http://www.cmjournal.org The most accessed research articles published by Chinese Medicine 2012-04-30T00:00:00Z The health benefits of green tea for a wide variety of ailments, including different types of cancer, heart disease, and liver disease, were reported. Many of these beneficial effects of green tea are related to its catechin, particularly (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, content. There is evidence from in vitro and animal studies on the underlying mechanisms of green tea catechins and their biological actions. There are also human studies on using green tea catechins to treat metabolic syndrome, such as obesity, type II diabetes, and cardiovascular risk factors.Long-term consumption of tea catechins could be beneficial against high-fat diet-induced obesity and type II diabetes and could reduce the risk of coronary disease. Further research that conforms to international standards should be performed to monitor the pharmacological and clinical effects of green tea and to elucidate its mechanisms of action. http://www.cmjournal.org/content/5/1/13 Sabu M Chacko Priya Thambi Ramadasan Kuttan Ikuo Nishigaki Chinese Medicine 2010, null:13 2010-04-06T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1749-8546-5-13 /content/figures/1749-8546-5-13-toc.gif Chinese Medicine 1749-8546 ${item.volume} 13 2010-04-06T00:00:00Z XML In recent years, a number of natural products isolated from Chinese herbs have been found to inhibit proliferation, induce apoptosis, suppress angiogenesis, retard metastasis and enhance chemotherapy, exhibiting anti-cancer potential both in vitro and in vivo. This article summarizes recent advances in in vitro and in vivo research on the anti-cancer effects and related mechanisms of some promising natural products. These natural products are also reviewed for their therapeutic potentials, including flavonoids (gambogic acid, curcumin, wogonin and silibinin), alkaloids (berberine), terpenes (artemisinin, β-elemene, oridonin, triptolide, and ursolic acid), quinones (shikonin and emodin) and saponins (ginsenoside Rg3), which are isolated from Chinese medicinal herbs. In particular, the discovery of the new use of artemisinin derivatives as excellent anti-cancer drugs is also reviewed. http://www.cmjournal.org/content/6/1/27 Wen Tan Jinjian Lu Mingqing Huang Yingbo Li Meiwan Chen Guosheng Wu Jian Gong Zhangfeng Zhong Zengtao Xu Yuanye Dang Jiajie Guo Xiuping Chen Yitao Wang Chinese Medicine 2011, null:27 2011-07-22T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1749-8546-6-27 /content/figures/1749-8546-6-27-toc.gif Chinese Medicine 1749-8546 ${item.volume} 27 2011-07-22T00:00:00Z XML Curcumin has attracted great attention in the therapeutic arsenal in clinical oncology due to its chemopreventive, antitumoral, radiosensibilizing and chemosensibilizing activities against various types of aggressive and recurrent cancers. These malignancies include leukemias, lymphomas, multiple myeloma, brain cancer, melanoma and skin, lung, prostate, breast, ovarian, liver, gastrointestinal, pancreatic and colorectal epithelial cancers. Curcumin mediates its anti-proliferative, anti-invasive and apoptotic effects on cancer cells, including cancer stem/progenitor cells and their progenies, through multiple molecular mechanisms. The oncogenic pathways inhibited by curcumin encompass the members of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR and erbB2), sonic hedgehog (SHH)/GLIs and Wnt/β-catenin and downstream signaling elements such as Akt, nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs). In counterbalance, the high metabolic instability and poor systemic bioavailability of curcumin limit its therapeutic efficacy in human. Of great therapeutic interest, the selective delivery of synthetic analogs or nanotechnology-based formulations of curcumin to tumors, alone or in combination with other anticancer drugs, may improve their chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic efficacies against cancer progression and relapse. Novel curcumin formulations may also be used to reverse drug resistance, eradicate the total cancer cell mass and improve the anticarcinogenic efficacy of the current anti-hormonal and chemotherapeutic treatments for patients with various aggressive and lethal cancers. http://www.cmjournal.org/content/6/1/31 Murielle Mimeault Surinder Batra Chinese Medicine 2011, null:31 2011-08-23T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1749-8546-6-31 /content/figures/1749-8546-6-31-toc.gif Chinese Medicine 1749-8546 ${item.volume} 31 2011-08-23T00:00:00Z XML The therapeutic potential of ginseng has been studied extensively, and ginsenosides, the active components of ginseng, are shown to be involved in modulating multiple physiological activities. This article will review the structure, systemic transformation and bioavailability of ginsenosides before illustration on how these molecules exert their functions via interactions with steroidal receptors. The multiple biological actions make ginsenosides as important resources for developing new modalities. Yet, low bioavailability of ginsenoside is one of the major hurdles needs to be overcome to advance its use in clinical settings. http://www.cmjournal.org/content/5/1/20 Kar Wah Leung Alice Sze-Tsai Wong Chinese Medicine 2010, null:20 2010-06-11T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1749-8546-5-20 /content/figures/1749-8546-5-20-toc.gif Chinese Medicine 1749-8546 ${item.volume} 20 2010-06-11T00:00:00Z XML Background: There is a long history of coronary heart disease (CHD) diagnosis and treatment in Chinese medicine (CM), but a formalized description of CM knowledge is still unavailable. This study aims to analyze a set of CM clinical data, which is important and urgent. Methods: Relative associated density (RAD) was used to analyze the one-way links between the symptoms or syndromes or both. RAD results were further used in symptom selection. Results: Analysis of a dataset of clinical CHD diagnosis revealed some significant relationships, not only between syndromes but also between symptoms and syndromes. Using RAD to select symptoms based on different classifiers improved the accuracy of syndrome prediction. Compared with other traditional symptom selection methods, RAD provided a higher interpretability of the CM data. Conclusion: The RAD method is effective for CM clinical data analysis, particular for analysis of relationships between symptoms in diagnosis and generation of compact and comprehensible symptom feature subsets. http://www.cmjournal.org/content/7/1/9 Guo-Zheng Li Sheng Sun Mingyu You Ya-Lei Wang Guo-Ping Liu Chinese Medicine 2012, null:9 2012-04-05T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1749-8546-7-9 /content/figures/1749-8546-7-9-toc.gif Chinese Medicine 1749-8546 ${item.volume} 9 2012-04-05T00:00:00Z XML Background: Non-small cell lung cancer is associated with high expression of multidrug resistance (MDR) proteins and low production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Coptis extract (COP), a Chinese medicinal herb, and its major constituent, berberine (BER), have anticancer properties. This study aims to investigate the effects of COP and BER combined with chemotherapeutic agents, including fluorouracil (5-FU), camptothecin (CPT), and paclitaxel (TAX) on cell proliferation, ROS production, and MDR in A549 human non-small cell lung cancer cells. Methods: A549 cells were treated with different doses of COP and BER, combined with 5-FU, CPT, and TAX. Cell viability was measured by an XTT (2,3-bis-(2-methoxy-4- nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2 H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide) assay. Intracellular ROS levels were determined by measuring the oxidative conversion of cell permeable 2' ,7' -dichlorofluorescein diacetate to fluorescent dichlorofluorescein. MDR of A549 cells was assessed by rhodamine 123 retention assay. Results: Both COP and BER significantly inhibited A549 cell growth in a dose-dependent manner. Combinations of COP or BER with chemotherapeutic agents (5-FU, CPT, and TAX) exhibited a stronger inhibitory effect on A549 cell growth. In addition, COP and BER increased ROS production and reduced MDR in A549 cells. Conclusion: As potential adjuvants to chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer, COP and BER increase ROS production, reduce MDR, and enhance the inhibitory effects of chemotherapeutic agents on A549 cell growth. http://www.cmjournal.org/content/7/1/11 Chengwei He Rong Rong Jing Liu Jianbo Wan Keyuan Zhou Jing Kang Chinese Medicine 2012, null:11 2012-04-30T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1749-8546-7-11 /content/figures/1749-8546-7-11-toc.gif Chinese Medicine 1749-8546 ${item.volume} 11 2012-04-30T00:00:00Z PDF Selection of chemical markers is crucial for the quality control of herbal medicines, including authentication of genuine species, harvesting the best quality raw materials, evaluation of post-harvesting handling, assessment of intermediates and finished products, and detection of harmful or toxic ingredients. Ideal chemical markers should be the therapeutic components of herbal medicines. However, for most herbal medicines, the therapeutic components have not been fully elucidated or easily monitored. Bioactive, characteristic, main, synergistic, correlative, toxic and general components may be selected. This article reviews the effective use of chemical markers in the quality control of herbal medicines including the selection criteria considering the roles and physicochemical factors which may affect the effective use of chemical markers. http://www.cmjournal.org/content/3/1/7 Songlin Li Quanbin Han Chunfeng Qiao Jingzheng Song Chuen Lung Cheng Hongxi Xu Chinese Medicine 2008, null:7 2008-06-28T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1749-8546-3-7 /content/figures/1749-8546-3-7-toc.gif Chinese Medicine 1749-8546 ${item.volume} 7 2008-06-28T00:00:00Z XML Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees (Acanthaceae) is a medicinal plant used in many countries. Its major constituents are diterpenoids, flavonoids and polyphenols. Among the single compounds extracted from A. paniculata, andrographolide is the major one in terms of bioactive properties and abundance. Among the andrographolide analogues, 14-deoxy-11,12-didehydroandrographolide is immunostimulatory, anti-infective and anti-atherosclerotic; neoandrographolide is anti-inflammatory, anti-infective and anti-hepatotoxic; 14-deoxyandrographolide is immunomodulatory and anti-atherosclerotic. Among the less abundant compounds from A. paniculata, andrograpanin is both anti-inflammatory and anti-infective; 14-deoxy-14,15-dehydroandrographolide is anti-inflammatory; isoandrographolide, 3,19-isopropylideneandrographolide and 14-acetylandrographolide are tumor suppressive; arabinogalactan proteins are anti-hepatotoxic. The four flavonoids from A. paniculata, namely 7-O-methylwogonin, apigenin, onysilin and 3,4-dicaffeoylquinic acid are anti-atherosclerotic. http://www.cmjournal.org/content/5/1/17 Wen-Wan Chao Bi-Fong Lin Chinese Medicine 2010, null:17 2010-05-13T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1749-8546-5-17 /content/figures/1749-8546-5-17-toc.gif Chinese Medicine 1749-8546 ${item.volume} 17 2010-05-13T00:00:00Z XML Background: Red yeast rice (i.e., rice fermented with Monascus spp.), as a food supplement, is claimed to be blood cholesterol-lowering. The red yeast rice constituent monacolin K, also known as lovastatin, is an inhibitor of the hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase. This article aims to develop a sensitive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method to determine the total statin content of red yeast rice products. Methods: The total statin content was determined by a 400 MHz 1H NMR spectroscopic method, based on the integration of the multiplet at δ 5.37-5.32 ppm of a hydrogen at the hexahydronaphthalene moiety in comparison to an external calibration with lovastatin. The activity of HMG-CoA reductase was measured by a commercial spectrophotometric assay kit. Results: The NMR detection limit for total statins was 6 mg/L (equivalent to 0.3 mg/capsule, if two capsules are dissolved in 50 mL ethanol). The relative standard deviations were consistently lower than 11%. The total statin concentrations of five red yeast rice supplements were between 1.5 and 25.2 mg per specified daily dose. A dose-dependent inhibition of the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme activity by the red yeast rice products was demonstrated. Conclusion: A simple and direct NMR assay was developed to determine the total statin content in red yeast rice. The assay can be applied for the determination of statin content for the regulatory control of red yeast rice products. http://www.cmjournal.org/content/7/1/8 Dirk Lachenmeier Yulia Monakhova Thomas Kuballa Sigrid Lobell-Behrends Sibylle Maixner Matthias Kohl-Himmelseher Asja Waldner Christian Steffen Chinese Medicine 2012, null:8 2012-03-22T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1749-8546-7-8 /content/figures/1749-8546-7-8-toc.gif Chinese Medicine 1749-8546 ${item.volume} 8 2012-03-22T00:00:00Z XML Background: Flavonoids, a group of compounds mainly derived from vegetables and herbal medicines, chemically resemble estrogen and some have been used as estrogen substitutes. Kaempferol, a flavonol derived from the rhizome of Kaempferia galanga L., is a well-known phytoestrogen possessing osteogenic effects that is also found in a large number of plant foods.The herb K. galanga is a popular traditional aromatic medicinal plant that is widely used as food spice and in medicinal industries. In the present study, both the estrogenic and osteogenic properties of kaempferol are evaluated. Methods: Kaempferol was first evaluated for its estrogenic properties, including its effects on estrogen receptors. The osteogenic properties of kaempferol were further determined its induction effects on specific osteogenic enzymes and genes as well as the mineralization process in cultured rat osteoblasts. Results: Kaempferol activated the transcriptional activity of pERE-Luc (3.98 ± 0.31 folds at 50 μM) and induced estrogen receptor α (ERα) phosphorylation in cultured rat osteoblasts, and this ER activation was correlated with induction and associated with osteoblast differentiation biomarkers, including alkaline phosphatase activity and transcription of osteoblastic genes, e.g., type I collagen, osteonectin, osteocalcin, Runx2 and osterix. Kaempferol also promoted the mineralization process of osteoblasts (4.02 ± 0.41 folds at 50 μM). ER mediation of the kaempferol-induced effects was confirmed by pretreatment of the osteoblasts with an ER antagonist, ICI 182,780, which fully blocked the induction effect. Conclusion: Our results showed that kaempferol stimulates osteogenic differentiation of cultured osteoblasts by acting through the estrogen receptor signaling. http://www.cmjournal.org/content/7/1/10 Ava Jiangyang Guo Roy Chiyan Choi Ken Yuzhong Zheng Vicky Ping Chen Tina Tingxia Dong Zheng-Tao Wang Gunter Vollmer David Taiwai Lau Karl Wah-keung Tsim Chinese Medicine 2012, null:10 2012-04-30T00:00:00Z doi:10.1186/1749-8546-7-10 /content/figures/1749-8546-7-10-toc.gif Chinese Medicine 1749-8546 ${item.volume} 10 2012-04-30T00:00:00Z XML