| Part 1 Gurigumu-7 is an important traditional compound medicine frequently used for liver diseases. This research was to investigate the hepatoprotective effects of Gurigumu-7 and its bioactive fraction (MF) using CCl4-induced liver damage in mice. The changes of bile acid levels in serum and the chemical constituents of MF were analyzed by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS). Pretreated orally with MF (66,132 and 264 mg/kg) once a day for four days dose-dependently suppressed CCl4-induced mice liver histopathological changes and serum aminotransferase activities, for alanine transaminase (ALT):2766.0±1909.7U/L,1929.0±799.8U/L, and 1144.0±787.2U/L (compared to 2461.8±1072.7U/Lin the control group, P<0.05), for aspartate transaminase(AST):2482.8±1853.3U/L 1748.0±694.8U/L, and 1173±785.3U/L (compared to 2506.6± 1140.7U/L in the control group, P<0.01). Compared with CCl4 group (75.75±5.37 U/mg protein), the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) of MF groups increased:82.46±15.48U/mg protein,93.39±40.91U/mg protein,108.19±30.32U/mg protein(P<0.01). However, decreased levels of malonyldialdehyde (MDA) were observed in the MF treated groups (19.31±6.58nmol/mg protein (P<0.01),8.58±1.11 nmol/mg protein (P<0.01), and 7.68±1.95nmol/mg protein, P<0.01) compared with CCl4 group (44.32±16.68 nmol/mg protein)(Multiple comparisons were performed by t-test. A value of p,0.05 was considered statistically significant.).Quantification of 4 taurine conjugated bile acids in the serum revealed that the serum levels of bile acids in MF and silymarin groups were much higher than in normal group. More than 30 chemical constituents were quantified, and MF was found to be rich in ellagic acid (297.97 mg/g), luteolin and its glucosides (35.10 mg/g), apigenin and its glucosides (>30 mg/g), ursolic acid (14.91 mg/g), bidenoside C (8.75 mg/g), and proanthocyanidins (15.64 mg/g in proanthocyanidin A2 equivalent). Compared with Gurigumu-7, MF had reduced dosage volume and decreased number of constituents, which made MF a promising bioactive fraction for the development of new hepatoprotective medicine with better formulation and quality control properties.Part 2 Cynomorium songaricum is an achlorophyllous holoparasite that is distributed in the north-western part of China. In this research some products were prepared from C. songaricium. Dried stems of C. songaricium were chopped into particles with diameter around 3 mm and extracted with 95%ethanol. Triterpene chewable tablets were prepared with the ethanol extract containing triterpenoid constituents of C. songaricium. The formula was determined as:30%ethanol extract of C songaricium,15%milk powder,17%sugar powder,27%corn starch, 10%microcrystalline cellulose,0.22%glycyrrhizic acid,0.78%citric acid and so on. The defatted C. songaricium were divided into two portions. One portion was treated with cysteine and vitamin C solution and the other portion was treated with distilled water for 48 h at 60 ℃. Then the residues were collected by filtration and washed with distilled water. After being dried, physical properties of the dietary fibers were measured. The water retention capability and hydration capability of the dietary fibers pretreated with cysteine or without cysteine were 9.20,5.83 gram and 7.5,4.4 mL per water gram product, respectively. These data indicated that the dietary fiber pretreated with cysteine is better in quality than that pretreated with water. |
