Chinese Medicine最新文献

{"title":"Systematic identification of characteristic chemical constituents in Cistanches Herba from saline-alkali land based on hierarchical filtering of mass spectrometry data and spatial metabolomics technology.","authors":"Mengjiao Li, Yaqi Wang, Chenghao Bi, Ruifen Wang, Fengdan Guo, Guiqing Shen, Zihan Hu, Kairui Liu, Xinrui Li, Renwei Guan, Songsong Wang, Hao Zhong, Xingjun Wang, Liwen Han","doi":"10.1186/s13020-026-01526-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13020-026-01526-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The traditional habitat of the Chinese medicinal plant Cistanches Herba (CH) is the deserts of northwestern China. Recently, CH cultivation has been introduced to saline-alkali land (SAL) in the Yellow River delta region. However, the effects of this SAL environment on the accumulation of secondary metabolites in CH remain unclear.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>This research aims to systematically characterize the chemical profiles of CH grown in SAL and to identify key chemical markers associated with the SAL environment.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>CH samples were collected from both SAL and traditional sandy land (SL). Untargeted metabolomics was performed using ultra performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS) to characterize the global metabolic profiles of CH from two habitats. Chemical markers associated with SAL environments were screened via weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), targeted quantification by ultra performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-TQ-MS), and compound loading contributions of principal component analysis (PCA). Subsequently, desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging (DESI-MSI) was employed to visualize the in situ spatial distribution of partial screened constituents in mouse organs.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Untargeted UPLC-QTOF-MS metabolomics identified 74 chemical constituents from CH samples, including 40 phenylethanoid glycosides, 13 iridoid glycosides, 9 lignans, and other minor constituents. Orthogonal projections to latent structures-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) clearly separated the SAL and SL sample groups, with 30 constituents showing prominent contributions to the discrimination. WGCNA revealed 23 metabolites correlated with SAL. By integrating these two screening methods, 12 constituents were preliminarily selected as candidate markers associated with SAL. Subsequently, combining PCA loading coefficients (with the PCA model validated by Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and Bartlett's sphericity tests) and targeted UPLC-TQ-MS quantification, 4 constituents-verbascoside, echinacoside, isoacteoside, and pinoresinol- were ultimately identified as characteristic chemical markers, all exhibiting significantly higher levels in SAL samples. DESI-MSI results further demonstrated that echinacoside predominantly accumulated in brain tissue, whereas verbascoside or isoacteoside displayed the strongest ion signal in the lung.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study developed an integrated strategy that combines hierarchical filtering of mass spectrometry data to successfully identify 4 characteristic chemical markers of CH associated with SAL. This strategy provides a scientific basis for future quality control and resource development.</p>","PeriodicalId":10266,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Medicine","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149223369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Extract from Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. Leaves alleviates APAP-induced acute liver injury via reshaping gut microbiota and attenuating microbial bile acids metabolism disorder.","authors":"Dan He, Hai-Chao Zhang, Bing-Bing Shen, Di Zhao, Xue-Yang Tang, Jing Xie, Rong-Rong Zhou, Hong-Liang Zeng, Shui-Han Zhang","doi":"10.1186/s13020-026-01496-9","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13020-026-01496-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Increasing studies suggest that supplementing flavonoids from Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. Leaves (EUL) exerts liver protective effects via reshaping gut microbiota and regulating bile acids (BAs) metabolism. However, the relationship between EUL, gut microbiota and BAs metabolism remains unclear and the potential mechanisms of action has not been expounded clearly.</p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong>To demonstrate the important role of gut microbiota and microbial BAs metabolism in alleviation acetaminophen-induced liver injury (AILI) by EUL.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>AILI mice model was employed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of EUL. The hepatic function was assessed, and biological samples were collected for histopathological examination, bacterial 16S rRNA sequencing analysis, BAs-targeted metabolomics, and the evaluation of the intestinal barrier function. Additionally, antibiotic cocktail-triggered gut microbiota deficiency and fecal microbiome transplantation were investigated to the relationship of molecular mechanistic between the protective efficiency of EUL in AILI, gut microbiota, and the metabolism of microbial BAs.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>EUL alleviate liver damage, involving reduction of liver function index, down-regulation of inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress index, and restoration of pathological changes of liver tissue. EUL also improved intestinal barrier dysfunction and reshaped gut microflora dysbiosis in AILI mice. Moreover, antibiotic cocktail-triggered intestinal microbiota deficiency and fecal microbiome transplantation (FMT) evidenced that the liver protection of EUL was tightly related with gut microbiota. BAs-targeted metabolomics assay demonstrated that EUL mitigated the altered metabolism of microbial BAs during the development of AILI. EUL promoted the abundance of Firmicutes phylum, and elevating the beneficial microbes in Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae family, which were associated with up-regulated proportion of secondary bile acids (including DCA, NorDCA and 7-ketoLCA), leading to the reduction intestinal inflammation and preservation intestinal integrity. In particular, EUL enriched the beneficial microbes in Lachnoclostridium, Lachnospiraceae_UCG-006, [Eubacterium]_xylanophilum_group, Oscillibacter, Ruminiclostridium, and Desulfovibrio genera. Furthermore, EUL administration increased levels of CDCA, which could activate FXR-FGF15, enabling to decreased synthesis of BAs in the liver and promoting excretion.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>EUL supplementation alleviate AILI by reshaping the dysfunctional gut microbiota and attenuating disordered BAs metabolism, resulting to improvements in BAs enterohepatic circulation and gut barrier function. The mechanism may be closely related to the gut microbiome-BAs-FXR signaling in gut-liver axis.</p>","PeriodicalId":10266,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Medicine","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13670502/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149179707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Scalp acupuncture coupled with speech-language therapy modulates the ventral-dorsal structural brain network in patients with post-stroke anomia: a randomized clinical and DTI neuroimaging trial.","authors":"Jian Song, Ruiming Nan, Jinglei Ni, Linsong Chai, Lanlan Zhang, Mengxue Wang, Nizhuan Wang, Bingbing Lin, Jia Huang","doi":"10.1186/s13020-026-01501-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13020-026-01501-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Scalp acupuncture (SA) is used as adjunctive rehabilitation for post-stroke aphasia, but its effect on naming recovery and structural language-network changes remains unclear. We evaluated SA coupled with speech-language therapy (SLT) in patients with post-stroke anomia and explored diffusion tensor imaging markers of ventral-dorsal structural language networks.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This randomized controlled trial recruited 85 patients with post-stroke anomia and randomly assigned them to SA or control. Both groups received conventional stroke treatment and SLT; the SA group additionally received scalp acupuncture synchronously with SLT during needle retention. Treatment was delivered once daily, 5 days/week for 4 weeks. The primary outcome was WAB naming total score. Diffusion tensor imaging assessed white matter integrity and topological properties before and after treatment.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Compared to the control group, the SA group showed greater improvements in the WAB naming total score (P = 0.009), object naming, sentence completion, responsive speech, BNT spontaneous naming, and SAQOL-39 communication. In the ventral-dorsal structural network, the SA group showed smaller changes in the area under the curve (AUC) of small-worldness properties (P = 0.008) and normalized clustering coefficient (P = 0.017), and greater changes in clustering coefficient and local efficiency. In the SA group, the change in small-worldness was negatively correlated with the change in the WAB naming total score (r = -0.451, P = 0.027). The SA group also showed smaller axial diffusivity (AD) changes in the left uncinate fasciculus (P = 0.003, Bonferroni corrected), which correlated negatively with the WAB naming total score change (r = -0.440, P = 0.031). Exploratory adjusted regression showed that SA-group assignment was associated with greater naming improvement after adjustment for baseline naming and clinical covariates.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>SA coupled with SLT was associated with greater naming recovery in patients with post-stroke anomia. The benefit was accompanied by changes in structural language-network topology and white matter integrity, particularly involving the left UF. These findings support further evaluation of scalp acupuncture as an adjunct to language rehabilitation and suggest structural network plasticity as a relevant imaging correlate.</p>","PeriodicalId":10266,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Medicine","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13647535/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149135197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Large language models linking traditional Chinese medicine knowledge and clinical practice.","authors":"Chenyue Li, Xiaoli Zhang, Longjun Zhu, Bin Zhu, Chu Chu, Xiaodi Li, Yuening Yao, Yuqun Zeng, Jianlan Zheng","doi":"10.1186/s13020-026-01489-8","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13020-026-01489-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a complex medical system characterized by multi-source data, implicit knowledge representation, and syndrome-based diagnostic and therapeutic reasoning. With the increasing digitization of classical texts and clinical records, large language models (LLMs) have attracted growing interest as computational tools for organizing and utilizing knowledge related to TCM. However, existing studies remain scattered, and a comprehensive overview of data resources, modeling strategies, evaluation practices, and application scenarios is still lacking.</p><p><strong>Overview: </strong>In this review, we summarize current research on the application of LLMs in TCM based on published literature. We focus on commonly used data sources, including classical texts, clinical records, and related structured resources, and review representative modeling approaches such as knowledge-enhanced and multimodal methods. Domain-specific training and fine-tuning strategies, as well as reported evaluation practices, are also summarized. Furthermore, we review representative application scenarios described in the literature, including medical consultation support, syndrome differentiation assistance, prescription-related support, education, and research assistance. Key limitations, such as limited interpretability, safety concerns, and the lack of standardized evaluation frameworks, are discussed.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>By organizing existing studies along the workflow from data construction to model development, evaluation, and application, this review aims to clarify the current research landscape and highlight methodological challenges that should be addressed to support cautious and appropriate use of LLMs in TCM research and practice.</p>","PeriodicalId":10266,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Medicine","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13647801/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149135172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Berberine attenuates diabetic kidney injury via FOXO1/SP1-associated regulation of renal SGLT-2 expression.","authors":"Jingjing Pan, Xinhe Wang, Xinyuan Han, Hui Cheng, Fengyi Zhang, Yaxin Chen, Changnian Li, Xin Wang, Ziyang Cheng, Yu Zhang, Shuai Zhao, Wenbo Wang, Yahui Li, Yujie Li","doi":"10.1186/s13020-026-01533-7","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13020-026-01533-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Berberine (BBR), a plant-derived isoquinoline alkaloid, has been reported to exert anti-hyperglycemic and renoprotective effects. However, the mechanism by which BBR regulates renal glucose transport under diabetic conditions remains unclear. Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2), mainly expressed in renal proximal tubular epithelial cells, plays a key role in renal glucose reabsorption. This study investigated whether BBR attenuates diabetic kidney injury by regulating SGLT-2 expression and examined the potential involvement of FOXO1 and SP1 in this regulation.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Db/db mice and high-glucose-exposed human kidney-2 (HK-2) cells were used to evaluate the effects of BBR, empagliflozin (EM), and their combination. Metabolic and renal phenotypes were assessed by biochemical, histological, and ultrastructural analyses. Network pharmacology, public transcriptomic data mining, molecular docking, cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA), quantitative real-time PCR, western blotting, immunofluorescence, nuclear-cytoplasmic fractionation, co-immunoprecipitation, 2-NBDG uptake, dual-luciferase reporter assays, FOXO1 overexpression, and pharmacological interference with SP1-associated regulation were performed to investigate the regulatory mechanism.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Both BBR and EM improved metabolic abnormalities and renal injury in db/db mice, whereas combined treatment produced marked metabolic and renal improvements but was accompanied by an increasing trend in AST. BBR reduced hyperglycemia, improved glucose tolerance and enhanced the glucose-lowering response to exogenous insulin during the ITT, suppressed urinary albumin excretion, and alleviated renal histopathological and ultrastructural damage. Molecular docking and qualitative CETSA findings suggested that FOXO1 may represent a potential molecular target of BBR. In HK-2 cells, high-glucose stimulation increased SGLT-2 expression and glucose uptake, accompanied by dysregulation of FOXO1 and SP1 signaling. BBR downregulated FOXO1 and SGLT-2, restored SP1 and phosphorylated FOXO1 levels, and reduced glucose uptake under high-glucose conditions. FOXO1 overexpression attenuated the BBR-induced reduction in SGLT-2 expression, whereas pharmacological interference with SP1-associated regulation further supported the functional involvement of SP1 in SGLT-2 regulation.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>BBR attenuates diabetic kidney injury, at least in part, through FOXO1/SP1-associated regulation of renal SGLT-2 expression. These findings support the involvement of a FOXO1/SP1-associated regulatory axis in renal tubular glucose handling under diabetic conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":10266,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Medicine","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13621674/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149079636","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Structural characterization of an RG-II-associated complex pectic polysaccharide from Typha angustifolia pollen with dendritic cell-modulating activity.","authors":"Yongbin Xu, Mengya Guo, Yupeng Liu, Jie Chen, Songshan Shi, Chenchen Shi, Shunchun Wang, Huijun Wang","doi":"10.1186/s13020-026-01515-9","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13020-026-01515-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Pectic polysaccharides from medicinal plants are promising natural immunomodulators, but their structural heterogeneity has hindered the identification of bioactive domains and limited their further development. The structural basis underlying their regulation of dendritic cell-mediated immune responses remains poorly understood.</p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong>This study aimed to characterize PTPS-1-3, a pectic polysaccharide isolated from Typha angustifolia pollen, and evaluate its effects on dendritic cell maturation and antigen-specific T-cell activation.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>PTPS-1-3 was characterized by molecular weight determination, monosaccharide composition analysis, methylation analysis, multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and partial acid hydrolysis. Its immunomodulatory activity was evaluated in bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) by assessing cell viability, maturation markers, cytokine secretion, and phagocytic capacity. Transcriptomic analysis and an OT-I co-culture system were used to investigate the underlying pathways and antigen-specific CD8⁺ T-cell responses. Structure-activity relationships were explored by comparison with a partial acid hydrolysate and a homogalacturonan-type polysaccharide.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>PTPS-1-3 was an approximately 10 kDa pectic polysaccharide composed mainly of rhamnose, arabinose, xylose, galactose, and galacturonic acid. It contained homogalacturonan regions, arabinogalactan-II-rich side chains, and rhamnogalacturonan-II-associated motifs. PTPS-1-3 promoted BMDC maturation without detectable cytotoxicity, as shown by increased CD40, CD80, and CD86 expression, enhanced TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 secretion, and reduced phagocytic capacity. Transcriptomic analysis revealed enrichment of antigen processing and presentation pathways. PTPS-1-3-treated BMDCs further enhanced antigen-specific CD8⁺ T-cell activation, proliferation, and IFN-γ and TNF-α production. Comparative analysis suggested that the immunomodulatory activity of PTPS-1-3 may be associated with its intact and complex branched pectic architecture, although differences in molecular weight may also contribute to the observed activity.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>PTPS-1-3 promotes BMDC maturation and enhances subsequent antigen-specific CD8⁺ T-cell responses. Its immunomodulatory activity may be associated with the integrity and complexity of its pectic architecture, while the contribution of molecular weight and individual structural features requires further clarification.</p>","PeriodicalId":10266,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Medicine","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13617767/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149069052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Astragaloside IV improves MASLD via GCN5-LXRα/SREBP1c signaling pathway-mediated hepatic de novo lipogenesis.","authors":"Hui-Mei Liang, Yin-Yue Xu, Kun Miao, Hai-Tao Xiao, Yong-Dan Wang, Jing Jin, He Wu, Bao-Yi Chen, Li-Jun Xu, Jiang-Ping Zhu, Li-Na Lai, Zu-Guo Zheng","doi":"10.1186/s13020-026-01491-0","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13020-026-01491-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Astragaloside IV (AS-IV), a bioactive saponin from Astragalus membranaceus, shows promise for treating metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), though its mechanisms remain unclear.</p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong>This study aimed to elucidate how AS-IV alleviates hepatic steatosis, specifically investigating its epigenetic regulation of lipogenesis.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Using high-fat diet-fed mice and lipids-loaded hepatocytes, we assessed AS-IV's effects through SREBP-1c overexpression, histone acetylation analysis, and GCN5 rescue experiments.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>AS-IV significantly reduced hepatic steatosis by suppressing SREBP-1c-mediated de novo lipogenesis. Mechanistically, it inhibited histone acetyltransferase GCN5, decreasing H3K9/H3K14 acetylation at the SREBP-1c promoter and attenuating LXRα-driven transcription. GCN5 overexpression reversed AS-IV's suppression of SREBP-1c and lipid accumulation.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>AS-IV uniquely downregulates GCN5 expression at the transcriptional level, exerting epigenetic regulation to disrupts lipogenic programming, This represents a novel multi-target approach against MASLD that connects natural product pharmacology with epigenetic modulation.</p>","PeriodicalId":10266,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Medicine","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13617935/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149069296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Natural product therapy in diabetic kidney disease: emerging multiomics-mediated signalling pathway and molecular target.","authors":"Kai-En Wang, Qing-Qing Yu, Wen-Feng Wang, Yan-Ni Wang, Jie Yang, Hua Miao, Li-Min Liu, Ying-Yong Zhao","doi":"10.1186/s13020-026-01511-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13020-026-01511-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is one of the most common microvascular complications of diabetes, with high mortality and morbidity, and is a major cause of progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Although inhibitors or blockers of renin-angiotensin system blockers have a beneficial effect on the treatment of DKD, most patients progress to ESRD and ultimately require renal replacement therapies. Extensive studies have suggested that natural products, as a mainly new drug source, has been demonstrated to be an important therapy for the prevention and treatment of DKD. Based on genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics technologies, the dysregulation of targeting multiomics-associated gut microbiota, non-coding RNAs, altered proteome and endogenous metabolites has recognized as a promising therapy for DKD. This review summarizes natural products, including traditional Chinese medicine formulas (Qitu Qushi formula, Jin Gui Ren Qi Pill and Huangkui capsules), single herbal extracts (Salvia miltiorrhiza, Korean red ginseng, Abelmoschus manihot flowers) and natural compounds (magnesium lithospermate B, thonningianin A germacrone, triptolide, hesperetin, astragaloside IV, icariin and kaempferol) as well as natural polysaccharides, protect against DKD by regulating novel multiomics-associated molecular mechanisms, including gut microbiota dysbiosis, aberrant non-coding RNAs transcription, and disorder of endogenous metabolites and associated with downstream diverse signals, such as IκB/NF-κB, JAK/STAT, MAPK and NLRP3-mediated inflammation pathways, AGEs/RAGE and Keap1/Nrf2-mediated oxidative stress pathways, PI3K/AKT/mTOR, AMPK and endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated energy/autophagy pathways and TGF-β/Smad and Wnt/β-catenin-mediated fibrosis pathways. Therefore, the underlying molecular mechanism by which natural products ameliorate DKD by reshaping GM dysbiosis, restoring aberrant expression of ncRNAs and regulating metabolite disorder will provide new therapeutic targets for treatment of DKD of natural products. These findings expand our understanding of therapeutic effects of natural products on DKD and provide valuable information for clinical application of natural products. This review presents a concept-driven therapeutic strategy for DKD treatment and management.</p>","PeriodicalId":10266,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Medicine","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13599269/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149029922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From art to metrics: a closed-loop framework for quantifying dose, manipulation, and feedback.","authors":"Wen-Chao Tang, Da-Eun Yoon, Younbyoung Chae","doi":"10.1186/s13020-026-01492-z","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13020-026-01492-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The clinical effects of acupuncture depend heavily on its physical parameters, particularly treatment dose and needling technique. Yet these parameters are still poorly standardized in both research and clinical settings. This reproducibility, hinders interpretation of findings, and complicates practitioner training. In this article we synthesize recent work together to propose a closed-loop framework for precision acupuncture, organized around three linked stages. The input stage defines dose mainly in terms of stimulation intensity and translates traditional diagnostic reasoning into a small set of measurable manipulation parameters. The process stage concerns how that stimulation is physically delivered, how it can be quantified through kinematic metrics, and how it can be taught through sensorimotor training. The control stage uses deqi as a real-time feedback signal, while candidate pretreatment biomarkers are considered as feedforward modifiers for initial dose selection. Taken together, these developments support a more quantitative and technology-assisted approach that preserve traditional clinical reasoning while making acupuncture delivery measurable and reproducible.</p>","PeriodicalId":10266,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Medicine","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13595726/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149024023","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"FuTCM-PDD: a multi-level information fusion framework integrating KAN modeling and AutoML for phenotype-based drug discovery from Traditional Chinese Medicine.","authors":"Zewen Wang, Yanxia Liu, Yue Ren, Qun Li, Jiaye Tian, Bin Yu, Yuezhong Zhu, Jiaqi Wang, Miao Li, Liansheng Qiao, Yanling Zhang","doi":"10.1186/s13020-026-01490-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13020-026-01490-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Phenotype-based drug discovery has attracted increasing attention due to its critical role in first-in-class drug development and higher clinical translation rates. Chinese Materia Medica (CMM), with its emphasis on properties and efficacies, provides a unique framework for phenotype-oriented therapeutic discovery. We developed an AI-driven framework, FuTCM-PDD, that integrates CMMs, compounds, targets, pathways, pharmacological effects, CMM efficacies, and CMM properties to enable phenotype-based drug discovery. For drug-target interaction (DTI) prediction, a Kolmogorov-Arnold Network (KAN) model with circle loss optimization was established, outperforming the best baseline by 16.14% in Recall@10 and validated by literature, databases, and molecular docking. In addition, an Automated Machine Learning (AutoML) framework integrating 168 machine learning algorithms was implemented using pharmacological effects to predict CMM properties and efficacies. By integrating model predictions of targets, pharmacological effects, properties, and efficacies, covering 809,645 associations across 7141 CMM herbs, 30,731 compounds, 4321 targets, 40 pharmacological effects, 18 properties, and 18 efficacies, we constructed a multi-layer biological network centered on CMM properties and efficacies. The integrative network was validated via randomization analyses, establishing its biological significance and enabling quantitative mappings across CMM herbs, compounds, targets, pharmacological effects, and CMM phenotypic concepts through network-topology metrics, information-flow modeling, and randomized perturbation embedding. Using an approach distinct from conventional network pharmacology, the FuTCM-PDD identified a lipid-lowering pharmacological effect of Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix (NRR, Qianghuo) and its active compounds, which were experimentally validated using an in vitro hepatic steatosis model. FuTCM-PDD provides an AI-assisted framework for phenotype-based discovery of potential drug candidates from CMM through multi-level data fusion, helping move beyond the recurrent prioritization of commonly reported associations in conventional network pharmacology and supporting the identification of pharmacologically relevant candidate compounds associated with specific phenotypic contexts.</p>","PeriodicalId":10266,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Medicine","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13591747/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149012017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}