Rehmannia radix is a kind of food and medicinal material, riched in monoterpenoids, phenylethanol glycosides, triterpenes, flavonoids, and other kinds of chemical compounds, among which monoterpenoids such as iridoids and ionones, and phenylethanol glycosides are the characteristic components of R. radix, with various biological activities. To excavate more characteristic active ingredients, the chemical compositions were identified from the 75% ethanol extract by v a variety of column methods and their hypoglycemic activities were evaluated in HepG2 cells. As a consequence, 13 compounds (1-13) were identified, including 4 iridoid compounds, 3 ionones, and 6 phenylethanol compounds, among them compound 3 was a new iridoid. The hypoglycemic activity showed that 7 compounds (1~2, 4~7 and 13) could promote glucose uptake of IR-HepG2 cells. And compound 6 could significantly upregulate protein levels of PI-3K, p-GSK3β, p-AKT and GLUT4, and significantly downregulated protein levels of PEPCK and G6Pase. These results revealed that compound 6 improved insulin resistance in HepG2 cells probably by activating PI-3K/AKT signaling pathway and inhibiting gluconeogenesis. These results succeeded in enriching the chemical composition of R. radix and provided an important scientific basis for the application of Rehmannia in the treatment of diabetes.

Inflammatory stimulation plays a significant role in the development and worsening of insulin-resistant diabetes. Therefore, it is crucial to identify therapeutic agents that can alleviate insulin resistance by targeting inflammation. Here, we present evidence that Bakuchiol (BL), a monoterpene phenolic compound first discovered from Psoralea corylifolia L. as traditional Chinese medicine, can effectively improve insulin resistance in diabetic mice through anti-inflammation. Our findings demonstrate that BL alleviates inflammation by inhibiting the toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor κB/mitogen-activated protein kinase axis, consequently enhancing insulin receptor signaling through the c-Jun N-terminal kinase/suppressors of cytokine signaling 3/insulin receptor substrate1 pathway and improving glucolipid homeostasis. Furthermore, the insulin recovery achieved with BL (60 mg/kg) was comparable to that of metformin (200 mg/kg). These results provide further support for considering BL as a potential treatment option for insulin-resistant diabetes mellitus.

Proteomics is a new technology that has been widely applied in the field of life and health science. It effectively addresses issues related to the impact of dietary structure on organs, tissues, and cells, as well as the changes in proteins in various organs, tissues, and cells under disease conditions. The differential proteins identified through proteomics can serve as disease biomarkers and target proteins affecting health and can be used for disease diagnosis and health regulation. In this paper, the application of proteomics in the field of inflammation in recent years was summarized, especially in the therapeutic target and mechanism of action, which opens up a new way for more effective prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of inflammation, and provides medical protection for human life and health.

Inflammation caused by obesity, particularly in adipose tissue and the liver, can lead to insulin resistance (IR) and trigger type 2 diabetes (T2DM). It is crucial to identify therapeutic agents that alleviate IR by reducing inflammation. Here, we report that isobavachromene (IB), a flavonoid derived from Psoralea corylifolia Linn., ameliorates IR in 3T3-L1 adipocytes by inhibiting the MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathway. We first found that IB could promote glucose uptake in 3T3-L1 adipocytes by activating the PI-3K/Akt signaling pathway and was more effective than the positive control sodium orthovanadate at concentrations ranging from 25 to 100 μmol/L. Additionally, IB inhibited RAW264.7 macrophage infiltration into 3T3-L1 adipocytes and suppressed the secretion of inflammatory factors from RAW264.7 macrophages, as well as the phosphorylation levels of key proteins (NF-κB P65, ERK1/2, JNK, and P38) in the NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways. In summary, IB improves glucose uptake in IR adipocytes, activates the PI-3K/Akt signaling pathway, inhibits the JNK and NF-κB inflammatory signaling pathways, and reduces adipocyte inflammation, thereby improving of IR in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

Lignans in Patrinia have attracted the attention of researchers due to their diverse structure and remarkable activity. We searched the PubMed database for articles published from 2003 to 2023 using appropriate search terms: Patrinia, Lignans, Biological activity, and Chemical structures. In this paper, the active lignans and their action mechanisms were summarized over the past 20 years. The results showed that 56 lignans have been isolated and identified from Patrinia, including furofurans, dibenzyltyrolactones, tetrahydrofurans, arylnaphthalenes, benzofurans and biphenyl derivatives. 45 lignans had anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, cytotoxicity, enzyme inhibitor, anti-Alzheimer’s disease, neuroprotection, anti-bacterial, hepatoprotection and anti-diabetic activities. The anti-inflammatory mechanism involves AMPK, MAPK, NF-κB and JAK-STAT signaling pathways, and the antitumor mechanism involves Raf/MEK/ERK, Akt/JNK and AKT signaling pathways. Lignans in Patrinia are promising to be utilized in food and medicine.

The concept and theory of “medicine and food homology” derived from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has greatly influenced the Chinese food culture since ancient times, as the concept recognizes the intrinsic link between medicine and food and has laid the foundation for diet therapy and diet-based health maintenance. As the concept continues to evolve and become more popular worldwide, a shift from an unconscious “(food-like) medicine supplement” to a conscious “food therapy” is evident. This shift influences considerably the global health and wellness industry and is assimilated into modern lifestyles. As a result, the traditional medicine-food homology concept has been transformed to modern food-medicine homology practices. The transformation was accelerated during and post the COVID-19 pandemic. This review places a focus on such transformation. The development and evolution of traditional medicine-food homology practices, and the resulting changes in food processing, dietary patterns, food service, consumer perception and human lifestyles, are reviewed. The urgent need for further modernization and internationalization of the food-medicine homology theory and practice is highlighted, while several research and development aspects that should be pursued in the near future are discussed.

3-Epi-betulinic acid 3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (eBAG) is a pentacyclic triterpene mainly distributed in food and medicinal plants, which exhibits various pharmacological properties. However, whether these functions are attributed to eBAG or additional components in these plants remain unknown. Herein, we report that eBAG exerted an inhibitory activity against hepatocellular carcinoma and esophageal cancer cells. EBAG induced non-apoptotic cell death in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. The eBAG-induced cell death was inhibited by knock-down of autophagy related gene (ATG) 5 and ATG7, by administration of 3-methyladenine, a selective autophagy inhibitor that suppresses phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), and by chloroquine, a classic autophagy f lux inhibitor. We demonstrated that eBAG induced an autophagy-mediated cell death. Application of eBAG mimicked cellular bioenergetics depletion leading to the reduction of intracellular ATP, activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and inhibition of mTOR. Co-treatment with compound C, an AMPK inhibitor, abrogated cell death induced by eBAG. We further validated the anti-tumor effect of eBAG in the murine xenograft model of hepatocellular carcinoma and found that eBAG treatment promoted the induction of autophagy and reduction of tumor growth in mice. As a functional food ingredient, eBAG is a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma and esophageal cancer.

Patrinia scabiosaefolia, is used as wild vegetable in China for more than 2 000 years, with a variety of pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and hypoglycemic. Based on our ongoing research on chemical constituents and hypoglycemic activity of P. scabiosaefolia, 4 lignan compounds, (+)-isolariciresinol (1), 7R,7′R,8S,8′S-(+)-neo-olivil-4-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (2), 4-O-methylcedrusin (3) and patrinian A (4), were isolated and identified. The hypoglycemic activity showed that compounds 2 and 3 could extremely significantly improve insulin resistance at 100 (P < 0.001), 50 (P < 0.001) and 25 µmol/L (P < 0.01) in IR 3T3-L1 cells. While compound 4 only promoted glucose uptake by IR 3T3-L1 cells at 100 µmol/L (P < 0.01). Western blotting experiments showed that compounds 2 and 4 up-regulated the protein expressions of p-IRS, PI-3K, p-AKT and glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4), and promoted the transcription of GLUT4 mRNA. Therefore, the mechanisms of compounds 2 and 4 were presumed to improve IR by activating PI-3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Flower plants are popular all over the world and important sources of ornamental plants, bioactive molecules and nutrients. Flowers have a wide range of biological activities and beneficial pharmacological effects. Flowers and their active ingredients are becoming more and more popular in the preparation of food, drugs and industrial products. This paper summarizes the active ingredients, pharmacological activities and applications in the pharmaceutical and food industries of flower plants in recent years. In addition, the possible molecular mechanism of pharmacological effects of flower plants were also discussed. 302 active constituents from 55 species of flower plants were summarized, including flavonoids (115), terpenoids (90), phenylpropanoids (20), alkaloids (13), organic acids (27) and others (37). The pharmacological effects of flower plants are very extensive, mainly including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-virus, and hypoglycemic. The mechanisms of anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and hypoglycemic activities present the characteristics of multi-way and multi-target. Because of its rich nutrients, bioactive ingredients and plant essential oils, and its wide sources, flower plants are widely used in food, beverage, cosmetics and drug research. Flower plants also play an important role in pharmaceutical industry, food industry and other fields.

This is the first report on a polysaccharide (RCJ2-Ⅰb) isolated from Rosa Chinensis Flos. RCJ2-Ⅰb was obtained through the extraction with water, precipitation with ethanol, separation with DEAE-52 column and purification with DEAE-Sepharose Fast Flow column and Sephadex G100 column. GC, FT-IR and NMR analyses revealed that RCJ2-Ⅰb (3.3 kDa) was a 1,4-linked polymannuronic acid containing substantial β-D-anomers units. The anticoagulant effect of RCJ2-Ⅰb evaluated by using rabbit ear venous blood and an acute blood stasis rat model showed that RCJ2-Ⅰb had obvious anticoagulant activity in regulating endogenous and exogenous coagulation pathways and reducing serum thromboxane B2 and endothelin-1. In addition, RCJ2-Ⅰb could also increase the number of Lactobacillus and Escherichia coli. As a result, RCJ2-Ⅰb has the potential to inhibit thrombosis and maintain the intestinal environment.