In this study, we attempted to develop functional liposomes loaded with camptothecin and attached to a-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (a-MSH) to target melanoma cells. The liposomes were mainly composed of phosphatidylcholine, cholesterol, and stearylamine, and were characterized by the vesicle size, zeta potential, camptothecin encapsulation efficiency, and release behavior. Results revealed that a-MSH liposomes possessed an average size of approximately 250 nm with a surface charge of 60 mV. Camptothecin was successfully entrapped by the targeted liposomes with an encapsulation percentage of nearly 95%. The liposomes provided sustained and controlled camptothecin release. Non-targeted liposomes with the drug exerted superior cytotoxicity against melanomas compared to the free control. Cell viability was reduced from 48% to 32% compared to conventional liposomes. Peptide ligand conjugation further promoted cytotoxicity to 18% viability, which was a 2.7-fold decrease versus the free control. According to the images of fluorescence microscopy, a-MSH liposomes exhibited greater cell endocytosis than did non-targeted liposomes and the free control. a-MSH liposomes were predominantly internalized in the cytoplasm. These findings demonstrate that a-MSH liposomes could enhance the anti-melanoma activity of camptothecin owing to their targeting ability and controlled drug delivery.

Osteoporosis is characterized by reduced bone mass and quality due to an imbalanced bone remodeling. A grass crop, adlay (Coix lachryma-jobi), is a kind of nourishing food, which has also been used in traditional Chinese medicine. In this study, we investigated the effect of adlay (C. lachryma-jobi L. var. ma-yuen Stapf) on osteoporosis using an ovariectomized mouse model. The adlay diet (10% and 30% adlay in mouse diet) or water extract of adlay (0.3 g/kg/day) was given to ovariectomized mice for 4 weeks. In some experiments, the primary rat osteoblast cells were used to test the possible mechanism of adlay on osteoporosis. The body weight was slightly increased and uterus weight was markedly decreased in ovariectomized mice, which were not affected by adlay treatment. Adlay diet (30%) and adlay extract feedings significantly reversed the decreased bone alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium contents and bone mineral density in ovariectomized mice. Moreover, adlay extracts increased the osteoblast cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. Adlay extracts also increased the protein expressions of proliferating cell nuclear antigen and phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 in osteoblast cells. ERK inhibitor PD98059 significantly reversed the increased osteoblast cell proliferation by adlay extracts. Taken together, these findings indicate that adlay effectively alleviates the osteoporotic status in ovariectomized mice. Adlay is capable of increasing the proliferation of osteoblast cells via an ERK-regulated signaling pathway. Adlay may be a helpful healthy food for osteoporosis prevention.

Osteoporosis is an aging problem. The declining bone mineral density (BMD) enhances the chances of fractures during minor falls. Effective pharmaceuticals are available for a rapid improvement of BMD. However, hormonal treatment gives serious complications, and bisphosphonates may lead to odd fractures of long bones, resulting from excessive rigidity of the cortical components. Many medicinal herbs used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, known as kidney tonics, have been tested for their effects on bone metabolism in the laboratory and clinically. Three of these, viz. Herba epimedii (???, Yín Yáng Huò), Fructus ligustri lucidi (???, Nu Zhen Zi), and Fructus psoraleae (???, Bu Gu Zhi) were chosen to form a herbal formula, ELP. ELP was tested on in vitro platforms and was shown to have both osteoblastic and anti- osteoclastic action. ELP tested on ovariectomized rats also showed BMD protection. ELP was then put on a placebo- controlled randomized clinical trial. BMD protection was obvious among those women with the onset of menopause beyond 10 Although a thorough literature review on the herbal treatment effects did not give convincing answers to the use of Chinese herbs in osteoporosis, our study supports more research and trials in this area, while we are looking for safe and effective agents to keep the bone metabolism in a balanced state.

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The aim of this study is to explore the correlation of laboratory data, hormone peptides, and quality of life with different traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome groups in type 2 diabetes patients. Of 513 registered patients, 179 subjects aged between 20 and 65 years and having type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) for more than 1 year were enrolled in the study. All the participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire on diabetic TCM syndrome groups, which was designed by professional TCM doctors, and two questionnaires on the quality of life (QOL), WHOQOL-BREF Taiwan version and Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Short Form-12 (SF-12). The biochemical characteristics and hormone peptide levels were collected at the same time. The patients in any one of the six TCM syndrome groups had the trend to have worse QOL. Especially, patients with qi deficiency had worse life quality on every aspect compared to those without qi deficiency and were fatter than others. We also found that the subjects who had qi deficiency, qi stagnation, and yin deficiency at the same time had worsened condition. We consider that patients with qi deficiency may also be at a higher risk of developing other complications. They need more advanced health care than others. This self-reported questionnaire will be a reference for health care workers screening those T2DM patients who have a higher possibility of developing other complications. Especially in remote areas, where there is a lack of medical resources, an easy-to-use tool such as the one in the present study for detecting and evaluating disease conditions is needed.

The antihepatoma activity and liver protective function of the fermentation products (5 L fermenator) of Ganoderma lucidum (GL; ?? Ling Zhi) cultivated in a medium containing black soybean (BS; ?? Hei Dòu) and Astragalus membranaceus (AM; ??? Sheng Huáng Qí) at different fermentation temperatures were investigated in this study. Hep 3B cells pretreated with lovastatin were used to study the antihepatoma activity, and possible active components were analyzed by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced primary rat hepatocyte injury was further used to evaluate the liver protective activity of the fermentation products. While all the GL broth filtrates do not inhibit the growth of Hep 3B cells, the ethanolic extract from GL-2 mycelia (GL-2-mE), cultivated in the medium containing BS (50 g/L) and AM (20 g/L) at 24°C for 11 days showed the best antihepatoma activity (IC50 26.6 µg/mL) than the other ethanolic extracts from GL mycelia, GL fruiting body, BS, and AM did. The antihepatoma activities were correlated with some unknown active components in these samples. Furthermore, GL-2-mE (100 µg/mL) without harmful effect on the growth of normal primary rat hepatocytes significantly maintained cell viability, reduced lactate dehydrogenase leakage, lowered lipid peroxidation, and increased glutathione peroxidase and glutathione S-transferase activities in the CCl4-induced damaged primary rat hepatocytes.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the leading causes of chronic liver injury across the world. It is also strongly related to other pathological conditions, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and symptoms of metabolic syndrome. Pathogenesis of NAFLD remains not fully characterized but is generally attributed to the occurrence of insulin resistance, lipid metabolism dysfunction,0 oxidative stress, inflammation, and necro-apoptosis. Every potential therapeutic strategy should target one or some of these pathological events in the liver. Over the past decades, application of herbal treatment for NAFLD has received increasing attention due to its wide availability, low side effects, and proven therapeutic mechanisms and benefits. In recent years, some monomers and certain functional mixtures of herbs have been extensively examined for their potential uses in NAFLD treatment. In the present review, we selected several herbal derivatives under intense basic and/or clinical investigations by carrying out a PubMed search of English language articles relevant to herbal derivatives and NAFLD, such as polysaccharide portion of wolfberry, garlic-derived monomers, red grape-derived resveratrol, and milk thistle-derived substances. They have been shown to target the pathological events during NAFLD initiation and progression both in pre-clinical studies and clinical trials. Although more detailed mechanistic researches and long-term clinical evaluations are needed for their future applications, they offer unanticipated and great health benefits without obvious adverse effects in NAFLD therapy.

Ginseng (?? Rén Shen) has been widely employed in functional foods and traditional medicines in many Asian countries. Owing to the high consumer demand of ginseng products, a large amount of ginseng residue is generated after extraction of ginseng. However, the ginseng residue still contains many bioactive compounds such as ginsenosides. The objective of this research was to convert ginsenosides in American ginseng (??? Xi Yáng Shen) extraction residue (AmR) by fermentation with lingzhi (?? Líng Zhi, Ganoderma lucidum) and the fermentation products will be used for further hypoglycemic activity research. Thus, this study was primarily focused on the ginsenosides that have been reported to possess hypoglycemic activity. In this study, the changes in seven ginsenoside [Rg1, Re, Rb1, Rc, Rg3(S), compound K (CK), and Rh2(S)] in the products as affected by fermentation were investigated. Our results showed that the levels of ginsenosides, namely, Rg1, Rg3(S), and CK increased, while the other ginsenosides (Re, Rb1, and Rc) decreased during the fermentation process.

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Due to its simplicity and convenience, acupuncture has become popular as a complementary therapy. In this Chinese medicine, doctors have to find the traditional meridian acupuncture points before puncturing the needles into them. Moxibustion (?? Ài Jiu) is also an important part of the acupuncture remedy. Treatment by acupuncture can be classified roughly into two types - direct moxibustion and indirect moxibustion. Warm-needling acupuncture (??? Wen Zhen Jiu) is classified under the method of indirect moxibustion. In the present study, 10 standard stainless steel acupuncture needles with 10 pieces of cylinder-shaped moxa cone (?? Ài Zhù) as the heat source of warm needles were used. In order to prevent the practitioners from getting burns, it is necessary to study the temperature changes in some designated parts of the needles. Two sizes, 0.6 g and 1.0 g, of moxa cones were used for comparison of the measured temperatures. The needles are typically divided into two parts - the handle part and the needle body. In our experiment, the temperatures of WNA at different parts of the needles were measured. The larger the size of moxa cone is, the longer is the burning time. Based on the observations we suggest that when 0.6 g moxa is used, the physicians should better pick out the needles around 9 min after ignition; however, while using the 1 g moxa, it might be safer to pick out the needles around 13 min after ignition.