Investigation on the interaction between Jingui Shenqi pill and DPPC liposome mimetic biofilms

Yin and Yang are two appreciable while elusive concepts in traditional Chinese medicine. The Jingui Shenqi pill is one of the representative prescriptions for “reinforcing Yang from Yin,” which is a traditional Chinese medicine theory. Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques were, respectively, applied to study the interaction between each group (Yang-supplementing group, Yin-supplementing group, and Yin-Yang double supplementing group) of Jingui Shenqi pill and DPPC liposome mimetic biofilms. ITC and synchrotron XRD experiments revealed that, compared with the Yang-supplementing group and the Yin-supplementing group, the interaction between the Yin-Yang double supplementing group and liposomes mimetic biofilms was the strongest. And FTIR experiment further showed that the dehydration effect of the Yin-Yang double supplementing group on the PO ⁻₂ group of DPPC was the largest than that of the Yang-supplementing group and the Yin-supplementing group. At the same time, the above experiments found that the “poria cocos, rhizoma alismatis, and cortex moutan” among the Jingui Shenqi pill can make the effects of drugs on liposome mimetic biofilms more obvious. These results may provide a theoretical basis for the theory of “reinforcing Yang from Yin” and “supplementing without causing stagnation” of the Jingui Shenqi pill in treating the kidney Yang deficiency syndrome.