AUTHOR=Li Lei , Cui Herong , Li Tong , Qi Jinchai , Chen Hongshan , Gao Feng , Tian Xuehao , Mu Yunnong , He Rui , Lv Siyuan , Chu Fuhao , Xu Bing , Wang Penglong , Lei Haimin , Xu Hongri , Wang Chengxiang TITLE=Synergistic Effect of Berberine-Based Chinese Medicine Assembled Nanostructures on Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome In Vivo JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pharmacology VOLUME=11 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2020.01210 DOI=10.3389/fphar.2020.01210 ISSN=1663-9812 ABSTRACT=
Diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) is one common chronic functional disease of the digestive system with limited treatments. The microbiota–gut–brain axis (MGBA) has a central function in the pathogeny of IBS-D, which includes the participation of many various factors, such as brain-gut peptides (BGPs), immune inflammation, and intestinal flora. Inspired by the drug combination in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), our previous study discovered that berberine (BBR) and baicalin (BA) could form natural self-assemblies as BA-BBR nanoparticles (BA-BBR NPs) and showed synergistic effects against IBS-D. Here, we investigated the synergistic effects of BA-BBR NPs on IBS-D model mice induced by chronic restraint stress plus Senna alexandrina Mill decoction with the influence on MGBA. BA-BBR NPs showed the best therapeutic effect on improving visceral hypersensitivity and diarrhea on IBS-D model mice, compared with BBR, BA, and BA/BBR mixture. Furthermore, BA-BBR NPs significantly (