Baicalein (BAI), one of the main components of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, possesses numerous pharmacological properties, including anti-cancer, anti-oxidative, anti-virus and anti-bacterial activities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of baicalein against acetaminophen (APAP)-exposed liver injury in mice, and elucidate the underlying hepatoprotective mechanism. Baicalein pretreatment significantly alleviated the elevation of IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α in serum and hepatic in a dose-dependent manner. It also dose-dependently reduced the hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, as well as the depletion of hepatic superoxide dismutase (SOD), hepatic glutathione (GSH) and hepatic catalase (CAT). Moreover, pretreatment with baicalein significantly ameliorated APAP-exposed liver damage and histological hepatocyte changes. Baicalein also relieved APAP-induced autophagy by regulating AKT/mTOR pathway, LC3B and P62 expression. Furthermore, the hepatoprotective effect of baicalein to APAP-induced liver injury involved in Jak2/Stat3 and MAPK signaling pathway. Taken together, our findings suggested that baicalein exhibits the ability to prevent liver from APAP-induced liver injury and provided an underlying molecular basis for potential applications of baicalein to cure liver injuries.

Neurological-related disorders are diseases that affect the body’s neurons or peripheral nerve tissue, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The development of neurological disorders can cause serious harm to the quality of life and functioning of the patient. The use of traditional therapeutic agents such as dopamine-promoting drugs, anticholinergic drugs, cholinesterase inhibitors, and NMDA receptor antagonists is often accompanied by a series of side effects such as drug resistance, cardiac arrhythmia, liver function abnormalities, and blurred vision. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find a therapeutic drug with a high safety profile and few side effects. Herbal medicines are rich in active ingredients that are natural macromolecules. Ginsenoside is the main active ingredient of ginseng, which has a variety of pharmacological effects and is considered to have potential value in the treatment of human diseases. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that ginsenosides Rg2 and Rh1 have strong pharmacological activities in the nervous system, with protective effects on nerve cells, improved resistance to neuronal injury, modulation of neural activity, resistance to cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury, improvement of brain damage after eclampsia hemorrhage, improvement of memory and cognitive deficits, treatment of AD and vascular dementia, alleviation of anxiety, pain, and inhibition of ionic-like behavior. In this article, we searched the pharmacological research literature of Rg2 and Rh1 in the field of neurological diseases, summarized the latest research progress of the two ginsenosides, and reviewed the pharmacological effects and mechanisms of Rg2 and Rh1, which provided a new way of thinking for the research of the active ingredients in ginseng anti-neurological diseases and the development of new drugs.

Alzheimer’s disease is a common degenerative disease which has a great impact on people’s daily lives, but there is still a certain market gap in the drug research about it. Palmatine, one of the main components of Huangteng, the rattan stem of Fibraurea recisa Pierre (Menispermaceae), has potential in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the neuroprotective effect of palmatine on amyloid beta protein 25–35-induced rat pheochromocytoma cells and AD mice and to investigate its mechanism of action. CCK8 assays, ELISA, the Morris water maze assay, fluorescent probes, calcein/PI staining, immunofluorescent staining and Western blot analysis were used. The experimental results show that palmatine can increase the survival rate of Aβ25-35-induced PC12 cells and mouse hippocampal neurons, reduce apoptosis, reduce the content of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, GSH, SOD, MDA and ROS, improve the learning and memory ability of AD mice, inhibit the expression of Keap-1 and Bax, and promote the expression of Nrf2, HO-1 and Bcl-2. We conclude that palmatine can ameliorate oxidative stress and neuroinflammation produced by Aβ25-35-induced PC12 cells and mice by modulating the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway. In conclusion, our results suggest that palmatine may have a potential therapeutic effect on AD and could be further investigated as a promising therapeutic agent for AD. It provides a theoretical basis for the development of related drugs.

Background: Premature ovarian failure (POF) is a common disease among women, which can cause many complications and seriously threaten women’s physical and mental health. Currently, hormone replacement therapy is the primary treatment for premature ovarian failure. However, the side effects are serious and will increase the chance of breast cancer and endometrial cancer. Deer blood hydrolysate (DBH) is the product of enzymatic hydrolysis of deer blood, has antioxidant, anti-ageing, and anti-fatigue effects, and has the potential to improve premature ovarian failure. Methods: In our experiment, a mouse model of premature ovarian failure was established through intraperitoneal injection of 400 mg/kg/d of D-gal for 42 days. At the same time, different doses of DBH were gavaged to observe its ameliorative effect on premature ovarian failure. Results: The experimental findings indicated that DBH could restore the irregular oestrus cycle of POF mice, improve the abnormal amounts in serum hormones follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinising hormone (LH), progesterone (P) and estradiol (E2), increase the number of primordial follicles and decrease the number of atretic follicles. In addition, DBH also raised the level of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and reduced the level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and reduced the apoptosis of ovarian granulosa cells in mice. The WB assay results showed that gavage of DBH restored the decrease in the indication of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), Heme Oxygenase-1 (Ho-1), and B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) proteins and reduced the elevated expression of Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1), Bcl-2 associated X protein (Bax), and Cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase-3 (Caspase-3) proteins that were induced by D-gal. Conclusions: To sum up, the present research indicated that DBH can ameliorate D-gal-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis by regulating the Nrf2/HO-1 signalling pathway and the Bcl-2/Bax/caspase-3 apoptosis pathway, which can be used for further development as a nutraceutical product to improve premature ovarian failure.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a toxic food/feed contaminant and the liver is its main target organ, thus it poses a great danger to organisms. Dihydromyricetin (DHM), a natural flavonoid compound, can be used as a food additive with high safety and has been shown to have strong hepatoprotective effects. In this experiment, PPI network and KEGG pathway analysis were constructed by network pharmacological analysis technique using software and platforms such as Swiss, String, and David and Cytoscape. We screened AFB1 and DHM cross-targets and pathways of action, followed by molecular docking based on the strength of binding affinity of genes to DHM. In addition, we exposed AFB1 (200 μg/kg) to mice to establish a liver injury model. Histological observation, biochemical assay, oxidative stress indicator assay, TUNEL staining and Western blot were used to evaluate the liver injury. Network pharmacological results were screened to obtain 25 cross-targets of action and 20 pathways of action. It was found that DHM may exert anti-hepatic injury effects by inhibiting the overexpression of Caspase-3 protein and increasing the expression of Bcl-2 protein. DHM (200 mg/kg) was found to reduce AFB1-induced liver indices such as alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate acyltransferase (AST), and attenuate hepatic histopathological damage through animal models. Importantly, DHM inhibited malondialdehyde (MDA) formation in liver tissue and attenuated AFB1-induced oxidative stress injury by increasing glutathione-S-transferase (GST) glutathione (GPX) catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Meanwhile, DHM also restored the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and antioxidant proteins, Nrf2, Keap1 and its downstream HO-1, and down-regulated the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins Bax and Caspase-3 in AFB1-induced liver tissues. The results confirmed that liver injury caused by AFB1 exposure could be alleviated by DHM, providing valuable guidance for in-depth study of DHM in the treatment of liver-related diseases, and laying the foundation for in-depth development and utilization of DHM.

Klebsiella species are important opportunistic pathogens whose antimicrobial resistance and virulence evolution have attracted increasing attention. However, their prevalence and genomic characteristics in farmed sika deer remain unclear. A total of 69 Klebsiella isolates (13.40%) were recovered from 443 fecal samples of farmed sika deer. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing showed that all isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin and sulfonamides (100%), and 17 isolates were identified as multi-drug resistant (MDR). Biofilm assays showed that 63.77% of isolates exhibited biofilm-forming ability. Whole-genome sequencing of 27 representative deer-derived isolates identified 108 antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) and diverse virulence factor genes (VFGs), mainly associated with adhesion factors and iron acquisition systems (ent, fep, and iutA). Mobile genetic elements (MGEs), particularly tnpA and IS91, exhibited the highest detection frequencies. Comparative analysis with 511 publicly available genomes identified 263 ARGs, including 17 shared between sika deer- and human-derived strains, and 13 shared MGEs, suggesting a potential role of sika deer as a reservoir of resistance determinants. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated close genetic relatedness among strains from different hosts, with frequent clustering of deer-derived and human-derived isolates. MLST analysis identified 180 sequence types (STs), with ST11 as the dominant clone across hosts, while several emerging MDR STs (e.g., ST442, ST35, and ST4501) were detected in deer-derived isolates. Correlation and Mantel analyses further revealed a significant association between ARGs and MGEs. These findings suggest that farmed sika deer may serve as a potential reservoir for ARGs and contribute to their dissemination across hosts, possibly mediated by MGEs. The observed genetic relatedness between animal- and human-derived strains highlights the potential risk of cross-species transmission. This study underscores the importance of farmed sika deer in the maintenance and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance and highlights the necessity of integrated One Health surveillance approaches.