Background: Psoriasis is a chronic, immune-mediated inflammatory skin disease, and the inflammatory response plays an important role in its development and progression. Datura metel L. is a traditional Chinese medicine that exhibited a significant therapeutic effect on psoriasis in our previous study due to its remarkable anti-inflammatory effect. Meanwhile, the mechanism underlying its effects on psoriasis is still unclear. Methods: An imiquimod-induced psoriasis-like dermatitis mouse model was constructed to evaluate the protective effect of the effective part of Datura metel L. (EPD), which was verified by evaluations of the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, immunohistochemical examination, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and Western blot were used to measure the inflammatory cytokines and the protein expression associated with the Toll-like receptor 7– myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88–nuclear Factor-κB–nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (Nod)-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (TLR7/8–MyD88–NF-κB–NLRP3) inflammasome pathway. Results: EPD significantly decreased the PASI, reduced epidermal thickness, and decreased the proliferation and differentiation of epidermal cells in psoriasis-like dermatitis C57BL/6 mice induced by imiquimod (IMQ). Furthermore, EPD reduced the infiltration of CD3+ cells to psoriatic lesions, as well as ameliorated the elevations of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and inhibited the production of imiquimod-induced inflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, IL-17, IL-22, IL-23, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), and interferon-γ (IFN-γ). Besides, EPD decreased the imiquimod-induced expression levels of TLR7, TLR8, TRAF6, MyD88, p-IKKα, p-IKBα, p-NF-κB, NLRP3, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein contained a caspase recruitment domain (ASC), cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase 1 (caspase-1), and IL-1β. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that EPD exhibited a protective effect on an imiquimod-induced psoriasis mice model by inhibiting the inflammatory response, which might be ascribed to the inhibition of the TLR7/8–MyD88–NF-κb–NLRP3 inflammasome pathway.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Mangiferin is a natural glucosylxanthone with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which has been confirmed to protect cardiac cells from myocardial infarction and myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (MIRI); however, the underlying mechanism is still unclear. As oxidative stress is a major pathogenesis of MIRI, an H9C2 cell injury induced by hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) was established to simulate MIRI in vitro. Herein, the protective effect of mangiferin against MIRI was evaluated and the isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ)-based proteomics was applied to explore the underlying molecular mechanism. In this research, mangiferin markedly ameliorated the oxidative imbalance by increasing the antioxidative capacity of the H9C2 cell. Moreover, proteomics analysis revealed that mangiferin pretreatment brought twenty differently-expressed proteins back to normal, most of which were related to glucose and fatty acid metabolism. Glycolysis, citrate cycle, and fatty acid degradation pathways were highlighted by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Western blot validation of six cardiac metabolism-related proteins were consistent with the proteomics analysis. Taken together, mangiferin protected the cardiomyocytes from MIRI by enhancing the antioxidant capacity and increasing the activities of glycolysis, citrate cycle, and fatty acid degradation pathways.

Three new glycosides (1–3) and 15 known ones (4–18) were isolated and identified from the fruits of Nicandra physaloides. The structures of these compounds were established by 1D and 2D NMR spectra and HR-ESI-MS. The compounds (4–18) were the first time isolated from the Nicandra genus and they (except 8, 10, 14) exhibited inhibitions on the NO release of LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells with IC₅₀ values from 26.9 to 47.5 μM.

In our current investigation, 37 constituents (1–37), including 11 megastigmanes (1–11), 17 flavonoids (12–28) and 9 phenylpropanoids (29–37), were isolated from a 70%-EtOH extract of Diaphragma juglandis Fructus. Among them, compounds 1–3, 12 and 29 were new compounds and their structures were elucidated on the basis of physicochemical evidence and meticulous spectroscopic analysis (NMR, HRESIMS and CD). Compounds 13, 16, 21 and 28 showed moderate inhibitory effect on α-glycosidase inhibitory activities, with IC₅₀ values being in the range of 29.47–54.82 µM and stronger than the positive control (acarbose, 60.01 ± 4.82 µM).