Chinese Herbal Medicines最新文献

{"title":"Liuwei Kangguan Formula: Mechanism-driven and computation-assisted optimization from Xuanfei Baidu Formula for combating SARS-CoV-2 infection","authors":"Sijia Yu,&nbsp;Bin Liu,&nbsp;Xuanxuan Li,&nbsp;Guofang Shen,&nbsp;Ronghua Zhao,&nbsp;Qinhai Ma,&nbsp;Yi Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.08.019","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.08.019","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>To advance mechanism-driven optimization of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulas for modern drug development, a computation assisted strategy integrating multiple reporter assays with network topology analysis was proposed. The strategy was applied to simplify Xuanfei Baidu Formula (XFBD), a clinically approved anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), to generate the optimized Liuwei Kangguan Formula (LWKG).</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>An integrated transcriptomic analysis of public corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) datasets was applied to identify core targets. Reporter models evaluating these targets were established and evaluated through time-sequential agonist exposure and chemical interferences. These models were then used to screen for active components in XFBD, based on which a formula-herb-compound tripartite network was constructed and analyzed with seven topological algorithms. The prioritized nodes guided the formulation of the optimized preparation, LWKG. LWKG was then evaluated through chemical profiling and pharmacological experiments.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Transcriptomic analysis identified nuclear factor-<em>κ</em>B (NF-<em>κ</em>B), activator protein-1 (AP-1), and interferon-stimulated response element (ISRE) as key transcriptional regulators mediating anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune responses. Triple reporter models were then constructed, which demonstrated temporal activation and crosstalk among the three pathways. Subsequently, 20 serum-available compounds and nine herbal extracts were identified as potential active substances from 77 tested substances of XFBD, and six core components were prioritized to prepare LWKG. LWKG retained 62.1% of phytochemical features in XFBD. Besides, it demonstrated pharmacological activities in modulating antiviral innate immunity, inhibiting replication of SARS-CoV-2 subtypes, and alleviating pneumonia in SARS-CoV-2 or human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43) infected mice.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Through our strategy the composition of XFBD was simplified while maintaining immunomodulatory and antiviral efficacy. This study provided a feasible framework combining wet-lab and <em>in silico</em> experiments for optimizing TCM formulas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9916,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Herbal Medicines","volume":"18 4","pages":"Pages 868-886"},"PeriodicalIF":11.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149204852","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A phenotype-molecule transfer learning model: Clinical analysis and mechanistic insights of Yinqiao Qingre Tablet in wind-heat syndrome common cold intervention","authors":"Tingyu Zhang,&nbsp;Boyang Wang,&nbsp;Dingfan Zhang,&nbsp;Pei Liu,&nbsp;Zhaoyong Zhou,&nbsp;Qinhua Fan,&nbsp;Lei Wang,&nbsp;Rongrong He,&nbsp;Lihao Xiao,&nbsp;Liang Cao,&nbsp;Zhenzhong Wang,&nbsp;Wenquan Su,&nbsp;Shengxian Wu,&nbsp;Weibo Zhao,&nbsp;Qingyuan Liu,&nbsp;Wei Xiao,&nbsp;Shao Li,&nbsp;Yongyan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.08.021","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.08.021","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>With the advent of the precision medicine era, personalized treatment is becoming an increasingly important trend. However, despite the vast amounts of electronic medical records (EMR) data available, predicting an individual patient’s genetic profile remains a significant challenge. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) may provide valuable insights into personalized precision medicine. This study aimed to develop a global prediction of syndrome/phenotype-molecule association within personalization (GPS-MAP) model for personalized syndrome/phenotype-molecule association prediction and to evaluate its potential application in identifying new clinical indications and underlying mechanisms of TCM formulas.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>GPS-MAP integrates transfer learning, a multi-head mutual-attention mechanism, and large language models (LLMs) for personalized text descriptions. The model was pre-trained on diverse disease/phenotype data and subsequently fine-tuned using a limited TCM syndrome dataset. GPS-MAP was then combined with network target analysis to compare the potential therapeutic advantages of two clinically used TCM formulas and identify potential new clinical subtypes. The computational predictions were further evaluated by clinical Meta-analyses. Finally, <em>in vivo</em> experiments combined with multi-omics analyses were performed to investigate the mechanisms associated with key phenotypes of the newly identified indication.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>GPS-MAP achieved up to a 39.2% improvement in accuracy compared with two widely used TCM syndrome-molecule association prediction tools, SymMap and SoFDA. Using GPS-MAP and network target analysis, this study identified potential advantages of a TCM formula for treating wind-heat syndrome common cold (WHCC) compared with another clinically used formula and identified a new clinical subtype potentially responsive to this formula. Clinical Meta-analyses supported these predictions, demonstrating a significant clinical advantage of the formula in treating WHCC (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.001) and significantly higher efficacy of YQQRT in the newly identified subtype (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.05). Multi-omics analyses from <em>in vivo</em> experiments further indicated that the formula exerted multi-target effects primarily through restoration of immune regulation.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>GPS-MAP provides a framework for personalized syndrome/phenotype-molecule association prediction by integrating transfer learning, attention mechanisms, and LLM-derived textual representations. Its application identified a potentially advantageous treatment and a new clinical subtype, while mechanistic analyses suggested that the associated therapeutic effects involve 14–3-3/forkhead box O1 (FOXO1)-centered signaling and the regulation of immune cell homeostasis, maturation, differentiation, and tracking.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9916,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Herbal Medicines","volume":"18 4","pages":"Pages 852-867"},"PeriodicalIF":11.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149204918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Qingfei Paidu Granules for SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection in children: A randomized controlled trial","authors":"Jijun Li,&nbsp;Hongliang Dong,&nbsp;Mingyu Tang,&nbsp;Jilei Lin,&nbsp;Lan Li,&nbsp;Yan Ma,&nbsp;Nannan Shi,&nbsp;Jian Gao","doi":"10.1016/j.chmed.2025.09.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chmed.2025.09.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>To evaluate the short-term efficacy and safety of Qingfei Paidu (QFPD) Granules as an alternative therapeutic option for children infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Fifty-two children with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection were randomly divided into a treatment group (<em>n</em> = 26) treated with QFPD Granules and a control group (<em>n</em> = 26) treated with ibuprofen at Shanghai Children’s Medical Center from May 15 to June 8, 2022. In the trial, the short-term efficacy and safety were investigated and evaluated by assessing symptoms, the duration of symptom recovery, and liver or renal function after treatment.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Forty-four children (QFPD Granules group, <em>n</em> = 21; control group, <em>n</em> = 23) completed the trial out of the 52 participants initially enrolled. Compared with the control group, the QFPD Granules group exhibited significantly shorter fever duration (<em>P</em> = 0.003 1) and inpatient duration (<em>P</em> = 0.005 3); however, no statistically significant differences were observed in peak fever duration or the duration of SARS-CoV-2 positivity between mild and severe cases. Additionally, no significant differences were observed in the improvement of other clinical symptoms, such as cough duration, sore throat, myalgia, malaise, or poor appetite, between the two groups. Both groups experienced comparable rates of clinical complications and side effects, including nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, stomach or abdominal pain, and skin itching or erythema. Laboratory analyses revealed no significant changes in white blood cell (WBC) count, C-reactive protein (CRP) levels returning to normal ranges, or evidence of liver damage as indicated by alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) levels. Furthermore, no significant renal damage was observed based on blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine levels.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The QFPD Granules are safe and effective in improving symptoms, reducing the duration of symptom recovery, and shortening the presence of viral nucleic acid in children infected with the Omicron BA.2 variant of SARS-CoV-2.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9916,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Herbal Medicines","volume":"18 4","pages":"Pages 1034-1040"},"PeriodicalIF":11.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149204936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Parthenolide ameliorated gout-like inflammation by inhibiting activation of NLRP3 inflammasome","authors":"Yonghong Cheng,&nbsp;Yinjing Jiang,&nbsp;Hui Wang,&nbsp;Haoqing Zhu,&nbsp;Yanling Wu,&nbsp;Jixing Nan,&nbsp;Lihua Lian","doi":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.06.016","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.06.016","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>Crystals of monosodium urate (MSU) are the cause of gout, a common inflammatory disease. Parthenolide (Par), sesquiterpene lactone, derived from feverfew (<em>Pyrethrum parthenium</em>), possesses potent analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties. However, it remains elusive whether and how Par modulates gout. This research was designed to explore the therapeutic effect and mechanism of Par in acute gout.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Chondrocytes from rat knee joint and mouse peritoneal macrophages (MPMs) were stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) plus MSU. Combination of yeast extract (YE) with oxygen oxyazine (OXO) was administered to mice to simulate hyperuricemia. MSU crystals were injected into the mice’s paws or subcutaneously into the mice’s backs to establish acute gouty models.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Par blocked the activation of NOD-Like Receptor Pyrin Domains 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome by reducing the expression and release of inflammatory mediators in gouty mice and LPS plus MSU-stimulated MPMs, LPS plus MSU-stimulated chondrocytes as well. Par also promoted phagocytosis abilities of MPMs and chondrocytes to reduce inflammation. In addition, Par dose-dependently reduced the serum levels of uric acid (UA), xanthine oxidase (XOD), creatinine (CRE), and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and ameliorated renal injury in mice with hyperuricemia.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Par ameliorated uric acid metabolism disorders of hyperuricemia, and improved acute gout-like inflammation through the inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome activation, indicating that Par may be a promising candidate for gout-targeted therapy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9916,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Herbal Medicines","volume":"18 4","pages":"Pages 1007-1021"},"PeriodicalIF":11.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149204937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"HerbWise: A domain-specific large language model for traditional herbal medicine","authors":"Wenke Xiao,&nbsp;Qian Cheng,&nbsp;Yufei Mao,&nbsp;Petter Zhang,&nbsp;Chi Song,&nbsp;Sanyin Zhang,&nbsp;Qiushi Li,&nbsp;Bin Wang,&nbsp;Wei Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.02.010","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.02.010","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>Traditional herbal medicine (THM) plays a vital role in global healthcare, contributing significantly to health maintenance, disease prevention, and chronic illness management. Despite its widespread use, the modernization of THM faces significant challenges, including the lack of standardized methodologies and insufficient scientific validation. To bridge these gaps, this study presents HerbWise, a large language model (LLM) specifically designed for THM research and applications.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Built upon the ChatGLM3-6B framework, HerbWise integrates multidisciplinary knowledge from a high-quality dataset of 748 041 curated entries, encompassing herbal origins, medicinal parts, clinical applications, genomic data, and chemical constituents. HerbWise is trained using a multi-stage approach that combines pre-training, supervised fine-tuning (SFT), and reinforcement learning with human feedback (RLHF), enabling deep analysis and cross-disciplinary integration of THM knowledge. Additionally, HerbWise incorporates a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) framework, enhancing its capabilities in compound interpretation, absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) prediction, and knowledge-based question answering.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Comprehensive benchmarking and case studies demonstrate that HerbWise outperforms existing general-purpose and domain-specific models across multiple traditional herbal medicine tasks. It not only accurately answers complex domain-specific knowledge questions but also effectively supports compound property prediction, demonstrating robust knowledge integration and reasoning capabilities. These functions are delivered through a user-friendly web interface (<span><span>https://cbcb.cdutcm.edu.cn/HerbWise/</span><svg><path></path></svg></span>) to support real-world applications.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>By establishing a new standard for intelligent THM integration, this work underscores the transformative potential of LLMs in driving the scientific validation and global adoption of traditional medicine.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9916,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Herbal Medicines","volume":"18 4","pages":"Pages 820-834"},"PeriodicalIF":11.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149204897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Systematic review of traditional Chinese medicine in treatment of dizziness","authors":"Charlotte McMahon,&nbsp;Chris Zaslawski,&nbsp;Vanessa Vigar,&nbsp;Nicole Hannan,&nbsp;Sophia Gerontakos,&nbsp;Janet Schloss","doi":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.08.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.08.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Dizziness is a chronic condition that can significantly impact an individual’s quality of life (QoL) and increase risk of falls. It is characterised by a sense of environmental motion and loss of balance. It has been proposed that Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) can be used to effectively treat dizziness. This systematic literature review aims to evaluate the effectiveness of CHM on symptoms of dizziness and QoL. PubMed, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED) databases were searched between January 2010 to April 2025. Included studies were RCTs that assessed CHM for the treatment of dizziness. Non-RCTs, animal studies, <em>in vitro</em> studies, case reports and review articles were excluded. Primary outcome measures included overall treatment effectiveness, dizziness handicap inventory (DHI), total number of vertigo attacks, total number of days with vertigo attacks and severity of symptoms. A total of ten RCTs were included in this review, all studies used Chinese medicine diagnostic criteria and approached the treatment of dizziness from a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) aetiology. Control interventions differed between studies with some using a placebo while others used experimental and/or positive controls. Duration of treatment ranged from 10 days to 16 weeks. All studies individually found CHM to be clinically effective in the treatment of dizziness (60%–90%) with improvements in symptom severity and QoL. No <em>meta</em>-analysis was conducted due to the high heterogeneity among studies. Safety and tolerability of CHM was high, however adverse event reporting was absent or minimal, limiting the depth of safety analysis. CHM has the potential to be safe and effective long-term treatment option in the management of patients experiencing acute and chronic presentation of dizziness.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9916,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Herbal Medicines","volume":"18 4","pages":"Pages 926-938"},"PeriodicalIF":11.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149204919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Total secondary saponins from Anemone raddeana suppress pancreatic cancer via Caspase-3/GSDME-mediated pyroptosis","authors":"Luanwei Han,&nbsp;Mingshu Li,&nbsp;Qiao Li,&nbsp;Anqi Lu,&nbsp;Chongning Lv,&nbsp;Yang Yu,&nbsp;Jincai Lu","doi":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.06.010","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.06.010","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>Pancreatic cancer (PC) is highly lethal and resistant to current therapies, underscoring the need for novel strategies that target regulated cell death. This study aimed to evaluate the anti-PC efficacy of total secondary saponins (TSS) from <em>Anemone raddeana</em> and elucidate the mechanism by which TSS induces pyroptosis.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>TSS components were characterized by mass spectrometry. Anti-tumor effects were assessed <em>in vitro</em> using human pancreatic cancer cell lines (PANC-1 and AsPC-1 cells) and <em>in vivo</em> using xenograft mouse model. Integrated multi-omics analyses (network pharmacology, proteomics, metabolomics, bioinformatics) identified core components, targets, and pathways. Key findings were validated by molecular docking, immunohistochemistry, and Western blotting.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Mass spectrometry identified 17 C-3 monosaccharide triterpenoid saponins in TSS. Both <em>in vitro</em> and <em>in vivo</em> models confirmed that TSS can significantly inhibit PC cell proliferation by inducing pyroptosis through the Caspase-3/gasdermin E (GSDME) pathway. Multi-omics highlighted hederacolchiside A1 as a core compound and revealed its regulation of inflammation, proliferation, and oxidative stress through the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) and nuclear factor-<em>κ</em>B (NF-<em>κ</em>B) signaling pathways. Molecular docking and Western blotting analysis confirmed activation of downstream pyroptosis mechanisms.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>This study demonstrates that TSS suppresses PC progression by regulating Caspase-3/GSDME-mediated pyroptosis through modulation of PI3K/Akt and NF-<em>κ</em>B signaling pathways, supporting its potential as a novel therapeutic candidate for PC.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9916,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Herbal Medicines","volume":"18 4","pages":"Pages 993-1006"},"PeriodicalIF":11.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149204921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Alkaloid extract of Chuanxiong Rhizoma alleviates liver fibrosis by regulating calcium ion communication between endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria","authors":"Jiaorong Qu,&nbsp;Kaihong Xie,&nbsp;Zixuan Huo,&nbsp;Jianan Li,&nbsp;Le Wang,&nbsp;Xiaojiaoyang Li","doi":"10.1016/j.chmed.2025.09.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chmed.2025.09.002","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Objective&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;To decipher the anti-fibrosis effects and mechanisms of alkaloid extract of &lt;em&gt;Chuanxiong Rhizoma&lt;/em&gt; (CX&lt;sub&gt;AL&lt;/sub&gt;) by modulating endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondrial disorders through combination of network pharmacological methods with molecular biology.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Methods&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;After identifying the components of CX&lt;sub&gt;AL&lt;/sub&gt; through UHPLC-HRMS, a bile duct ligation (BDL)-induced liver fibrosis mouse model was established and CX&lt;sub&gt;AL&lt;/sub&gt; was administered in a dose gradient as 5, 10 and 20 mg/kg. Then, liver serum level, expression analysis of liver fibrosis-related genes, pathological staining and immunofluorescence (IF) staining were performed to detect the efficacy of CX&lt;sub&gt;AL&lt;/sub&gt;. Based on target sets from open online databases, network pharmacology and cell type enrichment analysis were performed to locate the pathways and the cell type targeted by CX&lt;sub&gt;AL&lt;/sub&gt;. Furthermore, qPCR, immunofluorescence, ROS-related assays, Mito-SOX, mitochondrial-associated ER membrane (MAM) identification, and calcium ion (Ca&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt;) flux detection techniques were applied &lt;em&gt;in vitro&lt;/em&gt; to evaluate the efficacy of CX&lt;sub&gt;AL&lt;/sub&gt; on the ER, mitochondria, and MAMs in AML12 cells following DCA treatment.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Results&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;Serological and hepatic histopathological findings indicated the administration of CX&lt;sub&gt;AL&lt;/sub&gt; significantly reduced BDL-increased plasma hyaluronic acid (HA), laminin (LN), total bile acids (TBA) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels, pro-fibrotic markers and liver histopathological changes during liver fibrosis. A total of 57 common targets between the 206 targets of represented CX&lt;sub&gt;AL&lt;/sub&gt; components from TCMSP Database/DrugBank Database and 500 targets associated wtih liver fibrosis from the Gene Cards database were enriched in ER/mitochondrial-related pathways and were specifically localized to hepatocytes in liver. Further &lt;em&gt;in vivo&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;in vitro&lt;/em&gt; investigations revealed that CX&lt;sub&gt;AL&lt;/sub&gt; ameliorated ER stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, MAMs structural damage and aberrant Ca&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt; flux. Mechanistically, as MAMs serve as a bridge for Ca&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt; communication between the ER and the mitochondria, it found that CX&lt;sub&gt;AL&lt;/sub&gt; might inhibit Ca&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt; flux from the ER to the mitochondria through the MAM-associated component, inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor type 1 (ITPR1). Meanwhile, CX&lt;sub&gt;AL&lt;/sub&gt; upregulated mitofusin 2 (MFN2) to promote the retrieval of Ca&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt; from the mitochondria into the ER, thus reducing the accumulation of Ca&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt; in the mitochondria.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;div&gt;The administration of CX&lt;sub&gt;AL&lt;/sub&gt; exhibits notable anti-fibrotic properties in the BDL-induced mouse model. The protective effects of CX&lt;sub&gt;AL&lt;/sub&gt; on the ER stress and mitochondrial dysfunction can be attributed to the restoration of Ca&lt;sup&gt;2+&lt;/sup&gt; influx between the ER and the mit","PeriodicalId":9916,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Herbal Medicines","volume":"18 4","pages":"Pages 1022-1033"},"PeriodicalIF":11.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147893789","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Elemental traditional Chinese medicine: An emerging interdisciplinary field","authors":"Lichun Zhao","doi":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.07.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.07.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Trace elements in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) constitute a fundamental material basis underlying its pharmacological effects. Although present in extremely low concentrations, these elements are indispensable for maintaining physiological homeostasis and human health. Elemental traditional Chinese medicine (ETCM) integrates TCM theory with elemental medicine, coordination chemistry, systems biology, and other interdisciplinary fields. The core objective of ETCM is to elucidate the material basis and mechanism of action of TCM at the elemental level. ETCM demonstrates that the specific speciation, concentrations, and combinations of elements are critical determinants of pharmacological efficacy, while also revealing the mechanistic associations between elemental homeostasis and disease pathogenesis. Furthermore, ETCM promotes the transition of TCM research from conventional static analyses of elemental content toward dynamic investigations of elemental speciation, bioavailability, metabolic interactions, and systemic biological networks. This approach provides a new perspective for elucidating the material basis of pharmacological efficacy and offers novel pathways for the development of metallopharmaceuticals and the modernization of TCM.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9916,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Herbal Medicines","volume":"18 4","pages":"Pages 923-925"},"PeriodicalIF":11.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149204920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hybrid modeling of ultrasound-assisted extraction of phytochemicals from Himalayan Ganoderma lucidum using artificial neural network-genetic algorithm","authors":"Sonali Khanal,&nbsp;T. Jayasree Joshi,&nbsp;Pratibha Thakur,&nbsp;Rachna Verma,&nbsp;Ashwani Tapwal,&nbsp;Dinesh Kumar,&nbsp;Vinod Kumar","doi":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.08.018","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.chmed.2026.08.018","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div><em>Ganoderma lucidum</em> is a bioactive-rich traditional Chinese medicine widely recognized for its nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications. This study optimized the ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) from Himalayan <em>G. lucidum</em>, applying artificial-neural network (ANN) modelling coupled with genetic algorithm (GA) optimization to enhance efficiency.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>The UAE extraction was performed under various process parameters, including treatment duration (<em>i</em>₁, 5–15 min), ultrasonic amplitude (<em>i</em>₂, 30%−80%), and solvent concentration (<em>i</em>₃, 40%−80%), to optimize the yield (<em>w</em>/<em>w</em>%, <em>O</em>₁), total triterpene content [mg/g, dry weight (dw), <em>O</em>₂], 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl scavenging activity (%, <em>O</em>₃) and total phenolic content (mg/g dw, <em>O</em>₄).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The ANN-GA approach accurately modeled the complex non-linear relationships between input and output parameters, identifying optimal conditions as 5 min (<em>i</em>₁), 45.63% (<em>i</em>₂) and 80% (<em>i</em>₃). Experimental validations under these conditions resulted in (7.63 ± 0.2) %, (34.11 ± 0.01) mg/g dw, (41.55 ± 0.01) % and (10.98 ± 0.01) mg/g dw for <em>O</em>₁, <em>O</em>₂, <em>O</em>₃, and <em>O</em>₄ respectively. Compared to response surface methodology (RSM) approach, which served only as a benchmark, the ANN-GA approach demonstrated superior predictive accuracy and robustness in optimization.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The ANN-GA approach provides an effective and robust strategy for optimizing herbal extraction processes. This study demonstrates the applicability of ANN-GA as an advanced optimization tool for herbal extraction processes and highlights <em>G. lucidum</em> as a valuable source of natural antioxidants and triterpenes with potential therapeutic relevance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":9916,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Herbal Medicines","volume":"18 4","pages":"Pages 903-919"},"PeriodicalIF":11.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149204896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}