Medical News

 Saponins are one of the main active ingredients of many herbal medicines such as ginseng, Polygala tenuifolia, Platycodon grandiflorum, licorice, rhizoma anemarrhenae, and radix bupleurum. Pharmacological studies have shown that saponins have biological activities such as antibacterial, antitumor, modulation of body metabolism and immunity, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus. The in vivo metabolites of saponins were analyzed by chromatography-mass spectrometry to provide favorable evidence for the elucidation of the therapeutic mechanism of Chinese medicine. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) is a bioanalytical technique that combines the high separation performance of high-performance liquid chromatography HPLC with the high sensitivity and specificity of tandem mass spectrometry. It does not require complete chromatographic separation between analytes, and its multi-window detection capability allows the quantitative analysis of multiple...

 A growing number of studies have shown that dysbiosis of the intestinal flora is closely associated with the development of various diseases such as obesity, diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver, inflammatory bowel disease, and gastrointestinal tumors. Therefore, it is crucial to conduct intestinal flora metabolite analysis to explore the association between intestinal flora metabolite changes and host disease occurrence for disease prevention and treatment. Recently it has been shown that the composition of the gut microbiota in infancy, especially at two years of age, maybe the earliest warning sign for the detection of obesity. On the other hand, experiments conducted by some scientists in mice have found that the mammalian gut microbiome can be transmitted from generation to generation. With the development of microbial metabolomics, qualitative and quantitative methods can be used to understand the physiological status of microorganisms through the analysis of microbial metab...

 We all know that there are many causes of hair loss, but we never thought that the culprit of hair loss is intestinal flora. Scientists have pointed out that the analysis of the metabolites of the gut microflora is essential to understand how they affect human health, and that these metabolites can regulate the function of the immune system and the central nervous system. Metabolite analysis refers to the study of small molecules (metabolites) in biological systems, including cells, tissues, and organisms. It aims to identify, quantify, and understand the metabolic pathways, changes in metabolite levels, and relationships between metabolites and biological processes. Techniques used for metabolite analysis include NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and HPLC. The goal is to gain insights into biological function and identify markers for disease diagnosis and treatment. Gut microbes have a potential impact on human health, such as the corresponding changes in the gut microflora fo...

 The metabolite content of drugs in organisms is minimal, and it is not easy to isolate and prepare pure products. The metabolite structure is complex, and it is also challenging to obtain metabolites by chemical synthesis. Thus the study of metabolite analysis of drugs in organisms is minimal. Bitter ginseng is the dried root of bitter legume ginseng. The secondary metabolites currently isolated from bitter ginseng are mainly alkaloids and flavonoids, in addition to a few phenolic, triterpenoid, phenylpropanoid, fatty acid, and amino acid components. Domestic and foreign research focuses on its alkaloid components. The alkaloids extracted, isolated, and identified from the bitter ginseng plant now include bitter ginseng alkaloids, oxymatrine, iso-bitter ginseng alkaloids, hydroxy bitter ginseng alkaloids, lacustrine, oxymatrine, etc.  Metabolite identification refers to identifying and characterizing the small molecules (metabolites) present in a biological sample, such as b...

 Duhaldea cappa chrysanthemum belongs to traditional Chinese medicine in China. The study found that Duhaldea cappa chrysanthemum extract has an antibacterial effect on Staphylococcus aureus, a new antibacterial drug resource with potential for development.  The analysis of metabolites in the feces of rats after the administration of Duhaldea cappa extract is of great significance for the rational use of this herb and the development of new dosage forms. MetID plays a key role in drug discovery, preclinical development, and clinical development and is crucial for drug safety research and new drug development. Generally speaking, herbal medicines have antimicrobial activity due to various chemical components in the extracts. The analysis of metabolites of the active ingredients of herbal medications in animals and humans is essential for elucidating the effectiveness of herbal medicines, exploring the principles of action of the active ingredients, and explaining the rationali...

 Breast cancer is a common malignancy in women, and multidrug resistance is one of the main reasons affecting the efficacy of chemotherapy and patient survival in breast cancer. A tumor drug resistance-associated protein, BCRP, has been reported in breast cancer drug-resistant cell lines.  Also, BCRP is a transporter, mainly responsible for the excretion of endogenous and exogenous substances outside the cell, and has a vital role in drug metabolism research. The BCRP gene of human breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) is located in the chromosome 4q22 region. It encodes 655 amino acids, which are present in several vital organs in the body, such as the small intestine, placenta, liver, and kidney. It is essential for drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. Drug transport proteins play a vital role in drug metabolism kinetics. According to the drug transport mode, drug transport proteins can be divided into drug uptake proteins and drug efflux proteins....

 Mass spectrometry is an essential technique for performing drug metabolite analysis , which is characterized by high detection sensitivity, a wide range of molecular masses analyzed, and a large amount of molecular structure information provided. Moreover, mass spectrometry is often used in conjunction with other analytical methods, such as chromatography and electrophoresis, which further expands the application of mass spectrometry. For example, some researchers have used ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry for metabolite analysis of drugs in rats to investigate the substances that exert drug effects. 1. Mass spectrometry can be used for drug metabolite analysis Drug metabolites are derived from the metabolic reactions of drugs, and the structure of metabolites is closely related to the type of metabolic reactions and the structural properties of precursor compounds. After the metabolic transformation of a drug in vivo, only some structural...

 In drug development, many compounds often die in clinical trials because of the toxicity or safety of their metabolites, among which the active metabolites formed by drug molecules activated by human liver metabolism are more likely to be an important cause of toxicity.  In vivo or in vitro metabolite analysis of drugs can be used to determine an early stage whether a compound is toxic and suitable for further development, thus minimizing unnecessary losses. In preclinical drug metabolite analysis and metabolite structure identification to evaluate the safety of a drug metabolite, one can identify an animal species in a routine toxicology test in which adequate exposure levels of that metabolite can be formed, which is comparable to or higher than human exposure, and then study the drug toxicity in that animal species. Alternatively, if a relevant animal species cannot be identified that forms the metabolite, the metabolite can be synthesized, and further safety evaluations ...