The flowers of Panax ginseng C. A. Mey. (PG) and Panax notoginseng (Burkill) F. H. Chen ex C. H. Chow (PN) are morphologically indistinguishable after drying, leading to prevalent adulteration that compromises product quality and consumer safety. To address this issue, we developed a rapid, closed-tube molecular authentication method based on high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis. Species-specific primer pairs were designed to target the conserved ITS and rbcL-accD regions, with PNG-2 selected as the optimal candidate owing to its stable genotyping performance and moderate GC content. Our results established GC content, rather than amplicon length, as the primary determinant of the melting temperature (Tm). Notably, the experimentally measured Tm values were consistently 0.7–1.5 °C higher than theoretical predictions, a discrepancy attributable to the stabilizing effect of the saturated fluorescent dye. To ensure maximum diagnostic reliability, the HRM results were cross-validated through a three-tier system comprising ITS2 phylogenetic analysis, agarose gel electrophoresis, and Sanger sequencing. The practical utility and matrix robustness of the assay were further verified using a diversified validation cohort of 30 commercial samples, including 24 floral batches and 6 root-derived products (root slices and ultramicro powders). The HRM profiles demonstrated 100% concordance with DNA barcoding results, effectively identifying mislabeled products across different botanical matrices and processing forms. This methodology, which can be completed within 3 h, provides a significantly more cost-effective and rapid alternative to traditional sequencing-based methods for large-scale market surveillance and industrial quality control.

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a condition caused by alcohol abuse. Although its incidence is rapidly increasing, effective treatments for this disease remain limited. The pathogenesis of ALD involves multiple aspects, such as direct damage from alcohol, oxidative stress, inflammation, lipid metabolism disorders, and dysbiosis of the gut microbiota. Under the combined action of multiple damaging factors, liver inflammation worsens and leads to liver fibrosis. In this review, we focused on in vitro and in vivo experiments to investigate the mechanistic pathways by which natural products exert effects against the progression of ALD. The accumulated and collected data indicate that some natural products may regulate oxidative stress, inflammation, autophagy, lipid metabolism, and the intestinal barrier, thereby protecting the liver. This review presents an updated overview of the potential benefits of these natural products for the prevention and treatment of ALD, identifying potential new therapeutic lead compounds and providing a reference for innovative drug development and clinical treatment for ALD.

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) is widely used to separate, identify, and semi-quantify volatile and derivatizable semi-volatile constituents (mono-/sesqui-terpenoids, phenylpropanoids, fatty-acid derivatives) that carry the discriminatory chemical information needed for authentication and quality control of traditional Chinese medicinal materials (TCMMs). To frame the methodological landscape rather than merely list components, this synthesis draws on peer-reviewed GC–MS / HS‑SPME works mainly indexed in PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus (focusing on the last decade), using searches built around keyword clusters (GC–MS, volatile oil, TCM authentication/QC, processing) and prioritizing studies that report separation conditions, pretreatment rationale, identification confidence (spectral match + retention index), and chemometric discrimination. The covered evidence shows GC–MS reliability depends less on instrument prestige than on upstream choices: pretreatment selectivity and thermal bias govern which labile markers survive; co-elution and matrix effects require explicit deconvolution/alignment; and identification confidence needs RI anchoring and, where possible, standard cross-checks, while inconsistent validation reporting and GC's intrinsic inaccessibility of strongly polar non-volatiles remain the main bottlenecks. When framed as a separation-first workflow—integrating optimized pretreatment (distillation/SPME/SFE), derivatization strategies, and multivariate modelling—GC–MS delivers verifiable chemical fingerprints to track geographical, batch, and processing-induced changes, supporting more comparable, regulation-ready QC protocols for TCMMs.

Isatis indigotica Fort.—a well-known medicinal cruciferous species—is the source plant of Isatidis Radix and Folium Isatidis, and is widely cultivated for medicinal raw material. The silique serves as the propagative organ for seed production of I. indigotica, and its developmental performance directly determines the plant’s seed quality and seed multiplication efficiency. To decipher the physiological and molecular mechanisms by which exogenous salicylic acid (SA) and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) modulate silique development, we performed a field experiment using the cultivar ‘Songming No. 1’. Plants were foliar-sprayed with 2 mmol·L⁻¹ SA at the full-bloom stage and 0.571 mmol·L⁻¹ IAA at the flower-bud stage, with distilled water treatment serving as the control (CK). Silique samples were collected at five key developmental stages: formation, growth, expansion, browning maturation, and full maturation. We measured nutrient contents, carbohydrate-metabolizing enzyme activities, and endogenous phytohormone levels, and performed integrated transcriptomic and untargeted metabolomic analyses. Exogenous SA and IAA substantially reshaped the accumulation patterns of sucrose, starch, soluble proteins, and other nutrients. The activities of invertase, pyruvate kinase (PK), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH), and soluble starch synthase (SSS) were significantly altered by hormone treatments; SA accelerated metabolic processes in early-stage siliques. Transcriptomic screening identified nine SA-responsive genes and one IAA-responsive candidate gene. SA mainly perturbed carbohydrate and amino acid metabolic pathways, whereas IAA modulated terpenoid and polyketide biosynthetic pathways. A total of 7028 metabolites were annotated, showing that SA exerted stronger effects on carbohydrate metabolism than IAA. Nine-quadrant correlation analysis identified multiple gene–metabolite modules associated with silique development. Collectively, this study characterizes the physiological and multi-omics responses of I. indigotica siliques to exogenous SA and IAA. The physiological and molecular alterations observed here are consistent with the phenotypic outcomes reported under identical experimental treatments. This work provides valuable resources for exploring hormone-mediated high-quality seed propagation and candidate gene mining in I. indigotica.

Background and Objectives: To elucidate the material basis and molecular mechanisms of the Rehmanniae Radix–Sophorae Flos (RR-SF) herb pair for psoriasis treatment, and to verify causal effects of core targets from a genetic perspective, constructing an integrated “component–target–pathway–causality” evidence chain. Materials and Methods:A four-level strategy was employed: (1) UPLC-Q-TOF/MS identified chemical constituents of the RR-SF co-decoction; (2) network pharmacology screened active compounds (OB ≥ 30%, DL ≥ 0.10), predicted targets, constructed drug–compound–target–pathway and PPI networks, and performed GO/KEGG enrichment; (3) drug-target Mendelian randomization (MR) used eQTLs of 7 core targets as exposure and psoriasis GWAS as outcome, with IVW as primary method and MR-Egger, Cochran’s Q, leave-one-out, and Steiger tests for sensitivity analysis; (4) AutoDock Vina molecular docking verified binding between active compounds and core targets. Results: 109 constituents were identified, dominated by flavonoids (32), iridoids (26), and phenylethanoid glycosides (12). Network pharmacology yielded 14 active compounds and 159 shared targets, with SRC, MAPK3, RXRA, HSP90AA1, CTNNB1, AKT1, and MAPK1 as core hubs. Key pathways included IL-17, MAPK, Th17 differentiation, VEGF, PI3K-Akt, and NF-κB. MR confirmed causal associations: MAPK1 (OR = 2.58, 95% CI 1.49–4.46, P = 7.5 × 10⁻⁴, risk), HSP90AA1 (OR = 0.42, 95% CI 0.24–0.74, P = 2.6 × 10⁻³, protective), and SRC (OR = 2.00, 95% CI 1.04–3.87, P = 0.039). MAPK1 and HSP90AA1 remained significant after Bonferroni correction. Molecular docking identified quercetin–HSP90AA1 (−9.3 kcal/mol) and aeginetic acid–RXRA (−9.1 kcal/mol) as strongest interactions. Conclusions: RR-SF exerts anti-psoriatic effects via a multi-component–multi-target–multi-pathway mode. MR validated causality of core targets, and molecular docking identified quercetin–HSP90AA1 and aeginetic acid–RXRA as key intervention strategies, providing multi-dimensional evidence for precision psoriasis treatment.