Medicinal and food homology materials are a group of drugs in herbal medicine that have nutritional value and can be used as functional food, with great potential for development and application. Flavonoids are one of the major groups of components in pharmaceutical and food materials that have been found to possess a variety of biological activities and pharmacological effects. More and more analytical techniques are being used in the study of flavonoid components of medicinal and food homology materials. Compared to traditional analytical methods, spectroscopic analysis has the advantages of being rapid, economical and free of chemical waste. It is therefore widely used for the identification and analysis of herbal components. This paper reviews the application of spectroscopic techniques in the study of flavonoid components in medicinal and food homology materials, including structure determination, content determination, quality identification, interaction studies, and the corresponding chemometrics. This review may provide some reference and assistance for future studies on the flavonoid composition of other medicinal and food homology materials.

In this study, a new series of 16 methyl salicylate derivatives bearing a piperazine moiety were synthesized and characterized. The in vivo anti-inflammatory activities of target compounds were investigated against xylol-induced ear edema and carrageenan-induced paw edema in mice. The results showed that all synthesized compounds exhibited potent anti-inflammatory activities. Especially, the anti-inflammatory activities of compounds M15 and M16 were higher than that of aspirin and even equal to that of indomethacin at the same dose. In addition, the in vitro cytotoxicity activities and anti-inflammatory activities of four target compounds were performed in RAW264.7 macrophages, and compound M16 was found to significantly inhibit the release of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, compound M16 was found to attenuate LPS induced cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 up-regulation. The current preliminary study may provide information for the development of new and safe anti-inflammatory agents.

Cancer treatment is presently a significant challenge in the medical domain, wherein the primary modalities of intervention include chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. However, these therapeutic modalities carry side effects. Photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) have emerged as promising modalities for the treatment of tumors in recent years. Phototherapy is a therapeutic approach that involves the exposure of materials to specific wavelengths of light, which can subsequently be converted into either heat or Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) to effectively eradicate cancer cells. Due to the hydrophobicity and lack of targeting of many photoresponsive materials, the use of nano-carriers for their transportation has been extensively explored. Among these nanocarriers, liposomes have been identified as an effective drug delivery system due to their controllability and availability in the biomedical field. By binding photoresponsive materials to liposomes, it is possible to reduce the cytotoxicity of the material and regulate drug release and accumulation at the tumor site. This article provides a comprehensive review of the progress made in cancer therapy using photoresponsive materials loaded onto liposomes. Additionally, the article discusses the potential synergistic treatment through the combination of phototherapy with chemo/immuno/gene therapy using liposomes.