Background: Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) are the most recent class of agents for the treatment of hypertension. However, ARBs may cause a low incidence of headache, upper respiratory infection, back pain, muscle cramps, fatigue, dizziness, and many other side effects. In some cases, such toxicity is associated with pharmacokinetic alterations. Methods: The cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme system plays an important role in a lot of clinically important pharmacokinetic drug interactions. To identify relevant studies on drug-drug and food-drug pharmacokinetic interactions with the ARBs, a literature search of Google Scholar was performed from January 1994 to June 2015, with the following keywords: ‘losartan’, ‘valsartan,’ ‘candesartan,’ ‘irbesartan,’ ‘telmisartan,’ ‘eprosartan,’ ‘olmesartan,’ and ‘azilsartan’, combined with the keyword ‘pharmacokinetic interactions’ and ‘CYP’. Results: Based on the literatures published, it has been demonstrated that pharmacokinetic interactions of losartan with other agents are mainly via CYP2C9- and CYP3A4-mediated, the role played by CYP enzyme system in the metabolism of valsartan, candesartan, irbesartan, and azilsartan appears modest, and cytochrome P450 system has no influence on the metabolism of telmisartan, eprosartan, olmesartan. Therefore, according to these pharmacokinetic findings, no dosage adjustment is recommended when eprosartan, telmisartan and olmesartan are combined with other pharmacological agents in patients with hypertension. Conclusion: This review summarize the available data on cytochrome P450 – related drug–drug interactions reported in the literature for the eight ARBs. Knowledge of the pharmacokinetic properties of the ARBs should allow the avoidance of the majority of drug interactions without compromising therapeutic benefits.

Based on compelling experimental and clinical evidence, the fruit of Lycium ruthenicum Murr. (LRM), a unique traditional Tibetan medicine, exerts beneficial effects on ameliorating learning and memory deficits of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. However, the potential active constituents and biological mechanism of LRM are still unknown. In this study, the major chemical constituents of LRM were first analyzed by ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled with linear ion trap–Orbitrap tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-LTQ–Orbitrap). A total of 35 constituents were confirmed or tentatively identified. Furthermore, the network-based pharmacological strategy was applied to clarify the molecular mechanism of LRM on AD based on the identified components. Totally, 143 major targets were screened and supposed to be effective players in alleviating AD. Then, the LRM chemicals–major LRM putative targets–major pathways network was constructed, implying potential biological function of LRM on AD. More importantly, 12 core genes which can be modulated by LRM were identified, and they may play a pivotal role in alleviating some major symptoms of AD. This study provided a scientific basis for further investigation and application of LRM, which demonstrated that the network pharmacology approach could be a powerful way for the mechanistic studies of folk medicines.

Metabolic study of bioactive compounds that undergo a dynamic and sequential process of metabolism is still a great challenge. Salidroside, one of the most active ingredients of Rhodiola crenulata, can be metabolized in different sites before being absorbed into the systemic blood stream. This study proposed an approach for describing the sequential biotransformation process of salidroside based on comparative analysis. In vitro incubation, in situ closed-loop and in vivo blood sampling were used to determine the relative contribution of each site to the total metabolism of salidroside. The results showed that salidroside was stable in digestive juice, and it was metabolized primarily by the liver and the intestinal flora and to a lesser extent by the gut wall. The sequential metabolism method described in this study could be a general approach to characterizing the metabolic routes in the digestive system for natural products.