BackgroundNatural Cordyceps cicadae (C. cicadae) has been utilized extensively in traditional Chinese medicine to treat chronic renal diseases, heart palpitations, infantile convulsions, and dizziness. However, given its slow growth and immoderate exploitation, C. cicadae resources have been severely depleted. By contrast, Paecilomyces cicadae (P. cicadae), as the anamorph stage of C. cicadae, is easy to cultivate, and this kind of cultivated P. cicadae has good and controllable quality.PurposeThis study aimed to compare the therapeutic effects of C. cicadae and P. cicadae on adenine-induced chronic renal failure (CRF) rats. In accordance with the aforementioned studies, our work subsequently analyzed the intrinsic relationships between the efficacy and pharmacodynamic substances of C. cicadae and P. cicadae to conclude whether or not P. cicadae could be used as an alternative to C. cicadae in treating CRF.MethodsRats were administered with C. cicadae (1.0 g/kg) or P. cicadae (1.0 g/kg) by gavage for 4 weeks. Furthermore, we applied Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry, and ultraviolet spectrophotometry to comprehensively detect and analyze the chemical constituent differences from ten batches each of C. cicadae and P. cicadae.ResultsThis study revealed that both C. cicadae and P. cicadae exerted obvious therapeutic effects on CRF and were more consistent with their chemical compositions.ConclusionP. cicadae can be used as an alternative to C. cicadae for treating CRF to cater to market demands.
Increasing attention has been devoted
to allosteric modulators as the preferred therapeutic agents for
their colossal advantages such as higher selectivity, fewer side effects,
and lower toxicity since they bind at allosteric sites that are topographically
distinct from the classic orthosteric sites. However, the allosteric
binding pockets are not conserved and there are no cogent methods
to comprehensively characterize the features of allosteric sites with
the binding of modulators. To overcome this limitation, our lab has
developed a novel algorithm that can quantitatively characterize the
receptor–ligand binding feature named Molecular Complex Characterizing
System (MCCS). To illustrate the methodology and application of MCCS,
we take G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) as an example. First,
we summarized and analyzed the reported allosteric binding pockets
of class A GPCRs using MCCS. Sequentially, a systematic study was
conducted between cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) and its allosteric
modulators, where we used MCCS to analyze the residue energy contribution
and the interaction pattern. Finally, we validated the predicted allosteric
binding site in CB2 via MCCS in combination with molecular dynamics
(MD) simulation. Our results demonstrate that the MCCS program is
advantageous in recapitulating the allosteric regulation pattern of
class A GPCRs of the reported pockets as well as in predicting potential
allosteric binding pockets. This MCCS program can serve as a valuable
tool for the discovery of small-molecule allosteric modulators for
class A GPCRs.
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