Medical cosmetology is a rapidly developing subspecialty of aesthetic medicine that deals with cosmetic issues like pigmentation, skin aging, and adipose deposition. Located between cosmetic surgery and everyday skin and beauty care, the method typically has a high safety profile, few adverse effects, and a quick recovery time. Nevertheless, there are still concerns about the biocompatibility of some of the cosmetic ingredients, as well as the problem of possible safety and the prevalence of allergic reactions. To overcome these limitations, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) herbs, which are natural plant-based, are considered as safe and biocompatible. The focus of this review is to understand the molecular and biological pathways and therapeutic targets of the most common issues in medical cosmetology. We then review existing literature on TCM herbs and their active constituents that target these conditions. Additionally, recent achievements in the study and practical application of TCM herbs using modern transdermal drug delivery systems (TDDS) are presented. This paper, as a review, offers an innovative approach to the combination of TCM herbs and modern biomedical engineering strategies to be used in medical cosmetology.

Rhubarb (Rheum spp.), a traditional herbal medicine, has attracted growing interest due to its anti-renal fibrosis effects in chronic kidney disease (CKD). This review systematically evaluates Rhubarb’s botanical features, global distribution, and diverse processing methods, which influence its chemical composition and bioactivity. Major bioactive constituents, including anthraquinones, stilbenes, and polyphenols, are cataloged, and their potential roles in renal protection are elucidated. Traditional applications in nephropathy management are critically assessed alongside contemporary pharmacological evidence demonstrating Rhubarb’s ability to attenuate renal fibrosis. Notably, this review highlights that multiple bioactive components in Rhubarb exert potent anti-fibrotic effects through complex, interactive modulation of multiple signaling pathways. Despite promising preclinical data, clinical translation remains limited by insufficient understanding of pharmacokinetics and potential herb-drug interactions. This synthesis identifies key research gaps, advocating for interdisciplinary studies to decipher multi-target mechanisms, refine pharmacokinetic profiles to enhance bioavailability, and translate preclinical findings into randomized controlled trials (RCTs). By integrating ethnopharmacological knowledge with modern drug discovery frameworks, this review underscores Rhubarb’s potential as a multifaceted anti-fibrotic agent while calling for methodologically rigorous research to validate its therapeutic integration into CKD management protocols.

With the intensified exploration of marine resources, marine bioactive peptides have become one of the research focuses in biomedicine, food science, and materials science because of their structural diversity, unique biological activities, and broad application potential. At present, the extraction of marine peptides has expanded beyond conventional chemical extraction and enzymatic hydrolysis, with microbial fermentation and gastrointestinal simulation technologies further broadening peptide diversity. In addition, the integration of multiple chromatographic techniques with advanced detectors has significantly improved the efficiency of marine peptide identification. Owing to their diverse biological activities, including immunoregulatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antitumor, hypotensive, and hypoglycemic effects, marine peptides not only enrich the pool of candidates for marine drug development but also provide new perspectives for addressing numerous health challenges. Importantly, substantial progress has been made in the screening, identification, and mechanistic elucidation of marine bioactive peptides, driven by advances in high-throughput technologies and the bioinformatics. However, marine peptide research still faces several challenges, including complex sourcing, difficulties in large-scale acquisition, and insufficient exploration of biological activities. Therefore, this article concisely reviews recent progress in the extraction, purification, and identification of marine bioactive peptides, summarizes current research on their biological activities, and highlights the application of bioinformatics in marine peptide studies.

Ganoderma species are promising sources of bioactive natural products with substantial pharmacological potential and have long been valued in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for their diverse therapeutic properties. However, their complex multi-component, multi-target nature presents significant challenges in elucidating pharmacodynamic mechanisms and optimizing clinical applications. Recent advances in network pharmacology (NP) and artificial intelligence (AI) offer innovative strategies to address these challenges. NP integrates compound-target-pathway-disease networks, while AI enhances predictive modeling, target prioritization, and the analysis of large-scale pharmacological data. Together, these approaches facilitate mechanistic interpretation, rational formulation, and personalized use of Ganoderma-derived medicines. This review highlights recent progress in applying NP and AI to identify key bioactive constituents and therapeutic pathways of Ganoderma spp., while also addressing limitations related to data quality, standardization, and clinical translation. By emphasizing the synergy between traditional TCM theory and modern computational technologies, this integrative approach advances natural medicine research and holds promise for strengthening the scientific foundation and global acceptance of Ganoderma-based therapeutics.

Heart failure (HF) is a major contributor to global morbidity and mortality, with myocardial infarction (MI)-induced HF accounting for a substantial proportion of cases. Although Yangxinshi Tablet (YXS) is clinically used, the mechanisms by which it alleviates HF remain unclear. To elucidate the protective mechanisms of YXS in post-MI HF. An MI-induced HF model was established in male Sprague-Dawley rats, and cardiac function, exercise endurance, hemodynamics, serum biochemical indices, and pathological damage were assessed. To investigate the underlying mechanisms, metabolomics, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), ribonucleic acid sequencing (RNA-seq), Western blot, immunofluorescence, chromatin-immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-qPCR, and single-cell RNA-seq were employed. The components of YXS were analyzed via molecular docking, and their biological activity was validated in cell-based assays. YXS improved cardiac function and exercise endurance, enhanced hemodynamic parameters, reduced inflammatory cell infiltration, and decreased collagen fiber deposition in vivo. In vitro, YXS regulated mitochondrial energy metabolism and protected against oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD)-induced cardiomyocyte injury. Notably, YXS ameliorated post-MI HF by inhibiting forkhead box O1 (FOXO1)/pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4) signaling, thereby promoting the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and increasing adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) levels to restore energy metabolism both in vivo and in vitro. Senkyunolide H, apigenin, astragaloside IV, and astragaloside VII were identified as active constituents of YXS using an OGD-induced H9c2 cell injury model. These findings indicate that YXS exerts cardioprotective effects in a rat model of post-MI HF. Mechanistically, YXS inhibits FOXO1/PDK4 signaling, enhances TCA cycle activity, and elevates ATP production to improve cardiac energy metabolism and restore energy homeostasis.

Approximately 85% of all lung cancer cases are classified as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Given its poor prognosis and resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, there is an urgent need to elucidate its molecular mechanisms to develop novel and more effective therapeutic strategies. In prior research, we identified nobiletin from a compound library and confirmed it as a novel natural BH3 mimetic. Nobiletin synergized with vorinostat to induce autophagy and apoptosis in small-cell lung cancer. In the current study, we further demonstrate that nobiletin, either alone or in combination with vorinostat, exerts inhibitory effects on NSCLC. Specifically, the combination of nobiletin and vorinostat suppressed the proliferation of NSCLC A549 cells. Nobiletin, used alone or with vorinostat, induced apoptosis in A549 cells by mimicking BH3-only proteins, which included down-regulating anti-apoptotic proteins such as B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) and MCL-1, up-regulating apoptosis-related proteins Cleaved-Caspase-3 and Cleaved-PARP, and increasing BH3-only protein expression. Nobiletin binding to BCL-2 facilitated the dissociation of the Beclin-1/BCL-2 complex, thereby elevating levels of free Beclin-1. Furthermore, the combination of nobiletin and vorinostat enhanced the expression of LC3A/BII and forkhead box O1 (FOXO1), ultimately inducing autophagy in A549 cells. Eukaryotic transcriptome sequencing revealed that the combination treatment primarily inhibits tumor cell proliferation by modulating TRKC protein expression and suppressing phosphorylation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. Therefore, our results indicate that nobiletin, a natural BH3 mimetic, synergizes with vorinostat to regulate both apoptosis and autophagy in NSCLC.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, progressive autoimmune disorder characterized by persistent synovial inflammation, pannus formation, bone erosion, and eventual joint destruction. Murraya exotica L. (ME), a botanical source of Murrayae Folium et Cacumen (MFC), has not been previously investigated for its anti-arthritic potential, which motivated this study. The chemical composition of ME was characterized using ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), and its anti-arthritic effects were evaluated in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) rats and interleukin (IL)-1β-stimulated SW982 cells. The contents of meranzin hydrate, hainanmurpanin, murrayone, and 3',4',5,5',6,7-hexamethoxyflavone in the ME extract were quantified as 2.86% ± 0.01%, 1.88% ± 0.01%, 0.07% ± 0.00%, and 0.01% ± 0.00%, respectively. In CIA rats, ME treatment alleviated clinical symptoms, attenuated histopathological joint damage, including synovial hyperplasia, cartilage degeneration, and bone erosion, ameliorated inflammation, and reduced oxidative stress. In IL-1β-stimulated SW982 cells, ME inhibited proliferation and migration, suppressed the inflammatory response, and mitigated oxidative stress. Network pharmacology and molecular docking analyses predicted strong interactions between ME-derived compounds (e.g., murrayone) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) p65, which were further validated by cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA) and drug affinity responsive target stability (DARTS) assay. Mechanistically, ME blocked NF-κB activation by inhibiting phosphorylation and degradation of inhibitor of NF-κB-α (IκBα) and preventing p65 nuclear translocation, while simultaneously suppressing activator protein-1 (AP-1) activation through downregulation of c-Fos and c-Jun. The involvement of the NF-κB and AP-1 pathways in ME-mediated anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, and anti-oxidative effects in RA was further confirmed using specific pharmacological inhibitors: pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDTC) for NF-κB and SR11302 for AP-1.

Seven new sesquiterpenes, named penicipenoids A−G (1−7), were isolated from rice-based fermentation cultures of the marine sponge-derived fungus Penicillium sp. 5975, together with ten known analogues (8−17). Their structures were elucidated using high-resolution mass spectrometry (HR-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, supported by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. Penicipenoid A (1) features an unprecedented sesquiterpene scaffold characterized by a tricyclo[4.4.1^1,60^2,7]hendecane core. Penicipenoid D (4) contains an unusual furan substructure within the cadinane-type sesquiterpenoid class, while penicipenoid F (6) represents a rare norsesquiterpene derivative lacking the carbon atom at the C-7 position. The in vivo anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of these compounds were evaluated using transgenic fluorescent zebrafish models. Penicipenoids A−C (1−3) exhibited anti-oxidant activity in metronidazole (MTZ)-treated transgenic zebrafish embryos, whereas penicipenoid E (5) demonstrated potent anti-inflammatory activity in CuSO₄-induced transgenic fluorescent zebrafish embryos.