Acute lung injury (ALI) is a serious pulmonary complication that often arises from pneumonia, respiratory tract infections caused by bacteria or viruses, and other factors. It is characterized by acute onset and high mortality. Angong Niuhuang Wan (AGNHW) is a renowned emergency medicine in traditional Chinese medicine, known as the "cool open (febrile disease) three treasures" and regarded as the first of the "three treasures". Previously studies have confirmed that AGNHW has anti-inflammatory effects, improves cerebral circulation, reduces brain edema, and protects vascular endothelium. However, the active components and pharmacological mechanisms of AGNHW in treating ALI remain unclear. In this study, we confirmed that AGNHW can inhibit cytokine storm activity and reduce inflammation induced by LPS in ALI mice. We then analyzed differential proteins using proteomic technology and identified 741 differential proteins. By combining network pharmacological analysis, we deeply discussed the key active components and mechanism of AGNHW in treating ALI. By constructing the interaction network between disease and drug, we identified 21 key active components (such as Quercetin, Kaempferol, and Crocetin) and 25 potential core targets (such as PIK3CG, p65, and MMP9). These candidate targets play an important role in anti-inflammation and immune regulation. Through enrichment analysis of core targets, we found several pathways related to ALI, such as the NF-κB signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, and Toll-like receptor signaling pathway. This indicates that AGNHW plays a therapeutic role in ALI through multi-components, multi-targets, and multi-pathways.

Although there are differences in the appearance of Mountain-Cultivated Ginseng (MCG) and Garden-Cultivated Ginseng (GCG), it is very difficult to distinguish them when the samples are processed to slices or powder. Moreover, there is significant price difference between them, which leads to the widespread adulteration or falsification in the market. Thus, the authentication of MCG and GCG is crucial for the effectiveness, safety, and quality stability of ginseng. In the present study, a headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) coupled with chemometrics approach was developed to characterize the volatile component profiles in MCG and GCG with 5-,10-,15-growth years, and subsequently to discover differentiating chemical markers. As a result, we characterized, for the first time, 46 volatile components from all the samples by using the NIST database and the Wiley library. The base peak intensity chromatograms were subjected to multivariate statistical analysis to comprehensively compare the chemical differences among the above samples. MCG_{5-,10-,15-years} and GCG_{5-,10-,15-years} samples were mainly divided into two groups by unsupervised principal component analysis (PCA), and 5 potential cultivation-dependent markers were discovered based on orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). Moreover, MCG_{5-,10-,15-years} samples were divided into three blocks, and 12 potential growth-year-dependent markers enabled differentiation. Similarly, GCG_{5-,10-,15-years} samples were also separated into three groups, and six potential growth-year-dependent markers were determined. The proposed approach could be applied to directly distinguish MCG and GCG with different growth years and to identify the differentiation chemo-markers, which is an important criterion for evaluating the effectiveness, safety, and quality stability of ginseng.