American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) is an herbal medicine with polysaccharides as its important active ingredient. The purpose of this research was to identify the effects of the polysaccharides of P. quinquefolius (WQP) on rats with antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD) induced by lincomycin hydrochloride. WQP was primarily composed of galacturonic acid, glucose, galactose, and arabinose. The yield, total sugar content, uronic acid content, and protein content were 6.71%, 85.2%, 31.9%, and 2.1%, respectively. WQP reduced the infiltration of inflammatory cells into the ileum and colon, reduced the IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17A, and TNF-α levels, increased the levels of IL-4 and IL-10 in colon tissues, improved the production of acetate and propionate, regulated the gut microbiota diversity and composition, improved the relative richness of Lactobacillus and Bacteroides, and reduced the relative richness of Blautia and Coprococcus. The results indicated that WQP can enhance the recovery of the intestinal structure in rats, reduce inflammatory cytokine levels, improve short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) levels, promote recovery of the gut microbiota and intestinal mucosal barrier, and alleviate antibiotic-related side effects such as diarrhoea and microbiota dysbiosis caused by lincomycin hydrochloride. We found that WQP can protect the intestinal barrier by increasing Occludin and Claudin-1 expression. In addition, WQP inhibited the MAPK inflammatory signaling pathway to improve the inflammatory status. This study provides a foundation for the treatment of natural polysaccharides to reduce antibiotic-related side effects.

The mechanism by which ginsenosides from Panax quinquefolium L. transform into rare saponins by different processing methods and their antitumour effects have yet to be fully elucidated. Our study aimed to detect the effect of amino acids and processing methods on the conversion of ginsenosides in American ginseng to rare ginsenosides, using 8 monomeric ginsenosides as substrates to discuss the reaction pathway and mechanism. S180 tumour-bearing mice were established to study the antitumour effects of American ginseng total saponins (AGS-Q) or American ginseng total saponins after transformation (AGS-H) synergistic CTX. The results showed that aspartic acid was the best catalyst, and the thermal extraction method had the best effect. Under the optimal conditions, including a reaction temperature of 110°C, an aspartic acid concentration of 5%, a reaction time of 2.5 h and a liquid-solid ratio of 30 mL/g, the highest conversion of Rk1 and Rg5 was 6.58 ± 0.11 mg/g and 3.74 ± 0.05 mg/g, respectively. In the reaction pathway, the diol group saponins participated in the transformation process, and the triol group saponins basically did not participate in the transformation process. AGS-Q or AGS-H synergistic CTX, or AGS-H synergistic CTX/2 could significantly increase the tumour inhibition rate, spleen index and white blood cell count, had a significant upregulation effect on IL-2 and IL-10 immune cytokines; significantly restored the ratio of CD4+/CD8+; and significantly inhibited the level of CD4+CD25+. AGS-Q or AGS-H synergistic with CTX or CTX/2 can significantly upregulate the expression of Bax and cleaved-Caspase-3 and inhibit the expression of antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2. AGS synergistic CTX in the treatment of S180 tumour-bearing mice can improve the efficacy and reduce toxicity.

In this study, deer suet fat was used as a raw material to study the effects of aqueous enzymatic extraction of deer oil on its components, followed by studies into the potential protective activity, and related molecular mechanisms of deer oil on ethanol-induced acute gastric mucosal injury in rats. The results show that aqueous enzymatic extraction of deer oil not only has a high extraction yield and has a small effect on the content of active ingredients. Deer oil can reduce total stomach injury. Without affecting the blood lipid level, it can reduce the oxidative stress, which is manifested by reducing the content of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and enhancing the activity level of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px). It also enhances the expression of defense factors prostaglandin (E2), epidermal growth factor (EGF), and somatostatin (SS), it inhibits apoptosis evidenced by the enhanced of Bcl-2 and decreased expression of cleavage of caspase-3 and Bax. At the same time, it reduces inflammation, which is manifested by reducing the expression of IL-1β, interleukin 6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) gastric tissue pro-inflammatory cytokines, and enhancing the expression of anti-inflammatory factors IL-4 and IL-10, and inhibiting the mitogen-activated protein kinase/nuclear factor kappa B (MAPK/NF-κB) signaling pathway in gastric tissue.