Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the world's largest chronic liver disease, while there is still no specific drug to treat NAFLD. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) have been widely used in hepatic diseases for centuries in Asia, and TCM's holistic concept and differentiation treatment of NAFLD show their advantages in the treatment of this complex metabolic disease. However, the multi-compounds and multi-targets are big obstacle for the study of TCM. Here, we summarize the pharmacological actions of active ingredients from frequently used single herbs in TCM compounds. The combined mechanism of herbs in TCM compounds are further discussed to explore their comprehensive effects on NAFLD. This article aims to summarize multiple functions and find the common ground for TCM treatment on NAFLD, thus providing enrichment to the scientific connotation of TCM theories and promotes the exploration of TCM therapies on NAFLD.

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Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an important part of primary health care in Asian countries that has utilized complex herbal formulations (consisting 2 or more medicinal herbs) for treating diseases over thousands of years. There seems to be a general assumption that the synergistic therapeutic effects of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) derive from the complex interactions between the multiple bioactive components within the herbs and/or herbal formulations. However, evidence to support these synergistic effects remains weak and controversial due to several reasons, including the very complex nature of CHM, misconceptions about synergy and methodological challenges to study design. In this review, we clarify the definition of synergy, identify common errors in synergy research and describe current methodological approaches to test for synergistic interaction. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these models in the context of CHM and summarize the current status of synergy research in CHM. Despite the availability of some scientific data to support the synergistic effects of multi-herbal and/or herb-drug combinations, the level of evidence remains low, and the clinical relevancy of most of these findings is undetermined. There remain significant challenges in the development of suitable methods for synergistic studies of complex herbal combinations.

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Background Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F.H. Chen is one of the most highly valued medicinal plants in the world. The major bioactive molecules are triterpene saponins, which are also known as ginsenosides. However, its large genome size has hindered the assembly of a draft genome by whole genome sequencing. Hence, genomic and transcriptomic details about P. notoginseng, especially its biosynthetic pathways and gene expression in different parts of the plant, have remained largely unknown until now. Results In this study, RNA sequencing of three different P. notoginseng tissues was performed using next generation DNA sequencing. After assembling the high quality sequencing reads into 107,340 unigenes, biochemical pathways were predicted and 9,908 unigenes were assigned to 135 KEGG pathways. Among them, 270 unigenes were identified to be involved in triterpene saponin biosynthesis. In addition, 350 and 342 unigenes were predicted to encode cytochrome P450s and glycosyltransferases, respectively, based on the annotation results, some of which encode enzymes responsible for the conversion of the triterpene saponin backbone into different ginsenosides. In particular, one unigene predominantly expressed in the root was annotated as CYP716A53v2, which probably participates in the formation of protopanaxatriol from protopanaxadiol in P. notoginseng. The differential expression of this gene was further confirmed by real-time PCR. Conclusions We have established a global transcriptome dataset for P. notoginseng and provided additional genetic information for further genome-wide research and analyses. Candidate genes involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis, including putative cytochrome P450s and glycosyltransferases were obtained. The transcriptomes in different plant tissues also provide invaluable resources for future study of the differences in physiological processes and secondary metabolites in different parts of P. notoginseng.

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Background Traditional Chinese herbal medicines have been used for a long time to treat diabetes, and many controlled trials have been done to investigate their efficacy. Objectives To assess the effects of Chinese herbal medicines in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Search strategy We searched the following electronic databases: The Cochrane Library (CENTRAL), the Chinese BioMedical Database, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and LILACS, combined with hand searches on Chinese journals and conference proceedings. Date of last search was April 2004. No language restriction was used. Selection criteria Randomised trials of herbal medicines (with at least two months treatment duration) compared with placebo, pharmacological or non-pharmacological interventions were included. Data collection and analysis Data were extracted independently by two reviewers. The methodological quality of trials was evaluated using the parameters of randomisation, allocation concealment, double blinding, and drop-out rates. Meta-analyses were performed where data were available. Main results Sixty-six randomised trials, involving 8302 participants, met the inclusion criteria. Methodological quality was generally low. Sixty-nine different herbal medicines were tested in the included trials, which compared herbal medicines with placebo, hypoglycaemic drugs, or herbal medicines plus hypoglycaemic drugs. Compared with placebo, Holy basil leaves, Xianzhen Pian, Qidan Tongmai, traditional Chinese formulae (TCT), Huoxue Jiangtang Pingzhi, and Inolter showed significantly hypoglycaemic response. Compared with hypoglycaemic drugs including glibenclamide, tolbutamide, or gliclazide, seven herbal medicines demonstrated a significant better metabolic control, including Bushen Jiangtang Tang, Composite Trichosanthis, Jiangtang Kang, Ketang Ling, Shenqi Jiangtang Yin, Xiaoke Tang, and Yishen Huoxue Tiaogan. In 29 trials that evaluated herbal medicines combined with hypoglycaemic drugs, 15 different herbal preparations showed additional better effects than hypoglycaemic drugs monotherapy. Two herbal therapies combined with diet and behaviour change showed better hypoglycaemic effects than diet and behaviour change alone. No serious adverse effects from the herbal medicines were reported. Reviewers' conclusions Some herbal medicines show hypoglycaemic effects in type 2 diabetes. However, these findings should be carefully interpreted due to the low methodological quality, small sample size, and limited number of trials. In the light of some positive findings, some herbal medicines deserve further examination in high-quality trials.

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Recent studies on the Chinese herbal medicine PC SPES showed biological activities against prostate cancer in vitro, in vivo and in patients with advanced stages of the disease. In investigating its mode of action, we have isolated a few of the active compounds. Among them, baicalin was the most abundant (about 6%) in the ethanol extract of PC SPES, as determined by HPLC. Baicalin is known to be converted in vivo to baicalein by the cleavage of the glycoside moiety. Therefore, it is useful to compare their activities in vitro. The effects of baicalin and baicalein were studied in androgen-positive and -negative human prostate cancer lines LNCaP and JCA-1, respectively. Inhibition of cell growth by 50% (ED(50)) in LNCaP cells was seen at concentrations of 60.8 +/- 3.2 and 29.8 +/- 2.2 microM baicalin and baicalein, respectively. More potent growth inhibitory effects were observed in androgen-negative JCA-1 cells, for which the ED(50) values for baicalin and baicalein were 46.8 +/- 0.7 and 17.7 +/- 3.4, respectively. Thus, it appears that cell growth inhibition by these flavonoids is independent of androgen receptor status. Both agents (1) caused an apparent accumulation of cells in G(1) at the ED(50) concentration, (2) induced apoptosis at higher concentrations, and (3) decreased expression of the androgen receptor in LNCaP cells.

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