Hyperuricemia (HUA) is a metabolic disease, closely related to oxidative stress and inflammatory responses, caused by reduced excretion or increased production of uric acid. However, the existing therapeutic drugs have many side effects. It is imperative to find a drug or an alternative medicine to effectively control HUA. It was reported that Gardenia jasminoides and Poria cocos could reduce the level of uric acid in hyperuricemic rats through the inhibition of xanthine oxidase (XOD) activity. But there were few studies on its mechanism. Therefore, the effective ingredients in G. jasminoides and P. cocoa extracts (GPE), the active target sites, and the further potential mechanisms were studied by LC‐/MS/MS, molecular docking, and network pharmacology, combined with the validation of animal experiments. These results proved that GPE could significantly improve HUA induced by potassium oxazine with the characteristics of multicomponent, multitarget, and multichannel overall regulation. In general, GPE could reduce the level of uric acid and alleviate liver and kidney injury caused by inflammatory response and oxidative stress. The mechanism might be related to the TNF‐α and IL‐7 signaling pathway.

In this laboratory study, we assessed the resistance to microvacuole (glistening) formation in hydrophobic intraocular lenses (IOLs). Glistenings were induced in five lenses each of five different hydrophobic acrylic IOL models, using an established in vitro laboratory model: 800C (Rayner, Worthing, UK), AcrySof SN60WF (Alcon, Fort Worth, USA), Tecnis ZCB00 (Johnson & Johnson Vision, Santa Ana, USA), Vivinex XY1 (Hoya, Tokyo, Japan) and CT Lucia 611P (Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany). We evaluated the number of microvacuoles per square millimeter (MV/mm²) in the central part of each IOL. Results were analyzed statistically, and mean glistening numbers were ranked, with the highest in the SN60WF which had 66.0 (±45.5) MVs/mm, followed by the 611P with 30.7 (±8.4) MVs/mm². The 800C and XY1 showed comparable values of 2.0 (±3.6) and 2.7 (±2.4) MVs/mm², respectively. ZCB00 had the lowest number with 0.9 (±0.6) MVs/mm². This study shows that the resistance to glistening formation differs depending on the hydrophobic acrylic copolymer composition of the IOL material. Some IOLs from current clinical use are still prone to develop glistenings whereas others, including the ZCB00, 800C and XY1 show high resistance to microvacuole formation.

Alcoholic abuse is one of the most serious causes of liver diseases worldwide. Although detailed molecular pathogenesis of alcohol-induced liver damages remains elusive with intensive debates, it has been widely recognized that hepatic damage caused by free radicals generated from alcohol metabolism is one of the most critical factors for alcohol-induced liver diseases. Betulinic acid is a potent antioxidant with additional known pharmacological safety characteristics and minimal toxicity. However, poor solubility limited its usage. In this study, we assessed the efficacy of BAN, a betulinic acid and nucleoside hybrid with good water solubility, in reversing acute liver damages using an established alcohol overdose animal model. The results indicated that BAN is an extremely promising therapeutic agent against acute alcohol-induced liver damage. BAN effectively protects liver from alcohol damage by reducing serum ALT level by up to 47%, as well as liver oxidative stress indicated by significantly increased SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px levels. Moreover, hepatic FXR activation and a corresponding downstream anti-oxidative stress transcriptional cascade including Nrf2, HO-1, and NOQ1 induce the protective role of BAN. On the other hand, BAN administration also leads to increase cellular autophagy response, as indicated by the key ATG protein activation. We concluded that BAN, comparing with Betulinic acid, prevents acute alcohol-induced liver damages more effectively, with the dual mechanisms of neutralizing oxidative stress and promoting autophagy.