diseases were identified and reviewed.The main components of Astragali Radix with kidney-protective properties include AS-IV, APS, calycosin, formononetin, and hederagenin. Astragali Radix and its active components have potential pharmacological effects for the treatment of kidney diseases, including acute kidney injury, diabetic nephropathy, hypertensive renal damage, chronic glomerulonephritis, and kidney stones. The pharmacological effects of Astragali Radix are manifested through the inhibition of inflammation, oxidative stress, fibrosis, endoplasmic reticulum stress, apoptosis, and ferroptosis, as well as the regulation of autophagy.Astragali Radix is a promising drug candidate for treating kidney diseases. However, current research is limited to animal and cell studies, underscoring the need for further verifications using high-quality clinical data. 

Pharmacological potential of Astragali Radix for the treatment of kidney diseases.

Ginseng polysaccharide reduces autoimmune hepatitis inflammatory response by inhibiting PI3K/AKT and TLRs/NF-κB signaling pathways.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phymed.2023.154753

The effects and mechanisms of the anti-COVID-19 traditional Chinese medicine, Dehydroandrographolide from Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) Wall, on acute lung injury by the inhibition of NLRP3-mediated pyroptosis

Several cardiovascular illnesses are associated with aberrant activation of cellular pyroptosis, ferroptosis, necroptosis, cuproptosis, disulfidptosis and macrophage polarisation as hallmarks contributing to vascular damage and abnormal cardiac function. Meanwhile, these three novel forms of cellular dysfunction are closely related to mitochondrial homeostasis. Mitochondria are the main organelles that supply energy and maintain cellular homeostasis. Mitochondrial stability is maintained through a series of regulatory pathways, such as mitochondrial fission, mitochondrial fusion and mitophagy. Studies have shown that mitochondrial dysfunction (e.g., impaired mitochondrial dynamics and mitophagy) promotes ROS production, leading to oxidative stress, which induces cellular pyroptosis, ferroptosis, necroptosis, cuproptosis, disulfidptosis and macrophage M1 phenotypic polarisation. Therefore, an in-depth knowledge of the dynamic regulation of mitochondria during cellular pyroptosis, ferroptosis, necroptosis, cuproptosis, disulfidptosis and macrophage polarisation is necessary to understand cardiovascular disease development. This paper systematically summarises the impact of changes in mitochondrial dynamics and mitophagy on regulating novel cellular dysfunctions and macrophage polarisation to promote an in-depth understanding of the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases and provide corresponding theoretical references for treating cardiovascular diseases. 

Cardiovascular Disease: Mitochondrial dynamics and mitophagy crosstalk mechanisms with novel programmed cell death and macrophage polarisation

Cinnamomum cassia Presl, a traditional Chinese medicine recorded in "Shennong's Herbal Classic," has been historically used to treat respiratory diseases and is employed to address inflammation. The essential oil derived from Cinnamomum cassia bark is a primary anti-inflammatory agent. However, there remains ambiguity regarding the chemical composition of cinnamon bark essential oil (BCEO), its principal anti-inflammatory components, and their potential efficacy in typical inflammatory respiratory conditions, such as acute lung injury (ALI). This study aimed to unveil the chemical composition of BCEO. In addition, the mechanism of action of BCEO in ameliorating ALI and regulating macrophage polarization through the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB pathway was elucidated. BCEO was extracted using supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and characterized through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Acute oral toxicity was observed in C57BL/6J mice. The pharmacological effects and underlying mechanisms of BCEO were evaluated in a mouse model of ALI, which was induced by administering 5 mg/kg of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) through intratracheal instillation. GC-MS analysis revealed 99.08% of the constituents of BCEO. The primary components of BCEO were trans-cinnamaldehyde, o-methoxycinnamaldehyde, (+)-α-muurolene, δ-cadinene, and copaene. Oral acute toxicity tests indicated that the maximum tolerated dose of BCEO was 12 g/kg/day. BCEO treatment significantly reduced lung W/D ratio, total protein concentration in BALF, levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β in BALF, WBC count and NEU% in peripheral blood, and lung histological damage. Pulmonary function, IL-10 levels, and LYM% in peripheral blood also showed improvement. BCEO effectively decreased the proportion of M1 phenotype macrophages in BALF, M1/M2 ratio, and apoptotic cells in the lung tissue while increasing the proportion of M2 phenotype macrophages in BALF. Furthermore, BCEO treatment led to reduced protein and mRNA levels of TLR4, MyD88, and p-p65, alongside increased p65 expression, suggesting its potential to impede the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway. SFE-extracted BCEO or its major constituents could serve as a viable treatment for ALI by reducing lung inflammation, improving pulmonary function, and protecting against LPS-induced ALI in mice. This therapeutic effect is achieved by inhibiting M1 macrophage polarization, promoting M2 macrophage polarization, and suppressing the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway. 

Essential oil from Cinnamomum cassia Presl bark regulates macrophage polarization and ameliorates lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury through TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB pathway

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phymed.2022.154545

Xuanfei Baidu formula alleviates impaired mitochondrial dynamics and activated NLRP3 inflammasome by repressing NF-κB and MAPK pathways in LPS-induced ALI and inflammation models

Ganoderma tsugae is well known as a medicinal mushroom in China and many Asian countries, while its fermentation technique and corresponding pharmacological activity are rarely reported. In this study, a wild G. tsugae strain (G42) with high triterpenoid content was screened from nine strains by rice solid-state fermentation, and 53.86 mg/g triterpenoids could be produced under optimized conditions; that is, inoculation amount 20%, fermentation temperature 27 °C, and culture time 45 days. The hepatoprotective activity of G42 ethanol extract was evaluated by CCl4-induced liver injury in mice, in which changes in the levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), oxidation-related factors, and inflammatory cytokines in serum or liver samples demonstrated the therapeutic effect. In addition, the ethanol extract of G42 reduced the incidence of necrosis and inflammatory infiltration, and decreased protein expression levels of phosphor-nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), interleukin-Iβ (IL-1β), and nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 (NRF2). The chemical composition of the ethanol extract was analyzed by high-resolution mass spectrometry and molecular networking. Three main triterpenoids, namely platycodigenin, cucurbitacin IIb, and ganolecidic acid B were identified. This work provided an optimized fermentation method for G. tsugae, and demonstrated that its fermentation extract might be developed as a functional food with a hepatoprotective effect.

/pdf/hepatoprotective-activity-of-ethanol-extract-of-rice-solid-11lodln4.pdf

Hepatoprotective Activity of Ethanol Extract of Rice Solid-State Fermentation of Ganoderma tsugae against CCl4-Induced Acute Liver Injury in Mice

Due to the exquisite ability of cancer stemness to facilitate tumor initiation, metastasis, and cancer therapy resistance, targeting cancer stemness is expected to have clinical implications for cancer treatment. Genes are fundamental for forming and maintaining stemness. Considering shared genetic programs and pathways between embryonic stem cells and cancer stem cells, we conducted a study analyzing transcriptomic data of embryonic stem cells for mining potential cancer stemness genes. Firstly, we integrated co-expression and regression models and predicted 820 stemness genes. Results of gene enrichment analysis confirmed the good prediction performance for enriched signatures in cancer stem cells. Secondly, we provided an application case using the predicted stemness genes to construct a breast cancer stemness network. Mining on the network identified CD44, SOX2, TWIST1, and DLG4 as potential regulators of breast cancer stemness. Thirdly, using the signature of 31,028 chemical perturbations and their correlation with stemness marker genes, we predicted 67 stemness inhibitors with reasonable accuracy of 78%. Two drugs, namely Rigosertib and Proscillaridin A, were first identified as potential stemness inhibitors for melanoma and colon cancer, respectively. Overall, mining embryonic stem cell data provides a valuable way to identify cancer stemness regulators.

An explorative study for leveraging transcriptomic data of embryonic stem cells in mining cancer stemness genes, regulators, and networks.

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Xuanfei Baidu formula alleviates impaired mitochondrial dynamics and activated NLRP3 inflammasome by repressing NF-κB and MAPK pathways in LPS-induced ALI and inflammation models

Hepatoprotective Activity of Ethanol Extract of Rice Solid-State Fermentation of Ganoderma tsugae against CCl4-Induced Acute Liver Injury in Mice

An explorative study for leveraging transcriptomic data of embryonic stem cells in mining cancer stemness genes, regulators, and networks.