ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1519054
This article is part of the Research TopicInsights in Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery: 2024View all 10 articles
Comprehensive characterisation of the active ingredients of Smilax glabra Roxb based on chemical fingerprinting, metabolic fingerprinting and pharmacodynamic fingerprinting
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shanghai Fourth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China
- 2Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai, China
- 3Shanghai University, Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality, China
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Smilax glabra Roxb (SGR) is a traditional Chinese medicine known for its medicinal and edible properties, with a long history of clinical use in treating hyperuricemia (HUA). However, current research has primarily focused on ethanol extracts, leaving the active ingredients and mechanisms responsible for the uric acid-lowering effects of SGR standard decoction unclear. In this study, we fractionated the ingredients of the SGR standard decoction into large and medium polar compound groups using macroporous resin, identifying 20 components. Then, we established a mouse model of hyperuricemia and verified that the group of medium polar compounds in SGR had significant uric acid-lowering effects. Eight absorbed flavonoids and 24 metabolites were identified by metabolic fingerprinting analysis in SD rats.Tissue distribution analysis revealed that the liver, intestine, kidney, and stomach were the main target organs for the active ingredients, with neoastiblin, astilbin, neoisoastiblin, isoastiblin, engeletin, and metabolites M01, M08, and M15 being the most widely distributed. Molecular docking confirmed that metabolites M08, M11, M15, and M16 exhibited strong binding activities with the target proteins CNT2, XOD, and URAT1. This study provides valuable references and insights into the pharmacodynamic substance basis and mechanism of action of SGR standard decoction for HUA treatment, through comprehensive analyses of chemical, metabolic, and pharmacodynamic fingerprints.
Keywords: Smilax glabra Roxb, Flavonoids, Metabolism, Tissue Distribution, Hyperuricemia
Received: 29 Oct 2024; Accepted: 07 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lou, Shi, Jia, Li, Zhao, Wang and Fan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yuefen Lou, Shanghai Fourth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China
Guorong Fan, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai, 201620, China
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