In this study, a glycyrrhetinic acid-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN-GA) was prepared for active tumor targeting. MSN-GA exhibited satisfactory loading capacity for insoluble drugs, uniform size distribution, and specific tumor cell targeting. Glycyrrhetinic acid, a hepatocellular carcinoma-targeting group, was covalently decorated on the surface of MSN via an amido bond. The...

A sensitive and rapid ultra high-performance liquid-chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method has been applied to investigate the influence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on the pharmacokinetics of nine analytes (daphnetin, daphnoretin, 7-hydroxycoumarin, liquiritin, isoliquiritin, liquiritigenin, isoliquiritigenin, glycyrrhizin, and glycyrrhetinic acid), which are major active...

Nanoparticle drug delivery (NDDS) is a novel system in which the drugs are delivered to the site of action by small particles in the nanometer range. Natural or synthetic polymers are used as vectors in NDDS, as they provide targeted, sustained release and biodegradability. Here, we used the chitosan and hepatoma cell-specific binding molecule, glycyrrhetinic acid (GA), to synthesize glycyrrhet...

Radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) is a common complication of thoracic radiotherapy, but efficacious therapy for RILI is lacking. This study ascertained whether glycyrrhetinic acid (GA; a functional hydrolyzed product of glycyrrhizic acid, which is extracted from herb licorice) can protect against RILI and investigated its relationship to the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1/Smads signali...

Tumor cells expressing the herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase (HSV-tk) gene are killed by nucleoside analogues such as ganciclovir (GCV). GCV affects not only the cells expressing HSV-tk but also neighboring cells that do not express the gene; this phenomenon commonly is called "bystander effect." GCV metabolites transfer via gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) accounts ...

The physicochemical properties (pH and osmolarity), ingredients, and impurities containing in compound glycyrrhizin injections (eight items) marketed in China were compared with those in bland-name drug (Stronger Neo-Minophagen C injection). Glycyrrhizin (GZ), glycine (Gly), and l-cysteine (CysH) as the ingredients, moreover, glycyrrhetinic acid (GA), 3-monoglucuronyl-glycyrrhetinic acid (MGGA)...

Guo, Yihe, Cara Martinez-Williams, Kirk A. Gilbert, and D. Eugene Rannels. Inhibition of gap junction communication in alveolar epithelial cells by 18a-glycyrrhetinic acid. Am. J. Physiol. 276 (Lung Cell. Mol. Physiol. 20): L1018– L1026, 1999.—Cultured alveolar epithelial cells exhibit gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC) and express regulated levels of connexin (Cx) 43 mRNA and prot...

The nucleoprotein (NP) of Ebola virus (EBOV) and Marburg virus (MARV) is an essential component of the viral ribonucleoprotein complex and significantly impacts replication and transcription of the viral RNA genome. Although NP is regarded as a promising antiviral druggable target, no chemical ligands have been reported to interact with EBOV NP or MARV NP. We identified two compounds from a tra...