Acute Renal Failure and Toxic Nephropathies in the Developing World
Meguid El Nahas in Kidney Diseases in the Developing World and Ethnic Minorities, 2005
In 1991, physicians in Belgium noted an increasing number of women who presented with acute, often near end-stage renal disease following exposure to Chinese herbs at a weight reduction clinic (42,43). An initial survey of seven nephrology centers in Brussels identified 14 women under the age of 50 who had presented with advanced renal failure due to biopsy-proven chronic tubulointerstitial nephritis over a 3-year period. Nine of these patients had been exposed to the same slimming regimen delivered by the same medical clinic, consisting in a mixture of many substances such as appetite suppressants, a diuretic, and Chinese herbs (42). The prescribed Chinese herb, Stephania tetranda, had been inadvertently replaced by other herbs containing Aristolochia species. As of early 1999, a total of more than 100 cases have been identified, a third of whom have already undergone renal transplantation.
Phytoextracts and Their Derivatives Affecting Neurotransmission Relevant to Alzheimer’s Disease
Akula Ramakrishna, Victoria V. Roshchina in Neurotransmitters in Plants, 2018
Protoberberine alkaloids: Stepharanine, cyclanoline and N-methyl stepholidine:Bioactive-guided fraction of tuber extract of Stephania venosa (Family: Menispermaceae) produced stepharanine, cyclanoline, and N-methyl stepholidine [Figure 21.3 (xxi, xxii, and xxiii)], which exhibited inhibitory activity on AChE with IC50 values of 14.10 ± 0.81, 9.23 ± 3.47 and 31.30 ± 3.67 μM, respectively (Cousin et al., 1996).Tubocurarine:Tubocurarine [Figure 21.3 (xiv)] obtained from Chondodendron tomentosum (Family: Menispermaceae) showed AChE inhibitory activity in vivo (Thandla, 2002).
TCM safety and regulations
Raymond Cooper, Chun-Tao Che, Daniel Kam-Wah Mok, Charmaine Wing-Yee Tsang in Chinese and Botanical Medicines, 2017
Analytical and chemical analysis of the formulation and the individual Chinese herbs contained in the products revealed the presence of chemicals known as alkaloids. The alkaloid profiles were different from the original formula used before 1990. It was determined that the toxin aristolochic acid (Figure 7.1) was found in the weight loss product. Instead of using Stephania tetrandra radix to make the product, another herb Aristolochia fangchi was used. This may have occurred because the Chinese name of Stephania tetrandra (Han Fang Ji) is very similar to that of A. fangchi, which is known as Guang Fang Ji. The similarity in these Chinese names may have caused one herb to be accidentally replaced by the other one, due to a confusion in pronunciation and this remains a critical issue when the herbs are being traded outside China.
Nephrotoxicity induced by natural compounds from herbal medicines – a challenge for clinical application
Published in Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 2022
Jinqiu Rao, Ting Peng, Na Li, Yuan Wang, Caiqin Yan, Kai Wang, Feng Qiu
Generally, a single natural component comes from more than two plant species or even more than two families. Genuine medicinal materials and other factors affected the proportion of effective, and toxic components, and the content of heavy metals, as well as pesticide residues, leading to different risks of renal toxicity induced by the same HMs decoction pieces. For instance, Guangfangji is the dried root of aristolochiaceae. The root of Stephania tetrandra is also used as medicine, which is called “FenFangji”. Due to the prohibition of aristolochic acid toxicity, “FenFangji” has gradually become mainstream primitive. Therefore, the standardized use and regulation management of HMs need to be strengthened to avoid the occurrence of CAN (Yu and Liu 2009). It is very important to establish Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) production base and ensure the quality of HMs to prevent renal toxicity.
The broad-spectrum antiviral recommendations for drug discovery against COVID-19
Published in Drug Metabolism Reviews, 2020
Abu Hazafa, Khalil ur-Rahman, Ikram-ul- Haq, Nazish Jahan, Muhammad Mumtaz, Muhammad Farman, Huma Naeem, Faheem Abbas, Muhammad Naeem, Sania Sadiqa, Saira Bano
The Cepharanthine (CEP), Fangchinoline (FAN), and bis-benzylisoquinoline alkaloids tetrandrine (TET) are the important medicinal herbs which are isolated from Stephania tetrandra and Menispermaceae (Bhagya and Chandrashekar 2016; Liu et al. 2016). The emerging evidence reported that CEP, well showed the antiviral activity against human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) and herpes simplex virus type-1 (Bailly 2019; Kim et al. 2019), and also demonstrated that TET is licensed an important antiviral in the reduction of different types of virus infections, including Ebola virus, dengue virus, and herpes simplex virus (Sakurai et al. 2015; Hoenen et al. 2019), and FAN also helped in the inhibition of HIV-1 (Wan et al. 2012). However, based on their significant results upon other viruses, these natural products could be potent antivirals against COVID-19 in the combination, but not limited to interferons, cidofovir, zanamivir, and ribavirin. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared that much research and development (R&D) is required on urgent bases to treat or inhibit the coronavirus including MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, COVID-19, and other bat coronaviruses (Organization WH 2018; Kim et al. 2019).
Study on the stabilization mechanisms of wet-milled cepharanthine nanosuspensions using systematical characterization
Published in Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy, 2020
Tingting Fu, Xiangshuai Gu, Qiang Liu, Xiaodong Peng, Jianhong Yang
Cepharanthine (CPA), a biscoclaurine alkaloid isolated from Stephania cepharantha Hayata (Menispermaceae), has been widely used for the treatment of tumors [20]. However, CPA is a hydrophobic BCS Class II drug with a logP of 6.75 and water solubility of 5.06 μg/mL (37 °C, pH 6.8). Clearly, a NS should be a good option to improve the bioavailability and clinical efficacy of CPA through the increase in solubility. In a previous study, we found that a single CCS, TPGS, or PVP VA64 could stabilize the CPA suspension. The aims of this study were to develop wet-milled CPA NSs stabilizing with single polymers, evaluate the in vitro dissolution, and explore the stabilization mechanisms of CPA suspensions. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and electrophoresis were used to characterize the morphology, particle size, and zeta potential of the suspensions. The aggregation state of the milled suspensions was evaluated via both DLS and rheometry. To elucidate the stabilization mechanisms, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to characterize the stabilizer adsorption qualitatively and a thermogravimetric technique was used to measure the stabilizer adsorption quantitatively. Possible changes to CAP crystallinity and the interaction between CPA and stabilizer were studied via powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).
Related Knowledge Centers
- Alkaloid
- Traditional Chinese Medicine
- Stephania Tetrandra