Narrow Results

Pogostemonis Herba (PH) is the dried aerial parts of Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth, which is mainly distributed and used in Asian countries. PH is an aromatic damp-resolving drug in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which is usually used for the treatment of vomiting, chest tension, tiredness, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and headache. In this review, the summary of chemical constituents in the aerial parts, biological activities, history of uses, quality control methods, industrial applications, pharmacokinetics and network pharmacology are reported. By collating the chemical constituents of various parts of PH, a total of 174 components were identified, including 66 terpenes, 6 pyrones, 40 flavonoids, 21 phenylpropanoids, 9 steroids, 4 polysaccharides and 28 others. Pharmacological research has found that PH possesses multi-pharmacological activities, including regulating the gastrointestinal tract, inhibition of pathogenic microorganisms, and anti-inflammation, which provide more scientific interpretation for the clinical usage of PH. In addition, the shortcomings of the current research on PH and the recommendation of future studies on PH are analyzed. We hope this review can provide some insight for further research and applications of PH in future.

Patchouli alcohol (PA) has been widely used for the treatment of diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) in traditional Chinese medicine, and the related mechanism remains to be fully understood. Our previous study has indicated that PA significantly reduced visceral sensitivity and defecation area in IBS-D rats. In this study, we prepared an IBS-D rat model and observed the dynamic intestinal motility and colonic longitudinal muscle and myenteric plexus (LMMP) neurons, as well as their subtypes at D14, D21, and D28. After PA administration, we observed the effects on the changes in intestinal motility, colonic LMMP neurons, and LMMP Myosin Va in IBS-D rats and their co-localization with inhibitory neurotransmitter-related proteins. The results indicated that PA treatment could alleviate IBS-D symptoms, regulate the abnormal expression of LMMP neurons, increase Myosin Va expression, up-regulate co-localization levels of Myosin Va with neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), and promote co-localization levels of Myosin Va with vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP). In conclusion, this study demonstrated the neuropathic alterations in the colon of chronic restraint stress-induced IBS-D rat model. PA reversed the neuropathological alteration by affecting the transport process of nNOS and VIP vesicles via Myosin Va and the function of LMMP inhibitory neurons, and these effects were related to the mechanism of enteric nervous system (ENS) remodeling.