Chinese Medicine for Treating Endocrinology-Related Disease

According to new research accepted for publication in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Chinese herbal medicines are well recognized for their medicinal properties and have been used in traditional medicine for millennia. The medicinal effects attributed to herbal medicines, based mainly on unchar-acterized substances or extracts, include depression management , cerebrovascular disease management, Alzheimer's disease management, and antianxiety, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, radical scavenging, anti-inflammatory, antihy-perlipidemic or antihypercholesterolemic, hepatoprotective, and antidiabetic effects. 4-Hydroxychalcone (4HCH) is an alpha, beta-unsatu-rated ketone with the core structure of chalcone and one hydroxyl-substituent on the 4-position of the A ring. It belongs to the largest class of plant secondary metabolites and is considered to be precursor of flavonoids and isoflavonoids serving plant defense mechanisms to counteract reactive oxygen species in order to survive and prevent molecular damage and damage by microorganisms, insects, and animals. F. Zhang investigated the preventive effects of 4-hydroxychalcone (4HCH) on resistant hypertension. The cryptochrome-null mice, which received high-salt treatment, were treated orally with 4HCH 10 mg/kg, 4HCH 20 mg/kg, and 4HCH 40 mg/kg, respectively. The salt administration in cryptochrome-null mice is able to induce an increase in sys-tolic pressure which is associated with hyperaldosteronism, inflammation, and kidney injury. Treatment with 40 mg/kg 4HCH reduced systolic hypertension, serum IL-1í µí»½, and TNF-í µí»¼ levels and suppressed the activation of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-í µí¼…B) and renal injury. The impact of 4HCH on the hyperaldosteronism, inflammation, and kidney injury provides new insights for future development of therapeutic strategies in resistant hypertension. Agaricus blazei Murrill (ABM), an edible mushroom is native to Brazil, which is widely used for nonprescribed and medicinal purposes. C. Han investigated the medium composition of ABM that was optimized using response surface methodology for maximum mycelial biomass and extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) production. The model predicts to gain a maximal mycelial biomass and extracel-lular polysaccharide at 1.047 g/100 mL and 0.367 g/100 mL, respectively, when the potato is 29.88 g/100 mL, the glucose is 1.01 g/100 mL, and the bran is 1.02 g/100 mL. The verified experiments showed that the model was significantly consistent with the model prediction and that the trends of mycelial biomass and extracellular polysaccharide were predicted by artificial neural network. After that, the optimized medium was used for the submerged culture of ABM. Then, alcohol-induced liver injury in mice model was used to examine the protective effect of ABM cultured using …