Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been widely used in China and is regarded as the most important therapeutic. Polygonatum sibiricum (PS), a natural plant used in traditional Chinese medicine, has various functions associated with a number of its components. There are many compositions in PS including polysaccharides, steroids, anthraquinone, alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, lignin, vitamins, various acids, and so on. Of these, polysaccharides play a significant role in PS-based therapeutics. This article summarizes Polygonatum sibiricum polysaccharides (PSP) have many pharmacological applications and biological activities, such as their antioxidant activity, anti-aging activity, an anti-fatigue effect, immunity enhancement effect, antibacterial effect, anti-inflammatory effect, hypolipidemic and antiatherosclerotic effects, anti-osteoporosis effect, liver protection, treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM), anti-cancer effect, and may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease, and so on. This review summarized the extraction method, purification method, compositions, pharmacological applications, biological activities, biosynthesis, and prospects of PSP, providing a basis for further study of PS and PSP.

As a longstanding problem, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has stymied researchers in the medical field with its increasing incidence and enormous treatment difficulty. Silymarin has always been valued by researchers for its good efficacy and safety in treating liver disease. Recent studies have shown that silymarin also has good pharmacological activity in the nervous system, especially for the treatment of AD. Silymarin can control the production of Aβ by inhibiting the precursor substance of Aβ (β-amyloid precursor protein), and it can inhibit the polymerization of Aβ. Silymarin can also increase the acetylcholine content in the nervous system by inhibiting cholinesterase activity. At the same time, it also has the effect of resisting oxidative stress and the inflammatory response of the nervous system. These pharmacological activities contribute to the inhibition of the onset of AD. The good efficacy of silymarin on AD and its high safety and availability give it huge potential for the treatment of AD.

(1) Background: Application of echinacoside has become increasingly important for its significant biological activities. However, there are many disadvantages in existing synthesis methods such as contaminating the environment, harsh reaction conditions and so on. Therefore, it is urgent to invent a novel alternative method that can increase the yield of echinacoside. (2) Methods: In this study, we isolated and purified an endophyte from the leaves of Ligustrum lucidum Ait. Then, we improved the yield of echinacoside by optimizing the fermentation condition with an endophytic fungus. Penicillium sp. H1 was isolated from Ligustrum lucidum Ait. In addition, response surface methodology was used to optimize the fermentation condition. (3) Results: The results indicate that the maximal yield of echinacoside (37.16 mg/L) was obtained when inoculation rate, temperature and days were 13.98%, 27.85 °C and 26.06 days, respectively. The yield of echinacoside was 150.47 times higher under the optimal conditions than under the control conditions. The results indicate that the yield of echinacoside could be improved with endophytic fermentation by optimizing the fermentation condition. We provide an alternative method for echinacoside production by endophytic fermentation in this paper. It may have a profound effect on the application of echinacoside.